| Chuck Liddell talks about the Tito/Dana Fight!? |
Apparently, White isn’t the only person in UFC who takes issue with Ortiz’s version of the story. At roughly 9:30 p.m. Thursday night, I got a phone call — at home — from a UFC representative. The message: Chuck Liddell is very upset, and would like to speak to someone immediately.
If I had known in journalism school that my job description would someday include handling angry phone calls from one of the world’s greatest fighters, I might have considered another line of work. I handled the situation the way most guys would if an irritated UFC champ were trying to find someone to yell at: I peed a little and then I told UFC that Sam Caplan would be happy to speak with Mr. Liddell.
UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell was most displeased with comments made during Tito Ortiz’s recent e-publicity tour to combat some of the negative exposure caused by his portrayal on the Spike TV special Bad Blood, filmed to promote a fight against UFC president Dana White that never took place.
Liddell took specific issue that Ortiz refused to show for a fight that he had asked for in the first place.
"That was his deal," Liddell told CBS SportsLine.com when asked about the scheduled bout between his boss and his nemesis. "That was his perk that he wanted. I don’t know any fighters around that if Dana asked them to spar with them or was willing to spar with them, if one wouldn’t say yes."
Liddell addressed specific comments made by Ortiz during a recent interview with CBS SportsLine.com that the reason why he didn’t show up to face White was because a bout agreement for the fight had not been signed.
"Why do you need to have a bout agreement for a sparring match you were supposed to have with a promoter?" Liddell asked. "It’s not a fight. Why is there a bout agreement? That’s him coming up with another reason for why he doesn’t have to fight. He’s just making stuff up."
Liddell said he believes Ortiz has changed his story several times over the course of multiple interviews.
"I am sure someone went back and is trying to help him do damage control on how the thing went down, and what happened," he said. "I saw the first interviews he did after the thing came out. It was just ridiculous. He couldn’t have made himself sound more like a p****.
"When he first came out, he was talking about how he was worried about getting hurt, he was worried about putting his career at risk, and stuff like that, from getting hurt," Liddell continued. "Having to get a bout agreement? Is he serious?"
In press release issued by Ortiz shortly after the airing of Bad Blood, Ortiz said White knew well in advance of the scheduled date of the exhibition fight that Ortiz would not fight without the proper paperwork.
"White was fully informed well in advance of March 24 that I would not fight without a contract, which White refused to sign," Ortiz said in the written statement.
"No, from the way I understood it — from people that are friends of his, that know him — they knew days before that he wasn’t going to show up when Dana did," countered Liddell. "But Dana showed up. Dana had no idea he wasn’t going to show up. The way I understand it, he knew he wasn’t going to be there and he never said anything to Dana."
So what’s Liddell’s theory as to why a fighter the caliber of Ortiz would back out of a fight against White?
"He might have looked bad," Liddell said. "Dana is not a bad boxer, and Tito’s not a good one. He’s (Tito) not good with getting hit."
Liddell said Ortiz is primarily concerned with money and fame.
"That’s what he’s in the business for," Liddell said. "He’s in it for the attention. He’s always wanted to get out of (fighting) and into something else… He doesn’t really care. He’s just not a man of his word, that’s what it comes down to."
This latest controversy involving Ortiz and the UFC has prompted a few requests from fans for Liddell to fight Ortiz again, according to Liddell.
"There’s still people that ask me, ‘Hey, can you beat him up again?’" Liddell said. "I’ll beat him up anytime you want. But it’s never going to be a fight."
So, does that mean Liddell believes we’ll see Ortiz/Liddell III in the near future?
"I mean, he’d have to put on a string of wins to make it interesting enough for people to want to see it again," he answered. "But it would be the same result. There’s nothing he can do, not with his style of fighting."
While Liddell’s comments will probably only add fuel to the fire that is the White-Ortiz relationship, fans might be growing tired of the war of words. Along those lines, the UFC’s light heavyweight champ made a statement that many of those same fans may be in full agreement with.
"The whole thing never made sense to me in the first place," he said. "What’s the point? If they were going to spar, they should have just done it."
| " | "That's what he's in the business for," Liddell said. "He's in it for the attention. He's always wanted to get out of (fighting) and into something else… He doesn't really care. He's just not a man of his word, that's what it comes down to." |
