Last week, I wrote a piece highlighting how several MMA fighters have decided to walk away from the sport before it’s too late. In recent weeks, we’ve seen former stars such as Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping and Johny Hendricks hang up their gloves before taking too much damage. This week, I’ll write about the opposite, showing how Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell are two examples of MMA fighters who don’t know how to walk away.
It was officially announced this week that Ortiz and Liddell, two of the greatest fighters of all time, will be coming out of retirement for a trilogy match under the Golden Boy Promotions banner. The two have fought previously, with Liddell stopping Ortiz with strikes at UFC 47 back in 2004 and again at UFC 66 in 2006. The two were supposed to fight for a third time back at UFC 115 in 2010 following their stint as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter, but Ortiz pulled out with an injury and Liddell fought Rich Franklin instead in what would be his last mixed martial arts bout. That is until now, as Ortiz and Liddell are set to fight later this year in the debut of Oscar De La Hoya’s foray into MMA.
For Ortiz, he’s now 43 and he has previously retired twice from MMA. He first retired back in 2012 following a unanimous decision loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 148. The same day he retired the UFC inducted him into the UFC Hall of Fame. At the time, Ortiz was on a nasty 1-7-1 run and him retiring made sense. But a year or so into his retirement Bellator called him up, and Ortiz returned from retirement to fight Alexander Shlemenko at Bellator 120. He won that fight then beat Stephan Bonnar only to lose to Liam McGeary in his next fight. Ortiz decided to retire once again following a submission win over Chael Sonnen in January 2017, and it looked like that would be the end of his run in MMA for good. That is, until De La Hoya called him up, because Ortiz is now coming out of retirement for a second time despite suffering numerous serious injuries throughout his career as well as a number of knockout losses. He shouldn’t be fighting anymore, but clearly money talks.
For Liddell, the story is a bit more sad as he will be coming out of retirement at age 48, having not fought since being brutally knocked out by Franklin in 2010 in what looked like a career-ending fight. At the time, Liddell was on a three-fight losing streak with all three of those losses via brutal KO and it made sense for him to retire. Liddell didn’t want to hang up his gloves, but UFC president Dana White refused to offer him another fight and instead gave him a cushy job with Zuffa to keep the checks rolling in. At the time, Bellator wasn’t in the market for veteran fighters so Liddell really had no other option than to retire and take the job in the UFC’s offices. But when WME-IMG took over the UFC, Liddell lost his job and the checks stopped rolling in. Clearly Liddell needs the money and so he’s coming back to the sport for a trilogy fight with Ortiz, even though he’s taken far too much damage throughout his long and storied career. He really shouldn’t fight again, but he’s a grown man and no one can stop him from doing so.
I have nothing but the utmost respect for both Ortiz and Liddell, but I do not want to see either guy fight again. Both fighters have taken far too much damage in their careers and both men should be enjoying their retirement. I understand that the itch to fight again is there and always will be for MMA fighters, and that’s going to be something that guys like Evans and Bisping will have to overcome at some point, but there’s a reason both Ortiz and Liddell retired the last time. Both men are now in their 40s and should know that it’s over. But both guys want one more taste at glory as well as a big paycheck. Some MMA fighters know when it’s time to walk away, but in the case of Ortiz and Liddell, some don’t. I’d like to say this story will have a happy ending, but I have a feeling someone is going to get brutally knocked out in this trilogy fight and we’ll all be left wondering why this was necessary. At the end of the day it’s their bodies and their brains that are on the line, but this trilogy fight between Ortiz and Liddell seems unnecessary and I can’t see it going well for either guy.
Do you think any of the recently retired MMA fighters will have the itch to return?
