| Title: |
Jacob " Tito " Ortiz ( born January 23 , 1975 ) is a Mexican American participant of the sport of mixed martial arts , or MMA . Ortizs career has been mostly within the UFC organization . A former Light Heavyweight UFC champion , Ortiz has become one of the sports most shining stars , headlining several Pay Per View championship undercards , and appearing on the covers of various magazines , such as Black Belt Magazine . He is a native of Huntington Beach , California . Tito Ortiz is recognized as a charismatic , if controversial and highly criticized fighter . Whatever the opinions of Ortiz , he undeniably is both a showman and a talented fighter . Ortiz began his martial arts career as a wrestler in his sophomore year of high school . Under coach Paul Herrera , Ortiz would place 4th in the state high school championships as a senior . Following high school , Ortiz continued his wrestling career winning a California state junior college title for Golden West College . Following his stint at Golden West , Ortiz wrestled at Cal State Bakersfield . While never a full time starter , Ortiz did gain significant experience training with future NCAA and world champion Stephen Neal . His mixed martial arts debut was at UFC 13 . He beat Wes Albittron on the tournaments first round by referee stoppage due to a barrage of punches , but lost a bout that he was dominating early on to Guy Mezger in the next round . The Mezger match was interesting as it showed the potential Ortiz had for dominating his opponents with control and hard , sharp elbows ( ground and pound ) . It also demonstrated the very real lack of experience Ortiz had . The fighters were stood up over a disputed end to the fight ( Ortiz claimed Mezger tapped ) . It was ruled the fight should restart ( as custom at that time , standing ) and Ortiz , as reasonably instructed by his corner , shot in to quickly finish the fight . A slight miscalculation in distance and technical inexperience in MMA found Ortiz caught in a guillotine choke from which Ortiz ? |
