While UFC 132 had one of the best title fights of the year on the card, the event will likely end up being remembered as the night that Tito Ortiz saved his UFC career.
Going into the bout with Ryan Bader, it seemed like the media was busy writing Tito’s farewell piece. However, Ortiz showed us he still had plenty of gas in the tank and rocked Bader on the feet before securing a fight-ending submission.
While Ortiz ended up losing to Rashad Evans a month later in a fight that he took on extremely short notice, he actually looked good then as well. What’s more, he almost locked-in a fight-ending submission before being finished with a hard knee to the body and some follow up punches.
What this all points to is obvious, yet it seems to be all but forgotten by many MMA fans.
Tito Ortiz still has some fight in him.
Before this year, Tito took a lot of criticism because he had held a UFC roster spot despite going just 0-3-1 since 2007. A lot of fans thought he was only around due to his name recognition.
However, unlike guys like Chuck Liddell and Mark Coleman—who took a ton of damage during their losing streaks and were being repeatedly knocked out—Ortiz was staying competitive in nearly all of his fights and mostly looked like he was just losing tough decisions.
This weekend, Ortiz will attempt to keep his momentum going when he takes on Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 140 in a fight that can easily make or break the rest of his career.
While a loss will hurt Tito in the short term, he has shown that he can still hang with the elite in the division and could easily work his way back into title contention in 2012.
On the other hand, a win would push Tito into the upper echelon of the division and he could soon be fighting the Forrest Griffin’s and Rampage Jackson’s of the world. He could be inching closer to one last title fight.
No matter what happens this weekend, it has become clear that Tito is still a top light heavyweight in the UFC and his time in the sport is far from over.
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