Tito Ortiz Makes Interesting Claim About His Fights Against Chuck Liddell
Tito Ortiz is once again talking about a potential trilogy fight against Chuck Liddell.
A few months ago, there were rumors of Liddell possibly returning to fighting, and this led to former UFC fighter turned Bellator MMA competitor Chael Sonnen calling him out for a fight in the UFC’s rival promotion. However, that never happened.
Just a few weeks ago, Liddell came out and stated that he will return to competition. He is eyeing a third fight with Ortiz in his return bout.
Liddell has not fought since June of 2010 and is now 47 years old. He decided to retire after losing five of his last six bouts, four of them by vicious knockout.
TMZ Sports caught up with Ortiz over the weekend and asked him why he has the desire to fight Liddell once again. Ortiz noted that he doesn’t think he got “a fair shake” during their fights under the UFC banner.
There is history between Ortiz and Liddell as they have fought each other twice. Liddell stopped Ortiz in both fights.
Their rematch for the light heavyweight title at UFC 66 was the most successful UFC event ever at the time. With their track record, the third fight between them could do very good business.
“Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell III, the fight that all the fans wanted to see for the longest time and never got a chance to,” Ortiz said (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “I never got a fair shake when I was with the UFC against Chuck, any of the times I ever fought against him. Let’s do it under a different promotion. Let’s do it under Golden Boy Promotion. He has a great background in promoting fights, some of the biggest fights in the world, and he bit on it, hook, line, and sinker. He’s in. Let’s see if we can make some history here.”
“I’m not exactly at the point where I can say where but when, October or November,” said Ortiz. “That way we have some time to promote. We’ll do a world tour – kind of go around to talk smack to build up the fight.”
Ortiz finished up his successful career when submitted Chael Sonnen at Bellator 170 last year. Ortiz retired as an early pioneer and one of the true legends of the sport. His accomplishments speak for themselves as he is a UFC Hall of Famer and has fought the biggest names in MMA.
According to the former UFC light heavyweight champion, age is just a number and that the third fight between them will be the biggest fight in MMA history.
“I only retired a year ago,” Ortiz said. “I got in the gym two weeks ago and let me tell you, I bounced back faster than I even imagined I could bounce back. I’ve always been in good shape, I take care of my body and I’ve got an opportunity to get redemption.
“Look at the history books. Randy Couture at the age of 43 won the heavyweight world title at the age of 43. I feel healthy. I have a great surgeon that put me together. I’m the million dollar man so let’s make a couple more million kicking Chuck Liddell’s ass. It’s gonna build. It’s gonna be the hugest fight in MMA history, just watch and see.”
