After what can be considered the Golden Age of the UFC (the days of Royce Gracie, Congressional bans, and biting), but before the time of Liddell's recent domination, the Light heavyweight division wasn't exactly anything to write home about. While other divisions thrived and the UFC fine-tuned its business, Tito Ortiz reigned supreme over an extremely weak division whose top contenders included fighters like Guy Mezger and Elvis Sinosic. Had Ortiz arrived 5 years earlier or 5 years later, he'd be on The Ultimate Fighter 5 right now, trying to get his start in MMA.
Ortiz obtained the belt in what can be considered his most impressive feat in the company, a 5 round decision over Wanderlei Silva. Following that victory, however, Ortiz took it upon himself to face every no-name and jobber in the UFC. Vladimir Matyushenko, anyone? How about Yuki Kondo? I didn't think so. If you don't count Ortiz's victories against the elderly Ken Shamrock (the man was in UFC 1!), then Ortiz hasn't won a fight by knockout, stoppage, or submission since June 29, 2001. That's nearly six years ago. What's Tito been doing since then? He's been beating up Ken Shamrock (which may or may not be considered abuse according to the American Disabilities Act), losing to Randy Couture, getting knocked out by Chuck Liddell (twice), and stalemating to decision against every other fighter in the decision. An impressive resume if I ever saw one.
After Tito wins a fight, he is known to put on a shirt which features a particular slogan, usually poking fun at his opponent. However, after his win against Jerry Bohlander at UFC 18, Tito's shirt read "I just fucked your ass." Arguably, that's what's occurring in the picture to the left. Tito Ortiz: Ultimate Fighting Champion or embarrassed homosexual who is just dating porn star Jenna Jameson to cover up his sexual orientation? You decide.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Tito Ortiz Is Overrated, Lucky
Posted by Benjamin Zeidler at 4:59 PM
Tags: Tito Ortiz, UFC
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 Comments:
Haha nice ending. All of this seems true, but he is famous and he gets people to buy ppvs. I don't think that the average person (who doesn't watch UFC) knows who Anderson Silva or Sean Sherk are. But I think that almost everyone knows who Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz are, so UFC has to capitalize on his fame and put him in between two title fights at ufc 73.
Yep, he's definitely more high profile than Sherk and Silva. He flips off Ken Shamrock, makes a deal to fight his boss, and goes to all the Hollywood parties. He's a more marketable guy but I also think he's a boring fighter.
Don't get me wrong...he's decent in the Octagon, but he's not on the same level as Liddell and Couture, a level upon which I feel Ortiz is sometimes undeservedly placed.
This isn't to say I'm not excited for his fight at UFC 73. I consider Ortiz and Evans to be right under the top class of Light heavyweights (Rampage, Liddell, Henderson, Shogun) and I just hope it doesn't turn into one of Ortiz's takedown and stalemate fests. It will either be Evans' coming out party or Ortiz's return to prominence in the division. Either way, it's going to be good.
Post a Comment