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Tito Ortiz: I want to come back to fight in the UFC before the end of 2010
By Zach Arnold | June 11, 2010
“I guess all the pressure’s on Chuck. He has to win in a good fashion.”
That’s how Tito Ortiz summarized his weekend’s UFC 115 main event between Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin, stating that he wants to fight Chuck Liddell no matter what and he hopes that Chuck doesn’t retire. He made these comments on UFC’s Ultimate Fighter podcast show.
“I think we should still fight just because of the [expletive] that he’s been saying. Saying that I’m afraid of him, that I’m a [expletive] and this and that. Go [expletive] yourself, man. Are you kidding me? Has he ever defended the world title longer than me? No. Has any Light Heavyweight ever defended the title longer than me? No. I’m only 35 years old, man. I’ll be back in that cage again and I’ll be dominating. When I fought Forrest Griffin, I won that fight. Everybody knows I won that fight. When I fought Rashad Evans, I grabbed the fence — my bad. I still won the fight. Against (Lyoto) Machida, yeah he beat me in the first two rounds. Third round, I almost submitted him. I’m not a jiu-jitsu guy. I just need to be at 100% when I fight. You know and that’s what it’s about. When I get back in that cage and I’m jumping around and it’s time to kill someone, the guy in front me I feel sorry for and I hope that it’s Chuck Liddell.”
Tito thinks a third match between the two would have as much demand in 2010 as it would have a few years back.
“I’ll think it’ll be a huge fight as it was the first and second time. I think there’s no history that anybody has like me and Chuck Liddell has. It’s just one of those things, you know, paybacks are a [expletive] and when they come around, it’s time.”
Believe it or not, he feels that he could come back as soon as November to fight. I’m not sure if we should be holding out breath here, but he says what he says.
“I’m hoping by October-November, either one of those two months I’m hoping and I just got to make sure that I heal right. Like I say, I’m only 35. I got to make sure to take care of myself right now, get healthy, and be able to be in a gym six days a week doing the wrestling again and that’s what it comes down to. I was dominating people when I wrestled and I got out of wrestling because I wanted to be a stand-up guy because I wanted to knock people out and make people happy. But if the wheel’s not broke, why fix it?”
Here is the transcript of some of the quotes from the Ultimate Fighter iTunes show, including what the healing process has been like so far for surgery. One thing that I won’t quote directly but should mention is that Tito Ortiz claims that after his doctor told him to get the surgery, UFC sent him to their own doctor and the UFC doctor said that only physical therapy was needed but that he had a 50/50 shot of fighting and there was a risk of paralysis. So, he went ahead with the surgery.
MIKE CHIAPPETTA: “I know you’ve had that surgery so how did it go and how are you feeling right now?”
TITO ORTIZ: “Well, the surgery really went really, really well you know. I think I was the most scared ever in my life, man. My lower back was a lot worse than my neck, I mean, so far at least. But my neck because it’s just because it’s so close to my throat I mean I factored getting rear naked choked, getting a chance to get guillotined, you know a headlock, slammed on my head again, if something happened it would be worse, paralyzation, I mean there was a lot of things going through my mind that was just so scary. But once I got it done, you know, my headaches are gone, the numbness down my arms and legs is gone, no more tingling sensations going through my face, my ears. Doing really, really, really, really well. I’m very thankful that I got the surgery.”
MIKE CHIAPPETTA: “How quickly did those symptoms go away after the surgery?”
TITO ORTIZ: “Within the first couple of days, you know. No more headaches, no more numbness going down my arms or my legs. I think when I was about five weeks into shooting the show, I got done after one day shooting the show, went home to go watch TV, I feel asleep watching TV sitting up. I went to go get up for a second training and I couldn’t stand up. My arms and legs were completely numb, it kind of scared me because I’ve never felt that before. And when that happened I realized that there was something really, really the matter with me and you know when it happened before the Forrest fight, you know I kind of sucked it up and fought just because I didn’t let want to let Dana down, I didn’t want to let the UFC down, and I didn’t want to let my fans down so I fought anyways and my doctor says I’m crazy. Yeah, I am a little crazy, but you know like I say, now that I got it done and not having any of those symptoms anymore, I’m really really really really thankful.”
MIKE CHIAPPETTA: “So how long are you going to be on the shelf as far as this injury with the rehab and everything that’s involved?”
TITO ORTIZ: “Well the doctor says six months, so I’m two months in right now and I’m doing better, you know, I went from 199 to 215. My weight’s back on. I haven’t been 199 since I defended my world title, I think that the last time I have been at that weight before. Now that I’m back up to my normal weight at 215, you know I’m starting to feel stronger. My doctor gave me the go-ahead to start doing weight-training but only weight-training for about another month-and-a-half. And as I get my neck stronger and my shoulders and back stronger, I’ll be able to start drilling and start hitting pads and you know starting getting into the groove of things again.”
MIKE CHIAPPETTA: “So what’s the therapy and rehabilitation like for you?”
TITO ORTIZ: “Well, you know, now is just a lot of massages, a lot of shoulder workouts, rotation, trying to get my rotation back in my neck and just get the strength back. But things are doing a lot, lot better, keeping my legs strong you know it’s just amazing the doctor, Dr. William Smith out of Las Vegas who did the surgery, you know he’s a magician. I’m very, very thankful just because of my lower back, I no longer have problems with my lower back and now I have no problems with my neck any more and I’m damn thankful.”
MIKE CHIAPPETTA: “Yeah, I mean with everything you’ve gone through, it is pretty amazing and you know as you mentioned the two injuries, the back, the neck as well. So this is your second major surgery in the las 18 months. So I guess the question is, what motivates you to keep going forward and continue your fighting career? Because it would be easy to say, this isn’t meant to be, there’s major injuries.”
TITO ORTIZ: “You think I think God gives us challenges as man you know and as people and the challenges that are given, how a re you going to take them? Are you going to quit? Are you going to suck it up and keep going? Well I’m the type of person to suck it up and keep going. I’m only 35, you know, I think my fans deserve a lot. You know, my family of course and I have three sons that I want to make sure that I give them everything I never had as a kid and so you know I think it’s my fans and my family that I have really sacrificed myself for. And I’ve always willing to do that, you know, I just was sick of fighting with injury after injury before a fight. You know I went through my back for almost seven years and my neck before the Forrest fight was a little scary and I wasn’t going to pull out of the fight and I fought and you know the outcome didn’t come as I thought it was going to be and it is what it is but you know I shot The Ultimate Fighter and I thought I would be able to get through it and you know I agreed to do the show before I got the injury, me and Dana agreed upon it when I was training for the Forrest fight. I think I was about a month into training and he asked if I would do the Ultimate Fighter and I said of course I would. And he said it was going to be against Chuck and I said, awesome, let’s do it again. And you know after the injury happened, I thought I’d be able to suck it up but I took a couple of weeks off of training and I really let my body heal and that’s not what it was because there was a disc and two bone spurs that are pressing on my spinal cord and if anybody’s ever have any spinal cord problems or disc injuries in their neck, they understand what I went through. I’m thankful now, like I say, I haven’t any symptoms that I had prior of surgery to be sitting around right now I think God is looking over me.”
MIKE CHIAPPETTA: “I’m just curious, you know, in your worst moments maybe times you know when you just found out that you were going to have this surgery, did you ever for a second ponder possibly retiring?”
TITO ORTIZ: “Never. Not one thought in my mind. I mean at the [back of my] mind of you know maybe a bad surgery happening and you know paralyzation possibly, you know that was probably the worst thing that I thought about. But me not returning? I really didn’t think like that, you know, I thought of being mentally as positive as I possibly could. The more positive I was about it I think the quicker I would heal and I went through the same symptoms with my lower back and after having back surgery you’ll go, you’ll never fight again ever. I was like oh yeah, watch this. And I remember back when I tore my ACL before I was supposed to fight Vitor Belfort, I had that same situation. A lot of people said, you tore your ACL, you’re never going to fight again. Well, you know I went to defend my world title two times after that and you know it’s just one of those things I think God gives us challenges in our lives and how you take them is what you become and I think a lot of fans look up to me because of that.”
MIKE CHIAPPETTA: “I know you were at the UFC Fan Expo over UFC 114 weekend a couple of weeks back. You know, since a lot of what happened played out on national TV with millions of people watching, I’m curious to see what kind of reception you got from the fans, what kind of reactions you got from the fasn when you finally were seen in the public eye again and had people coming up to you.”
TITO ORTIZ: “You know it was so hard to sit there and lie to my fans and I want to apologize to everyone that I didn’t tell the truth to. I just had to stick to my contract. I had to stick to what I signed for The Ultimate Fighter and that was not letting anything out, who won, who lost, what happened to me, and you know for the first time something really serious happened and I had to keep my mouth shut. The hardest thing was after surgery, there was a month I was in my house every day. I couldn’t leave. I had a neck brace on and I couldn’t leave the house and it was really, really hard and then about three weeks into it I started doing physical therapy and I had to drive around with a neck brace on and my doctor said I shouldn’t have been driving but you know I didn’t have anybody else to drive me so not being seen by paparazzi, not being seen by anybody was really hard to do. You know I could imagine there’s a few people out there going ‘is that Tito who just drove by with a neck brace on?’ And I really didn’t say anything but it was hard. It was really hard to lie, it was hard, it’s not something I’m used to doing. I’m really took it to heart to not lie to my fans ever and that one time I just as Dana told me, say no comment, and so many times I said ‘just watch the fight’ or ‘just watch The Ultimate Fighter and see what happens’ and I get so much backlash just from people saying all kinds of crazy things about me like I’m afraid to fight Chuck. It’s kind of funny, look at my record and look at all the guys I’ve fought and I’ve never had a problem against fighting anyone and I fought Chuck twice so I don’t think I’ve ever been afraid to fight the man. I’m down to do it again. I just need to heal and come back and make sure I’m 100% because not fighting at 100% is something I don’t want to do and I want to make sure that I come back and come back at 100%.”
MIKE CHIAPPETTA: “OK, so speaking about Chuck here since you brought him up, I spoke with Chuck recently and he felt that you knowingly came into the show hurt, that you never planned to go through with the fight, and that you were kind of just there to plug your Punishment Athletics brand. So I’m curious what’s your reaction to that is.”
TITO ORTIZ: “That’s [expletive]. Even ask Dana. Me and Dana agreed about doing the show before I even fought Forrest, before my injury even happened, me and Dana agreed upon doing it. So that was something that I signed a contract and it was already done. Me promoting Punishment Athletics, I was trying to do a smart business move on my part. Don’t bag on me because I’m smarter than him, that’s just being a smart businessman. I was going to promote my brand, of course, in my mind I was going to do The Ultimate Fighter. After I fought Forrest I thought if I took a few days off or a few weeks off that I would be able to heal and come back. Well, my doctor told me that I was going to have major neck surgery. You don’t think shocked my heart? Man, I was so taken back, I couldn’t believe it. I was just like, you’re joking right now, right? And even after the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to fight, I still told Dana that I still want to fight and I don’t care, he’s like no we can’t do it, and I told him I still want to fight.”
MIKE CHIAPPETTA: “So do you think the timeline on the show was not portrayed correctly? Because it seemed like Dana seemed a little surprised there or upset that you were going to pull out of the fight and said something along the lines of that you shouldn’t have taken the spot on the show or if you were hurt, so what’s your response to that?”
TITO ORTIZ: “Listen, paybacks are a [expletive]. I talk [expletive] on Dana and like I said, paybacks are a [expletive]. I’ll be a man and I’ll take my medicine as it comes and you know they can portray me how they want but when I get back in that cage and I kick some ass again, then I can shut all the naysayers up and do my job and that’s what I’m going to do.”
MIKE CHIAPPETTA: “So are you and Dana cool right now? Is everything good?”
TITO ORTIZ: “Yeah, we’re fine. It’s just, you know, I know that he defends Liddell and it’s good. I understand. I guess I would do the same thing, too, you know if… someone did what Chuck did for me, I would do the same thing, I would defend them as much as possible. They can paint the picture all they want. I know the truth, my real fans know the truth, I went through major neck surgery and you know there was no other way around it, you know, it’s black and white and that’s the way it’s shown.”
MIKE CHIAPPETTA: “So you mentioned the numbness and some of the other symptoms that went along with the problem that you had. Was there one specific instance that made you realize that might be enough to actually keep me out of the fight or it just when the doctor told you that you needed surgery?”
TITO ORTIZ: “I think itw as a little bit of both. I think the surgery wasn’t, but I think I knew I had a problem when I went to get up off the chair and after falling asleep sitting up and realizing my legs weren’t walking. I came to realize like, what’s going on, I’ve never felt this before. I mean after my 13 years of competition I’ve never felt this before. And I knew there was something wrong and that was about two weeks before finishing the show and I knew there was a problem and that’s when I went to go see my doctor to go see what was going on with me.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fuck Tito, the giant whining bitch he is, anything he can do to keep his name out there and “his brand in the public eye” and he’s in it. Just like when he strung along the whole “where will he sign” shenanigans as each company he spoke to went kaput.
Personally, I’m done of hearing about Tito and his stories, until he actually SIGNS to fight a fight, regardless of what excuse it is this time or the next time, people should forget about this former top ten guy, a guy who generously would be included in anyone’s top 20 if at all, the last time Tito shined in a fight was against a habitual roid user who’s even more delusional than Tito is. Cest la vie.
Can we have the UFC 115 thread bumped up? I’d like to do my predictions in there.
Tito is clearly done.
I wish Tito would just go away and stay away.
He fought scared of Chuck twice and lost in convincing fashion. If he wasn’t so scared he could have won the second fight because Chuck looked terrible that night.
I used to appreciate Tito’s gimmick when he was one of the top ranked guys because it made you want to see someone beat him.
But he’s washed up and irrelevant no so his schtick is just tired. I wish UFC would disassociate itself from him.
Because you just haven’t heard enough from him, Chael Sonnen did a Q&A at a pre-weigh in event. Among highlights:
-Called Overeem “BALCO’s lab rat.”
-Said nobody cares about the Light Heavyweight division (really? coming from a 185er?)
-Said he doesn’t care about the UFC game because fighters aren’t being paid for it. Then made a point to mention the EA Sports fighters got paid.
-Claimed to have no respect for Silva’s BJJ, claiming “Everybody knows getting a black belt from one of the Nogueira’s is as easy as getting a free toy with a Happy Meal.”
-Said Silva only bows to opponents in the Octagon because it was safe to unlike in Brazil where you’d get hit over the head and have your wallet stolen.
-When someone asked if he thinks his promos are better than James Toney’s he said nobody can understand what Toney says.
He closed out the show by claiming Anderson Silva was worse than Michael Jackson and he’s planning on suplexing him, putting him in the camel clutch, breaking his back and humbling him old country way.
I can’t believe he’s running for office with some of the stuff he says… but Goddamn if it isn’t hilarious.
“Everybody knows getting a black belt from one of the Nogueira’s is as easy as getting a free toy with a Happy Meal.”
I mean c’mon that is freakin’ funny.
As opposed to Oregon, where they’d butt fuck you, steal your wallet and then spend the money on crystal meth.
Is this true?
My wife and I are planning on flying in to San Francisco and driving into Oregon, but not if we’re going to get buttfucked and robbed.
Someone please confirm if GB’s post is true or not!