Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz Announced as Coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 11
Former light heavyweight champions Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz will appear as opposing coaches on the upcoming eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter, UFC President Dana White announced on Saturday during The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale on Spike TV.
Liddell knocked out Ortiz in both of their previous meetings in 2004 and 2006, and Liddell will now return to the Octagon to fight Ortiz for a third time in 2010.
Both have previously appeared as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter, with Liddell appearing opposite Randy Couture on the show’s
A UFC hall of famer, Liddell (21-7) hasn’t fought since suffering a first-round TKO to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in April, his fourth loss in five bouts since his December ’06 win over Ortiz. Though Liddell considered retiring at the request of his close friend White, “The Iceman” has opted to fight at least one more time following his appearance on Dancing with the Stars.
Ortiz (15-7-1), who returned from an 18-month layoff in a loss to Forrest Griffin in November, won five-straight between 2004 and 2006 over Griffin, Ken Shamrock, Vitor Belfort, and Patrick Cote, but has failed to win since, going 0-3-1 with losses to Liddell, Lyoto Machida, Griffin and a draw against Rashad Evans.
The Ultimate Fighter 11 will feature middleweight fighters and will begin filming early next year for a likely April debut, before concluding with a live finale in the summer. At open tryouts held in October in Los Angeles, veterans Nick Thompson, Bobby Southworth, and Jason Lambert were among those who advanced in their bids to make the cast of the reality series.
For the latest on The Ultimate Fighter 11 and the UFC stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
Pictured: Chuck Liddell
Tags: Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz
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I honestly think that Tito willcome outon top of this one although I’m not overly excited by the choices of coaches
As Dana said, hey whynot….. We shall see, If the Iceman wishes to fight Tito again than sooo be it…..
Usually ice can help heal a fractured skull… though maybe not in this case… ;)
I just can’t get excited about seeing Tito. Chuck i find entertaining and was a good coach last time but I just don’t like hearing Tito talk trash. It bores me. I would rather hear Forrest talk trash to chuck , at least he is funny.
Yeah I’m kinda “meh” about the coaching selection, but I think it will still turn out well for the UFC.
This finale was awful aside from the main event and how anyone thinks that having Tito Ortiz as a coach on season 11 of TUF is a good choice for the UFC is crazy.
There’s a reason why UFC 106 was a PPV failure compared with their recent run of events and it’s because Tito’s act has worn thin for awhile now.
I can see in away having Chuck do it since he’s “coming back” and has said that he wanted to take a full year off before a return, but Tito what a joke.
This is great for Tito and Chuck though because Tito really has zero interest in fighting and really just wants to be on TV and in the spotlight again, but hardly anyone wants to see him anymore and as for Chuck this is the perfect fight for him to return to because as age has caught up to him the big weakness he’s shown is an inability to take punches and Tito offers next to nothing in his stand up.
Lastly is that the same Bobby Southworth who was on the first season of TUF and is now 40 years old who it’s says advanced to make the reality show? WTF!
Yep, same Bobby Southworth.
Are we talking about Bobby “you’re a fatherless b@stard, Chris Leben” Southworth??
See my above comment.
These guys didn’t make the show. Yet. They all just advanced to the next round of tryouts, if I remember correctly. Pretty sure, the UFC brass doen’t give away cast members until the last minute. I’m cheering for the Goat though. And, I’m for Tito in this one.
did anyone here watch season three. tito may not be your favorite person to watch on tv, but the guy can coach. he was a great coach a and mentor on tht show. yea he argued with shamrock but his fighters loved him
im excited about the coaches my 2 fav fighter of all time great choice plus the fight should be good both guys need a big win an u dont get much bigger names then chuck an tito
dont think it should b tito that chuck is coaching against or fighting him for his next fight. kinda think he should fight someone he has never fought b4 like dan henderson, rich franklin, forrest griffin, of lil nog
Wow! I like it, Tito dances all over Chuck, beats GSP and Hardy!
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? What are you talking about?
would have liked to see gsp and hardy… machida and shogun would have been awesome too.. too bad they both suck at speaking english
*Yawn*
Agreed.
Coaches should have been Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian, if Diego loses. I don’t like Tito and I don’t want to see him anymore than I have to. He’s annoying and his fights suck. I guess we can just watch him get knocked out again, but I’ve seen Chuck do it so many times that it’s not that exciting.
florian would have to beat guida on saturday for that to happen… i would have liked to see sanchez and guida… the rematch of one of the greatest free fights of all time
i dont think chuck could knock out tito again.. i hate tito and chuck is one of my favorites but i think tito will win this one.. chuck is just too old.. he doesnt have the power he did 3 years ago and his chin isnt as good..
This is a huge disappointment. With both their fighting styles that can now be seen as throwbacks compared to the fighting styles of today’s top fighters, what can they possibly teach a batch of up-and-coming fighters that will be effective in today’s fight game?
On top of that, they will fight a third time. Who asked for this? Instead of reverting back to these two relics of the MMA world in an effort to get ratings and sell tickets, the UFC should instead utilize more the current top talent that they have.
Maybe for the TUF 12 season, they could have Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock as coaches, and afterwards have a Severn/Shamrock 3 fight. Thats no more ridiculous as this Liddell/Ortiz crap.
I know that sentimentality is going to play a huge part in this Liddell-Ortiz thing, but I would have much rather seen the coaches have been Ortiz and Forrest Griffin, with them rubber rematching at the season-ending PPV…
Maybe he’ll get a title shot after beating chuck like shogun haha jk.
Shogun got his shot because Rampage turned down a shot at Machida to fight Rashad after TUF 10 in Memphis, and Forrest had a fight against Anderson Silva @ UFC 101, Jardine and Thiago Silva were fighting Franklin v Belfort happend and well the UFC asked Shogun if he would fight Machida @ UFC 104 and Shogun said yes… All the people ranked above him essentially turned down a fight versus Lyoto Machida……
/2cents
Maybe Tito thinks Chuck still has the title. This fight would be sooo 2006.
This fight has no UFC significance but I will say some small dark corner of my brain does still want to see it.
Liddells problem is he wont change his style he is stuck in the mentallity that he can stand with anyone and knock them out. clearly this isnt the case, hes’s an awesome wrestler and he’s got a ground game that he refuses to use…..maybe its time for a new coach?