Retired boxing great Oscar De La Hoya recently announced that he is entering the world of mixed martial arts with Golden Boy MMA.
A rumored main event for the promotions first show would be a third bout between former UFC Light Heavyweight Champions Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. UFC President Dana White has heard about a potential return for Liddell and it really bums his longtime friend out.
“I get it,” said White on UFC Unfiltered. “Everybody sees whats going on, everybody wants a piece, and I hope that’s the case. What I do hope is that he is partnering up with Chuck Liddell and they are going to be partners other than have Chuck Liddell come in and fight. If they are going to partner up in the MMA business, nothing will make me happier. That is awesome and I would love to hear if that is true for Chuck. If he plans on kicking off his MMA program with Chuck fighting, that would not be good and really, really bum me out. Chuck Liddell is almost 50 years old, he doesn’t need to be fighting.”
Liddell hasn’t fought since suffering a first round knockout loss to former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin at UFC 115 in June of 2010. Even worse is that Liddell hasn’t won a fight in almost eleven years, with that last win coming over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 79.
The former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion in Liddell won the first two meetings against Ortiz, with those wins coming at UFC 47 and UFC 66.
There is no word at this time as to when a potential third bout would happen, as Ortiz has yet to even comment on the claims made by Golden Boy MMA.
