Tito Says He Is The Muhammed Ali And Hulk Hogan Of MMA, But Is He?
By Mark Carrillo:
Throughout Tito Ortiz’s 15 year career in the UFC, he has managed to make himself one of the most loved, and hated athletes in the sport. MMA fans seem to either be cheering for Ortiz at the top of their lungs, or screaming for his opponent to knock his head into the second row.
There seems to be no in-between. Ortiz, who is three months away from the final fight of his long roller coaster ride of a career, was quoted in a recent interview in Sweden as saying, “boxing had Muhammad Ali, professional wrestling had Hulk Hogan, and mixed martial arts has Tito Ortiz.”
This most definitely didn’t change the minds of any of those that despise him. However, it would be absolutely impossible to convince a supporter of Ortiz that he isn’t the Ali or Hogan of MMA.
Ortiz fans seem to see a completely different man than those who hate him. They see a man that loves his fans and fights his heart out for them every time he steps into the octagon. His enemies see a selfish man, years past his prime that walked away from the UFC when they needed him most, only to come crawling back when he needed a paycheck.
When his fans hear him say, “I’m a legend…I’m an icon of the sport”, they believe it, and agree with him one-hundred percent. His enemies couldn’t disagree more; and honestly it can be hard to argue that he isn’t a legend or an icon, he was one the UFC’s first superstars. No matter whom he was fighting people watched.
Fans, old and new to the sport, were tuning in to see him. Sure some of those people wanted to see him get knocked out every time the caged door closed behind him, but some of them wanted him to win and hold on to the light-heavyweight title forever. Either way, people were tuning in to see Tito Ortiz fight and in the beginning every ass that the UFC could get in a seat and every pay-per-view that it could sell was a huge step in the right direction.
He can easily be compared to Hogan in this respect; he helped the UFC grow much like Hogan helped professional wrestling. Is he an Ali though? His enemies will say that Ali never went on a 5 year losing streak, and he backed up his trash talk in the ring. While Ortiz was all hype, and just trying to sell a fight. However, much like Ali, Ortiz was either loved or hated; there was no “oh, I kind of like him” when it came to these two men. The answer to the question: is Ortiz the Ali or Hogan of MMA? That depends on if you’re a fan or him or not.
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not in the ski vest.
no
Sickening. Only thing they have in common is fighting past their prime.
I can see that he is like The Muhammed Ali And Hulk Hogan but the Ali and hulk hogan we see in 2012 not the 70′s 80′s ones lol
Too funny!
lmao
You, Sir, are correct. I swear, the only thing bigger than Tito’s ego is the size of his damn head
hahahahahahahahahahahaha
The UFC brand was built on his back, he was the fame that carried UFC for the time until the Ultimate Fighter came into play. The UFC wasn’t turning a huge profit yet but it was being kept going by Tito and in that sense, I agree, he is the comparable great. Skill wise? His ground/pound skills were amazing and his cardio was top-notch, both aspects almost every new fighter emulates whether they know it or not.
He was an amazing fighter and I would have no problem drawing those comparisons, I wouldn’t sit and debate it but I’d say it.
He is the pinacle of douchbaggery and his acomplishments are among the lowest, he did help the ufc grow fighting no names and brawlers who took 2 mma classes.. should of rretired 10 years ago and not bitched out of every challenging fight that ever came his way
WOW!!! I’ll have what he’s having!!!!
I like Tito but a 16-10 record is far from iconic.
Just like Randy Couture and BJ Penn. Wins and Losses are not everything it is who you fought and when. Many great fighters records are not that impressive, but when you fight the best in the business every fight what do you expect?
Very true I’d have to agree but look at ken shamrocks record. His is worse n he is a legend in the sport just cuz of some of his fights in the beginning yrs of the UFC against Royce Gracie
HAHAHAAHAHA no….
I kinda like Tito, so the article is wrong on that aspect. N Tito is Tito, there’s no comparison to other athletes.
I would say Chuck Liddell. When I was a kid all I knew is there was a sport in a cage with real fighting and this tough hard ass man with the mohawk was like the best. And I knew his name and so did friends. But we never managed to ever watch an event because it was only on PPV. And no parents would pay for their children to watch a sporting event consisting of real fighting and blood back then. People didn’t really know what UFC was, but there was always one man in those PPV previews and commercials, Chuck Liddell and his angry “I’m gonna kill you” face.
No, but he is a Hall of Famer for sure. The mans done a lot for the sport.
Chuck Lidell would be a better comparison for this than Tito, imo.
WOW he sure has some delusional thoughts brewing in that ginormous cranium of his.
People do talk about him, weather good or bad, so yes. You get these mma noobs who have been watching for a short amount of time, and watch a couple fights from back in the day, and think they know it all. He has done some serious shit when you think about it.
LMAO NO!
In some aspects I suppose back in the day yeah but not so much Ali. Hogan he can because of his acting and pro wrestler like speaches
Tito. A legend in his own mind.
I have to agree he was doing ok back when he was fighting bums and dudes past their prime but a legend no how can you consider yourself a legend when you don’t have no wins over none like come on your in a rubber match with Forrest Griffin he’s not bad but come on
ali didnt label himself, hogan didnt label himself. tito labeled himself so he looks like an idiot now.
I kinda liked him, but not anymore.
So ali and hulk DIDNT spout off how they were the greatest every other time they opened their mouths? Guess your from an alternative universe where they were humble and respectful
If he the hulk bruddah well duane dog chapman mus b duane the rock jonson bruddah
I was a big fan of his back in the day, He’s a legend of the sport and deserves to be a legends as he has some amazing credentials for example defending his belt 5 times! beating ken shamrock 3 times, but in my opinion he can compare to guys like chuck lidell and randy couture but no where close as holk hogan and Ali
Tito sucks he is scared of chuck right now today chuck walks around with a shirt that has his last name getting pissed on I’ve never seen a shirt with someone pissing on the name ali of you never seem this shirt you’ve been living under a ****ing rock but basically no one that I’ve ever seen disrespected ali to his face telling him “you know you don’t wanna fight me” what I’m saying is tito is a ***** in real life
He is a big part of MMA and UFC history but he’s certainly not as great as Ali.
I’m not even taking Hulk Hogan into consideration cause that pro-wrestling crap doesn’t count.
If anything he’s the Roy Jones and mick foley of mma he’s beaten a lot of the best but not the greatest of all time
Im gonna assume you mean Roy Jones and not Roy Jones Jr. Cause if you ment JR. Ur an idiot. I dont think you can even compare Tito to any legit boxer cause titos stand up his horrid… he is so so he would be doing just as good if he just told the guy right befor he hit him… hey im gonna throw a overhand right in three seconds….
Well Ali and hogan are both human and they also have 2 arms and 2 legs. so, hey, I guess since Tito has it too, they are pretty much the same… What a stupid article and a ridicilouse comparison. Ali could beat the shit out of Tito with him being on a wheel chair. when was the last time that whining fat guy won? I think he lost his last 10 fights or so to no names. A legend? A ****ing basket case.
Some of the guys on here really slating Tito tells me they’ve only recently started following MMA… I’m not trying to trawl but have a different perspective especially on the early Tito. I think he raised the bar in MMA and still had one of the longest reigns as champion, (maybe even still does at LHW?). If you look at his record up until his second loss to Chuck he was 15-4 which is pretty impressive, beating some top guys, Wandy, when he was juiced up and in his prime, Vitor when he was knocking everyone out, Tanner, Cote, Forrest…
People especially the newbies will remember him for his last 6 or 7 fights when he should have already hung up his gloves but he deserves some credit for what he accomplished in MMA over his entire career. Although I concede and agree he’s egotistical and has a huge head….