Tito Ortiz: What Will a Win at UFC 133 Mean to His Career?

Ah, the curious case of Tito Ortiz—what a beautiful case it is, MMA world.

You see, at about this time last year, we all questioned if Ortiz still had it after a somewhat controversial split decision loss to Forrest Griffin, one in which we all forgot he actually didn't look atrociously horrendous.

A similar case can be posed for his UFC 121 loss to Matt Hamill, one in which Hamill did prove superior to Ortiz but in no way did any shame come out of losing to Hamill.

It was Ryan Bader who was to insert the ultimate nail in Ortiz's career coffin at UFC 132 earlier this month, but that's where this case becomes curious enough to be deemed worth a glance.

Tito's back was against the wall, and regardless of whether he truly earned the win or not, he needed to nab a victory or kiss his storied career goodbye.

Knowing Tito, he wanted to earn his victory, but Royce Gracie was given more of a shot to beat Nick Diaz than Ortiz was given to beat Bader—that's how much of an underdog Tito was against Bader.

If Tito was to win, it was supposed to be by a controversial (read: incompetent) decision.

One hard shot, one assortment of strikes and a guillotine choke later, Ortiz was back.

No arguments could justify Bader's loss other than, "Tito turned it up," and when the UFC scrambled for opponents to face "Suga" Rashad Evans after Phil Davis pulled out of his UFC 133 bout and Lyoto Machida's management admitted to requesting "Anderson Silva money" in order to set up the UFC 98 rematch, Ortiz had a change of heart.

Initially, he wasn't going to take the fight, but he clearly sees a flaw in Evans' game that Davis may have wanted to expose and he'll look to exploit it at UFC 133.

That said, does a second straight win mean that much for Ortiz at this point in his career?

I mean, is Tito at the point in his career where he'll never again be a serious threat at 205, no matter who he beats or how he beats them?

No, Tito is absolutely not at that point in his career, especially considering his bout with Bader.

A win at UFC 133 doesn't mean an automatic title crack, but a decisive "W" against Evans should put Tito on the path to the belt once again, as two highly touted light heavyweights will have been defeated by the legend.

After a win, who knows who will make sense for Ortiz?

The only thing for certain is that a win for Ortiz could be the final bit of proof that if Ortiz was not back before, Ortiz will be back now.

View the original article here