Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz is expanding his crossover appeal once again by developing a reality show for friends and rivals who want to punch each other in the face.
The show, called “Anytown Beatdown,” pits two acquaintances against one another in a grudge match where they get to settle their differences in the cage. Ortiz will serve as trainer for both competitors, providing them with a crash course in mixed martial arts.
The Comcast-owned G4 network will air the pilot episode in an effort to expand its lineup from its usual video-game base. The show was originally planned to be called “Anytown Throwdown” and has already conducted open casting calls.
MMAmania.com first broke news of a potential Tito Ortiz-inspired reality show back in February. Since then, I had the chance to talk to Tito directly about the upcoming venture.
Here’s what he had to say:
“It was kind of just an idea that came about. Couple of Hollywood agents came to me, and they were pitching some stuff. A guy by the name of Randall Emmett, who’s a producer, he came up to me, and we talked about it. It’s pretty much getting two guys who have had hostility toward each other through their whole childhood and growing up and so forth, and they’ve always wanted to beat each other up, and they always wanted to get payback. I remember in high school getting in a fight with somebody, and the next day we were best friends after we fought. This is kind of like the same thing. We’re going to teach them how to fight, we’re going to train them, and they’re going to fight and square their differences in the Octagon.… We’ll go back and hear tales from each one of their families, maybe the whole town knows about the whole situation. We’ll get feedback on it. These guys hate each other so much, but … they’ve always talked; they’ve always wanted to squash this … We’re going to make that happen…. People always wanted to be MMA fighters, so we’re going to get them a chance to do it and see how tough they really are.”
If nothing else, “Anytown” is the latest example of Ortiz’s broad crossover appeal. Having appeared on “Celebrity Apprentice” earlier this season and playing the role of a bouncer in the upcoming Zombie Strippers!, “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” clearly has some of the biggest crossover potential of any MMA star in the sport today.
Dating the world’s most recognizable porn star doesn’t hurt either.
Ortiz is quite aware of his mainstream potential and wants to cash in while the getting’s good.
Here’s another snip from our exclusive conversation:
“Oh, for sure. I’m still young, I’m only 33 years old. I’m still a young guy. I still have a lot to learn — business-wise, of course, I’ll always have a lot to learn. Fighting-wise I’ll always have a lot to learn. These next four years of fighting are an important part of my life right now. After these four years of fighting are over, then I’ll get into the business stuff. I’ll start doing more movie films and other business opportunities that come about.”
More movie films indeed.
Producer Randall Emmett was most recently linked to Rambo and Day of the Dead. He is also serving as producer for the 2009 release Rambo V.
“Anytown” is the first television venture by the production company Emmett/Furla Films and was created by Randall Emmett and Brian Newberry. Ortiz will serve as executive producer, along with George Furla, Emmett, Newberry and Mike Malloy.
88 Comments »
I don’t even know what to say about this….really, a show where you solve your problems by trying to kick the crap out of somebody. Hmmm…
And that is the end of Tito’s fighting career…
Exactly. He is a smart dude. He knows his prime is past. I give him kudos for looking forward.
Kinda a lame show! I’ll still be betting the 2-1 dog though. Hey attention all Sean Sherk fans. The line on BJ winning keeps going up, this is because all sean sherk fans aren’t putting their money where there mouth is. Please bet the line down or shut up!
LoL, maybe they’ve learned a thing or two on here about Sean Sherk and BJ Penn and have changed their minds.
I learned plenty but I still got money on Sherk, I’m not worried cause it’ll be a huge payout
If I was a gambler, I would put money on Sherk. I think Sherk has a better chance then people are giving him. He completely dominated two world class bjj guys in Franca and Diaz. BJ is definitely in another class then Franca and Diaz, but I think Sherk has a good chance to win.
No matter if he wins or loses, all the BJ nuthuggers are going to bitch and moan about Sherk’s “lay n’ pray.” I think this complaint is crap because Sherk is very active. I’m always blown away by this guy’s cardio.
I’m definitely in the minority, but I really want to see Sherk beat BJ.
Comparing Diaz and Franca’s BJJ to BJ’s is like comparing my basketball skills to Michael Jordan’s.
Sean Sherk is dead
So I guess all Sean Sherk fans gamble. That makes a lot of sense.
I didn’t realize all BJ Penn fans beat either. This is news to me. I guess I have to go beat then.
Miss spelling: “Bet”
“Misspelling” lol
thats how the lines move my illiterate friend. if betting goes for one guy, the line moves to promote betting on the other. good post though
I realize that is how the lines move but your post makes it sound like you think everyone that visits this site gambles.
Just because I think that Sean Sherk is going to destroy BJ Penn doesn’t mean that I am going to bet money on it. Get another hobby.
Penn = Cardio - I will believe it when I see it. He looked pretty tired after a round and a half against Stevenson. He got lucky because that cut changed the whole fight.
We will see soon enough.
Hmmm…I have never heard anyone refer to any of Penn’s victories as lucky. Interesting point of view. Didn’t he stop Stevenson?
I didn’t say that the win was lucky but the cut was very lucky. It is rather difficult to defend yourself on the ground when you can’t see because of the massive amounts of blood going into your eyes. Especially against an opponent like BJ Penn.
Stevenson lost a lot of blood that fight and if you think otherwise watch the replay. That cut definitely changed how that fight played out. Stevenson may have taken Penn into the later rounds and did exactly what Matt Hughes did in their second fight. DESTROYED him in the 3rd. Penn looked like an amateur against Hughes in the 3rd round of their second fight.
lol the rnc of hughes in rd 1 was lucky, 11 sec ko of uno=lucky, etc
One thing though, cutting is actually a strategy with a lot of fighters. And sometimes sh#t just happens.
You are right chefdaddy sh#t does just happen. I realize that but I am saying I feel the fight would have gone differently otherwise. It sucks to win or lose a fight because of a cut but you are right it happens. It is all part of the fight game.
Yeah. In my book a loss is a loss. A win is a win. Sorry, dude but your explanation sucks.
why are they punching and elbowing each other???? A cut is a bad way to lose? Don’t get elbowed repeatedly in the head. That fight wasn’t going any other way. I know you’ll disagree, but in BJ’s last 2 fights (I’ve watched both more than enough times, he actually appears to be toying with opponents. He had jens in a triangle, threw some elbows, let it go. I actually saw him doing the same thing in the second hughes fight, but it came back to haunt him. He is leaps and bounds better than Sherk, not to mention (unless he moved on to HGH) sherk is off the juice. I kno, he was clean right buddy. Those negative tests were wrong. So where are the lie detector tests he supposedly took? At least franca just fessed up and took it like a man, but next week Sherk will be made into BJ’s bitch!
kevin I am not sure if you did not see my post that is above yours. I understand that sometimes these posts do not show up right away. So you may not have seen it before your last post.
I do not believe that he got lucky beating Stevenson. I simply meant that the cut was lucky because it change how the fight played out. Instead of Penn having to go into rounds 3 and 4 where we know he struggles he finished it in the second.
BJ has gone to decision 7 times my friend, and this fight (like the stevenson fight) isn’t going past the 2nd. How can you say that fight was “supposed” to go to the later rounds. I was supposed to have 4 girls in my bed last night, but it just ended up being my wife and I…what kind of logic is that?
Toying with his opponent? I have seen the same fights you have but apparently you spoke with BJ after each fight. I didn’t realize he was toying with his opponents. So we will call his record 13 - 3. Heck lets call it 14 - 2 because when he lost to Machida I noticed that he was throwing his head at Lyoto’s fists. So lets go ahead and make his record 14 - 2. He really beat up Machida’s fists that night with his face but I could tell he was enjoying it.
I didn’t say that the fight was supposed to go into the later rounds. My point is that if there was no cut it would have been a different fight. If Stevenson could have taken it to later rounds it would have been a much more interesting fight. I understand that the fight didn’t but a cut changes fights. That cut especially. Let me say before you put words into my mouth yet again. Would the outcome have changed? Maybe not but you can’t tell me that it changed the way Stevenson approached the second round.
4 of those 7 decisions were not victories.
He through that elbow fom his knees, in Joes gaurd, while Joe was holding on to his wrist, aiming for Joes face . . . . That sounds like SKILLLLLLL to me, wheres the luck??? If he through a bunch al at once just hopung one would land then yea he would get ucky if one did, but he threough ONE directly at Joes face and paused after to see the damage he had done knowing it had landed, no crazy elbows like Florian, just one accurate smack, whers the luck????
And i dont even know if i can do this again today, i need a day off, then my brain will come up with even more reasons to dscredit Sherk and many more for why BJ is a better all around person. Me tired! = )
My bets in for Sherk!!!! Not on site yet, want those odds to keep going to BJ first. SHERK IS GONNA WORK PENN INTO EXAUGHSTION. I don’t care how much cardio he is doing. Cardio isn’t his stong suit. That’s Sherk’s advantage and that’s what he’ll use to win. BJ can run 10 miles a day until fight time and won’t match Sherk’s cardio.
Take three time Boston Marathon winner Cheruiyot. Do you think if a 400 meter runner decided to train distance running for three months straight, they would have a shot a beating him in a 26 mile long race? Of course not. Same principal applies here. While BJ may be in better shape, he will not match Sherk’s cardio. THAT IS A FACT!!!!!!!
It isn’t going to be a long enough fight for cardio to become a factor. BJ will bust of his face for a bit then no matter where it ends up on the ground, Sherk is going to tap. That, or eat a knee while shooting for a take down.
Kevin: I am sorry but the more I think about it I cant waste a penny betting a parlay Tito/overs…Its just a waste of money. I already got 200 on Machida….I will be happy collecting 200 from that fight. No doubt in my mind that Machida will win that fight!
As for the show, I feel bad for the people that end up watching it!lol
sherk had one chance of winning thst I’ll entertain, and it’s not a decision. A decision would mean sherk won one of the first 3 rounds, BJ has gone the distance 7 times, he’ll win 1st 3 rds (won’t go that far). Sherk will only win in 5th round and bj is dead. tko… won’t happen since fight will be over in 4-7 min.
Sherk’s chin has been tested and so far it seems he can take a punch. He took a couple brutal knees from Franca and he seemed to recover quickly. I don’t think BJ will finish Sherk standing. Sherk is such an explosive wrestler and will take the fight to the ground when he starts getting in trouble standing. Sherk has simply overpowered all the other bjj guys he has fought. BJ has some crazy bjj skills and if BJ takes this fight it will be a submission within the first couple rounds. Sherk needs to avoid the submission and stay busy with the GnP.
Agreed.
I love how a thread about Tito turns into a BJ vs Sherk debate.
BJ, BJ, BJ, BJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your welcome, i was tired of this Tito crap, did what i had to do. To bad ive been busy ever since i posted my firsts earlier, although i think the talk about LUCK/BJ was started by someone else?? I just asked MANIA to give us something other than Tito blah . . .
kevin. its because they dont think sherk can win, they just wanna be keyboard warriors.
This crap will still be better than the EliteXC undercard.
What are the odds Shamrock auditions for the show?
LOL
Which Shamrock??……..Yeah probably both of them!
Maybe Ken and Frank can finally fight eachother.
Great Idea. I hope there’s going to be girls fighting
Thats an even worse idea than Tito making this show, what the hell is going on in the minds of the MMA community these days?
I’m convinced crap reality shows have greatly contributed to a decline in civilization, a dumbing down of the general public and are one of the signs of the Apocalypse. I’ll probably check it out.lol
BAD BAD BAD APOCALYPSE BAD . . . BUT “ill probably check it out LoL”, LMAO!
Great post, LOL
funny thing is this show might catch on. think of how many ppl view fight videos online.
but then again they might not watch it if its a bunch windmill punches and slaps.
Nice. Can’t wait until somebody just ignores the rules. O yea. its going to happen.
Do you really think they’ll air it if someone doesn’t obey the rules, as funny as that would be they wouldn’t put that on TV for us to watch until the DVD comes out and its on the “Outakes and Bloopers”. Don’t get me wrong I’d love to see two guys that kick each other in the sack. I’d laugh my ass off and then thank god for my dvr and rewind it and watch it all over again.
hopefully. They aired Leben getting punked badly on TUF1. n i like the example you gave. would be a good laugh.
This ass clown aint a fighter no more, and your hair is GAY Tito the Dorito, you and Eminem should do some music together, call a song “Bleached into sindication”
“Tito the Dorito” I like it lol
OR Tito the Ego . . . ?
I guess this could catch on and be somewhat entertaining for some people.
But, I don’t see how this is going to fly. Don’t they need some sort of license to allow this shit to happen ?
Well this is human cockfighting and if this show gets successful it is horrible for MMA.
Well put.
No because it is not controlled by an athletic board. They will sign a couple of waivers and that will be it. I bet they wear head gear and all that anyway! Tell me this, would you rather watch this, or the Real world if nothing else was on? And if there was, change the channel! THANK YOU! I mean really, with all of the MMA broadcasting going on, this is what everyone is talking about??? Get over it!
What a joke. lol
Come on MANIA, screw this tool and any news based on him!! Hes not MMA anymore!! Find us some BJ Penn “extra extra, read all about it!” Ive heard there are photos of Sean looking completely different on the net somewhere, can you find these and create a post about it?!?!?!?
Adam those picutes don’t exist. But I agree that Mania should get more news on Penn and Sherk as long as its fresh… As for this its totally not news worthy. Are you kidding me? Two untrained guys who have grudge against each other duking it out? If the get punched in the face he’ll probably go down. All it will be is one guy who knows he’s better than the other one embarrassing him on television lol. Also in terms of safety, these guys don’t get hit in the face for training and their weights probably won’t match up, I don’t know how they could get the go ahead for this but its going to degrade MMA. Seriously Dana was right for setting up the Tito Machida fight. He’s trying to discredit Tito before he leaves. If I were Dana I’d apologize to Tito and re-sign him, then feed him to more top guys so he and the world could see how over rated he is. Tito you may have helped MMA get to where it is now but you are only trying to contribute to its fall. Go away Tito
Yea, but i bet theyll fight with head gear on or some lame sh*t like that, if its all out street with MMA gloves, im down!!
Yeah that makes alot more sense now, for some reason I didn’t think about that. Still doesn’t sound like it’ll be good for MMA, and I still want Tito to go away.
AGREED!!!!!
LOL! I guess it will work something like Tito fighting Dana White…..Hey, don’t they already have a similiar show already called “So You Wanna Fight”?
That show idea sounds terrible.
True story.
Well the fights may be better than what we’ve seen so far on TUF this season.
Im going to laugh when Tito beats Machida next week. It probably won’t happen but you never know in MMA.
The first contestants should be Dana and Tito.
This reminds me of when he had some problem with some boss of his and they were going to box to settle the argument, what ever happened to that?
It was fake, a way to hype his new contract, a way for spike to fill a time slot, a way for Dana to look like he never screws anyone over. Dana knows his shit, but some people don’t like him. LOL! He has to try to bring up his popularity level too!
It wasn’t Dana’s idea, Tito is the one that demanded that it be put into his contract the last time he was negotiating. And then it was Tito that pulled out at the last minuete. If it was fake I don’t think they would have have it cleared by NSAC. I was being sarcastic in my other post.
Do you have any post to show that it was Dana’s idea? Just asking man cause I thought Tito demanded be in his contract and then backed out because he wanted 50% profits.
Thanks for 11 great years tito! Your washed up and its time to go!
We can all sit here and talk a bunch of garbage about Tito, and his new show. But the bet I will make is that every one of you are not only going to watch the new show, but if you saw him in person, you would get all, “Tito, your the best, can I have an autograph!” Deny it if you want, but you know I am right!!!
WORD !!!
School these keyboard warrior haters !!!
I’ll deny it. One, because I stopped getting autographs when I was 12. Well, I might get an autograph for my son, but not from Tito. I don’t know where his fingers have been…actually, I do know where they have been and that is the problem.
Two, beacuse I don’t think Tito is the greatest.
Damn. If you thought Kimbo Slice brought bad exposure to MMA….
When will this Air, and How do we sign up
Bad idea for the sport and overall image. Will probably receive a lot of criticism.
Bad Idea for the Sport? Are you kidding me, the fact that it is even happening, helps the sport. Think of 10 years ago, they were not even dreaming of this stuff. All of the things that are going to be tied to the sport are not going to be loved by all. But it will help it regardless. Someone who never liked the sport, or knew what it was may watch it and say, what the hell are these people doing? MMA, wow, I got to find out more about this, next thing you know they are buying PPV’s, wearing Tapout clothing, and signing up at a gym.
yea.. thats like saying Hot Sauce from AND1 tour is bad for basketball & NBA’s image because he carries the ball when he dribbles and they don’t play D. lol. Don’t worry about the sport. Sometimes 3 mma programs are broadcasting simultaneously on different channels where I live. All we gotta do is pick which scrap to enjoy. so simple.
Who plays defense now a days anyways . . . Gracias Don Nelson!!!!
This show will ruin lives LOL
I agree with cisco, bunch of haters wait till this show starts then we’ll get in the cage.
yea, ur tryin to tell me that there is nobody out there that you wanted want to go on that show with and fight them in the cage
i know plenty of people i would love to bring on that show
I hope its not on at the same time as Jenna’s new reality series “Anytime Cumbucket” where two people who have known each other for years do disgusting things to each other after training with a series of old porn stars.
Now thats a show i would hate to see. Fat sloppy people saying, “I have always wanted to tie you up in the closet and feed you grapes off of the back of my hairy a$$!”
Besides, you don’t see them asking anyone else to do this do you? No, because Tito is a big draw! People either like him or hate him. Besides did you ever hear the term and publicity is good publicity? Everyone hates him so much, but they still keep talking about him. BTW, look what happened to Chuck. Everyone loved him, he is the best, no one can beat him, he is the biggest name in the sport. After his loss, everyone was like screw him, he sucks, he’s not that good. Well that is bullsh*t. Everyone gets caught. All it takes is that one punch to turn off the lights. Look at Randy, Chuck whooped his ass, but randy spanked Gonzaga, Sylvia, and hopefully Fedor. Lets see chuck take one of those goes. Again, Chuck just “caught” Randy! Tito has just been getting “caught” to often lately! he helped make this sport! ken Shamrock is in the Hall of Fame, Tito spanked him, no props for that, whats the excuse there. They are all great fighters, and have guts. People just love to talk sh*t!
I dislike Tito but I’d watch his show. Seems like a good idea to me.