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Welcome to week three of GameSpot's The Fighters of UFC feature, where we gradually unveil the fighters who will appear in UFC: Tapout for the Xbox and UFC: Throwdown for the PlayStation 2. Each week, we interview one of the fighters from the UFC and supply in-game screenshots and background information on several others. This week could perhaps be the most anticipated of all the installments of The Fighters of UFC as we interview Tito Ortiz, light heavyweight champion and arguably the face of the UFC.
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 Tito's photo for his character model. |
Huntington Beach, California
Weight Class: Light Heavyweight
Fighting Style: Submission
Record: 7-2-0
System: PlayStation 2 and Xbox
Tito Ortiz has had a relatively short fighting career when compared with many other combatants in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. While he has a deep background in wrestling, Tito didn't start free-form fighting until he was 22. He began his training with the notorious Tank Abbott while still in college and soon moved on to learn as much as he possibly could and reach the lofty goals he set for himself. While Tito can be hard as nails while in the octagon, he also has a deep caring for the youth of America and gives back to his community in many ways. Tito is the consummate professional, and his seven-day-per-week training regimen reflects that. This coach-turned-hard-a** was kind enough to take time out of his hectic schedule to speak with GameSpot about the UFC, video games, and achieving goals.
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 Tito's in-game character model for UFC: Tapout. |
GameSpot: Give us your background as far as how you ended up fighting in the UFC.
Tito Ortiz: I wrestled in high school. I then went to Golden West Junior College on a wrestling scholarship. I wrestled there for two years and I won the state title twice. And then I went on to Cal State Bakersfield, a Division I college. I got a scholarship to go wrestle for them. I wrestled there for a year and ended up being third in the Pac-10. When I was at Golden West, I started training with a guy named Tank Abbott, who fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and he needed someone who was a wrestler and kind of a bigger guy. And I was one of the youngest and one of the toughest kids around. He had a friend by the name of Paul Herrera, who was my high school wrestling coach. He introduced me to Tank, and I started training with him a little bit. I was always a fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and they finally got a lightweight class--because I wasn't going in there with the big boys. I knew my limits. [laughter] So I fought in my first UFC fight in 1997 against Wes Albritton, and the match ended in 21 seconds. I fought Guy Mezger in the finals, and I lost to him in three minutes. The referee stopped the fight because of bleeding. He was bleeding out of his head. When we got back to our feet, I went to take him down, but he caught me in a choke hold and I had to tap out.
GS: Oh, man.
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 Tito lands a kick to the head in Tapout. |
TO: It was just a sign. I was young and inexperienced. I had been training for only six months in no-holds-barred fighting. It was just a stepping stone. I went back to Cal State Bakersfield and I wrestled there for the year.
GS: So you fought in the UFC and then went back to college?
TO: Yeah, when I first fought in the UFC, I fought as an amateur. I didn't accept any prize money.
GS: Wow, that's some dedication, Tito.
TO: Well, I wanted to be on TV. It was kind of a dream when I was a kid, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship was an inlet for me to do it. So I went back to school at Bakersfield and everyone was like, "Man, you've got to come back to the UFC." I watched Jerry Bohlander, who was the champion from UFC 15 or 14. I had wrestled him in high school and I kinda schooled him. So I thought to myself, if this guy's winning tournaments, maybe I should go back and see how I can do. I had one year left of school, and I was at a point where school was kind of hard and I was scraping by with [little] money. So I was at the point where I had to decide between becoming a professional fighter or going on and finishing school to become a teacher, like I always wanted.
| More with Tito » |
