Going into UFC 132, Tito Ortiz had everything going against him. Having failed to win a fight since a third beatdown of Ken Shamrock, Ortiz was at the very end of a considerably long stick from the UFC. Given another top contender in Ryan Bader, Ortiz had a simple goal: win or lose his place in the only federation he’s ever really known. And with everyone counting him out, Tito went and did what had been thought of as impossible.
He choked out Ryan Bader.
With the win Tito has managed to find a way to stave off elimination from the UFC ranks for another day, as he’s stated he’d like to keep fighting for another five years, and this could be the beginning of one last thing in Ortiz’s career: a final run at the title.
It’s the only thing that’s been on his mind since he lost it to Randy Couture and he’s never managed to get on track to get a shot again. The last fighter from the dark days of Zuffa, Ortiz was the light heavyweight champion when it didn’t hold as much gravity as it does now. With a number of back and neck injuries, eventually requiring a handful of surgeries, it was always left to wonder whether or not the Tito of old could come back. While against Hamill it looked like he was done but when facing Bader, a higher ranked fighter, we saw a glimpse of that old Huntington Beach Bad Boy at UFC 132. And at this point there’s only one thing for Ortiz to continue to do: Take more high level fights and see if this is Tito’s resurgence or if this is just a fluke victory.
If Ortiz is going to have to walk away from fighting, and probably reinvent himself as the next great coach with the next great fight camp, he needs that one last run for a chance at winning his title back. And this is it as he’s past 35 and it’s extremely rare for a fighter to be having a sustained level excellence at that age bracket that isn’t named Randy Couture.
If this was a one-time win then the next top guy he faces will dismantle him like Matt Hamill did.
If this was the Ortiz that is healed up, that is the fighter that he used to be, then he’ll be facing whoever’s the champion in short time.
Either way it starts with top level competition and nothing else. Defeating Bader, a top 10 fighter in recent rankings, leaves him at a precarious position. He can’t go down to fight guys like Stephan Bonner because he’s too big a fighter to fight someone that far down the food chain. One win in six fights doesn’t get him back to the title picture immediately. He needs a run of 2-3 more victories to get back to a title fight and it starts now.
Tito’s grave-digger celebration might be perhaps the most over the top of its kind in all of sports. It really borders on that line of sportsmanship sometimes. But if it’s going to happen again, and the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” is to be at the top of the mountain again, then it starts by going up in competition. It’s the only way left for Tito Ortiz… and one imagines he wouldn’t want it any other way.
