Every UFC trilogy ranked ahead of Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor 3

Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor will meet in the 14th trilogy fight in UFC history when they clash at UFC 264.

Another chapter in the long story of UFC trilogy fights takes place Saturday at UFC 264.

[autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] and [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] will clash for a third and likely final time – 2,483 days after they first fought at UFC 178 in September 2014.

McGregor (22-5 MMA, 10-3 UFC) won the initial meeting by first-round TKO. In the rematch more than six years later, Poirier (27-6 MMA, 19-5 UFC) got redemption with a second-round TKO at UFC 257 in January.

Now the two lightweight contenders will compete one final time in the winner-takes-all rubber match.

It will be the 14th trilogy fight in company history, and ahead of UFC 264, we rank the others that have happened so far. Check out our list below, from worst to best.

Lamar Odom is boxing Aaron Carter … and ex-UFC champ Chuck Liddell is the ref

Lamar Odom is boxing Aaron Carter … and ex-UFC champ Chuck Liddell is the ref.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on MMAJunkie. com.

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In this week’s sign of the apocalypse, Chuck Liddell is entering the boxing world … as a referee.

Liddell, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, has signed on to officiate the Celebrity Boxing promotion’s upcoming match between 41-year-old former NBA standout Lamar Odom and 33-year-old singer/rapper/actor Aaron Carter. The event takes place June 11 at Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J. It airs on pay-per-view.

If you need extra motivation when considering a potential purchase, the card also will feature 41-year-old music producer Cisco Rosado vs. 52-year-old rapper Peter Gunz. A referee for that match has not been announced.

Liddell, 51, came out of a retirement of more than eight years in 2018 to fight Tito Ortiz in a trilogy bout. After two wins over Ortiz while they were in the UFC, Liddell was stopped with a first-round knockout in their third fight. That gave him six losses in his final seven MMA bouts dating back to 2007, including six by knockout.

He won’t be fighting this time, but it’s not as if he’s uninterested these days. Earlier this week, Liddell said he could be “ready anytime” for a boxing match against Jake Paul. And while it’d be great to say that won’t ever happen, just take a look at the landscape these days. It’s more than possible.

When the bell clangs to start the match, there will be three men in the ring who are alums of “Dancing with the Stars,” which frankly might be a combat sports first.

Odom was a contestant on Season 28 in 2019 and was the third one eliminated with partner Peta Murgatroyd. Carter and Liddell were in the same Season 9 cast in 2009. Liddell and partner Anna Trebunskaya were the fifth team eliminated. Carter and partner Karina Smirnoff fell just short of the final and finished in fifth place.

So if the boxing thing goes awry next month for whatever reason and they have to settle things with a dance-off, the smart money appears to be on Carter.

Lamar Odom is boxing Aaron Carter … and ex-UFC champ Chuck Liddell is the ref

Lamar Odom is boxing Aaron Carter … and ex-UFC champ Chuck Liddell is the ref.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on MMAJunkie. com.

***

In this week’s sign of the apocalypse, Chuck Liddell is entering the boxing world … as a referee.

Liddell, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, has signed on to officiate the Celebrity Boxing promotion’s upcoming match between 41-year-old former NBA standout Lamar Odom and 33-year-old singer/rapper/actor Aaron Carter. The event takes place June 11 at Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J. It airs on pay-per-view.

If you need extra motivation when considering a potential purchase, the card also will feature 41-year-old music producer Cisco Rosado vs. 52-year-old rapper Peter Gunz. A referee for that match has not been announced.

Liddell, 51, came out of a retirement of more than eight years in 2018 to fight Tito Ortiz in a trilogy bout. After two wins over Ortiz while they were in the UFC, Liddell was stopped with a first-round knockout in their third fight. That gave him six losses in his final seven MMA bouts dating back to 2007, including six by knockout.

He won’t be fighting this time, but it’s not as if he’s uninterested these days. Earlier this week, Liddell said he could be “ready anytime” for a boxing match against Jake Paul. And while it’d be great to say that won’t ever happen, just take a look at the landscape these days. It’s more than possible.

When the bell clangs to start the match, there will be three men in the ring who are alums of “Dancing with the Stars,” which frankly might be a combat sports first.

Odom was a contestant on Season 28 in 2019 and was the third one eliminated with partner Peta Murgatroyd. Carter and Liddell were in the same Season 9 cast in 2009. Liddell and partner Anna Trebunskaya were the fifth team eliminated. Carter and partner Karina Smirnoff fell just short of the final and finished in fifth place.

So if the boxing thing goes awry next month for whatever reason and they have to settle things with a dance-off, the smart money appears to be on Carter.

Lamar Odom is boxing Aaron Carter … and ex-UFC champ Chuck Liddell is the ref

In this week’s sign of the apocalypse, Chuck Liddell is entering the boxing world … as a referee.

In this week’s sign of the apocalypse, [autotag]Chuck Liddell[/autotag] is entering the boxing world … as a referee.

Liddell, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, has signed on to officiate the Celebrity Boxing promotion’s upcoming match between 41-year-old former NBA standout Lamar Odom and 33-year-old singer/rapper/actor Aaron Carter. The event takes place June 11 at Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J. It airs on pay-per-view.

If you need extra motivation when considering a potential purchase, the card also will feature 41-year-old music producer Cisco Rosado vs. 52-year-old rapper Peter Gunz. A referee for that match has not been announced.

Liddell, 51, came out of a retirement of more than eight years in 2018 to fight Tito Ortiz in a trilogy bout. After two wins over Ortiz while they were in the UFC, Liddell was stopped with a first-round knockout in their third fight. That gave him six losses in his final seven MMA bouts dating back to 2007, including six by knockout.

He won’t be fighting this time, but it’s not as if he’s uninterested these days. Earlier this week, Liddell said he could be “ready anytime” for a boxing match against Jake Paul. And while it’d be great to say that won’t ever happen, just take a look at the landscape these days. It’s more than possible.

When the bell clangs to start the match, there will be three men in the ring who are alums of “Dancing with the Stars,” which frankly might be a combat sports first.

Odom was a contestant on Season 28 in 2019 and was the third one eliminated with partner Peta Murgatroyd. Carter and Liddell were in the same Season 9 cast in 2009. Liddell and partner Anna Trebunskaya were the fifth team eliminated. Carter and partner Karina Smirnoff fell just short of the final and finished in fifth place.

So if the boxing thing goes awry next month for whatever reason and they have to settle things with a dance-off, the smart money appears to be on Carter.

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

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Chuck Liddell backing Ben Askren vs. Jake Paul at Triller Fight Club: ‘He’s not easy to knock out’

UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell is supporting Ben Askren in the battle against Jake Paul.

ATLANTA – UFC Hall of Famer [autotag]Chuck Liddell[/autotag] is supporting Ben Askren in the battle against Jake Paul.

Liddell, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, will be in attendance for Askren’s professional boxing debut against Paul in Saturday’s headliner at Mercedes-Benz Arena.

As an MMA legend with a wrestling background, he said he’s hoping to see Askren get his hand raised, and believe there’s a clear path to victory Askren.

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Watch the video above as Liddell talks to MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn ahead of the event.

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Randy Couture recalls being ‘fly in the ointment’ for UFC’s Chuck Liddell plans in 2003

Randy Couture beating Chuck Liddell at UFC 43 was not in the promotion’s plans.

When the UFC offered [autotag]Randy Couture[/autotag] an interim light heavyweight title shot in 2003, the writing was on the wall.

Couture, already a two-time heavyweight champion by then, knew the UFC wasn’t happy about him beating the younger Pedro Rizzo twice in back-to-back fights to defend his title in 2001.

“I don’t think they were too keen on having a 39, 40-year-old heavyweight champion,” Couture said in a recent episode of “Legend 2 Legend” with Burt Watson. “I don’t think they thought I was very marketable.”

In 2002, Couture lost his title when he was TKO’d by Josh Barnett, who subsequently was stripped after testing positive for banned substances. That gave Couture a chance to reclaim his belt six months later in a vacant title fight against Ricco Rodriguez, but Couture was submitted in the fifth round.

After that, Couture was slated to fight Andrei Arlovski until, three weeks before the fight, Arlovski broke his hand. So the UFC called Couture with a Plan B.

How about he moves down in weight to fight [autotag]Chuck Liddell[/autotag] for an interim light heavyweight title?

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At that time, Liddell was in a heated feud with former friend and then undisputed champion Tito Ortiz. Liddell vs. Ortiz was the biggest fight the UFC could make. The way Couture saw the situation, UFC president Dana White and the Fertitta brothers wanted to put Liddell over with interim gold so they could apply pressure on Ortiz to accept a title-unifier with Liddell.

“Obviously I was the fly in the ointment for that whole scenario,” Couture said.

No doubt about that as Couture went on to dominate Liddell before finishing him in the third round with some vicious ground-and-pound to become the first fighter in UFC history to win titles in two divisions.

In the video above, the UFC Hall of Famer reflects on his victory and how it put him in “a bit of an adversarial situation” with White and the Fertitta brothers.

Or check out the full episode below.

https://youtu.be/6pKrFxnY6ik

Dana White’s MMA Mount Rushmore includes Jon Jones and three interesting choices

UFC president Dana White had to really give it some thought before revealing the four fighters on his Mount Rushmore.

We can debate this question question forever: Who is the MMA Mountrushmore? In other words, the four greatest fighters of all time.

The answer, of course, is subjective and likely depends on how you define “greatest.” Is your criteria heavy on wins and losses? Is it about championships or records? How does longevity factor in? Do you put a lot of weight on how a fighter impacted the sport in a general sense?

When it comes to answering this loaded question, perhaps nobody is more qualified than Dana White, who’s worked with, knows personally and has watched up close the best of the best during his nearly 20 years as UFC president.

White had to really give it some thought when he was asked for his MMA Mount Rushmore on “The Schmozone Podcast.”

“If you’re talking about a Mount Rushmore where the heads are carved in stone forever, you have to go Royce Gracie. No-brainer, have to do that,” White said. “Amanda Nunes. Has to be Amanda Nunes, greatest female fighter ever.”

Those two names came out of White’s mouth quickly. But the other two?

“The other two are tough,” White said, before ultimately rounding out his MMA Mount Rushmore.

“I would have to go with a Jon Jones,” he continued. “The guy’s never been beat, and what’s more amazing about him going undefeated – which is incredibly amazing because very few people do it in the sport – is the things that he’s done to himself outside of the octagon, and he still hasn’t been beat. …

“No. 4 on the Mount Rushmore, I guess you’d have to go with Chuck Liddell. At the point in time, he was as big a star as ever. It’s almost a coin flip between Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin, and they’re both from the same show, the first season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ Chuck became a massive star, was the highest paid guy in the company at the time and all that stuff.”

So there you have it. Dana White’s MMA Mount Rushmore consists of [autotag]Royce Gracie[/autotag], [autotag]Amanda Nunes[/autotag], [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag], and [autotag]Chuck Liddell[/autotag].

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For what it’s worth, White did go on to acknowledge that [autotag]Georges St-Pierre[/autotag] and [autotag]Anderson Silva[/autotag], in addition to their in-cage accolades, did huge things for the growth of MMA in Canada and Brazil, respectively.

Some thoughts:

  • Anyone’s Mount Rushmore that doesn’t include GSP (the GOAT) is a crime. Sorry, but that has to be said.
  • The fact that neither of White’s two biggest cash cows, [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] and [autotag]Ronda Rousey[/autotag], are included is quite shocking. Thought for sure at least one of them would make it.
  • The fact that Gracie was a “no-brainer” and the first person he named is actually quite awesome.
  • Nunes’ inclusion is surprising, but it’s definitely time to stop talking about her in terms of being the greatest female fighter of all time and just consider her among the all-time greats period.
  • So Jones is on White’s Mount Rushmore, but he’s not worth “Deontay Wilder money.” OK …

What do you think of Dana White’s MMA Mount Rushmore? Let us know in the poll below:

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Video shows Chuck Liddell playing peacemaker during George Floyd protest in Southern California

The UFC Hall of Famer was doing his part to keep things under control in Huntington Beach.

A UFC Hall of Famer was on the streets promoting peace in Huntington Beach, Calif. – and it wasn’t hometown “bad boy” Tito Ortiz.

Former light heavyweight champion [autotag]Chuck Liddell[/autotag] was seen Sunday trying to de-escalate situations during a protest for the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died last week after a white Minneapolis police officer subdued him with his knee to his neck for nearly nine minutes. The Floyd incident, which was captured on video, has sparked demonstrations throughout the country, some of which have resulted in looting and rioting.

In a video posted by Los Angeles news affiliate ABC7, Liddell, 53, can be seen standing between two groups. When one man starts getting aggressive, Liddell steps in front of him in an attempt to calm him down.

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“It’s good to see people defending their city,” said Liddell, who lives in nearby Santa Barbara but is staying in Huntington Beach. “It’s terrible. Violence begets violence. Violence doesn’t help anybody. We all know what happened (to George Floyd) was wrong. Everybody I know thinks it was wrong. It’s hard to watch.

“This doesn’t help it. Destroying cities, destroying people, hurting people does not do any good for anybody. Hey, protest all you want; just do it peacefully.”

Liddell is the second UFC star to be spotted serving as a peacemaker in his community. On Monday, current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones posted a video on Instagram of him taking spray canisters away from vandals in Albuquerque, N.M., where he resides.

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Combat Rewind, May 27: Chuck Liddell knocks out fellow UFC vet in PRIDE

Check out the best highlights from this day in history with MMA Junkie’s “Combat Rewind.”

There’s “Flashback Friday” and “Throwback Thursday” (and Tuesday, too, if you want). But at MMA Junkie, we figured why not expand that to every day?

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year. It’s a look back at history, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives, featuring stellar finishes and classic moments in MMA and beyond on their anniversaries.

So kick back and relive the following bits of greatness in the video above:

  • PRIDE 14: [autotag]Wanderlei Silva[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Shungo Oyama[/autotag] – May 27, 2001
  • King of the Cage – Headstrong: [autotag]Ricky Simon[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Charon Spain[/autotag] – May 27, 2017
  • K-1 World Grand Prix 2005: [autotag]Semmy Schilt[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Peter Vondrachek[/autotag] – May 27, 2005
  • PRIDE 14: [autotag]Chuck Liddell[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Guy Mezger[/autotag] – May 27, 2001

Fight footage courtesy of UFC Fight Pass, the UFC’s official digital subscription service, which is currently offering a seven-day free trial. UFC Fight Pass gives fans access to exclusive live UFC events and fights, exclusive live MMA and combat sports events from around the world, exclusive original and behind the scenes content and unprecedented 24-7 access to the world’s biggest fight library.

Combat Rewind, May 27

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives.

“Combat Rewind” brings you some of combat sports’ best highlights from every calendar day of the year, courtesy of the UFC Fight Pass archives.