Chuck Liddell And Tito Ortiz Are Officially Set For A Third Fight
Oh boy.
ESPN- Mixed martial arts legends Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz will rekindle their infamous rivalry in a trilogy bout later this year, under the banner of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
ESPN has confirmed that Golden Boy, one of the world’s premier boxing promotions, has signed promotional agreements with Liddell and Ortiz. An official date and location are being finalized and should be announced soon.
The pay-per-view event will mark Golden Boy’s first foray into MMA. It will take place nearly 12 years after Liddell knocked out Ortiz in the third round of their second meeting, at UFC 66 in December 2006.
“I’m proud to announce we’ve signed a deal for the fight between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz,” De La Hoya said in a statement to ESPN. “This will be huge for sports fans around the world. Ortiz and Liddell are two of the most recognized fighters in MMA history. They are legends in the sport.
“Everyone remembers their rivalry helped put the sport on the map, and we’re excited to host the next and final chapter of this historic rivalry.”
Yay. It’s the fight everyone’s been talking about, that nobody can wait to see. 12 years in the making. I fucking guess.
Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz had two fights against each other in their careers. One took place at UFC 47, where Liddell knocked Ortiz out in the second round, and the second took place at UFC 66 (the company’s all-time highest selling pay-per-view at that point), where Liddell knocked Ortiz out in the third round. They were great rivals, sure, and did a TON for the UFC historically, but when somebody’s very decisively 2-0 over another fighter, both wins coming by way of knockout, I feel like the rivalry is dead, yeah? Especially when 12 years have passed since that last fight?
I’ve just never understood the fascination with a third bout between Liddell and Ortiz. Not when it was booked at UFC 115, and definitely not now, after Chuck has endured an incredible amount of brain damage and Tito had multiple surgeries breaking down his body further and further.
Notorious piece of shit Oscar De La Hoya is putting the fight on through Golden Boy Promotions, however, and that does interest me. It’s the first MMA fight they’re ever promoted and I feel like it has the potential for some weird gimmicky disaster, and that’s the whole intrigue of this fight for me at this point. It’s Kimbo/Dada. It’s Shamrock/Gracie III. It’s Stallone/De Niro. Put it in a ring, one of those half ring/half cage things, put it in a box or something, I don’t know. An underwater plexiglass box in shark infested waters. Just do something to make sure we don’t all fall asleep during this one.
On the plus side, Tito’s gonna Tito in the buildup for sure.
