Can Tito Ortiz return to the Tito of old?

[Fizzy]

Tito Ortiz. The man helped carry the LHW division for years, and destroyed everybody put in front of him. Hes a sure fire hall of famer, and is still out to kick some ass in the UFC. My question is can Tito return to the Tito that we all saw reign supreme over everybody?

Tito is injury prone. Hes got a bad back still even after the surgery it's going to bother him somewhat, and a bad knee. He still came in and gave Forrest who is still one of the top LHW a run for his money, even taking him down again in the first round of their second fight. It was obvious Tito came injured to the Forrest fight. I pointed out his black eye the second I saw him walk into the arena, and it turn out it wasn't just a black eye. It may have seemed he was bitching after the fight, but it was true. Tito still had a good fight which I believed he could have easily won.

Tito Ortiz when 100% healthy is in my opinion one of if not the most dangerous man in the LHW division, and I believe that if he leaves his current camp, and starts training the way he should then he can come and dominate again. But what does everyone else think?

 

[INDYjon22]

If he leaves his current camp, Fizzy, then he would basically be putting himself out of money. He helped build Team Punishment and makes a shit ton of cash for wearing his own endorsements. Team Punishment=Tito Ortiz. So I never see him changing camps, however I could see him doing what Andrei Arlovski did a while back and go train short term with another camp. AA left his camp in Chicago and trained for a week or so at Greg Jackson's camp which I think will benefit him. If Tito did the same I think it would greatly help him in getting back to the Tito of old. I think he needs to go train some at Team Penn, because he would be a great fit there. They could help him with his boxing, wrestling defense, and ground work.

More then anything though I think Tito just needs to not beat Tito anymore. We all saw how he stopped fighting in the third round against Forrest. He just shut down and didn't do anything. The same can be said for when he fought Machida. He did not do anything until the last minute and almost caught Machida in a triangle. Had he fought the entire fight how he fought the end we could easily be saying Tito has wins over both Forrest and Lyoto and possible even be a champion.

So basically I think Tito just needs to get his head straight. The injuries are always going to be there and that is a shit excuse for any fighter at the level of Tito Ortiz. You work through the pain. Tito is like Vitor Belfort, when his head is clear he is the most dangerous man on the planet, but when he gets some doubt its all downhill. So maybe he should see a shrink or something but until Tito can stop beating Tito then I don't see him returning to his old form, but if he does get his head straight then fucking A he will be one of the top guys again.

 

[Fizzy]

Maybe financially it is better to stay with them because he does make more money, but if he wants to become better than ever then he needs to at least work with another camp like you mentioned, or leave his current one. Punishment is not getting him to the level he needs to be. His boxing has not improved at all, and his cardio even seemed to go down to shit.

 

[INDYjon22]

Maybe so, but Tito Ortiz is the CEO of Team Punishment. Like I said there is no way he is permanently leaving his camp because he literally owns it. It wouldn't make sense unless he completely wanted to get rid of it and I don't see why he would want a foolish thing like that.

I can agree that Punishment isn't getting the job done anymore. It has no marketable fighters coming out of it aside from Tito. It is like a modern day version of The Lions Den. It reached great heights on the back of a star but then fell into obscurity when it realized it only had one big name player and a bunch of pawns.

Like I said I would love to see him go train with Team Penn. I think he would be a great fit for that camp. But, it just won't happen. He has to much invested into Punishment and he won't leave it, it wouldn't make any sense.

 

[jmt225]

The Tito Ortiz of the past, even with his back injury that only had him at "60%", never ever gassed. Not since his fight with Frank Shamrock, had the man gassed again. However, against Forrest Griffin, he gassed late in the 2nd Round. It had nothing to do with his skull injury or whatever, the man simply gassed.

Tito Ortiz is my favorite fighter of all time, without a doubt, but I don't think we'll ever see him get back to what he once was. I just don't think he has it in him. Age, plus this injuries, and the fact that I don't think his passion is what it once was for the sport... we'll never see the Tito Ortiz of old again.

Certainly, I hope I'm wrong, but after watching the Ortiz/Griffin fight, that's how I feel at the moment. And I'm not sure what's going to change that. If Ortiz beats Liddell, sure that'll be nice, but for me to really start believing in Ortiz, the win against Liddell has to be a complete massacre. Tito will have to look like he did during those 5 Title defenses back in 2000-2002. That's the Tito Ortiz I became a fan of, and that's the Tito Ortiz I want to see back in that Octagon. But will I ever see it again? I do not know, but I'll stay rooting for him, that's the only sure thing.

 

[Fizzy]

I agree that he gassed. 100% he gassed. I called Rogan out on his bullshit while watching when he said if I didn't know this was Tito Ortiz i'd think he gassed. He did gas. The skull injury was still an injury, but it was no excuse. He simply didn't train hard enough. He needs to get his fucking head straight for this Chuck fight, and come in and kick some fucking ass. Yes I for some reason am rooting for Tito over Chuck who has been my favorite since I started watching MMA.

 

[AntiHero0503]

I like Tito I really do, but his way of fighting is just dated now a days, take down and then go for the ground and pound with some really good elbows. There is too many people in the lightheavy weight division with too good of takedown defense for that to work as effectively as it used to. If he is smart he wouldn't want to go back to the Tito of old, he'd want to become a new and much better Tito. With his excellent wrestling he'd be able to take on some of the best at 205, but he should work on a bit of standup and mixing his game up a bit to keep some of his opponents on their toes.

 

[Kasey]

Tito's best days are behind him and he'd need a technical overhaul to hang with any of the current elite 205ers in the company. His standup never evolved to the point where he could transition between changing levels without having to live and die by a reliance on wrestling and G'n'P. As for his injuries, they may be one of the chief reasons that he can't perform as he'd like, but if that's the case, then maybe he should hang it up or work on a new strategy for his fights that relies on his submission game that he talks up so much. I honestly don't see him getting a whiff of the LHW title anytime soon. It's a shark tank with a ton of other faster, craftier, and more dangerous fighters than he'd be able to handle. Besides, this isn't the early 2000's anymore and the UFC won't protect him like they used to when Chuck wanted to kick his ass up into his shoulderblades.

 

[Mr. TM]

Tito is done now in MMA at a high level. It was good to see one of the guys that got me interested in the sport go at it one more time, but if you can't beat Forrest, you cant compete at 205. He is getting older, his body is wore down, so he really should have stayed away. Maybe he has another victory in him, but he is going to have to train his heart out to reach that level, after that embarrassing gas out.