Name	Tito Ortiz
Height	6' 2"
Naionality	American
Date of Birth	January 23, 1975
Place of Birth	Santa Ana, California
Famous for

Jacob C. 'Tito' Ortiz aka 'The Huntington Beach Bad Boy' (born January 23, 1975) is an American mixed martial arts fighter from Huntington Beach, California. Born to an American mother and a Mexican father, he spent many nights in juvenile detention facilities as a child. At the age of 13 his mother separated from his father and moved Tito and his brothers from Santa Ana back to Huntington Beach. As a former Light-Heavyweight UFC champion, Ortiz became one of the sport's biggest stars, headlining several pay per view championship cards, and appearing on the covers of various magazines, such as Black Belt Magazine. Ortiz is recognized as a charismatic, if controversial and highly-criticized fighter.


Amateur

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 in 1997. Still in college, Ortiz competed as an amateur for no prize money or contracts. He beat Wes Albittron on the tournament's first round by referee stoppage due to a barrage of punches, but lost in the next round to Guy Mezger in a bout that he was dominating early on. The Mezger match showed the potential Ortiz had for dominating his opponents with control and hard, sharp elbows (ground and pound).
Road to the title
After returning with TKO victories over Jeremy Screeton at West Coast NHB Championships 1, and Jerry Bohlander at UFC 18, Ortiz dominated a rematch with Mezger. This time, the much smaller Mezger was out-wrestled, with Ortiz winning by TKO due to strikes. After winning the fight, Ortiz put on a t-shirt that read 'Gay Mezger Is My Bitch' and gave the assembled Lion's Den, with whom Mezger trained, the finger (both fingers). Thus began both his rivalry with Ken Shamrock and the Lion's Den, as well as his custom of wearing t-shirts that belittled his opponent after victories.

UFC 30 promotional posterIn 1999 Ortiz fought Frank Shamrock for the UFC Middleweight (200 pound) title at UFC 22, losing via submission due to strikes. Following the victory, Shamrock retired and vacated the championship. The Middleweight title was renamed the Light Heavyweight title and Ortiz was chosen along with Wanderlei Silva as the top contenders. Their title fight at UFC 25 left Ortiz the champion via unanimous decision. Ortiz would successfully defend the belt five times in the following three years, defeating Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko and Lion's Den head Ken Shamrock, who had held a grudge with Ortiz since the Mezger incident.

Controversy
When it was time for Chuck Liddell to get his title shot (a then rising star in the UFC and #1 light heavyweight contender), Ortiz began a hiatus from title defenses. Ortiz had previously publicly challenged Liddell but now claimed that he and Liddell were friends and claimed a pact was made stating that they would never fight one another. Ortiz also expressed dissatisfaction with his contract with the UFC and they could not come to terms. An exasperated UFC management created an Interim Light Heavyweight Title to coax Ortiz to a fight. He finally agreed to fight the new Interim Light Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture, who had defeated Liddell for the interim title, at UFC 44 in September 2003. Although many had felt Couture was near retirement, he controlled most of the bout, winning via unanimous decision.

Following his loss to Randy Couture, Ortiz finally faced Chuck Liddell at UFC 47. Ortiz lost in a one-sided match by second round knockout. After six months off, Ortiz returned and took a unanimous decision victory over Patrick Cote at UFC 50, and a split decision over Vitor Belfort at UFC 51. In February 2005, contract issues left Ortiz on bad terms with the UFC and its president Dana White, (who was also Ortiz' former business manager). During this time away from the UFC, Ortiz was offered deals with several promotions, including PRIDE Fighting Championships and the Don King-backed World Fighting Alliance, but none came to fruition. Ortiz opted to try his hand at professional wrestling, signing with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a guest referee.


Professional wrestling career

In May 2005, Ortiz followed in the footsteps of rival Ken Shamrock when he agreed to appear with the professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
On May 15, 2005 at TNA Hard Justice Ortiz served as special guest referee in the NWA World Heavyweight Championship title match between Jeff Jarrett and A.J. Styles at the behest of Director of Authority Dusty Rhodes. Ortiz played a large role in the buildup to the match as well as the outcome, in which he (kayfabe) knocked out Jeff Jarrett with a right hook after Jarrett shoved him. This allowed Styles to hit his Spiral Tap for the pinfall victory and claim the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Jarrett.

Ortiz returned to wrestling to once again to referee an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match in October 2005. His appearance was at TNA Bound For Glory at the behest of Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko for the match intended to be between Jeff Jarrett and Kevin Nash. Ortiz played an even bigger role in the buildup of the match this time, attacking both men on an episode of TNA iMPACT! when they brawled prior to their scheduled match.
Nash had to withdraw from the match after suffering chest pains the previous night, so TNA management inserted Rhino into the fold after he won a ten-man gauntlet match. Ortiz maintained order with some success, preventing interference from multiple sources but failing to prevent Jarrett from cheating. Rhino won the match (his third of the night) and the title, but Ortiz left the ring immediately after the match as a brawl ensued involving Jarrett, Rhino, Team Canada, Team 3D, The 3Live Kru, and America's Most Wanted.
Ortiz did a interview on YouTube which promoted TNA Bound For Glory 2006 where he said that he might one day return to TNA and compete.