It was a tough night for Tito Ortiz. The self-proclaimed “People’s Champion” wasn’t able to keep his Cinderella Man story going against Rashad Evans and Dennis Hallman’s twig and berries upstaged him. We’ll get to the Hallman “Junk-in-a-sling” look in a little bit. For now, let’s keep it on Tito and Rashad. I was rooting for Tito for the first time ever. I had to respect the man for pulling off what I and a lot of other people thought was impossible when it was do or die time in his fight with Ryan Bader. Now I have nothing against Rashad but the story line of a guy going from begging to keep his job to title contention in the course of a month would’ve been kinda awesome. Love Tito or hate him, you gotta admit that’s some good narrative. Tito’s hands looked impressive in his fight with Ryan Bader so I thought maybe the iron chin attached to that massive cranium might give him a shot of KOing Rashad – especially if Rashad backed straight up like he did against Lyoto Machida. Of course this was a long shot. And while Tito put on an impressive show, Rashad, not showing an ounce of cage rust, was on his game and, let’s face it, his game is better and more well-rounded than Tito’s. What’s next for Tito? I dunno. He needs a win or his victory over Bader will be seen as a lucky fluke – fair or not. But for now, I think Tito’s earned himself some time off. Besides, that knee looked like it hurt like a muhfuh. Continue reading »
