Jacob “Tito” Ortiz (born January 23, 1975) is a Mexican American participant of the sport of mixed martial arts.  I’ve read up on Tito, and all I see are great adjectives to describe him, nothing less.  He is a very charismatic, talented fighter and showman. 

                Ortiz began his martial arts career as a wrestler in his sophomore year of high school.  Under Coach Paul Herrera, Ortiz would place 4th in the state high school championships as a senior.  Following high school, Ortiz continued his wrestling career winning a California state junior college title for Golden West College.  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 very first round.  He was selected to face Guy Mezger in the Lightweight final after Enson Inoue could not continue due to injury.  Ortiz lost the fight at 2:00 in the first round by submission.  In 1999 Ortiz fought Frank Shamrock for the UFC middleweight (199 lb) title at UFC 22, losing via submission due to strikes. Following the victory, Shamrock retired and vacated the championship. The middleweight division was then renamed the light heavyweight (205 lb) division and Ortiz was chosen, along with Wanderlei Silva, as a top contender.

                Ortiz’ last fight on his contract with the UFC was a unanimous decision loss to undefeated Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 on May 24, 2008.  With all three judges scoring the fight 30-27 to Machida, Ortiz came painfully close to submitting Machida in the third round with a triangle choke before transitioning to an arm bar.  However, Machida managed to escape and survived the round, winning a unanimous judge’s decision. The fight concluded Ortiz’ stay with the promotion as he chose not to re-sign, citing his frustration with UFC-president Dana White as a major factor in the decision.  After leaving the UFC, Ortiz has been approached by multiple promotions, including the now defunct Elite XC, Affliction and the American Fight League.  However, a clause in his old UFC contract forbids Ortiz from signing with, or fighting for any other organization until approximately April-June 2009. Until then, Tito is considered by many to be the biggest free agent on the market.  On Wednesday, December 17, 2008, Affliction Entertainment announced that Tito Ortiz would be part of the broadcast team for Affliction: Day of Reckoning event.  Ortiz has since said he will fight again in August 2009, but did not say what organization it would be for.

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