I’m here live at the Tito Ortiz question and answer session for UFC Fight Club members.
Mike Goldberg just welcomed us to the session. He details UFC 103 and discusses Frank Trigg’s return to the cage.
Which leads us into a video detailing Tito’s career in the UFC.
Tito takes the stage. He says his back is 100% for the first time in six years and has been going through three training sessions per day with zero pain. He’s ready for the bout right now and hopes that Mark shows up in shape, because otherwise he’ll crush him. He wants another shot at the belt when he’s healthy.
First question: how much did the back injury hamper him during his fights? It hurt him the worst during the Machida bout. Says he’s perfectly healthy. He bends over and puts his hands on the ground to demonstrate his flexibility. He says that Dana has been a man of his word and it’s great to have him in his corner again. Says he was never going to Strikeforce or anywhere else, and everything was a negotiation tactic.
Tito says he’ll probably have to win three fights before getting a title shot. The only thing he’s thinking about right now is killing Mark Coleman, but he would like to fight Forrest and Rashad again at some point. Says that Coleman is more of a mummy than a hammer.
A fan gives Tito a shirt that says “Dana is my Bo$$”. He puts it on. Fantastic.
Someone asks if Tito wants to fight Frank Shamrock. Tito says he’d love to, but that Shamrock is afraid of him.
Next question: how did it feel to beat Wanderlei Silva for five rounds? Said he had to train really hard and was worried because Silva had a stellar reputation. His fans drive him.
How much training is Tito doing before going to Big Bear with Freddie Roach? He’s already working with Freddie three days a week until October 4th. At Big Bear, he’ll be working a lot on wrestling. The fans love exciting fights with lots of striking, but he doesn’t want to end up being retarded when he’s older.
Tito says the highlight video from earlier was the first time he’s seen good highlights of himself in six years.
Someone asks about the boxing bout with Dana White. Tito says he was supposed to get 50% of all revenue from that bout, but when it came down to it, there was no bout agreement. He didn’t want to put himself into a situation where he couldn’t make money. He believes that the fans were sold something that wasn’t true.
A kid asks about Tito’s thoughts on Kimbo Slice. Tito says he’s out of his element and that it will be proven on the Ultimate Fighter this year. Perhaps he shouldn’t have said that out loud. Tito says he’s a really big fan of professional wrestling. Yes, this is obvious.
This Q&A session is in danger of turning into an autograph session.
Tito says he watched Hulk Hogan take professional wrestling to a new level and Ali take boxing to a new level. This shouldn’t surprise anyone who has watched Tito’s career evolve over the years. It’s why he’s one of the biggest stars in the sport.
A fan asks about his first professional bout. It was under pankration rules, which used open hand slaps instead of punches. He beat the dude senseless with slaps and his hands hurt badly after the bout.
A fan says that Tito is one of the nicest dudes that you’ll ever meet. He offers to hang out with Tito in case Jenna isn’t making it to the show tomorrow. Unfortunately for the fan, Jenna will be in the house. This news makes the fan sad.
Tito and Goldberg talking about the Chuck Liddell bouts. Goldberg predicted that Tito would get knocked out and it made Tito sad.
What inspired Tito to create his grave digger taunt that he uses post-fight? It was something he saw a fighter use on a movie and he liked it so much that he decided to keep it.
Goldberg says the greatest fighter walk-in he’s ever seen was Tito after 9/11.
What’s going through Tito’s head as he returns to the light heavyweight division? First and foremost, he wants to get back in the groove and get his mind right. He’s very thankful for his surgery and says the division is wide open for him. He’s able to train the way he used to train and he’s going to crush some faces. Says he’s still young even though he’s been in the game for thirteen years. Everybody who thinks he’s washed up will be shocked when he has the world title around his waist again.
Tito says that the top light heavyweights are Machida and Rampage…and then loses his train of thought and says he just wants to kill people.
A soldier from Fort Hood is up to ask a question, which is very cool for me because I used to be in the Army and was stationed at Hood. Tito talks about his trips to Iraq and says it’s time to bring the troops home. The soldier/fan agrees and says he’s done. I also agree, which is why I’m sitting here covering this as a journalist instead of sweating in 140 degree heat in Tikrit.
Was he treated unfairly during the Rashad fight? Tito thinks so.
Tito says he’d love to do another Liddell fight. He makes my Dancing with the Stars joke. What, you haven’t heard it? Let’s just say that it involves Chuck’s dancing partner accidentally knocking him out.
Tito says he has no internal filter and just says whatever is on his mind.
Goldberg says that Ricco Rodriguez is here and looks to be in fantastic shape.
Tito’s back must be made of magic, because he can’t stop talking about it.
He would love to train with GSP, but the fact that Rashad Evans is a GSP teammate will prevent that from happening because Rashad is afraid that he would get killed in training.
Tito says he loves Brock Lesnar. He respects that he talks trash and backs it up and brings a real athletic pedigree to the heavyweight division.
A fan wonders how we know that Tito isn’t bluffing about his surgery, since he’s the marketing king and all. Tito says he spent $250,000 on the surgery and that everyone will see why he’s talking about the surgery on November 21.
Will Tito be at any official parties this weekend? He’ll be at the House of Blues tonight.
A fan says that there are lots of similarities between Tito and Brock Lesnar. They both fought for the title quickly. Tito says they needed someone to sell PPV’s, so they gave him a title shot. This man understands this business.
Tito would love a rematch with Randy Couture. Randy can’t beat Father Time and another fight would be completely different. Says that Randy did spank him the last time around, but it won’t happen this time. He doesn’t want to smash Couture but he will if Dana wants him to.
That’s all for the Q&A session. We’ll be back with live weigh-in results in an hour.
