UFC 132: 10 Memorable Sports Moments Since Tito Ortiz Last Won a FightTito Ortiz will be fighting for his UFC career when he meets Ryan Bader on Saturday, July 2. UFC president Dana White has said that Ortiz’s UFC 132 fight against Bader is his l…
UFC 132: 10 Memorable Sports Moments Since Tito Ortiz Last Won a Fight
Tito Ortiz will be fighting for his UFC career when he meets Ryan Bader on Saturday, July 2. UFC president Dana Whitehas said that Ortiz’s UFC 132 fight against Bader is his last chance with the promotion—in short, if he loses he will almost assuredly be released.
Ortiz has not won a fight for quite some time. How long’s it been, you ask? Well, how about October 10, 2006. On that day, Ortiz defeated Ken Shamrock via first-round TKO.
Since that time, “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” has gone 0-4-1, losing to Chuck Liddell, Lyoto Machida, Forrest Griffin and Matt Hamill. His draw came in a bout against Rashad Evans.
So, it’s been close to five years since Ortiz’s last win.
UFC 132 Fight Card: Will A Win Put Carlos Condit In Line For A Title Shot?Bleacher Report’s Andrew Barr:The UFC’s welterweight division is a mess right now.Current champion Georges St-Pierre has been so dominant over all of the divisions top contende…
UFC 132 Fight Card: Will A Win Put Carlos Condit In Line For A Title Shot?
Bleacher Report’s Andrew Barr:
The UFC’s welterweight division is a mess right now.
Current champion Georges St-Pierre has been so dominant over all of the divisions top contenders that the UFC is having an incredibly hard time finding marketable contenders for him. There are a lot of fighters at welterweight that GSP has not yet faced, the problem is that none of them have looked good enough to make the fans say, “that guy might be able to take St-Pierre out”.
It’s a very hard thing to get fans excited about a title challenger when they’re almost certain he will lose.
Carlos Condit has been working hard lately to prove to the UFC and fans alike that he is ready for Georges.
Condit is riding a three fight win streak, with his most recent win being a first round knock out of Dan Hardy. This is significant because St-Pierre has fought Hardy and defeated him, but was unable to finish the fight.
UFC 132 Fight Card: A Look at Tito Ortiz Last Five Fights: UFC 84 Tito vs. Lyoto MachidaBleacher Report’s Andrew Mahlmann:Tito Ortiz’s career has been in a nose dive…if you look at just his record over the past five years.He has not won a fight in hi…
UFC 132 Fight Card: A Look at Tito Ortiz Last Five Fights: UFC 84 Tito vs. Lyoto Machida
Bleacher Report’s Andrew Mahlmann:
Tito Ortiz‘s career has been in a nose dive…if you look at just his record over the past five years.
He has not won a fight in his past five fights and is riding a three-fight losing skid.
Earlier in his career, Ortiz was carrying the flag for MMA as he was the reigning light-heavyweight champion and defended his title a record five times.
Clearly he has fallen on much harder times.
His detractors are also quick to point out that his last two victories were over a washed-up fighter in Ken Shamrock.
While Ortiz does have a lot to prove if he wants to be relevant, he is not as washed up as people make him out to be.
He may not be winning, but if you look closely at his last five fights, he has only been stopped by one man and the 36-year old former-champion still has quite a bit of fight left in him.
Aside from a nice takedown from Machida late in Round 1, not much happened through the first two rounds.
Ortiz pressed forward aggressively while Machida continually circled away.
The third round was more interesting as Machida dropped Ortiz with a brilliant knee to the body.
Not to be out-done, Ortiz showed his resilience and technique by coming within an inch of submitting Machida with a beautiful triangle/armbar.
Machida received the decision, but Ortiz was understandably frustrated by Machida’s clear unwillingness to engage throughout the majority of the fight.
Matt Mitrione may be a little conflicted about the type of opponent he’d like to fight next. But he’s not at all conflicted about wanting one particular dream grudge match, even if it’s not a highly realistic probability.
Ortiz fights Ryan Bader on Saturday at UFC 132, and UFC president Dana White said in January that if the former light heavyweight champion loses his next fight, he is likely to be cut from the UFC. Mitrione predicted a win for Bader and a pink slip for Ortiz shortly afterward.
“I say Bader (wins) by sending that giant planet of (Ortiz’s) head straight into the atmosphere,” Mitrione said before launching into a short diatribe at Ortiz. “I’m so glad that d—–bag spent all that money sponsoring Christian Morecraft and then lost again. Just like your pride was lost, the person representing your company lost.
“You’re gonna lose again and get cut from the UFC. If for some reason you don’t get cut from the UFC, I already talked to (Joe) Silva. I would love to fight you. I’ll fight you at a catch weight. I will pull myself back to Ethiopian standards from back in the day and be as thin as possible, and I will punch you in that planet-sized dome of yours and send you packing finally and for good. Mr. Jameson, that was directed toward you.”
Mitrione came under fire from Ortiz for comments he made on his “Mitrione Minute” segment on “The MMA Hour,” and elsewhere, that were critical of Ortiz and his wife, former adult entertainment actress Jenna Jameson. The two exchanged words in a now-famous moment caught on video by Roy Nelson at the UFC’s Fighter Summit in Las Vegas.
Ortiz co-hosted “Inside MMA” on HDNet earlier this month and said Mitrione crossed the line by bringing up his family.
“You don’t talk about another man’s woman,” Ortiz said on the show. “This guy was a d—–bag by saying what he said and then he tried to come up and kiss my butt, shake my hand. I never met the guy. I don’t know who the guy is. … And then he goes on to say he will cut weight to fight me. Come on dude, what fight? … Respect the fighters that paved the way for you to be here. I have been doing this for 14 years.”
Mitrione is a heavyweight who weighed in at 261 pounds for his fight on Sunday; Ortiz fights at light heavyweight. Ortiz has not won a fight since a TKO win over Ken Shamrock in October 2006. Since then, he has four losses and a draw. His UFC 121 loss to Matt Hamill last October was the only won that didn’t come against a champion, former champion or future champion.
Though a fight against Ortiz may be just a daydream scenario right now, Mitrione isn’t certain where he fits in the UFC’s heavyweight landscape. Four of his five UFC wins have come by knockout or TKO, and the fifth was a Fight of the Night performance against Joey Beltran in his home city of Indianapolis last September. But Mitrione believes his win over Morecraft on Sunday was not up to snuff.
“To be totally honest, I think this was probably my worst fight next to (my debut win over) Marcus Jones,” Mitrione said. “I made so many mistakes. I got taken down on a horrible double. I didn’t defend my wall takedowns at all. I’m glad my striking hands are heavy. He ended up brawling with me, which I didn’t expect him to do. His hand positioning threw me off a little bit. I was doing so many different styles of jabs against him, because I was trying to figure out what was going to land against him.”
Mitrione said he believes he still has work to do to improve – and he spent much of his training camp for Morecraft training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas and said he plans to return there. But if he were matched up against a veteran, he isn’t sure how he would fare if his performance was on par with how he judged himself Sunday in Pittsburgh.
“I want to fight a top guy,” Mitrione said. “I like and respect Frank Mir. He and I are cool, and I think it would be a really fun fight. (But) I made so many mistakes (Sunday). I wonder if anyone else who fights feels the way I do after they fight. If I would have made those mistakes against Cheick Kongo or Frank Mir, I would’ve lost. It makes me wonder what the right step is next. My hands, I can scrap with anybody. Technique wise, ehh …”
But one thing Mitrione said he is sure of, other than wanting that dream fight with Ortiz, is that he puts plenty of pressure on himself to be better each time out.
“The only way to be perfect is to expect it of yourself,” Mitrione said. “I feel like there’s a level of professionalism I owe to the fans, and they should see the best me possible.”
Matt Mitrione may be a little conflicted about the type of opponent he’d like to fight next. But he’s not at all conflicted about wanting one particular dream grudge match, even if it’s not a highly realistic probability.
Ortiz fights Ryan Bader on Saturday at UFC 132, and UFC president Dana White said in January that if the former light heavyweight champion loses his next fight, he is likely to be cut from the UFC. Mitrione predicted a win for Bader and a pink slip for Ortiz shortly afterward.
“I say Bader (wins) by sending that giant planet of (Ortiz’s) head straight into the atmosphere,” Mitrione said before launching into a short diatribe at Ortiz. “I’m so glad that d—–bag spent all that money sponsoring Christian Morecraft and then lost again. Just like your pride was lost, the person representing your company lost.
“You’re gonna lose again and get cut from the UFC. If for some reason you don’t get cut from the UFC, I already talked to (Joe) Silva. I would love to fight you. I’ll fight you at a catch weight. I will pull myself back to Ethiopian standards from back in the day and be as thin as possible, and I will punch you in that planet-sized dome of yours and send you packing finally and for good. Mr. Jameson, that was directed toward you.”
Mitrione came under fire from Ortiz for comments he made on his “Mitrione Minute” segment on “The MMA Hour,” and elsewhere, that were critical of Ortiz and his wife, former adult entertainment actress Jenna Jameson. The two exchanged words in a now-famous moment caught on video by Roy Nelson at the UFC’s Fighter Summit in Las Vegas.
Ortiz co-hosted “Inside MMA” on HDNet earlier this month and said Mitrione crossed the line by bringing up his family.
“You don’t talk about another man’s woman,” Ortiz said on the show. “This guy was a d—–bag by saying what he said and then he tried to come up and kiss my butt, shake my hand. I never met the guy. I don’t know who the guy is. … And then he goes on to say he will cut weight to fight me. Come on dude, what fight? … Respect the fighters that paved the way for you to be here. I have been doing this for 14 years.”
Mitrione is a heavyweight who weighed in at 261 pounds for his fight on Sunday; Ortiz fights at light heavyweight. Ortiz has not won a fight since a TKO win over Ken Shamrock in October 2006. Since then, he has four losses and a draw. His UFC 121 loss to Matt Hamill last October was the only won that didn’t come against a champion, former champion or future champion.
Though a fight against Ortiz may be just a daydream scenario right now, Mitrione isn’t certain where he fits in the UFC’s heavyweight landscape. Four of his five UFC wins have come by knockout or TKO, and the fifth was a Fight of the Night performance against Joey Beltran in his home city of Indianapolis last September. But Mitrione believes his win over Morecraft on Sunday was not up to snuff.
“To be totally honest, I think this was probably my worst fight next to (my debut win over) Marcus Jones,” Mitrione said. “I made so many mistakes. I got taken down on a horrible double. I didn’t defend my wall takedowns at all. I’m glad my striking hands are heavy. He ended up brawling with me, which I didn’t expect him to do. His hand positioning threw me off a little bit. I was doing so many different styles of jabs against him, because I was trying to figure out what was going to land against him.”
Mitrione said he believes he still has work to do to improve – and he spent much of his training camp for Morecraft training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas and said he plans to return there. But if he were matched up against a veteran, he isn’t sure how he would fare if his performance was on par with how he judged himself Sunday in Pittsburgh.
“I want to fight a top guy,” Mitrione said. “I like and respect Frank Mir. He and I are cool, and I think it would be a really fun fight. (But) I made so many mistakes (Sunday). I wonder if anyone else who fights feels the way I do after they fight. If I would have made those mistakes against Cheick Kongo or Frank Mir, I would’ve lost. It makes me wonder what the right step is next. My hands, I can scrap with anybody. Technique wise, ehh …”
But one thing Mitrione said he is sure of, other than wanting that dream fight with Ortiz, is that he puts plenty of pressure on himself to be better each time out.
“The only way to be perfect is to expect it of yourself,” Mitrione said. “I feel like there’s a level of professionalism I owe to the fans, and they should see the best me possible.”
BJ Penn Shows Nate Marquardt No Love, Bashes All PED UsersBleacher Report’s Andrew Barr:Nate Marquardt was forced to withdraw from his main event bout with Rick Story this past Sunday.Today it was revealed that the reason Nate had to be scratched from…
BJ Penn Shows Nate Marquardt No Love, Bashes All PED Users
Bleacher Report’s Andrew Barr:
Nate Marquardt was forced to withdraw from his main event bout with Rick Story this past Sunday.
Today it was revealed that the reason Nate had to be scratched from the card because he had been undergoing testosterone replacement therapy and was unable to get his testosterone levels down in time for the fight.
This isn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened; Chael Sonnen found himself in a similar situation in 2010 when he fought Anderson Silva. Sonnen was undergoing the same therapy before his title fight and was later suspended due to his failure to inform the Athletic Commission on the matter.
Former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion BJ Penn took to Twitter earlier today to voice his thoughts fighters using low testosterone levels as a reason for taking PEDs. According to fightofthenight.com, Penn did not mince words when addressing the issue: his stance is very clear.
UFC 132: The Man Dana White Calls “Worst Referee Ever” Will Officiate Main EventBleacher Report’s Andrew Barr:The referees for UFC 132, set to take place in the MGM Grand Garden Area in Las Vegas, have been announced.According to MMAjunkie.com, referee…
UFC 132: The Man Dana White Calls “Worst Referee Ever” Will Officiate Main Event
Bleacher Report’s Andrew Barr:
The referees for UFC 132, set to take place in the MGM Grand Garden Area in Las Vegas, have been announced.
According to MMAjunkie.com, referee Steve Mazzagatti will be overseeing the main event.
This news comes much to the chagrin of Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White, who has openly chastised Mazzagatti in the past (see his comments here).
If the UFC had their way, Steve would never call a fight, but it is not up to them. It’s up to the athletic commission of the state the event is being held in and the Nevada State Athletic Commission has made their decisions.
Other available judges for the event were Herb Dean, Yves Lavigne, Mario Yamasaki, Tony Weeks, Jeff Collins, Lester Griffin and Marcos Rosales.
Matt Mitrione