Tito Ortiz talks longevity in the sport of MMA ahead of Combate Americas debut

Tito Ortiz interested in fighting Shogun Rua for UFC retirement bout

MMA legend Tito Ortiz says he is interested in fighting fellow legend of the sport Shogun Rua in a UFC retirement bout for both men.

Ortiz is 47 years old and the last time he stepped into the cage was in December 2019 when he submitted Albert Del Rio at Combate Americas 51. Ortiz is actually riding a three-fight win streak at the moment with other wins coming over Chuck Liddell and Chael Sonnen. That being said, he knows that he doesn’t have much time left in the sport, and at this point, only wants one more fight.

Speaking to Helen Yee in a recent interview, Ortiz confirmed his desire to fight one last time in MMA. He hopes that he can mend fences with the UFC and, if it’s possible, fights Shogun, who has one fight left on his UFC contract and who says that he will be retiring after his next fight. Shogun is coming off of a close loss to Ovince Saint Preux and Ortiz thinks that it would be a good matchup.

“It’s never over. I think I made that mistake with UFC when I said, ‘I’ll never fight for the UFC ever again. Now I think about it, that’d be an amazing last fight for myself and for Shogun Rua. I know Shogun has his last fight with the UFC, we’re in kind of the same era, so it’d be nice to see Tito Ortiz vs. Shogun. I’d like that,” Ortiz said (h/t MMA News). “I have a lot of respect for Shogun, I think he’s an amazing former champion, an amazing fighter. I watched his last fight, I thought he won but they ended up giving it to ‘OSP.’ So, I don’t know, let’s see what happens in the future.”

Do you want to see the UFC sign Tito Ortiz so he can fight Shogun Rua in a UFC retirement fight for both men?

author avatar
Adam Martin
MMA journalist, podcast host, and handicapper for MyMMANews.com, MMAoddsbreaker.com, and Bookies.com. MMAOB Daily Podcast host. Join me LIVE @ 5 pm EST every Monday for my live free podcast. Over 10 years of experience writing about MMA. I love this sport.