Tito Ortiz – A Place in History
Published by on December 14th, 2007 in History

 Print |  Email |  RSS

Ortiz as taught the art of wrestling by one of Tank Abbott’s associates, Paul Herrera, who would become a UFC competitor himself. He was an outstanding high school wrestler and later competed at Golden West College (a junior college) and at Cal State-Bakersfield. The fighter who would later be referred to as the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was instrumental in preparing an even badder boy from Huntington Beach – Tank Abbott – for his UFC superfight against Vitor Belfort. Abbott, who was a tremendous fan favorite, used his “juice” to get Ortiz a slot as an alternate for UFC 13.

Ortiz found himself pressed into action, beating Wes Albritton in 31 seconds in his first match, then losing to Guy Mezger in somewhat controversial fashion. Ortiz had Mezger bleeding profusely, and when the referee, John McCarthy stepped in, Ortiz thought he had a victory. But the doctor examined Mezger, let him continue, and soon Ortiz was on the losing end of a guillotine choke, just like that.

It was a tough indoctrination, but Ortiz would return to become one of the sport’s biggest stars ever.

Ortiz got revenge over Mezger in UFC 19, winning on strikes, and got a shot at the UFC middleweight title in September of ‘99, losing to Frank Shamrock, who retired shortly after the fight. The weight divisions were re-classified, and now 205 pounds was the light heavyweight limit. Ortiz captured the vacant title in UFC 25 with a decision win over Wanderlei Silva, then went on to make five successful title defenses. One of those was against Ken Shamrock, adopted brother of Frank, in the first of what would be three ballyhooed meetings between the two.

Ortiz lost his championship in UFC 44, when he was bested on a decision by Randy Couture. A comeback fight against Chuck Liddell in UFC 47 brought a second-round KO loss, as Liddell’s punches were too much. After a win over Vitor Belfort, Ortiz was inactive for 14 months, during which time he flirted with other MMA organizations and had one comedic turn as a guest referee for the Nashville-based TNA (Total Non-Stop Action) wrestling promotion, where he floored Jeff Jarrett with a right hand. In 2006 he wrote the last two chapters in his trilogy against Ken Shamrock, knocking him out in one round in July, then, as Shamrock protested about the stoppage, rematched him three months later and did the same thing again. Ortiz swept the three fights against the “most dangerous man on the planet.”

But the feat of regaining the light heavyweight title eluded him when Chuck Liddell stopped him in three rounds at UFC 66, in what was the biggest pay-per-view event in UFC history and one of the biggest events of any kind that year. Ortiz’s presence, some argue, might be somewhat analogous to Oscar De La Hoya’s in boxing, in that he will draw pay-per-view numbers, win or lose. Ironically, Ortiz purchased De La Hoya’s Big Bear training camp for $2.1 million and now prepares for his fights there.

Ortiz seems to have the right blend of talent, likability and mischief that is perfect for the “sport of the 21st century.” He is known for the colorful T-shirts he wears after victories, some of which have rather risqué language on them. He feuds with management, and once challenged UFC president Dana White to a boxing match as a condition to a new contract agreement; the fight never came off for reasons that are still not fully explained to satisfaction. And if that lost him some “street cred,” he regained it by hooking up with prominent porn star Jenna Jameson and was cast in Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice.”