On November 24, inside The Forum in Los Angeles, California, former UFC light heavyweight champions Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz will meet for a third time. The bout will be promoted by retired boxer Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions, and serve as the promotion’s first foray into the MMA industry.
This afternoon, the two UFC Hall of Famers joined De La Hoya for a media-only press conference. As you probably expected, this event featured plenty of back-and-forth trash talk, and of course, a heated staredown. Tito Ortiz even tried to make Chuck Liddell flinch. See the staredown above, and some press conference highlights below.
The 48-year-old Chuck Liddell has not fought since June of 2010, when he was knocked out by Rich Franklin in what was supposed to be his final fight. In his next most recent fights, Liddell was knocked out by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Rashad Evans, both of whom went on to become UFC light heavyweight champions. Chuck Liddell, who holds wins over Wanderlei Silva, Ortiz (twice), Randy Couture (twice), Renato “Babalu” Sobral (twice), Alistair Overeem, Murilo Bustamante, Kevin Randleman and many others, is 21-8 overall.
The 43-year-old Tito Ortiz, meanwhile, has been active much more recently. His last fight occurred in January of 2017, when scored a first-round submission of Chael Sonnen in a bout that he claimed would be his last. In his next most recent fight, he was submitted by then Bellator light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary. This loss was preceded by consecutive wins over Alexander Shlemenko and Stephan Bonnar. Tito Ortiz, who has bested fighters like Ryan Bader, Ken Shamrock (three times), Evan Tanner, Wanderlei Silva, and Guy Mezger, is 19-12-1 overall.
Liddell and Ortiz have fought twice before. Liddell won both encounters by stoppage.
Who are you picking in this polarizing rematch between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/14/2018.
