Issue 095

December 2012

On one hand, it seems fairly obvious Tito Ortiz was brought into the UFC Hall of Fame. After all, he was one of the company’s biggest stars as the promotion made its way into mainstream acceptance, and his five-consecutive defenses of the company’s light heavyweight title are still a record for that belt. 

Yet his 2012 induction as the eighth fighter in the UFC’s most elite club was anything but automatic. Ortiz’s very public feuding with Dana White left some to wonder if the UFC president would be willing to put the former ‘Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ alongside names like Mark Coleman, Randy Couture, Royce Gracie, Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell and Ken Shamrock.

However, in a Fighters Only exclusive, White says he didn’t even have to think twice. “He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Whatever his intentions were, good or bad, Tito did help elevate this thing to a new level.”

Ortiz, of course, was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame just hours before a closely contested UFC 148 loss to Forrest Griffin brought the curtain down on his career. During the ceremony, he discussed the physical limitations that hampered the tail end of his career and brought him to a 1-7-1 mark in his final nine contests after opening his career at 15-4.

“Over the years I’ve put into this sport, I gave my heart, I gave my soul, I gave my body,” Ortiz said. “I’ve had ACL reconstructive surgery, I’ve had back surgery and fought a year after that. I had neck surgery and fought six months after that. I’ve had some major surgeries.

“People say, ‘Tito, why are you retiring?’ I’m retiring because it’s time. It’s time to walk away because I’ve done everything I can possibly do in this sport.”

White said it’s hard to argue with Ortiz’s logic. His legendary quarrels with both White and arch rival Liddell, not to mention Shamrock and the rest of his Lion’s Den teammates, were central storylines in the early days of the UFC’s development.

“Personally, I know what he did and the stuff that went down and what his intentions were when he did them, but in the long run, the beef between me, him and Chuck elevated the brand, elevated the sport and elevated their fights,” White acknowledges. “It was almost like a reality show playing out. It really was.”

Longtime fans of the sport will always remember Ortiz’s creative, albeit sometimes vulgar choice in homemade T-shirts, his legendary ground ‘n’ pound attack and his ‘gravedigger’ routine to punctuate victories. Newer MMA followers might not remember the glory days, but Ortiz did sneak in one final night of glory in a surprising UFC 132 win over Ryan Bader. In front of a packed Las Vegas house, Ortiz wobbled Bader and then caught him with a fight-ending guillotine choke. The atmosphere was electric, and even with all of his tortured history with Ortiz, White admits he couldn’t help but enjoy the moment.

“When he went in with Ryan Bader that night, and Tito beat him, I genuinely stood up and clapped and was happy for him,” White says. “His back was against the wall. He shouldn’t have won that fight. Bader should have beat him, and Tito went out there and pulled it off, and I was genuinely happy for him.”

Ortiz was twice a coach on The Ultimate Fighter, and is still holder of the career record for most UFC bouts, with 27. His UFC 66 title fight with Liddell generated a $5.4 million gate, which remained the largest live MMA gate in Nevada until Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen’s rematch at UFC 148. But numbers and records will never tell the full story of Ortiz and his value to the UFC.

He was simply one of the most prominent, popular and polarizing fighters in the history of the organization, and even a love-hate relationship with the promotion’s boss didn’t keep him from earning his much-deserved recognition.

“He definitely helped elevate the UFC,” White adds. “There’s no doubt about it. Tito had this thing about him where people were drawn to Tito. People liked him.”