For the third time, Chuck Liddell will battle Tito Ortiz in a fight that is now official for Nov. 24 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif.
Liddell confirmed the date and location when speaking to Larry King on Wednesday.
“The L.A. Forum, November 24,” Liddell said. I’m very excited about it. It’s going to be a good one.”
Of course The Forum is the location where the Los Angeles Lakers used to play before the Staples Center was built and has been a spot for numerous fights in the past.
This time The Forum will play host to one of the biggest rivalries in the history of mixed martial arts as both fighters are now coming out of retirement to face each other yet again.
“It kind of got started, [Tito] got me interested, he started mouthing off again like he tends to,” Liddell said when asked about coming back after eight years away. “I didn’t actually go out the way I wanted to. I wanted to get back into shape and see if I could fight again. I didn’t end my career on my own terms and this is my chance to do that.”
Liddell will be one month shy of his 49th birthday when he steps into the cage for the card that is being promoted by Golden Boy Promotions headed up by famed boxer Oscar De La Hoya.
When Liddell retired, he was on the wrong end of a three fight losing streak in the UFC after suffering three consecutive knockouts. A lot of time has passed since then but Liddell has been teasing his comeback for the past year while waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself.
Apparently that was the chance to face Ortiz again after Liddell knocked him out on two previous occasions in 2004 and 2004.
Meanwhile, Ortiz will also return from retirement, although he was much more active in recent years after putting together a 3-1 resume as part of the Bellator MMA roster. Ortiz finished his career with a win over Chael Sonnen but the chance to avenge his prior losses to Liddell was just too good to pass up.
Now Liddell and Ortiz will battle it out one more time in the Golden Boy Promotion event on Nov. 24 in California.
