Interview w/ Tito Ortiz (part 2)
Reported By: Chris Colderley - 07.28.2003 03:32 AM
Part II - The Huntington Beach Bad Boy is Back!
Tito Ortiz Talks With Boxing Insider
BoxingInsider.com: What's your reaction to Tank's return to the UFC?
Tito Ortiz: Not an athlete, who is competing in a complete athletic sport. He was never an athlete, and he will never be an athlete. It was just pretty much someone with a name that came back to a sport that wasn't what it used to be before: that was just punchers that didn't have any skill at all, that weren't athletic enough compete like they compete now. We train. Myself, I train seven days a week, eight hours a day. Tank Abbott does not train. He's an alcoholic who has good punching skills, and that's it.
When he came back to the sport, he got a rude awakening in seeing what the sport is all about. His first match, he lasted - what? Forty-five seconds. His second match, he lasted - what? One minute and thirty seconds. These are the things that have just shown how far and how well the sport has evolved.
This is the sport for the new millennium. It's not what it used to be, and that was a blood bath. This is now a competitive sport just because of the athletes that compete in there, like myself and Randy Couture.
Photo: Joshua Hedges/UFC.tv
BoxingInsider.com: Did Tank's return play a part in your contract renegotiation - holdout?
Tito Ortiz: Yes, of course, it did. When Tank Abbott gets paid $150,000 to lie on the mat and get tapped out in thirty seconds, and I am only getting paid $80,000, there's a big difference there. In my mind, it didn't make sense to me. Why am I sacrificing what this guy is making? He doesn't train.
A week before the fight, I heard - one of my friends got a message actually of him being all drunk and leaving a message on my friend's phone of "ahh, da-duh, da-duh." Just talking smack of how he doesn't need to train and he'll still make more money than me. And, it's just things like this; I mean it really left a bad taste in my mouth.
Now that Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta took a chance with me, I have to thank them. I owe the world to them. I can't thank them enough for how much they have helped me, and how much time they have put into my contract now. They made it make sense to me. They made the contract really honest and worthwhile to me so I could get back in the octagon and fight.
BoxingInsider.com: A lot of people have bashed you for your absence. At the same time, how much respect have you gained?
Tito Ortiz: I think I have gained a lot of respect because I showed that I could stand up for what I believe in and that I am going to stand up no matter what, no matter what the sacrifices are. Of course, the time I held out, I have done a lot of other things - doing the movie, The Crow: Wicked Prayers. I have networked a whole bunch with a lot of big-time actors and a lot of big-time movie producers. In the future, Tito Ortiz may be having a movie that he will be doing. In the long run, just competing back in the octagon is what really matters. Once again, I have to give thanks to Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta.
BoxingInsider.com: You mentioned about doing movies, I know you have Team Punishment, and you were one of the first fighters to really start marketing yourself. What is the key to your marketing?
Tito Ortiz: The key to my marketing, I believe, is just learning from other big time superstar boxers, professional wrestlers, just trying to pick apart each little person to what it takes to be noticed, what it takes to be recognized in and out of the sport, [or] in and out of the octagon. It doesn't matter.
Of course, I am a pretty honest person. I'm not really on a high horse or anything. I'm really down to earth. I have never said no to an autograph or a picture. I have always said yes to my fans. I am always there for the fans: the fans who have stuck by me all the way up to this point, like I told them a long time ago, "stick with me and we'll be standing at the top at the end." That's all that really matters.
BoxingInsider.com: Do you think that you are going to be the first "crossover" athlete in the sport?
Tito Ortiz: Crossover, as in getting in the movies?
BoxingInsider.com: Crossover, as in when someone talks about mixed martial arts, it's Tito Ortiz.
Tito Ortiz: Of course.
BoxingInsider.com: Or, do you think that you are already there?
Tito Ortiz: I think I am almost there. I think I have about another year of work. Of course, its just a factor of putting the right things - putting my pawns in the right areas so when it's time to play chess it all just boils down to who is the best at that sport.
Right now, I believe I am. I held the title for the longest - more than any other mixed martial arts' fighter that has ever graced the octagon. I continue to do this just because of my dominance.
It is just a factor of once I'm done with this career, it's not how many titles I won or how much money I made, it's how much of an influence I've had in people's lives, and how much inspiration I've had in people's lives. That's all that really matters I believe.
There are a lot of kids out there that don't have a lot of belief in themselves. A lot of Mexican kids don't have belief in themselves, and I was one of those kids. All of a sudden, then, I started believing in myself and within a year-and-a-half I became a world champion. I have been the world champion for the last three-and-a-half years. It shows, with dedication and hard work, what you can get out of life in anything. It doesn't necessarily have to be fighting; it could be anything. It could be school, work, just as long as you work really, really hard and dedicate yourself to your job, you are going to get the most out of it.
BoxingInsider.com: You do a lot of work with kids, don't you?
Photo: Joshua Hedges/UFC.tv
Tito Ortiz: Yes, I do. Actually, every Christmas, I do a seminar where we show boxing, kickboxing, ju-jitsu, and wrestling. Any of the public can bring in a twenty dollar gift - a toy or anything. I go down to Orangewood Group Home in Orange County, and every Christmas, I drop off somewhere around 1500 toys, $2500 in cash, and a bunch of different things like guitars and bicycles. [I] donate these to the Orangewood Group Home just to show kids I'm there for them. There are a lot of kids that kind of look up to me. I just believe in being a really, really good person. Of course, I could be the toughest man in the world, but if I'm not helping out and being an inspiration in a kid's life, I think that I'm not using my championship status in the right way. I'm not being selfish and that's what I need to be - unselfish - and help other kids.
BoxingInsider.com: What's going on with Team Punishment now?
Tito Ortiz: Team Punishment? Actually, I have kind of pushed it away. It's more of the guys who come out and train with me - that's my own camp. The Team Punishment deal got away from me because of too many people wanting to be champion, too many people wanting to be their own - I don't know, I guess you could say - group. They wanted to be their own team. When they see myself making what I am making, doing what I am doing, they're like, "I can do it on my own." Guys say, "Well, I'm out of here," and they leave.
I have helped out a lot of fighters that came to my team, and they turned around and bit me on my hand. I felt like I was getting burned left and right. It is just a factor of I am not going to help out these people anymore, so I stopped doing that.
Of course, there are guys on Team Punishment that still train with me: Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Ricco Rodriguez, and Fabiano Iha. They are the guys that still train with me and have been loyal to me. They are the most loyal people I have known in friendships. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Ricco Rodriguez are true friends. They are not worried about what you are making, what you are getting, or what people want from you. They are there for me when I need help and that's what really matters.
BoxingInsider.com: How is Ricco doing?
Tito Ortiz: Ricco is doing really well. He's on his way up to my training camp right now. I just talked to him not too long ago, and he will be fighting, I believe, on August 16th in Puerto Rico. He's getting back into shape - mentally and physically. It's just a factor of doing the right things and putting the puzzle back together.
BoxingInsider.com: Next question, for all the money: Quinton Jackson is in the Pride Grand Prix at the end of August, how do you think he will do?
Tito Ortiz: I think Quinton will win it. He's supposed to be coming up to my training camp, and just as long as he does the right training, I think he should win it without a problem. Of course, his hardest fight is his first fight with Ricardo Arona.
BoxingInsider.com: Tito is there anything else you would like to add? If people want to contact you or keep updated on your news?
Tito Ortiz: [They can] go to my website at www.TitoOrtiz.com. Of course, a lot of people out there may not fight like the champ; they can dress like the champ! My clothing line is www.punishmentathletics.com. Those are my two websites under my own company.
All my fans who have been standing by me the whole time, and like I said before, we will be standing at the top in the end. That's what really matters.
BoxingInsider.com: Thank you very much. I appreciate your time, and best of luck in September.
Tito Ortiz: Thank you.
Chris Colderley is a boxinginsider.com contributor.
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