Huntington Beach Miracle : Was Ortiz's victory tainted, dedication, or simply just a fluke?

Last Saturday night, amidst the hoopla surrounding the Featherweight main event between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber at UFC 132, was a monumental upset that a year or so ago, nobody would have ever seen coming.
Jacob Christopher Ortiz, or "Tito" as he is more commonly known in MMA circles,  was scheduled to fight Chuck Liddell in a 3rd encounter last year at UFC 115 in Vancouver after both fighters squared off as coaches on season 11 of "The Ultimate Fighter". At the eleventh hour however, Ortiz pulled out due to having a recurring neck injury,  and many fans pointed to that as an "excuse" to get out of receiving another loss to "The Iceman" (they had fought twice before).  The past few years have not been kind to Ortiz, who going into Saturday had not tasted victory in 5 years, that last win being over a then 44 year old Ken Shamrock in the Spike televised card for "The Ultimate Fighter" season 3.  Following that (and his second loss to Liddell) was a draw to fellow former 205 lb. kingpin Rashad Evans,  plus defeats at the hands of Lyoto Machida, Forrest Griffin and Matt Hammil.  In between was a year long sabbatical, which Ortiz criticized UFC president Dana White and flirted with crossing over to Strikeforce and Affliction,  getting as close to joining the fledgling organization as providing color commentary for the "Affliction : Day of Reckoning" Pay per view.

So in a nutshell, heading into Saturday, with his last fight being against Forrest Griffin in late 2009, and facing a blue chipper in 12-1 Ryan Bader,  It was not shocking (or even a surprise) to see Ortiz being an underdog. How much of an underdog was extraordinary, as he was looking at 4-to-1 odds versus Bader, A young and hungry prospect who had only tasted defeat against current 205 lb. kingpin Jon "Bones" Jones.

About a minute in, the unthinkable happened.  Ortiz dropped a right hand that send Bader to the mat, pulled guard and secured a guillotine choke.  As a fan who had seen Ortiz dominated for 2 rounds against Lyoto Machida only to see Ortiz pull off a very tight triangle in the last round, I didn't get too anxious, inevitably thinking that once Bader pulled his head out, the fight would be over.  It didn't happen, as Bader tapped, and in doing so, turned the entire light heavyweight division on its ear.

What can be made of this colossal upset? Tito had been blaming his lackluster performances of recent day due to injuries and a lack of commitment when it came to training.  While it was clear that a 36 year old veteran body isn't as fresh as a 24 year old one, one can also make the argument that Tito dazed his opponent early, making his path to victory that much more clear.   The sport has also evolved like everything else, which makes training day in and day out a necessity, not casually. Most importantly, the 205. lb division is stacked with much better fighters than there were perhaps a few years ago, with names like Phil Davis and Jon Jones dominating division excellence talk, along with household names like "Rampage" Jackson and "Shogun" Rua, as well as Griffin and Machida being in the way of Tito's comeback.

Ortiz declared himself "back" after his hand was raised Saturday night.  With a stacked division the way it is, Father time catching up to him, and a laundry list of "excuses" he likes to hand out when unable to fight, it will be a difficult time to get back up to the mountain top. But as his many fans will attest, don't ever count Tito Ortiz out.
-In other news, Bellator 47 has taken quite a hit.  While the "Summer Series" Featherweight semi-finals are secured with Ronnie Mann vs Pat Curran and Nazareno Malgahrie taking on Marlon Sandro, comes the news that would-be main event fighter Patricio "Pitbull" has pulled out of his fight with Joe Warren with a Broken Hand, as reported by MMAJunkie. The re-scheduled fight will take place at a later date.
-Speaking of fighters who have out stayed their welcome, Many pundits were pointing out that "Ax Murderer" Wanderlei Silva should take the high road and retire, including Dana White and the writer of this blog himself. One of those naysayers however, is former 205 lb. champ Lyoto Machida, as reported by ESPN.co.UK. Machida says that Wanderlei's punching power and gas are still there, but ultimately it would be his fellow Brazilian's decision, as he wouldn't tell him what to do.
-And speaking of "The Dragon" comes the talk that he would like to face the world's most famous white collar criminal this side of Conrad Black, Chael Sonnen, in a 205 lb. bout, according to Sherdog.  UFC officials were quick to diffuse the talk, but I believe that a well placed front kick to the American wrestler's head would be something I would watch.

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Until next time, fight fans!