Tito Ortiz is the Most Important Fighter in UFC/MMA History -- reasonably claim?

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: CoffeeAndBeer
Date: September 18, 2015 at 07:47 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

Tito Ortiz is the
most important fighter
in MMA/UFC history -- Reasonable* Claim?
Bold statement? Maybe, but is it that unreasonable? Think about it before you vote or respond.
Tito Ortiz is the nexus point to some of the most critically important events/relationships in the history of the UFC/MMA.
Tito Ortiz was the first ever true Superstar of the sport. The only fighter ever who's name, at one point, was bigger than the initials "UFC." Without Tito Ortiz the "UFC" never re-emerges from the 'dark ages' and quietly dies off.
No Tito Ortiz.....
No Superstar
to sell to the viewers, to pull the UFC out of the 'dark ages.'
Tito Ortiz headlined 7 of 15 UFC's in the critical stretch from UFC 19 to 33, thru the Zuffa purchase. The Frank Shamrock's and Vitor Belfort's and others had abandoned ship; gone off to Japan. And as good as they were, they were not the star that Tito was.
No Chuck
, who Tito brought into the game.
Chuck became a Superstar in his own right, reaching new heights and taking the sport with him. But in the UFC's most crucial moment, Chuck was not a star yet. He wasn't in the position to carry the promotions, he was still just Tito's protege.
No Dana White
, who Tito hired to be his manager; who had the connect with the Fertitta's, etc.
Dana might still be a Boxercise instructor if not for Tito.
No Zuffa/Fertitta Bros
, without a Superstar to sell, it would've been very unlikely for these casino owners to even entertain buying into the game?
No UFC 40/Tito vs Ken Rivalry
, the event that likely saved the UFC at another critical moment.
The UFC/Zuffa was losing money, the Fertitta's might have been ready to sell (or fold). A stay of execution and/or a springboard, the success of UFC 40 was huge for the future of the UFC/MMA.
"When that show [UFC 40] happened, I honestly felt like it was going to make it. Throughout the years, things were happening, and everything always looked bleak. It always looked like, this is it, this is going to be the last time. This is going to be the last year. But, when I was standing in the Octagon at UFC 40, I remember standing there before the Ortiz/Shamrock fight and looking around. The energy of that fight, it was phenomenal, and it was the first time I honestly said, it’s going to make it." -
Big John McCarthy
​

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: CoffeeAndBeer
Date: September 18, 2015 at 07:50 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

Royce I'd argue was interchangeable.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: BRF
Date: September 18, 2015 at 07:59 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

f--- it. Tito may be a tit head but the man did draw viewers when nobody else could. UFC wouldn't have failed without him necessarily but he helped speed up the process of it becoming a huge hit. Most important? no. But important still. Liddell is more important imo.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: Reductio ad absurdum
Date: September 18, 2015 at 08:19 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

I still think the fat black guy who lost his tooth in the first ufc was the trend setter. A snow flake into a snow ball and his fat *** got the ball moving. I bet that missing tooth is worth something on eBay.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: CoffeeAndBeer
Date: September 18, 2015 at 08:24 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

BRF said:
f--- it. Tito may be a tit head but the man did draw viewers when nobody else could. UFC wouldn't have failed without him necessarily but he helped speed up the process of it becoming a huge hit. Most important? no. But important still. Liddell is more important imo.
Click to expand...
There would be no Chuck without Tito.
The UFC might not have lasted long enough, without Tito, waiting for Chuck to come along (to become a star).
Tito carried the promotion when no one else could...
Tito created, in a sense, the future Superstar that would take the torch...
That's what I mean by Tito being the nexus point.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: FullItalian
Date: September 18, 2015 at 08:26 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

CoffeeAndBeer said:
There would be no Chuck without Tito.
The UFC might not have lasted long enough, without Tito, waiting for Chuck to come along (to become a star).
Tito was the nexus point.
Click to expand...
Who's to say that the UFC wouldn't have lasted after Tito if Chuck hadn't come along?

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: CoffeeAndBeer
Date: September 18, 2015 at 08:36 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

FullItalian said:
Who's to say that the UFC wouldn't have lasted after Tito if Chuck hadn't come along?
Click to expand...
Between
UFC 40
and the debut of
The Ultimate Fighter
... Chuck main-evented two UFC's.
And by then, the Vitor's and the Randy's had retruned to the UFC.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: Sapper
Date: September 18, 2015 at 09:45 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

Can't agree 100%, but it's not a crazy idea. I've been a Tito can for a long time.. Even when he made it hard to be.. There is no doubt Zuffa owes Tito a lot of credit.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: Jak
Date: September 18, 2015 at 09:49 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

"Most"
No. No one fighter is the "most" important. The only one that can ever possibly be considered for the "most" important is Royce Gracie. There are at least 10 fighters that are equal in terms of importance from taking what Gracie started and actually making it a sport.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: Reckin007
Date: September 18, 2015 at 10:26 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

It's actually Couture, Liddell and Brock Lesnar. Deal with it.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: Mike Porch MMA
Date: September 18, 2015 at 10:28 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

If Tito somehow manages to beat McGeary, ill lose my sh-- more than i did when he knocked off Bader.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: CoffeeAndBeer
Date: September 18, 2015 at 10:39 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

Tito and his protégé...

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: CoffeeAndBeer
Date: September 18, 2015 at 11:02 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

Jak said:
"Most"
No. No one fighter is the "most" important. The only one that can ever possibly be considered for the "most" important is Royce Gracie. There are at least 10 fighters that are equal in terms of importance from taking what Gracie started and actually making it a sport.
Click to expand...
Well unless you're saying it's a "tie" then
Yes
, Yes there has to be one individual that is thee "most" important.
That's the exercise here, in effect, making a decision as to who is the single most important fighter in UFC/MMA history.
Tito and Royce tied?
I don't want to diminish what Royce Gracie meant to our sport by saying this, but for this context... Royce, the individual, was
not as important as
Gracie Jiu Jitsu itself
was. Royce was only a representative of the family's art. That is what (not who) the attraction was in those early UFC's; the technique over the individual. If it wasn't Royce, it would have been Rickson. And that interchangeability diffuses Royce's importance.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: MysterLynch
Date: September 18, 2015 at 11:21 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

CoffeeAndBeer said:
Tito and his protégé...
Click to expand...
I think the word Protege is a bit excessive. They spent a limited period of time training together.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: redstar
Date: September 18, 2015 at 11:43 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

And, for us dinosaurs that go waaaaay back. The answer is:
C'mon Spidy/Filipino, I know you!

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: MMAfanaticZA
Date: September 18, 2015 at 11:44 PM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

If not Tito then someone else would have been the star, fact is it was still a sinking ship until the Griffin Bonnar fight took the UFC to new heights.

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: LighthouseKeeper
Date: September 19, 2015 at 12:04 AM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

CaB confirmed for Tito

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: Reckin007
Date: September 19, 2015 at 12:28 AM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

CoffeeAndBeer said:
Tito and his protégé...
Click to expand...
......yes because what happens on a rug in a basement happens in the octagon.
Win​
14–3
Tito Ortiz
KO (punches)
UFC 47
April 2, 2004 2 0:38
Las Vegas, Nevada
, United States
Win​
20–3
Tito Ortiz
TKO (punches)
UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz
December 30, 2006 3 3:59
Las Vegas, Nevada
, United States Defended the
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
; Fight of the Night.
So essentially he is the greatest training partner in MMA history?

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: CoffeeAndBeer
Date: September 19, 2015 at 12:30 AM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

@Reckin007 way to miss the point

 

[Nastycrow]

Originally posted by: CoffeeAndBeer
Date: September 19, 2015 at 12:36 AM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/tito-ortiz-is-the-most-important-fighter-in-ufc-mma-history-reasonably-claim.67396/

MMAfanaticZA said:
If not Tito then someone else would have been the star, fact is it was still a sinking ship until the Griffin Bonnar fight took the UFC to new heights.
Click to expand...
Go ahead then... make the claim that Stephan Bonnar, or Forrest Griffin, is the most important individual fighter in MMA/UFC history. Go ahead.
But make sure you juxtapose that with the fact that the reality show was on Spike TV, feeding MMA into millions of homes, week after week after, featuring many personalities and story-lines, etc., and not just Bonnar, or not just Forrest.