UFC 132: Tito Ortiz Begged for Fight Against Ryan Bader After Asked to Retire by UFC
Bleacher Report’s Patrick Drottar:
In the Ultimate Fighting Championship, if a fighter’s losses begin to pile up, he will most likely be shown the door.
For most fighters, three losses is enough to earn you a pink slip and a spot in the unemployment line.
However, this is not the case for former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz.
Ortiz, clearly past his prime, has not won any of his previous five fights. His last victory came back in October of 2006 when he defeated Ken Shamrock to end their bitter rivalry.
Four of those five fights came against fighters who would wear UFC gold at one point in their career in Rashad Evans, Chuck Liddell, Lyoto Machida, and Forrest Griffin.
Only Liddell has the privilege of saying he finished the Huntington Beach Bad Boy.
Ortiz’s most recent fight was against collegiate wrestler and student of his Matt Hamill at UFC 121.
This was a fight that Ortiz could have won. However, he underestimated Hamill’s wrestling skills, which lead to an underwhelming performance on Ortiz’s part and another unanimous decision loss.
According to ESPN.com, after the fight, Ortiz was asked to call it quits.
“The UFC called me after that fight and said ‘we want you to retire’. I was shocked,” said Ortiz.