Dec-25-2006
Liddell lingers as the Last Piece in the Ortiz Puzzle
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Death Clutch Chris Tuchscherer UFC 109 Walkout T-shirt
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By Jason Probst
Tito Ortiz elicits a reaction from both foes and fans, but indifference toward “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” is probably something he could never inspire in either constituency.
Give him this much -- whether you root for or against him, you’re going to be watching him fight. And probably with a vested interest in the outcome that holds a little bit more angst hinged on the outcome than the typical scrap.
Now, facing his rematch showdown with Chuck Liddell in Saturday’s main event at UFC 66, Ortiz feels he’s got all the elements lined up for a redemptive win that will silence the ghosts of their first encounter at UFC 47. They are the worst kind of memories for any fighter -- a bitter rivalry that ended in the other guy having a great night, where nothing went right for you, where the critics got all the license they’ll ever get to pile on.
Since losing via second-round knockout that night in April 2004, Ortiz has put together a five-fight winning streak that included putting the Ken Shamrock rivalry to bed, it seems, by stopping the UFC legend twice this year. But he’s also dealt with injuries he says have kept him from reclaiming the form of his title reign from 2000-2002, where he made five defenses and was the organization’s biggest draw.
Ortiz believes it’s coming full circle Saturday, where he’s got the chance to not only even up the score with “The Iceman,” but regain his title, to boot. And when your personal life includes a clothing company, the skyrocketing revenues from the sport’s growth, and you’re dating Jenna Jameson (more on that in the minute), a guy could be doing worse.
Much worse.
It’s just that Liddell thing he’s gotta take care of.
“My back injury is healed up 100 percent. My knee injury’s completely gone,” Ortiz said, referring to physical problems he took into his April match with Forrest Griffin, where he took a split decision before hobbling out of the arena. “I’m able to compete at the level I was when I was champion.”
When he’s at the top of his game, Ortiz is one of the most physically imposing fighters in the game. He typically forces a clinch if the takedown isn’t available outright, and grinds people down with a fast pace and constant pressure. And his stamina -- which went south during 1999 fourth-round loss to Frank Shamrock -- has since been improved to the point where he’s regarded as one of the best-conditioned athletes in the sport.
But Liddell seems an antithesis to all of those positive Ortiz traits, with a style seemingly designed to neutralize and punish everything a potent wrestler would want to do.
He is extremely difficult to take down, and was a fine collegiate grappler himself. And with a big-time chin and heavy hands that can land telling blows from virtually any angle, Liddell has been exceptionally difficult to compete with, much less beat, during his six-fight win streak. All of them have come by knockout, including two over Randy Couture. And since taking the title from Couture, Liddell’s craft has never been better in recent performances, as he has been a standup virtuoso.
However, Ortiz, who’s up in his customary training camp in the altitude of Big Bear, California, says he’s preparing the same he does for every fight, by getting into the best shape possible and letting it flow from there.
“With me, I just try and train the same way. With Liddell, I don’t know his mindset. I hope he’s looking past me. I’m going to surprise him 100 percent,” Ortiz said. “My training partners are like, ‘Your cardio’s great.’”
Their first encounter saw Ortiz deliver on a pre-fight vow to stand with Liddell. In the first round, he traded shots, landing a few, but even the casual viewer could tell the difference. Ortiz was swinging at Liddell with admirable gusto, but Liddell was trying to punch through Ortiz. Ortiz attempted two takedown attempts in the opening round, both were from so far away that Liddell easily shucked them off.
In the second, Ortiz landed a good right cross while eating an inadvertent thumb to the eye, and it went all downhill from there, as Liddell uncorked a barrage of punches that ended the affair.
In mixed martial arts, fights are more often than not a one-off deal, where the cards are dealt quickly and unforgivingly, and you can get taken out quick. They can also be evidence of simple style matchups, with one having an inherent advantage.
“I break down a lot of tape,” said Ortiz when asked about his strategy. “Even when I fought him the first time, I think my speed was good. I’ve just gotta be quick in whatever I do.”
Ortiz also feels he’s still evolving as a fighter, and he sees things other guys do as motivation. He is inspired by Georges St. Pierre’s rousing knockout of Matt Hughes at UFC 65, where a changing of the guard took place in the welterweight division. And the next generation of fighters, he knows, are nipping the heels of the sport’s veterans.
So is he worried about the new breed coming up?
“I’m still a young guy. I’m 31 years old. When I first started I was 22. I just had six months training. I’m still a fan of the game and student of the game,” he said. “I’m learning from these young guys coming up. I plan on competing for four or five more years. Now that my body’s injury free and the big money’s coming about, they need somebody to press the sport forward, someone to educate the fans. It’s amazed me how athletic and agile the athletes are, just because of how great the competitors are. There are no more one dimensional fighters. I’ve got good wrestling and great cardio. That’s what I’ve been working on my whole career.”
While there are few mysteries as to what Ortiz needs to do to give himself the best chance of winning the fight -- and that’s plant Liddell on the ground and wear him down -- UFC.com asked Couture, who decisioned Ortiz in addition to his three bouts against Liddell, for some insights into the matchup.
Couture believes that Liddell, not Ortiz, might have a little bit more to deal with come fight night.
“The pressure's definitely on Chuck in this one,” Couture told UFC.com. “Because he knocked him out before, and he's been knocking everybody out. He's on a great streak. All the fans expect to see that from him. His mindset going into this training camp, it could have an effect on the outcome. I think it's possible to take a guy lightly and not do the hard work you need to do. You can't always knock a guy out. Especially with a guy like Tito, who knows that’s a possibility, and who's training to make sure that doesn't happen again.“
The fight will come down to whether or not Ortiz is able to protect himself on the feet and keep Liddell honest in order to set up his clinching and takedowns, and execute accordingly.
“If Chuck has a weakness, I think that's that his conditioning isn't always as sharp as it should be for that type of fight. I will say that Tito’s more mature now. He's figured out how to (prepare) a little better, so his body isn't breaking down, and I think he's learned,” Couture said. “He's started to refine his skills and training camps to peak at the right time. Ultimately it's got to be this goal to make Chuck work and avoid getting hit with those shots. He's got to get his hands on Chuck. Chuck’s gonna scramble back up. He's got to cause Chuck to spend that energy.”
When pressed for a prediction, Couture tilted toward Liddell.
“My gut feeling is that Tito’s gonna have a real problem of getting over the psychological hurdles Chuck has put in his head,” he added. “He's not gonna be able to get in that middle range and put Chuck on the ground.”
Couture believes that it may also hinge on what style Liddell uses, as Chuck employed more movement against him than other recent foes, whom he didn’t seem afraid of grappling with.
“Chuck didn't fight everybody else the way he fought me the second and third time. Because if he were cornered, if he planted his feet, and stopped moving, I would find a way to take him down. Look at the way he fought (Jeremy) Horn, or any of these guys he fought around or after our two rematches. He didn't fight with the same footwork or same motion. He wasn't that concerned that Horn was gonna blow through him and take him down, or Vernon White and the other guys he fought,” Couture explained. “He was more back to his old fighting style. He plants his feet and tries to draw you in and set up that long straight right hand.”
Since he burst on the scene in 1997, there have been many iterations of Ortiz. He has transformed himself from a brute-strength ex-collegiate wrestler into a mixed martial artist, though the grappling remains the core element of his style. These days, he’s more comfortable striking, especially in the clinch. And he can fight through pain, whether it’s battling a bad back and blown knees against Griffin, or getting his nose broken in the first round against Vitor Belfort only to suck it up and pull out a hard-nosed decision.
At his debut in UFC 13, he dismantled Wes Albritton in 31 seconds, and then stepped in against Lions Den product Guy Mezger. Though he lost on a guillotine, Ortiz’ early dominance of the bout set the tone for what would prove the rivalry that would fuel the early phase of his career -- him against anybody named Shamrock or otherwise associated with The Lion’s Den.
After losing to Frank Shamrock, beating Ken three times, with a drawn-out buildup to the second match while coaching on “The Ultimate Fighter” opposite Ken, Ortiz says the bad blood is over.
Sort of.
“After the first time I thought it was over. The last two times it was just him pushing the button,“ said Ortiz, who followed the stoppage in the third fight with a post-bout ruckus that cooled off almost as quickly as it began. “Last time we competed against each other, I was just a little too up. After the fight I took a step out of my own persona and just shook his hand.”
So where do they stand now?
“We’re strictly acquaintances,” he replies. But he adds that he wouldn’t hesitate to defend himself should the two butt heads, whenever, wherever.
Ortiz’ personal life is also going pretty well, to say the least. His relationship with former adult film star Jenna Jameson has proven a boon for him, as he’s completely in love and isn’t afraid to say it. He even held up under what would surely be the acid test for keeping a cool head in such a situation, during an appearance earlier this month on Howard Stern’s radio show. Stern, in typical style, asked just about every question you could imagine, and plenty that you probably couldn’t.
Yet Ortiz managed to keep his cool. In such a situation, it’s just best to “be honest and truthful about everything,” he explained.
“I’m just in a happy place. I got a great woman. She supports me 100 percent. She’s a good businesswoman, and a very intelligent woman. She’s helped with a lot of my business stuff,” Ortiz said. “She’s done a lot of contracts herself, and she understands what I deserve and what I’m owed.”
Ortiz is no stranger to visualization, whether it’s plotting out what he’s going to do in the fight, or running up the steps of the arena with the American flag after his victory over Belfort, which he envisioned before the bout, to pay tribute to the armed forces.
This time, in his mind, it goes right in all the ways it didn’t the first go-round. He opens the bout, stalking, keeping his hands tight, defending adroitly against Liddell’s strikes, working his own in without getting overextended, and then bam! He’s got the clinch. Then the takedown. And, finally, the game is where he wants it. The elbows rain down, and punches thump into Liddell’s body and head, and the years of cardio training kick in as Ortiz gets his revenge, from the framework of the style he was denied applying last time because he never got Liddell horizontal.
Liddell is legendary for simply popping back up in these situations, often positioning himself against the cage as leverage to regain his feet, causing a whole repeat of the grim business of getting him there. But Ortiz, who has pretty much willed his whole life from a hardscrabble upbringing, sees it differently.
“I’m not gonna put him against the fence. I’m going to keep him in the center,” he said. “There are a lot of things I’m working on, and people are going to be surprised.”
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