Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin Likely for UFC 115 in June, Not April “Fight Night” Event (updated)
UPDATE: Dana White says Rich Franklin will fight Randy Couture next, not Chuck Liddell.
A matchup between former light heavyweight champions and rival The Ultimate Fighter 11 coaches Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, expected to headline UFC 115, is off, and Liddell is instead likely to face Rich Franklin at the June 12 event in Vancouver, not a rumored UFC Fight Night 22 card on April 17.
Rumors of the matchup first surfaced last night on The Underground and Fighters Only today reported the bout would headline UFN 22, but MMAjunkie has since confirmed the fight is in the works UFC 115.
While the reason for Ortiz’s withdrawal is unconfirmed, sources told MMAjunkie that he was unable to complete filming for TUF 11 and Franklin was his likely replacement.
The news follows a series of messages posted by Ortiz on Twitter late last month during the final week of filming for TUF 11.
“If things couldn’t get worse. They just did! F***!!!!,” wrote Ortiz. “Jenna and I are fine. I guess business is business … Everybody will see it all! … Thinking that life couldn’t get any harder? It just did! Another challenge that god has given me! WOW.”
Ortiz has since posted a number of messages thanking Dana White and the UFC for bringing him back, indicating he’s still on good terms with the promotion, though his future plans remain unclear.
Liddell (21-7) briefly retired after suffering a first-round TKO to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in his most-recent fight last April, his fourth loss in his last five fights, but the 40-year-old UFC hall of famer has opted to return for at least one more fight.
Franklin (26-5), a former UFC middleweight champion, is 2-2 since moving up from 185-pounds in 2008, bouncing back from a split decision to Dan Henderson with a win over Wanderlei Silva last June before suffering a first-round knockout to Vitor Belfort in September. “Ace” underwent abdomen surgery in January that was expected to keep him out until May.
With Liddell-Franklin not in the works for UFC Fight Night 22, it is not known if the UFC will continue with plans for the event, which was expected to air on Spike TV opposite Strikeforce’s CBS-televised “Nashville” event.
For complete UFC Fight Night 22 and UFC 115 coverage stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
Post originally published on 3/13/2010 at 10:50am ET. Updated at 1:53pm and 6:15pm.
Pictured: Chuck Liddell
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Wow.
I’m sure this sucks on a lot of levels.
Once again the endcap PPV fight for TUF is skragged, so almost all of the drama and clever editing, not to mention countless adverts paid time, goes straight into the sh!tter.
Lets hope that the fighters actually carry this season of TUF, instead of one man [Kimbo] and 2 fighters that haven’t any intentions of stepping in against each other on the already-announced date.
Also, lets hope that Ortiz, in spite of his love-hate relationship with the fanbase, isn’t too seriously injured or otherwise ill, and can come back and give us a few more good fights to finish out his career…
Wonder What Tito’s Excuse Is This Time. Maybe Him And Dana Got Into It, And This Is His Way Of Screwing Dana Over. Or He Caught Herpes From Jenna Jameson. But I Give The Edge To Franklin In This Fight, Does That Mean The Fight With Franklin And Couture Is Off?
“Caught herpes from Jenna Jameson?!”
Really dude?
C’mon, I’m not the biggest Ortiz supporter, but thats out of order IMO…
Jcohl,
I’m not one on bashing fighter families but Jenna did used to F*ck people for a living, just saying….. (catching an STD was what came to my mind)
It Was A Joke Since He Is Married To A Ex Porn Star. But Maybe Tito And Dana Got Into Some Arguments While Taping TUF
i can almost guarantee no porn star has an STD.. they are tested before every film they make
Seriously? This is not a gossip forum, this is about MMA. Leave the personal lives out of this.
Dana and Tito are great drama. Both have egos through the roof and that makes for good TV, and sells PPV.
I wonder if Tito deciced not to become the next Ken Shammmy Sham losing to Chuck a third time.
Dude I’m sure simply was just cracking a joke like many have about Jenna n Tito not that bad just maybe it wasn’t funny to you. Anyway I like this fight I’m a huge chuck fan I’ve met him several times and I actually think he can win this fight. Hopefully this time off helped him heal up some and he can come back n be chuck of old. As for rich that man has had nothing but tough fights lately. His fought hendo,wandy,vitor,and now chuck. Gotta respect aman who will fight anyone at anytime.
maybe he has movie lined up doing that time. porno movies since the wife stoped..somebody gonna pay the bill’s.. i hope his not injured.. hope he comes back soon so he could get his face smashed by someone.. what kind of stupid excuse he got this time
Two mma events in the same city on the same night? The ufc is trying to ko the competition with this blow. More people will go to a ufc event and sf won’t sell out tickets even though it’s 3 belts on the line. The casual viewer doesn’t know shields, or mousasi or aoki. Watch the ufc to fill up fight night with big names for the fans. Is Liddell/Franklin enough? Either way it goes, it’s a big night for mma! They won’t do it, but if you want sf to get 0 ratings put couture/Toney on there, along with wandi/sexyama.
I totally agree on the couture vs. tony fight it would KTFO strikeforce realy bad, u got couture and liddell that are the biggest MMA stars and Toney whos a boxing legend this would kill SF and i would love to see it, also if it will hurt M1 business that would be soooooo sweet! these dushbags dont deserve to be mentioned in MMA.
To call M-1 Global “dushbags” (?) shows that the only thing you know about them is their negotiations with the UFC. And that’s too bad.
Why would you want SF to die? They put on amazing fights and help feed my addiction of MMA. UFC does not need to be the only MMA organization. I don’t mind them putting on a card the same night, but in the same town is pretty much a d!ck move.
Dont see the point of a liddell vs franklin fight other than the obvious draw . I will be watching the Strikeforce card myself and will wait for the UFN to repeat . Strikeforce/CBS picked that night so it wouldnt hurt the WEC PPV , so the UFC just had to do something else to mess with things . I can understand competing on the same night but an event in the same city is crappy . So I will watch the CBS card as I planned .
Wrong, Strikeforce didnt put their show on the 22nd because of the WEC, they didnt want to compete with the Super Six tourney on Showtime, their other TV partner.
Who the frick cares of a Liddell vs Franklin fight
I would rather go to bed early
lmao go to bed early?
First off let’s leave Jenna and the 5th grade humor off of this thread, Jenna has done nothing to deserve attacks from the MMA community and the FrenZy simply is better than that….
Liddell v Franklin is an excellent match that both fighters can win, I naturally will be pulling for The Iceman and I do think that he can come away with the victory.. Franklin can also Nate Quarry the hell out of anyone soo there is always that… A lot of people have been asking for this bout for quite awhile now it seems to be coming true, Chuck is already in “fighting shape” and well Franklin always is in “fighting shape” so only having a month til the bout shouldn’t be an issue..
I don’t think that Ortiz is exactly ducking Chuck again I do think that it is personal/family issues which I have no desire to speculate on.. Not a huge fan but when I met both Jenna and Tito in Philly they were pretty nice so best of luck to them
If both cards are on at the same time I will be tuning into the Strikeforce Card live on CBS, it is just a better card and honestly suits me best, their card is a hardcore fan(s) card and I’m really looking forward to it, I would then dvr the UFC card and immediately watch It after the Strikeforce card is over, April 17th Is going to be a hell of a day of MMA for me…. O and I habe ZERO desire to Couture v Toney that fight doesn’t make sense and most AC’s wouldn’t allow it to happen honestly ya know with Toney’s lack of MMA experience going against a multiple time MMA (UFC) champion, no thank u
*have
Agree, Strikeforce card then UFC to follow. Will be a late night.
MMA Connected’s Showdown Joe just posted this on his twitter, sorry dont know how to post the link.
ShowdownJoe
.Just received confirmation that rumours of Rich Franklin replacing Tito Ortiz (vs Chuck Liddell) are false. Trilogy bout is still a go.
ya i have a friend who met jenna and tito in vegas and she said they were really cool. anyway i thought this fight wasnt until june and the fight night countering sf was maybe gonna be a matt serra vs ? card with another headliner, whatever it may be i look forward to it.
Who is couture fighting now if franklin is fighting liddell ?
As a Tito fan, I was looking forward to this fight. Franklin/Liddell will be a good striking fight. If Chuck drops this one, he should hang them up. Will be 1-5 in his last 6 fights.
dana white just said on twitter franklin is fighting couture not chuck
Got it covered: http://mmafrenzy.com/13573/dana-white-ufc-planning-rich-franklin-vs-randy-couture-not-chuck-liddell/
Semi-off-topically, I’m wondering who is going to fill in as Dana White’s go to emergency fighter when Rich Franklin retires, Keith Jardine or Stephan Bonnar??