Tito Ortiz had a plan. He would wrestle in the Olympics or he would become a schoolteacher.
If you ask Ortiz, he didn’t come close to either. He simply surpassed both.
Ortiz is arguably the most famous mixed martial artist in the history of the sport. He was a pioneer for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, headlining a majority of the company’s inaugural major events and representing one of only nine members in the UFC Hall of Fame.
Now Ortiz, 38, has stepped away from the ring for good. He has a clothing line, he manages fighters and he’s a father. He owns and helps operate Punishment Training Center in Huntington Beach.
The same spark and bravado that made Ortiz a star, whether you hate or love him, keep him relevant in the world of MMA.
Ortiz checked in with the Register to talk about what it was like growing up in Huntington Beach, why he’s the most famous MMA fighter in the world and when he knew it was time to hang up the gloves.
Q: You grew up in Huntington Beach, wrestling at Huntington Beach High and at Golden West College. What influence has growing up and competing in Huntington Beach had on your career?
A: I think it had a great influence on me. From age 6 to 13, I lived in Santa Ana. One of my friends got shot and killed, and when my mom saw that, she left my father, got remarried and moved to Huntington Beach.
When we got here, I was still kind of hanging out with the wrong people, but the police were cracking down more on the gangs here and got rid of them really quick. Then, I found wrestling.
Wrestling saved my life. I was a big fan of the (World Wrestling Federation), so I walked into the gym at Huntington Beach High looking for the ring, and I realized they were two different sports (laughs). My real name is Jacob, and in the Bible, Jacob wrestled against an angel and the angel beat him. The angel saved his life. What a coincidence.
If it wasn’t for the wrestling program, I wouldn’t be where I am. It gave me the thought process that I have to do well in school to compete in wrestling and that’s what kept me focused and taught me discipline and dedication.
Q: How’d you get into MMA and the UFC?
A: I took a year off after wrestling in high school because I kind of just lost my way. I was headed down a bad road, hanging with the wrong people and doing the wrong things. So my high school wrestling coach, Paul Herrera, saw me at a club one night and asked what I was doing with myself. I told him I was trying to make ends meet.
He asked was I OK, and I didn’t really understand what he meant. He asked if I wanted to come back to wrestling and try to get financial aid at Golden West College. I went home that Saturday night, looked in the mirror, and I didn’t recognize myself at all. I was 6-foot-2, 185 pounds and doing meth. I realized I was turning into my parents, and it scared me.
So Monday, I told my job I couldn’t come in, and they said if I didn’t come in, I was fired. So I quit, and that was a huge chance. I walked into my coach’s office that day, and he couldn’t believe I showed up. So that year, Paul Herrera was coaching a guy named Tank Abbott that fought in the UFC. He needed someone to wrestle with Tank and help him get ready for a fight.
Then I met a guy that I beat in the state wrestling tournament, Jerry Bohlander, and he was fighting in the UFC. I told Tank that I wanted to give the UFC a try. So Tank helped me get a fight, but my school said if I did, I couldn’t get any prize money because I was an amateur wrestler and I wasn’t professional. The UFC was going to give me around $20,000, and I waived it. I fought for free on May 30, 1997, for the first time.
Q: How’d you get the nickname, “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy?”
A: I was brash. I was a young kid that spoke his mind. It just goes back to me living on the streets and not holding anything back. I attacked the guys who I fought.
I watched Muhammad Ali talk trash in boxing, and I figured I could do the same thing in MMA. I wanted to manipulate someone’s mind so they’re not thinking about the fight, they’re thinking about how bad they want to kill me. It was psychological warfare. I would say a lot of rash things about my opponent.
Q: Some would argue that you’re the most popular MMA fighter ever, at least in America. What do you think?
A: I would agree 100 percent. I’ve worked really, really hard to make my name a household name. I was the first UFC fighter to go to Iraq. I was the first UFC fighter to do mainstream television with “Celebrity Apprentice.” I went outside the lines to spread the word about the sport. I was the first fighter to have cards. I was the first fighter to do a clothing company with Punishment Athletics.
I thought about my name as a brand. My job was to promote that as much as possible. To be the biggest name in UFC history, I put the work in.
Q: What does it feel like to get punched and kicked? Do you even feel it when you’re in there, or is it all adrenaline?
A: People ask me that all the time. You really don’t feel anything. When you fell off your bike as a kid and hit your head, you got your bell rung. That’s exactly what it’s like. You just need to survive. You don’t feel leg kicks. It’s like a slap. Your body reacts as a result of your training.
The fights aren’t tough. The fights are easy. The training is what’s grueling on the body. Fights are just an adrenaline rush. My last fight, I tore my (anterior cruciate ligament), had a ruptured disk in my neck and broke my thumb, and didn’t feel any of it until after the fight was over.
Q: When you step in the cage, is there a level of hatred that you have to have toward your opponent, at least for those three or five rounds? What’s your mindset have to be when you’re in a fight?
A: At the beginning of my career, I had to build that anger. I know what it’s like to be broke and steal for food and steal for clothing. My parents had a drug problem, and even though my mother is clean now, I lived through hell pretty much. So when fighting, I just remembered that feeling. I had nothing to fall back on.
I would bring that suffering into training. These guys are trying to take the food out of my kids’ mouths. I took it personal, even if I did like a guy. It is competition, but every time I fought, it was survival mode for me. As soon as we shake hands though, the hatred is gone. But two men enter, and only one can be the winner. We’re all physically talented, but mentally is what it comes to. And I think that’s why I played the bad guy, just so I could get in a guy’s mind.
Q: Who’s the best fighter you’ve ever seen, and who’s the best in the world now?
A: I have to say the best I’ve ever seen and the best now is Jon Jones. The kid is amazing, man. I think he’s going to be one of the greatest. The guy is just really that good. I’ve watched a lot of guys in UFC history, and he’s just the new generation of fighter.
Q: MMA is huge all across the world, and it’s only getting bigger. Having been a pioneer of the sport, what advice would you give a kid who wanted to grow up to be like you, a fighter?
A: A lot of kids ask me for advice. I tell them to get their education. Get your master’s degree. If you do, get into business, marketing, into some area where you’re good on the microphone and be business savvy.
This is business. You can’t think of it just as a fighter. If you do, you’re going to be one among hundreds oft housands. You want to be a businessman amongst fighters. And you have to be educated. You never know when injuries will come about. You have to have something to fall back on.
Q: When did you know it was time to retire? What will you miss most about being in the octagon?
A: When I couldn’t do in training the things I could do when I was younger. When I didn’t want to push myself anymore because I didn’t want to get injured. In one of my camps, for UFC 106, I got bounced on my head and my arms and legs went numb for two minutes. I couldn’t walk, and I couldn’t stand up. That’s what scared me.
I have children. If I can’t take care of them, that scares me. I don’t want them to go through what I went through. I did what I wanted to do in the sport. And I’m thankful to have competed for as long as I did. You have to know when it’s time to say “when,” and I didn’t want to disrespect the sport.
Contact the writer: bwatson@ocregister.com
