“I Should Be Dead or in Prison”: Tito Ortiz on the Choices That Saved His Life | DSH #1632

Did you ever expect the UFC to be this as big as it is right now? 100%, but I didn't think this quick. I think the reason why it was this quick is because people love to watch two men compete.

And it is kind of like modern-day gladiators right now. And this is what people loved back in the Roman days.
You know, gladiators competing each other, but it was to the death, different.

This is competition. I mean, you spoil your life on the line, man.
Every one of the fights. With all the surgeries you've been doing.

All the surgeries I've been through, I have eight surgeries. I'm thankful.
Injury are game-free now. Thankful that I'm retired.
I've been retired for three years now.

I don't miss it, but I want to be healthy. I want to stay healthy.
I want to stay young.

You know, I'm 50 years old this year, and I just want to make sure that I have a long life to watch my children grow up. Absolutely.

All right, guys, we got T-Door T's in back in Vegas where he made his name for himself, right?

To a certain extent, yeah. I think it was more worldwide than anything, but yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely worldwide.
But now UFC is just so prevalent in Vegas, I feel like, right?

Yeah, it's fight capital of the world, man. This is it, right here in Las Vegas.
Yeah, it was a person's first main event here at Mendeley Bay, UFC 33.

I defended my world title for the second time or third time here in Las Vegas. And it just took off from there, man.

And then when they did the Ultimate Fighter, I did two seasons of the Ultimate Fighter, season three and season 11. Once again, it took off.

It just, it grew the fan base so huge because the fans understood what mixed martial arts really was. In the beginning, they would boo and guys get taken down or guys go for submissions.

They didn't understand what it was. And Lenzo and Dana, I told him if you guys are able to educate the fans on what the sport is truly about, what we put into it, they're going to love it more.

Then all of a sudden, after 2006, I believe, it just blew up. It got huge.

After the Stefan Bonner and Forrest Griffin fight, I mean, that was probably one of the most viewed fight at that time in UFC on Spike television. But it just, it grew so fast.

And I'm just thankful that I had that opportunity to do what I did. You know, I was the middleweight world champion at the time when Lorenzo bought the company.

Dana White became my manager. And then Dana White all of a sudden became the president of the UFC.
And he says, I can't be your manager anymore. I was like, okay.

Well, he passed me down to one of his friends, who was an attorney, who became my manager. And I continued on.
Then I won the light headweight world title.

So I'm actually the first two-time division champion

in UFC. I see Conor McGregor saying that he's the first time, two-time champion.
No, I was the first one. But it's all right.
I give him credit for what he's done for his brand.

I'm nothing but proud for that guy, man. I have nothing but love for him.
He changed the sport, too. 100%.
100%. He has an opportunity because he has social media.

I never had a social media presence. There was never that during my fight career.
It wasn't even around back then. No, not at all.

Not even until like, gosh, 2012 that's when it started really getting big yeah and then it just got bigger and bigger to the monster it is right now did you ever expect the ufc to be this as big as it is right now 100 but i didn't think this quick uh i think the reason why it was this quick just because people would love to watch two men compete i mean it's kind of like the modern day gladiators right now right and this is what people loved back in the roman days you know gladiators competing each other yeah um but it was to the death it's different this competition i mean you put your life on the line man every one of the fights with all the surgeries

All the surgeries I've been through. I have eight surgeries.
I'm thankful. Injuries are pain-free now.
You know, thanks to CPI, South Performance Institute out of Tijuana.

You know, Lola and Scotty, they hooked me up. They took care of me.
It's been a year now since I've been pain-free.

I went through 15 years, the ending of my career, of I was going to have to be able to sleep on my back. I could only sleep on my left side.
I couldn't sleep on my right side.

I couldn't sleep on my stomach. Now I sleep on my stomach.
I have no problem at all. Zero pain, almost 100% range of motion.
I've had had

T3, T2, T2, T1, T1, C7 disc replacement, T7, C6 few, C6, C5 few, C5, C4 disc replacement. Oh my gosh.
And I'm pain-free. Thanks to CPI.

You know, Seattle Performance Institute do their job the correct way. And we're trying to get it to here in the United States.
We're working on it. You know, hopefully RFK will help us get it here.

I think us fixing. Americans is important instead of going out of the country to get fixed.
Yeah, that's nice. Shout out to Scotty.
He's been on the show. Solid dude, man.

Changing lives with that stuff. Changing lives.
And I'm very, very thankful. I just with him last week, with Mike Tyson.
We sat down. We're actually doing biohacking stuff.
Nice.

You know, just cold plunge therapy, hyperbaric chambers, out to simulation machines, red light therapy, things like this just to keep us younger. But of course, as athletes,

for us to be able to compete at the highest level that we can.

Thankful that I'm retired. I've been retired for three years now.

I don't miss it, but I mean, I want to be healthy. I want to stay healthy.
I want to stay young.

You know, I'm 50 years old this year, and I just want to make sure that I have a long life to watch my children grow up. Absolutely.

Do you think if you had access to this biohacking technology when you were fighting, you would have lasted longer? 100%. I wouldn't have the injuries I would have had.

I wouldn't have to do the surgeries I've had.

You know, I had ACL replace my left knee, ACL replace my right knee, 50% meniscus taken out of my right knee, L4, L5, S1 fused in my lower back, reattached retina in my left eye, and of course the neck surgeries.

But I think a lot of that was disc degeneration that I had. If it wasn't for the surgeries, I couldn't compete, but I was willing to take a chance of getting surgery and I got surgery.

Thankfully that a doctor that was here in Las Vegas, Dr. William Smith, he just had magic hands and I competed after my back surgery a year to date.
I competed against Forrest Griffin.

It was just one thing after another. When I had surgeries done, I just, my doctor was like, dude, like, you're like Wolverine.
You've recovered so fast.

But I just think just a mentality in your mind of what you're able to push yourself to the limits, you know, and I'm able to pass or push past those limits and just break the barriers and i've always tried to do that through my whole career yeah yeah the mental side of the sport is probably almost as important as the physical right uh the mental side is about 90 of it 90 yeah wow physical side is easy because most people if you asked them that they would say physical is 80 90 of it yeah physical that stuff's easy that's that's you can do the work mentally if you can't do the work physically you're not gonna be able to do it so it's all your mental and your mind you got to get up and you got to say you got to do the work and that's probably people don't understand of being an mma fighter just being a fighter in general.

It's probably the loneliest sport in the world because it's only dependable on you.

You have to get up. You have to train.
You have to run. You have to lift.
You have to do jiu-jitsu. You have to do kickboxing.
You have to do wrestling.

Then you got to mix them all into the week and you're going to make sure you eat correctly.

During my time, we didn't have health nutritions.

I had a strength conditioning guy. I had a boxing trainer.
I did all the wrestling myself. I had a couple of guys that I did jiu-jitsu with.
That was it.

Nowadays, they got nutrition. They got conditioning guys, they got everyone.
And pretty much, to me, it seems like a little bit of laziness because they don't want to learn it themselves.

Why wouldn't you want to learn it yourself to understand your body to do the right things at the right time and to push yourself as much as you possibly can in the amount of time before a fight?

And I think a lot of fighters now are starting to learn not to spar so much. And I learned that early in my career that, you know, what I would only spar maybe twice a week.

In the beginning, when I first started,

I would spar three to four times a week.

But I was still learning. I mean, my first fight was UFC 13, May 30th, 1997.
I fought for two and a half years.

I became the world champion, and I was only in the sport for three years, three and a half years. I never knew jiu-jitsu.
I didn't know kickboxing. I didn't know boxing.
I just knew wrestling.

I wrestled in high school, but I knew how to push myself hard because of wrestling in college. Wrestling at Cal State Bakersfield, they taught us how to push ourselves to the max.

Be in that red line and be comfortable in that red line where your heartbeat is 180 beats per minute and be able to recover as fast as possible.

And I remember when I fought Frank Shamrock and lost to him, I think it was my fourth fight of my UFC career.

He was able to recover super fast and I was wondering why.

So what do you do? If you can't beat him, you join him. He retired.
I went to, I was up to Stanford and went to start training with him. And I was like, what is that on your chest?

He goes, the heart rate monitor. Heart rate monitor.
He goes, yeah.

I monitor it, monitor my heart rate to see how the beats, how fast I, how high I can get them, how fast I can get them down in a minute. He goes, how fast I can get them down in a half a minute.

And I started learning that. And Hardy was never a problem with me.
Wow. It was a learning process.
I'm thankful for Frank Shammer showing me that.

So you could control your heart rate, you're saying, mentally, you control your heart rate also. Holy crap.
I'm actually a head wrestling coach at Ida Baker High School in

Cape Coral, Florida. And I had the kids mentally slow the heart rate down.
So they're crazy. Just with their thoughts.
And I did this during the Ultimate Fighter.

People watched the Ultimate Fighter season three. Or was it, yeah, season three?

And take five deep breaths and the fifth breath, you hold it for five seconds and exhale you know slow your slow your heart rate by your mind and your mind can do that and this is something that uh hicks and gracie used to do and something that i would watch i mean i would see this on video and i was like i'm gonna try that i tried it and it actually worked i was like okay this is great so during fights um or excuse me during camp we would spar and we'd only have 30 second rest we wouldn't have a full minute so when we got into the fight we'd have a full minute and we recover like this wow being our heart rate from 175 down to 105 in 35 seconds dude that's nuts That's such a good skill to have, right?

Yes. It's the mental side of it.
I mean, it's a learning process, of course, and that I had to learn so much at such a quick amount of time. I mean, I was a world champion.

I still was an amateur, but I was just very aggressive and I worked really hard. I outworked everybody.
I always worked hard.

And I think that just comes from the wrestling base of just understanding how to learn and having an open mind and willing to learn to everybody.

Willing to take an ass whipping here and there, too, from the guys that come in to train with me. Yeah.
What a statement. You were a world champion, but you still consider yourself an amateur.
100%.

Yes, I was. I mean, it wasn't until 2006 that I felt myself as a professional, and I lost the world title at that time.
But, I mean,

I was just, my hands felt comfortable with boxing. My jiu-jitsu game was great.
My wrestling game was phenomenal. My cardio was just nothing, I mean, nothing could get me tired.

But of course, I did a lot of altitude training up in Big Bear, California.

likes of Mike Tyson, Oscar Delajoya. Actually, I purchased Oscar Delho's home.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, because I wanted to live where the champ was at.
So I bought his home. I stayed in the same bed,

switched the bed out, of course, put my own mattress in there. Of course, apostrapeed mattress.
But I remember just laying in bed going, this is where the world champ slept.

And this is what I want in life. And I would sacrifice everything for that.
Sacrifice for something that you want is very difficult. And it's lonely.

As I said, it's lonely just to be that person laying in bed going, I gotta get up and do this again tomorrow. And I remember having back problems during that time.
This was from 2003 to 2009.

And I lost to Luigi Machita. And

I shouldn't have lost to him. It's like, I shouldn't have lost to this guy.
You felt like you were better than him? I was way better than him. 100%.

100%. I was way better than him.
I almost submitted him in the last 30 seconds of the fight with the triangle. And I'm not known to be a jiu-jitsu guy, but I'm pretty slick on the ground.

But I remember after that fight, it was like I was chewing Viking in like their candy. just to get the pain away.
Yeah. Had to go get back surgery.
I got L45S1 fused in my lower back.

And it was just a bounce back. After that, it it was just injury after injury after injury.
And I sucked it up. For me, it was just taking care of my children.
You know, I have three boys.

My oldest son, Jacob, who's 23 years old, goes to Arizona State University. And then my twin boys, Jesse and Journey, who are 16 now.
I just want to give them everything. I never had as a child.

I didn't have a dad. My dad was with me at the age of about seven.
And he left. And one

drug bender.

got on the heroin and he never looked back. Wow.
You know, my mother took me away from my father and she gave me another opportunity in life. And I got into wrestling as a freshman in high school.

And it was just great because I had someone who cared about me how a parent should. My mother did.
Yeah. And I'm fortunate because I caught myself in that same situation where I had my twin boys.

You know, my ex-girlfriend, of course, a lot of people know was Jenna Jameson.

She was in the same situation. She chose drugs over my boys.
Damn. And I had to make the decision to do the right thing.
I got full custody of my children. I've had them there for the last 13 years.

And I'm raising men, you know, and I had to make the decision my mom made. I remember telling my mom this.
And mom's like, she's like, wow.

I was like, mom, I tried to save you and trying to save Jenna. And I could realize you can't save somebody who didn't want to save themselves.

And it hit me hard, but at the same time, as being a father of twin boys by myself, it was like, it was hard. It was very difficult.
And then I think that's when God sent me an angel.

I was very fortunate.

Amber Rortiz, my wife right now, she came in my life and she's been mom to my boys for the last 13 years. Since I've been three and a half, four years old.
That's beautiful, man. And I'm blessed.

God has sent me so many awesome things in my life. And this is one of the angels that has saved me, have saved my life.

My life is better than it's ever been that I've ever lived. Even being a world champion, even

having millions upon millions right now, I'm just so

comfortable. Life is comfortable.
But still, I got to work my butt off. Yeah.

Living in Cape Corps, Florida. I have a restaurant, Tito's Cantina.
It'll be 1010. We were all franchised it out.
Wow. But I mean, I always want to do food.

You know, I did colony arts in high school and college. So I always want to do food.
I always cooked during my camps, always cooked my own food. I always did Metzki food on Sundays, our cheat day.

And they're like, Tito, man, why don't you open up a restaurant? I was like, when I have time, I will. So, you know,

November... 20th, 2022, I moved to Cape Corps, Florida from Huntington Beach, California, and

watch a community come together like I'd never seen before after Hurricane Ian. And that's why I moved to Cape Coral.
I saw a community that was great. The police officers were able to do their job.

Everybody were nice, just driving down the neighborhood. People were like, hi, how are you? Huntington Beach used to be.

It's changed a lot in California, and it's heartbreaking because living there for 47 years, I really wanted to help

our city of Huntington Beach to become safe again. You know, I ran for city council.

I was mayor pro tem of Huntington Beach. I lasted about maybe six months to seven months, and they ran me out.

It was just when I was making $600 a month to put my name on the line for the community and I just was getting railroaded left and right. They were blocking all your CNN and as NBC,

CBS, ABC, like all the news stations were just saying all kinds of just off-the-wall things.

just labeled me as a white supremacist

saying I'm a bad father because I wouldn't put my child in a mask. And I knew the truth of what was going on.

And And I, I mean, I don't want to get in this position with that with you because I want your child to do well. But I saw the writing on the wall and I realized it was time for me to exit out.

So I stepped down for the safety of my kids, the safety of myself,

sold everything in Huntington Beach. I was moving to Florida.
You know, Ron DeSantis does an amazing job with a non-woke agenda there for the schools. And once again, I have friends that are gay.

Conservative has a close friend of mine who lives in Cape Coral also. You're gay, I have no problem with it.
But don't push it on my children. Right.
And they're pushing on my children.

And I remember in in 2020, me and my son, Jesse, were watching Nickelodeon, and it was during Black Lives Matter came about. And it was during Father's Day.

My son, we're watching and said, Black Fathers Matter. My son looks at me.
He's an 11-year-old kid. And he looks at me and goes, Dad, I thought all fathers matter.

I go, son, you understand? He goes, that's not right. They shouldn't do that.
Wow. He goes, they're like victimizing people.
This is an 11-year-old kid. He's a smart kid.
Don't get me wrong.

He's a very, very smart kid. But children are so innocent, they could see when things are wrong.
They could see right from wrong. And for him at that age to see that, I said, see, son,

I'm so proud of you because you understand. I mean, they didn't understand color at all until, gosh, fourth grade.
I mean, they had a friend.

I remember coming from middle school, and they were like, Dad, I got this cool brown friend. He's the coolest kid in the world.
I want to introduce you to him. I'll go, right on.
What's his name?

He goes, his name's Tyrone. I go, right on.
Come out. The kid was dark as night.
I was like,

made me proud because we don't speak in that manner ever right at all i was raised amongst that um i was medxican amongst white guys at huntington beach moved to santana i was a white kid amongst mexicans but i'm half white i'm half mexican actually i'm medxican um

irish french um portuguese uh Cameroon,

and

Native American. So I'm

mutt, but I'm American down to the bottom of my heart. I bleed red, white, and blue.

But it was just one of those things I've seen with my kids that I had to get them out of a situation so that they don't get victimized by the society that was being taught in California.

And in Florida, it is America there. It is beautiful.
I'm very fortunate to have a governor DeSantis there. We have a new governor that will be running this next year,

Byron Donnell. He'll win it, have a shit, have no problem.
He's in the same exact thing that DeSantis has done. He's worked really hard in Congress for

Florida. So I'm just happy for the future for my children.

I'm content right now. I'm happy.
I can tell you I'm out. I'm really happy.
I have a beautiful wife, beautiful home, beautiful house, nice cars, clothes,

nice clothes, nice, my boys have nice clothes, refrigerator's full, because I lived a poor life. I lived a really hard life.
I mean, I remember

eating government cheese. I remember drinking powder milk.
I remember the things that as a kid, having food stamps and be embarrassed to take my friends to my house because we lived in a motel.

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These are the small things a lot of people don't know about me, but my big fans, they know about the things I've been through and they're thankful because they don't feel hopeless.

And a lot of people just shouldn't feel hopeless. I think things that we've gone through life is a challenge.
It's a lesson that we got to learn: what are we going to be? Are we going to be a victim?

Are we going to be a victor? And I plan it through my life as being a victor, and I'm going to teach my children the same thing. I love that.
Was becoming a fighter your

kind of escape to poverty? Was that the plan when you first started fighting?

When I first started fighting, it was just, I guess, an experiment. Yeah.
It was just a challenge. I love to compete.
I'm not aggressive.

I didn't like to be a fighter. I don't like to punch people in the face.
That's not something I like to do. But I'm very, very competitive in everything I do.
All the way down to... playing pool,

swimming, I mean, running, everything.

Everything is growing up. I've always been, I'm a huge fisherman, catching fish, who gets the biggest fish, who can get the first fish, who can catch the last fish.
I mean, I'm very competitive.

That's just my mentality of being a competitive person. So when I started fighting, or even when I started wrestling in high school, it was about the competitive side of it.

I remember walking as a freshman into the wrestling room and going, where's the ring at? Like, ring. I'm like, yeah, like WWF, you know, Hulk Hogan, Sarah Pears, Jacob Bidem, his brother.

I was like, no, this is actually amateur wrestling. I go, but I could pick them up and throw it on their head, right? I goes, you actually get points for that.
I'm like, I'm all in. So I did that.

I started varsity my first year. It was just, it stuck to me.

I loved it. The hard work I put into it.
And I just got more and more confidence. I got attention that I never got as a child growing up.

And then when I got into fighting, I got attention I never thought I even imagined getting. It was like living in a dream for me.
It was like living in a movie.

It wasn't real of everything I did, but in reality, it was real because all the hard work I paid out that I put into it, it paid off. I became the world champion.

I became the middleweight and lightheaded world champion for the UFC. Yeah, you crashed it.
Did the attention ever get to your head? Yes.

When I was defending my world title for the fifth consecutive time, it did. The fifth time? Yeah, the fifth time.
Why that time, you think?

I thought I was invincible. Because

you defended it four times? Yeah,

five times. Oh, five times.
Going on my sixth time.

And I thought that I was invincible and I felt touched. No one could touch me.
Which fight was that against?

Against

Randy Couture. Randy Couture.
Yep, and he dominated me for five rounds.

I got a slice of a humble pie.

Walking out to the fight, I had 20 of my friends that came out with me. After the fight was over, I had two of my friends.
Actually, my head coach and my best friend was with me. Everybody else left.

So you saw who your real friends were. Yep.
That's the good thing about being at rock bottom, though, right? Yep.

And those are the things that are life that will challenge you to see what type of character you truly are. It's a challenge from God, I believe.
God will challenge me.

And he's challenged me over and over and over and over again. But once again, I take it as a challenge.

And I see what type of character I am, what type of person I am, how much heart do I have, how much do I care about my life and the people that are around me, how much do I care about my family's life, my children's life.

It's important to me. It's very important to me.
At the end of the day, I have two things for the rest of my life, and that's my word and my name. That's it.

I'm never going to tarnish my name, and I'm always going to keep

my word strong. I always keep my word.
Word is really important to me as well. How do you handle when someone goes against their word with you?

So I'm an Aquarius.

I mean, I cut them out pretty damn quick.

I just, to me, it's not worth it. You know, I'll give a guy two chances.
I don't give it, you don't get a third chance. And I keep that even to this day of being a coach.

I'll give the guy two chances after that throughout. Really? Even your own people you're coaching? Yep.
Wow. So you're pretty cutthroat.
And it's not being cutthroat.

I want to be responsible for their actions. Not thinking that they're entitled to what they have.

No one should be entitled to what you got. You should work for everything you have.
And that's life. That's living the American dream.
You want the American dream, you got to work for it.

You got to bust your ass to make it happen.

That's just my mentality behind that. It's an interesting,

like, especially with sports, whether it's wrestling or whatever, the best kid, the mindset can destroy them, but it also got them to where they're at, too.

Yeah, I mean, I had that same situation myself. It was like, I...
I dwelled and I manifested everything that I wanted and I made it happen time and time again.

I mean, this going to buying my first home

to buying a Rocheroy's Phantom to buying my mom a home to making my kids they don't have to worry about college intuition at all.

Just goals that I set through life that I was able to achieve them that I was like,

dude, you manifested that. You did it.
And I would write it down all the time. I would put it on the wall.
I would put on where I brush my teeth on the mirror.

I mean I would do little small things just to

manifest it so much that I believed it that it became a reality. Interesting.

So you got a spiritual spiritual side to you too god is with me 100 yep i baptized last year me and my family um i'm a christian um jesus has saved me and he forgives me for my sins and i'm very fortunate i'm thankful i'm very very thankful because i'm a i've been through a lot as a child yeah a lot i've seen a lot i i mean i don't wish on all my worst enemies the stuff that i've seen the stuff that i've been through But once again, it has been a challenge.

It's been a challenge to, are you going to fail or are you just succeed? I mean, there was three choices in life, dead, in prison, where I am right now. And I think I made some good choices.
Wow.

So a lot of the people you grew up with were dead or in prison growing up? Yep.

In prison and got out. Two of my friends were in prison for 20 years and got out.

I would have been with them if I didn't have wrestling. Wow.
My true name is Jacob. A lot of my fans know that my true name is Jacob.
In the Bible, Jacob Risigant said angel.

Angel beat him and saved him. I found wrestling.
Wrestling saved my life.

When I was a junior in high school, they asked me for me to go with them to go do a drop-off, which was was six assault rifles, six bulletproof vests, a billion dollars worth of speed.

And they dropped out to the ETF. Holy crap.
And they got busted. Jeez.
And the reason I didn't go with them because I had wrestling practice the next day. And I told them I couldn't go.

And I was getting paid 500 bucks. I was like, I'm going to get paid some good money.
I mean, a 16, 17-year-old kid, $500 is a lot of money.

But for some reason, deep down, maybe it was God just telling me no. But I didn't do it.
And they ended up, they didn't get out until, gosh, I was 42.

and I see remember them getting out and my kids just graduated eighth grade and I was like

My life would never even be where I am right now Wasn't that one that one instance that one conscience moment one godly moment of telling me don't do it and there's a lot of forks on the road in life that I've had that position where I was like do it or don't do it and I thought about the consequences that I would subject if I did it and I didn't do it and I'm thankful I didn't.

It's crazy when you look back. I feel like everyone watching this can relate to that.
Like one decision could have really altered their life. Yeah, it's just timing.
Everything is timing.

Everything has been timing for me that I've done great things. I've done some poor things sometimes.

Made some bad decisions. I made some good decisions.
But when I made the bad decisions, I never made the bad decisions twice. I've always only made them once.
I learned from those mistakes.

I try to learn from other people's mistakes when I do things. And I think it's just a lesson.

A lot of things looking in the mirror. and be responsible for myself, my actions, the stuff that I do in life.

Question of things that I want to do, the question of things that, is it okay?

How do you feel about it? And people like, I think I'm crazy sometimes. I don't know if it's crazy, but I just think it's maybe it's my mental side of it of just having

an affirmation of knowing that I am having a conversation with myself, asking if it's okay to do.

If this is the right decision. When you look back at some of those bad decisions, were they made emotionally?

100% of them were made emotionally.

Yes, agree. My emotions got the best of me, especially during my fight career.
There's a lot of bad things that I said I probably should have said, but emotions. I was like, you know what?

Fuck that guy.

Well, you got to sell the fight, too. Yeah, and you got to sell the fight.

You know, both that's one of the things. I mean, there's a little difference.
I mean, me and Dana had her back and back, of course.

And I love Dana, man.

I just, I wish I would have done the things at the time, but there was a lot of influences at that time, a relationship I was with, that kind of pulled me on the opposite directions.

I had really bad trust problems when I was a kid.

So

having that situation and having so much money in front of me, the trust issue was a big problem. And I didn't trust people around me.

And the person who I loved, I trust, which it should have been that way.

So it was just like, as I grew up and I started learning these things, I really just had to make sure that I made the right decisions.

And a lot of times when I compete against the guy, I made my three rules. Don't lie.
Don't talk about a person's country. And don't talk about their family.
Those are off limits completely to me.

And I think that's just being an honorable man. Respect.

You don't touch those things. Say the the truth.
Lie about him. I mean, tell as much truthful stuff you know about him as you possibly can.
And get them where it hurts. Get them where they know it.

And that was just the psychological side of it, you know, mental warfare that Muhammad Ali did of getting into their mind so much when it came to fight time, they forgot about what their game plan was at the very beginning.

Yeah. I mean, the country one, I 100% agree with that one.
Look what Colby did in Brazil. Like, can't even go there anymore.
It's scary. You know, you don't want that.
Josana is another guy.

He can't go to Brazil. He can't go either.
You don't want that, though. Brazil is a beautiful country.

Brazil is an awesome country. I know Vito Belford well.
I know Vanderlay Sova, Machita. I mean, these guys are awesome guys.

I mean, I've been to Brazil probably four times now, and people are beautiful. They're awesome people.

Just

the way people are that I've met were just amazing people. Yeah.

Have you forgiven all your opponents in the past that you had beef with?

All of them but Chel Sonin. Okay.
So that one you just couldn't get past. Can't get past.
And I've got past the part of hating.

I think when I accepted Jesus Christ into my life, hate is a really strong word. But I just, I'm very hard on forgiving somebody that speaks about my family the way he did.

And I gave him an opportunity to apologize. After I beat him, I choked him in two minutes and 40 seconds.
He comes to my dressing room. He says, Tito, are we cool?

I go, when we go out to the post-press conference, and you say sorry for the things you said. And he goes.

I turned around and walked away. Damn.
During the press conference, didn't say a word. I looked over at him and I was like, hey, Chell, you have something to say?

He goes, and my birthday was two days later. He goes, happy birthday.
I was like,

wow. All right.

Four weeks later, then he starts talking about my kids. And I was just like, this guy never shuts up.
But I I get it. You know, he he he's he's a quick, he's, you know, he's

sarcastic. He's quick on the draw.
Smart guy. Um

it's just the things he says, the things that that got him where he is for not being a champion, to say the things he does to champions.

It's it's just just irritating but at the same time it's i guess i could say it's behind me now and i really don't i mean you say people that i don't like that's the only person i mean if i i couldn't be a person i could shake his hand i just but everybody else i have no problem with that's good yeah because i know you had a lot of rivalries back in the day yeah i mean i mean you know me and chuck liddell we we we

squashed everything you know we shook hands and we've had a good conversation at ufc We talked about it.

It was really, really good. I think the last one, hopefully it comes up soon, is between me and Dana.

We were really close at a time. You know, I said some stupid things at a time that, once again, my emotions got the best of me.

The situation, the surroundings I was with wasn't the best surrounding I should have been around.

But hopefully that time will come sooner than later. You know, we're getting older quicker.
Yeah. Life's really short.

But once again, it's just, that's the only one that I look back on and I wish I wouldn't have done some of the things I... I said or done.

You were so young back then, right? I was learning, man. I was a kid.
And Dana's the one who taught me how to negotiate.

I remember him talking to Bob Meyerwood, the governor of UFC, of, okay, we want this for Tito. If not, we're done.
So that was the main beef. It was over money?

Yeah, when I look back at all the problems I had, and if it's over money, I feel like that's not enough. You know, because money we can get.

Yeah, money you can get, but at that time, when you're making 4% of the profits, and you work so hard and you're only getting 4%. Right.
Is it way higher now? I'm not familiar with it.

I believe believe it's a lot higher now.

Because you were so early, they were still figuring things out with the company. They were making money.
Oh, they were?

So they were profitable back then, too? They were making 70 million. They're making 70 million.
And I'm making a million to maybe the biggest check I did was like 3.5. Wow.
And I'm making 70.

And that's only just off the fight in general. That's not including spike television contract they had.
Got it. Sponsorships, the things they had.

I mean, but once again, you can't count somebody else's money. And this is stuff that I've learned through the years.

It just, Once I signed the contract, I probably kind of, I think I blew it because I should have held out for a little bit more. But that just negotiation stuff.

And that was one of the things that I learned through Dana. It was just hard-nosed negotiating.
And I probably shouldn't have learned it that way. At least not against him.
Yeah.

And like I said, it's behind me now. It's my rearview mirror.
I look to the windshield. I look forward.
I look in the future of my life. And I'll be successful.
I have a lot of things in the works.

And I'm just... I'm just thriving, man.
I'm just trying to live life. Life's good.

And I love it. It's just

love to see the sport of mixed martial arts of where it's been going where it's where it's continued to go um across the world you know going over to uh was it um

gazetteep or not gazetteep uh

saudi saudi arabia um just the places they're going there it's blowing blown up huge i mean dubai the things it's just there's so much money to be made there and they're a part of it that's worldwide and it's a dream of mine that finally seeing it happening that it's going to be at the White House next year.

Crazy. crazy i can't wait for that that is just

to be one of the first main events at the trump taj mahal to now seeing it at the white house of our president donald trump yeah in the full circle for you right full circle but it makes me proud it just it makes me happy that this year

came about the way it did this last two years came about the way they did because the last four years i've seen this country going upside down and it was hard uh my mother's a democrat um and i had to explain a lot of things to her and she don't understand it she's the old old school Democrat.

Old school, yeah. And it's just, it's not what it used to be.
And like I say, to me, it doesn't matter if you're Democrat,

libertarian, Republican. At the end of the day, we're Americans.
We've got to keep this country safe. We've got to keep our children's futures safe.

We want to thrive. We want to be the best in the world.
And the only way to do that is to make sure we take care of this country first. Absolutely, man.
I love that.

Well, you might have to come out of retirement for that White House fight. I don't know.

I heard Andrew Tate says he wants to fight. That'd be a good one.
That'd be be a good one. That'd be really cool.
I'd like that one. I'd come out for that.
Just give me four, give me six months.

Six months, like I say, Mess. Thanks for CPI.
I have no more injuries. I'm good.
I'd do that for fun. You know, Andrew Tate's a tough guy.
He's, I have much, much respect for that guy, too.

Great kickboxer. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. He's good.
I watched him strike. He's a great striker.
That'd be fun, though. I mean, it'd be something to motivate me to get in shape.
Like I say, I'm 50. I don't feel 50.

I feel a lot younger. People are reversing their biological age these days.
Well, biohacking is a a big thing right now. It's huge.
The things that I've been doing since 2000.

That's what's able to keep me competing at the level that I did for such a long time because of doing the ice plunges, doing hyperbaric chambers, doing altitude simulation chains.

One of the companies that I used to go to all the time, Ascent Advocation in Newport Beach. And I ascend up to 2,000 feet in altitude.

And there's kind of a funny little meme that's on or on social media of me talking about how many days I train, how many hours I train. Well, I'm doing this in 22,000 feet of altitude.

And of people who are flight, any people who do any type of flight, flying things or airplanes and so forth, you know, if you get a certain altitude that your mind doesn't work right, you can't see the dip, you can't see the dials, you can't remember things.

And they have actually astronauts going to 25,000 feet of altitude and trying to put squares into squares and circles into circles, and they can't do it because their minds are working. Wow.

Well, I was doing a live on my Instagram and I was at 22,000 feet. Someone was asking me how many days or how many, how much do I train?

And I was trying to explain it and my mind was working correct so that was like one of the things people they talk i mean they got so much stuff on me this stuff that i just said that i should have slowed down yeah and that was a big thing when i was young um had a really bad stuttering problem so when i would talk i would stutter a lot but then i understood how to correct myself of slowing myself down but then when you go by emotions during the fight or after the fight or even doing interviews it's not easy to do all the time when you're doing 30 or 40 interviews a day it's difficult even if you're doing five or six a day it's difficult because you guys have the same mentality, the same mannerism, exactly the same feeling as you said the very first one you did 10, 15 months ago.

No, it's not easy, man. I filmed 30 in a day, and it's by the time you're on the last few, you're burnt.
You're burnt out. You're burnt out.
Yeah. And then people just say you're mixing together.

And it's like, you're like, what? Yeah. And then people say you're a dick with how you're answering the questions.
I'm like, bro, I'm tired.

You know what I mean? Yeah, but you got to have the same emotion. Like I'd say, you're doing each and every interview for all these different things, trying to promote a fight.
And it gets difficult.

It does get difficult. I mean, that was one of the things I did the most when I was on UFC.
I never said no to interviews. I always want to promote the company of being the best company in the world.

Respect. And it is.
You know, I'm thankful to be where I am. I'm thankful for my fans.
You know, I'm fans. Like, thank you guys, man.
If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't be where I am right now.

I love it. I really, really wouldn't.
It made me the man I am today of just hard work and dedication through the fight era.

I was able to live my dream. I dreamt that as a young kid that I was going to be a superstar.
I dreamt that as a kid that I was going to be the best in the world.

I dreamed that as a kid that I was going to be able to take care of a a family that I always wanted. I wanted that white picket fence house,

beautiful wife, beautiful cars, all the clothes, all the food. I had no worries about electricity turned on, food, or hot water.

I mean, I remember those nights where we didn't have electricity for a month.

Crazy. We had to boil water to have hot water for a bathtub.
Jeez. And this is young.
This is young. I mean, like I said, this is from seven to 13.
I had to go through this.

And those are the things that kids at that age, that's where they're molding. You form a lot of your core beliefs as a kid.
and that's what I believe, which is hard work. I don't want that.

I know what dirt tastes like. I don't want that.
And I just thrive. And I try to tell my kids these same things.

And in my mistake and my bad, I actually give them too much, where now it's like I take a lot of things away because they feel entitled to a lot of things.

That's the issue with kids that grow up in richer environments. Yeah, the mental side isn't as strong.

And now with my twins, I literally get to a point where no cell phones, no Xbox, doors are off the hinges in their bedroom.

Start taking away clothes and giving them clothes from the goodwill.

If you guys want good clothes, you got to earn them in your grades. You got to show up to class.
You got to do well. And right now is a big situation.
I'm hanging out with the kids they hang out with.

And I keep telling them over and over again, show me your five friends and I'll show you your future. Facts.
And they don't get that yet.

But it's funny because they work on my restaurant on Fridays and Saturdays. And there's friends that come in there who come from Pennsylvania, New York,

Jersey, and they say exactly the same thing that I say. And I go, excuse me, can you tell that to my son one time again? And they're like, dad, that's what you say.
I was like, yeah.

I mean, they just came back from Ohio State to go

wrestling camp for a week. And they're like, Dad, we were going to the same type of moves that you would show us.
But they showed them different. And it was the same ending.

But maybe I just wasn't paying attention to you.

Son, you're like one of the best guys in the world to show you moves and you don't listen to me. That's being the father, though.
I mean, then, and I don't want to be T-door T's to them.

I want to be dad. And I've always told that to him since they've been really young.
I mean even my oldest son Jacob when people come up to me and ask for autographs or photos I go no not right now.

I'm with my kid please. Then my twin boys I remember I was in my car and I rolled my rolls and my two boys are in the back and they're high chairs and a person rolls by and was like Tito.

And then my son Journey goes Tito. Turned around and snapped about him.
I go I'm not Tito. Dad.
He goes, Sorry, dad.

Yes, I'm dad. I'm not Tito.
So that's always stuck.

And like I said, to them I'm not Tito or T's I'm dad I love that and it's it's important it's very very important but they I they know that they're not gonna follow my footsteps and I tell them that you're gonna be all three of them that you're gonna be a way better man than I ever was you're gonna be smarter than I was you're gonna be richer than I was you just got to work for everything you have you have an opportunity in the world you just got to use it and then and they get it they get it They're working harder.

My oldest son, Jacob's at Arizona State University, currently psychologist is a major. He wants to be a psychologist.
So he has a good head and shoulders, smart kid, tough as hell.

I just want him to work hard. That's it.
I want them to work hard. And my twin boys,

same situation. That's why I sent him up to Ohio State for the camp, tough camp.
Three days in, like, dad, this is so hard. I go, you guys are learning.

They're like, yeah, we're learning a lot, but this is really hard. I go, good.
They got back. They're like, I love that, dad.

Thank you so much for sending this to us, but it was really hard, but we learned a lot. We understand when you talk about moves and how you talk about hard work and everything.
I understand now.

So maybe they got learned, you know, they leveled up a little bit in their wrestling life. So I'm thankful for it.
I love that, man. I can't wait to see what you do, Nax.

Hopefully you and Dana can make up, man. I'd love to see you.
Yeah, yeah. I have a few people that have said the same thing too, that live in Florida.
And I don't know.

Time will come. Time will come.
You know, like I say, at a time, we were close, really close. I mean, I love the guy.
I still love the guy. It's just, we just had battled head to head.

It was just like putting two pit bulls in a room and we're both males and we were both trying to defend what we we thought that was right. And I thought my brand was important.
I wanted to be a brand.

I wanted to make sure that I make money where I have nothing to worry about. I'd have to work again.
I'm a blue collar guy. I still got to work.
I still got to pay my bills.

I still got to get up and go to work and pay my bills and get the lights turned on, the hot water on, food in the refrigerator, um

gas in my cars. I mean, I I still gotta d do that.
I mean, I was able to buy my mom or house. The house is paid off.
I have nothing to worry about there.

But it was just things that I got to make sure that I still work my butt off to continue on what I'm doing. And this Dana situation, it'll come.
You know, as time passes, wounds heal a little bit.

You know, I'm not telling for him to forget about everything. I understand that.
And I'm not going to forget about anything either.

But just one of those things that we're too old to pass away and go, I dislike that guy. Yeah.

I don't.

Never have. I'm thankful for Lorenzo and Frank Fertida for giving the opportunity they gave it to me.

They saved a sport that what it is today um they made 4.5 billion dollars off of it proud of them that's amazing i mean us fighters put our lives to the line and we went out there we killed ourselves to put on a show that was my job i was an entertainer to me i wasn't a fighter i mean every time i competed i had an out-of-body experience i was watching myself compete when i fought it was it was never

Me in there fighting. It was just somebody else.
Yeah. It was weird.
I had like that is crazy. It's weird.

So you disassociated. Yeah, completely.
So you would end the fight and be like, what just happened?

I literally would have had to,

I knew what happened. I knew everything had happened.
I had seen everything, but it was out of body. I watched myself do it.
I watched myself do it.

And I'd go back in the dressing room and like all the emotions would come back to me. I was like, oh, this is, this, this is the feeling in the world.
Like, this is great.

Or if I lost, it was like, I thought my life was over. That's nice.
That's how I take it. That's how I took losses.
I took losses like a loved one dying. because I put so much work into it.

You know, you're taking three months out of your life, six days a week, eight hours a day for for a three-month period up in big bear and you're all isolated the whole time you eat sleep and train that's all you do it's hard it's difficult thousands of hours and blood sweat and tears yeah

it it's hard for me because my oldest son jacob i missed on it missed out on a lot of his growing up because of my fighting but i wanted to give him everything i never had i wanted to give him

for security i want to make sure he had that security yeah it was important

Well, dude, this has been really fun. Good luck in the poker tournament, Friday.
I know we didn't even talk poker, but celebrity poker tournament. Where else can people keep up with you, man?

Yep, of course, on ex Titor T on Instagram, T D Ortiz IG, Facebook, T D Ortiz.

It's T Ortiz I Broil Across. Oh, yeah.
Besides, T D Ortiz IG. I got my Instagram back and I have to rebuild.
I was at 450,000 and then they took it away in 2022. For COVID stuff?

A few COVID things.

Few things for being on city council.

I got attacked, a few things about speaking about my children.

But once again, I never said a lie.

came for tuition. It was true, everything I was saying was true.
I did my research and it took it away. I just bummed that, you know, if

who's there that owns Meta? Um, Mark, Mark Zuckerberg, are you listening? Can I just have my photos back, please? I don't even want my 450,000 people back. You can keep that.

I just want my photos of my kids because I don't have those photos, and I know they're in an iCloud.

I just want those photos of my kids because I had all my kids on there, how they grew up, and I have so much stuff in my history that I no longer have. Mark Zuckerberg, you're listening.

Please, just give me that. That's all I would love.
You might run into him at a UFC event one of these. Yeah, I host maybe with the White House.
But once again,

I work hard just to try to build my fan base right now. And

the fan base is there. They just need a place to find me.
Like I say, on Instagram, it's DWT's IG. Check them out, guys.
Thanks for having us. Yes, for sure.
Been a pleasure.

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