“On October 6th 2008 my extensive back surgery was performed in Las Vegas by Dr. Smith. It lasted 3 hours, due to the doctors careful hand and my densely muscled core that had to be separated in order to get to my spine. My doctor was impressed with my quick recovery, and an hour after surgery I was on my feet and walking to the car. This is now the beginning of a new era. There will never be a question again about where my heart lies … and that is with my fans. I am focused on a quick recovery, and I will be back in the cage with a renewed outlook on fighting. I am a new Tito Ortiz … one with a bright fight future … one ready to power through the light heavyweight class and get the belt around my waist again. Mark my words … the best is yet to come.”
– Tito Ortiz underwent back surgery on Monday. The procedure was not an easy one and neither was the decision to have it. Nonetheless, he went through with it and is already claiming success in a letter posted on ProElite.com. It’s an interesting read. He covers everything from when the back pain first began, to how it affected him in recent fights and to how he believes the UFC stiffed him on medical insurance to cover the procedure. It’s important to note that “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” has indicated that he intends to return in as few as six months; however, Nate Quarry underwent a similar spinal fusion procedure and it took him more than a year to recover. All things, of course, are often not equal among individuals when it comes to surgery, healing and overall health. We’ll keep you posted on his progress.
45 Comments »
Yea right Tito.
“Shut Up Tito The Great” I liked u on the TUF show I think ur an ok guy… but learn to discriminate with the crap that flies out of your mouth.. STFU!!!
Thorazine you hit hte nail on the head I also liked him on TUF but then he has to run his big mouth. He should have been looking for a brain surgeon cuz he is F#cked in the head. He doesn’t have the desire to get any better, he really just wants to be with his skanky girl friend.
DAMN!!! Thats a huge head!
mmafreak- Dr. Smith is a Neurosurgeon who specializes in spine… and yes, he does brains as well. Just an FYI.
I know, and he didn’t even get stiffed by the UFC on this med bills. He got owned when the UFC came out with the release telling him to learn how to read his benefit package.
He is an idiot! Tito, you are DONE!~ Tito will slowly turn into ken shamrock! Tito will NEVER aqgain beat any top LIghtheAVYWEIGHTS. hE ISNT EVEN SIGNED WITH AN ORGANIZATION, SO WHAT BELT IS HE TALKING ABOUT? I dont see him beating any of the top guys that aren’t in the UFC. Potential opponents for tito outside the Octagon:
Babalu
Rogerio Nogueira
Fejao
Frank Shamrock
Vladamyr the Janitor
and he will never beat any of the above mentioned names. Tito “the stepping stone” Ortiz
“My desnly muscled back” lol. Also his heart does not lie with his fans. When all you care about is money its a slap in the face to your fans, just ask any person who doesn’t like Randy Couture. Tito is lucky he is the kind of guy where you either love him or hate him, cause otherwise none of this would be news. Mania just gets good post whenever they put Tito up but if Tito ever came to this site, he’d realize just how far gone he is, and just how much nobody cares about him anymore.
Not a huge tito fan but your argument may be a little false as he beat rashad evans if not for the loss of a point. Who’s to say he cant beat anyone at the top of Light Heavyweight.
The point was for holding the fence multiple times to avoid being taken down. If you think about it that way he was preventing Rashad from taking the fight to where he is best and thats on the ground. So what? He squeeked a win out over Forrest and was spanked by Randy and torn apart by Chuck. Randy and Chuck are not even the top of the crop anymore and most MMA fans don’t put Forrest or Rashad as top 5. I’d say Forrest is pushing for top 5 though. When Tito wins another legit fight, then maybe people will change their tune about him.
LOL@ “Tito will slowly turn into shamrock.” I wanna see him against Feijao. Feijao needs a marquee coming out fight against a name.
I like Tito, I hope everything continues to be fine, and he fights agian, even if it’s with Elite, i’m a Tito fan and I just want him back in action, they need all the star power then can get to keep them selfs alive, the more Oganizations the More MMA we get to see.
yes, you dont make it any business until you have as many enemies as you have fans i suppose.
Chase your a Tito fand and a Kos fan? Thats ballsy lol
I know lol, I’ve liked tito since day one, and Kos, and won’t stop liking them unless they do something wrong.
“my densely muscled core”
Got to laugh at that. Only Tito can brag about getting back surgery.
I cant believe he actually tried to blame the UFC for the insurance company not covering his injury whilst he was with them. What a tool.
That was my first thought
I”m glad someone else caught the ‘had to separate my densely muscled core”…..who the fuck says that? what a weird dude.
It would be funny if Tito said it to be funny but it’s sad and weird because he was 100% serious!!!!!!
he would say that! not a fan of Tito’s although I did route for him against Machida, but Machida impressed me in that fight and now I like Machida somewhat. I’m glad his back surgery was a success, that is no joke and that surgery ruins alot of people. Hopefully if he loses his next fight he wont blame it on his back anymore!
guess what tito,your failure to win quality fights in recent memory wan’t your back, it was your technique or lack of any!
Iv got to say that i like tito, he is a loss to the ufc whether hes at the top or not, hes still young enough to make a good run in the sport, so i hope the ufc sign him once more!!!
“There will never be a question again about where my heart lies … and that is with my fans.” That is what I really admire about Tito–all the sacrifices he makes for his fans. I am so grateful that he allowed the careful hands of his surgeon to cut through his “densely muscled core”, just for us.
does this mean tito will actually start taking people down again? he could win some fights that way.
” one with a bright fight future”
Not if you sign with EliteXC.
They have what, 4 people in their 205 division?
The Frank vs Tito fight is somewhat lucrative, but Frank is going to be 15 pounds lighter than him.
I like Tito’s drive as a fighter and his personality, but he should have stayed in the UFC if he wanted to make another serious attempt at being a contender.
“I am a new Tito Ortiz” Makes him sound like he is the bionic man. Win some fights convincingly against guys under 35 and then we will see.
Tito will be back and he will be a better fighter than before the injury…
Yeeeees!.. He’s trained his ass off and fought through this injury for years now, when they really should’ve had this done a long time ago, but now he finally did it and it will be great to see him fight and just elbow ppls faces in again, I also couldn’t be more satisfied that Dana White is not in his way anymore to try and making him and his career look bad, how dare that mofo to ever disrespect Tito after all that Tito’s done for him and his lame-ass company and for bringing in all the fans to the sport and to the UFC while he fought with the same injury in every fight for years.. He should’ve made atleast $30 millions or something over the years and that is a minimum for sacrificing his body and being the superstar that he is but Dana is an a-hole that isn’t paying his fighters and is trying to kill other orgs so that he can keep it that way and keep making more money himself that he’s making from all the fans that are paying to watch the fighters fight..
“my densely muscled core” What a jackass!!! hes not gonna be a better fighter just an older one with less than quality opponnets… so yea he might look better… he just better not fight frank shamrock!!!
If Tito were to sign with Elite, he would officially be a sell out. Realistically, I dont see him signing with Elite. Tito is probably going to want more than what Kimbo is getting and at this stage I don’t think Elite can afford to pay him what he is going to want.
What belt is he talking about?
beats me!
Lol Wamma!
John ,I usually agree withalot of the things you say ,but why do you hate Tito so much ,he is ,like him or not,one of the fighters that helped make mma what it is today.I personally think that it would be great for the sport,if he could come back and be better than he ever has been.Yes ,I admit I am a little biased I am still a fan of Tito,and wished that Dana would stop being a dick to him ,and resign him to UFC.He can still compete ,he beat the champ,he really beat their so called number 1 contender,and he was very close to being the first to beat Lyoto Machida,so he can still compete,he is very entertaining,and again that it would a gerat thing if he did come back and was better than he ever has been
There are two fights with Elite I would like to see with him. Frank or Kimbo lol.
Seriously though I hope he comes back good, now don’t get me wrong I don’t like Tito at all, but this sport does not have a “bad guy” right now. I need someone to route against, beside Matt Hughes of course. Anderson Silva is one guy I have always cheered against, but he is just too dam likable to be a bad guy.
Come back healthy Tito and sign with the UFC again so I can see someone knock your head off.
doesnt he always say these things? back surgery, after losing a fight. this guy tells more stories, like the one about machida running from him or how is a great fighter. the whole thing is a joke. what will he do if he lose to rafael feijao? fight frank, like that fight actually means anything. ooh maybe we can we get a 4th ken fight, it seems to be the only fight hes capable of winning…
You mean to tell all of us,well most of you hate Tito so you will not admit it during the Lyoto vs Tito ,you wasn’t yelling at your tv saying stop running and fight,I know it is Machida’s style but he was ,and at the end when Tito could finally get to him ,Tito was doing damage then they went down ,Machida got on top,Tito went for the triangle choke,got it ,didn’t think he had enough time and went for the arm bar and Machida got out and barely survived ,Machida said that himself,also said he would love to give Tito a rematch he thought that Tito was a great fighter and deserved it
But I will admit that when Tito rushed him in the first round and got tossed and Machida had Tito in side control and had him locked up where he couldn’t move ,Tito would have lost if it wasn’t for the bell
I also will say this,that Lyoto Machida is the true #1 contender for the belt and when he gets his shot ,I will guarantee he walks away with the belt,he is by far ,the true definition of a mixed martial artist,maybe boring ,but he has the best skills in the entire world in the light heavy weight division,probably in a few years,we will be saying that he is the best pound for pound fighter in the world ,I know people are going to be like this guy must be crazy,but he might be the best now,I would love to see ,although i know he said it will never happen,Anderson Silva vs Lyoto Machida I bet his style might be so weird that it might mess up Anderson Silva striking ,and as boring as he is ,might be able to beat him by out striking
All I can say is that Dr. Bob’s welder must have been something else. It was probably a MIG.
NO MATTER what people say about tito they are just haters and that is the only thing that there is to say about that!
Anyway hopefully this one will show up ,i hate it when I write a long ass response then it doesn’t show up.Back to the point I personally believe ,although, it is probably Tito just trying to hype himself up,that if Tito could come back better than ever ,that would be a good thing Tito like him or not is good for the sport,he is that guy ,sort of like the yankees,cowboys,and lakers ,you either love him or you hate him,but quick reference,he beat the current champ ,he really beat the #1 contender,and he was the closest to beating Lyoto Machida ,he even said it his self after the fight ,that he thought he was going to die in the triangle choke Tito put him in the end of the match
yes he should have held on.. if that fight went 5 rounds Tito wins for sure, but now with his back fixed he’ll be able to move better and be more explosive..
hahaha you gotta admit titos a funny guy.
he seems like a cartoon character sometimes with his inflated head and sense of his own self worth, and the ridiculous shit he says sometimes.
i used to dislike tito, but now i find him quite entertaining hahahahaha
its funny how hes blaming his back for everything, so if and when he loses next time, hes not gonna have anything to say lmao. yeah his back fixed will make him faster and more athletic, but that doesnt take away the fact that the game is evolving so rapidly and titos being left behind. tito is a pretty good wrestler, but definetly not the best at 205, hiws striking is very medocre, his submissions are okay but hell never submit anyone for the rest of his career.
hahaha im gonna die laughing when elite xc gives tito some 0-4 scrub to beat on, and when he does he wil do his gravedigging thing have that retarded monkey grimace look he does and tell the crowd “tito is BACK” hahahahahahaha.