Tito Ortiz
"The Huntington Beach Bad Boy"
Tito Ortiz was born as Jacob C. Ortiz on January 23 1975 in Huntington Beach, California. Tito made a splash on the MMA with his early fights in the UFC. Tito Ortiz began his combat sports career as a wrestler during his sophomore year in high school, and made his MMA debut as an alternate fighter for UFC 13 while he was still in college.Tito competed in that UFC as an amateur and for no money or contracts. Tito won his alternate bout against Wes Albritton in just 31 seconds after Albrittons corner threw in the towel.
Also fighting that night was Enson Inoue, who won his fight by submission, but was unable to continue due to an injury. This gave Tito Ortiz his chance as an alternate to replace Enson and step right into the finals to fight the more experienced Guy Mezger of The Lion's Den. Tito ended up losing this fight to a guillotine choke 3 minutes into round one, but it was a controversial fight because Tito was able to take Guy Mezger down and land some big bombs to Mezger's dome. He hurt Mezger pretty bad, cut him and the fight was stopped to check for a cut on Mezger. On their feet, Tito shot in on Guy again but landed in the guillotine choke, tight. Tito tapped, otherwise he would've ended up unconcious. Tito unexpectadly kicked Lion's Den fighter Jerry Bohlanders ass in 1999 at UFC 18, setting up a rematch against Guy Mezger again, and this time Tito won by TKO. Guy Mezger was just the beginning of Tito Ortiz' feud with The Lion's Den.
Tito Ortiz' personality and some really exciting fights have made him one of the biggest names in martial arts history. He has held the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship title and defended it 5 times. He has had classic battles with some of the most legendary fighters in MMA such as Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Ken Shamrock and more. Today, Tito Ortiz has headlined many pay-per-view UFC championship events and is a regular on magazine covers. He was even a Golden Gloves boxer in 2006.
Tito has been the subject of a lot of controversy during his career, and rightfully so. I think he loves the attention. For example, he's known for wearing T-shirts after his fights to portray a message. His messages have gotten more mild over the years, as he seems to have enough common decency to keep the cussing off the shirts, but early in his career the shirts would say such things as "Gay Mezger Is My Bitch" or "I just f**cked your ass!" and other taunting remarks. After a victory, he often gives a double gun sign with his hands or acts like he's digging a grave.
It seems Tito Ortiz is excellent at self-promotion. Most fans have a "love it or hate it" attitude towards Tito. He likes to talk a lot of trash about his opponents prior to a fight. He has a fight coming up this weekend (07/07/2007) at UFC 37 against Rashad Evans, and Tito recently called Rashad a "nappy headed ho" which caused some tension between the two fighters. Realistically though, MMA is a combat sport, and this kind of talk is to be expected. It's been around in boxing and other sports for years. Today's over-politically correct culture is what causes the controversy. But anyway, that's another topic entirely...
Back to Tito Ortiz, as for his personal life, he has recently been dating pornstar Jenna Jameson. Tito also has a son, Jacob Jr., with his ex-wife Kristen.
The success of MMA as a sport has been good for Tito Ortiz. His company, Punishment Athletics, is continuing to see success. Many people think of Tito Ortiz being over-the-hill as a fighter, but I think that's just because he's been in the sport for so long. The guy is only 32 years old right now. He just recently purchased Oscar De La Hoya's training center and mountain retreat in California for over $2 million dollars.
Tito Ortiz MMA Fight Record
Draw Rashad Evans - UFC 73: Stacked - 07/07/2007 3 rounds
Loss Chuck Liddell TKO (Punches) UFC 66 - Liddell vs Ortiz II 12/30/2006 3 3:59
Win Ken Shamrock TKO (Strikes) UFC - The Final Chapter 10/10/2006 1 2:23
Win Ken Shamrock TKO (Strikes) UFC 61 - Bitter Rivals 7/8/2006 1 1:18
Win Forrest Griffin Decision (Split) UFC 59 - Reality Check 4/15/2006 3 5:00
Win Vitor Belfort Decision (Split) UFC 51 - Super Saturday 2/5/2005 3 5:00
Win Patrick Cote Decision (Unanimous) UFC 50 - The War of '04 10/22/2004 3 5:00
Loss Chuck Liddell KO (Punches) UFC 47 - It's On 4/2/2004 2 0:38
Loss Randy Couture Decision (Unanimous) UFC 44 - Undisputed 9/26/2003 5 5:00
Win Ken Shamrock TKO (Corner Stoppage) UFC 40 - Vendetta 11/22/2002 3 5:00
Win Vladimir Matyushenko Decision (Unanimous) UFC 33 - Victory in Vegas 9/28/2001 5 5:00
Win Elvis Sinosic TKO (Cut) UFC 32 - Showdown in the Meadowlands 6/29/2001 1 3:32
Win Evan Tanner KO (Slam) UFC 30 - Battle on the Boardwalk 2/23/2001 1 0:32
Win Yuki Kondo Submission (Neck Crank) UFC 29 - Defense of the Belts 12/16/2000 1 1:52
Win Wanderlei Silva Decision (Unanimous) UFC 25 - Ultimate Japan 3 4/14/2000 5 5:00
Loss Frank Shamrock Submission (Strikes) UFC 22 - There Can Be Only One Champion 9/24/1999 4 4:42
Win Guy Mezger TKO (Strikes) UFC 19 - Ultimate Young Guns 3/5/1999 1 9:56
Win Jerry Bohlander TKO (Strikes) UFC 18 - Road to the Heavyweight Title 1/8/1999 1 14:31
Win Jeremy Screeton Submission (Strikes) WCNHBC - West Coast NHB Championships 1 12/8/1998 1 0:16
Loss Guy Mezger Submission (Guillotine Choke) UFC 13 - The Ultimate Force 5/30/1997 1 3:00
Win Wes Albritton TKO (Strikes) UFC 13 - The Ultimate Force 5/30/1997 1 0:31