Issue 208
August 2024
Before championship belts were on the line, the world's greatest fighters were locked in their own battles. Isaac Barnett delves into the gritty and inspiring MMA origin stories that forged these warriors into the legends they are today.
BRIAN ORTEGA - THE COIN FLIP
‘T-City’ was born on 21st February 1991 in Los Angeles, California. Before he was born, his family migrated from Mexico, so he has American and Mexican citizenship.
Ortega was brought up in a Section 8 housing area in San Pedro, California, an area prone to gang warfare. Home life was often fearful, terrified of the atrocities being committed all around them. It got so bad that his father even parked a motor home outside of the house to protect them from any stray bullets. When he was five, he and his father were shot at by gang members, which is when his dad started teaching him how to survive on the streets. His father taught him to climb a fence to escape being chased and how to seek cover if a suspicious car approached.
His father also encouraged Ortega to learn how to defend himself, and at 13, he enrolled Brian in a Gracie jiu jitsu gym under Rener Gracie. Once he turned 15, he began fighting in unsanctioned backyard-style amateur fights, which he loved because no one else would be jumping in the cage with him and his opponent.
Gracie saw potential in Ortega, but keeping away from the street life was challenging.
Speaking to ESPN in 2018, Gracie said: "There were times I wouldn't see or hear from him in months, and in my mind, he was dead. Brian was going to end up dead or in jail, or time was going to do its thing, and he was eventually going to choose the right path. And I can tell you right now, I would never have been on one outcome over the other back then because there was no certainty with him. The person with the least predictable outcome in life and the least guaranteed future I have ever met was Brian Ortega.”
He was never part of a criminal gang, but his stubborn attitude did make him a target for them, along with his best friends, Daniel and Richard. This came back to haunt Ortega when he was 17, and Daniel was murdered in a gang attack. Not long after, Richard was sent to prison for six years, which was a wake-up call for 'T-City.' Brian returned to jiu jitsu full-time, and before long, he had been competing in amateur MMA competitions, which eventually led him to become the celebrated professional you know today.
CHUCK LIDDELL - BORN BROKEN
UFC Hall of Famer Charles David Liddell was born on September 17, 1969, in Santa Barbara, California, and grew up with his two brothers, Dan and Sean, and his sister Laura. His mother raised all four of her children alone after Liddell’s father left when he was three. In his book My Fighting Life, he said, “My mom wasn’t the kind to coddle her kids. This was a woman who, as the shortest girl in her class, played right guard on the boys’ football team when she was in sixth grade. She still has a sweet voice and a good heart, and she had the perfect attitude for bringing up four kids. No amount of crying seemed to unsettle her.”
When Liddell was 18 months old, it was clear his legs had problems as he was always falling over. After consulting medical professionals, they realized his joints kept slipping out of the sockets in his legs. His mother hated the idea of putting Chuck in leg braces, so she chose to put him through an 18-month physical therapy routine instead, and he could walk by the time he was three.
It wasn't long before Liddell’s grandfather, who was always his father figure, taught him how to fight. His family had Irish heritage, and Liddell and his siblings inherited a well-known temper. To help control their emotions, his mother and grandfather taught all four of them how to box.
“My grandpa grew up in Brooklyn working for Lucky Luciano, went to war, and became a cop,” said Liddel in his book. “My mom had been through a nasty divorce. When you’re faced with those kinds of challenges, you can run or stay and fight. So, if fighting was going to be a part of life, we might as well be good at it.”
Liddell then began training in Koei-Kan Karate when he was 12 and worked up to the eighth-degree black belt he holds today. An intelligent kid, he was able to go to college, where he earned a degree in accounting. Here he enjoyed sports, played football, and wrestled, earning All-American honors. This sparked his thirst for MMA, which birthed the signature mohawk and icy glare that became the calling card of fearsome knockout power. It cemented his status as one of the sport's all-time greats.
DOMINICK CRUZ - THE ‘MAN’ OF THE HOUSE
Born on 3rd September 1985, in San Diego, California, ‘The Dominator’s’ family life was far from ideal. He was exposed to drug addiction and alcoholism from an incredibly early age, thanks to his father. By the time Cruz was five, his father was completely out of the picture, so his mother and grandmother raised him and his brother in their trailer park while struggling financially.
Cruz told ESPN, “My dad made me the man of the house at five. He looked me in the eyes and told me, 'You're the man of the house. I need you to take care of your brother and take care of your mom. This isn't going to work, and I'm out.' He taught me that drugs and alcohol can pull you away from whatever you want. Him being a drug addict, young, and not being around, all that. For a long time, I was in a lot of anger and pain about that.”
Cruz found happiness outside of his challenging home environment by competing in sports. In the seventh grade, he tried out for his school’s soccer team and encountered two students wrestling each other. Cruz was fascinated and began watching them practice before a coach noticed him. The coach asked if he wanted to join, and the seeds of his unique fighting style were planted. He wrestled through high school until he was kept out of the sport for a lengthy period due to an injury in his senior year, foreshadowing future injury issues that plagued his professional career.
His layoff caused him to miss receiving a scholarship to wrestle at the University of Northern Colorado. During this period, he began working part-time jobs, such as being a customer service representative at Lowe’s and in bars and restaurants.
He used his money to fund his college tuition to become a firefighter but he wanted more for his life, and after a while, he got frustrated, which led him to pick up boxing at a gym in Tucson. He loved it so much that he decided to drop out of college and pursue his dream of becoming a fighter full-time. Before long, he made his MMA debut at RITC: 67 and claimed a split decision victory, which began one of the greatest bantamweight MMA careers ever.
