After knocking out rival Chuck Liddell in the main event of Golden Boy MMA’s debut card this past November, Tito Ortiz sounded as he might finally be ready to call it a career.
“You get that feeling of, ‘Is this the last one?’ I want it to be,” Ortiz said. “It’s a lot of pressure; to impose your will on someone like that every single fight is really, really hard. There’s so much pressure to do that. And I’ve been doing it for 21 years. Now, if I just step out of that game and do it the right way of being a promoter and helping fighters, help them [grow]. And grow the next Tito Ortiz, grow the next Chuck Liddells, grow the next ‘Rampage’ Jacksons, Royce Gracies, Ken Shamrocks, Conor McGregors. And give them an opportunity to make the real money to make.”
Now, however, it seems like “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” will put his promotional work on hold in order to compete in the cage one more time. Ortiz did not reveal his upcoming opponent or the organization for which he will compete.
“I’ll probably be fighting in October,” Ortiz recently told TMZ Sports. “After I fought Chuck last year I thought it would be my last one, but my body’s on [track], everything’s fast, everything’s great. Sparring’s been good. Training’s been great.
“Let’s do one more for fun, just for fun. I have an opponent so it’s gonna be fun when we announce it.”
Prior to facing Liddell in their trilogy bout, Ortiz compiled a 3-1 mark in Bellator MMA from 2014 to 2017, earning victories against Alexander Shlemenko, Stephan Bonnar and Chael Sonnen while falling to Liam McGeary in a light heavyweight title bout. The 44-year-old former UFC champion owns a 20-12-1 career mark that also includes wins over the likes of Ryan Bader, Ken Shamrock, Forrest Griffin, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva, Patrick Cote and Evan Tanner.