Tito Ortiz Biography

UFC participant Jacob Ortiz, more commonly known as Tito Ortiz the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” within the organization, is the 205lbs champion of several UFC events. His “ground-and-pound” style wrestling moves are fast, furious, and controlled barrages of punches and elbow drops. His raw talent and showman quality has brought him great fame and popularity over his several year involvement with the UFC which continues today.

His career in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) began in the early 90s during his sophomore year of highschool when, under the coaching of Paul Herrera, he joined the wrestling team. In his senior year he achieved a great victory as he placed 4th in the state highschool championship. During his college career, Tito won the California State Junior College title for Golden West College in hometown Huntington Beach. Afterwards he attended Cal State Bakersfield and while wrestling there, trained along side Stephen Neal of the New England Patriots.

He entered the UFC for the first time during UFC 13 -The Ultimate Force and quickly defeated Wes Albittron in the competitions first match. His brutal technique was enough to claim victory through Referee stoppage. His victory was short lived however when Ortiz first faced off with long time nemesis Guy Mezger. Due to confusion over whether or not Mezger tapped out during the first bout the fight was started over. This time around Ortiz misjudged Mezger and found himself locked in a choke hold and Mezger was granted victory by submission.

Several months later Ortiz participated in a non UFC MMA event and then came back for UFC 18 -Road to the Heavyweight Title where he brought down Jerry Bohlander with relative ease.

For UFC 19 -Ultimate Young Guys- Ortiz once again faced off with rival Guy Mezger but this time the tables were turned when Ortiz out-wrestled the smaller Mezger and belittled him by dawning a “Guy Mezger Is My Bitch” T-shirt and giving Mezger’s associates (The Lion’s Den) the finger. This would be the first, but certainly not the last time that Ortiz would use such mockery during future UFC competitions. In fact it became a popular gimmick in matches to come.

Later that year during UFC 22 -There Can Be Only One Champion- Ortiz battled Santa Monica native Frank Shamrock for the Middleweight title. Shamrock however managed to defend his title during a titanic back-and-forth fight. Feeling he had achieved the height of his career, Shamrock retired after the fight. During UFC 25 -Ultimate Japan 3- the Middleweight title was renamed Light Heavyweight and Ortiz claimed the empty spot from fellow contender Wanderlei Silva in another epic battle. For the next three years, Ortiz would defend his title 5 times and further humiliate The Lion’s Den by defeating several of their members including the group’s head Ken Shamrock (who’s younger adoptive brother, Frank, defeated Ortiz a few years before) in UFC 44 -Vendetta-

The next contender for Ortiz’s title would have more than likely been Chuck “Iceman” Liddell but through an act of comradery the two struck a pact and the two were to never face off. This left Ortiz without a contender for his title for almost a year as he and the UFC were unable to come to any terms concerning his contract. It wasn’t until UFC 44 -Undisputed- that they managed to coax Ortiz into a fight with Randy Couture by creating an Interim Light Heavyweight title. Couture, though considering retirement, won a surprising victory by unanimous decision after 5 rounds of domination over Ortiz. It was the shocking defeat that would haunt Ortiz’s career.

For UFC 47 -It’s On- Ortiz did eventually challenge friend Chuck Liddell but went down during the second round beneath Liddell’s punches. Even after two wins in UFC 50 and 51, Ortiz’s career in the UFC was coming to a stand still unless issues with his contract could be sorted out with the president of the organization. During this period of uncertainty, Ortiz was approached by other organizations including World Fighting Alliance for promotion value but eventually none came to be. He special-guest refereed for the NWA World Heavyweight championship twice in 2005. Ortiz also took some time to turn his showboating into actual acting and appeared in a few low-end films such as “The Crow: Wicked Prayer”.

It didn’t take too long however, until Ortiz and the UFC had come to terms and a new arrangement was made for him. He would sign up as a coach for the Spike TV reality show “The Ultimate Fighter”which began airing in April 2006. The condition was that rival Ken Shamrock would also appear as a coach on the same season. To sweeten the deal, Ortiz has also been given a chance at three additional fights. On April 15th 2006 he defeated his first contender Forrest Griffin in a split decision during UFC 59. If he manages to win his next fight he will be up to reclaim his Light Heavyweight title from current champion Chuck Liddell.

Jacob "Tito" Ortiz (born January 23, 1975) is a participant of the sport of mixed martial arts, or 'MMA'. Ortiz's career has been mostly within the UFC organization. A former Light-Heavyweight UFC champion, Ortiz has become one of the sport's most shining stars, headlining several Pay Per View championship undercards, and appearing on the covers of various magazines, such as Black Belt Magazine. He is a native of Huntington Beach, California. Tito Ortiz is recognized as a charismatic, if controversial and highly-criticized fighter.

In May 2005, Ortiz followed in the footsteps of rival Ken Shamrock when he agreed to appear with the professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

On May 15, 2005 at TNA Hard Justice Ortiz served as special guest referee in the NWA World Heavyweight Championship title match between Jeff Jarrett and A.J. Styles at the behest of Director of Authority Dusty Rhodes. Ortiz played a large role in the buildup to the match as well as the outcome, in which he (kayfabe) knocked out Jeff Jarrett with a right hook after Jarrett shoved him. This allowed Styles to hit his Spiral Tap for the pinfall victory and claim the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Jarrett.

Ortiz returned to wrestling to once again referee an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match in October 2005. His appearance was at TNA Bound For Glory at the behest of Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko for the match intended to be between Jeff Jarrett and Kevin Nash. Ortiz played an even bigger role in the buildup of the match this time, attacking both men on an episode of TNA iMPACT! when they brawled prior to their scheduled match.

Nash had to withdraw from the match after suffering chest pains the previous night, so TNA management inserted Rhino into the fold after he won a ten man gauntlet match. Ortiz maintained order with some success, preventing interference from multiple sources but failing to prevent Jarrett from cheating. Rhino won the match (his third of the night) and the title, but Ortiz left the ring immediately after the match as a brawl ensued involving Jarrett, Rhino, Team Canada, Team 3D, The 3Live Kru, and America's Most Wanted.

MMA Record

13 wins - 4 losses - 0 draw