The Old Chuck Liddell - Tito Ortiz Feud Is Alive and Well and Returning at UFC 115
by Kid Nate on Feb 8, 2010 4:03 PM EST
in MMA News
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Tito started it off with a beautifully disingenuous bit of trash talking posing under the guise of "friendly concern" about Liddell's alleged addiction and recovery. Dana White denied that there was anything to Tito's claims of Chuck going to rehab. But the fuse was lit and the feud is back on.
Chuck Liddell told Ariel Helwani that he "knew that if I fought (Tito) again that he would say something to piss me off, but I didn't expect this." Watch the interview at the bottom of the post.
Liddell also talked to Michael David Smith about the technical changes he's implementing during his lay off from fighting:
"For me the most important thing I need to do is just getting back to basics," Liddell said. "There's some basic problems with my stand-up that I wasn't addressing, and that cost me. I need to make sure I'm not as open as I've been, leaving myself exposed the way I did against Shogun and Rashad (Evans) and Rampage (Jackson)."
Liddell said that from 2004 to 2006, he was fighting opponents who had deficiencies in the stand-up game themselves, and as a result he was able to win seven straight fights (two each against Ortiz and Randy Couture, and Vernon White, Jeremy Horn and Renato "Babalu" Sobral) even though he was making mistakes at times.
That seven-fight winning streak was surrounded by two losses to Jackson, one at Pride Final Conflict 2003 and one at UFC 71 in 2007. Both of those losses demonstrated that a hard-punching opponent could exploit Liddell's tendency to leave his chin exposed, and Liddell says now that he wasn't quick enough to correct that flaw in his game.
"I got away with things over the years and then I got caught, and now I need to go into fights knowing I can't get away with the same things I used to," Liddell said.
Poor Tito, Chuck's going to hurt him again. That is IF Liddell has it left in him. But it's a good thing he's doing the talking to drive interest in this fight. Unlike the first two times Ortiz lost to Liddell, there will be no belt on the line, and honestly no talk of title contention for the winner either.
But from my point of view, featuring "senior league" stars like Chuck and Tito on TUF is a much better alternative than putting a belt on hold.
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yes!
i cant wait to see these two go at it once again. and after saturday night i really want to see Tito vs. Coleman
It's nice to see he can admit his own flaws now...
But I do believe it’s a case of too little.. too late ..
He should beat Tito.. But the hierarchy of the 205 division will be out of reach to Liddell because he is just not quick enough to handle the speed of the elite in this division anymore..
His chin wont get better, it will get worse as time wears on…
8-29-09
Keith Jardine is now known as "The Dean of Antihistamine" because he is always sleeping early in fights..
agreed
if he gets knocked out by both evans and rampage who in evans case got knocked out by machida what makes him think he can go after a title shot. same goes for tito, i believe he has lost a step ok wow he beat forrest but forrest is not the old forrest for some reason. tito in my opinion cant beat a machida
100% agree
Its nice to see that he recognizes the flaws in his game but he’s been doing it so long its going to be hard to change. Luckily Tito is not a guy that can exploit the holes in Chucks game. Tito is weak and looking for paychecks at this point. He’s trying to play up the Coleman drama so he can have a winnable fight after Chuck smashes him again.
by xbuckeyex05 on Feb 8, 2010 3:54 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
i woud of like tito to stay away from the ufc
for this reason i wont have to hear him complain, i think he would of been better off in strikeforce
Chuck is a great fighter to watch
Almost impossible to take down and can knock you out with each limb. You forget so soon that this is the man who retired(kindof) Randy. I can see him doing a win one lose one act for awhile in the ufc. I always thought Chuck would become the gatekeeper for the lhw’s.
by mr. gogoplata on Feb 8, 2010 4:21 PM EST up reply actions
yes but he is trying to be randy and mark
by trying to fight when in the case of coleman not so much randy past your prime
surprised to see chuck so talkative in that fanhouse interview. he’s obviously still passionate about the sport, and open to discussing his weaknesses, and improving on them. barring a coleman like performance against tito, i don’t see any reason why can’t stick around for a few more fights. 205 is a brutal division though.
Thats the clarest ive ever heard him talk
I was worried he was punchy before, but he seems real clear headed and talkative as hell. I guess taking a bunch of time off helped him out. I hope he makes the changes he talked about and kicks some ass.
by SilverNBlackZach! on Feb 8, 2010 6:20 PM EST up reply actions
If I were Chuck, knowing that Tito is all about the money and the fame, and won’t learn ANYTHING from a brutal beat down, and knowing that Tito burns to get a W over Chuck, I’d say fuck it, refuse to fight Tito, and slap a hundred million dollar slander lawsuit on his ass. Tito loses a payday, maybe gets hit in the pocketbook, maybe gets ordered by a court ot STFU as part of a settlement, and goes to his grave never being able to avenge the Oh-fer that Chuck has over him.
Of course, this comes from someone who sits on his butt all day fixing computer networks, and isn’t a professional fighter, so, um, yeah.
i was against this at first
but fuck it it’ll be fun to see these guys go at it again
Not trying to knitpick here
but the first time Liddell and Ortiz fought there was no belt on the line.
Yeah.
It’ll be nice to see Ortiz take an old school ass whooping from daddy Chuck again.
Tito tricked people into believing he still had some fight left, but after the Forest fight and the endless excuses, I’m done with expecting anything good from Ortiz.
by Miketsi on Feb 8, 2010 4:07 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Cut the guy some slack, he fought with a broken back and probably a broken neck. Us normal humans would be dead from the same injuries this guy fights with!
by xbuckeyex05 on Feb 8, 2010 4:48 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Dude was that serious??
My sarcasm detector may be on the fritz again but that had to be a joke..
Be like water..
by theredoctober on Feb 8, 2010 6:30 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
that was a joke, Tito’s only injury in the Forrest fight was a cracked cranium.
"For some reason Dana White doesn't like me, and I don't care enough to find out why. So he can go pound sand up his ass as far as I'm concerned."
Don Frye
by keyboardwarrior on Feb 9, 2010 12:30 PM EST up reply actions
its hard to trach comments cuz I have been doing everything w/ me blackberry
but NO that was not serious lol
I sort of wish that Chuck was better at making Tito look like the donkey that he is. He has absolutely no trash talking skills whatsoever.
making Tito look like the donkey that he is
pretty sure tito doesn’t need any help in that department
by woooburn on Feb 8, 2010 5:09 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
did they ever say what tito said to coleman to get the reaction?
At USC we're not snobs, we're just better than you.
I can’t help but wish Chuck would retire after this one, but I can appreciate how much he loves the competition. I still think he can handle most guys, particularly if he starts using his wrestling offensively, and doesn’t give in to the glory days delusion that he’s still gonna knock everyone out. But he can’t win by getting into slugfests anymore. Too many guys faster than him, with fresher chins and better standup. But against most fighters, I think Chuck could use his wrestling to develop a more Couture-like game, working the clinch and dirty boxing along the cage, then pulling out to throw the big shot. I’d love to see him work on his foot speed and become a takedown machine. With his reach, he could bust people up from inside their guard. Just hard to put much faith in an old dog learning new tricks and executing once the adrenaline is flowing, without just falling back into old patterns. I do think Tito is in for another ass kicking, and that’s enough for all of us right now:)
by Kwisatz Haderach on Feb 8, 2010 5:28 PM EST reply actions
Liddell is unconsciously criticizing UFC match-making...
He’s admitting his Reign of Terror was facilitated by the UFC providing him with opponents he was stylistically suited to knocking out, namely grapplers with poor striking.
there wasnt really too many badass strikers in the UFC at 205 at the time.
by SilverNBlackZach! on Feb 8, 2010 6:21 PM EST up reply actions
Im trying to think of a couple and im having some trouble. Anyone that could strike had to deal with Randy sitting right below Chuck ready to clinch and takedown anyone and everyone.
Vitor was probably the only good striker I can think of that he faced, but that wasnt for a title.
by SilverNBlackZach! on Feb 8, 2010 6:24 PM EST up reply actions
Name 3 people
he didn’t fight who deserved a shot.
Fair points...
…In all the responses below.
I’m not sure who else was in the UFC 205 division at the time, but when I think of LHW strikers, it’s true they are ex-Pride fighters like Silva, Rua and Rampage.
I should also note that he did fight and beat a feared striker, a pre-roids Alistair Overeem.
During his
time as champ the UFC was not anywhere nears as deep as it is now. While I think Chuck (and Hughes) were great champions, they don’t fight the competition that todays champions do.
Guy Metzger was a little past his prime when Chuck fought him, but he was still a dangerous kickboxer at that point as well.
by Kwisatz Haderach on Feb 9, 2010 3:06 AM EST up reply actions
Right because it’s not like he fought and beat several top strikers like Overeem, Vitor, and Metzger this myth has been debunked multitple times already. Chuck beat the best fighters at his weight that he could fight, when he was in his prime and didn’t lose his chin and his reflexes he was as close to unbeatable as they come
I would pay to watch that fight.
Trash talk would be epic.
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