Tito Ortiz will be stepping into the cage tomorrow night for the first time in 679 days as he makes his Bellator debut against Alexander Shlemenko on the Bellator 120 pay-per-view.
Shlemenko called out Ortiz in an online video on April 10th and Ortiz immediately accepted the fight.
When Ortiz was initially told by people that the Bellator middleweight champion had called him out, he was surprised.
“I thought it was weird that he called me out,” Ortiz said during his pre-fight scrum on Thursday. “Him being the world champ, I thought he has everything to lose but maybe he has no name recognition and wants to make a name off me. He is going to make a name off me for fifteen minutes about how great he took punishment from me.”
Shlemenko has the most wins in Bellator history and is stepping up to the light heavyweight division to face Ortiz. He is currently riding a thirteen fight winning streak and his last defeat came back at Bellator 34 against Hector Lombard. Ortiz feels that the Russian fighter made a big mistake by calling him out and plans to smash him “like an egg.”
“This Russian called me out and I think he made a big mistake,” Ortiz said. “He is counting his chickens before they hatch. This is a man that is not a chicken or an egg. I am going to smash him like an egg. I am excited for this fight. I am excited to expose his weaknesses and show my strengths. Saturday night, I am going to do that.”
Ortiz will be looking to snap a three fight losing streak when he faces Shlemenko and make a statement in the Bellator light heavyweight division. A win over the middleweight champion would show everyone that he still has something left to offer and feels that he has everything to gain in this fight.
“I am ready to fight. I am just about to get my weight down and I am right where I need to be. I went in a little lighter that I thought I would be but I think it’s because I am in really good shape. Ready for fifteen minutes of hell. I know that he is in shape and that he is younger than me. He has everything to lose, I have everything to gain.”
It has been nearly seventeen years to the date that Ortiz made his professional MMA debut, which was on May 30, 1997 at UFC 13. When he started fighting, he considered fighting fun. However, Ortiz admitted that this is now a business and he needs to support his family.
“I started in this business and it was fun to fight. Now it’s a business. It’s strictly a business to me. I am going in there. I need to support my family and I sacrifice my life, sacrifice my body to entertain each and every one of the fans that watch me compete. I have been doing it for seventeen years and I do not plan on stopping anytime soon. My body is healthy, my mind is right and when my mind is right, I’m a dangerous foe. I just hope the guy I am fighting is ready to fight because I am ready to fight.”