UFC 133: Tito Ortiz Sits Down for One-on-One Interview with Joe Rogan

It's been a crazy 2011 for former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Ortiz.

At UFC 132, Ortiz stepped into the Octagon to take on up-and-comer Ryan Bader. It was a make-or-break fight for Tito, who had not won a fight in five years.

Against all odds, "The Huntington Beach Bay Boy" managed to defeat Bader by first-round submission.

Now, Ortiz has a chance to boost himself into title contention by defeating Rashad Evans at UFC 133. Phil Davis was originally scheduled to fight Evans in the main event of the evening, but was forced to withdraw due to injury. Ortiz is his replacement.

Recently, Ortiz sat down with UFC commentator Joe Rogan to discuss his past injuries and what he's looking to do, now that those injuries are behind him.

Joe Rogan: If you sat back and thought, "Who is a love him or hate him fighter?" the No. 1 choice is you.

Tito Ortiz: I'm a very emotional person. That's everyone of my fights; it's all emotions. When I get in that cage and fight, that's not me. It's somebody else. It's like a light switch that turns on. When I'm jumping around I think to myself, "I'm a shark. If I stop moving, I'm dead."

Joe Rogan: What motivates you now?

Tito Ortiz: What motivates me now is to show that I can come back. [I want] to show my heart and that I'm able to persevere through anything and get a world title. My goal is to get a world title around my waist again. [If] Randy Couture can do it at 40, then I can do it at 35.

Joe Rogan: You were one of the first guys to ever tell me that sometimes you don't like to submit guys because he can say, "He caught me, next time I won't make that mistake," but when you beat a guy down, there's nothing he can say.

Tito Ortiz: I punish the guy until the referee pulls me off or until he says "no more" and he taps. I don't want to leave any doubt in his mind that he had a chance. I think I kind of got away from that because I can only train to what my body is able to do. Having the back problems I did, I couldn't squat, I couldn't lunge and my takedowns were horrible.

Ortiz is being very open about his past injuries and how they were effecting his fighting ability. Now that those problems have been taken care of, Ortiz seems optimistic about his future.

Whether or not "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" has what it takes to capture a UFC championship again remains to be seen, but his victory over Bader was definitely a huge step in the right direction.

We'll see whether or not Ortiz can carry that momentum into UFC 133 and upset Rashad Evans in the main event of the evening.