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An interview with the fighter I personaly hate most. but regardless of my feelings, he is a good character for MMA and a lot of people seem to like him.
At the bottom of the interview he knocks Rickson... hard!
Radical 34, Feb. 2001
Translated by Yoko Kondo
@
Q: Congratulations on your success in the defense of UFC middle-weight Champion belt! Did you have a party for your celebration last night?
Tito: Yes. Finally I was released from the hard training. I had nothing but training everyday for last six months. But the rest is only one day. I will start a hard training from tomorrow again.
Q: Despite that you just finished the fight yesterday, are you going to start the training so soon?
Tito: That's right, because everybody is aiming at this belt. I have to train seriously. There is no rest for the champion. That is a kind of fate of the king.
Q: Well then, could you look back on your fight with Kondo held last night? It was an aggressive fight. In the previous fight with Vanderlei Silva (UFC middle-weight Championship at Yoyogi Stadium on April 14), the fight was rather at a deadlock.. So did you intentionally try to do an aggressive fight, which is your original style, this time?
Tito: Yes, I did. I didn't want to show my victory by decision of judges to the fans at the fight with Silva. So I was happy that I could become the champion at that time, but it was regrettable that I couldn't satisfy the fans. But trust me! There will be no more win by decision of judges. All I do is to win by a knock-out, or choking, or breaking his arm or leg. Making the fans happy or excited is my job.
Q: Wo! You really have a professional spirit! Then you did exactly the same as you planned for your game yesterday, didn't you?
Tito: It was my theme how quickly I could finish with him in my best movement. I took one good knee-kick, but it helped me enhance my fighting spirit. (laughing) Well, it seems everything went well as I planned.
Q: Before the fight, you appreciated Kondo as a strongest challenger. Did you change your impression about him after you in reality fought with him?
Tito: No, not at all. Still now I consider him a strongest challenger.
Q: Do you still think so even after such a perfect victory?
Tito: Yes, because he was very speedy and tough. But the thing is I was more speedy and tough.
Q: How was Kondo compared to Frank Shamrock or Guy Metzer whom you fought with before?
Tito: I think Kondo has a high possibility of chance to defeat them. Both Frank and Metzer have good punches, but Kondo's is more powerful.
Q: You did a perfect victory against Kondo, but you were defeated by Frank.
Tito: To be sure, I was defeated by Frank one year ago. But I have become stronger now than I could expect compared to those days. If I fight with Frank now, I am sure that I will defeat him in the same way as I did to Kondo.
Q: Well, then what do you think is missing for Kondo to defeat you?
Tito: Rather than something is missing, his loss lies in the fact that the champion was Tito Ortiz. He was born at the same time as Tito Ortiz. That is what his unhappiness lies in.
Q: By the way, it is said that there was a trouble in weight one day before the fight, and your real weight was four or five kilogram heavier than that of the contract.
Tito: No, nothing happened like that. But there was a little argument on the scale prepared for measurement, because it was like a cheap health meter used in a bath room. We usually don't use such a scale for measurement, don't we?
Q: Surely, you are right.
Tito: The weight in the contract is under 199 pounds. My ordinary weight is about 205 pounds, so I don't need to lose weight so much. This time, also, I lost weight to the level of the contract and passed it. But due to that scale, the Pancrase side complained about my weight. Meantime, I drank water and had a meal without any concern, because I passed it once already. Consequently, my weight was back to the ordinary weight. There is no problem at all. It is wrong to complain about something which was once accepted. They don't know about measurement in the title match.
Q: There is a report saying that the health meter was brought by yourself.
Tito: What? So ridiculous! It was brought by UFC-J.
Q: Is that so? According to the fan of WWF, it seems like that you imitated Crush Holy[?] (a wrestler of WWF, who comes up the ring with a scale in his hand) as a parody. (laughing)
Tito: (Laughing) Crush Holy... It's interesting, but they think too much. (laughing) I hope there is nobody among the fans who mixes up wrestling of WWF with our fights. Our fights are all real. Don't mix it up.
Q: Apart from the fight, it seems to me that there is some similarity in performance and talk in the ring between you and WWF.
Tito: I notice it. I like pro wrestling very much since my child days, and I got into this world partly for that reason.
Q: What? Were you a fan of pro wrestling?
Tito: Yes, I was. I learned all from pro wrestling how to excite the spectator in the ring. I was influenced a lot in many parts by it. But one difference between WWF and me is my fight is real.
Q: Well then who among the pro wrestlers had an influence on you most?
Tito: It is Stonecold Steve Austin, of course.
Q: That's what I thought. There are many fans who are looking at you overlapping Stonecold's image, "strong, bad, and cool".
Tito: (Laughing) I am always aware of such an image. But being "Stonecold" in the Octagon requires a lot of hard training. That character can not be realized without being stronger than anybody else.
Q: The training is not only just to win, but also to realize the image of "strong, bad, and cool", isn't it?
Tito: That's right. In that sense, I'm different from other fighters.
Q: Speaking of Austin, you used to wear the T-shirt like "Austin 3:16", didn't you?
Tito: I think you are talking about "Extreme Associates 3:16". My friend makes a message T-shirt every time, like "I just kick your ass!!".
Q: (Laughing) One time you appeared on the ring in T-shirt saying "Gay Metzer" against "Guy Metzer", didn't you? (laughing)
Tito: Yes, I did it because he was so arrogant. But I was childish. (laughing)
Q: It is also a pleasure to see the T-shirt you put on every time like that, but is it your service for the fans too?
Tito: That's right. Every time I print a message which fits my opponent, usually a harsh message. (laughing)
Q: Then, What is the meaning of the message in the T-shirt you put on in the fight with Kondo?
Tito: It says, "No one gives you a respect". It means something like, "If you fight in the way you aim at a draw or decision by judge, no one will give you a respect". I wanted to do a fight of "dead or alive". But I respect him now, because he fought hard enough in response to my message.
Q: By the way, I heard that "bad boy" is not a gimmick in the ring, but you were really a bad boy when you were a child.
Tito: Yes, it's true. My parents were divorced when I was small, and I had nobody around who could guide me. So I always did fights and blew off my opponents. I did a lot of mistakes, and learned a lot from them. I grew up pretty much.
Q: Japanese fans like to listen to a superstar's tale of bravery in an old day. Do you have such an experience?
Tito: Well, it's not in my child days, but I have one interesting story. When I was drinking with my friend at my favorite night club, Dennis Rodman came in arrogantly surrounded by the security guards. He was an owner of the club. Then I had an argument with a basketball player named Danny Sheiz [?], a friend of Rodman. He complained to me about something trivial like, I spilled a drink over his arm. I promptly kicked his leg, and overturned him. He was very big, but fell down in a perfect way.
Q: Ippon! [Translator's note: It is used when you score a point over Judo fights]
Tito: Then, the security guards rushed to us and surrounded me. I shouted to them out of anger. But someone noticed that I was Tito Ortiz, so it was settled down somehow. But when I went to the bath room after that, one of his security guards came to pick a fight with me. Maybe he still bore a grudge against the incident happened a little before. He tried to provoke my anger, but I ignored him saying "no, no".
At the bottom of the interview he knocks Rickson... hard!
Radical 34, Feb. 2001
Translated by Yoko Kondo
@
Q: Congratulations on your success in the defense of UFC middle-weight Champion belt! Did you have a party for your celebration last night?
Tito: Yes. Finally I was released from the hard training. I had nothing but training everyday for last six months. But the rest is only one day. I will start a hard training from tomorrow again.
Q: Despite that you just finished the fight yesterday, are you going to start the training so soon?
Tito: That's right, because everybody is aiming at this belt. I have to train seriously. There is no rest for the champion. That is a kind of fate of the king.
Q: Well then, could you look back on your fight with Kondo held last night? It was an aggressive fight. In the previous fight with Vanderlei Silva (UFC middle-weight Championship at Yoyogi Stadium on April 14), the fight was rather at a deadlock.. So did you intentionally try to do an aggressive fight, which is your original style, this time?
Tito: Yes, I did. I didn't want to show my victory by decision of judges to the fans at the fight with Silva. So I was happy that I could become the champion at that time, but it was regrettable that I couldn't satisfy the fans. But trust me! There will be no more win by decision of judges. All I do is to win by a knock-out, or choking, or breaking his arm or leg. Making the fans happy or excited is my job.
Q: Wo! You really have a professional spirit! Then you did exactly the same as you planned for your game yesterday, didn't you?
Tito: It was my theme how quickly I could finish with him in my best movement. I took one good knee-kick, but it helped me enhance my fighting spirit. (laughing) Well, it seems everything went well as I planned.
Q: Before the fight, you appreciated Kondo as a strongest challenger. Did you change your impression about him after you in reality fought with him?
Tito: No, not at all. Still now I consider him a strongest challenger.
Q: Do you still think so even after such a perfect victory?
Tito: Yes, because he was very speedy and tough. But the thing is I was more speedy and tough.
Q: How was Kondo compared to Frank Shamrock or Guy Metzer whom you fought with before?
Tito: I think Kondo has a high possibility of chance to defeat them. Both Frank and Metzer have good punches, but Kondo's is more powerful.
Q: You did a perfect victory against Kondo, but you were defeated by Frank.
Tito: To be sure, I was defeated by Frank one year ago. But I have become stronger now than I could expect compared to those days. If I fight with Frank now, I am sure that I will defeat him in the same way as I did to Kondo.
Q: Well, then what do you think is missing for Kondo to defeat you?
Tito: Rather than something is missing, his loss lies in the fact that the champion was Tito Ortiz. He was born at the same time as Tito Ortiz. That is what his unhappiness lies in.
Q: By the way, it is said that there was a trouble in weight one day before the fight, and your real weight was four or five kilogram heavier than that of the contract.
Tito: No, nothing happened like that. But there was a little argument on the scale prepared for measurement, because it was like a cheap health meter used in a bath room. We usually don't use such a scale for measurement, don't we?
Q: Surely, you are right.
Tito: The weight in the contract is under 199 pounds. My ordinary weight is about 205 pounds, so I don't need to lose weight so much. This time, also, I lost weight to the level of the contract and passed it. But due to that scale, the Pancrase side complained about my weight. Meantime, I drank water and had a meal without any concern, because I passed it once already. Consequently, my weight was back to the ordinary weight. There is no problem at all. It is wrong to complain about something which was once accepted. They don't know about measurement in the title match.
Q: There is a report saying that the health meter was brought by yourself.
Tito: What? So ridiculous! It was brought by UFC-J.
Q: Is that so? According to the fan of WWF, it seems like that you imitated Crush Holy[?] (a wrestler of WWF, who comes up the ring with a scale in his hand) as a parody. (laughing)
Tito: (Laughing) Crush Holy... It's interesting, but they think too much. (laughing) I hope there is nobody among the fans who mixes up wrestling of WWF with our fights. Our fights are all real. Don't mix it up.
Q: Apart from the fight, it seems to me that there is some similarity in performance and talk in the ring between you and WWF.
Tito: I notice it. I like pro wrestling very much since my child days, and I got into this world partly for that reason.
Q: What? Were you a fan of pro wrestling?
Tito: Yes, I was. I learned all from pro wrestling how to excite the spectator in the ring. I was influenced a lot in many parts by it. But one difference between WWF and me is my fight is real.
Q: Well then who among the pro wrestlers had an influence on you most?
Tito: It is Stonecold Steve Austin, of course.
Q: That's what I thought. There are many fans who are looking at you overlapping Stonecold's image, "strong, bad, and cool".
Tito: (Laughing) I am always aware of such an image. But being "Stonecold" in the Octagon requires a lot of hard training. That character can not be realized without being stronger than anybody else.
Q: The training is not only just to win, but also to realize the image of "strong, bad, and cool", isn't it?
Tito: That's right. In that sense, I'm different from other fighters.
Q: Speaking of Austin, you used to wear the T-shirt like "Austin 3:16", didn't you?
Tito: I think you are talking about "Extreme Associates 3:16". My friend makes a message T-shirt every time, like "I just kick your ass!!".
Q: (Laughing) One time you appeared on the ring in T-shirt saying "Gay Metzer" against "Guy Metzer", didn't you? (laughing)
Tito: Yes, I did it because he was so arrogant. But I was childish. (laughing)
Q: It is also a pleasure to see the T-shirt you put on every time like that, but is it your service for the fans too?
Tito: That's right. Every time I print a message which fits my opponent, usually a harsh message. (laughing)
Q: Then, What is the meaning of the message in the T-shirt you put on in the fight with Kondo?
Tito: It says, "No one gives you a respect". It means something like, "If you fight in the way you aim at a draw or decision by judge, no one will give you a respect". I wanted to do a fight of "dead or alive". But I respect him now, because he fought hard enough in response to my message.
Q: By the way, I heard that "bad boy" is not a gimmick in the ring, but you were really a bad boy when you were a child.
Tito: Yes, it's true. My parents were divorced when I was small, and I had nobody around who could guide me. So I always did fights and blew off my opponents. I did a lot of mistakes, and learned a lot from them. I grew up pretty much.
Q: Japanese fans like to listen to a superstar's tale of bravery in an old day. Do you have such an experience?
Tito: Well, it's not in my child days, but I have one interesting story. When I was drinking with my friend at my favorite night club, Dennis Rodman came in arrogantly surrounded by the security guards. He was an owner of the club. Then I had an argument with a basketball player named Danny Sheiz [?], a friend of Rodman. He complained to me about something trivial like, I spilled a drink over his arm. I promptly kicked his leg, and overturned him. He was very big, but fell down in a perfect way.
Q: Ippon! [Translator's note: It is used when you score a point over Judo fights]
Tito: Then, the security guards rushed to us and surrounded me. I shouted to them out of anger. But someone noticed that I was Tito Ortiz, so it was settled down somehow. But when I went to the bath room after that, one of his security guards came to pick a fight with me. Maybe he still bore a grudge against the incident happened a little before. He tried to provoke my anger, but I ignored him saying "no, no".
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