Tito Ortiz And Chuck Liddell Will Officially Meet For The Third On November 24 Under Golden Boy MMA
A much-talked trilogy between two UFC Hall of Famers and formal rivals Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz will officially set to go down on November 24 from inside The Forum Inglewood, California, under the banner of boxing icon Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
According to ESPN, earlier on Wednesday De La Hoya confirmed the news that MMA legends have officially signed the bout and it will air live on pay-per-view (PPV). Oscar revealed his plans of getting into MMA world earlier this year, and his primary purpose of running this promotion is to help fighters earn the pay they feel they deserve.
“I’m excited for our first Golden Boy MMA event,” De La Hoya told ESPN. “It reminds me of the first-ever fight I did in boxing [in 2002]. I’m going to see how this one goes, but just the way I did in boxing, I plan on becoming a regular promoter of MMA. There’s no reason I should only promote one sport.
“I strongly feel MMA fighters are going to be pleased with the fact I’m entering the sport. Hopefully, we will sign some great fighters and go from there.”
“I’m becoming a promoter in MMA for the same reason I became a promoter in boxing,” De La Hoya said. “I’m sick and tired of these fighters coming up to me and saying they get paid crap.
“I can’t get into the specifics of these deals, but I’ll tell you that [Liddell and Ortiz] will be making a hell of a lot more money than they have with anybody else. They’ll participate in revenue from PPV, gate and everything else that comes in. This will be the most lucrative fight of their careers.”
Both men are coming out of their respective retirements for this event. Liddell and Ortiz have met twice throughout their legendary careers, with “The Iceman” emerged victorious both time by knocking out Ortiz at UFC 47 in 2004 and UFC 66 in 2006. They both were supposed to meet again back in 2010 but fight failed to come to fruition.
Since that former champion, Liddell has dropped five of his six fights. He then announced retirement back in 2010 after suffering a knockout loss by the hands of Rich Franklin and hasn’t fought in nearly eight years.
Meanwhile, Ortiz last fought back in January 2017 at Bellator 170, where he scored a first-round submission victory over Chael Sonnen. Before this win, ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ had won two of his three past fights.
Share your thoughts, who do you think will come out on top for the third time?
