UFC 132 Fight Card: Video of the 5 Best Fights of Tito Ortiz's Career

UFC 132 may mark the end of the legendary career of one of the UFC’s all-time most influential and popular fighters, Tito Ortiz. As UFC President Dana White stated earlier this week, this fight is an absolute must-win for the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” who will be fighting for his UFC life against Ryan Bader.

White and Ortiz have been in a long-standing feud for the better part of the past decade, but the question of whether to keep Ortiz on the roster has come to a head. Although he has been fighting top-tier competition and in the form of numerous former champions, Ortiz has been unable to win a fight since 2006.

But it hasn’t always been that way. In fact, at one point, Ortiz was considered to be the best in the world at his weight as he crushed challenger after challenger, defending his UFC light heavyweight championship.

If this is the last night of his career, at least in the UFC, I think it’s appropriate that we take a trip down memory lane as we remember the five best fights in Tito Ortiz’s UFC career.

5. Tito Ortiz vs. Evan Tanner at UFC 30

It certainly wasn’t his longest performance in the Octagon, but Tito Ortiz’s victory over Evan Tanner was certainly one of the most impressive and dominant performances he has ever had in the Octagon.

After winning the UFC light heavyweight championship less than a year prior, Ortiz was looking for a step up in competition. He would get it in the form of Evan Tanner, who had won 16 of his previous 17 fights and was a member of what was, at the time, arguably the best gym in the sportKen Shamrock’s Lion’s Den.

After a short feeling out process, Ortiz grabbed onto Tanner and violently slammed him to the ground, bouncing his head off the mat like a basketball, causing a violent knockout.

4. Tito Ortiz vs. Wanderlei Silva at UFC 25

After falling short in his previous title shot, Tito Ortiz’s career was looking shaky. But when Frank Shamrock unexpectedly retired, vacating the UFC light heavyweight title in the process, a fight between Ortiz and Wanderlei Silva was put in place to crown a new champion.

Silva was on a six-fight win streak, and Ortiz was arguably the sport’s most recognizable face at the time, so the title fight between the two made sense for numerous reasons.

Ortiz ended up winning a unanimous decision in a fight he mostly dominated by way of his now trademark ground-and-pound technique to become the new champion. Not only that, but Ortiz also became the new torch-carrier for the UFC as they attempted to stay afloat during the period fans have called the “dark days.”

3. Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell at UFC 66

Tito Ortiz’s run as the UFC light heavyweight champion was the longest in the organization’s history, spanning three-and-a-half years and consisting of defenses against six different opponents. But the one flaw on that record was that he never defended the title against his former training partner and friend, Chuck Liddell, who has been rising up the ranks the entire time Ortiz was a champion.

The two finally met at UFC 47 after Ortiz lost his championship, but the fight ended controversially as Ortiz claimed that Liddell had caught him with a thumb to the eye that blinded him before landing punches to secure the knockout.

The rematch would happen at UFC 66, this time with Liddell as the champion.

In a back-and-forth fight that seemed much more competitive than the first, Liddell finally caught Ortiz with a series of punches that knocked him down late in the third round. Ortiz turtled up on the ground where Liddell would finally secure the victory with punches from the top.

It wasn’t the best performance in Ortiz’s career, but it was an exciting and epic fight nonetheless.

2. Tito Ortiz vs. Frank Shamrock at UFC 22

This epic fight between two of the greatest 205-pound fighters of all time has a solid place in UFC history, but due to the organization’s falling out with Shamrock,  it hasn’t historically been given the credit it deserves.

Ortiz’s popularity had gone through the roof after his confrontation with Ken Shamrock and the Lion’s Den at UFC 19. Though the UFC promoted it as a “revenge” match, Frank Shamrock had actually left the Lion’s Den months before after a falling out with his brother.

Still, the fight was a monumental one in the history of the UFC as the two battled for what was then the UFC middleweight championship (later renamed the light heavyweight championship). Shamrock came out on top as he pummeled Ortiz with punches late in the fourth round, causing Ortiz to tap out.

Shamrock would later speak of Ortiz as the most difficult opponent he ever faced.

"The greatest physical application of martial arts I’ve ever applied, was against Tito Ortiz just because he was so big,” Shamrock explained.  “It took everything I had in my arsenal of martial arts skills to beat him.”

“Fighting Phil Baroni with a blown out knee was like the hardest mental thing I’ve ever done, but physically battling with Tito was just retardedly hard."

1. Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock at UFC 40

At a time when the sport was still attempting to grow out of the “bare knuckle brawling” stereotype, the UFC put together what was the first true big money fight between light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz and MMA pioneer Ken Shamrock.

In a fight that many consider still consider to be one of the top three most important in UFC history, Ortiz would successfully defend his light heavyweight championship against Shamrock. The victory was official when Shamrock’s corner threw in the towel between the third and fourth rounds after a long 15 minutes of punishment.

This victory would be the first of three that Ortiz would eventually hold over Shamrock, but it was the first that captured the hearts and eyes of fans better than any other.

The anticipation of the fight can be felt even in Ortiz's walk to the cage. Talk about intense...