Today in MMA History: Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz kick off their legendary trilogy

One of the signature trilogies in mixed martial arts history had its first chapter 16 years ago Thursday.

Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz’s names will forever be linked. Both competitors are in the UFC Hall of Fame. Both held the UFC light heavyweight title. Both were key in helping resurrect MMA in North America from near-death to one of the true cultural phenomenons of the ’00s.

On April 2, 2004, Liddell and Ortiz had the first of their three fights in the main event of UFC 47. A crowd of 11,437 paid a gate of $1.44M at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas to witness the bout.

This was a three-round, non-title fight. Ortiz had been accused of ducking Liddell during his reign as light heavyweight champion. In his previous fight, Ortiz lost his belt to Randy Couture, who was a color commentator at UFC 47.

While he didn’t get a title for his efforts, Liddell did get the satisfaction of a knockout win over his rival at the 0:38 mark of the second round. A year later, Liddell would finish Couture in the second fight of their trilogy to take the 205-pound title.

This set up a lucrative rematch between Liddell and Ortiz. With the duo coaching opposing teams on “The Ultimate Fighter 3” as the buildup, the duo squared off at UFC 66. The company set then-records for gate ($5,397,300) and pay-per-view buys (929,000) as this time Ortiz lasted until the fourth round before getting finished.

The series regrettably had a third chapter in 2018. Both fighters came out of retirement to headline Golden Boy Promotions’ first and, to date, only MMA show, with Ortiz scoring a knockout 4:24 into the opening round.

The first two fights, however, were indisputably electric, milestone nights in MMA history. And now, thanks to the UFC’s YouTube channel, you can relieve the fight that started it all by watching it in full above.

“Today in MMA History” is an MMA Junkie series created in association with MMA History Today, the social media outlet dedicated to reliving “a daily journey through our sport’s history.”