[MMA] An Open Letter to Tito Ortiz

Dear Tito,

A few days ago I watched the August 29th episode of Inside MMA, where you were part of the panel, together with Guy Metzger and Josh Thomson. Ever since you completed your last fight on your multi-fight contract with the UFC and became a free agent, I’ve been eagerly following the news regarding your further career. I’ve been especially curious about which organisation you’ll sign with. Personally, I like to see you sign with Affliction, hopefully boosting their pay-per-view sales to a point where they can keep contending with the UFC. There’s been a lot of speculation about who’ll you be signing with, but Tom Atencio, VP with Affliction, has publicly stated that Affliction isn’t in negotations with you, and that the way things stand now, it’s more likely to sign Tito Jackson than to sign you. That’s a pretty big slap in the face, don’t you think? I wonder what happened there, from what I could see, you were sitting in the front row at Affliction’s inaugural Banned show, right next to Affliction’s biggest investor, Donald Trump. It kinda looked like you were schmoozing. So you schmoozed and then Tom Atencio says something like that? Who did you piss off, man?

It’s not like you don’t bring anything to the table. You’ve been the UFC Light Heavyweight champion, and you’ve been one of the UFC’s biggest draws, offering a significant pay-per-view bump to every card they signed you on. You’ve got a 15-6-1 record, the last three fights resulting in two losses and a draw. You’ve been part of the longest-running fued match between you and Ken Shamrock, all three fights you won rather resoundingly, in my opinion. You’ve also got notable wins over Wanderlei Silva, Guy Metzger, Vladimir Matyushenko, Vitor Belfort, Patrick Cote and Forrest Griffin, and were in some memorable fights with Couture and Liddell, so it’s not like you haven’t fought any big names.

So Affliction hasn’t signed you yet. Check. EliteXC hasn’t signed you yet. And it’s unlikely they’ll be able to pay you what you’re worth. Strikeforce is probably too small to sign you. And the UFC, well, they’re probably not going to be a viable option for you if you want people to believe you have some balls. The IFL is dead, so that’s not an option, and YAMMA is too small to afford you. So it seems like Affliction is the only real option, right? So why did Tom Atencio speak out against you so rudely?

Perhaps…perhaps, I don’t know, perhaps it’s because you’ve got some image issues. Perhaps people don’t believe that you’ve still got it. Perhaps people look at your record and wonder if you’re still up to the task. Dana White, your one time friend and manager and president of the UFC, a man you’ve been in an ugly, much publicised fued with for a while, has criticised you for not having your head in the fight game for a while. If you look at MMA fans, the real hardcore fight fans are no longer in your corner. The average fans still like you but that could be because you’ve got a name they remember, not out of any real admiration for your sadly dwindling skills. It’s been obvious from your name-dropping and the way you constantly try to remind us that you’re a top name fighter, that your celebrity status is all you can bank on right now, and perhaps it might be a good idea for you to stop and take stock of your recent record for a moment and perhaps reevaluate your gameplan. You seem more eager to sign a big contract now, with a large likelihood that you’ll disappoint rather than sign a smaller contract now and focus on fighting your way back to the top. Seriously, people will respect you for it, the fans you still have will stick by you, and the audience that sees the devastating ground-and-pound you posses will rally to your side. Perhaps you do have to fight your way up a bit, defeating some good names in order to validate the belief that you’re a markee fighter. In your last three fights you got TKO’d by Liddell, you had a draw against Rashad Evans due to the fact that you kept holding the fence and you got frustrated to a decision by Machida. These are all upper-middle to upper echelon fighters, but not the best of the best, so wouldn’t it be fair to rank you as a middle to upper-middle fighter, considering you lost two fights and pulled a draw in one fight?

Seriously, I enjoy watching you fight, but you’re a bit of an arrogant douche. I can’t keep rooting for you, especially not after that episode of Inside MMA. I really can’t. Sign a short one or two fight contract with a smaller show and beat the shit out of their light heavy-weight top guys. Then let Affliction sign you so you can go up against some great fighters and get a great paycheck out of it. You’re penny-wise and pound-foolish, man!

Hugs and kisses,

Dennis

PS: Congratulations on Jenna getting pregnant.