Back in 2011, when Tito Ortiz broke a nearly five-year slumber by defeating the heavily favored “current” fighter Ryan Bader at UFC 132, it was as if an underground nation of Titoheads had been given new life. The lid came off the MGM Grand Garden Arena that night as Ortiz — exalted and full of old reminders — went into his grave-digging motion over Bader’s bewildered body.
The collective gasp to all onlookers at that moment, in the arena or at home, went like this: “Holy f*cking sh*tballs! He’s back!” (It lasted until UFC 133, when Tito lost to Rashad Evans, rendering the whole thing a fever dream).