Former UFC š¦Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell has been teasing a potential return to action for quite some time now.
Chael Sonnen hź¦as been calling Liddell out for a little while now anš¹d he says heās ready to fight the former light heavyweight champion right now, but Liddell keeps turning the fight down.
āI got called out on TMZ - I donāt know if itās a call out but Iām using that term - by Chuck Liddell. He said, āChael Sonnen would be a perfect warm up fightā for his comeback. TMZ got ahold of me to respond. I never miss big media opportunities and TMZ is huge but this one I just sat it out. First time ever Iāve told TMZ Iām gonna pass on the interview because I didnāt know what to say and I still donāt, other than the truth: I will fight you right now Chuck. This was my idea. Iām the one that suggested you come in on my legends ass-whipping tour and be my crowning moment. Thatās the truth. Chuck does not have a contract with any organization. Bellator would sign him and would make that fight and did sit down with him and told him that but he didnāt sign. Instead he went back to TMZ and pretended he wanted the fight. No problem if heās using that as a negotiation tool. That is part of how the game is played and if enough people wanted to see it, it would be an effective tool. Thatās kind of your measuring stick. When he can get publicity like TMZ, thatās a good sign for him but the bottom line is, he doesnāt have a contract. They offered him the fight and in fact, they offered it to him twice, in person. . . He didnāt take it,ā Sonnen said on his podcast, .
Liddell hasnāt competed since being knocked out by former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin at UFC 115 and Sonnen hasnāt competed since defeating Wanderlei Silva at Bellator 180.
Whether they eventually clash or not, the Bš¤Ŗellator MMA veteran says he believes LiddelÜ«l is still planning on making a comeback.
āAt the same time that [Chuck] didnāt say yes, heās still in the gym training so I still believe thereās gonna be this Chuck comeback, I just donāt know where itās gonna be. If itās gonna be against me, it has to be in Bellator. The likely suspects for me: throw Fedor in there, throw Chuck in there, thatās the one I thought it was gonna be. I would like to fight Chuck, but the air has been taken out of my ball on that. I donāt believe that is going to happen. Then youāve got Tito in there. Letās just see what happens. It would be a lot shorter of a list if I told you who I didnāt want to fight,ā says Sonnen.
If Liddell does make a comeback and he fights outsšide of the UFC auspices, then it is the first time he has competed outside of the promotion in almost 14 years.
