Issue 095

December 2012

“I guess you know you’re famous when a world champion can’t get the pay-per-view buys and wants to fight someone who gets him more pay-per-view buys. That says a lot about my name, and I’ve got to thank him for calling me out.”

Tito tips his cap to Anderson Silva back in 2009

“I don’t want to go. I’m not going to go. I am going to push the pace and win this fight. My back is right against wall. I’m coming out swinging.”

And cynics thought Tito’s pre-fight hype was all hot air before his career-reviving stoppage over Ryan Bader at UFC 132

“Jon Jones is a great champion, but me in my prime, I was devastating. I was vicious. Nobody could stop me. Of course I could beat him in my prime.”

Ortiz weighs up his chances against UFC light heavyweight Jon Jones

“As a person and as a human being, I don’t want to see him ever fight in the UFC again. But as a fighter, and someone who has heard the stuff that he’s talked about me, and the things that were talked about me during The Ultimate Fighter, I would love to get a chance to kick his ass.”

Even in 2010, the feud between Liddell and Ortiz still raged on

“He will be the last of the Mohicans.”

Before his UFC 66 bout with Chuck Liddell, Tito applied some of the wit that made him a championship-caliber trash talker

“When negativity brings you down, you need to find something to uplift you and make you strong and get past those downfalls. I wasn’t trying to prove anyone wrong. I was trying to prove people right.”

Ortiz reflects on his pre-fight mind-set prior to his first win in five years against Ryan Bader at UFC 132

“I wasn’t supposed to be where I am today. I had three choices: dead, in prison or where I am right now. And I think I made some great decisions.”

The MMA world would certainly agree with ‘The People’s Champ’