8. Chuck Liddell Vs. Tito Ortiz UFC 115
The Ultimate Fighter reality show is so popular because of the intense rivalries we have seen between the shows coaches over the years. Though current incumbents B.J. Penn and Frankie Edgar seem to be pals, over the years we have seen some incredible rivalries like Tate/Rousey, Rashad/Rampage and Bisping/Mayhem. In the shows eleventh season, notorious friends turned enemies Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz were booked to coach opposite each other before fighting on 12th June 2010 at UFC 115, completing the trilogy of fights between the two legendary fighters. Despite having already fought twice, the two men had been unable to bury the hatchet; this was not aided by Ortizs discussion of Liddells alcohol problems with the press in the build-up to TUF 11. This fight wasnt important to the UFC from a historic point-of-view in Ortiz and Liddells previous two scraps, the Iceman had utilised his heavy hands to score dominant KO and TKO victories. Rather, Liddell Vs. Ortiz 3 would have resulted in a nice payday for the UFC. The second fight had broken 1,000,000 PPV sells (mmapayout.com) so with the additional exposure and interest surrounding from the reality series, the rubber match would be even more financially fruitful. Knowing how much money the rematch would have made, it must have been all the more frustrating for the UFC when Ortiz was forced to withdraw due to an undisclosed injury. Dana White, who in interviews after the event explained that he suspected that Tito didnt have any intention of rematching The Iceman and faked the injury, was furious and immediately replaced The Huntington Beach Bad Boy with former 185-lbs champion, Rich Franklin. Franklin proved to be too much for Liddell who by that stage was well into the twilight of his career and knocked The Iceman out in the first round. After suffering his third consecutive knockout loss, Dana White declared that Chuck would never fight in the UFC again. Because of the supposed injury sustained by Ortiz, we will never know if he couldve finally picked up that win against a declining Chuck Liddell. Conversely, had Liddell won with another impressive knockout against his old rival, perhaps he would have had a few more fights in the promotion. In any case, it was nice to see Dana prioritise Liddells wellbeing over selling another big Iceman fight.