Tito Ortiz backtracks on retirement talk: ‘I have an opponent’
Shortly after he knocked out Chuck Liddell in the debut Golden Boy MMA event in the fall, former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz once again implied that he was likely retiring from MMA.
“You get that feeling of, ‘Is this the last one?’ I want it to be,” Ortiz said. “It’s a lot of pressure; to impose your will on someone like that every single fight is really, really hard. There’s so much pressure to do that. And I’ve been doing it for 21 years. Now, if I just step out of that game and do it the right way of being a promoter and helping fighters, help them [grow]. And grow the next Tito Ortiz, grow the next Chuck Liddells, grow the next ‘Rampage’ Jacksons, Royce Gracies, Ken Shamrocks, Conor McGregors. And give them an opportunity to make the real money to make.”
In a recent interview with TMZ, however, Tito Ortiz backtracked on this retirement talk and announced that he could be fighting again as soon as October.
“I’ll probably be fighting in October,” Ortiz said (transcript via Sherdog) . “After I fought Chuck last year I thought it would be my last one, but my body’s on [track], everything’s fast, everything’s great. Sparring’s been good. Training’s been great.
“Let’s do one more for fun, just for fun. I have an opponent so it’s gonna be fun when we announce it.”
Who do you think Tito Ortiz is planning on fighting in October?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 4/8/2019.
Topics:
Golden Boy Promotions Tito Ortiz
