Chuck Liddell On Why He Considers Third Fight With Tito Ortiz A Gamble

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Chuck Liddell spoke about why he considers a third fight with Tito Ortiz to be a gamble with an upside. Here are highlights:

On accepting the third fight: “It was taking a gamble. It wasn’t a big upfront (paycheck). It’s taking a gamble that you’ll be successful, but it’s also a big home run if you win.”

On why he wants to fight Ortiz: “I had offers everywhere. A lot bigger guarantees to fight anybody I wanted to pick. I could pick anybody. They didn’t care. The name, whoever I fought, they didn’t care. But I chose this over that because I think it’s a fight my fans want, and I think for me, it’s a closest thing to a tuneup fight that’s got a name to it that there is.”

On how the fight will go: “I expect it to be a cakewalk. He’s hoping that after 12 years, I’ve slowed down so much that he can actually beat me. That’s kind of what he’s said. He’s like, ‘Chuck’s over the hill. He’s slow now.’ So, I’m going to beat him. I mean, basically, he’s saying he can’t beat me if I’m fast, and I’m still able to do things. The sad thing is, if he’s even convinced himself, which I don’t think he has, that he’s going to beat me, about 30 seconds into the fight, I can still stop his shot, I still hit really, really hard, and I’m still pretty fast. And he’s going to figure that out about a minute in and start looking for a way out.”