Tito Ortiz once stood where Rashad Evans now
Almost a decade ago, ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was the young gun in the UFC, ready to take on the veteran stars of the Octagon, Guy Mezger and Jerry Bohlander. Ortiz had already suffered a defeat in his career (to Mezger), something Evans hasn’t yet experienced in his 15 pro bouts, but despite his one loss, there was a sense of excitement around the charismatic Californian, of a changing of the guard, something Evans hopes to repeat on Saturday’s UFC 73 card in Sacramento, California.
But at 32, Ortiz, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, has no intentions of going away.
“With an undefeated fighter, they’re holding on to that record so much that they don’t want to have that loss,” said Ortiz of Evans. “All of a sudden, all Rashad cares about is not losing, and the biggest thing that’s gonna overwhelm him is hoping he doesn’t lose and making sure he doesn’t lose. With him trying not to make a mistake and trying to keep from exposing himself, I think I’m gonna capitalize on that. When I grab a hold of him, everything’s going to kick into reality. I’m gonna see how strong he is and he’s gonna realize how strong I am, and his speed is gonna be squashed by my strength.”
It’s one of the great moments in any combat sport – the veteran meets the up and comer trying to take his spot – and at the moment of first impact, you can usually see whether the younger fighter is too strong and fast for the vet, or whether the veteran still has that extra something in his bag of tricks to turn back the challenge. It’s why Ortiz vs Evans is so highly anticipated on a card that also contains two title fights and the UFC debut of one of the sport’s greatest heavyweights. Another reason is that when Ortiz is involved in the promotion, attention seems to follow; something that has kept him on top of the light heavyweight heap for almost ten years.
“I think it really comes down to the fact that I try to entertain,” said Ortiz when asked to explain his appeal after all these years. “That’s my job. When I first started fighting in the UFC, it really came down to entertainment. A fight was a fight, but there was entertainment value. When I stepped into the Octagon, I gave my whole heart and soul and it’s very personal to me. I take training very seriously so when the fight comes about, I have no doubts in my step. I make sure that I’m fighting 100%, and when Tito Ortiz fights, it’s an event in itself, so I try to entertain and try to beat down my opponent. I try to make it exciting for the fans that buy pay-per-views and the fans that are sitting in the front row, all the way up to the fans in the nose bleed seats. They’re always gonna get a great fight out of Tito Ortiz, no matter what. I just don’t take this as a payday – this is very personal to me.”
Having been in the arena for Ortiz’ last four bouts (against Chuck Liddell, Ken Shamrock (twice), and Forrest Griffin), I can safely attest to the fact that love him or hate him, he still gets a reaction. It’s something that can’t be put into words, but you feel the excitement when Ortiz is on the bill. And while he appreciates the fans’ support, it doesn’t surprise him that after all these years it’s still there, win or lose.
“I’m not surprised because I really feel I’ve got my own destiny in my hands,” he said. “I could have been one of the fighters that were forgotten about when two years ago, after fighting Vitor Belfort, I went through a year of negotiations and sat out. But I went out and did extra stuff – I did TNA wrestling, I hired a publicist, and I made sure my name stuck out among the others, and that’s just the way I am. I’m the person who sticks out like a sore thumb. (Laughs) I’m gonna be here for a long time, I’m never gonna be forgotten, I’m gonna be an icon of the sport, and I’m gonna continue building my name to make it a household name.”
That ability to stick out like a “sore thumb” has undoubtedly helped Ortiz’ bottom line, but over the years its also fostered some resentment from his peers, some who believe that a fighter is paid to fight, not to appear is photo shoots with his girlfriend, hawk his clothing line, or take a stab at acting.
“Those guys who are just here to fight, they’re the ones that are gonna be forgotten,” said Ortiz. “I’m building a foundation, I’m here to build a castle, and I want to make sure I’m the king standing in that castle. You see a lot of fighters, all they care about is fighting. They’re gonna come in and say ‘oh, I’m gonna knock the guy out and that’s my job.’ That’s all they care about. To me, there’s entertainment value involved. You’ve got to make sure you’re known beyond just the fighting. You have to do the extra stuff. I do a lot of charity work, and to me, it’s not just fighting. If it was just about fighting, I would have kept my mouth shut and just fought. But I want to go on to other things. Being a personality and being an inspiration to a lot of kids who want to find role models to look up to is important to me. Maybe a lot of the things I do aren’t role model-type stuff, but I speak my mind no matter what. I came up from nothing, I’ve tasted dirt before and I never want to taste dirt again, so I have to make sure I’m a name that’s recognized always and forever in the sport of mixed martial arts.”
Unlike a lot of his fellow mixed martial artists, Ortiz doesn’t have a college degree or a solid career to go back to. Fighting is what he does, and everything that he can take from fighting and his notoriety to build a future for himself has to be done now, because – with the exception of Randy Couture – you can’t fight forever. Ortiz knows this, so he does what he has to, criticism be damned; yet strangely enough his high-profile also means a high-profile for the sport, and eventually for the other athletes in MMA. But other fighters don’t see it that way.
“It bothers me a lot,” said Ortiz of the reaction of other fighters to his out of the ring activities. “A lot of guys are saying, ‘oh, there’s Tito asking for this or asking for that.’ But if I don’t ask for it, no one’s ever gonna ask for it, and I need to set a standard by doing that. I’m only gonna be in this sport for another three or four years. I’m not gonna be Ken Shamrock at 43 years old, trying to beg the UFC to bring me back. I want to be done, I want to be out of the sport, and have a good sense of myself. I think I deserve a lot of respect for what I’ve done over the last ten years and a lot of fighters don’t give it to me, but I’m just trying to make things better for them and they’ve got to understand that. Hopefully in the future when things do change, they’ll all be thanking me in the long run.”
What really gets under the skin of Ortiz though, is the insinuation that his best days are in the past, that his return to the UFC in 2006 after a year-long layoff has seen him beat a 40+ Shamrock twice, squeak by with a controversial decision over Griffin, and get stopped in the third round by Liddell – not exactly an impressive series of bouts. Even Evans said as much in a recent media teleconference when he stated that he wished he was fighting the “old” Tito Ortiz. But Ortiz insists that despite everything else going on in his world, that at his core, he is still a fighter.
“There’s a long haul to everything and I think the competition is what gets me going, and the fans’ support gets me going as well,” he said. “I love to compete and see that I’m one of the best fighters out there. Fighting is my life right now, and I love it, I love to compete. But I want to make sure I make the right business decisions so I don’t have to worry about it when I’m 40 years old. I can sit back on my big golden egg and not have to worry about cash anymore. And I think the UFC is the one that’s gonna make that happen.”
So even while admitting his love of the actual sport hasn’t waned, there is still the concern about the business end of his career, something that has been well documented in his frequent verbal jousting matches with UFC President Dana White. Some would say that’s a distraction – Ortiz uses it as motivation, knowing that with each win, it builds his bargaining power. And if he can take Evans out impressively, he’s got a wide open field to look at in the future, especially with a new champion in Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson ruling the division, PRIDE standouts Dan Henderson, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Wanderlei Silva around, as well as his old nemeses Liddell and Griffin. In other words, win on Saturday night, and Tito Ortiz will have secured himself a spot in some of MMA’s biggest fights and may have also set the groundwork for becoming an even bigger star.
“I’ve always thought that this thing is gonna be bigger than what it is right now,” he said. “I remember fighting for the UFC before Zuffa owned it and taking the paycuts and fighting for pennies, and just really believing in the sport itself and knowing that one day I’m gonna make huge money and I’m still gonna be here. And those days are here now, but not to the fullest. I think we’ve reached 65% of what we truthfully can do, and I think it’s just a matter of time now. I’m gonna be here for another three or four years of competition and I’m gonna take advantage of it. These next three or four years, I’m gonna be the guy making the biggest dollars of all, I hope. Over my last seven years of competition, I’ve only lost to two people – the heavyweight champion of the world (Couture) and the former light heavyweight champion of the world (Liddell – twice). And I’m not even close to reaching my full capacity as a fighter. I’m a force to be reckoned with and I’m gonna be here for a long time.”
Doesn’t sound like marketing doubletalk. Sounds like fighting words.
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Tito Ortiz - Last Stand or a Rebirth? 
