UFC 50 Preview
Tito Ortiz vs. Patrick Cote
Oct 22, 2004
Tito Ortiz vs. Patrick Cote
ORTIZ: Jacob "Tito" Ortiz, aka "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy," is a two-time California State Wrestling Champion (58-1 in Jr. College) a semi-finalist at 2000 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championships and former UFC light heavyweight champion training with Colin Oyama. He claims a 12-4 record in MMA.
Tito was a wrestler at Golden West College and Cal Bakersfield. He
always wrestled and when the original Huntington Beach bad boy,
David "Tank" Abbott, needed a sparring partner, Ortiz stepped up.
He fought in Neutral Grounds against UFC veteran Eugene Jackson and then entered
the UFC 13 tournament as an alternate with amateur status. Tito was
winning the bout with Guy
Mezger, but a cut stoppage allowed Mezger a second opportunity
at victory. A headstrong Ortiz was easily guillotined for the
choke. The second bout with Guy nearly two years later saw a more
confident Ortiz come in having beaten Lion's Den fighter Jerry Bohlander. Tito battered
Mezger and finished him with strikes in less than 10 minutes.
The loss to Frank Shamrock likely made him the driven fighter he became and helped him eventually win the title. He won his title in Japan in '00 in a bout with Wanderlei Silva. Tito took a decision victory and held the title until he was beaten by former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight Champion Randy Couture.
Along the way Ortiz battled wrestler Vladimir Matyushenko as a late replacement for Vitor Belfort. Tito controlled the tempo but had to work for everything he got. Ortiz met nemesis Ken Shamrock at UFC 40. A bout nearly three years in the making, Shamrock went toe-to-toe with the youthful champion and paid for it. It looked as though he momentarily stunned Ortiz early, but Shamrock was never able to make the bout competitive.
Randy Couture beat Ortiz to every takedown and schooled him in the cage. In Tito's favor, he was not knocked out, submitted or even bloodied up and went the entire five rounds with the champion. And in recent competition, Ortiz was KO'd by former friend and training partner Chuck Liddell early in the second round. Yuki Kondo (win/neck crank), Evan Tanner (win/slam) and Elvis Sinosic (win/strikes).
COTE: Pugilist Patrick "The Predator" Cote is 5-0 in MMA and fights for Team Union with teammates Phillipe Lagace (trainer) and Rino Lagace, Sebastien Lacace, Francois Flibotte, Danny Laflamme, and Frederic Poirier.
He has been preparing for his UFC debut with jiu-jitsu trainer Fabio Holanda (submitted Kultar Gill) and UFC 50 card-mate Georges St. Pierre. The boxer and jiu-jitsu purple belt is the current TKO light heavyweight champion and ranked the No. 1 light heavyweight fighter in Canada. He won the title at TKO 14: Road Warriors with a technical knockout victory over Steve Vigneault (a former UCC middleweight champion) last November and defended his title by knocking out tough fellow Canadian Bill Mahood in just 15 seconds.
MY PICK: Ortiz. Cote looks to use his impressive striking to dominate the stand up, but Tito is a solid wrestler and will likely bring him down and resort to the ground-and-pound that made him successful in the first place. As much as I'd like to see the Canadian do well, he is overmatched and was preparing for a lower caliber opponent (Marvin Eastman) just one week ago. Though hand-picked by Ortiz as Mezger's replacement, Cote is tough and may give Tito more than he bargained for. Ortiz by decision round three.
ORTIZ: Jacob "Tito" Ortiz, aka "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy," is a two-time California State Wrestling Champion (58-1 in Jr. College) a semi-finalist at 2000 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championships and former UFC light heavyweight champion training with Colin Oyama. He claims a 12-4 record in MMA.
Advertisement
The loss to Frank Shamrock likely made him the driven fighter he became and helped him eventually win the title. He won his title in Japan in '00 in a bout with Wanderlei Silva. Tito took a decision victory and held the title until he was beaten by former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight Champion Randy Couture.
Along the way Ortiz battled wrestler Vladimir Matyushenko as a late replacement for Vitor Belfort. Tito controlled the tempo but had to work for everything he got. Ortiz met nemesis Ken Shamrock at UFC 40. A bout nearly three years in the making, Shamrock went toe-to-toe with the youthful champion and paid for it. It looked as though he momentarily stunned Ortiz early, but Shamrock was never able to make the bout competitive.
Randy Couture beat Ortiz to every takedown and schooled him in the cage. In Tito's favor, he was not knocked out, submitted or even bloodied up and went the entire five rounds with the champion. And in recent competition, Ortiz was KO'd by former friend and training partner Chuck Liddell early in the second round. Yuki Kondo (win/neck crank), Evan Tanner (win/slam) and Elvis Sinosic (win/strikes).
COTE: Pugilist Patrick "The Predator" Cote is 5-0 in MMA and fights for Team Union with teammates Phillipe Lagace (trainer) and Rino Lagace, Sebastien Lacace, Francois Flibotte, Danny Laflamme, and Frederic Poirier.
He has been preparing for his UFC debut with jiu-jitsu trainer Fabio Holanda (submitted Kultar Gill) and UFC 50 card-mate Georges St. Pierre. The boxer and jiu-jitsu purple belt is the current TKO light heavyweight champion and ranked the No. 1 light heavyweight fighter in Canada. He won the title at TKO 14: Road Warriors with a technical knockout victory over Steve Vigneault (a former UCC middleweight champion) last November and defended his title by knocking out tough fellow Canadian Bill Mahood in just 15 seconds.
MY PICK: Ortiz. Cote looks to use his impressive striking to dominate the stand up, but Tito is a solid wrestler and will likely bring him down and resort to the ground-and-pound that made him successful in the first place. As much as I'd like to see the Canadian do well, he is overmatched and was preparing for a lower caliber opponent (Marvin Eastman) just one week ago. Though hand-picked by Ortiz as Mezger's replacement, Cote is tough and may give Tito more than he bargained for. Ortiz by decision round three.
