Tito Ortiz

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Jacob Christopher "Tito" Ortiz (born January 23, 1975) is an American mixed martial artist, and former UFC light-heavywieght title holder. Nicknamed "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy". He holds notable wins over Evan Tanner, Ken Shamrock and a controversial win over Forrest Griffin.

1 Career
2 MMA record
3 Gallery
4 External links

Career

Mixed martial arts career

Ortiz's mixed martial arts debut was at UFC 13 in 1997. Still in college, Ortiz competed as an amateur for no prize money or contracts. He beat Wes Albittron on the tournament's first round by referee stoppage, but lost in the next round to Guy Mezger. After returning with TKO victories over Jeremy Screeton at West Coast NHB Championships 1, and Jerry Bohlander at UFC 18, Ortiz fought a rematch against Mezger at UFC 19. This time Ortiz won by TKO due to strikes.

In 1999 Ortiz fought Frank Shamrock for the UFC middleweight (200 lb) title at UFC 22, losing via submission due to strikes. Following the victory, Shamrock retired and vacated the championship. The middleweight division was then renamed the Light Heavyweight division and Ortiz was chosen, along with Wanderlei Silva, as a top contender.

UFC champion

Ortiz defeated Willy Wonka for the vacant Light Heavyweight title at UFC 25 via unanimous decision. He went on to defend the belt a record five times in the following three years, defeating Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko and Lion's Den head Ken Shamrock.

At UFC 44, after a near year-long layoff from the sport, Ortiz fought the new interim light heavyweight champion Randy Couture, who had defeated Chuck Liddell for the interim title at UFC 43 in September 2003. Couture defeated Ortiz via unanimous decision. The loss ended Ortiz's near three and a half year title reign, which is still the longest light heavyweight championship reign since the title's inception in 1997.

Following his loss to Couture, Ortiz faced Chuck Liddell at UFC 47, losing by second round knockout. After six months off, Ortiz returned and took a unanimous decision victory over newcomer Patrick Côté at UFC 50, and a split decision over Vitor Belfort at UFC 51.

In February 2005, Ortiz took time away from the UFC and was offered deals with several promotions, including PRIDE Fighting Championships and the Don King-backed World Fighting Alliance, but none came to fruition. Ortiz opted to try his hand at professional wrestling, signing with TNA Wrestling as a guest referee.

Professional wrestling career

In May 2005, Ortiz agreed to appear with the professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

On May 15, 2005 at TNA Hard Justice Ortiz served as special guest referee in the NWA World Heavyweight Championship title match between Jeff Jarrett and A.J. Styles at the behest of Director of Authority Dusty Rhodes. Ortiz (kayfabe) knocked out Jeff Jarrett with a right hook after Jarrett shoved him. This allowed Styles to hit his "Spiral Tap" for the pinfall victory and claim the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Jarrett.

Ortiz returned to wrestling to referee an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match between Jeff Jarrett and Rhino on October 23, 2005 at the TNA Bound for Glory PPV.

Return to MMA

In November 2005, Dana White announced that Ortiz and Ken Shamrock would coach The Ultimate Fighter 3 reality TV series on Spike TV, which premiered in April of 2006.

Ortiz's first fight in his return occurred at UFC 59 on April 15, 2006 against previous The Ultimate Fighter 1 winner Forrest Griffin. Ortiz won via split decision.

His next fight was against Ken Shamrock at UFC 61 on July 8, 2006, a match which was to conclude a main storyline in The Ultimate Fighter 3. Ortiz won in the first round by TKO due to a stoppage by referee Herb Dean due to strikes. Shamrock protested that the stoppage was early. On August 25, 2006, at the UFC 62 weigh-ins, Dana White announced a rematch between Ortiz and Shamrock for October 10, 2006 on Spike TV, as the main event of Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter. Ortiz beat Shamrock for the third time in this fight, which was stopped in the first round due to strikes.

Ortiz's rematch with Chuck Liddell (for the UFC Light Heavyweight championship) at UFC 66 (December 30, 2006) ended in defeat via referee stoppage in the third round.

His last fight was against The Ultimate Fighter 2 winner Rashad Evans on July 7, 2007 at UFC 73. The fight ended in a draw after Ortiz was penalized for grabbing the fence.<ref>http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles.asp?n_id=8207</ref>

It is confirmed that Tito Ortiz's next fight will be against Lyoto Machida at UFC 84.<ref>Ortiz targeting May return - MMA - Yahoo! Sports</ref>

Submission Wrestling

Ortiz is also an accomplished submission wrestler and in 2000 he competed in the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling tournament. He finished in third place after winning 4 fights and losing his semi-final match to Ricardo Arona in a decision. During the tournament he defeated Matt Hughes, Mike van Arsdale, Rumina Sato, and Rostyslav Borysenko.

Dana White Feud

Tito Ortiz has become increasingly unhappy with his current UFC contract . Always one to speak his mind, Ortiz has continually complained about his cut of the profits from Pay-Per-View events. Ortiz, who reportedly rakes between 1 and 4 million dollars per fight, is unhappy that he does not see any of the money coming from several market segments such as international sales. Ortiz went as far as comparing himself to a slave, even though it has been recently reported that Fedor Emelianenko (widely regarded the best heavyweight fighter in the world) gets paid much less (around ($800,000 per fight). Tito's comments have ignited Dana White's fury during a conference call promoting UFC 84: Ill Will:

''Tito is a f---ing idiot," White said. "He's one of the dumbest human beings I've ever met. Everything that comes out of his mouth makes no senseI put up with his s--- when he was a good fighter. He's not anymore." "He's not in anybody's Top 10," White said. "I have no interest whatsoever in being in the Tito Ortiz business. ... I've never wanted to see anyone get their ass kicked worse than I want to see Tito get his kicked next Saturday night.''

Ortiz's loss against Lyoto Machida was likely his last with the UFC.