Tito Ortiz's return date unknown, Bellator CEO comments on DUI

According to Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, light heavyweight Tito Ortiz risks serious injury returning to the cage unless he’s able to heal from a fractured neck.

“There’s not a substantive answer at this point as to whether he’s going to come back, and if he did come back, when that would occur,” Rebney said during a recent teleconference.

Ortiz (16-11-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) was scheduled to headline Bellator’s first pay-per-view effort this past November in Long Beach, Calif., in a bout opposite fellow ex-UFC champ Quinton Jackson, but his neck injury forced him to withdraw.

Ortiz’s future as a fighter remains a question mark due to the nature of his injury, Rebney said.

“It’s an unsettling conversation to have a specialist in the field of neck injuries tell you that with the right kind of drop on the head, or the right impact to the spine, paralysis could be a result. That’s never a good conversation.”

Rebney spoke to the specialist after receiving word of Ortiz’s injury, which he said was backed up by X-rays confirming the damage.

“Just like any kind of injury or break, he may be able to come back from it, and if he’s able to come back, we’ll relight the fuse and figure out what the steps are to get him into the cage.”

An injury clause in Ortiz’s contract binds him to the promotion while he heals, Rebney told MMAjunkie.

Ortiz, a former UFC champ and Hall of Famer who signed with Bellator this past summer, remains active on social media despite staying quiet about another appearance in the headlines for a recent arrest on suspicion of DUI. (Ortiz has not responded to several requests for comment on the situation.)

Rebney said he is “torn” on the arrest, which took place earlier this month and briefly landed the fighter in jail.

“I take DUIs and drunk driving ridiculously seriously,” he said. “Tito and I have been texting back and forth. We’re going to get together and do a full download on everything that’s going on. But my hope is that he can put that behind him.

“Thankfully, no one, including himself, was injured in the situation. That’s the most important. But we’ll go through talking about that, about his injury and the potential for a comeback.”

While Rebney addressed the subject, Jackson muttered about the media’s negativity. In an interview today with MMAjunkie Radio, he expanded on his comment.

Jackson (32-11 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), who said he had no interest in fighting Ortiz anymore, didn’t condone the behavior of his former training partner and would-be opponent, but asked the media to consider the personal lives of fighters in their coverage.

“Once you go positive, you notice how negative the world is and the media is,” said the former UFC champ, who makes his Bellator tournament debut next month in the Season 10 light-heavyweight tournament. “We’re humans. That’s what people forget. Even though we’re fighters and people see us in the public eye, at the end of the day, we’re just them.

“Anybody can get a DUI – the nicest person or the coolest person. Thank god I’ve never gotten a DUI. I’m a responsible drinker – I have my friends drive for me. But I have driven drunk when I was a kid. I learned, hell, I’m not going to do that any more. If [the media] wouldn’t like people talking about them getting a DUI, they should probably do the same thing for a few of us in the public eye.

“But at the same time, I understand it’s people’s jobs to get the scoop. I do understand that at the end of the day.”

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Bjorn Rebney)