Being a professional MMA fighter comes with its share of hassles. Injuries in the field of MMA are a common occurrence, but there can be much more horrific ones as well, which might cut a fighter’s career short or might even be life-threatening. All these factors explain why many fighters choose to retire when they could have continued to fight. But, on the other hand, the MMA world has also witnessed fighters coming out of retirement to fight once again. ‘Georges St-Pierre’, ‘Randy Couture’, and ‘Brock Lesnar’ are all examples of fighters who broke their retirement plans to grace the Octagon once again.
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Also, it is always a ‘big money fight’, if promoters can manage to affirm the retired fighters to step inside the cage once again. This time it’s the ‘trash-talking legend’, ‘Chael Sonnen and ‘feuding with the boss’, Tito Ortiz who are all set to break their retirement and grace the MMA cage at the ‘Freedom Fight Night’ promotion.
The combined age of Chael Sonnen and Tito Ortiz is 92
Chael Sonnen and Tito Ortiz both had their times in the UFC. The duo had also met twice inside the UFC octagon. Their first encounter dates back to 1997, where Sonnen emerged victorious over Ortiz.
The duo locked horns for the second time in Bellator 170, with ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ snatching his revenge and submitting Sonnen in the third minute of the bout. They were both above or nearing their 40s at that time.
With ‘Freedom Fight Night’ clearing their plans for the bout, the combined age of the fighters would be unbelievable, ’92’ years, with Ortiz being 47 and Sonnen at 45. Although the fight is only a tentative one but is well expected to happen.
Chael Sonnen and Tito Ortiz both have their own reputations
Chael Sonnen is widely regarded as one of the best trash talkers in the sport. His legendary call out to Anderson Silva at UFC 136 can never be forgotten by MMA fans who love trash-talking. Sonnen’s brutal skills on the mic contributed immensely to make trash-talking a part and parcel of MMA.
Ortiz is also known for his feud with the boss, Dana White during his tenure in the company. Ortiz had multiple disagreements with Dana White on several issues, mainly upon coaching ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ season 3. Their relationship had reached such a sour note that Dana White had also reportedly agreed to a boxing match with Ortiz.
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Watch this Story – The best of trash-talk from Dana White and Tito Ortiz’s bitter feud
Sonnen currently runs his own YouTube channel and talks about various issues related to the fight game and UFC. He has always been into fighting; even after retirement from UFC. Hence, accepting a fight even at this age doesn’t seem a far-fetched task for him. But, Ortiz was elected as his city’s mayor in 2021, from which he stepped down after 6 months. He is also reportedly selling off his $4.8M mansion due to a robbery that “ransacked” it.
Do you think Ortiz is stepping inside the cage once again just because he needs more money?
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