The A-Side Live Chat: Liddell vs. Ortiz 3, Nick Diaz, UFC Beijing, weight misses, Ronda Rousey, more

This is The A-Side Live Chat on MMA Fighting.

Today on the show, we’ll talk Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz 3, set for Saturday night in Inglewood, Calif. Are there still reservations about the fight even happening? How should it be expected to go down? How has Golden Boy done in its first effort at promoting MMA? Anything on the undercard to watch out for? Marc is in the Los Angeles area covering the fight this week.

We’ll also discuss Nick Diaz’s possible return to the UFC. ESPN reported last week that Diaz has agreed to fight Jorge Masvidal at UFC 235 in March, but nothing has been signed yet. Will this fight really go down? If so, is Masvidal the right opponent for Diaz’s first fight since 2015?

In addition, UFC Beijing is Saturday, headlined by a big heavyweight fight between Curtis Blaydes and Francis Ngannou. Is this the right fight coming off two straight wins for Ngannou? Where would a win put Blaydes in the heavyweight hierarchy? Alistair Overeem co-headlines the card against UFC newcomer Sergey Pavlovich.

We will also speak about the continued weight misses in MMA following Cynthia Calvillo’s issues with the scale last week ahead of UFC Argentina. Calvillo missed weight by two pounds, but still ended up beating Poliana Botelho by first-round submission a day later. Is this a fixable issue? Is Calvillo’s victory less impressive because of the weight miss?

Also on tap, we’ll chat about the status of Ronda Rousey’s run in WWE. She was involved in a big storyline Sunday at the Survivor Series show where WWE built her up to get sympathy and she ended up getting booed by the crowd. Rousey was smashed more than a dozen times with a kendo stick in the angle by Charlotte Flair. What spurred the reaction from fans to Rousey? Has some of the things she has said lately — storyline or not — been tone deaf?

If there is time, we can also talk about the UFC and Bellator going up against one another in January in Southern California, which will likely be a hot topic moving forward. Earlier this week, Bellator announced that Gegard Mousasi will be defending his middleweight title against Rafael Lovato Jr. on the card. T.J. Dillashaw vs. Henry Cejudo for the flyweight title headlines for the UFC, while Fedor Emelianenko vs. Ryan Bader for the heavyweight belt is the Bellator main event.

There is plenty to talk about, so join us to discuss all of the above and much more. All is up for discussion. The chat will start at our time of 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.

As always, we’ll post the video window as the event draws near and answer any questions you might have if you post them in the comments below. For the comments you deem the most deserving, please click the “rec” button. Comments in green will get first priority.

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