Tito Ortiz is still in the UFC. The way he kept job made for one of the best MMA moments of 2011.
Ortiz pointed to finally getting healthy and new found confidence as the reasons he was able to pull off one of the biggest upsets in recent MMA history, at least according to the oddsmakers and bettors. By the time the fight started last night in Las Vegas, players had bet Ryan Bader all the way up to a minus-600 favorite.
A euphoric Ortiz said the fight was in slow motion.
"I had an out of body experience...Everything was in slo-mo. I was kind of watching myself do it. It was really weird," Ortiz said during the UFC 132 postfight press conference (3:35 mark). "For the first time everything was super, super slow. He was punching ... block, block. I was like 'that was it?'"
Ortiz gave credit to his trainer Jason Parillo.
Parillo's speed in training camp made Bader look slow to Ortiz. When he clinched the victory with a guillotine choke, Ortiz was still on cloud nine.
"He tapped and I didn't want to let go because I wasn't sure what was going on, because like I said, I had an out of body experience. I didn't know how to react," Ortiz said. "I wasn't letting go until the referee rips me off. I didn't mean to hold on longer than I was supposed to but I wasn't letting go."
Ortiz hadn't won a fight since 2006. He was 0-4-1 in his last five fights. The 36-year-old underwent two serious neck and back surgeries along the way.
"Physically I'm able to do it now. The surgeries I've gone through athletes don't come back. You're done," Ortiz said. "Not me. I have too much drive. Tonight it starts."
Ortiz really appeared sort of mentally beaten during prefight press conference. The losing and the questions about retirement were tough.
"It does eat at you [but] you have to have something to motivate you," Ortiz said. "When you have confidence behind you, you're unstoppable. You know, you look at Jonny 'Bones' Jones, he's unstoppable because his confidence is through the roof."
Ortiz said he'd like to face the winner of the Forrest Griffin-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua fight at UFC 134. It was good to see the old champion back to his form in the Octagon and outside following the fight. The crowd rallied behind Ortiz, who told the media that he had to beg UFC management for one more chance. He made the most of it.
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