Tito Ortiz

Jacob Christopher "Tito" Ortiz (born January 23, 1975) is a retired American mixed martial artist and a former politician.

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 first round.

He was selected to face Guy Mezger in the Light Heavyweight final after Enson Inoue could not continue due to injury.

Despite dominating Mezger at first, Ortiz lost the fight at 2:00 in the first round by a guillotine choke submission.

After returning with a TKO victory over Jeremy Screeton at West Coast NHB Championships 1, Ortiz fought top ranked fighter and UFC 12 Light Heavyweight Tournament Champion Jerry Bohlander at UFC 18.

Ortiz dominated the fight and won via TKO due to cut stoppage.

Ortiz then avenged his loss to Mezger at UFC 19 by TKO.

Ortiz's post fight antics towards Mezger and the Lion's Den led to his long-running rivalry with the team's leader Ken Shamrock.

Ortiz has credited UFC Heavyweight Champion Bas Rutten for inspiration during his early days.

Ortiz said; "I looked up to Bas Rutten. Bas was my idol. People were just so scared of fighting him, he was like the man. I thought that was what I need to do now. If I train as hard as he does then one day I'll be as good as him and two years later look where I am, I'm on top of the world. I've got to say thanks to him, (Bas) for helping me out by making me believe in dreams."

In 1999, Ortiz fought Frank Shamrock for what is now known as the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 22.

Despite controlling Shamrock for the majority of the fight, Ortiz ended up losing via submission due to strikes.

Following the victory, Shamrock retired and vacated the championship.

The Middleweight division was then officially renamed the Light Heavyweight (205 lb) division and Ortiz was chosen, along with Wanderlei Silva, as a top contender.

Ortiz defeated Silva for the vacant Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 25 via unanimous decision.

He went on to defend the Light Heavyweight Championship a then-record five times in the following three years, defeating Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko and Lion's Den head Ken Shamrock.

Ortiz is best known for his stints with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Light Heavyweight Champion, having held the title from April 14, 2000, to September 26, 2003.

Along with fighters like Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell, he was one of the sport's early stars.

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.

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.

Ortiz and fellow fighter Fabiano Iha even hired investment banker Stan Medley to take a new league, The Xtreme Fighting Championship, public.

But none of these endeavors 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, UFC president Dana White announced Ortiz and Ken Shamrock would coach The Ultimate Fighter 3 reality TV series on Spike TV, which premiered in April 2006.

Ortiz ultimately became the biggest pay-per-view draw of 2006 for his fights with Liddell, Forrest Griffin, and Ken Shamrock.

Ortiz is the CEO of Punishment Athletics MMA equipment and clothing line, which is located in his hometown of Huntington Beach, California.

On July 7, 2012, Ortiz became the ninth inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame.

The loss ended Ortiz's near three and a half year title reign, which was the longest Light Heavyweight Championship reign until Jon Jones successfully defended the Light Heavyweight Championship for the sixth time on September 21, 2013.

Following his loss to Couture, Ortiz faced Chuck Liddell at UFC 47, losing by TKO in the second round.

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.

On November 5, 2020, Ortiz was announced as one of the winners of the Huntington Beach City Council election, becoming Mayor pro tempore.

Sworn into office on December 7, 2020, he resigned from the city council less than six months later on June 1, 2021.

Ortiz made his professional boxing debut on September 11, 2021, in a round one loss to fellow former UFC champion Anderson Silva.

Ortiz is of Mexican descent.

At the age of nineteen, Ortiz met Paul Herrera, an assistant wrestling coach at Golden West College.

Herrera encouraged Ortiz to attend Golden West, where he was a California junior college state champion and All-American for two consecutive years before transferring to California State University, Bakersfield, where he continued wrestling but was never a full-time starter.

Ortiz also trained with UFC fighter and fellow collegiate wrestler, Tank Abbott.