INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Chuck Liddell won’t go so far as to say that, at this point, Tito Ortiz has more of a problem with him than he does with Ortiz.

“I don’t like the guy” is Liddell’s response to that suggestion, which doesn’t quite come as a surprise to anyone. After all, those who had forgotten about the UFC alums’ long-running rivalry got to be reminded of it recently, on the lead-up to their upcoming trilogy.

Liddel (21-8) and Ortiz (19-12-1) are set to be the headlining act of “Golden Boy MMA: Liddell vs. Ortiz 3,” which takes place Saturday at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., and streams live on FITE.TV as a pay-per-view.

In fact, Liddell can actually list a number of reasons for said dislike of Ortiz’s outside-the-cage persona, from “the way he treats people” to “the kind of person that he is in general.” But Liddell wouldn’t qualify those not-so-fuzzy feelings toward his longtime foe as, say, hate.

“I don’t care enough about him to hate him,” Liddell told MMAjunkie at a press conference on Tuesday. “I think he’s still sleeping at night jealous of me about what – he thinks I took what he should have had. He should have been the poster boy for the rest of his career and he thinks I took that from him. And I think he really thinks about it.

“He wants this fight so bad, said he came out of retirement just for me because he wants it so bad to beat me.”

Well, we’re not sure about the coming out of retirement “just for me” part. But Ortiz, himself, can attest to the importance of having Liddell’s name on that contract to drive him out of retirement and into what he says was ultimately an 18-week training camp.

“He was the one who called me out – I was enjoying retirement,” Ortiz told MMAjunkie. “But I think he needed a big fight, he needed to make some money. And the only way he had a big fight was to fight me. It’s a big rivalry. But once he said something like that, I was like, all right, let’s get it together.

“It was only going to be Chuck. Only Chuck. No one else. There’s no one else to fight. There’s no one else who I dislike as much as I do Chuck. It’s just one of those things, man, it’s time for redemption.”

One can see why Ortiz would be invested in the trilogy and the concept of “redemption,” as he was the one who lost both of their UFC battles, in 2004 and 2006 – both via knockout. But, moreover, Ortiz says there is a personal element and a “sour taste” to the match.

“I’m a loyal friend, man,” Ortiz said. “I’ve always been down for all my friends. I always look out for them. And to show what he’s done, it’s just – I shake my head about it, man. But, at the end of the day, I guess I’m putting food on his table my taking this fight and making this happen. And vice-versa, he’s doing the same thing for me.”

“The Iceman,” however, says he wasn’t as picky as to what – or, more precisely, whom – it would take to snap his more than eight-year-long retirement. While it was Ortiz who started getting him interested in returning, Liddell says that “it didn’t have to be Tito.”

“I had offers everywhere,” Liddell said. “A lot bigger guarantees to fight anybody I wanted to pick. I could pick anybody. They didn’t care. The name, whoever I fought, they didn’t care. But I chose this over that because I think it’s a fight my fans want, and I think for me, it’s a closest thing to a tuneup fight that’s got a name to it that there is.”

And here comes the bit in which, of course, both fighters disagree: Who is going to get their hand raised on Saturday. Ortiz says he’s “feeling 100 percent” for this fight, which is a “blessing” considering the amount of surgical interventions he’s had to go through, and has voiced some thoughts on Liddell’s training. His prediction is simple.

“My vision is just me digging a grave, burying him and saying it’s over,” Ortiz said. “That’s what I’m going to do to him.”

Liddell also shared his insights on why Saturday’s bout will be a “cakewalk” – which you can read about here. Other than his skills inside the cage, though, Liddell believes he comes into the third instalment of the feud with another type of edge.

“When I fight, I’m not an emotional fighter,” Liddell said. “He’s a very emotional fighter, I’m not. I’m very calculating, and I’m a vicious fighter. I am really trying to hurt you bad when we fight. But, as soon as it’s over, I hope you’re OK. Him, maybe not – just kidding. But I’m going to try to hurt him.”

For Liddell’s full pre-fight interview, check out he video above. Ortiz’s full chat is available in the video below.

And for more of Golden Boy MMA: Liddell vs. Ortiz 3, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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