THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — No more Huntington Beach Bad Boy. Tito Ortiz says his new nickname is The People’s Champ.
The former light-heavyweight champion said it took him four hours to convince UFC president Dana White to go along with the change.
White admits he wasn’t blown away by the idea, but was talked into it.
"I don’t know, he’s been the Huntington Beach Bad Boy since he started," White said in explaining why he didn’t take to the idea initially. "That’s who Tito is, that’s who he was.
"He called me and said, ‘I want to change my name to the People’s Champ’ and I said, ‘What does that mean?"’
Ortiz, 36, says he changed his nickname because prior to the Ryan Bader fight in July — which was a must-win bout to maintain his UFC contract — he wanted to push away anything negative and replace it with positives.
He also pointed to his family.
"I’m not getting any younger. I’ve got three boys and I think my three boys, as they get older, they’ll love to know their dad as the People’s Champ instead of the Bad Boy."
