When former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell posted on social media yesterday about a possible trilogy fight with Tito Ortiz, he knew it would likely draw a response from the fellow former title holder, but the response he received might not have been the one he was looking for.
Is a trilogy fight imminent?
Last night "The Iceman," Liddell posted an old photo of a face-off with Ortiz, to his Instagram account. The caption read, "Why not?" The vague post prompted mixed martial arts fans and MMA media to question if Liddell was coming out of retirement to challenge the also retired Ortiz to a third fight.
It also led to the question of, under which MMA promotion would the fight occur?
Ortiz responded with, "@chuckliddell, because I don't need the money. Suck that you need the money. I can lend you some cash if so." Whether Ortiz was just prodding Liddell with trash talk or has insight into his current financial situation remains to be seen, but what is known is that last week Liddell met with Bellator MMA President Scott Coker for lunch.
Liddell, 47, a UFC Hall Of Famer, last competed in MMA seven years ago. The former champion went out on three consecutive losses, the last being against former middleweight champion Rich Franklin in June 2010. He retired with a professional record of 21-8, and is one of the most beloved figures in the organization's history.
Liddell later took a desk position with the UFC where he served as executive Vice President of Business Development.
Ortiz, 42, also a UFC Hall of Famer, retired in January after a first round submission win over Chael Sonnen at Bellator 170. Ortiz has stated that he does not intend to come out of retirement, he went out with a win in the main event of one of Bellator's most watched events.
Liddell, on the other hand, has hinted at coming out of retirement, and that could have been the purpose behind the meeting with Coker.
History
The two rival champions clashed twice before with Liddell being the victor on both occasions. Liddell and Ortiz first fought at UFC 47 where 'The Iceman' knocked Ortiz out in the second round.
Two and a half years later they met again at UFC 66 with Liddell earning a third round technical knockout victory. Their rematch was the UFC's biggest pay-per-view success up until that point with more than one million buys.
Liddell has not officially announced that he is coming out of retirement but if he does, Bellator MMA does have competition that would likely draw in both money and fans to include matchups with Sonnen, Fedor Emelianenko, or a rematch with Wanderlei Silva.
