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Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz wants to fight for the promotion again, and “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” is hoping that he and Dana White can bury the hatchet.
Ortiz and the UFC president have a well-documented history of bad blood over the years, ranging from Ortiz taking issue with his treatment from the UFC to Ortiz backing out of a scheduled boxing match with White at the last minute.
Ortiz last fought for the promotion in 2012 against Forrest Griffin at UFC 148. It was billed as The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’s retirement fight, however Ortiz would go on to sign with Bellator, fighting for the organization between 2014 and 2017.
In 2018 he knocked out Chuck Liddell in a trilogy bout hosted by Golden Boy Promotions. And in his most recent MMA contest, he submitted Alberto Del Rio at Combate Americas 51 in 2019. Last year, Ortiz competed in a Triller boxing match against former UFC 185-pound champion Anderson Silva and was taken out via KO in the first round.
At 47 years old, Ortiz is ready to put a stamp on his combat sports career, and he hopes to return to the Octagon for a proper send-off. But, in the past Ortiz said he’d never want to fight for White again, something he’s now calling a “mistake” and walking back.
“I don’t want to say no,” Ortiz said recently to Chris Van Vliet via MMA News. “I think I’ll give that to Dana to say no. I think I made a mistake a while back saying I’ll never fight in the UFC, and it came back to bite me in the a**. It is what it is. I think he told me that. I wish we could get over the hard feelings. That’s life. Life is too short to hate.”
Ortiz Recently Showed Interest in Fighting Shogun Rua
If The Huntington Beach Bad Boy gets his way, he’ll fight another 205-pound legend, Shogun Rua, inside the Octagon. Rua told the media ahead of his last bout with Ovince Saint Preux in May that he wanted to retire after two more fights.
He lost to Saint Preux via split decision, and Ortiz told Helen Yee later that month that it would be a great final bout for each of them.
“I think about it, that’ll be an amazing last fight for myself and for Shogun Rua,” Ortiz said via Bloody Elbow. “Shogun has his last fight with the UFC, we’re in kind of the same era, so it would be nice to see a Tito Ortiz vs. Shogun. I would like that.
“I have a lot of respect for Shogun, I think he’s an amazing former champion, an amazing fighter. I watched his last fight. I thought he won the fight, but they ended up giving it to OSP. Let’s see what happens in the future.”
Rua Said He’d Like the Last Fight to Be in 2022
Rua is down to close out his fighting career later this year.
“I already made up my mind, I want to do two fights; this one and one last, and then retire,” Rua said ahead of the Saint Preux contest via MMA Junkie. “That’s what I put as a goal and hopefully maybe who knows, I can do both this year and then retire in 2022, but you never know. Either way, I want to do two fights and retire.”
Ortiz told The Schmo in May that he was aiming to fight this fall, which could work well with Rua’s timeline. But first thing’s first, the UFC president must get on board with Ortiz returning to the promotion.