Chuck Liddell on retiring after loss to Tito Ortiz: I felt good out there, so ‘we’ll see’
UFC

Chuck Liddell on retiring after loss to Tito Ortiz: I felt good out there, so ‘we’ll see’

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At 48 years of age, UFC Hall-of-Famer decided to come out of an eight-year retirement to face rival and fellow Hall-of-Famer Tito Ortiz for the third time. “The Iceman” had two wins over “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” from their previous encounters in 2004 and 2006.

Ortiz ended up being the victor on Saturday night, notching a first-round knockout victory to finally put an end on their rivalry. But even after four straight knockout losses, Liddell remains noncommittal about retiring just yet.

“I don’t want to think about that right now,” Liddell said during the post-fight presser. “I’m not in the right state of mind to really talk about whether I’m done or not. But I felt good out there and I had fun, so we’ll see.”

“I feel great right now. I’m fine. I don’t feel bad,” he added. “It wasn’t a – I don’t think it was a bad knockout. I was able to answer all the questions in the corner. Right away, when they came up and asked me where you live, where are we, all those questions. I was able to answer them all right away. I’m fine.”

Liddell has been candid about his dislike for Ortiz on a personal level. So when asked if he would be willing to finally bury the hatchet, he was also unable to give a straight answer.

“I don’t know what to say about that. I respect him,” Liddell said of Ortiz. “He gets in the ring and fights with me. Anybody that gets in the ring and closes the door and fights, I respect them. So I have respect for him, (I have) respect for the job he did.

“He got ready for the fight and he came out and fought hard. And he beat me.”

Upon the announcement of his MMA return last May, Liddell stated that he wanted two take on two fights that would lead to an eventual showdown with fellow ex-UFC champion Jon Jones. In September, he also declared that he would be “done with MMA” if he lost his “warm-up fight” against Ortiz.