Tito Ortiz Looking For A October/November Return To The Octagon

Quote :

Posted by: Corey Santiago
Source: Sherdog.com

Former UFC Light Heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz is looking to return to the octagon sometime in the fall following his neck surgery.

Speaking via Sherdog.com, Ortiz said:

“I just got the (doctor’s) release and for two weeks now I’ve been lifting weights. My weight is back up to 220 pounds. I went from 200 to 220 in a little bit over two weeks. I’m eating a bunch, finally, and my neck’s healing. I get a little tingling sensation down my arms and the back of my neck but I guess that’s normal because of all the nerves are reconnecting. I feel really good, though. The soreness I have now is from lifting weights. I haven’t had this kind of soreness in a while."


“July will really be the test for me because I’ll be wrestling and stuff and starting to get into it. On July 1, I’ll start doing jiu-jitsu and start drilling. Nothing live — just drilling to get my body back into shape.”


“I think staying positive is the biggest influence for my future. A lot of people didn’t get the surgeries that I got. My lower back (surgery) happened and (the doctors) were like my career’s done. I didn’t think that. I thought in my mind (I could come back). I asked my doc how quickly can I heal and when can I get back into the cage? He said to give myself eight to ten months to fully heal and a year later I came back and I fought.”

“(With the second surgery) once again, I thought (positively) and I was like, ‘Doc when am I getting back into the cage?’ He said, ‘Tito, you’re crazy! But give it six to seven months and you’ll be fine.’ So I’ve just been staying positive and haven’t really been worried that that’s going to stop me. I think it’s just a challenge that God has given me and getting back into the cage is just another test of what type of personality I have and my heart and mind. I’m a champion and I want to get back into the cage with a chance to get my world title back.”

“I have five fights left with the UFC. I started my career with the UFC and I’m going to end my career with the UFC. After these next five fights are over, maybe I’ll take a step back and see what I’m going to do after I defend my world title after I win it.”

5 more fights against 5 underwhelming oppentents, just like most of his UFC career and I am sure that Chuck will be one of these 5 fights. Tito will probably beat an out of his prime Chuck and then act like it is the biggest win of his life. Hell, it might be the biggest win of his life.

This is assuming he doesn't get released before those 5 fights are all done

You want to know when I really turned on Tito? Well, I am going to tell you anyway. It isn't bad enough that he got spanked by Couture, literally spanked after Randy layed an ass whoppin on him for the entire fight. It's not even that he got KOed by Liddel twice and still runs his mouth about "punching Chuck's face in." He had his shot at that and his face was the one that was busted up. He started to really get on my nerves when he had his "rivalry" with Shamrock. He did not beat the Shamrock of 93, he beat a guy that should have left the fight game years before he and Tito fought. What really pissed me off was when he had a boring ass fight with Evans and the thing ended in a draw. Had Tito stopped holding on to the cage, he would have won, but he had a point taken for it and thus the shitty draw. Tito always talks about his "12 years" in the cage. Shouldn't know that you can't hold onto the cage? He is an underwhelming fighter, with a big mouth, who has built his career on beating no body's and old guys.

Concrete Jesus wrote:

You want to know when I really turned on Tito?

No

Screw you, read it anyway.

Yeah, I read it

But his career of trash-talking and beating old guys brought a lot of publicity to the UFC back when they weren't that big yet and it really kept the company afloat and competitive against some of the other larger companies at the time like Pride. Without Tito, you wouldn't have the UFC of today.

Yeah well, the fans are starting to turn on him and his mouth. After he lost to Forrest last year, he started whinning about fighting hurt and making excuses for the loss. If you are too hurt, don't fight. If you are hurt and you fight anyway, don't bitch about being hurt. Tito is full of excuses on why he loses, when the reality is, he isn't that good. He looked that good when he beat up on half rate talent and he got his ass beat when he got in there with top talent. To this day, he continues to make excuses. He couldn't fight Chuck because his neck was hurt. Why the hell did he accept the TUF Coaching job when he knew he would not be able to fight Chuck and why did he continue to runs his mouth about Chuck, when he knew he was not going to fight him at the end of the show? He said "I thought the show was about the fighters and not the coaches" but he has coached before and he knows, like everyone else knows, the coaches fight when the show is over. He runs his mouth, loses, and then makes excuses. Tito is probably the one fighter I dislike more then Rampage. I would even want to see Rampage kick his ass. The best scenario would be that Chuck gets one more fight and broken down, old Chuck KO's Tito again. That would be my favorite thing to happen, in the history of the world.

I don't even think it's fans turning on him, he had his haters all along. It's a bit like Kobe Bryant. He's got a lot of fans and such that think he's God, but at the same time, there's probably equally many people that hate him and think he's overrated.