Former UFC light heavyweight champ Tito ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ Ortiz (15-8-1) is almost certainly fighting for his future this Saturday when he meets Ryan Bader on the main card of UFC 132.
Ortiz hasn’t won since October 2006, a first round TKO win over Ken Shamrock, which really dates the former champs last win. Since then he’s put together a dismal 0-4-1 record, but to his credit four of those fights have been against former champions such as Chuck Liddell, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, and Forrest Griffin.
Ortiz has been blogging about this Saturday, July 2, bout with Bader for ESPN sharing his thoughts on his career, as well as his upcoming fight.
Bader, who is coming off a loss to Jon Jones in a No. 1 contender bout, has talked about getting a rematch with the current champ, and is looking at ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ as the first step in that path. Ortiz, meanwhile, feels differently “I’m not a stepping stone to anyone.”
I’ve got nothing against Ryan Bader. I respect him and his skills. I have no doubt he’s going to win the belt one day; he’s got heavy, heavy hands and could have finished a lot more people if he used his punches differently. He’s got some good kicks and his takedowns are very good. He’s very powerful too but my strength is exactly where I want it to be and I will match him for strength, believe me.
But Bader made a mistake saying I am a stepping stone back to Jon Jones. I understand why he said it. When I was 28 I felt indestructible too and I was saying a lot of things about what I was going to do too. But I’m not a stepping stone to anyone. No one has ever had an easy fight against me and he made a mistake in saying that I am a stepping stone. Maybe it was a figure of speech, but even if it was it was a little disrespectful to a former world champion.
Bader is coming off the first loss of his career. He now knows what it is like to have his takedowns stopped. That tested his will and, on that one night against Jones, he showed me that he panics when he can’t bully people around with his wrestling. He won’t be able to bully me on Saturday and his will is going to be tested again!
Both men will meet on the pay-per-view card of UFC 132 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.