Another title run? Chuck Liddell shares his plans for the future

During today’s UFC media conference call, former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell talked about his return to fighting and his experience coaching opposite Tito Ortiz on "The Ultimate Fighter (TUF)." The 11th Season 11 premieres Wednesday, March 31 on Spike TV at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Liddell won the UFC light heavyweight world title on his second of three fights against Randy Çouture and would go on to defend the title four consecutive times, including once against Ortiz. All of his title victories came by way of vicious (T)KO.

But having gone 1-4 since his reign of terror — albeit it to a "who’s who" of top 10 world-ranked light heavyweights — Liddell was urged into retirement by UFC president Dana White, who saw his close friend succumb to three brutal knockouts in those five fights.

Liddell admits he needed time off to rest from so many knockouts, saying, "I thought I was getting hurt by shots that shouldn’t hurt me."

While confirming White is taking his return on a fight-by-fight basis, Liddell is optimistic he is here to stay, referring to his upcoming fight against Ortiz as a "warm-up fight" throughout the call.

"I want to make another run at the title. If I can do it, I’m guessing it’s going to take another couple fights. I’m going to have to beat Tito, then beat a couple more guys, then hopefully a title shot after that. One more shot at going out on top. I can still beat anybody in the world. So I just want one more shot at it."

Liddell says he always knew he’d return to fight one day and that he first started to realize how much he missed training for competition during his time as a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars."

Thanks to training with the TUF competitors and to his renewed focus on his upcoming opponent, Liddell is already in fighting shape, weighing around 220 pounds — lighter than he walked around as champion. He sounded a bit like his old self when he reflected on what he missed the most about his fighting career and what’s driving him back to the cage.

"I love the game, I love fighting. I love trying to prove that I’m the best in the world. I love the sport, I love what I’m doing. I really do love being out in the ring fighting people."

Now back on TUF for his second stint as coach, Liddell noticed the contestants of today are more well-rounded as mixed martial artists than their predecessors. He confirmed that he was pursued about the coaching opportunity by White — which made sense to "The Iceman" because it was a means to build his return to the cage — but that he asked that they not use Ortiz as his coaching opponent.

Request denied.

The two former champions have a long, turbulent history, which has often become personal. Liddell complained of lies he attributes to Ortiz, saying, "I don’t like the guy. … If you listen to him, he took me off the street, taught me how to fight, and I betrayed him," referring to the 10 weeks they spent as training partners.

Ortiz recently called out former heavyweight champion Mark Coleman for allegedly insulting his girlfriend, former pornstar Jenna Jameson, which Liddell called preposterous because Ortiz has used personal attacks for years to get under his opponents’ skin.

"Tito complaining that people talking about personal life things is insane. I remember back when he was going to fight Vitor (Belfort), before he fought Vitor, he said in an interview, ‘I don’t date white trash bitches like Chuck (does),’ on a radio interview. Now the sad thing about that was he was talking about ‘Star Magazine’ that said I was dating Juliette Lewis, which obviously wasn’t true. She’s a nice person, but we weren’t dating. I met her a couple of times … But he was referring to her, he said, when I confronted him about it and warned him not to do that again or I’d beat him in his own living room. I told him not to talk about my family ever again or I’d beat him in his own living room, and he apologized in front of all of his friends."

Apology aside, that hasn’t stopped Ortiz from recently misinforming media that he is "proud of Chuck" for coming clean and battling alcoholism, which he had supposedly struggled with for years. All lies in order to get "The Iceman" heated during their first week of TUF taping, according to Chuck, who says Ortiz’s strategy has backfired by providing more fuel for the fire.

"Now he pissed me off enough so that now instead of training for a tune-up fight, I’m training to hurt him. I’m training to go out there and beat him. He did the worst thing he coulda done — he motivated me to train." Liddell also commented on rumors that Ortiz will not be his opponent when he returns to the cage and that he will instead be fighting former middleweight champion Rich Franklin.

"I’ve heard the rumors, of course, but from what I understand, (Tito) has signed to fight and is actually going to show up and get the beating that he’s supposed to get. I think I earned it, having to put up with him for seven weeks. … I’ve heard the rumors too, and I hope that’s not true, because I think I earned the right to punch him."

Fans will have to wait and see. TUF kicks things off Wednesday.