Now-retired Tito Ortiz plans to enjoy family, but eyes working for Bellator in future

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The newly retired Tito Ortiz will take some time off in the short term. He isn’t done with with the sport – he’s just done fighting.

Asked about his future plans, Ortiz initially seemed unsure about what he would do beyond focusing more on his family. But he mused about working behind the scenes with Bellator, the promotion with which he ended his career on Saturday.

“Do I work for the promotion? I’m going to do something MMA, for sure,” Ortiz (30-14-1 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) said with a sly smile after submitting Chael Sonnen (18-12-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) in his retirement fight at Bellator 170. “I will be a part of MMA, 100 percent, I guarantee you.

“I have so much in my big head of mine that can give back. And yes, that was a joke toward myself.”

Asked how he might overcome the inevitable urge to get back into the cage, he wasn’t quite sure how to answer.

“Lions always want to fight,” Ortiz said. “I know what I wanted to do tonight, and I did it the way I wanted to do it. If they ever need anything from me, I’m here – besides fighting.”

Ortiz ventured that he might enjoy scouting amateur talent, or perhaps starting a league that might feed talent to Bellator. He openly suggested working in development for the Viacom-owned promotion.

“Find other fighters and build superstars, or come on board Bellator and build superstars,” Ortiz said.

“A little empty,” though, is the way the UFC Hall of Famer anticipates he might feel after spending 14 weeks training for his swan song, which ended in triumphant fashion when Sonnen tapped to a rear-naked choke in the first round.

“Have a normal life,” the former UFC champ and onetime Bellator title challenger said. “Being a fighter is not a normal life. You’ve got to understand that because we sacrifice so much away from our families, away from our friends.

“I think I’m going to enjoy life for a couple of months, and then, I don’t know.”

Ortiz said he called it quits because he was tired of undergoing surgeries to correct the damage done from two decades of fighting. He became famous among hardcore fans for listing the procedures he’d undergone to repair himself.

But after submitting Sonnen, he received a hero’s welcome from the promotion and his team. A rendering of happy birthday intermittently drowned outQuinton “Rampage” Jackson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, who gathered to promote their upcoming rematch.

Ortiz, now a newly retired fighter, beamed on stage and fought back tears as he talked about the support he received from his son before taking to the cage against Sonnen. Just two days away from his 42nd birthday, the former UFC champ said he looked forward to taking naps in the middle of the afternoon rather than the relentless schedule of training day in and day out.

For more on Bellator 170, check out the MMA Events section of MMAjunkie.