Following Wednesday’s UFC 123 press conference, UFC president Dana White was surrounded by camera wielding members of the media, who specifically asked him about giving Tito Ortiz another chance. White responded that this was, “Definitely his last chance.”
Many thought that Ortiz’s most recent loss to Matt Hamill, his fourth in five fights, would have been enough to earn him his walking papers, but “The Huntington Beach Badboy” has been given another shot to stay with the company when he faces Antonio Rogerio Nogueira next year.
In telling why Ortiz was given another chance, White stated, “I talked to Tito. Me and him had a conversation. Tito said, ‘I’m not done. I feel healthy, I feel good.’ And he asked me for one last chance. So I’m going to do it. I’m not the evil bastard everyone thinks I am.”
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I don’t mind Tito getting another fight. I would have saved Nogueira for someone else. That said, Tito Ortiz’ legacy will forever be a part of the history of the UFC and MMA. Guys like him should get another chance.
I really wish they didn’t give him to lil Nog. I wanted to see Tito make a comeback but it seems they don’t want him to. And to finish off his career against a Pride vet.
daniel lil nog is the best fight out there for tito he will control that punching bag like brilz and bader did tito ortiz ud all day long
And in the end, Tito will still be irrelevant and a waste of roster space.
@dbiz -
On the relevency thing:
Not that its not a valid point, it definitely is, but what exactly does “relevent” mean in Dana White’s UFC?
First and foremost a fighter’s relevence is tied to the money DW can make promoting one if his fights.
Clearly DW thinks Ortiz can still earn, so he stays while maybe fighters who have more to give in their careers than Ortiz does get cut or don’t get a choice fight with LilNog.
Relevence within a weightclass is right alongside of fighter rankings and “earned” title shots and all the rest. Those things just don’t seem to matter very much to DW, or at least not enough to change how things are done within the UFC…
Yeah, and helps explain why the winner of Tito’s last fight is on the back burner while Tito gets another chance, and another huge payday…for losing.
Meanwhile Matt Hamill who fought his heart out and destroyed Tito at his own game gets to sit in the wings and if he’s lucky he’ll get to fight someone in the #10-15 range his next time out.
If taking a guy who hasn’t won a fight since ’06 and shooting him way up the ladder above a guy who just beat him and is on a five fight win streak, all for a relatively small boost in PPV numbers, doesn’t make the case for the UFC making a sharp left on the road to being dumbed down entertainment as opposed to legit sport, then be my guest and keep the blind faith.
It is what it is and imo this goes beyond Dana’s normal trend of putting marketing sense above legitimate matchups and is entering a new phase. An MMA world where talent, skill and hard work ethic are supressed in favor of what will be the biggest meathead sh!t talking spectacle we can throw in front of the fans. I’m not a rocket scientist, but I’m by no stretch a fxcking moron either. This type of sh!t is insulting and a slap in the face to me as an uber supportive fan of the sport in general and Dana’s promotion in particular. I’m starting to feel almost betrayed and cheated, as I’m sure Matt Hamill is feeling at the moment.
Maybe it’s because Hamill is from my hometown, maybe it’s because I have a soft spot for people with disabilities, or perhaps it’s an accumulation of watching DW treating winning fighters like peons and the likes of Tito and Koscheck like royalty.
If it looks like sh!t, and it smells like sh!t, guess what? It’s sh!t. And I’m here to tell you that Dana White’s opportunity distribution amongst his fighters is no different. The only way Dana can swindle me into ordering this PPV is to put it on the Griffin/Franklin card, and that’s coming from a guy who hasn’t missed a live PPV in at least six years.
To sum things up NaturalDizaster is p!ssed!
Tito still belongs in the UFC. Say what you will, his last two fights against Forrest Griffin and Matt Hamill were both competitive. Before that almost submitted Machida and would have beaten Rashad Evans if he hadn’t grabbed the fence. He’s never going to be a contender again, but he’s still a solid mid-level fighter who can round out a main card. The problem is how much he gets paid. If Tito were willing to take the $25k per fight that he’s worth instead of the $250k that he’s getting, I’m sure there’s a place for him on the roster.
Also, I think he has a good chance against Little Nog, who, like so many other great fighters, has a real hard time dealing with good-old-fashioned American wrestling.
q about the wrestling thing. if you get points just for a take down, and not doing anything with it, should your oponent get points for stuffing a takedown?
JC, that’s entering a web so tangled with opinion, judge’s preference and gray area that you’ll never get a definitive answer.
The current trend seems to be that when two fighters hit the ground, whoever lands on top is “controlling” the fight, whether or not the fighter on top is inflicting any damage whatsoever. They still get points for stalling and merely holding their opponent down using primarily their weight and the high school level of technique required to hold someone down once your on top of them.
Should the opponent get points for stuffing takedowns, or getting it back to the feet without taking any sort of damage at all while on the ground? Sure.
Does he actually get any points for doing so? Nine times out of ten, no.
@ ND – im aware that there is no clear answer. unfortunatly the judges seem to look for the simple answer when scoring.
but if we take a step back and just say no points for “stuffing the takedown”, what about stuffing the majority of the takedowns. would that imply octagon control?
if we look at a typical fight b/w a striker and a wrestler we usually see the striker being the slight agressor on the feet, although usually playing it a lil safe. the wrestler will probably spend most of the time on his feet backing up a bit, shrowing one punch/kick attacks and looking for the takedown.
say the wrestler gets the takedown 3 min into the round. then pretty much lays there. maybe some little rabbit punches here or there.
if this happend every round it will most likely get scored in favor of the wrestler as far as octagon control, and probably agression. both i feel should go the the striker. again, like you said, its just an opinion(rant).
i think fighters just need to get this out pointing, playing it safe thing out of their head. if you want to know you won the fight, finish it.
Tito was the UFC’s first Poster Boy and he isn’t being knocked out all the time like Chuck. I can see why they made this fight. Its a loser leaves town sort of fight IMO. Good Fight for Nog too. Lets see if he can finally get past a wrestler with decent jits defense.
I think Tito might still = PPV buy rate or else the $250,000 price tag would be too steep.
I think Tito has done enough in this sport to warrant this “last chance” fight to see if he has anything left in the tank. And really what a good matchup for him, I see Tito winning this fight, like I’ve said before Lil Nog has not looked good at all lately so this is good fight, against a decent opponent, and I think Tito definitely deserves this. I’m not really a big fan of Tito, but I respect what he’s done for the sport and what he’s done for the ufc. Whether anyone likes it or not, you see Tito’s name on a ppv, it makes you want to watch.
I think it’s crazy to call this a last chance fight. If he were looking like Mark Coleman did in his final fights then I could see putting him out of his misery. However, despite his record over the past several fights, he remains competitive against top competition (especially now that he’s “healthy). If the guy can hype a fight and bring the UFC some additional PPV buys then why wouldn’t he be kept on, even if he keeps losing? Make him a gatekeeper against young talent or even the guy who welcomes guys debuting in the UFC 205lbs division. Even if Tito will never be a top tier fighter again, he remains relevant because: 1. he hypes fights, 2. he can be competitive at least for a round or two against anyone, & 3. his history makes him an icon that guys want to have on their resume.
If I were Dana I would rather see him making a fool of himself while brining in money to the UFC, than brining more attention and money to another organization like Strikeforce (where he may have a better chance at winning and making the UFC look like they made a bad choice).
I don’t even like Tito, but as much as I say I could care less about him, I tune in to hear his bullsh!t and watch him lose. Plus everyone loves a comeback story and a little piece of me would like to see him do it for that reason alone.
Liddel said he wasn’t done and felt healthy and ready to go. I guess the difference is that Chuck was KTFO’d a few times where Tito was just blah.
Cleaned it up for you. -BSBiz
many people might not like tito ortiz but he is one of the best ufc fighters of all time when ufc was getting a lot of coverage everyone wanted to see tito ortiz the fighters that are coming up now cant sell fights like tito ortiz can the match he had with ken shamrock the first time was one of the best performance tito has had but everyone gets older and theres always younger hungry fighters but boring to watch and to give interviews.
all i can say is that since shamrock- tito has been fighting nothing but top notch guys. griffin, machida, rashad. meanwhile you have other people like couture fighting has beens and never will bes. griffin , rashad, machida, tito, liddell should be able to stay as long as they want. even your champ[shogun] at 205 is only 3-2 and he got 2 wins off of fighting grandpas!!
tito is a b and a crybaby, but he one of the reasons the ufc is what it is today!!
A fit, healthy Tito Ortiz is a danger to any 205lb’er.
He showed signs of ring rust and lacking the conditioning of old, probably due to his lack of fighting activity in recent years. Tito having a couple of fights now in a short space of time will have him better prepared.
Lets not forget that he has fought top tier competition and whilst the Hamill loss was a dissapointing performance, he was game against Machida, Griffin and Rashad. Dana has not been feeding him and padding his record with James Toney’s.
Can Tito get a win on the board and regain his confidence?
This question will be answered against Lil Nog.