Yes, if you’ve followed MMA for some time now, then we’re guessing the above headline may have evoked a general response with the words ‘since when?’ After all, Tito Ortiz has never exactly been one to shy away from the camera, microphone and or anything resembling a spotlight. Of course, that’s not to say the MMA world doesn’t owe a ton of debt to Ortiz, as like him or not, “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was a driving force in making the sport what it is today.
Although Ortiz has struggled over the last few years with injuries and lacklustre performances, the UFC still promoted the former champ heavily, giving him main event tilts or coaching stints on TUF. So as we head into UFC 121 and Tito’s bout with Matt Hamill, it’s been kind of weird really, to see the light-heavyweight take somewhat of a back seat no? When asked at this week’s UFC 121 presser about not carrying a PPV card, Ortiz had this to say (thanks to MMA Bay for the footage):
“It takes a lot of pressure off; it’s awesome. I like to see Brock doing all the work, Cain doing all the work, but at the same time I still do the extra PR work the UFC lets me do. It’s Dana’s decision and at the end I’m thankful just to be on the card.”
Interesting. Really, aside from Tito’s recent remarks regarding deaf people (which soon required his apology), it’s been relatively quiet on the “Bad Boy” front. That may continue if he ends up losing to Hamill Saturday. To bet on the bout head here.