After former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz choked out former UFC middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen in the main event of last month’s (Jan. 28, 2017) Bellator 170 from The Forum in Inglewood, California, many had claimed the fight was fixed.
Fight fans argued that Ortiz didn’t have the rear-naked-choke locked in correctly, but UFC President Dana White, who admits that Bellator 170 was the first Bellator event he had watched, doesn’t agree:
“It was my first (time watching a) Bellator event,” White said on the “UFC Unfiltered” podcast with hosts Jim Norton and Matt Serra. “I watched it, and both guys are 40-something years old. It was basically a retirement fight, and a lot of people were calling it a fix. There’s no way.”
The fight marked the last of Ortiz’s illustrious career, while it marked Sonnen’s first bout since 2013 after he dealt with a suspension due to multiple failed drug tests. White believes that Sonnen’s inactivity played into his poor performance, but he also said that fans should be aware of Ortiz’s strength:
“Here’s one of the things a lot of people don’t realize about Tito Ortiz,” White said. “Tito Ortiz – this (expletive) guy is so strong. He put me in a neck crank one time and almost popped my (expletive) neck off my shoulders. This guy is physically very strong. And I think his ground game is very underrated because Tito would always get that top position and ground-and-pound people.
“I don’t think Chael has fought or won a fight since 2013, or that ballpark somewhere. … You take that much time off, and that’s what a fight’s going to look like. … There’s no way in hell that was a work. I’d love to come on here and (expletive) all over Bellator, but there’s no way that was a work. The thing you’ve got to remember, he’s a good wrestler, (but) never was Chael some big jiu-jitsu guy. And when Tito Ortiz is cranking your (expletive) head off, you’re 40 (expletive) years old … maybe I should tap out here.”
Do you agree with White’s comments?
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