Tito Ortiz Feels The Lack Of Credit Given To Him For Chuck Liddell Victory Is Unfair
Tito Ortiz defeated Chuck Liddell last Saturday evening at Golden Boy MMA 1. He put “The Iceman” to sleep via outstanding first-round punch combo. Check the highlight reel!
But the event will be remembered for one very controversial detail too. Golden Boy officials goofed up Tito’s famous “gravedigger” celebration.
You can take a look how other professional fighters reacted to Tito’s victory here. Yet, it looks like many of them didn’t even pay attention to Tito’s fabulous knockout. The most of the tweets were pointed towards Chuck’s performance. Tito Ortiz feels he got the lack of credit. (h/t MMAMania)
“Yeah, it bothers me. I worked really hard for this. I fought the best fight I knew I could, brought everything in from camp,” said Ortiz during a recent interview on The Ariel Helwani MMA Show.“There were no holes in my game, plain and simple. I took a year off because of neck surgery. I had three disks replaced in my neck. But I got through camp, 18 weeks and I have never worked harder in my life. I got my hand raised and I dominated. I beat Chuck at his game.”
Tito Ortiz continued.
“Chuck said so much, that he was going to knock me out, the fans said he was going to knock me out again, that what do I have to prove. I proved that I am a vicious fighter. I proved that I haven’t really lost it,” he added.
“People say, ‘You lost to Chuck twice when you guys were in your prime.’ I wasn’t in my prime. I was only in the game for five years, four years. I was still learning. I’m still learning. I was going through my back problems before my back surgery. There were so many things that I was dealing with. Now that I am healthy, now that I am on point Chuck said he wanted to fight me,” he said.
According to Tito Ortiz, Chuck called him and built the atmosphere. But when he put Chuck Liddell to sleep, people talked more about “The Iceman” than Tito’s world-class performance.
“He’s the one who called me out and agreed to fight me, kept talking trash saying I’m a tune-up fight. Building it the way he wanted it. And all of a sudden when I smash him the way I did, people says it’s not the Chuck Liddell that he used to be,” concluded the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight champion.”
Ortiz had his professional debut back on May 30, 1997, versus Wes Albritton at UFC 13. He hung up his gloves for the first time after Forest Griffin loss at UFC 148 in 2012. He retired again when he defeated Chael Sonnen at Bellator 170 in 2017. Tito Ortiz announced retirement for the third time following his Saturday night win over Chuck Liddell. He plans to continue working as a fighting promoter.
What are your thoughts on this? Did pros really show a lack of support for Tito Ortiz? His performance was dominant from the beginning! Do you think Tito will fight again?
