Of all the fighters in the sport of mixed martial arts, by far the most controversial and most polarized is Tito "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Ortiz, and he seems to get attention inside and outside of the cage, regardless of who his opponent is. He's been in open conflict with the Lion's Den, single handedly smashing the upper echelon of the gym and gaining fame and fortune (and a porn-star girlfriend) in the meantime.
At the beginning of his career, Ortiz seemed to be simply a shadow of mixed martial arts heavyweight legends like Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman, trying to use the groundnpound style of fighting that the men had perfected. Ortiz made his debut at UFC 13 in the tournament style that was popular during the period.
While Ortiz TKO'd his opening opponent, Wes Albritton, with the explosive groundnpound for which he would become famous later in his career, he dropped his second fight to Guy Mezger when he got caught in a guillotine choke by the more experienced Mezger. (On top of two UFC's matches at UFC's 4 and 5, Mezger had competed in almost twenty matches in Japan's Pancrase organization) The fight would be a lead up to the long standing conflict between Tito and the Lion's Den gym that Mezger represented.
Ortiz took a break after losing to Mezger, partly to recooperate from the mental damage of a loss and partly to really hone his groundnpound and learn to defend submissions like the one that Mezger had caught him in.
Ortiz returned to the sport more than a year later, in December of 1998, to fight Jeremy Screenton in West Coast No Holds Barred. Ortiz TKO'd screenton in 16 seconds, and would quickly be resigned by the UFC.
At this point, Ortiz really began to exploit his charisma, which many credit with helping the expansion of the sport more than anything else. He began to hype his fight with Jerry Bohlander, a teammate of Guy Mezger's, making it an issue of revenge for his loss and verbally attacking Lion's Den coach Ken Shamrock. While the Lion's Den fighters did not take him too seriously, when Ortiz TKO'd Bohlander after fourteen and a half minutes, they started to get a little upset. While Shamrock had yet to become vocal, Mezger took some open offense to Ortiz's comments and requested a fight with Tito.
In Tito's second UFC fight since his return, he hyped up his fight with the Lion's Den even more, and the UFC put together one of the earliest high-profile grudgematches in the sport: the rematch between Tito Ortiz and Guy Mezger. While the hype on paper did little for long time hardcore fans, the new fans that Ortiz managed to bring in with his charisma and open disrespect for much more seasoned fighters left many long term fans hoping Mezger would put him in his place for the second time, and many new fans wondering if this kid from LA was really as tough as he said he was.
The fight with Bohlander was also the debut of what would be one of Tito's many calling cards in later year. His gravedigger finish had already become noticed by some fans, but the addition of the victory t-shirts that would become the subject of alot of arguments among hardcore fans and fans who loved the flare came after Bohlander, when he donned a shirt that said: "I just fucked your ass."
Ortiz finished Mezger even quicker than he had finished Bohlander, cutting near 15 minutes down to around 10 and picking up another TKO on his record.
The t-shirt after this fight read: "Gay Mezger is my bitch." and it pissed Ken Shamrock off enough that he began to address the conflict himself.
In his next fight he would get the opportunity for a really, really dangerous opponent, as he was matched up with UFC middleweight (a title that, at that time, was 205 pounds) champion Frank Shamrock, the blood-brother of Lion's Den leader.
Frank had already become a legend in the Pancrase organization that had really brought his blood-brother into the spotlight and it was a fight that Tito hyped up like it was Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston, saying that it was time for the young up-and-comer to bring the sport into the new age.
The fight, though, didn't go like Ali vs. Liston at all. Shamrock stopped Ortiz with strikes in 4:42 of the fourth round of their title fight.
In what some would call the lone show of respect in Ortiz's career, he put on a Frank Shamrock t-shirt after the fight.
Shamrock left the UFC due to a contract dispute shortly after, vacating his title. Ortiz (the only fighter to last more than one round in the Octagon with Shamrock) was named an immediate contender. His opponent was to be Japanese MMA legend Wanderlei "The Axe-Murderer" Silva, who had started to make a name for himself in the Japanese upstart at the time, the Pride Fighting Championships." Silva had also already had a few fights in the UFC.
Tito beat Silva in what would be the first decision win of Ortiz's career, staying on top of Silva and pounding him with elbows for five rounds.
His next fight would be the beginning of his major tear in the UFC, as he finished Yuki Kondo two mintues into the first with a vicious neck crank.
The t-shirt has become one of the most notable sayings, not just from Ortiz, but in all of MMA: "RESPECT: I don't earn it; I just fucking take it."
Ortiz would continue to dismantle all of the fighters put in front of him as he slammed future 185 pound champion Evan Tanner for a 32 second win and stopped Australian Elvis Sinosic with a cut from his elbows at 3:32 in the first.
Above: Highlight reel of Ortiz in his prime as the lightheavyweight champion.
After Ortiz fought Russian warrior Vladimir Matyushenko, winning against by decision, a match was lined up with Lion's Den head Ken Shamrock. Some of the newer Ortiz fans, who had drawn in with his charisma and explosiveness, didn't know of the old rivalry between the two fighters, but Ortiz made sure to let them know.
Now Tito was the champion and Shamrock was the challenger, but many saw the future UFC Hall-of-Famer Shamrock as a god of mixed martial arts, and some referenced the fight Tito had had with Ken's brother as what would probably end up happening in this fight.
Ortiz would beat Shamrock when his corner threw in the towel at the end of the third round, but it would be Ortiz's last fight in the Octagon for a year.
Severe personal problems forced Ortiz to leave the UFC, and some of the stories are more myth than fact (some involve him wrapping a car around a tree, some involve overdoses and drunk bar fights).
Ortiz returned to the UFC after almost an entire year off in September of 2003 to fight interim champion Randy Couture. Couture was a former heavyweight champion (and currently holds the heavyweight strap) who came down to 205 for different challenges.
Couture would outclass Ortiz in a matchup of a Division I national champion and a Junior college warrior. It was clear that Ortiz was not the same fighter, or at least that the sport had gotten away from him a little bit.
Ortiz would then drop his next fight to another DI wrestler (though not national champion) in Chuck Liddell, when he was stopped for the first time since his fight with Frank Shamrock almost five years before.
His next fight was more of a stepping stone fight then anything else, when Ortiz beat Canadian Patrick "The Predator" Cote.
The UFC then set up a matchup of former champions, matching Ortiz against Brazilian warrior and UFC legend Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort. Belfort made a war of the fight, taking Ortiz the judges scorecards, but two of the judges overruled the third and gave the fight to Ortiz.
After being declared the winner, Ortiz would make the first political statement of his career; his t-shirt didn't insult Belfort (a fighter who had been one of the most dominant in the sport for the prime of his career), instead it read "Bring Home Our Troops!"
Ortiz's next fight would also end in a split decision, when he beat Forrest Griffin in what would prove the most controversial win of Ortiz's career, a decision that is still questioned today.
With the clear impossibility of passing Ortiz off as a serious title contender, regardless of his charisma, the UFC management set up another match with Shamrock. Ortiz won easily.
Though there was some minor controversy that might have been overlooked, Ortiz took another fight with Shamrock, and the third fight resembled the second in an order of deja vu with extra elbows.
While Ortiz's recent career has included a tough second loss to then 205 pound champion Chuck Liddell in his title shot and a draw with Rashad Evans that Ortiz might have won without a point deduction, Ortiz remains one of the greatest champions in the sports history and a definite candidate for the hall-of-fame.
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