Tito Ortiz Is Underrated: A Closer Look at His Last 5 Fights

Tito Ortiz's career has been in a nose dive...if you look at just his record over the past five years.

He has not won a fight in his past five fights and is riding a three-fight losing skid.

Earlier in his career, Ortiz was carrying the flag for MMA as he was the reigning light-heavyweight champion and defended his title a record five times.

Clearly he has fallen on much harder times.

His detractors are also quick to point out that his last two victories were over a washed-up fighter in Ken Shamrock.

While Ortiz does have a lot to prove if he wants to be relevant, he is not as washed up as people make him out to be.

He may not be winning, but if you look closely at his last five fights, he has only been stopped by one man and the 36-year old former-champion still has quite a bit of fight left in him.

UFC 121: Decision Loss to Matt Hamill

I recently heard someone say that Matt Hamill "dominated" Ortiz. That is simply not true.

In fact, the most dominating round of that fight was the first round for Ortiz. He came out guns a blazing and really put the pressure on Matt Hamill.

Hamill, of course as we know, is not a man to get knocked out and he predictably survived the pressure from Ortiz.

Over the course of the next two rounds, Hamill did exactly what he needed to do to out-point his world class opponent. He mixed up his strikes and landed a couple of very strategic takedowns.

An excellent victory for Hamill but not quite a domination in my book. Hamill was simply the better prepared fighter and has the wrestling pedigree to give Ortiz problems.

UFC 106: Split-Decision Loss to Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin almost won the first time these two met when Griffin was still considered an "upcoming" fighter.

Surely he would destroy Ortiz the second time around, right? As it turns out, no.

Griffin picked up the split-decision victory in what was a close fight and pretty tough to call.

Ortiz picked up the second round and Griffin the third. That first round, however, really could have gone either way. 

Through those first two rounds, Ortiz really looked good.

UFC 84: Decision Loss to Lyoto Machida

Aside from a nice takedown from Machida late in Round 1, not much happened through the first two rounds.

Ortiz pressed forward aggressively while Machida continually circled away.

The third round was more interesting as Machida dropped Ortiz with a brilliant knee to the body.

Not to be out-done, Ortiz showed his resilience and technique by coming within an inch of submitting Machida with a beautiful triangle/armbar.

Machida received the decision, but Ortiz was understandably frustrated by Machida's clear unwillingness to engage throughout the majority of the fight.

UFC 73: Draw with Rashad Evans

Rashad Evans would go on to beat Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell, and champion Forrest Griffin in his next three fights.

He was a bit lucky to salvage a draw against Tito Ortiz.

Ortiz pretty clearly claimed the first two rounds but began to gas out in the third.

In that third round, Ortiz was penalized for grabbing the fence. Considering the point deduction, Evans was able to win the third round and fight to a draw. 28-28 across the board.

UFC 66: TKO Loss to Chuck Liddell

This was an epic battle for the championship between two of the sport's all-time greats.

Ortiz rallied from being badly rocked in the first round to actually win the second.

In the third, the tide changed again as Liddell kept the pressure on and eventually forced the TKO stoppage.

Honestly, at the time, many people felt it was the greatest victory in Liddell's entire career.

Conclusion

It is true that Ortiz is not the force that he once was.

Odds are that he will not fight for the title again. 

He can certainly compete against the best in world though. 

If can still compete, why are people calling for him to retire? Why some people saying he is already like Ken Shamrock?

I guarantee Bader is not overlooking "The Huntington Beach Badboy." Because he better not.... or else.