Tito Ortiz on Reality TV
Tito Ortiz is known as “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” but will the entrepreneurial “bad boy,” Donald Trump, think he has what it takes to win this season’s “Celebrity Apprentice?”
Jacob Christopher “Tito” Ortiz was born on January 23, 1975 in Huntington Beach, CA. He became interested in wrestling during his sophomore year in high school. He finished fourth in the state high school championships his senior year. After high school, he attended Golden West College, where he won a California state junior college title. He switched to Cal State Bakersfield where he trained under Stephen Neal.
In 1997, Ortiz made his mixed martial arts debut at UFC 13: Ultimate Force. He fought for no prize money or contract because he was still in college. He defeated Wes Albittron in the first round, but lost to Guy Mezger in the next round.
Ortiz would fight Mezger again at UFC 19: Ultimate Young Guns. This time, he scored a TKO over Mezger. At UFC 22: Only One Can Be the Champion, Ortiz fought for the UFC middleweight title, but lost to Frank Shamrock. After the victory however, Shamrock retired and vacated the title. Ortiz and Wanderlei Silva were chosen to fight for the newly renamed light heavyweight title. Ortiz beat Silva by unanimous decision at UFC 25: Ultimate Japan 3 to gain the title. Over the next three years, he would successfully defend his title five times.
Ortiz took almost a year off from fighting before returning to UFC 44: Undisputed. He fought Randy Couture, who ended his long running title reign. He fought Chuck Liddell at UFC 47: It’s On, but was knocked out in the second round. Ortiz took six months off and returned to UFC 50: The War of ’04, where he defeated Patrick Cote. In UFC 51: Super Sunday, he defeated Vitor Belfort in a split decision.
Ortiz appeared as a guest referee in a NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 2005 between Jeff Jarrett and A.J. Sytles. However, Jarrett shoved Ortiz and Ortiz knocked him out, giving Styles the title.
Ortiz has appeared on a reality series before – he was a part of Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter 3” as a coach along for rival Ken Shamrock. As part of their agreement to be on the show, the fighters also had a rematch at UFC 61: Bitter Rivals in July 2006. Despite protests by Shamrock, the match was stopped in the first round and a TKO win was awarded to Ortiz. The two met in one last rematch on Spike TV later that year, with Ortiz again winning in the first round, due to strikes this time. However, he would again lose to Chuck Liddell at UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz. Ortiz’s current mixed martial arts record is 15 wins, five losses, and one draw.
Ortiz has one son with his ex-wife Kristin.
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