Main Card Results: Tito Ortiz Victorious Over Chuck Liddell in Grudge Match
Two left hands on the ground to Chuck Liddell’s (22-8) unresponsive face from Tito Ortiz (20-12-1) capped off their historic trilogy as well as Golden Boy Promotions first foray into MMA.
Ortiz, the former UFC megastar, earned the ninth knockout of his career, coming out victorious in his grudge match over Liddell in one round at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Liddell, 48, was unable to offer up any offense. He pawed with his left hand—almost in slow motion. A decade ago, a fierce straight right would’ve accompanied that lead hand. But nearing the end of 2018, the 43-year-old Ortiz easily walked him down. Moving backwards, tracing the five sides of the cage—a hexagon, not the trademarked Octagon their first two meetings went down in—Liddell showed his age, battling a hitch to his step.
Biding his time, Ortiz initiated at will. About 40 seconds left in the opening frame, Ortiz stepped into his man’s face with a jab and turned over a right hand onto Liddell’s chin. The Iceman slumped over and was met with two more left hands from Ortiz before Herb Dean pried him off.
In chief support, Devon Winn (5-0) turned in a bruising performance, banging up the colorful Tom Lawlor (10-7) en route to a unanimous-decision victory. He made his American Kickboxing Academy teammates proud, interchanging punches and takedowns to mark the biggest win of his career. Turning pro 20 months ago, Winn demonstrated why he is among the light heavyweight division’s hottest prospects.
Another pair of UFC veterans fought to a decision as Gleison Tibau (33-14) outmuscled Efrain Escudero (30-14) to a points win. Escudero’s reach advantage was not enough to keep the strapping Brazilian off of him.
Ricardo Palacios (11-1) showed off his power, knocking out Walel Watson (14-12) in one round. Overweight at Friday’s weigh-ins, Palacios channeled some of that extra gravitational force into an overhand right that took out Watson’s feet from under him and finished him off with a kick to the face.
James Barnes (11-3) earned a finish of his own, submitting Albert Morales in the third round of their bantamweight contest.
Jay Silva (12-12) also locked in a submission victory in the final round of his heavyweight tilt with Oscar Ivan Cota (10-2) that kicked off the main card.
All told, it’s hard to call Oscar de la Hoya’s MMA venture a success. But it had to have turned out exactly the way he and anybody backing the event must’ve expected.
The main event featured two names that once carried the UFC and the rest of the card included knockouts, submissions and one of the sport’s brightest new names.
More than one fighter mentioned De la Hoya specifically during their post-fight interview—conducted by heavyweight luminary Frank Mir—noting their free agency, and desire to continue working under Golden Boy’s banner. In the least, offering professional fighters another outlet provides them that much more leverage when negotiating a contract.
Ortiz swore Golden Boy MMA would change the game. Let tonight be the first step in that direction.
Photo credit: Tom Hogan – HoganPhotos/GoldenBoyPromotions
