Tito Ortiz has not won a fight since 2006.I feel like it’s necessary to say that right off the top. Not only has he not won a fight since 2006, but his two most recent victories were over an irrelevant Ken Shamrock. Before the Shamrock fights, his l…
I feel like it’s necessary to say that right off the top. Not only has he not won a fight since 2006, but his two most recent victories were over an irrelevant Ken Shamrock. Before the Shamrock fights, his last two victories were split decisions.
Needless to say, there’s really no reason Tito Ortiz should still be fighting in the UFC, but he is. However, Dana White has gone on record saying that if Ortiz loses his next fight against Ryan Bader, he will be cut.
Ryan Bader’s position going into this fight is not as dire as Tito’s, but it is an important fight for him.
Bader is coming off a loss to Jon Jones. Jones dominated the fight and so Bader needs to look impressive against Ortiz to make up for that loss. A loss for Ryan here would be devastating. Ortiz is considered by most to be an irrelevant fighter who is clinging on too long, so if Bader loses, it’s going to look really bad for him.
Both fighters need this victory badly, but only one man can have it.
Winner of Referee of the Year in the World MMA Awards in 2010, Herb Dean is one of the most respected refs in mixed martial arts, overseeing more than 4700 professional fights in his 12-year career. Plus, he’s been highly touted as the best in th…
Winner of Referee of the Year in the World MMA Awards in 2010, Herb Dean is one of the most respected refs in mixed martial arts, overseeing more than 4700 professional fights in his 12-year career. Plus, he’s been highly touted as the best in the game by Ultimate Fighting Championship’s President, Dana White.
Regarding the UFC 131 main event between Junior Dos Santos and Shane Carwin to determine the number one contender in the heavyweight division, some believed that the fight should’ve been stopped in the opening round.
As a former fighter himself, the Pasadena born ref was extremely close in ending the match, as Carwin was being controlled and punched incessantly by Junior. However, Dean felt that Shane still had the means to continue.
According to an MMAJunkie article by Steve Marrocco, “I was definitely very close to stopping the fight,” said the 40-year old ref. “Maybe one more unblocked punch I would have, but I’m always looking for a reason to allow a fight to continue.”
As told to interviewer Mike Straka on Tapout’s Youtube channel, “He was moving to better his position, and eventually he was able to get to a place where he was defending the blows and was able to come back,” Dean said.
Martial arts and self defense has been a significant part of Herb Dean’s life, as he began training as a child. Prior to his professional MMA career, his training included kickboxing, submission wrestling and judo. With a great deal of knowledge of a variety of skills, he feels that competitive experience should be required for MMA referees and judges.
In an interview on TheOpenMat.com, Dean explained:
“I think you should at least know the techniques that the guys are doing. MMA is a new sport. There are some officials that have experience, but the competition is beyond their time. Their competitive age is over. A good martial artist might make a good official without necessarily having to have competed in MMA.”
Since refereeing his first event in 1999 at King of the Cage, Herb’s years of experience have given him the confidence to trust his instincts and to make firm, decisive choices. He has always stood by his instincts, without any regret.
“I’m well aware of the fact I’m the one who’s in there making the decisions and the choices and I’m the one who’s gonna have to live with them,” he told Mike Straka. “I definitely want to make the decisions that I want.”
Though considered “the best referee in the business” by Dana White, Dean has had his share of controversy. He was once booed in UFC 61, as he stopped a bout between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock in the opening round, giving Tito the victory.
As the officiating of MMA events continues to advance, judging versus refereeing seems to perpetually be in the spotlight.
“I think there’s always going to be controversial decisions. Judging is pretty subjective. It’s someone’s opinion of who won the fight,” Dean told OpenMat.com.
“I think that the biggest thing is making sure that athletic commissions are getting more qualified officials, and continue to review the problems we have and correct them. This is a growing sport and we haven’t seen everything that’s going to happen. There’s always something new that someone’s going to do.”
To remedy the persistent criticism received by MMA officiating, Herb feels that education is the best method to improve the quality, as he and fellow ref Big John McCarthy hold judging and refereeing classes in Southern California.
While guiding new students, Dean feels his teaching position has helped him in the octagon.
“You really have to be on your game when you’re teaching these people who want to get into the sport,” Dean told Mike Straka. “I have to be prepared when I do my class.”
“Teaching is definitely making me better.”
-ROLAND RISO MMAIDIOT.COM
Roland Riso is a contributing writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained from MMAJunkie.com, TheOpenMat.com and Mike Straka’s interview on Tapout’s Youtube.com channel.
(Spit-bags: The sure sign of a bad time. Photo courtesy of TMZ.)
By Ben Goldstein and Jason Moles
The rule applies in any profession: For every law-abiding nice-guy, there’s an unstable son-of-a-bitch who you’d never want to leave your kids alone with. In honor of Breaking Bad: The Complete Third Season being released on DVD and Blu-ray, we decided to take a ride through MMA’s shadowy history of assault, robbery, vandalism, drug-smuggling, and other nasty behavior — the most infamous examples of fighters living dangerously and paying the price…
#16: Jeff Monson Arrested for: First-degree malicious mischief; assault on a female and injury to real property
It’s never a good idea to have evidence of your law-breaking published nationally. In a bizarre lapse of judgment, heavyweight veteran Jeff Monson was busted after he allowed ESPN the Magazine to photograph him spray-painting an anarchy symbol on the Washington state capitol building. Though the charge packed a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, the Snowman was able to plead down to three months. Just days later, Monson was arrested again when a domestic dust-up with one of his many love-interests resulted in an overturned grandfather clock and a fist-shaped hole in the wall; those charges were later dismissed.
(Spit-bags: The sure sign of a bad time. Photo courtesy of TMZ.)
By Ben Goldstein and Jason Moles
The rule applies in any profession: For every law-abiding nice-guy, there’s an unstable son-of-a-bitch who you’d never want to leave your kids alone with. In honor of Breaking Bad: The Complete Third Season being released on DVD and Blu-ray, we decided to take a ride through MMA’s shadowy history of assault, robbery, vandalism, drug-smuggling, and other nasty behavior — the most infamous examples of fighters living dangerously and paying the price…
#16: Jeff Monson Arrested for: First-degree malicious mischief; assault on a female and injury to real property
It’s never a good idea to have evidence of your law-breaking published nationally. In a bizarre lapse of judgment, heavyweight veteran Jeff Monson was busted after he allowed ESPN the Magazine to photograph him spray-painting an anarchy symbol on the Washington state capitol building. Though the charge packed a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, the Snowman was able to plead down to three months. Just days later, Monson was arrested again when a domestic dust-up with one of his many love-interests resulted in an overturned grandfather clock and a fist-shaped hole in the wall; those charges were later dismissed.
Last May, MMA’s most famous ex-wife ended an argument with her personal assistant by choking and shaking her on a bed. Couture was reportedly upset that the assistant wanted to move out of her house after living there for three weeks. The original report left us with these unsettling lines: “It seems that part of the friction that developed between the victim and Ms. Couture was that Ms. Couture was extremely controlling; she wouldn’t permit the victim any autonomy; and the implication that Ms. Couture wanted something more from the victim than just personal assistant services.”
#14: Harold Howard Arrested for: Aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm, dangerous driving, failing to remain at the scene of an accident, etc.
The short version? He attacked two relatives with a claw hammer, then crashed his pick-up truck through the front doors of a Niagara Falls casino. It was later revealed that Howard had been self-medicating with a head-scrambling blend of Oxycocet, Gabapentin, and sleeping pills. Which begs the question: What was he on when he was cutting promos for UFC 3?
#13: Kimo Leopoldo Arrested for: Possession of a controlled substance, impersonating an officer
The famously undead UFC veteran was arrested in 2009 for hanging out in a Long Beach Police Department jumpsuit with drugs in his car. Leopoldo pleaded no-contest to stealing the police uniform, which earned him a mere 10 days of community service. However, what was first reported as meth turned out to be marijuana instead — still bad, but not lock ‘em up bad. After agreeing to a stint in rehab and three years’ probation, the misdemeanor charges were dropped.
#12: Vyacheslav Datsik Arrested for: Escaping from a Russian mental hospital by tearing through a chain link fence with his bare hands; he had been behind bars for three years for a previous string of armed robberies and death threats.
After a month on the lam, the nutty self-professed racist turned himself in to authorities in Norway, bringing along two loaded pistols for no good reason. The last we heard, he’d been granted temporary asylum in Norway after a Norwegian police psychiatrist argued that Datsik had been intentionally misdiagnosed as insane due to his undesirable political leanings. What the hell? Don’t these dudes have YouTube?
#11: Jeremy Jackson Arrested for: Forcible rape, kidnapping to commit another crime, first-degree residential burglary, assault with a firearm, dissuading a witness by force or threat, and criminal threats.
In 2008, the TUF 4 castmember was accused of breaking into an ex-girlfriend’s house and raping her at gunpoint. During the trial, the victim’s credibility came under fire, and it seemed that Jackson had a shot at going free. But Jackson changed his mind midway through and decided to plead guilty, going against the advice of his lawyer. According to one juror, Jackson “only pleaded guilty because he was depressed and wanted the trial to end.” He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Continue to the next page for Krazy Horse’s gym assault, Junie Browning’s hospital freak-out and more…
UFC 132 Video: Arianny Celeste in Bud Light Commercial Earlier this year, the UFC announced that they had renewed their sponsorship deal with Bud Light. The promotion revealed that Bud Light would increase their pay-per-view sponsorships from two ev…
UFC 132 Video: Arianny Celeste in Bud Light Commercial
Earlier this year, the UFC announced that they had renewed their sponsorship deal with Bud Light. The promotion revealed that Bud Light would increase their pay-per-view sponsorships from two events per year to four. Bud Light also agreed to back one special promotion event per year.
The special promotion event for this year will be “The Battle on the Bayou,” which is scheduled to take place on September 17 in New Orleans, LA. Bud Light has already rolled out a commercial for that event featuring UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and UFC president Dana White.
The “special promotion” part of the New Orleans fight card is that Bud Light is giving away trips for two to New Orleans on their facebook page.
It appears that the next event that Bud Light will sponsor will be UFC 132. They have recently released a commercial for the event featuring UFC octagon girl Arianny Celeste.
UFC 132 will take place on July 2 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV. The main event on the card will feature the UFC’s first bantamweight title fight as champion Dominick Cruz defends his title against the only man to defeat him, Urijah Faber.
Also appearing on the UFC 132 fight card will be Wanderlei Silva who will make his long-awaited return to the cage. His opponent will be Chris Leben.
Tito Ortiz will fight for his UFC career on the UFC 132 fight card, as Dana White has said that this is Ortiz’s last chance with the promotion. Ortiz has not won a fight since 2006 and will be the underdog on July 2 when he faces Ryan Bader.
With Tito Ortiz’s upcoming fight against Ryan Bader at UFC 132 in July and the fact that he is most certainly in the twilight of his career, it seems like an appropriate time to examine whether or not he deserves a spot in the UFC’s hall of…
With Tito Ortiz’s upcoming fight against Ryan Bader at UFC 132 in July and the fact that he is most certainly in the twilight of his career, it seems like an appropriate time to examine whether or not he deserves a spot in the UFC’s hall of fame.
Unlike other sports, there is no national panel to judge whether or not someone’s credentials are worthy of admittance and it is left mostly up to Dana White to decide who is granted entry. This, along with White’s famous temper, makes the process rather arbitrary.
Prominent fighters like Frank Shamrock, who deserve entry, will most likely never be let in. White’s notorious temper and desire to have things done his way have led to unfair treatment of other fighters as well.
When Randy Couture had his issues with Zuffa, the UFC simply stopped mentioning Couture on their broadcasts as if they were trying to erase him from their history. Also, when several AKA fighters like Jon Fitch initially refused to sign over their rights to the UFC, they were cut from the organization albeit temporarily.
So as one can see, the process itself may not be the fairest and the longstanding feud between Ortiz and White may preclude Ortiz from being admitted to the hall of fame. However, there is a legitimate question as to whether or not Ortiz possesses the credentials to even be admitted into the hall even if the process was unbiased.
Several journalists, such as Kevin Iole, claim that Ortiz should most certainly be let in based off of the fact that he defended the light heavyweight title five times and held the championship for over three years. However, everyone knows numbers can be deceiving and a closer look at Ortiz’s resume shows why.
Ortiz boasts a career record of 15-8-1 and a UFC record of 14-8-1. He won the UFC light heavyweight belt at UFC 25 in April of 2000 against Wanderlei Silva and then defended it five times until he lost to Randy Couture at UFC 44 in September of 2003. His five defenses were against Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko and Ken Shamrock.
Matyushenko, Sinosic and Kondo are serviceable fighters but really fall under the category of career journeymen and Ken Shamrock was well past his prime. His most impressive title defense was most likely Evan Tanner but even that is somewhat questionable since Tanner eventually dropped down to middleweight.
Iole’s other argument is that Ortiz held the title for over three years. However, this argument is easily debunked when one notes that Ortiz refused to fight Chuck Liddell and the UFC eventually had to create an interim title which Liddell and Couture fought for at UFC 43.
When determining whether or not someone deserves entry into the UFC hall of fame, several things must be evaluated. Whether or not they were able to win a title and how long they defended it, their ability to perform under pressure, longevity and the willingness to challenge themselves and fight any and all contenders.
While Ortiz did win and defend his title, he has failed time after time to deliver in big fights, he does not have the career longevity or the ability to still remain relevant like other fighters such as Couture and Matt Hughes, and his refusal to fight Liddell casts a dark stain on his character and career.
Ortiz’s failure to deliver in big fights is the biggest reason that he doesn’t deserve to go to the hall of fame. Great champions step up in big fights and Ortiz simply hasn’t been up to the challenge. He lost his first title shot to Frank Shamrock at UFC 22, he lost the unification match with Randy Couture at UFC 44, and lost both title fights with Chuck Liddell.
Ortiz’s 14 UFC wins also begin to look less impressive when one notes that three of them came against a washed up Ken Shamrock. He has also failed to remain relevant after losing his title and was never able to successfully rebound.
Fighters like Matt Hughes, Georges St-Pierre, Randy Couture, and B.J Penn all rebounded to win back their titles or even win titles in other weight classes. Even today Matt Hughes is still able to win fights and even fighters like Rich Franklin are still able to put on good fights and can continue on as gatekeepers.
It should also be noted that Ortiz’s last two victories were both over Ken Shamrock and his win before that was the controversial victory over Forrest Griffin at UFC 59. Ortiz’s last clear-cut win was over Vitor Belfort at UFC 51 in 2005.
While Ortiz was charismatic and brought the UFC much needed attention, it is very questionable if his career resume is enough to get him admitted to the hall of fame. He has failed to deliver in the biggest fights of his career, he was so hesitant to fight Chuck Liddell that the UFC needed to create an interim belt to remedy the situation, and he has failed to show the longevity of other great fighters.
While Ortiz may have been very good, he was not great and the hall of fame is for the greatest—not the very good.
UFC 132 Fight Card: Full Preview and Breakdown of the Stacked CardBleacher Report’s Andrew Mahlmann:We have been spoiled with three UFC events in June but on the Fourth of July weekend, the UFC is pulling out all the stops and giving us the first tru…
UFC 132 Fight Card: Full Preview and Breakdown of the Stacked Card
Bleacher Report’s Andrew Mahlmann:
We have been spoiled with three UFC events in June but on the Fourth of July weekend, the UFC is pulling out all the stops and giving us the first truly stacked card of the summer.
Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will defend his UFC belt for the first time when he takes on the only man to ever defeat him, MMA superstar Urijah Faber.
That fight is worth a PPV by itself but the whole card is stacked with superstars and especially compelling matchups.
I am not just talking about the main card either. Every fight is awesome, all the way down to the first preliminary bout.
If you will not be able to see many fireworks on the Fourth of July, do not worry—UFC 132 on July 2nd is going to have all the fireworks you could possibly handle.
