The growth of Mixed Martial Arts, especially the UFC, has paralleled the career of UFC fighter Tito Ortiz. Ortiz was the face of the UFC from the time he took the light heavyweight belt away from Wanderlai Silva in 2000 at UFC 25 in Japan until he lost the belt to Randy Couture at UFC 44 in 2003.
At just 24 years old he was one of the youngest UFC champions in history. Ortiz was able to successfully defend his title five times over the next three years, with his last successful defense at UFC 40 against Ken Shamrock. During this run of title defenses the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was the poster boy for the UFC, but his life was wild and out of control, much like the company that hosted the fights.
In 2001, Zuffa purchased the UFC and started on their quest to turn cage fighting into the legitimate sport we now call mixed martial arts. In 2006 Ortiz faced off against Shamrock and handed him a loss in just over one minute at UFC 61, but it came with a controversial early referee stoppage. Trash talking ensued and a final installment with Shamrock was scheduled just three months later. We quickly found out it was no fluke as Ortiz again pounded out Shamrock in just over two minutes.
Here we are 11 years after Ortiz first won the belt and both the UFC and Tito Ortiz have matured a great deal. Which makes you wonder, just how old is Ortiz? His much talked about relationship with Jenna Jameson started when she asked him out over Myspace. Yes, Ortiz is so old he met his wife on Myspace.
Gone is his signature dyed hair cut for a cleaner shaved look. While he’s not the oldest fighter on the card (39-year-old Jorge Rivera has that honor), 36 is up there for an MMA fighter. After a successful back surgery and a submission win over a highly ranked contender in Ryan Bader, Ortiz has a bit more pep in his step and looks like the fighter he was in his 20s, though not quite as brash in recent interviews.
Ortiz's boxing has improved on top of his already solid base of wrestling, and his guillotine choke in his last fight is a testament to his improved Jiu-Jitsu. To put it simply, Ortiz is a big, athletic, well-rounded, experienced fighter, who will have vaulted back into the No. 1 contender conversation if he defeats Rashad Evans on Saturday.
Defeating Evans won’t come easy though, as he has only one blemish on his professional record, a title loss to Lyoto Machida. Evans was the winner of the second season of "The Ultimate Fighter," after completing a standout collegiate wrestling career at Michigan State.
Evans' most memorable fights include pulling off highlight reel wins over Sean Salmon with a vicious kick to the head, and his 2008 Knockout of the Year of Chuck Liddell. Evans later went on to TKO fellow "Ultimate Fighter" winner Forrest Griffin to earn the light heavyweight belt in 2008. However, he immediately lost his next fight to Lyoto Machida. Next up he defeated Tiago Silva and was selected as a coach of "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 10, and after his season spent arguing with Rampage Jackson, was able to pull off a victory in the TUF Finale at UFC 114 in May 2010.
In their first fight, Evans openly admitted his awe of Ortiz’s fame. If you go back and watch the fight, you can see the beginning of the third round was when Evans realized he could hang with the big dogs in the division. After earning a draw with Ortiz, he has since defeated three UFC champions in Griffin, Liddell, and Jackson, making for an impressive resume.
While Evans was widely regarded as the better wrestler in their first fight, it was in fact Ortiz who took Evans down immediately in the first round, showing cage experience is always more valuable than mat experience.
Ortiz does have a four-inch height advantage, but Evans surprisingly has a 1/2-inch reach advantage. This should not matter much as both have massively improved their boxing since starting their last fight, with Ortiz spending time working with famed boxing coach Freddie Roach. Evans is a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu, but has not pulled off a submission since 2004, and Ortiz was once considered the king of ground-and-pound. Let’s not forget the last time these two fought, the result was a draw, so this fight will determine who has progressed more in that time.
With only three rounds, something similar should happen here, as both fighters won’t have time to tire. Also, with Evans having not fought in over a year and knocking the rust off his game, and Ortiz maturing into a counter puncher from his ground-and-pound roots, the first round should materialize very slowly, with some lazy leg kicks that tend to happen before any big shots are thrown in most fights of this nature. Unless either fighter makes a big mistake and walks into a submission or punch, it should probably go to a decision. But this is MMA and everyone has a puncher’s chance, especially in Philadelphia, just ask Rocky Balboa.