It’s been a long time coming but fans of ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ Tito Ortiz (16-8-1) finally got to see their fighter perform “The Grave Digger” after his submission win over Ryan Bader at last nights UFC 132 event.
“The Grave Digger” is Ortiz’ ritual after every victory, his way of putting another opponent to rest. If your not familiar with it check out this VIDEO of Ortiz digging a grave for Evan Tanner back in 2001.
The win, his first since October 2006, saw him go on a 0-4-1 run between victories, has brought the former UFC light heavyweight champ new life and he plans on using this new energy to face a formal rival.
Minutes after his win, Ortiz was greeted by the media backstage to discuss his win. As always, one of those questions was “Who’s next?”
“Forrest Griffin. Forrest or (Mauricio) ‘Shogun’ (Rua), Rashad (Evans).”
“I want to fight the guys at the top now, I want to fight the guys with names. I’m sick of giving guys names. I’m sick of doing that you know.”
“(Lyoto) Machida came out, but he’s a world champion now, and I can say that. Rashad at the time, but he became a world champion. I mean I fight the top tear guys all the time, so lets continue fighting the top tier guys.”
Ortiz lost a split decision to Griffin in November of 2009 in the main event of UFC 106, it was the second meeting of their career with Ortiz earning the split decision in their first fight back in April 2006 at UFC 59. He also lost a unanimous decision to Machida at UFC 84. And fought Evans to a draw at UFC 73 after he was penalized a point for holding on to the fence.
Ortiz tried to make the case that he meet the victor at this Augusts UFC 134 event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“Forrest would be awesome. The winner of Forrest-’Shogun’ would be great. I just want to get in the mix and fight the top guys.”
Certainly pitting the winner of that bout against Ortiz could certainly sell tickets and pay-per-views, but does it make much sense for the UFC’s 205 lb division?