MB667
01-12-2006, 17:48
Tito Ortiz gearing up for battle with The Iceman
In many ways Tito Ortiz’ career has come full circle. He was an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion and a star before UFC 40: “Vendetta,” but it was his win that night in November of 2002 over Ken Shamrock that propelled Ortiz into Mixed Martial Arts superstardom.
He would lose his title – after successfully defending it five consecutive times – in his next fight to “The Natural” Randy Couture at UFC 44: “Undisputed.” Ortiz then suffered his first ever knockout loss to Chuck “Iceman” Liddell at UFC 47: “It’s On,” dropping back-to-back fights. Since those two loses Tito has gone undefeated.
Ortiz would finish out his UFC contract with wins over Patrick Cote and Vitor Belfort before stepping away from fighting for fourteen months, fielding offers and entertaining the idea of signing with another promotion. Tito received offers from several different organizations and was in negotiations to sign with World Fighting Alliance (WFA).
Asked how close he was to signing with WFA, Ortiz told MMAWeekly, “I’ll put it like this, I had a contract from them and we were in negotiations. It was just about numbers. That’s all it was, numbers flying through and the payments and possibly a part of owning the company. It was just percentages and everything, going on pay-per-view, little detailed things that my manager takes care of. “
Many wrote Ortiz off. UFC president Dana White stated that as long as he was president Ortiz would never be back in the UFC. Not only is Ortiz back; he’s back contending for the UFC Light Heavyweight Belt.
The UFC approached Tito, while in negotiations with WFA, about returning to the Octagon and being a coach on The Ultimate Fighter 3. Ortiz commented, “Dana [White] came up to me and said, what do we need to do to work this out? I just had a little smile on my face. It’s just like, now, he’s coming up to me asking me. It meant a lot to me. And it meant a whole bunch to me to see Dana be the bigger man, coming up to me and asking me if I would come back. They gave me what I wanted, and it wasn’t that much more than what I was asking for. It’s just one of those things where I think Dana is just a hard-nosed guy. He sticks to his guns. And if it weren’t for him sticking to his guns the way he does the UFC wouldn’t be where it is. They’d be taken advantage of by other companies. I wasn’t letting that happen to me. I had to stick to my guns. I had to make sure I was getting what I was worth. That ended up happening.”
Tito made the right career choice and found himself back in the UFC with a three-fight contract and a coaching position on TUF. But before the first episode aired that season Ortiz headlined UFC 59: “Reality Check” against TUF season one winner Forrest Griffin.
Ortiz looked phenomenal in the first round, grounding and pounding Forrest Griffin in devastating Ortiz fashion. The fight ended up going the distance with Ortiz garnishing a split decision win.
Tito was back, and he was winning. But the second and third rounds didn’t look anything like the first. Clearly something wasn’t quite right. It looked as if the cardio-conditioning machine, Tito Ortiz, was gassed. The truth is, he was. But injuries prevented the former champ from training properly.
Discussing his injuries going into the Griffin fight, Ortiz said, “I had a bulging disc. It was probably out about four millimeters in my back between L-4 and L-5. It kind of hindered me from wrestling. I was training about twice a week. I had a partial tear to my ACL, and I had a strained LCL in my left knee. It hindered my training. I was training two days a week. I’d train Monday, and I’d be laying in bed until Thursday night. Friday we’d train and I’d be laid up until Monday again. It was happening the last four weeks of training. There were times when I’d be laying in bed going should I take this fight? Should I take this fight? I just couldn’t let my fans down. You have 17,500 fans selling out in two days at The Pond; I just didn’t want to let them down at all. I was going to do what ever it took to step in the Octagon. Forrest was a tough competitor. It was just one of those things where my heart prevailed more than anything.”
He continued, “After the first round, I couldn’t believe he survived through it. The second round I just took a deep breath and was like, wow, I’m exhausted right now. It’s only been five minutes. I really couldn’t believe it. It seemed like from that point on my body was pretty much in cruise control, and I was just surviving.”
Tito was cast as opposing coach to his old adversary, Ken Shamrock, on the reality show TUF 3. Ortiz watched the show week in and week out interested in how he would be portrayed by the Spike TV editing department.
Tito told MMAWeekly, “I wanted to see what people perceived me as. I wanted to see how the producers and directors on The Ultimate Fighter had me perceived to the fans. It was true to a tee. I watched it every single week.”
In many ways Tito Ortiz’ career has come full circle. He was an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion and a star before UFC 40: “Vendetta,” but it was his win that night in November of 2002 over Ken Shamrock that propelled Ortiz into Mixed Martial Arts superstardom.
He would lose his title – after successfully defending it five consecutive times – in his next fight to “The Natural” Randy Couture at UFC 44: “Undisputed.” Ortiz then suffered his first ever knockout loss to Chuck “Iceman” Liddell at UFC 47: “It’s On,” dropping back-to-back fights. Since those two loses Tito has gone undefeated.
Ortiz would finish out his UFC contract with wins over Patrick Cote and Vitor Belfort before stepping away from fighting for fourteen months, fielding offers and entertaining the idea of signing with another promotion. Tito received offers from several different organizations and was in negotiations to sign with World Fighting Alliance (WFA).
Asked how close he was to signing with WFA, Ortiz told MMAWeekly, “I’ll put it like this, I had a contract from them and we were in negotiations. It was just about numbers. That’s all it was, numbers flying through and the payments and possibly a part of owning the company. It was just percentages and everything, going on pay-per-view, little detailed things that my manager takes care of. “
Many wrote Ortiz off. UFC president Dana White stated that as long as he was president Ortiz would never be back in the UFC. Not only is Ortiz back; he’s back contending for the UFC Light Heavyweight Belt.
The UFC approached Tito, while in negotiations with WFA, about returning to the Octagon and being a coach on The Ultimate Fighter 3. Ortiz commented, “Dana [White] came up to me and said, what do we need to do to work this out? I just had a little smile on my face. It’s just like, now, he’s coming up to me asking me. It meant a lot to me. And it meant a whole bunch to me to see Dana be the bigger man, coming up to me and asking me if I would come back. They gave me what I wanted, and it wasn’t that much more than what I was asking for. It’s just one of those things where I think Dana is just a hard-nosed guy. He sticks to his guns. And if it weren’t for him sticking to his guns the way he does the UFC wouldn’t be where it is. They’d be taken advantage of by other companies. I wasn’t letting that happen to me. I had to stick to my guns. I had to make sure I was getting what I was worth. That ended up happening.”
Tito made the right career choice and found himself back in the UFC with a three-fight contract and a coaching position on TUF. But before the first episode aired that season Ortiz headlined UFC 59: “Reality Check” against TUF season one winner Forrest Griffin.
Ortiz looked phenomenal in the first round, grounding and pounding Forrest Griffin in devastating Ortiz fashion. The fight ended up going the distance with Ortiz garnishing a split decision win.
Tito was back, and he was winning. But the second and third rounds didn’t look anything like the first. Clearly something wasn’t quite right. It looked as if the cardio-conditioning machine, Tito Ortiz, was gassed. The truth is, he was. But injuries prevented the former champ from training properly.
Discussing his injuries going into the Griffin fight, Ortiz said, “I had a bulging disc. It was probably out about four millimeters in my back between L-4 and L-5. It kind of hindered me from wrestling. I was training about twice a week. I had a partial tear to my ACL, and I had a strained LCL in my left knee. It hindered my training. I was training two days a week. I’d train Monday, and I’d be laying in bed until Thursday night. Friday we’d train and I’d be laid up until Monday again. It was happening the last four weeks of training. There were times when I’d be laying in bed going should I take this fight? Should I take this fight? I just couldn’t let my fans down. You have 17,500 fans selling out in two days at The Pond; I just didn’t want to let them down at all. I was going to do what ever it took to step in the Octagon. Forrest was a tough competitor. It was just one of those things where my heart prevailed more than anything.”
He continued, “After the first round, I couldn’t believe he survived through it. The second round I just took a deep breath and was like, wow, I’m exhausted right now. It’s only been five minutes. I really couldn’t believe it. It seemed like from that point on my body was pretty much in cruise control, and I was just surviving.”
Tito was cast as opposing coach to his old adversary, Ken Shamrock, on the reality show TUF 3. Ortiz watched the show week in and week out interested in how he would be portrayed by the Spike TV editing department.
Tito told MMAWeekly, “I wanted to see what people perceived me as. I wanted to see how the producers and directors on The Ultimate Fighter had me perceived to the fans. It was true to a tee. I watched it every single week.”