Tito Ortiz: Raw and Uncensored - 2/23/2004

[Oddessa]

Tito Ortiz: Raw and Uncensored - 2/23/2004
by Michael DiSanto




Right now I'm on the edge, so don't push me
I aim straight for your head, so don't push me
Fill your ass up with lead, so don't push me
I got somethin' for your ass, keep thinkin' I'm a p*ssy!

50 Cent’s lyrics filled the silence in my rental car as I left Tito Ortiz’s house after a full day with the UFC star for our Training Day feature. As I listened to the raw and uncensored hip hop lyrics, I also thought about the day with Tito. I thought about all that we had talked about, on and off the record. I thought about his focus and determination during the training day. And then something became very clear to me. The raw emotion dripping from the hip hop lyrics - anger, frustration and hatred - fit perfectly with what I saw and heard from Tito. Fighting is no longer competition for Ortiz. It’s not business anymore. It’s personal now, at least as far as Chuck Liddell and Lee Murray are concerned.

From Murray questioning his manhood amidst tales of a street fight that happened more than two years ago, to Liddell, a former friend, claiming that Tito is afraid to fight him, the trash talking has gone too far. Ortiz has had enough of it. Now, it is about respect. It’s about a fire that burns white hot inside of Ortiz that must be fed. And it must be fed now.

You think this stuff is staged? You think it is all part of a promotion? This interview isn’t for the sensitive soul because it is uncensored and raw. To censor the profanity would be to strip Tito's words of their true emotion as he talks about one of the biggest fights in UFC history, his antagonizers and more.

InsideFighting: Tito, when did you start preparing for the Liddell fight?
Tito Ortiz: I actually started preparing after the New Year on January 3rd. Of course, I wanted to start the New Year off by training hard for the fight. The first week I did a lot of running and weight lifting to get my body ready for my wrestling and boxing. I’ve been trying to pick it up week by week. It keeps getting better and better, man. I’m getting into better shape. I think my muscle memory in terms of being in shape came back quicker than normal. My muscle memory is good. When I came back this time, I got back into shape a lot faster.


(The training Octagon at Tiki's gym in Huntington Beach is where
it all goes down)

IF: Why the change from preparing in Big Bear to preparing at home in Huntington Beach? This is the first time you haven’t been up there since Evan Tanner, right?
Tito: Actually, this will be the first time I haven’t been up there since Elvis [Sinosic]. My first time in Big Bear was for the [Evan] Tanner fight. Then I came back down for Elvis. I think the reason for training at home now is that this is a 3 round fight. It’s not a 5 round fight anymore, so I don’t have to worry about going those extra two rounds. But more than anything it’s because of my son. He’s at that age right now where he’s really fun. So I want to be around him as much as possible. He’s what really matters more than anything. You have to cherish your kids more than anything. So I think it’s really important for me to be here while he grows up. I want to be around as much as I possibly can. Plus, I have another little extra tool called an altitude machine. It’s my little secret, but now everybody will know about it. It’s a machine that lets me go up in altitude without me going up the mountain. I do little intervals - 3 20-minute intervals per day. It changes the IPOs in my blood. It gives me more red blood cells. So my body breathes a lot easier. Of course, I have a lot more training partners to work with now since they don’t have to make the drive all the way up to Big Bear. Everything is here at home. Man, it’s nice to be home for once. I get a lot more business done too.

IF: Plus, you probably sleep better too.
Tito: Yeah, I definitely sleep better here. That’s for sure.

IF: You mentioned having more training partners. Who are you working with to prepare for Chuck?
Tito: I’m working with some really good kickboxers and some really good boxers. Of course, I also work with a lot of Division I wrestlers. I’m just trying to get back to the basics. You know, get back to my strengths that I’ve used before. My boxing coach, Jerry Moreno, is teaching me the basic fundamentals of boxing. My kickboxing coach, Colin Oyama, is working with me on my kickboxing. We’re just trying to focus on everything as a whole with wrestling, boxing, running, kickboxing, cardio and everything else. I’m just trying to do what Tito Ortiz does and that’s push myself. This time around I’m focused more on the quality of the training rather than the quantity. You know, do less, but get more out of it. Before, I would just try to cram as much training in as possible. Now, I separate everything out and try to focus on quality training.


(Ortiz warming up for an afternoon at the boxing gym)

IF: Is that something you think you’ve changed since the Couture fight - training smarter rather than harder?
Tito: Yes. I think training smarter is a better idea than just training as hard as possible. Of course, I’m not getting any younger, man. My body can’t take the pounding that I used to put on it. You know, training 8 hours a day 7 days a week. My body can’t take that anymore. I toned it down a lot. I’m still training 6 days a week, but it is higher quality training. I’m working 4-6 hours a day instead of 8 hours a day, but it’s better. I’m starting to learn more as a professional athlete. You know, doing the right things and not overexerting myself so much that I get injured. The back injury I had before the Couture fight was from fatiguing my body too much. I just pushed my body too hard for too long, and my back went out. Now it’s just a factor of doing the right things so I don’t hurt my back again.

IF: When we were in the gym today, I saw you talking to Nate Campbell, who is a world class junior lightweight boxer. I noticed he was pointing some things out to you. What was he telling you?
Tito: Actually, Nate came in this past week from Florida. I’ve seen him a lot on HBO and pay per view shows. I actually watched him fight on the de la Hoya-Vargas card. That guy is quick! He throws some of the best body shot that I’ve ever seen. He was watching me spar and just kind of told me to stop lifting my head and sit down on my punches. You know, sit down in the pocket and let the punches fly. He told me to punch through the guy instead of just punching at him. When I started doing that, my punches started turning over a lot better. You know, just little small things like that help. I have the attitude where I’m willing to learn from other guys. I’m willing to keep my eyes open, my mind open and really learn. I’m not like, “it’s my way or no way.” I really listen to other people. He’s been through the battles and the wars, so he knows what’s what. I’ll listen to those people. He just shows me little small things like how to turn my hip or how to turn my punch over. I’ve learned from fighting and from wrestling that you may not be able to pick up all of a guy’s attributes, but you can get little small pointers that help you. That’s what he did for me. You know, punching through the guy or raising my fist just a little bit to change the angle, which gives you more power. Stuff like that really helps.


Will there ever be peace
Or are we all just headed for doom
Still consumed by the peace
And I'll know there'll never be peace
That's why I keep my pistol when I walk the streets
Cause there can never be peace! - Tupac Shakur


(Teammate and friend Rampage (right) picked Liddell (left) apart in
Pride FC's Middleweight Grand Prix. Ortiz looks to do the same thing
at UFC 47.)

IF: Okay, let’s break down Chuck Liddell game. You obviously know him well from training together for so long. Give me the A to Z on Chuck Liddell.
Tito: The A to Z on Chuck Liddell. I think he’s a dangerous fighter with his power in his punches. He’s a person who throws punches with no care at all. He just throws them and hopefully they’ll land. His wrestling skills are good. His defense of the takedown is really good. If you do take him down, it’s almost like instinct for him to get away. He gets up from the bottom very well. As I watch all of his fights, it just becomes a factor of what do I need to do to beat Chuck Liddell. I see forward fighting. Just going forward, being in his face and having no respect for him. That’s what I think it comes down to. When Randy Couture fought Chuck Liddell, he had no respect for him. When Rampage fought Chuck Liddell, he had no respect for him. And that is the type of person that can beat him. That’s the way to fight Chuck.

If Chuck thinks I’m not going to stand up with him, he’s thinking wrong. Man, I’m going to stand up with him. I think that’s his weakness. People are so afraid of his punches that they get caught. They’re waiting for it to happen, waiting for it to happen and that’s not what you should do. You’ve got to be in his face and make it happen before he lets it happen. If the takedowns are there, then the takedowns will come. But that’s not something that I’m going to look for. In my mind, I’m going to punch off of his punches and vice versa. When I punch him, I imagine that he’s going to try to punch off my punches. We’ll see. But I think I am a lot quicker than him. I’m a lot younger than him. You know, people talk about how good his chin is, but I’m not going to be punching for his chin. I’m going to be punching to his forehead and eyebrows because I see that he can’t take a good punch to the head. I think he can take a good punch to the chin, but not to the head. People take punches differently. I’ve watched all of his tapes over and over again. I try to dissect all the things that he does. Hopefully, I will come up with the right recipe to finish him.

IF: Is that something that you think you noticed in the Vitor Belfort fight? In that fight, Belfort fought from the outside and Chuck did very, very well. Randy and Rampage, on the other hand, pressed the action and imposed their will on Chuck. Of course, Chuck didn’t deal very well with that.
Tito: He can’t handle that. When you watch me spar, you notice that I try to impose my will on everybody that I fight. That’s something that I’ve learned from sparring. You impose your will on your opponent and don’t give them any room or time to rest. Those looping punches are going to come, but you just roll off of those punches. Hey, in the long run, I think imposing my will on Chuck Liddell will be the main factor in beating him.

IF: As the UFC works to hype the fight, they play the same couple of Chuck Liddell quotes over and over again. They’re great sound bytes, so I think the fans would enjoy hearing your reaction to them.
Tito: Okay.


(Tito (right) works hard on his hands with Moreno (left). Both
guarantee that he will stand up with Chuck Liddell.)

IF: “Tito doesn’t like to get hit, and I’m going to hit him. And he knows that.”
Tito: No fighter likes to get hit! I want you to tell me one fighter who likes to get hit. There’s not one fighter in the world who likes to get hit. And if you like to get hit, then you’re a stupid-ass fighter! I guarantee it! I never want to get hit! Of course I don’t want to get hit. That’s an automatic. That’s why we work on defense and protection. We try to roll off punches. It’s not this “you hit me and I hit you back” stuff. That’s a stupid hick-type of fighting. But hey, Chuck Liddell knows about that type of fighting better than I do. There isn’t anybody who knows about that better than Chuck Liddell. He’s the type of fighter who will take a punch to give a punch. But I’m not a person like that. I want to make sure that when I’m 34 or 35 years old that I have a good train of thought. I want to make sure I don’t develop a speech impediment. You know, I want to make sure I can carry on a conversation without stuttering or taking 4-5 seconds to think of a word or a sentence. Yeah, I don’t like to get hit. I don’t want to get hit. Fighters who say they like to get hit are stupid as hell. That’s for sure.

IF: The next quote is, “this fight is going to end by knockout.” Do you agree or disagree?
Tito: Hmm, “this fight’s going to end by knockout.” I have to disagree. I completely disagree actually. If I knock him out, then – wow - I’ve done my work. I don’t think I’ll knock out Chuck Liddell. I may stop him. I may win by decision. But as far as knocking him out, I don’t know. Nobody’s knocked him out yet. I’m not going to go looking for a knockout because then you end up getting knocked out yourself. So that’s not something I’m going to look for. I’m going to look to pick him apart. I’m going to do what Randy Couture did, and that’s stop him. I’m going to make McCarthy come in and stop me from pounding his ass. You know, I’ll give it to him. Chuck Liddell has a huge heart and a great chin. But I’m going to impose my will on him and pick him apart. I’m going to frustrate him so he doesn’t have a good night.


I came to bring the pain
Hardcore from the brain
Let’s go inside my astral plane - Method Man


(Tito (right) uses visualization to help with his fights)

IF: Let’s take the fans to a place where they’ve never been before. Take them inside your head the night before the fight. What are you thinking? What are you doing?
Tito: The night before the fight. Wow. Well, two nights before the fight I’m cutting weight. I go on about a 2-mile run - a light jog with plastics on. I’m trying to cut 5-6 pounds. I get a good meal that night; something with high carbs like pasta or possibly lots of sushi. You know, I eat something that will give me enough energy to make weight the next day. The night before the fight I’ve already made weight, so I just try to eat as much as possible. I mean, I eat as much as possible. But I don’t think too much about the fight. I will go through the fight in my mind a few times before I go to bed. I’ll go through the best possible thing that can happen, and also the worst possible thing that can happen - you know, visualization. I visualize everything I’m going to do before I walk into the Octagon. I will literally walk in my mind the night before the fight from the dressing room into the Octagon to the end of the fight. I’ll literally go from putting the gloves on to the guy coming in saying, “Okay, Tito, you’re on call, on deck.” I’ll walk up to the ramp and hear all the fans scream. [Tito simulates fans screaming.] I’ll walk into the Octagon and do my little circle around the Octagon. I’ll take my stuff off and visualize handing it to my team. I look across to my opponent and hear John McCarthy say, “Are you ready? Are you ready? Let’s get it on!” Then I’ll go through each and every round with the best possible scenario. Then I’ll go back and re-do everything with the worst possible scenario. That way I’m ready for anything that happens the night of the fight before it actually happens. That’s called visualization. You visualize what’s going to happen before you do it. I’ll do that a couple of times. If I can’t get to sleep, I’ll pop on Xbox and play some video games. You know, play a little Halo or play one of the games that I’m working on during training camp. Right now, I’m on Tony Hawk Underground, so hopefully I’ll be over that game and starting a new one by the time I fight Chuck. I have to thank Randy Harris for that one because he always sends me all my video games from Xbox. I’m a big video game player, man. I try not to focus on the fight or dwell on the fight. I make sure I do all the preparation ahead of time so that it’s all about reacting when it comes to the actual fight.

IF: Okay, you wake up on the morning of the fight. It’s fight day. Take us there.
Tito: I do this every single time no matter what. The morning of the event I wake up and the [mental] lights just turn on. I sit on the corner of the bed and talk to myself. “Alright buddy, this is what you’ve worked for. It’s time to go to work. Let’s start the day off right.” I get up, turn on some music really loud, take a shower and start getting focused. All my really good friends and assistants come in and we start putting everything together – my trunks, gloves, what I’m going to wear when I do autographs before the fight, what I’m going to wear when I walk to the Octagon, and what I’m going to wear after the fight. Then I get everybody together and call down to security to get a couple of security guards to walk me down to the arena. We all walk to the arena and head to the dressing room. I try to get the feeling of the dressing room as I set my gear out. I try to make it really comfortable. Then I listen to a little music and wait for the show to start. After a fight happens, I’ll do something that no other fighter does and that’s go walk out into the arena. I’ll head out to the concourse and do autographs. I’ll have my security with me and so I’ll put my back into a corner and do autographs non-stop for a good hour. I do that to listen to the fans and get a feeling of what’s happening. What fans are there? What do they want to see? I listen to the guy screaming in the second row to get a feel for things. I really like the one-on-ones with fans. They are the ones who pay my bills. If they didn’t watch me, I’d just be another fighter. I wouldn’t have the true fans that Tito Ortiz really has – the Tito Maniacs. Those are the guys who are pretty much die hard fans no matter whether I win or lose. I realized that after my loss that my fans really want to see Tito Ortiz compete and dominate each and every time out. The fans that really support me push me through my training everyday. Those are the ones that are going to stand behind me no matter what – win, lose or draw. And those are the fans that I really care about.

[Picksix]

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