Tito Ortiz: No excuses

After losing to Liam McGeary via come-from-behind submission, Tito Ortiz offered no excuses.

I’m still trying to lick my wounds a little bit,” said Ortiz as transcribed by MMAFighting.com, MMAjunkie, and Sherdog.”He fought the best that I can give. I had a great camp. Everything went perfect. I went there and I fought my ass off.

The guy’s slick, dude. That reverse triangle – we defended that over and over. We defended triangles. We defended all the positions. I got away from the armlock. I mean, I was going to let him break my arm before anything. I was not tapping. I was pulling, pulled out, and came back down.

Those long limbs just latched around me. tried to pull my head out and pull. And everything goes (quiet). He was the better man.

“As far as me coming back, I’ll wait (to make a retirement decision). I’m gonna chill for a little bit. I’m just gonna enjoy this time right now. I missed out on the summer; I missed out on a lot of time with my family. I’m 40 years old, man. I’ve been doing this s— for 18 and a half years, a lot longer than everyone up here has been doing it. I’ve had some major surgeries: back surgeries, neck surgeries, knee surgeries.

[I’m going to] let my body heal a little bit; let my mind heal a little bit. I still love training. I want to hang out with my kids a little bit, wake up in the morning and take them to school. Be a dad for a little bit. I’m gonna enjoy myself … I want to be with my kids and my girlfriend Amber (former UFC ring girl Amber Nichole Miller), and enjoy life, and win some fishing tournaments.”

I worked with the UFC for such a long time. They were like a family a long time ago. Now they’ve turned into complete corporate. Here at Bellator, we’re family, and it’s awesome to be a part of this family.

A large number of knowledgeable viewers were baffled by how quickly Tito tapped. This is not to take anything from the undefeated McGeary, who has a brown belt in BJJ under the extraordinary ‘New Zealand’ John Danaher, and took five submissions in his eleven wins, including the exact same sub in a 2014 fight. However, Tito has had extensive neck surgery; his tap would make sense if he had a neck issue. But he admirably offered no excuses. At 40, he doubtless could.

For his part, McGeary said he anticipated Tito’s game, and that it was just a matter of time.

I knew he was gonna shoot in for a takedown,” said the Englishman. “I knew he was gonna be strong. He’s got that old man strength. He got a good grip on my arm. I was trying not to panic about it. I could see his fists coming toward my face. I knew I was gonna get my arm out, it was just a matter of time. I was waiting for the punches to come in; I had my knee blocking it. That’s the handy thing about being so long is I can block a lot of stuff. I can move around a little bit. I can get out of a lot of danger.

Tito told McGeary immediately after the fight that if he works on his wrestling, he will be unstoppable. As wrestling is the key component in MMA, and McGeary’s next challenger is Phil Davis, a four-time Div I All-American, the advice is sound.