Inside the Numbers: Tito Ortiz Will Become the First to 25 UFC Fights

Filed under: UFC

By agreeing to fight Rashad Evans at UFC 133 on August 6, Tito Ortiz is set to become the first fighter ever to participate in 25 UFC fights -- narrowly beating Matt Hughes to that milestone, as Hughes is scheduled to have his 25th UFC fight in September at UFC 135.

Ortiz is obviously on the down side of his career, and until his stunning upset of Ryan Bader at UFC 132 he was treated as something of a punchline. But no one can deny that he's among the great fighters in the history of the UFC.

We'll take a closer look at Ortiz's 24 previous UFC fights below.

First fight: Ortiz made his debut at UFC 13 on May 30, 1997, beating Wes Albritton in his first fight. He then lost to Guy Mezger a couple hours later as part of a one-night tournament.

Wins: 15, including eight by knockout or TKO, two by submission and five by decision. With 15 victories, Ortiz is in fifth place in UFC history. If he earns his 16th victory by beating Evans, he'll move into a tie for second place with Georges St. Pierre (16-2), Chuck Liddell (16-7) and Randy Couture (16-8). The all-time record holder for most UFC victories is Matt Hughes, with 18.

Losses: 8, including two by knockout or TKO, two by submission and four by decision.

Draw: 1, in his previous fight with Evans at UFC 73. In the first Ortiz-Evans fight, Ortiz won two rounds and Evans won one, but Ortiz was penalized a point for grabbing the fence in the second round, leading all three judges to score the fight 28-28.

Longest winning streak: Ortiz won six straight fights from 2000 to 2002, beating Wanderlei Silva, Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko and Ken Shamrock.

Longest losing streak: Prior to beating Ryan Bader at UFC 132, Ortiz was in the worst streak of his career: He had lost three in a row (to Matt Hamill, Forrest Griffin and Lyoto Machida) and was on a five-fight winless streak, counting the draw with Evans and a loss to Chuck Liddell before that.

Quickest turnaround: Other than fighting both Albritton and Mezger at UFC 13, the five weeks between fighting Ryan Bader at UFC 132 and fighting Evans at UFC 133 will be Ortiz's quickest turnaround in the UFC.

Longest layoff: Ortiz was off for 545 days between his UFC 84 loss to Machida (May 24, 2008) and his UFC 106 loss to Griffin (November 21, 2009). That was one of three different layoffs of more than a year for Ortiz, who also sat out from September 28, 2001 to November 22, 2002 and from February 5, 2005 to April 15, 2006.

Strikes landed: Ortiz has landed 1,185 strikes in his career, eighth most in UFC history, according to FightMetric.

Total time fought: Ortiz has spent a grand total of 4 hours, 33 minutes, 50 seconds fighting inside the Octagon.

Longest fight: Ortiz has been in three 25-minute fights: He beat Wanderlei Silva by unanimous decision in a five-round fight at UFC 25, beat Vladimir Matyushenko by unanimous decision in a five-round fight at UFC 33 and lost to Randy Couture by unanimous decision in a five-round fight at UFC 44.

Shortest fight: Lasting just 31 seconds, the Albritton fight was Ortiz's shortest in the UFC -- one second shorter than his victory over Evan Tanner at UFC 30.

Only non-UFC fight: Ortiz defeated someone named Jeremy Screeton at something called the West Coast No-Holds Barred Championships on December 8, 1998. It was the only time in Ortiz's MMA career that he fought outside the UFC.

Multiple opponents: Evans will be the fifth opponent Ortiz has faced more than once: He fought Guy Mezger twice (losing to him at UFC 13 and beating him at UFC 19), Chuck Liddell twice (losing to him at both UFC 47 and UFC 66), Forrest Griffin twice (beating him at UFC 59 and losing to him at UFC 106) and Ken Shamrock three times (beating him at UFC 40, UFC 61 and at Ortiz vs. Shamrock: The Final Chapter).

Title fights: The UFC light heavyweight title has been on the line in nine of Ortiz's fights. He was beaten by Frank Shamrock in his first title fight at UFC 22, then beat Wanderlei Silva for the vacant light heavyweight belt at UFC 25. He then defended his title five times before losing it to Randy Couture at UFC 44. He earned one more title fight, but lost to the champion, Chuck Liddell, at UFC 66. Ortiz's six wins in UFC title fights are the fifth-most in UFC history, behind Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, Randy Couture and Matt Hughes, all of whom have won nine title fights.

 

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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/07/18/inside-the-numbers-tito-ortiz-will-become-the-first-to-25-ufc-f/

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