Tito Ortiz: UFC light heavyweight champion and Hall of Famer | Ultimate Fighter Reunion

Why fans still care

TITO ORTIZ was one of the first stars of the modern UFC. He was a wrestler who smothered people on top and hit them hard from there, and he held the light heavyweight title through five defences. When the UFC was trying to prove it could pay its way, his fights were the ones that drew. UFC 40 set a gate record, and his 2006 fight on Spike TV was the most-watched UFC fight to that point by the network’s count.

Early life

He was born on 23 January 1975 and grew up around Huntington Beach, California. He has called himself “a bad kid coming up”. Wrestling gave him a direction. He wrestled in high school and at Golden West College, where assistant coach Paul Herrera introduced him to David “Tank” Abbott, who became a training partner. He watched the first UFC in 1993, and when the UFC brought in a 199-lb class that matched his wrestling weight, he saw his way in.

Getting started

He had no amateur MMA fights. At UFC 13 on 30 May 1997 he stopped Wes Albritton in the first round, then lost to Guy Mezger later the same night. In 1999 he beat Jerry Bohlander and then Mezger. On 24 September 1999 at UFC 22 he fought Frank Shamrock for the title and was stopped in the fourth round. He then spent a month training with Shamrock in San Jose, and credits him with teaching him the complete sport.

Career chapters

1. 1997UFC debut at UFC 13
2. 1999First title fight, against Frank Shamrock
3. 2000Beats Wanderlei Silva for the vacant UFC title
4. 2002Beats Ken Shamrock at UFC 40, his fifth defence
5. 2003Loses the title to Randy Couture
6. 2006Coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 3. Headlines on Spike TV and at UFC 66
7. 2012UFC Hall of Fame, and his last UFC fight
8. 2018Knocks out Chuck Liddell

Champion 2000 to 2003

On 14 April 2000 at UFC 25 in Japan he beat Wanderlei Silva over five rounds for the vacant title. He defended it against Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko and Ken Shamrock. The Tanner fight at UFC 30 ended in about 30 seconds with a bear-hug slam. “Keep bringing the middleweights, and I’ll keep stompin ’em,” he said afterwards. UFC 40 against Ken Shamrock on 22 November 2002 drew 13,770 fans and a then-record US$1.54 million gate, and Shamrock’s corner stopped it after the third round. Sherdog counts his reign at 1,260 days. On 26 September 2003 at UFC 44 he lost the title to Randy Couture on a unanimous decision.

The big draw 2004 to 2012

He lost to Chuck Liddell in 2004, then beat Patrick Côté, Vitor Belfort and Forrest Griffin. In 2006 he coached a team on The Ultimate Fighter 3 that included Michael Bisping, Who’s Who number 9. He beat Ken Shamrock twice that year. The second of those, their third fight overall, on Spike TV on 10 October 2006, averaged 4.2 million viewers by Spike’s figures. On 30 December 2006 he challenged Liddell for the title at UFC 66, a card that drew more than a million pay-per-view buys, and lost in the third round. On 7 July 2012 he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. “It is a huge honor to be recognized...,” he said. That night he had his last UFC fight, a decision loss to Griffin at UFC 148.

After the UFC 2014 to 2021

In Bellator he beat Alexander Shlemenko, Stephan Bonnar and Chael Sonnen, and challenged Liam McGeary for the Bellator light heavyweight title in 2015. On 24 November 2018 at The Forum in Inglewood, aged 43, he knocked out Liddell in the first round with counter right hands, “like I said I would”. His last MMA fight was a first-round submission of Alberto Rodriguez in December 2019. In September 2021 he boxed Anderson Silva, Who’s Who number 13 and was knocked out in the first round.

Style, technique and the corner

How he fights

He is a wrestler first. Sherdog’s 2015 analysis says he didn’t invent ground-and-pound but “basically perfected” it, with heavy top control, good submission defence and hard elbows. He often stayed in an opponent’s guard to strike rather than passing. He could also lift and slam, as Tanner found out. Late in his career he won with chokes, including a guillotine of Ryan Bader and rear-naked chokes of Sonnen and Rodriguez.

Teams and gyms

Paul Herrera coached his wrestling at Golden West College, and Tank Abbott was an early training partner. From 2001 he ran camps in the mountains at Big Bear, a compound he bought in 2007. Strength coach Paul Lacanilao worked with him for about a decade, and Jason Parillo trained him for his final UFC fights.

Stories people still tell

1. The record gate.

   UFC 40 brought in US$1.54 million, a UFC record at the time, and showed the new owners the business could make money.

2. Spike TV.

   His third fight with Ken Shamrock in October 2006 peaked at 5.7 million viewers by Spike’s figures.

3. The coach.

   Michael Bisping, Who’s Who number 9 later said Ortiz’s coaching on The Ultimate Fighter 3 was “very, very good”.

Legacy

He was a UFC champion with five defences, a Pioneer Wing Hall of Famer and one of the biggest draws of the early Zuffa years. His fights helped carry the UFC into the mainstream.