What Do You Do With Tito Ortiz?

Added on Oct 25, 2010 by John Petit in

UFC & MMA

I found myself doing a piece last week on something I thought was crazy. It was about Yoshihiro Akiyama, and what should the UFC do with him. This time I think it’s deserved. Tito Ortiz fought a decent fight at UFC 121, and lost by decision to Matt Hamill. Tito looked decent last night in Anaheim, and Hamill is no cupcake. In fact, he is now in close second for the best head kick knockout for a fighter not named Mirko Crocop (see: Mark Munoz.) Tito tried to play the wrestling game with a man who has since eclipsed Tito’s abilities of old.

There was a day in Mixed Martial Arts when you could be good at one discipline, and still beat a majority of fighters. Tito was a wrestler who had a good gas tank, and was able to take fighters down and pound them out. That was his bread and butter. M.M.A. Is evolving at a break neck speed. Maybe even as fast as football did when Knute Rockne called the first pass play. Fighters are quickly becoming better strikers, better grapplers, and better submission fighters. The ones putting their eggs in one basket stack up losses in a hurry. Especially fighters in the UFC.

Injuries have caught up with Tito. He has only fought once a year since 2006, and he has dropped the last four out of five. The one he didn’t lose, was against Rashad Evans. However, it was a draw because Tito grabbed the fence to stop the takedown more then once. You might be saying “But all the guys he loss too have since been light heavyweight champs besides Hamill.” This is true, he hasn’t been fighting cupcakes, but he isn’t your normal fighter.

If Tito wasn’t such a PR nightmare, he would be handled much differently by the UFC. He was recently arrested for suspicion of domestic violence, he insulted the entire deaf community by saying he was going to KO Hamill because deaf people have soft heads, and he lead Dana White and Chuck Liddell on during The Ultimate Fighter Reality show. Tito had a back injury, a serious one that the UFC took care of, but he pretended like he was going fight Chuck and then backed out.

Take Matt Hamill. He is the epitome of class in the UFC, and just plain inspirational. He respects everyone, he rarely trash talks, he works hard, and always puts on great fights. If Matt Hamill somehow lost four fights out of five, he would probably get another one, and change that to a “definitely” if he somehow had a big rematch that would still make sense. Tito draws the wrong type of attention, he doesn’t sell pay per views like he did in 2002, and I haven’t even brought up all the smack he talked about Dana White and the UFC when they are at odds during a lawsuit over his contract. When the UFC is just starting to make real progress in getting MMA decriminalized in New York, they don’t need Tito getting arrested for domestic violence.

Dana White said after the post fight press conference “we all know what happens when you lose four of five these days in the UFC.” I hope Dana means it this time. Tito does not belong in the Octagon, and is no longer an elite fighter. Even other fighters, like welterweight contender Josh Koscheck, thinks Tito should retire. Tito belongs in the sport of MMA. He needs to be focusing on bringing up younger fighters, and building his clothing brand. He has a gym, a serious knowledge of the wrestling game, enough titles to draw future MMA fighters through his doors and enough cage experience that would put most cornermen to shame. If he could do what Dan Henderson did to Clinch Gear to Punishment Athletics, and support the game that way, he could be a pioneer outside of the Octagon. Tito still has a place in Mixed Martial Arts, but its not with four ounce gloves on.