Tito Ortiz: From Huntington Beach Bad Boy to The People's Champion

Aside from the huge main event which I previewed earlier, UFC 148 will be the last fight for one of the most polarizing fighters in UFC history, Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz. From his first fight in The Octagon in 1997, Ortiz knew how to get under other fighters skins, which made him a man fans loved to hate, but they had to respect him.

1997-2002: The Huntington Beach Bad Boy 

Jacob Christopher Ortiz, better known as Tito, made his UFC debut at UFC 13, back when they were having one night tournaments. He defeated Wes Albittron in his first fight, but lost to Guy Mezger later that night. After beating Jerry Bohlander at UFC 18, he had a chance to avenge his loss to Guy Mezger  at UFC 19. After his win that night, he began his image as The Huntington Beach Bad Boy, by putting on a shirt that said "Guy Mezger is My Bitch", and flipped the bird to Mezger's corner. This angered Mezger's Lions Den trainer Ken Shamrock, and that started their legendary feud.

Tito's next fight was for the Light Heavyweight Championship against Ken's adopted brother, Frank Shamrock. In what is still widely regarded as one of the best fights in UFC history, Shamrock got Tito to tap to punches at 4:42 of the fourth round. After that fight, Frank Shamrock retired from the UFC, and Tito wound up beating Wanderlei Silva for the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight Title at UFC 25. Tito defended his belt successfully five times beating Yuki Konodo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, and Vladmir Matyushenko before his finally getting his first fight with rival Ken Shamrock at UFC 40 in 2002.

Shamrock was known as "The World's Most Dangerous Man" fighting in the early UFC's before leaving for WWF from 1996-2000. Shamrock went back to MMA fighting for the Japanese organization Pride, before returning to the UFC in 2002. Ortiz beat Shamrock after his corner threw in the towel before the fourth round. It was reported that Shamrock had torn his ACL in training. The fight is seen as a huge turning point for the sport. The feud captured a large audience, and even gave the UFC main stream publicity on ESPN and USA Today.

2003-2008: The Most Hated Man in the UFC

Tito had a year long layoff following his win against Shamrock, and his toughest challenge to date, "Captain America" Randy Couture, stood opposite the Octagon from him at UFC 44. Couture dominated Tito, winning the fight by unanimous decision (50-44, 50-44, 50-45). Tito's three and a half year reign as light heavyweight champion came to an end (this is still the longest reign of a UFC Light Heavyweight Champion). Towards the end of the fight Couture spanked Tito's backside to teach him a little respect.

Next up for Ortiz was former training partner, Chuck Liddell. While Tito was champ, he kept putting off a fight with The Iceman, saying he didn't want to fight his friend. Liddell didn't think of Tito as a friend, and accused him of ducking him. At UFC 40, titled "It's On!", the two men finally went to battle. Chuck won with a flurry of punches in the second round, but it wouldn't be the last time these two men faced each other. 

Tito went on to beat Patrick Cote, Vitor Belfort before leaving the UFC for a gig with TNA Wrestling (This wouldn't be the last time Ortiz left the UFC for financial arguments with Dana White) . After trying his hand at scripted fights, Ortiz returned to UFC to beat TUF 1 winner Forrest Griffin, before being asked to coach the reality series opposite of old rival Ken Shamrock. Ortiz made quick work of Shamrock, knocking him out in the first round due to elbows. Dana booked them in an immediate rematch on  Spike TV, which Tito won easily again with a first round knockout.

After the five-fight winning streak, Ortiz got his rematch with Chuck Liddell for the Light Heavyweight strap. It was The Iceman that came out on top again, knocking Tito out in the first round. Ortiz went on to draw in his next fight with Rashad Evans, and lost a close decision to Lyoto Machida in his last contracted fight in the UFC in May 2008.

A few months after his last fight Ortiz underwent back surgery, a problem he said he had since the Randy Couture fight. Tito also got a job announcing for Affliction, during the clothing company's short run of promoting pay per views.

2009-2012: The People's Champ

In July of 2009, Tito and UFC President Dana White decided to bury the hatchet, and let Tito Ortiz back into the UFC. In October of 2009 at UFC 106 Tito was scheduled to make his return fight against Forrest Griffin. Ortiz lost that fight via split decision, and was outwrestled by Matt Hamil in another decision loss at UFC 121.

Heading into his July 2011 fight, Dana said if Tito couldn't beat Ryan Bader it would be hard to give him another fight. With his back against the wall, Ortiz pulled off one of the more inspirational wins in UFC history by getting Bader to submit to a guillotine at 1:56 of the first round. Ortiz got one of the loudest ovations in his career, and it was clear that he had won the fans over despite all his years playing the bad guy.

Despite that moment of glory, Tito showed his age in a loss to the younger and hungrier Rashad Evan in a rematch of their 2007 draw. In December of 2011 at UFC 140, Ortiz lost to Little Nog, bringing his record to 1-6-1 in his last eight fights. Tito announced that his next fight will be his retirement fight.

That brings us to this Saturday, as Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin look to complete their trilogy. (It should be noted that there are rumors that if Griffin loses he may retire also, ending the careers of two fighters that were essential in bringing MMA to the mainstream). This fight is very difficult to predict because you really don't know which version of each fighter you're going to see. Will we see the Tito that came out with a different fire inside like he did against Bader, or will he be the aging superstar that we saw against Little Nog? The same holds true for Griffin who is 2-3 in his last five fights. The fact that their first two fights were very close also makes this hard to predict. I think the longer the fight goes, the more it benefits Forrest, so Tito's going to look for a quick KO or take him down and look for a submission. You can never count a legend out when things get tough, so I'm taking Tito Ortiz to end his Hall of Fame career with a final win.

Quick Predictions for the main card

Anderson Silva over Chael Sonnen via KO
Tito Ortiz over Forrest Griffin via Submission

Cung Le over Patrick Cote via KO

Demian Maia over Dong Hyun Kim via Submission

Chad Mendes over Cody McKenzie via Decision

Ivan Menjivar over Mike Easton via Decision