Tito Ortiz thinks there was “something fishy” about the result of his last fight, a split-decision loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 148 in July last year.
Most media and fans thought Ortiz won the fight and it seemed Griffin did too, as he ran from the cage amid high emotions as soon as the final bell was sounded. But he was then caught up with and recalled to the cage by UFC president Dana White, where he was announced as the split-decision winner.
“My last fight didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to… I thought I won the fight. You drop a guy twice, take a guy down four times, you dominate. He never took me down and never hurt me,” Ortiz tells GnP.tv
“Go back and watch the fight – for the first time ever in UFC history they showed ‘Strikes Attempted’. Not ‘Strikes Landed’ but ‘Strikes Attempted’ – when would you ever show somebody with ‘Strikes Attempted’!?
“He never got me with anything, I blocked all of them, I checked all his kicks. I listened to Joe Rogan [on the commentary] and it was like a one-sided fight I was watching. I gave him sh-t on the phone about it and then on the pod cast he kind of sidewinded around it and never got to those questions.
“[On the commentary] he said ‘Look at the leg kicks Forrest is hitting him with’ – I checked all of them! My shin had a chipped bone on the tip of it because I checked all his kicks… he never hurt me. I thought I won the fight and then he ran out [of the cage] – that shows that he lost.
“And then for Dana to go and run and get him to come back, there’s something fishy going on here. How does Dana know how the fight is going to turn out? I thought something was fishy about that. Was it premeditated, was it pre-planned what the outcome was going to be? If I didn’t knock him out or submit him then they already knew who was going to win.”
However, there is at least one silver lining for Ortiz as he reveals that the UFC has agreed to pay for his knee surgery despite the insurance company ruling that they were not liable to pay.
“I need an ACL replacement. UFC kept their word … Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta are coming out of their own pocket to take care of my knee surgery. I am very thankful for it,” he says.
“Their insurance denied the claim but they said they will come out of pocket for it as they did with my neck surgery. I am very thankful for it; my kids will be able to have their dad throw a football with them.”
