Tito Ortiz Will Wait To Make Decision On Possible Retirement
Tito Ortiz vs. Liam McGeary met in a light heavyweight title bout as the main event of Bellator Dynamite 1. Many believed that McGeary would run through Ortiz in this fight, but that was not the case. Ortiz was actually winning the first-round as he took McGeary down, outlasted a submission attempted and then started doing his legendary ground and pound. McGeary would end up winning the fight with a submission in the later part of the round.
Now, Ortiz has suffered a loss and will need to rebuild once again.
“I’m still trying to lick my wounds a little bit,” said Ortiz at the post-fight presser, who set up the title fight with wins over Alexander Shlemenko and Stephan Bonnar. “I can’t take nothing away from Liam. He fought the best that I can give. I had a great camp. Everything went perfect. I went out there and fought my ass off.
“The guy’s slick, dude. That reverse triangle – we defended that over and over. We defended triangles. We defended all the positions. I got away from the armlock. I mean, I was going to let him break my arm before anything. I was not tapping. I was pulling, pulled out, and came back down.”
Ortiz never mentioned retirement in this press conference, but he certainly hinted at it. The always emotional Ortiz is planning to regroup with the love from his family and go from there.
“As far as me coming back, I’ll wait (to make a decision),” he said. “I’m going to chill for a bit. I think I’m just going to enjoy this time right now. I missed out on the summer. I missed out on a lot of time with my family. And I’m 40 years old, man. I’ve been doing this sh-t for 18-and-a-half years. … I’ve been through some major surgeries – back surgery, neck surgeries, knee surgeries.
“(I’m going to) let my body heal a little bit – (and) let my mind heal a little bit. I still love training. But I just want to hang out with my kids, wake up with them, take them to school, be a dad for a bit – (have) me and my girl Amber enjoy life for a little bit.”
Tito Ortiz (18-11) is currently on a two-fight winning streak. In his last six bouts, he’s 2-3. In those six bouts, he lost to Rashad Evans by second-round TKO at UFC 133, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 140 by first-round TKO and then lost to Forrest Griffin at UFC 148 by unanimous to end his stint in the UFC. He signed with Bellator MMA and has won ever since. He beat Alexander Shlemenko at Bellator 120 by first-round triangle choke and then beat Stephan Bonnar at Bellator 131 by split decision. He was submitted by Liam McGeary in the first round at Bellator Dynamite 1.
Ortiz brought up that when he left the UFC he felt it turned corporate, but in Bellator MMA, it’s family.
“I worked with the UFC for such a long time,” he said. “They were like a family a long time ago. Now they’ve turned into complete corporate. Here at Bellator, we’re family, and it’s awesome to be a part of this family.”
Bellator Dynamite 1 took place on Saturday, September 19th at the SAP Center in San Jose, California and the main card aired on Spike TV in prime time.
