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With all the pesky rumors about Rich Franklin replacing Tito Ortiz on TUF 11 and UFC 115, Rich makes absolutely zero mention of it in an interview with the Boston Herald. In fact, he confirmed he’s been in talks to fight Randy Couture just as Dana White said.

“It’s not signed yet, but we’ve been working Randy now for a while. We’ve talked June, then we talked August and now we’re talking June again,” Franklin said. “I think we’re having problems with Randy’s scheduling. So I really don’t know what the plan is at this point.”

Franklin also said he’s finally ready to make one more title run before he hangs up the gloves for good in 2-3 years.

“I’m at a point now where I’ve fought enough fights and it’s time for me to make a title run again and see where that takes me. That’s where my focus is Now,’‘ said Franklin, who has five fights left on his contract. “It depends on the speed of things. I would imagine I’ll probably end up negotiating one more contract before I retire. I’m looking at another two or three years of fighting.”

It looks like that run will start with Randy Couture, not Chuck Liddell, but I’m sure another report will surface before the week’s out saying otherwise.

We’re back in business. Sorry for the late start today, but our flight was delayed several hours last night and I didn’t get home until 5 o’clock in the morning.

Dana White has made it a point to let his 1,000,000+ twitter followers know that the picture of Chuck Liddell on the left is not indicative of the physical shape Chuck Liddell is actually in. He also wants everyone to know that we are a bunch of idiot websites you should stop reading for suggesting Chuck’s belly was back. I can’t imagine why any of us would do that…I mean it’s not like there’s a pic of Chuck from the set with his gut sticking out…oh wait, there is. Oh well, at least I didn’t liken him to the Cloverfield Monster (lol!). You and I may think it’s funny, but Dana White apparently doesn’t.

HT: WKR

Update: Oh boy, Jenna Jameson got into it with Chuck over Dana’s tweet. From BE:

Jenna: I think its funny that @DanaWhite defends Chuck Liddell like he’s his boyfriend… It’s kinda embarrassing

Chuck: @jennajameson she can talk all the shit she want tito is still a pussy and I ko’d him twice

Jenna: actually… I’ve never seen @titoortiz get knock the fuck out… Chuck has twice in the past year…

Chuck: oh I’m sorry the 1st 1 I dropped him and they stopped it the 2nd I hurt him and he quit

Jenna: Listen all you Chuck fans.. I saw @danawhites post defending Chucks gut…it’s embarrassing, my opinion, take it for what its worth

Jenna: Yes, Dana favors Chuck, always has… maybe he has a weiner to match his belly, and Dana may like it.hehehe

Spike TV has officially announced the full 28-member cast for the 11th season of The Ultimate Fighter featuring Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz as the coaches. You can check out mini-profiles of each cast member from the press release below.

Also, check out this picture of Chuck and his belly John Hackleman took from the set.

Guess that means that naked Chuck workout video was shot awhile ago.

TUF 11 premieres Wednesday, March 31 at 10:00 PM ET/PT on Spike TV.

Yesterday, one of the weirdest videos I’ve ever seen (find myself saying that a lot blogging about this sport) surfaced on the net. Chuck Liddell and his his girlfriend, Heidi Northcott (same girl who dated Jose Canseco and accompanied him to his DREAM fight against Hong Man Choi) were videotaped working out in their b-day suits by what seemed to be a heavy-breathing peeping tom.

It turns out the there is a semi-reasonable explanation for it though. Take note of Chuck and Heidi’s shoes. They’re both wearing Reebok ZigTechs, which Chuck endorses. According to multiple reports, the video was nothing more than a viral video ad campaign crafted by Reebok’s marketing department. It definitely makes it much less creepy, but still, that’s a pretty ballsy move (no pun intended) for a respected company like Reebok, especially in the wake of the whole Erin Andrews peephole video (though hers was worse since it was real and wasn’t censored). That said, it worked. It made Jimmy Kimmel Live and everyone is talking about it.

On a semi-related note, Jake Shields says Chuck is more motivated than ever to kick Tito’s ass and make another run in the light heavyweight division.

“I haven’t seen him this motivated since years ago when I first met him,” Shields said when appearing on MMAWeekly Radio recently. “He’s like a whole new Chuck. I think a lot of people are counting him out, being like, ‘oh, Chuck needs to retire,’ but the way Chuck’s looking right now, I wouldn’t want to fight him.”

“I think it’s a combination of Tito pissing him off, and the fans counting him out saying he should retire,” Shields commented about Liddell’s return. “I think Chuck’s got another run in him.”

“He is going to beat the living crap out of Tito. Chuck truly does not like Tito. He just runs his mouth and pops off, tries looking funny on TV, but I’ve never seen Chuck so motivated in my life,” Shields stated. “He really wants to beat the crap out of Tito. People are going to be surprised at the beating they’re going to see. They’re going to be like, ‘wow, Chuck’s back.’”

Oh, and check out Chuck from his bouncing days in ‘93…my how far he’s come…

Here’s a teaser for the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter featuring Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz.

Here’s a SI.com swimsuit video of Chuck Liddell’s Dancing With The Stars partner Anna Trebunskaya. Yeah, Chuck’s in it too, but I’m guessing you won’t even notice.

If Tito Ortiz was trying to press Chuck Liddell’s buttons with his alcoholism remarks, it worked. Liddell is not happy, and as he tells Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani his third fight with Tito was supposed to be a “tune-up” fight, but now he wants to “kill” him. He has no idea why Tito would say what he did, but it lit a fire under his ass and he’s ready to knock Tito out once again.

It’s official. For better or worse, the WEC will be holding their first ever pay-per-view event in May. The card will be headlined by a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber.

WEC President Reed Harris confirmed the news on the Dave and Mahoney X107.5 radio show. Harris said they’re still discussing the price point for the pay-per-view, but if he has his way it will be the same price as the UFC, $44.95. He tried to justify the price by saying they’re basically the UFC with lighter weight fighters and feels it’s only a matter of time before the WEC is as popular as the UFC is now. I can’t remember if it was Harris or not, but one WEC/UFC official said in the past the price point would be lower than the standard UFC price. Sounds like they’re reconsidering. Will you buy it at $44.95?

Harris also mentioned that Chuck Liddell is/was not an alcoholic and Tito Ortiz was “full of shit” in making such accusations. Apparently, Chuck is really pissed off about it.

HT: BE