Looks like the hometown hero has overstayed his welcome in the halls of power. Leaving it in the hands of the judges is not working out great.
After stunning the national political scene (albeit on a smaller level), former UFC champ Tito Ortiz was recently hit with a unanimous motion to strip him of power on the council that he serves on. This caused a wave of reactions, considering the man has only been in his position for less than two months.
That time has been marred by some odd moments, such as being pressed on his first day in office, being refused access to different locations due to his staunch anti-mask positions to the point of reckless endangerment, as well as a tense confrontation in a parking lot with a constituent.
Well, Jim Rome is no stranger to Tito Ortiz shenanigans, and now he’s joining in on the dogpile but also adding some context as to how severe matters have gotten for Ortiz in such a short period of time (courtesy of FullContactMTWF, a.k.a. Borrachinha Depot on Twitter)
Tito Ortiz made The Jim Rome Show again (full video: https://t.co/vIfyUxWOgF) pic.twitter.com/TrdFwvVxIQ
— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) January 29, 2021
“The town that you grew up in, that you were raised in, that you fought out of, that you repped on a national stage, that you repped when you went into the hall of fame, that overwhelmingly voted for you, that town has already had enough of your act less than two months into your act. The Huntington Beach Bad Boy is about to be the Huntington Beach Sad Boy. I mean, let us go back to that very gracious speech, that very gracious victory speech back on election night.
[Clip of Tito Ortiz audio]
“That’s how Huntington Beach steps uuuuuuuuuuuup!! I expected no less, why? Because Huntington Beach loves me, baby. Because winning. Wiiiiiiinniiiiiiing“
[Back to Rome in studio]
“Lemme quote: ‘Huntington Beach loves me’. No, no they don’t. I mean, I dunno what’s worse, having your Mayor Pro Tem status potentially ripped by a vote of your peers on Monday, 52 days into your job, or the fact that it’s happening in your hometown. Like, you embarrass your city to the point where they’re trying to figure out a way to take as much power as they possibly can from you only 52 days into the gig. This is not easy to do Tito. And 1,400 days is a long time to sit in a room with a bunch of people who voted you into submission, and an even longer time to sit in a room knowing that your chances of moving up died in week 7 in your 2008-week term. Well played, my man. Well played. I’d say that it certainly can’t get any worse, but I know it can — and I expect will.
The only question is how much worse.
I mean, didn’t even make it to the two-month number. Like, who had the over/under on that? Who had the over/under on that Pro Tem status getting ripped. Who had the under on two months? You win! That would have been a great prop bet. The over/under at 60 days and he hit 62.
(Full segment available on YouTube)
OK, the “sad boy“ dig aside, it’s pretty raw. Yet Rome’s absolutely right. You can make the case that it’s not the city that turned their back on him, but rather a series of likewise officials that are in this case truly acting like the adults in the room. That doesn’t negate that Tito’s disregard for basic and common safety guidelines in a time where a deadly disease is ravaging the world (and hitting California particularly hard) is a major concern. Now all he’ll have to show for his bravado is having limitations on his position and possibly leaving it altogether to show for it.
Where does Tito go from here? He may just tough it out for a while in a show of defiance, or perhaps he may decide to go home and continue to vie for a shot at being Fedor Emelianenko’s final opponent now that he’s recovered from COVID. It won’t take long for us to find out either way.