Sherwood: Tito Steps Up

It’s been a crazy couple weeks for Tito Ortiz, to say the least.

The “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” has gone from being a fighter one loss away from retirement -- one who most media outlets and pundits tabbed as done -- to a fighter who UFC President Dana White now praises as “the new Tito Ortiz.” Even the fickle MMA fan base seems to have come around, with some making excuses for their premature burial of Ortiz and others pointing out why Tito had a good chance to beat Ryan Bader all along. It’s a 180-degree reversal from all the talk that led up to UFC 132.

White noted before the July 2 bout that Ortiz performs best when his back is against the wall. That’s exactly what the former UFC light heavyweight champ did, submitting Bader with a first-round guillotine choke and looking very good in the process.

Allow me to do the same as some of the aforementioned fans and say that Tito’s submission game has always been underrated. People got a glimpse of that with his near-submission of Lyoto Machida. I will admit that I was one who picked Bader to win, and I didn’t think he would have a tough time getting the job done.

Let’s look back at Tito’s past five fights, starting with his first encounter with Rashad Evans. It was a one-point deduction for fence grabbing which cost Ortiz the victory in a hard-fought battle with “Suga Rashad.” He then took Machida the distance at a time when many felt “The Dragon” was one of the world’s top pound-for-pound fighters. Then, it was Forrest Griffin, a fight that a lot of people felt Ortiz should have won on the scorecards, including judge Glenn Trowbridge. Save one round, Matt Hamill had a pretty easy time beating Ortiz, so there’s not much to draw from there. And then you have Tito’s win over the once-beaten rising star, Bader.

Yes, I know that I just criticized fans and media for counting Tito out and then making an argument for him afterward, and then I turned around and did the same thing. That is what’s great about sports. Situations like this are what make being a sports fan great.

Take a look at MLB’s Minnesota Twins. If you had talked to a Twins fan on June 1, it would have been a pretty bleak conversation, but it would be an entirely different story today. On June 1, the Twins were 20 games under .500 and 16-plus games out of first place in the American League Central division. Since then, they’ve got 24-11 and entered the All-Star break 6-1/2 games behind the first-place Detroit Tigers. The hope is still alive for the second half of the season.

In sports, and particularly in MMA, it’s “what have you done for me lately?” What Tito Ortiz has done lately is beat a highly touted prospect, then remove himself from Dana White’s doghouse by accepting a short-notice fight against Rashad Evans. Plus, Ortiz has won some fans back, so one has to think pay-per-view numbers for UFC 133 will still be pretty good, making everyone involved happy.

Imagine if Tito is able to pull off the victory over Rashad. In the words of Dana White, he’ll be right back in the mix.