10 Stupidest Things Tito Ortiz Ever Said
One of the UFC's greatest ever light heavyweight champions, with five title defenses and nine title fights to his name, Tito Ortiz is a fighter whose career is both legendary and pioneering. And while he was once a preeminent trash talker in the sport of mixed martial arts, it's long been overshadowed by how often he stumbles with a microphone in his face.
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His time in the public sphere has led to many a moment of questionable word choices ranging from odd to downright stupid. Thus, it seems that the fight IQ he once displayed in the octagon never translated to his affairs outside of the cage.
10 UFC 121 Pre-Fight Trash Talk
In the lead-up to his UFC 121 fight with Matt Hamill, Tito Ortiz hadn't won a fight in four years. Despite the harrowing turn his career had taken with a run of three losses and one draw, Tito remained confident in his chances.
In typical Ortiz fashion, he spouted an eye-rolling answer when asked by an interviewer if he'd punish Matt "The Hammer" Hamill. Tito's words? That he'd punish the Hammer, turning him into a mallet.
9 Keep Your Friends Close And Your Enemies Closer
In 2018, Tito Ortiz was on a quest for redemption against a man to whom he'd lost twice in the UFC; Chuck Liddell. In his pre-fight promotional efforts, Tito Ortiz joined Ariel Helwani's MMA Show for an interview to discuss his upcoming third fight with his longtime rival.
After curiously describing Liddell as one of his "boys", Tito was asked to explain why he still considered him one of his friends given all that had been said between them. Tito responded with a proverb often attributed to Sun Tzu; keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Unfortunately, the context didn't match his intentions.
8 Fight In April, Camp In July
In a 2019 interview with Helen Yee of Eyes On The Game, Tito Ortiz was asked about his then upcoming fight against former WWE Superstar, Alberto Del Rio. As the discussion turned to the scheduled date for his fight, Tito uttered his first bizarre quotable of the interview. When asked if his fight was set for fall, Tito's answer came as a head-scratcher, "Yes, it'll be in April, it'll be in April. I start camp probably around the beginning of July."
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Fortunately, Helen Yee proved kind enough to correct him by suggesting that perhaps he meant to say October instead of April; an actual fall date. Alas, it was not his final moment of dubious intelligence in that very same interview.
7 A Great Mother-In-Law
In the closing moments of his Eyes On The Game interview with Helen Yee, Tito Ortiz offered a candid reflection on his MMA career. He prattled on about his 22-year journey in the MMA world. While thanking his fans for their continued support, Tito gradually focused his attention on his family, expressing his gratitude for finally having a more stable family life at home.
In particular, he thanked Amber Nicole Miller—his domestic partner—by describing her as a great mother-in-law to his children. As polite as can be, Helen Yee ignored his odd phrasing, concluding the interview on that note.
6 Liddell Vs. Ortiz 3
Prior to their third and final clash, Tito Ortiz was engaged in a promotional interview to drum up interest for his upcoming fight with Chuck Liddell. When the interviewer expressed that Liddell felt Tito was jealous of him and that his feelings towards him were sour grapes, Tito couldn't contain himself.
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His answer was to laugh off Liddell's claims, ironically parroting something Dana White once said about Tito himself—that he can't put a sentence together. Dana White meant Tito, and Tito meant Liddell. Stranger things have happened, but few fighters are stranger than Tito.
5 Training Schedule
As he prepared to face Chuck Liddell in the very last outing of their storied trilogy, Tito Ortiz was asked about his training schedule for a bout with a foe he was clearly desperate to claim victory against.
Instead of answering the interviewer's question, Tito only raised more questions with his response. He claimed to train six days a week, before going on to say that five days a week he'll train three days a week, and that in one of those days he'll train two days a week. So, in summation, six days a week, according to him, at least.
4 KTLA 5 Interview
With his third fight with Chuck Liddell on the horizon, both Tito and his longtime rival were scheduled for an interview with the KTLA 5 News. When asked about the struggles of fight preparations as an older veteran of the sport, Tito Ortiz simultaneously refuted and confirmed the difficulties that come with aging in MMA.
He first claimed that age-related difficulties were not struggles he experienced before describing himself as an "old mature" then confessing that his body had not matured greatly because his father and grandmother were both very old, finally concluding that that is why his body was in great shape.
3 Interviewing Fedor
In 2009, one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time in Fedor Emelianenko crushed former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski with a 1st round KO at Affliction: Day of Reckoning.
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Tito was curiously assigned the post-fight interview duties for the bout. After praising Fedor's past performance against Tim Sylvia and his then recent one against Andrei Arlovski, Tito—clearly meaning to ask Fedor to tell him how he was feeling—said the following, "Let me tell you how you feeling right now."
2 The Fighter & The Kid
Back in 2015, Tito Ortiz was a guest at Brendan Schaub and Bryan Callen's The Fighter & The Kid podcast. When conversation shifted to the topic of age and whether Tito will live to his 100th year, things took a bizarre turn.
After claiming to no longer drink alcohol as much as he used to, Tito affirmed that his life's focus had become his children. He, however, immediately followed that up by explicitly stating his desire to outlive his children. Only Tito can describe his children as his life's priority then imply the opposite by expressing his desire to outlive them.
1 Power 106 Interview
In a 2017 interview with J Cruz for Power 106 Los Angeles, Tito Ortiz tackled the then emotionally charged subject of Donald Trump's newborn presidency.
When speaking about the American public's desire to see their country made great, Tito chose to attack the rationale that the United States is a country built by immigrants. How did he do so? By claiming that any part immigrants had in building the United States happened between 800 and 900 years ago... in the medieval era.
