MMA Spotlight 4.17.08: Tito Ortiz is Not Worth Keeping in the UFC

Posted by Reuel Mante on 04.17.2008

And I explain why.



Tito Ortiz is not worth keeping in the UFC.

The Huntington Beach Bad Boy is anything but lately. I had the honor of seeing an interview with Tito and Jenna Jameson talking about how they are done with the UFC after his fight with Lyoto Machida. If I was one of the Fertitta brothers, I would be saying, "Goodbye, Jacob Tito Huntington Beach Bad Boy Ortiz!" Why? Let's look at the facts.

When Tito was a dominant force in the light-heavyweight division, who were his opponents? Vladimir Matyushenko, Elvis Sinosic, Evan Tanner, and Ken Shamrock. Not to mention Wanderlei Silva when Tito won the title but there was also Yuki Kondo who was better served fighting as a middleweight. Now let's focus on the fight that truly made Tito a name. He would go on to destroy a man named Ken Shamrock who was 38 at the time. Ken was coming back from a disappointing loss at the hands of Don Frye. Not only that, Ken was still recovering from multiple injuries he acquired from years in the WWE. Here comes Tito, passing up an opportunity to fight Chuck Liddell, to fight a broken down man passed his fighting prime. I know what you're thinking. "We've all heard this before, Reuel." Sure you have. But this is where Tito's usefulness in the UFC started to dwindle.

After the fight with Ken comes the question about when Ortiz will face the Iceman. Depending on whom you listen to or would rather believe, Ortiz publicly stated that he and Chuck were friends. Chuck would deny that fact. Personally I believe that Tito's story is all B.S. Instead of giving the fans (that he loved so dearly) the fight we all wanted to see, we get some story of a contract dispute. I'm not entirely so bitter about it because without the situation involving the light-heavyweight title, we would have never seen the resurgence of Randy Couture's career play out the way it did back in 2003. Ah, good times.

Let's fast forward to 2006. Tito is no longer the light-heavyweight champion. After dropping two losses to Randy and Chuck, he rebounded with back to back wins over Patrick Cote and Vitor Belfort. He would then take a break by trying to break into pro wrestling. Excuse me while I throw up a little in my mouth.

Ortiz's first fight back in 2006 was against Forrest Griffin. In a hotly contested battle, Tito would squeak by with a split decision victory. I, among many others, feel that Forrest was royally screwed in that fight. Then, who does Tito fight next? Ken Shamrock. That's right, it wasn't bad enough he beat a broken down fighter at 38 years old. He had to beat him up at 42 years old now. Not once but twice! What kind of purpose did Dana White or Joe Silva actually believe this would serve? Sure, higher ratings matter but both fights were brutal to watch! As you probably already know, Ken would lose both fights in the first round.

Then the announcement that we've been waiting for: Because Tito has won five fights in a row, he is now the number one contender to Chuck Liddell's light-heavyweight title. I should tell you that I was truly excited for this fight. This was Chuck's chance to further his legacy and was Tito's chance to get the belt he's been wanting back for three years. In what was Tito's finest performance since losing to Frank Shamrock, he was TKO'd in the third round.

That was Tito's last chance to mean something in the UFC.

It would be another seven months before we get another Tito Ortiz fight. Who was he fighting? The winner of the Ultimate Fighter 2, Rashad Evans. What was supposed to be a fight that Tito SHOULD have won, ended up being a disaster with the result, a draw. The draw came about as he was deducted a point in the second round for grabbing the fence. Since it was a tie, it was pretty clear that Tito won the first two rounds! His explanation: "If you're not cheating, you ain't trying." No, if you're cheating and get caught, you ain't winning!

Tito is now scheduled to fight undefeated Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 in May. I hope you read that right. The fight is in May which means that Tito Ortiz has been inactive for ten months. As soon as the fight was announced, there were reports of Tito complaining about having to fight someone like Lyoto. Apparently, Lyoto was beneath him. How so? In the past year, we have been treated to four dominant victories from Machida. In the past sixteen months, we've been treated to a third round knockout loss and three round draw from Tito. Who's higher on the totem pole?

Let's breakdown the fight:

Lyoto Machida
Shotokan Karate black belt
a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert
fights out of Black House with the Nogueira brothers and Anderson Silva

Versus:

Tito Ortiz
A wrestler who trains at Team Punishment with Rob McCullough, Melvin Guillard, and Matt Hamill.


Sorry, it looks like the odds are stacked against Tito this time. Lyoto has more tools at his disposal to beat Tito. Not only to beat Tito but to finish him before the end of the third. Ortiz will have to go to the same old routine that brought him to the dance. Shoot for a takedown, maintain control in Machida's guard, and press him up to the cage, and ground and pound until the end of the round. Lyoto has knockout power (as he showed against Rich Franklin) and he can submit (as evident by his fight with Sokoudjou). Looks like someone was complaining because Machida was a fighter Tito can't beat.

After May, what's next for Tito? Well, there is always Strikeforce where he can have a rematch with Frank Shamrock. There is also EliteXC where he can be a major star in a company that needs mainstream talent if they're going to stay on CBS. He could also join Tim Sylvia at Adrenaline MMA. However, there are two places that I would like to see him go.

First of all, there's the IFL. Not only would Ortiz become an instant star riding the coattails of his former UFC career, he would also be able to present a team that he coaches, further establishing the name Team Punishment. We've seen the team separately represented by Tito, Rob McCullough, and Tiki Ghosn. Why not show the whole team as a unit and dominate the IFL?

Secondly, there's Dream. What better way to reestablish your legacy than become a huge star in Japan? Automatically, Tito will be a star and if he were to rack up wins against the local Japanese light-heavyweights, even bigger paydays will follow. There's been an argument that UFC does not promote its fighters well. The Japanese love their American fighters. Just look at Don Frye, Josh Barnett, and Mark Coleman. Mark Coleman did a razor commercial with Wanderlei Silva in Japan. The sky is the limit for Tito in Dream!

There is a commonality with these two promotions. The fights are contested in a ring. That is an aspect that could force to Tito to change his game plan. A notable discussion can be made if Tito makes the transition. 2007 saw quite a few former Pride fighters struggle to make the transition from the ring to the cage. With different rules from Japan to the U.S, any fighter would have difficulties. This could be a chance to see it from the other side. How would Tito, a veteran cage fighter, fare against opponents in a ring were stomps and knees to a downed opponent is allowed but elbows to the head are illegal?

Wherever Tito Ortiz ends up after UFC 84 is anyone's guess. Does he still belong in the UFC? I don't think so. The company has made enough money without him in the past year. He is no longer the name that brings buy rates and PPV buys. Chuck Liddell does that already.