So you’re the UFC light heavyweight champion of the world, and it’s three days before what is perhaps the biggest fight of your life.
With 72 hours to go until your UFC 66 main-event fight — which will be seen by a pay-per-view audience in the multi-millions — where exactly is your head during all of this?
Is your head replaying the fight footage that you’ve studied the past few weeks?
Is your head focusing on your game plan and how to defend against one of the best ground-and-pound fighters in the world?
Is your head simply drowning out all the distractions and noise so you’re 100 percent for Saturday?
Not if you’re Chuck Liddell, it’s not.
Instead, your head’s stuck between two sets of silicone titties belonging to a pair of hotties at a late-night dance club on the Vegas strip.
Performify, our resident MMA handicapper, is looking for any last-minute news tips — any insider info — that may affect the lines. And he found a doozy, all right. These photos were taken Wednesday night at Tabu, a night club located at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.
Granted, a guy is entitled to have a little fun, and Liddell obviously knows what he’s doing. He’s got a record of success to prove that. But three days before a huge fight, and he’s out partying like a frat-boy tourist on a Vegas bender? I just don’t get it. Either Chuck’s cruising through this for one for the paycheck or he’s not taking Ortiz seriously at all and is sure he’s going to destroy him.
I can’t wait until tomorrow to find out.
But one thing’s for sure — I feel much, much better about following Performify’s Picks and putting my money on Ortiz in this fight.
(If you’re interested, high-resolution versions of the photos can be found here and here. The originals are on SpyLasVegas.com but require registration to view.)
Friday, December 29, 2006 at 8:35 pm
This just kills me.
I imagine this as a movie. You’ve got shots of Liddell on TV doing the Cribs-style interview and from the looks of it taking home the sexy ring girl afterwards. Then you’ve got shots of Liddell partying in a Las Vegas nightclub. Dance music pounds. Liddell shakes it while gyrating women vie for a piece of the champ. And then, flash cut to the Ortiz training montage. While Chuck is on TV posing in his ferrari, Ortiz is running up a mountain in the snow. While Chuck is grinding it out in the club, we see Ortiz ducking and weaving, attacking a speedbag while You’re The Best Around sings out in the background…
While there’s no question, if anyone can party on Wednesday and fight on Saturday its probably Liddell, who certainly has the party reputation already. This definitely doesn’t mean Tito is a lock to win this fight. But man, this would be worrisome as hell if I were on Liddell here… and since I’m on Ortiz already, I can just sit back and smile…
Friday, December 29, 2006 at 8:51 pm
But what does that say about Tito assuming Chuck walks right through him? Ouch…
Friday, December 29, 2006 at 9:38 pm
Chuck parties his ass off. I met him in April here in Ausitn, Tx at a bar called Red Fez. At the time nobody in the bar but me knew who he was. He was hammered and I got a chance to talk with him when I bought him and his group a shot. What he said to me that night I will never forget.
“I told Tito that I would carry him for FOUR rounds and then I’m gonna knock his ass out.”
So yeah, I’d say he’s pretty confident about the outcome of the fight. I’d also like to say that he was one of the coolest athletes that I’ve met in a long time. He was so funny I’m having a hard time deciding who to pull for in this fight.
Friday, December 29, 2006 at 9:51 pm
On the flip side, how many times have we seen fighters come into huge fights too wound up or too tight and get beat that way? How many times in athletics period has that happened?
Look at it this way: Chuck’s last fight was at the end of August. All he’s focused on since that time has been his fight with Ortiz. Isn’t it healthy to break from that every now and then to clear your head? I think it is. He knows what Tito’s going to do. They’ve fought before and watched each other fight many times. Now it’s just a matter of going out there and getting the job done. The studying’s over.
Saturday, December 30, 2006 at 11:54 am
Nice pics. I’d see it different if were the night before the fight. I thought Liddel looked dangerous in last night’s Spike show. He’s taken off a lot of his drinking gut he’s so famous for. He looked lean and mean, and has obviously been working his butt off.
Saturday, December 30, 2006 at 4:52 pm
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