Well, that was particularly unsettling to watch…
Friday night, at around 6 PM, I finished work and proceeded to watch the replay of the weigh-in between Chuck and Tito. It had hooked me in and I knew I was going to order it.
Despite all my misgivings about the fight itself, I proceeded to buy the stream. When it was originally announced I was massively against the fight and was one of those on social media who confidently announced: “there is no way I am buying this fight”, and, “why on earth is Chuck doing this”…I was lying to myself and I knew it.
I received my confirmation email received in my inbox “Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz 3 purchased successfully!” I am everything I despise about MMA. A fan that shouts from the rooftop that he won’t watch, knowing full well that I would be absolutely glued to the screen come fight night (albeit watching through my fingers). I admit that with this fight it made me want to believe that Chuck could come back and KO Tito again, but knew full that was never going to happen…
UFC 47 feels like a lifetime ago…
Chuck vs. Tito at UFC 47 was truly my re-introduction to MMA. This one was special. Chuck and Tito’s rivalry had me hooked, and I never looked back.
The UFC was really starting to gain momentum, and the 205lb division was the jewel in the crown, Chuck and Tito were a big driving force behind the brand starting to get the mainstream to sit up and take notice.
2004 feels like a lifetime ago, and in MMA terms it feels like another world compared to today.
Push forward to Sunday the 25th, November, 2018 and the aftermath of this ridiculous end of the Chuck vs. Tito trilogy.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, despite Chuck looking visually in good condition, he had no business fighting in a sanctioned MMA bout.
Money talks as it always does in the fight game, and rightly or wrongly ‘Golden Boy Promotions’ spotted an opportunity to introduce themselves as a potential player in the MMA world through setting up this bout.
I hope this will be a one-off both from Oscar’s side, and without question, from Chuck’s side.
Time to call it a day, Chuck
Last night’s bout told us all we need to know about Chuck Liddell in 2018 and did we truly expect anything more?
Long gone were those deep looping punches that almost appeared from out of nowhere, he looked slow, out of breath and panicked every time Tito stalked him down.
You could almost say he looked like someone who hadn’t fought in over 8 years and was approaching his 50s?! Funny that…
I wrote a few weeks back about how Chris Weidman should reassess his MMA career, and despite me having no right to tell another person what they should do with their life, especially a high-level MMA athlete, I still stand by that opinion. Chuck’s predicament is in another stratosphere compared to this.
It reminds me of watching Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair lacing up the boots and still trying to do their thing in the ring, it’s sad and makes me feel uneasy, yet, I still watch, which is the paradox here.
These guys were my heroes when I was younger and I would put Chuck into that category also.
I hope that beast inside him who was desperate to fight now realises this is a young man’s game and he isn’t at the level to even compete with anyone of his own generation.
The light’s switched off after that the third punch Tito threw and hopefully it has switched off his desire to want to go through all of this again.
Thanks for reading!
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