UFC 148 Aftermath: Tito Ortiz Leaves The Octagon In a Blaze of Glory

At UFC 148 it was the swan song for the recent UFC Hall of Fame inductee Tito Ortiz and he went out with a bang.

Ortiz was a polarizing figure for many years in the UFC, but one thing you could always count on, is that he’d always leave it all in the cage and in the third and final fight with Griffin it was no different.

In the fight, Ortiz hurt Griffin twice and scored takedowns but in the end judges thought the strikes Griffin landed were enough to give him the fight.

“I wasn’t looking for a smart fight, I was looking to finish the fight,” Ortiz said post-fight.  “I thought I dropped him a couple of times, took him down every round and Forrest knew that I had no respect for his punching.  He would throw punches and nothing hurt.”

According to Fight Metric Griffin outlanded Ortiz 85 to 49 in strikes, and Ortiz just had no respect for the punches of Griffin and it cost him the win on the judges score cards.

At the end of the day Ortiz went out in a blaze of glory and the former light heavyweight champion lives with no regrets.  He bared his heart and soul in the Octagon and wouldn’t have performed any other way.

“When you fight with emotions as I do (expletive) happens,” Ortiz continued.  I went out and I thought I won.  I thought the fight was over, Forrest thought the fight was over and the fans thought the fight was over but the judges didn’t see it that way.  It is what it is. I know what I did tonight.  You guys know what I did tonight.  I went out on my shield.”