Tito Ortiz Knocks Out Chuck Liddell In First Round Of Trilogy Fight

Liddell - Ortiz III will be hosted by the Forum in Inglewood, California.

"The whole game plan was never to take him down", Ortiz said. I wanted to test his skills.

"You ain't coming to my town, living in my town, and don't think I don't know everything that's going on", Ortiz told MMA Junkie.

It was a result for which Ortiz, 43, had waited years. He has long maintained he and Liddell (21-9) were close friends when the UFC and Liddell chose to break the friendship and promote a title fight between them. Ortiz followed up with a couple of more punches but Liddell was already laid out on the mat unconscious. He pawed at his own chin and dared Liddell to swing, as he walked his rival down.

It's hard to gauge the performance of Ortiz against this version of Liddell.

Had he proved victorious on Saturday night, Liddell had shown interest in a fight with current pound-for-pound great Jon Jones. I got in shape, I was ready for this fight.

"You can't hold someone back", said Ortiz (H/T to MMAFighting).

While Ortiz was obviously elated about the victory that helped him exorcize the demons of Liddell that haunted him for most of his career, he did pay homage to his greatest rival after the fight was finished. We're starting a business with Oscar De La Hoya. You pushed me so hard for all of these years and you made me work hard.

As for Chuck Liddell, the former UFC light heavyweight champions future remains uncertain after the devastating setback.