Tito Ortiz involved in confrontation with Huntington Beach resident, police reportedly called
Former UFC light heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz, now a city councilman in Huntington Beach, California, was recently involved in a heated confrontation with one of his constituents.
It’s not entirely clear what led to this incident, but tempers flared quite quickly. While the Huntington Beach citizen in question was undoubtedly pushing Ortiz’s buttons, the former UFC champ also didn’t respond in the way you’d expect from an elected official.
See this heated exchange involving Ortiz below:
This is a snippet of a heated conversation between Tito Ortiz and a Huntington Beach resident from earlier today. Police were eventually called. pic.twitter.com/MC0URqd1BO
— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) December 23, 2020
Unfortunately, this is not the first bad press Ortiz has experienced since assuming his position on Huntington Beach’s city council. The former UFC champ’s time in the political arena has been marred by a growing number of faux pas and embarrassing blunders, many of which have left him in hot water.
Not long after he was elected, Ortiz found himself on the receiving end of some scathing criticisms after sharing a number of conspiracy theories about the pandemic.
A Huntington Beach resident calls in and roasts Tito. pic.twitter.com/o4FVTvPIGP
— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) December 8, 2020
“I also think it’s important to inform the people and make sure that you are being a good example,” a Huntington Beach citizen said during a recent city council meeting, targeting Ortiz. “I do not think it is appropriate, for example, to claim that COVID is a form of population control or to cite a news article claiming that masks don’t work, which is based on a Danish study which says on its first page—and I quote—that it has ‘inconclusive evidence results, missing data, variable adherence, patient-reported findings on home tests, no blinding, and no assessment on whether masks can decrease the transmission from mask-wearers to others.’ That’s on the first page of a study that an incoming city council member cited on their Instagram page.
“Most of all, I think it’s important to respect the people that work for us in our city,” the citizen continued, adding to his criticisms of Ortiz, who was not wearing a mask at the meeting. “I don’t think it’s respectful to say that ventilators cause COVID or to imply guilt on the part of our doctors and medical professionals. I also do not think it is respectful to not have the police wearing masks in crowded environments. It doesn’t cost that much to wear masks and I think it’s the bare minimum of respect to wear one when you’re in a large crowd of people downtown.”
More recently, Ortiz was criticized by a fellow civil servant for not wearing a mask despite a request from the mayor to do so.
Bickering pic.twitter.com/KvrqebzNZM
— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) December 22, 2020
Suffice it to say that Tito Ortiz is having a difficult time in office thus far. Do you think the former UFC champ is cut out for politics?