UFC 148: Tito Ortiz Doesn't Compromise Stellar Career with Loss in Final Fight

Even though Tito Ortiz suffered a defeat by unanimous decision in the final fight of his career against Forrest Griffin, his hall-of-fame career will forever be remembered as a building block for UFC. 

Ortiz was featured in the co-main event of Saturday night's UFC 148 event, and after a 15-year career that featured many scintillating fights that helped to grow the sport on a national level, he decided prior to the fight that it would be his last (per MMA Junkie). 

It was seen by the sport of mixed martial arts as a rubber match between two legends in the Octagon as Ortiz and Griffin faced off for the third and final time of their careers. After splitting the first two fights in 2006 and 2009, Griffin reigned supreme in a decision that could have gone either way.

It was no secret that the fight was decided by a close decision. In fact, Griffin seemed to understand that he lost the fight as soon as he left the Octagon, only to come back in respect to Ortiz and to Dana White's chasing (per MMAFighting's Twitter). 

Ortiz seemed to be in control from the beginning as he executed a menacing takedown of Griffin in Round 1. He looked energetic, inspired and passionate for a fighter whose career was on life support.

But the wear and tear of the fight seemed to weigh on Ortiz after a while, and Griffin quickly stated his case as the strongest fighter in the Octagon. The second round was played almost entirely standing up, and Griffin dominated Ortiz with a barrage of punches and moves that made it seem like Ortiz would go out dazed.

Instead, Ortiz persevered and pulled together for a third round that many (including Griffin) thought won him the bout. He knocked Griffin down with a strong right hand that notched Ortiz's second takedown of the fight. 

Though it was evident that Ortiz was convincingly worn out in the third and final frame, he refused to let Griffin take over the fight. Griffin looked all the more like a more energetic and hungry fighter as the final minute wound down, but Ortiz hung in and didn't give the spectators many weak moments to point to.

Even though Ortiz could have given up and at times, he hung through and gave the judges something to think about. 

He handled the post-fight hijinks by Griffin very well that not only included nearly storming out of the arena, but also taking the microphone from UFC announcer Joe Rogan to conduct his own interview on Ortiz.

Though Griffin had some nice words to say to Ortiz, it was evident that the attention wasn't on Ortiz in the way that it should have been for a hall-of-fame fighter that just ended his career. 

But Ortiz handled it, and the defeat, just like we would expect. The sport of mixed martial arts lost one of its classiest and best fighters Saturday night.