by Justin Bolduc - Nokaut.com
Nokaut's Justin Bolduc had a chance to sit down with UFC superstar Tito Ortiz to talk about his upcoming fight against Rashad Evans, Chuck vs. "Rampage", and his thoughts on fighting some guys from PRIDE.
Justin (Nokaut.com): Obviously you have a fight against Rashad Evans coming up; what are your thoughts on him and what are you doing to prepare?
Tito Ortiz: He’s a tough opponent in my eyes, that’s why he’s undefeated. He’s fast, a college wrestler, he has good stand-up- he knocked out his last couple [opponents] actually. I’m just trying to get good wrestlers and stand-up guys, the same thing I’ve done all through my career, you know? Just trying to make myself a better fighter and make sure I prepare the right way for the guy that I’m fighting; and with Rashad he’s fast and agile, he has good wrestling and good stand-up, so I’m going to try to push the tempo of the fight with him.
Justin (Nokaut.com): Who have you been training with?
Tito Ortiz: Justin McCully, Saul Soliz, Tiki [Ghosn], [Quinton “Rampage” Jackson], Karo Parisyan, and a few other college guys that have been coming in and working with me.
Justin (Nokaut.com): How do you see the fight playing out and what are you looking to do?
Tito Ortiz: I see this fight really playing out as an exciting fight- every time I compete I’m just trying to make sure that it will be very exciting, I don’t like boring fights, and I just want to push the pace. Taking him down of course is a great way to start the fight, just because the first takedown is going to dominate the fight. Stand-up becomes about I’ll look for that.
Justin (Nokaut.com): You’re title shot against Chuck [Liddell] didn’t end so well for you. What do you think it would take to get you back to another shot?
Tito Ortiz: I just need to keep beating the number one contenders, as long as there are other number one contenders out there. It really doesn’t matter to me, the next two fights or however long it takes me to get another title shot, I will. I see myself as the number two guy in the UFC and whoever it takes for me to get a title shot I will [fight]. I just have to look forward to beating Rashad and that’s the first thing on my mind right now, but once I beat him then I don’t know fight [Mauricio “Shogun” Rua] possibly, or fight Wanderlei Silva, it really doesn’t matter to me.
Justin (Nokaut.com): That was something I was going to ask, now that it is a real possibility of fighting the PRIDE guys- you mentioned “Shogun” so let’s go with him right now, what do you think a fight against him would be like?
Tito Ortiz: I think his wrestling skills aren’t so good but his stand-up is great and his submission skills are really good, it would just really come down to pushing the tempo of the fight if I did fight him. I think my experience will overtake a lot of things he does, but I think that’s what makes the fight so exciting when it comes about because you never know what happens- he’s a very dangerous fight, I’m a very dangerous fighter so it just comes about when it comes about.
Justin (Nokaut.com): You obviously beat Wanderlei several years ago. Obviously you have both changed since then and improved since then. Is that another fight you would still have interest in?
Tito Ortiz: I would love to. To me it’s giving a fight that the fans would want to watch and I know a lot of fans that would want to see that fight happen. To me, I see Wanderlei as having a glass jaw now, he’s been knocked completely unconscious his last two fights and that hinders a fighter in huge fights. I’ve never been knocked out unconscious or completely, it’s just been referee stoppages and so forth. I really look into that with fighters. Getting kicked in the head by [Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic] and being unconscious, and a left hook- which really didn’t seem that hard by [Dan] Henderson, and ending up unconscious seems like he has a glass jaw. He’s had a lot of tough fights and he’s been fighting a lot. But when it comes down to it I just want to make it exciting for the fans and whoever it takes me to beat to get another world title shot I am willing to step up. There aren’t to many guys that have two losses to someone and are willing to step into the Octagon with them again, and I’m that person.
Justin (Nokaut.com): 2007 has been crazy, Sokoudjou knocked out both [Ricardo] Arona and [Antonio Rogerio] Nogueira, Matt Serra just beat [Georges St. Pierre], and [Gabriel] Gonzaga just knocked out Mirko; as one of the top guys does play on you seeing all the upsets out of nowhere?
Tito Ortiz: You know, I really don’t think it’s coming out of nowhere. I think these guys are really looking past these guys. I’ve always taken all of my opponents very serious, like Rashad is an up-and-comer even though he is 10-0, but I’m still taking him very serious. And guys like Arona- I don’t think Arona is that good, “Rampage” knocked him out very quickly and some of the guys Arona beat weren’t that great. Arona is a good jiu-jitsu guy who is trying to learn to stand-up and is an OK wrestler. Sokoudjou has shown some stuff and I like to see that, I like to see that there is more competition in the sport now at my weight.
Justin (Nokaut.com): With Randy [Couture]’s return, we might not see him back at 205 [pounds], but is that another fight you would like to see happen for you?
Tito Ortiz: I would love it. If he stayed at 205 I would like to fight him, but he’s at Heavyweight now and he’s the champion, so there is no reason for him to be at 205. I think he is a better fighter at Heavyweight just because he can use his size against other guys and wrestling against other guys that don’t have that same style.**
Justin (Nokaut.com): It is well known that you’ve fought Chuck twice and that you are training partners with “Rampage”- what do you think of their match-up?
Tito Ortiz: I’m going to have to go with “Rampage” for that fight; I think that he is in Liddell’s mind. One thing with “Rampage” is he is a great striker with good wrestling skills and he hits really, really hard. I think Chuck can say that and second that notion. With “Rampage” he fires in numbers and I think that is what I lacked when I fought Liddell in our last fight, I lacked firing in numbers. If I would have fired in numbers I think I would have hit him a lot more, but just throwing one or two punches is not a good fight for Liddell because that’s the way he fights and you end up fighting his game. Now with “Rampage” he does fire with numbers and I think that will win the fight, to hit him with one-two-three-four-five combinations.
Justin (Nokaut.com): Back to your fight with Rashad, recently there was an altercation of sorts between you and Rashad at an event and a comment about him being your “nappy headed ho”…
Tito Ortiz: It’s all a joke man; it’s all in good fun. It’s not like I’m saying stuff that hasn’t already been said. It wasn’t directed towards anyone but the person I’m going to fight. You have to understand we are getting there and fighting, we’re punching each other in the face and taking each other down- it’s a brutal sport. It’s a joke for me and it’s something cool. People say “oh, you’re racist” but I’m far from racist. Man, the last time I looked I’m Mexican, I’m American, I’m Hawaiian- so I don’t think I can really be racist. “Rampage” is a very good friend of mine and he’s African-American, I have a lot of other racial friends like Asians, of course Karo Parisyan- he’s a very good friend of mine. But I’m not racist, I thought it was a funny joke I could say to stir things up and that is what I do, I sell tickets and I sell pay-per-views. People are going to hate me or they’re going to love me man. We were at the UFC and I just went over to [Rashad] because he was saying a lot of shit about me. I just went over to him and said good luck to him and good luck in his training and watch what you say and he stood up in my face cussing me out, saying I’m over the hill, I’m old news… you have to remember I’m 32 years old, yeah I’ve been in the game for ten years, but I’m only 32 years old. I’m still learning and I’m still in my prime, I’m going to be here for a very long time. I noticed him trying to get a mental step over me, which it failed to work. He kept talking and talking and talking, “yeah, you’ll see” and he tried to make me flinch by shifting his weight towards me. I was like don’t make me flinch, and I pushed him. That’s personal, I think it’s very, very personal and I think it is just going to make it that much more of an exciting fight.
Justin (Nokaut.com): One thing being talked about, especially in New Jersey and Nevada is adding knees to the head on the ground. Is that something you would like to see added?
Tito Ortiz: When I first started fighting in the UFC those were legal, and I loved them. When they took them out I had to start working on other things like using my elbows, which is a really vicious weapon that I have. Either way, if they bring them back in, awesome, if they don’t, fine with me too.
Justin (Nokaut.com): As one of the top fighters you don’t have to worry so much with the pay changing for you, but now with PRIDE and the UFC seemingly under the same umbrella do you think that there will be problems with fighter pay and possibly a fighter’s union?
Tito Ortiz: I’m not sure about a fighter’s union just yet, but I don’t think it will really affect fighter pay. I think it comes down to the fighters holding out and believing in what they are worth. Some of the top fighters, if they hold-out it will just make it that much more that the lower fighters can get paid. I think lower fighters do get underpaid. I would love to see the minimum pay get raised a whole bunch because that means more money for us. The UFC is pretty much raking in all the money and not paying the fighters as much as they should, and I may be wrong for saying that but if you look at boxers and what they are making. [Oscar] De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, Oscar is making $50 million and Mayweather is making $20 million. Those are ridiculous numbers. The UFC will then say “well, we aren’t doing as many pay-per-view numbers as they are.” Well that is kind of bull because Chuck and me did 1,300,000 pay-per-view buys and that’s a big hunk of cash. As it comes it will just get better and better as the sport keeps growing. The UFC are doing an awesome job and I’m really excited about it.
Justin (Nokaut.com): There has been a lot of criticism over fighter pay, but really the sport hasn’t been that big for very long. Do you think that is the reason we aren’t seeing the numbers jump up with fighter pay yet?
Tito Ortiz: Yeah. It will take time, maybe three years, maybe next year. If this year is as financially profitable as last year then pay raise is to come. A fighter’s life span is not as great as the life span of the UFC itself so I think the fighters should have a lot of money to come in for themselves. I’ve really been fighting for their rights, and my own rights. People always bag on me like “there goes Tito again, asking for more money” or asking for this and that, but when I do get it then people are like “oh look Tito is actually helping other people because now they are getting paid more money.” It’s a catch-22, it’s either way for me, I either get bagged on for asking for more money or I’m in good graces for helping people get paid more money.
Justin (Nokaut.com): What is your diet usually like?
Tito Ortiz: With my diet I can pretty much eat anything I want, I just don’t drink sodas or eat greasy foods, no fried foods or anything like that. I pretty much eat whatever I want because I burn about 4500 calories a day with how much a train.
Justin (Nokaut.com): Speaking of training, leading into a fight, let’s say four to six weeks out, what is training typically like for you?
Tito Ortiz: Six days a week, eight hours a say just drilling and training. I run three miles a day, we spar, we wrestle, we do ground work; we do a lot of stuff.
Justin (Nokaut.com): What advice do you give to aspiring fighters?
Tito Ortiz: Just work hard, never stop dreaming. That is the biggest thing I’ve learned, I have always dreamed of being the best fighter in the world, business-wise and competition wise, and that is what I continue to do.
Justin (Nokaut.com): Any final words to your fans or the readers at Nokaut, or any sponsors you would like to thank?
Tito Ortiz: I just have to thank all my fans for their support. Through thick and thin they have been with me no matter what. You can hop on the bandwagon or hop off the bandwagon, I’m here for the next five years, I plan on competing for a long time. Just as long as my fans keep supporting me and my clothing company Punishment Athletics (www.punishment.com) and of course my sponsors A&G Auto Sounds in Los Angeles, California and Punishment Athletics, if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be able to do it as hard as I do it.
**two false statements from Tito have been removed (story)
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