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Tito Ortiz: I Was Robbed of Win and Fight of the Night at UFC 106
“I thought I won the fight. I thought I pulled it off two rounds to one. I came in and thought I won the fight.I came in and put up a fight. I put my heart and soul in that cage every time I fight. I thought I won the fight. I thought I won. I thought I won. I thought I won the first round and I thought I won the second round. I got two takedowns and you see the damage on his face. I got him good. In the third round I was gassed, but after taking 18 months off, I want to see another fighter come in here and get back surgery and do what I did. I gave my heart and soul, man. I entertained the fans. And for me not getting the “Fight of the Night,” I’m taken back by it, but it is what it is. I thought I won. The judge called it 30-27, I mean what the f***, are you blind or something? But it is what it is. I’ll be back. I feel good. I’m sorry I let my fans down. I thought I won.
I want to put on a great show. After taking 18 months off and coming back and doing something like that, it hurts losing. When you feel like you won a fight, it hurts losing. Letting my fans down knowing I gave my heart and soul to be robbed like that. I’ll be back”
Headliner Tito Ortiz talks at the UFC 106 post-fight press conference about suffering a difficult split decision loss to Forrest Griffin after returning to the Octagon for the first time in 18-months.
Tags: Tito Ortiz
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Shut up, Tito Ortiz. And when you’re done shutting up, just shut up.
You are officially the Terrell Owens of MMA.
well played im never entertained by him. excuses what i baby!
Does that mean that Tito is going to get a sh!t-awful reality show on the VH-1??
Maybe he’ll get yelled at by a model.
That probably happens all of the time, seeing as how he married a woman in the life…
I actually agree, I had the fight 2 rounds to 1 for Tito, but I don’t like him, so I’m not gonna complain. And fight of the night was not Kos-Rumble, the Sotiropoulos or Paulo Thiago fight should have been fight of the night winners
Or Sadollah v. Baroni
check out fightmetric dude!
sorry just read justin already said it!
people that take losses with a grain of salt are much more respected in the mma realm no more excuses
Some things never change. Tito has been and always will be the biggest whiner in MMA. Forrest got robbed on the first fight and you never heard him **** like Tito does.
I split the first two rounds, but even if you give them both to Tito that third round was 10-8 Griffin. Tito did NOTHING the entire round, fighting like a guy who didnt want to get knocked out, rather than someone who wanted to win a fight.
Fight Metric scored the fight 29-27, with Tito winning the second and Forrest winning the first 10-9, and third 10-8. Landed strikes in the third were 41-5 in favor of Forrest.
41-5?
I guess I have to re-watch the fight again, as I honestly saw Tito land just ONE semi-directed forearm “nudge” in the third round…
tito was not robbed forrest came in and did great. cant wait to see the third fight
It’s always troubling when one judge sees the fight so differently than the other two. I often wonder what qualifications these judges need besides judging boxing. Regardless, Im glad Forrest won and that does kind of set up a best 2 of 3 senario rematch. We need a tko or ko, people can’t make excuses and whine when they’re asleep. Tito needs to be a man and suck it up.
I think it would be fun if we all took a shot every time Tito says the word “won” in this interview. I also think Forrest won, but 30-27 from one of the judges? Wow. Bias? Probably. Somehow there needs to be more standardizations in judging, because I swear some of these judges are blind. This has been especially true over the past 3 UFCs. Way too much subjectivity.
I hope Dana gives him Anderson Silva next…then Good Bye Tito
Just because you take someone down in the round does not mean you win a round. I am tired of fighters taking an opponent down for 1 min and doing damage when the opposing fighter out strikes him for 4 min and controls position in the octagon while standing and hearing that the fighter that was taken down lost the round because of that. Forrest won that fight.
Tito was the one who controlled the opponent, and where and how the fight took place over rounds 1 and 2 (octagon control)…not to mention his punches (jabs) landed over and over again all of round 1. Had much more power behind them also. Round 2 was a clear win for Tito no question. Tito was robbed for sure. Like him or not he won the fight, the judges were paid off.
Ok say I guess you gave round 1 and 2 to Tito, whatever, soo if u scored both 10~9 for Ortiz and Forrest won the 3rd 10~8 the fight by your rationale should have been a DRAW sooo um Tito didn’t get robbed of a victory he got Robbed of a DRAW from you perspective, cuz honestly throwing 5 punches in 5 minutes and getting tagged over and over and over again completely dominated is a 10~8 round, no one paid off any judge either… Every fight card people say this when a bout doesn’t go the way that they hoped for, its unfortunate really
fr702 and justin Plz sort this bridge dwelling person out. every other fight is paid off, disparaging (if that is a word) the sport of mma like it’s boxing.
sorry for the rant just sick to death of hearing it over and over and over!
tito won that fight. Play it in mute.
Thanks gee I have just watched the fight again on mute. You have just made me feel better about my opinion on the fight.
Round one- forest wins every exchange except two, and then gets taken down for 1.10min taking 10 partial strikes. That fight then goes back to their feet with cage grappling for 1min in which Forrest uses several knees and controls the most of. The rest of the round was stand up with Forrest again winning most of the exchanges except another two Tito won with missed shot to shoot!
Verdict-Forest wins the round as approximately 3.30min controlled by Forrest with IMO more punishment being handed to Tito.
Round two- Tito starts off strong winning a few exchanges though Forrest starts to reply, so Tito takes Forrest down for 1min with only two strikes getting through. Forrest again wins nearly every exchange including some big leg kicks but gets taken down again for 1.50min receiving some grazing elbows getting cut 2 solid elbows. Tito is reversed at .037 in the round and is on the receiving end of the same amount if not more elbows in a quarter of the time.
Verdict- Close round but would give to Tito for nearly 3mins of control. Although I feel the same amount of damage was handed out (Forrest gets cut just walking in to a ring).
Round three- Well what can i say Tito went home to bed receiving 41 strikes and only giving out 5 plus missing his shot.
Verdict- Ownage by Forrest.
Overall verdict 29-28 Forrest.
P.S sorry about the grammar I have dyslexia
Under the previos NSAC head, grappling/striking were weighted over agression/octagon control. Also 1 min. on the ground vs. 4 standing does not win the top fighter “octagon control”, especially when he gets multiple shots stuffed, and gets reversed.
you must see the fight again, not ecause you takeown the oponentmake point you have to take control of the position ands only in the second roun tito take control and make efective his ground and pound power, in the standing fight forrest make a big diferences kick tito ass all fight tito only make the takedowns and forrest kick tito ass all fight, you give tito the win? no because he ned to be more complete in his fights not only make takedown whitout striking and whitout possicion control
the last round wasnt 10-8 yeah tito just took punches but they wasn’t really any pork in those hits an tito didn’t get rocked, i gave it to tito but i can understand why forrest won, as for the judge who scored it 30-27 that guy needs a good slap in the face, tito vs coleman next then forrest imo ide like to see forrest fight jardine next. ide also love to see lil nog vs randy.
I certainly don’t mind seeing a rubber match, but I want them each to fight one or two other people first.
I need to watch the fight again but it seemed like Tito’s take downs and “octagon control” or what have you, were given less credit and points then Couture’s holding against the cage and failed take downs last week.
THere’s just no consistency in the judging and that’s the bottom line.
The right man won. First 2 rounds were close and the third round was complete domination by Forrest. Forrest was the better fight on the night. Had Tito scored a take down in the final round I think it may have been enough to get him the win. But getting picked a part like that and out landed 41 – 5 in one round is just too much on any judges score card. I am shocked there were no 10-8 scores for that round. I was totally expecting a draw, personally.
i agree that the first 2 were very close and could have gone either way tito needed a take down in the 3rd round to probobly clinch it but shot in twice and got stuffed. im a fan of both but forrest did win that fight because of his dominate third round.
tito deserved the win IMO the first time but not this fight.
considering that fight 1 & 2 were close, it’s appropriate that they each got a W
rubber match ok .
they are both great but
i’d rather that they ’see other people’
both fight tito slowed in rnd 3.
the diff was tito didnt dominate early on this time
Everyone complains when these boxing judges get the fights wrong. DANA hire some MMA JUDGES so this doesn’t keep happening please this has to stop. Fighters are getting robbed, and were creating rematches that are not deserving. Were paying for fights we already paid for, granted both fights between these guys were close but come one already. I’m not at all interested in seeing a third match. This fight was not a barn burner at all.
learn your mma the athletic commision hires judges not dana white
I’m sure I know MMa more than most people that post on this site except, the ELITE guys,they know who they are. Unfortunately I wasn’t aware the athletic commission controlled the judges that are hired and are horrible, my bad for that. I’m pretty sure my MMA knowledge is far superior to yours.
An I’m sure DANA can somehow influence them to hire MMA refs,hopefully someday soon.
Animosity,
On stories about the last two events (104, 105), both of which contained controversial decisions, people have said something about the judges working for Dana, and it has been pointed out multiple times that they work for the AC. I suppose it’s possible that you missed that, but the information has been available.
As far as Dana’s influence over the refs’ employment, don’t you think that the Maz(Steve Mazagatti) would be in the unemployment line by now if Dana had any say over that? The best thing is for fight fans to call up the NSAC (and CSAC) and complain, that is more likely to bring about change than Dana white complaining.
How dare you criticize someone who knows so much about MMA. What were you thinking?
Hey, harrison, if our mod squad won’t let me and dbiz cheapshot other posters, than you can’t either, bro!
And now we see why I don’t waste my time anymore.
I agree Jcohl
UFC does not hire judges or refs…they are employed by the Atheltic Commissions….
Thank you for pointing that out, that’s been posted the last three UFC events (at least) but for some people it still hasn’t sunk in.
Maybe that could become sort of an everyday post, like the thing about fighter salaries…
Hopefullt tito gets is jaw broken during his next fight, so we wont have to listen to his incessant whining, what a ****.
Dude…..Tito can talk all he wants about a bad neck (S4, C5, R2D2), a bad back, and a cracked skull, but until he gets a heart and backbone he will always be trash! Get some will to win in the third and look to finish a fight and then get respect, but unfortunately at 34 you are a has-been in the UFC! The guy is garbage….look to do do something in the 3rd besides pray you don’t get knocked out! I mean, Rogan didn’t even have to ask him a question before he started making excuses and calling the crowd out! Give Tito Little Nog and then feed him to Silva to lay him to rest!
i was really pulling for tito to get back on track ,but for him to say he is finally 100% at the press conference and then say he was injured all training camp after he loss is garbage,
tito is a BI*CH he always has a reason y he lost, the reason he lost is because he is washed up it is not because of surgery or any other reasons he just can’t compete with anybody in the 205 division and that include CHUCK LIDDELL so he needs to stop talking about chuck & tito 3 cuz he would get his a** knocked out for a third time he just needs to retire
A couple of things stand out to me here:
- while Tito was not “robbed” of the “win”, I do believe that he and Forrest Griffin were “robbed”, to use Tito’s terminology, of the FoTN honors.
- I’m fine with scoring the third round 10-8, however it should be noted that usually 10-8 rounds come with a knockdown, right?
- Even though I scored the fight 29-28 Ortiz upon first watch, I later re-scored the fight 28-28 after second and third viewings.
- Even though Justin H correctly points out that at one time grappling/striking were more heavily weighted than Octagon control and aggression, I don’t see a lot of that POV in more recent decisons.
Just ask Brandon Vera.
- The judge that scored this fight 30-27 should be ashamed of himself.
- Finally, no one should be surprised at Tito’s outburst, unless 106 is their first UFC experience. For like a decade or more Tito Ortiz has been shooting off his mouth in a hyper-unsportsmanlike manner, and more often than not backing up his trash talk in the Octagon.
He may have come out on the downside of the 106 decision, but when you consider all that the man has accomplished in this sport, and the UFC, he’s entitled to his say.
If you think I’m off-base on this, consider that Tito’s reign as 205 champion was longer than Forrest’s, Rashad’s, and Rampage’s COMBINED…
All that he has accomplished? Personally I think you are over-rating his accomplishments immensely. Looking at his track record I really am not impressed with Tito Ortiz. Never was and likely never will be until he changes his poor attitude towards the sport and starts to show he wants to actually finish a fight and be in there with the best fighters in the world. Also his 2.5 year title reign really is not that impressive when you look at the lack of any real competition he faced and how he dodged fights with Chuck Liddell. Here is my break down explaining why I don’t care for his accomplishments and think he should shut up already.
- First off his career record is what? 15 wins and 7 losses…. 3 of those wins which came against a washed up Ken Shamrock. Hardly an impressive record.
- For only a 34 year old fighter he hasn’t won in his last 4 fights in the UFC dating all the way back to 2006.
- His last 2 wins came against Ken Shamrock in 2006.
- Aside from finishing Ken Shamrock each of his wins since 2001 have come by way of judges decision. He is incapable of finishing fights.
- During his 2.5 year title reign he defended his belt against NO notables with the exception of Randy Couture who easily took the title from him. Here is the list of who he beat. (Kondo, Tanner, Sinosic, Matyushenko, Shamrock)
- It is well known and publicly stated by Dana White that Tito dodged fights with Liddell during his title run and was not a stereo typical fighting champion, often avoiding fighting altogether.
Again, Tito made a name for himself when the sport was still young and high end competition was scarce. In terms of fighting skill he just can’t compete with the guys atop the light heavyweight division today. Others have improved drastically while Ortiz has now. He will forever be known for his feud with Ken Shamrock (hardly impressive) and for the 2 beat downs he suffered at the hands of the Ice-Man, Chuck Liddell. He’s all show. The sport needs bad guys and people you want to cheer against. That sells and for that reason and that reason alone he will always have a place in the UFC. But in terms of accomplishments, Tito’s just does not impress me one bit. After being totally healthy before his fight with Griffin, now he apparently had an injury to every vertebrae in his back and his skull. The guy is full of excuses and just doesn’t realize that he doesn’t have the skill that others in the UFC do, and personally I don’t think he ever did.
And yes he did beat a mentally unstable at the time, Vitor Belfort, who was coming off some serious injuries, was just a kid in the UFC, and had recently learned and was dealing with the stresses and emotions of his sister being kidnapped and likely murdered. Which was later confirmed. Not making excuses for Vitor, but I don’t think today Ortiz would stand a chance vs Belfort in the Octagon.
@ Markus J – you’ve sort of put me in the odd position of defending a man I’m not really a supporter of.
However, lets take a more detailed look at the career of Tito Ortiz, and then reconsider his worth and relevance in our sport:
- defeated Wanderlei Silva at 25 years of age to become UFC LHW champion.
- successfully defended the 205 title FIVE TIMES, which is more than can be said for Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Rampage Jackson, and Lyoto Machida.
And Chuck Liddell.
- if you want to consider reigning over the UFC 205 weightclass for over 2 1/2 years “not that impressive”, then thats your call. IMO any title reign of that length at the UFC level deserves some respect, especially when you are gNp’ing your opponents bloody and stupid.
- If you look at Ortiz’s record, you see very few no-names.
Most of his opponents read like a who’s who of MMA past and present, or at the least respected and respectable fighters like Vladimir Matyushenko:
Guy Mezger, both Shamrocks, Randy Couture, Evan Tanner, Chuck Liddell [twice], Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Patrick Cote, Forrest Griffin [twice], Rashad Evans, and Lyoto Machida.
Not sure I’d catagorize that as “scarce competition”, whether he fought them last weekend or 5 years ago. And on multiple occasions its been a given here at the frenZy that going to decisons against top shelf competiton like Machida, Evans, and Griffin [twice], Belfort, and Cote is not so much a sign of being unable to “finish fights”, as much as it is an indication that he’s fighting tough, evenly matched opponents.
- Ortiz set the trend for fighters owning and promoting their own apparel lines, Punishment Athletics, which can put a lot of bank in their pocket. Ortiz is also a smart MMA businessman, which can be an overlooked commodity these days.
- Ortiz sells tickets, and PPVs, even if he is past his fighting prime. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be in the UFC.
- And OF COURSE Dana White said that a guy at the time he couldn’t stand, Tito Ortiz, was ducking his drinking buddy and a guy he shot pool with twice a week, Chuck Liddell, in order to sell tickets and stir up some sh!t.
Thats a no-brainer.
Markus J, we could go on all day and night about Tito Ortiz, and many have. The guy was a star when the UFC needed one. The guy was a dominant champion when the sport needed one at 205. The guy sold tickets, t-shirts, and PPVs when our sport was seen as less deseirable that hardcore porn.
The guy was the only man to give Lyoto Machida a hard time until Rua did it just recently. The guy has had multiple fights with former world champions and UFC Hall of Famers and gave a good accounting of himself.
What the fu<k more would you like Tito Ortiz to accomplish in this sport?
At the end of the day, Ortiz does indeed talk the [sh!t] talk, but for the most part he also walks the big boy walk.
If you don't want to support the guy thats your business and right. But trying to make a case that Tito Ortiz somehow hasn't earned his place at the table of MMA greats is just nonsensical, and I mean that in the literal sense of the word…
Hands down he is ONE HELL of a great business man, he absolutely does sell PPVs, and he most certainly started the trend of MMA fighters promoting their own apparel lines. He was a key and instrumental part of the UFC, a great coach on TUF and has help pave the way for the sport going mainstream, it’s popularity today, and helping it get through a tough stretch when the sport was sink or swim. Those are accomplishments I will agree with and I respect 110%.
However, as you pointed out, we could go back and forth all day long disagreeing on his accomplishments in the actual octagon itself. I respect your opinion and you have valid points to back them up. However I think his best days are long past him and he has no chance at ever getting back into title contention let alone a title reign. (Barring several injuries to most of the top guys in the division.)
Winless in almost 4 years, a 12 and 7 record excluding his 3 wins over a past his prime Ken Shamrock, most of his victories coming by way of split decisions, and never really improving his skill set or getting any better. He’s far too one dimension for today’s fighters. Machida actually dominated and made him look foolish for 14 minutes and 30 seconds. And in general a piss poor attitude, full of excuses and way too much talk for my liking. As for his title reign, again all 5 successful title defenses came against what I would not consider to be top MMA talent past or present.
Regardless, at least we can agree on about 50% of it and clearly neither one of us are huge Ortiz supporters. So we do have something in common. He has done a lot for the sport and as a business man will continue to do so. As a fighter, I just don’t see any sort of serious comeback possible and no way he can compete with the best the UFC and MMA have to offer today.
You have tried to downplay what Ortiz has accomplished using revisionist history. You said we should ignore the three wins over Shamrock (does that mean we should ignore Rich Franklin’s as well), but at the time Shamrock was still seen as dangerous.
You said his 5 successful defenses came against people that were not top talent past or present. Based on what? He won the belt against Wanderlei Silva (yeah, that guys terrible…) First defense, Yuki Kondo who was 29-8-3 at the time, Evan Tanner who was 23-2 at the time, Elvis Sinosic meh, and Vladimir Matyushenko who was 10-1 at the time, and now 23-4. Have these people proven to be the greatest of all time? No. Were they among the best at the time Tito faught them, yes (excluding Sinosic).
Does anyone doubt the ability of Royce Gracie at his time? No, but today he wouldn’t stand a chance against most UFC fighters (see UFC 60). And of course neither would most of his previous opponents, but we don’t say that because now those people aren’t seen as good that we ignore them and say he hasn’t accomplished anything, instead we recognize it for what he did AT THAT TIME, and we should do the same for Tito’s title defenses.
And just to be clear, I am NO Ortiz zupporter, and agree with a lot of the points Markus J makes.
I think Ortiz all too frequently exhibits a deplorable lack of class and sportsmanship, and all too often blames others for his own failings.
Finally, I think that Ortiz could have gained a sh!tload of traction with and respect from today’s MMA fanbase by simply stepping up to the microphone after 106 and saying something to the effect of:
Y’know, a few years ago I would have jumped up and called pure bullsh!t on this decision, and then kicked over a table and chair on my way out of the presser after flipping off Dana.
Nowadays I’m a new father, I’m rocking a steady female in my life, and I’m a fairly successful businessman, and plan on making serious coin with Dana. All I’m going to say is that IMO I beat the p!ss out of Forrest Griffin for 2 rounds, and cruised the 3rd because I’m not 100% recovered from back surgery and an 18 month layoff. I thought I was, but obviously I wasn’t, seeing as how Forrest threw me a beating for the last 5 minutes of the fight.
The judge that scored this fight 30-27 Griffin should spend the next month tongue-tickling my ta!int, but if the other 2 thought couldn’t suss it out, then I’m asking Dana to let us go again sometime down the road. Forrest, you earned my respect, brother.
Peace, and I’m out, b!tches!”
If Tito dropped an interview like that, instead of all these rambling, nonsensical vlogs and outrageous claims like, “my skull is fractured”, or “my spine is contused”, or, “an alien was trying to burst out of my chest in round 3″, he would have caught 9 kinds of respect, and subsequently sold more Punishment Athletics gear and more hits for titoortiz.d-bag, or whatever his site is.
Tito needs to use his brains more and his ba11s less, if he’s going to not just thrive but survive in today’s UFC…
Justin,
Your right, I must have missed the whole AC discussions and that peps were saying the judges “worked for Dana”. I messed up my self and referred to the UFC needing new refs, I meant judges.
Also I wasn’t trying to start anything with Harrison It just pi$$e$ me off when I know that my knowledge is better than most, {not all} Not trying to be arrogant either.
I know you’re not trying to start anything.
Close fight…..
Round 1
I felt Tito got the better of the striking in the first half of round one, Forrest wasn’t landing much at all. Tito took him down, not for long but still landed quite a bit on the ground. Forrest finished the round looking better, had Tito against the cage with some Couture clinch work and knees. Landed more strikes at the end of the round than Tito did. Forrest ended the first round strong. The first round could have been seen either way, with arguments on both sides. I would have given it to Ortiz though, the takedown was the difference maker.
Round 2
Forrest spent the first 1:30 on his back getting G&P’d, Forrest then got up and kicked Titos mouthpiece out. Tito took him down again and cut him open, spent about 1:00 on the ground. Forrest sweeped and reversed very nicely, turned the tide on Ortiz for the last 30 seconds.
No doubt Ortiz won that round, not sure anyone could find reason to disagree with that.
Round 3
Forrest picked apart Ortiz, Ortiz had no answers for anything and was obviously gassed. Definite round for Forrest, no doubt. Definitely not a 10-8 round though. If Forrest would have produced a nice cut, knocked him down, hurt his leg ….etc
Based on the points being scored round by round, I would have scored it 29-28 Ortiz. Forrest however, won the “fight”.
im not a tito supporter at all.. i cant stand the guy.. i love what he does for the sport bvut thats different…
as for his loss i think he deserved it… he should have done more to win… we as fans know this simple rule ” dont leave it up to the judges ”
i think tito forgot that, but i bet he remembers now…
it also looked like tito was suffereing from some serious ring rust… he didnt look as cut as he used to…
if he works hard on his cardio and gets his vicsious take downs back… i can see him being a threat to many fighters…
but he like chuck liddel both have there styles mapped out and unless they make some fundemental changes i dont see tito being super successful and climbinb up the ladder
I’ll just throw this out there but if this decisions creates THIS much discussion, it was probably too close and could be argued in favor of either fighter.
While judging makes you scratch your head sometimes it IS subjective, always will be and that’s why fighters need to aggressively go for the (t)ko or submission. Trying to win the decision makes less and less sense these days.
Words can not express how much I agree with your first sentence.
titos stand up was pretty bad…..he will never be more than a doorman into the 205’s again…sorry.
off the point……the ufc should make a card called, for example “UFC 120: The Night of Legends” and have chuck, randy, tito, mark coleman and matt hughes all on the main card, feed them all decent b level fighters that they would have a legit chance against, so they can all go out on a high note, and then have them all bow out graciously. the game has passed all these legends by….
the card would sell huge, anyone agree?
I fort Tito won 2 of the 3 rounds
Call me cynical but it is my belief that the victory in any close contest was always going to be in favour of Forrest.
What with the plethora of injuries of late and the ever increasing ufc events being put on each month, a Forrest victory grants the oppotunity of a rubber match against Tito and potentially headlines a future event.
I personally felt that Tito won the contest despite the rather one sided final round but knew that this would be the latest in a long line of questionable decisions for the reason already stated.
Ufc 100 aside, I’m not sure that there has there has been a single ufc fight card this year that has been stacked from top to bottom, a pity really.