Mixed Martial Arts

Jacob Christopher Ortiz is a Mexican American mixed martial artist competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, from April 14, 2000 to September 26, 2003, Ortiz emerged as one of the sport's biggest stars, becoming the biggest pay-per-view draw of 2006 and appearing on the covers of various magazines. Ortiz is the CEO of the Punishment Athletics clothing and mixed martial arts equipment line.

Tito is the youngest of four sons born to a Mexican-American father and a European-American mother, and his mixed heritage is reflected in his ring entrances as he bears both Mexican and American flags.

Ortiz began his martial arts career as a wrestler in his sophomore year at Huntington Beach High School. Under coach Paul Herrera, Ortiz finished fourth in the state high school championships as a senior. Following high school, Ortiz continued his wrestling career, winning two California state junior college titles for Golden West College. Following his stint at Golden West, Ortiz wrestled at Cal State Bakersfield. Ortiz trained with future NCAA, World, and Super Bowl champion Stephen Neal. Tito has written a book called "This Is Gonna Hurt" - The Life of a Mixed Martial Arts champion".

Born: January 23, 1975 in Huntington Beach, California, USA

Fighting out of: Huntington Beach, CA - USA

Height: 6' 2" (188 cm)

Weight: 204 lbs. (93 kg)

Strengths: Good wrestler. Great conditioning. Vicious ground and pound.

What ranks and titles have you held? Former UFC World Light Heavyweight (Once known as middleweight) champion.

What is your favorite technique? Ground and pound.

Mixed martial arts career

UFC

Ortiz's mixed martial arts debut was at UFC 13 in 1997. Still in college, Ortiz competed as an amateur for no prize money or contracts. He beat Wes Albritton in an alternate bout by referee stoppage at 0:31 of the very first round. He was selected to face Guy Mezger in the Lightweight final after Enson Inoue could not continue due to injury. Ortiz lost the fight at 2:00 in the first round by submission. After returning with a TKO victory over Jeremy Screetonat West Coast NHB Championships 1, and a doctors stoppage due to cut against Jerry Bohlander at UFC 18, Tito avenged his loss to Mezger at UFC 19 by TKO in round 1.

In 1999 Ortiz fought Frank Shamrock for the UFC middleweight (199 lb) title at UFC 22, losing via submission due to strikes. Following the victory, Shamrock retired and vacated the championship. The middleweight division was then renamed the light heavyweight (205 lb) division and Ortiz was chosen, along with Wanderlei Silva, as a top contender. Ortiz defeated Wanderlei Silva for the vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 25 via unanimous decision. He went on to defend the belt a record five times in the following three years, defeating Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko and Lion's Den head Ken Shamrock.

At UFC 44, after a near year-long layoff from the sport, Ortiz fought the new interim light heavyweight champion Randy Couture, who had defeated Chuck Liddell for the interim title at UFC 43 in September 2003. Couture defeated Ortiz via unanimous decision. The loss ended Ortiz's near three and a half year title reign, which is still the longest light heavyweight championship reign since the title's inception in 1997. Following his loss to Couture, Ortiz faced Chuck Liddell at UFC 47, losing by second round knockout. After six months off, Ortiz returned and took a unanimous decision victory over newcomer Patrick Côté at UFC 50, and a split decision over Vitor Belfort at UFC 51.

In February 2005, Ortiz took time away from the UFC and was offered deals with several promotions, including PRIDE Fighting Championships and the Don King-backed World Fighting Alliance, but none came to fruition. Ortiz opted to try his hand at professional wrestling, signing with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a guest referee.

In November 2005, Dana White announced that Ortiz and Ken Shamrock would coach The Ultimate Fighter 3 reality TV series on Spike TV, which premiered in April 2006. Ortiz's first fight in his return occurred at UFC 59 on April 15, 2006 against previous The Ultimate Fighter 1 winner Forrest Griffin. Ortiz won via split decision. His next fight was against UFC Hall Of Famer Ken Shamrock at UFC 61 on July 8, 2006, a match which was to conclude a main storyline in The Ultimate Fighter 3. Ortiz won in the first round by TKO due to a stoppage by referee Herb Dean due to strikes. Shamrock protested that the stoppage was early. On August 25, 2006, at the UFC 62 weigh-ins, Dana White announced a rematch between Ortiz and Shamrock for October 10, 2006 on Spike TV, as the main event of Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter. Ortiz beat Shamrock for the third time in this fight, which was stopped in the first round due to strikes. Ortiz's rematch with Chuck Liddell (for the UFC Light Heavyweight championship) at UFC 66 (December 30, 2006) ended in defeat via referee stoppage in the third round.

He then fought against undefeated The Ultimate Fighter 2 winner Rashad Evans on July 7, 2007 at UFC 73. The fight ended in a draw after Ortiz was penalized for grabbing the fence. Ortiz' last fight on his contract with the UFC was a unanimous decision loss to undefeated Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 on May 24, 2008. With all three judges scoring the fight 30-27 to Machida. Ortiz came close to submitting Machida in the third round with a triangle choke before transitioning to an armbar. However, Machida managed to escape and survived the round, winning a unanimous judge's decision. The fight concluded Ortiz' stay with the promotion as he chose not to re-sign, citing his frustration with UFC-president Dana White as a major factor in the decision.

Leaving the UFC

After leaving the UFC, Ortiz was approached by multiple promotions, including the now defunct EliteXC, Affliction and the American Fight League. However, a clause in his old UFC contract forbade him from signing with or fighting for any other organization until approximately April-June 2009. Until his return to the UFC, Ortiz was considered the biggest free agent on the market.

On October 6, 2008, Ortiz underwent back surgery in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to his website, he had been experiencing back pain since his fight with Randy Couture.

On Wednesday, December 17, 2008, Affliction Entertainment announced that Ortiz would be part of the broadcast team for the Affliction: Day of Reckoning. Ortiz had said he would fight again in August 2009, but this did not occur.

Return to the UFC

On July 17, 2009, both Ortiz and Dana White stated that the pair had made amends. One week later, White announced that he re-signed Tito. Ortiz stated he is returning for a six fight deal he and White have worked out. White officially announced Ortiz's return in a conference call on July 31, 2009. White mentioned that "everyone wants to see Tito fight" and "Tito will retire in the UFC." Mark Coleman was named as Ortiz's opponent for his return to the octagon. The bout was to occur at UFC 106. However, Mark Coleman pulled out of this bout due to a second-degree tear of his MCL.

On Oct 8, Ortiz confirmed via Twitter that his new opponent for UFC 106 would be Forrest Griffin. This was later confirmed by Yahoo! Sports.

Due to an illness (possibly swine flu or mono) to heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, Ortiz's fight with Forrest Griffin has been promoted to the headlining event for UFC 106.

Professional wrestling career

In May 2005, Ortiz agreed to appear with the professional wrestling promotion TNA.

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 (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 referee an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match between Jeff Jarrett and Rhino on October 23, 2005 at the TNA Bound for Glory PPV.

Submission wrestling

Ortiz has also had fights as a submission wrestler and in 2000, competed in the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling tournament. Tito finished in third place after winning 4 fights before losing in the semi-final by decision to Ricardo Arona. During the tournament he defeated Matt Hughes, Mike van Arsdale, Rumina Sato, and Rostyslav Borysenko.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

As part of his comeback to the UFC, Ortiz recently began training with his original Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo instructor Cleber Luciano a student of Royler Gracie. Ortiz originally briefly trained with Luciano back in 1997, when he was still a student at Golden West College. According to Ortiz “… he’s the first person to tap the shit out of me a bunch of times.”

Championships and accomplishments

• Ultimate Fighting Championship

  • UFC Light Heavyweight Champion (5 Time Defending)

  Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • 2002 Feud of the Year (vs Ken Shamrock)
  • 2006 Feud of the Year (vs Ken Shamrock)

  FIGHTING SPIRIT magazine

  • 2006 Fight of The Year (vs Forrest Griffin, UFC 59)
  • 2006 Golden Gloves

Books

• (2008) This is Gonna Hurt:The Life of a Mixed Martial Arts Champion.

Official Tito Ortiz Website