This Saturday, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell will return to the cage for a high-stakes trilogy fight with one of the key rivals of his career, Tito Ortiz. The pair will meet in the main event of the first MMA card promoted by long-time boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya.
Heading into this fight, Chuck Liddell has frequently been noncommittal when asked if there could be other fights in his future. As the bout has drawn closer, however, he’s admitted that he will probably want to fight again if he’s victorious.
And he’s got a few opponents in mind.
“If I perform the way I think I’m going to on Saturday then I’m definitely going to be looking for another fight after this,” Liddell told TMZ recently (transcript via MMA Mania). “There’s a lot of guys. (Chael) Sonnen’s been running his mouth, there’s always ‘Rampage’ still in it. Wanderlei (Silva) is still in it, Vitor (Belfort) has been talking about it, so we got a lot of guys out there who are possibilities.”
The 48-year-old Chuck Liddell has not fought since June of 2010, when he was knocked out by Rich Franklin in what was supposed to be his final fight. In his next most recent fights, Liddell was knocked out by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Rashad Evans, both of whom went on to become UFC light heavyweight champions. Chuck Liddell, who holds wins over Wanderlei Silva, Ortiz (twice), Randy Couture (twice), Renato “Babalu” Sobral (twice), Alistair Overeem, Murilo Bustamante, Kevin Randleman and many others, is 21-8 overall.
The 43-year-old Tito Ortiz, meanwhile, has been active much more recently. His last fight occurred in January of 2017, when scored a first-round submission of Chael Sonnen in a bout that he claimed would be his last. In his next most recent fight, he was submitted by then Bellator light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary. This loss was preceded by consecutive wins over Alexander Shlemenko and Stephan Bonnar. Tito Ortiz, who has bested fighters like Ryan Bader, Ken Shamrock (three times), Evan Tanner, Wanderlei Silva, and Guy Mezger, is 19-12-1 overall.
Liddell and Ortiz have fought twice before. Liddell won both encounters by stoppage.
Watch Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz’s Saturday night rematch right here.
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/21/2018.