Chuck Liddell, former UFC light heavyweight champion and one of the few MMA stars to break through in pop culture, announced on Monday’s ‘The MMA Hour’ that he will return to fighting.
The 48-year-old last competed at UFC 115 in June 2010, losing via first round KO to Rich Franklin. He lost five of his last six fights in the UFC, the last three by knockout or technical knockout.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Liddell confirmed that he’s talked to boxing promoter Oscar De La Hoya about rekindling his feud with Tito Ortiz in a promotion the boxing champion has recently discussed. He said no movement has been made recently on that front, but that if it’s not Ortiz, he will fight someone either from his past or another veteran.
Ortiz said recently that he’s coming out of retirement specifically for the Liddell fight. Liddell said he hopes the fight would be in California or Las Vegas.
He said that in addition to De La Hoya, he plans on talking to Bellator and that he is interested in a fight with Chael Sonnen. He didn’t rule out the UFC, but doubted that Dana White would be interested given his past comments.
He said he would like to come back for 1-2 fights and then get a shot at Jon Jones.
Along with Matt Hughes, Liddell was a UFC “ambassador” up until December 2016 when the two were released after WME-IMG bought the company.