Issue 091
August 2012
Take your fight-finishing notes from Tito Ortiz, the former UFC 205lb champ who reworked ground ‘n’ pound into a demoralizing art in its own right
STACKING AGAINST THE FENCE
Ortiz pioneered the tactic of trapping the man on his back against the fence in order to rain down strikes and help get the finish. It’s a simple technique that’s commonplace now, though was more or less revolutionary at the time.
IN THE GYM
After scoring the takedown, step your legs up one at a time, driving your foe towards the cage. By stacking them and twisting their head against the fence you can prevent them from standing back up. Attack by throwing short punches and elbows over the top.
IN ACTION
In his final fight with Ken Shamrock, in 2006, Tito Ortiz did exactly this to gain the TKO victory. When the fight went to the ground early in the first Tito immediately directed Shamrock perpendicular to the cage wall and unleashed methodical ground ‘n’ pound for the stoppage.
ELBOWS FROM WRIST CONTROL
A classic Ortiz trick for landing elbows. When the man on bottom tries to prevent you from punching by establishing wrist control you can rotate your arm over the top to land the elbow.
IN THE GYM
When practicing without protection, as seen here, great care must be taken to drill slowly and without power to prevent injury. If you are sparring with elbows, a head guard and elbow pads are advisable.
IN ACTION
Take a look at UFC 61 in 2006. Ortiz stopped Ken Shamrock with elbows from the top in the first round.
SETTING UP THE TAKEDOWN WITH STRIKES
Tito started his career as a pure wrestler in the era when fighters were still more or less limited to one discipline. Over the course of his career he has developed a tidy kickboxing style, and used his striking to set up his shot.
IN THE GYM
Get your sparring gloves and shin pads on and drill this sequence. Throw the jab, cross, and left hook to set up a head kick. By using the head kick to back up the opponent on the cage, you should bring their defense high, opening up the double-leg shot. Hit the double-leg off the fence, and finish by circling out, landing in the guard.
IN ACTION
Take a look at Tito’s bout with Rashad Evans at UFC 73 in 2007. Tito threw numerous right high kicks and put Rashad on the back foot to help set up his takedown attempts.
IN JOE ROGAN'S WORDS
"Awww! Bader's hurt... Tito's got a guillotine... That's a solid guillotine Mike, Tito's got it deep... Unbelievable, what a huge, huge victory for Tito Ortiz." – Joe Rogan's UFC 132 commentary.
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