UFC 140 Results: Tito Ortiz Must Retire After Loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

If Tito Ortiz's career in mixed martial arts was on thin ice before his TKO loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 140 in Toronto, then it's undoubtedly plunged deep into freezing cold waters now.

The Huntington Beach Bad Boy took a beating from Minotauro, succumbing to defeat at the 3:15 mark of the first round when body blows incapacitated the former UFC light heavyweight champion, forcing a stoppage from referee Yves Lavigne.

Ortiz confirmed afterward that Nogueira had nailed him in the same spot that Rashad Evans did back in August at UFC 133, when Sugar Rashad ousted Ortiz with knees and punches in the second round.

Ortiz certainly didn't lose on Saturday night for a lack of effort. He came out swinging from the get-go, though that only left him vulnerable to Nogueira's boxing. Ortiz did what he could to get Nogueira on the ground, but it was Minotoro who eventually forced Ortiz into the vulnerable position, from which Ortiz could barely defend himself.

It was a sad sight, to be sure, to see someone of Ortiz's stature, who once stood atop the sport and helped build the UFC into the juggernaut it is today, fall so flat despite his training and earnest effort.

Not even Joe Rogan could resist asking Ortiz after his fifth defeat in his last six bouts whether he was finally ready to call it quits. Ortiz denied that he was, saying instead that he would take some time off before fighting at least once more, to fulfill his current contract with the UFC and become the longest tenured fighter in UFC history.

Nobody can blame Ortiz—a proud former champion and one of the greatest fighters to ever climb into the Octagon—for hanging on too long or wanting to go out on his own terms (though it appears as though he's already well past that point). At this juncture, Ortiz has little, if anything, to gain from continuing to fight.

More importantly, he has everything to lose—namely his health. Ortiz is still just 36 years old with a family to raise, a successful business to run and, overall, a long life to live. As far as fighting is concerned, though, it's clear that Ortiz is hardly even a shell of his former self and, as such, would be subjecting himself to particularly devastating injury and head trauma if he were to challenge another, more able-bodied competitor.

Or any fighter, for that matter.

For him to risk all of that for one final moment in the spotlight, after a career filled with them, would be misguided, at the very least, and devastatingly foolish, at most. If Ortiz is smart, he'll take a page from BJ Penn's playbook and call it quits before something bad happens.

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