Tito Ortiz Addresses Haters Over Chuck Liddell Trilogy Fight

This past weekend, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell stepped into the cage for the third and final time, and Ortiz made short work of Liddell, knocking him out at the end of the first round. The fight happened under Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy MMA promotion.

In retrospect, many MMA fans felt like the fight shouldn’t have happened in the first place, as Liddell seemed slow and completely outclassed by Ortiz.

Many blamed Ortiz for taking the fight, but he’s quick to point out that Liddell actually called Ortiz out, as reported by MMAFighting.

“I’ve had some time to think about this fight verse Chuck Liddell. How it came to be? This is something that Chuck wanted. I was OK doing my businesses. He called me out,” said Ortiz.

Ortiz went on to further address why he decided to take the fight against Liddell. After all, Liddell already defeated Ortiz in the previous two fights, so even with Ortiz winning, Liddell would still be ahead overall.

“Having everyone saying why are you fighting Chuck again, he beat you twice? 1. He called me out 2. I always wanted redemption. 3. I’m here to prove my fans were right and the haters were wrong. 4. An opportunity to start a new organization that will take care of the fighters as they should be,” Ortiz said on Instagram.

The fight took four minutes and 24 seconds, but seasoned MMA fans could tell within a matter of moments that Liddell just didn’t seem to have it anymore. Once he landed a big punch that barely fazed Ortiz, it was clearly just a matter of time before things went Tito’s way.

Even Chuck Liddell’s longtime coach John Hackleman wasn’t a fan of the fight. He appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show and said, “I felt sick to my stomach. It was a travesty. It was a travesty.”

After the fight, Ortiz, who has some promotional power within Golden Boy, offered Liddell additional fights in the promotion if he wanted. Liddell was very noncommittal on whether he wanted to continue fighting in Golden Boy or any other MMA promotion.

For his own future, Tito Ortiz announced his retirement at the post-fight press conference, as reported by Inquisitr. He said, “I’m done. There is nobody left I want to fight. I just want to continue to help the sport grow as a promoter. I want to help give back to the fighters.”

Before this fight, Liddell hadn’t stepped into the cage since 2010 after he was knocked out three times in a row. Ortiz has been more active, having most recently defeated Chael Sonnen in January 2017 in Bellator.