Brute force, violent ground-and-pound and a combative, colourful personality made Tito Ortiz one of the first true superstars in mixed martial arts.
After entertaining fans for 20 years, the former UFC light-heavyweight champion fought for the final time Saturday in the main event of Bellator 170 and went out with a victory over Chael Sonnen.
Ortiz defended several early submission attempts from Sonnen, who was making his Bellator debut, before gaining a dominant position and moving into mount. Ortiz then took Sonnen’s back and began applying a rear-naked choke. Sonnen’s face turned purple and he tapped just two minutes into the opening round. Sonnen is known for his trash talking skills but made comments about Ortiz’s personal life during fight week which Ortiz took exception to. Perhaps this was the reason Ortiz continued to choke Sonnen for a second or two after the referee stepped in.
Ortiz finishes his career with a 19-12-1 record. He joined Bellator in 2013 after more than 15 years in the UFC. The soon-to-be 42-year-old had struggled to find success in the cage over the last decade but walks away from the sport winning three of his last four contests. Ortiz holds notable wins over former UFC champions Vitor Belfort, Evan Tanner, Forrest Griffin, plus Wanderlei Silva and Ken Shamrock among others.
Many popular faces from the world of MMA including Nate Diaz, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Dan Henderson, Urijah Faber, Gina Carano, Royce Gracie and Ortiz’s former opponent Randy Couture were among those in the star-studded crowd at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., taking in Ortiz’s farewell fight.
Sonnen (29–15–1) signed with Bellator in September following a brief retirement and a two-year suspension for failing a 2014 drug test. The 39-year-old’s most recent fight prior to Saturday was a TKO loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 167 in November 2013.
Paul Daley knocked out Brennan Ward with a vicious flying knee in the night’s co-main event.
It was a brilliantly timed strike, however it was followed by several scary minutes when Ward remained on the canvas. The 28-year-old had to be stretchered out of the cage. He did wave his hands indicating he was okay and the promotion announced following the bout that Ward was responsive sent to the hospital for observation.
Daley wished Ward well during his post-fight interview and then proceeded to call out Canadian Rory MacDonald, who signed with Bellator this past August.
“Rory MacDonald gets in the cage with me, he’s getting knocked the [expletive] out,” Daley yelled before leaving the cage.
MacDonald was watching and quickly responded.
In other action, Hisaki Kato earned a lacklustre unanimous decision victory over Ralek Gracie in a throwback striker vs. grappler bout on the main card. Chinzo Machida, the older brother of former UFC champion Lyoto Machida, finished Jamar Ocampo with strikes in preliminary action. Machida is now 2-0 inside the Bellator cage.
Here are the complete results from Bellator 170.
MAIN CARD
— Tito Ortiz def. Chael Sonnen by submission
— Paul Daley def. Brennan Ward by KO
— Hisaki Kato def. Ralek Gracie by unanimous decision
— Emmanuel Sanchez def. Georgi Karakhanyan by majority decision
— Derek Campos def. Derek Anderson by unanimous decision
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Guilherme Vasconcelos def. John Mercurio by KO
— Kevin Casey vs. Keith Berry ruled majority draw
— Alex Soto def. DeMarcus Brown by unanimous decision
— Chinzo Machida def. Jamar Ocampo by TKO
— Jalin Turner def. Gabriel Green by KO
— Jack May def. Dave Cryer by TKO
— Danial Rodriguez def. Christian Gonzalez by TKO
— Henry Corrales def. Cody Bollinger by KO
