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Tito Ortiz Released from UFC, Faces Criminal Charges
Thu Apr 1, 12:41 PM
By Seymour Francis, The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS, Nevada - Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz knows what it means to fall from grace. His latest downfall, however, makes his past transgressions look elementary.
Ever the colourful and controversial figure, Tito Ortiz was released from the UFC on Thursday following confirmation regarding rumours that Ortiz was cheating to make the 205 pound weight limit for his division. Rumours began circulating soon after Ortiz was seen to be significantly larger than opponent Forrest Griffin on the promotion’s pay-per-view card last November. A video distributed on YouTube featured Tito Ortiz eating pasta and stepping on a digital scale weighing 252 pounds, merely hours after the official weigh-in. The UFC did not have the legal authority to terminate Ortiz’s contract until Dr. Jia Hongsheng, Ortiz’s physician, admitted to helping Ortiz surgically lose weight, which goes against the promotion’s charter.
Tito Ortiz’s most recent opponent, Forrest Griffin, who is a former champion himself, insists that Ortiz was indeed cheating to make the weight cut, saying “Dude, I train with guys like Randy [Couture] and Todd Duffee, and I guarantee Ortiz weighed more than them the night we were fighting. Good thing the guy punches as hard as my sister or I could have been in a world of trouble”.
Details on how Dr. Hongsheng helped Ortiz surgically remove weight are still being investigated, but a transcript between the disgraced doctor and Sheriff Douglas C. Gillespie has been released by the Los Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to help shed light on the bizarre situation. An excerpt of the transcript is as follows:
SHERIFF GILLESPIE: Did you or did you not assist Tito Ortiz by surgically removing weight from him before his fight in November?
HONGSHENG: I admit that I did, just like I told Dana [White].
SHERIFF GILLESPIE: Is this the only fight you helped him cut weight for, or has this been going on for longer?
HONGSHENG: I helped him cut weight for his last six fights in one way or another.
SHERIFF GILLESPIE: Describe what it means to “surgically remove weight” from somebody.
HONGSHENG: Everybody has a different body type. When you’re dealing with professional athletes, you can’t cut much weight in fat because most of the competitors have low body fat to begin with. This is why athletes cut water weight. Tito Ortiz, however, is unique: he is so heavy during the off season that removing all of the water from his body would still not be enough to reach the 205 limit. So what I like to do with Tito is help him cut water weight until he weighs 230 [pounds], and then we do surgery approximately thirty minutes before he is scheduled to weigh in. I put local anaesthetics in his buttocks and make incisions from there; normally what I do is remove one of his kidneys through his ass, and then cut off about four feet worth of large intestine. We then check his weight; if he’s 205, then it’s go-time. If he is still over, I lay him back down and keep prodding about for more organs to temporarily remove. In his bout with Machida, I had to remove his left lung … I wasn’t sure how he would hold up, but thankfully he made it.
SHERIFF GILLESPIE: What do you do with his organs for the period when he is being weighed and interviewed?
HONGSHENG: Luckily, former WWE superstar Stone Cold Steve Austin and Tito are great friends. Austin usually has a cooler he brings to the weigh-ins for beer, which he lends to us for about half an hour. I put the organs carefully in a Ziploc bag and put the bag in the cooler, alongside the beer. Austin doesn’t seem to mind.
SHERIFF GILLESPIE: Why do you make the incisions through his buttocks? Why not through his back or stomach?
HONGSHENG: It would be too obvious if everybody could see his surgical scars during the weigh-ins. I stitch him up quickly after the procedure and he fits in a pair of shorts to cover the area in question.
Dr. Hongsheng also concedes to the possibility that a part of Tito Ortiz’s brain may have been removed four years ago to help him make weight in a bout against fellow mixed martial arts legend Chuck Liddell, and that it may have been accidentally misplaced or consumed. The part of the brain Ortiz had removed is known to scientists as the “frontal lobe”, understood to control cognitive, sensory, and motor functioning, which may help explain his severe dyslexia.
Sparring partner Matt Hamill of Team Punishment told reporters through sign language, “I‘m not shocked at all about this news; in fact, I think this answers a lot of questions. I’ve always considered that guy [Ortiz] to be a (expletive) retard. He once put deodorant over his entire body to avoid sweating in practice, and he had to be rushed to the hospital immediately as a result”. Amidst awkward laughter, Hamill added: "We were doing jiu-jitsu one time, and I remember very clearly being in his guard ... I guess spreading his legs opened up some of his stitches because his kidney fell out of his shorts and onto the mat, and began frantically crawling away. Luckily Rampage Jackson was there to punch it so it could be subdued and reinserted into Ortiz's body".
Ortiz’s girlfriend, famous pornography actress Jenna Jameson, was very open and vocal about the shocking news.
“We began dating in 2006, and he [Ortiz] seemed to be very charismatic and intelligent back then. However, the day after one of his weigh-ins he completely changed. I naïvely thought he was simply acting nervous because of his upcoming fight, but days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, but his behaviour got progressively worse. He would stutter constantly and make completely irrational statements like ‘let me tell you how you’re feeling right now’ and ‘Vitor Belfort looks great for being one-hundred thirty-one years old’”.
He also began doing uncharacteristic things like drooling and completely forgetting to wipe himself after using the bathroom. When I reminded him to wipe last winter, he grabbed me by my neck and yelled ‘toilet paper is for retards!’ before falling down unconscious.”
When asked by one tacky tabloid reporter as to how these changes in Ortiz affected their sex life, Jameson seemed lax, responding “Sex? With Tito? As if! I let him play with my tits every now and then, and believe it or not, he actually thinks that counts as sex”.
UFC President Dana White was not as easy going as others regarding the situation. “I talked with Tito and told him he is out of a (expletive) job, and to take his chicken (expletive) excuse for a (expletive) doctor with him. I am seriously considering pressing charges on Hongsheng, because Ortiz could have (expletive) died. This isn’t a joke”.
Even more shocking is that these findings coincide with the UFC’s debut of its hit series, “The Ultimate Fighter”, which has reached its eleventh season on Spike TV. Opposing coach Chuck Liddell, who was expected to compete against Ortiz for the third time in his career following the season’s conclusion, was available for comment on Thursday outside of his home in San Luis Obispo, California. A visibly intoxicated Liddell, known for his history of alcohol abuse, uttered barely interpretable nonsense to nearby reporters.
“Uh … yeah, Ortiz is definitely big. He makes, he … 205 pounds definitely hard. I think times are … times are tough, we need to show, uh … support, champion’s have hearts. Big hearts. Trust … we need trust, I mean … trust me, Ortiz will be back. Come on … Ortiz, come back and, uh … let’s give the (expletive) fans what they want to see!”
Reporters described Liddell’s breath as “a notoriously bad odour, saturated with alcohol” and that he “fell to the ground on three separate occasions from his door step to his vehicle, at which point he decided to drive away despite urgent advice not to do so”.
The health hazards concerning weight cutting, and whether or not it can accurately be called a science as claimed by some, will certainly receive more attention in light of these events. Dr. Walter Bishop, PhD of the University of Chicago warns of the dangers of frequent weight cutting and dehydration, and adds “why the (expletive) doesn’t Tito just fight at heavyweight? Dude is bigger than Cain Velazquez, for (expletive) sake”.
Although the investigations are still ongoing, both Tito Ortiz and physician Dr. Hongsheng suffer tremendous damage to their reputations and face criminal charges in the process. Regardless of how the trials may conclude, one thing is for certain: Tito Ortiz has fought his last fight inside the Octagon.
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To be honest guys, I can't say I'm all that surprised by the news. It was obvious to me that Ortiz was cheating one way or another to make the weight cut, but who knew he went to such drastic measures. I'm not sure if I should respect him for the dangers he underwent to please us fans or criticize him for his wrecklessness.
What are your thoughts, guys? Being released from the UFC may be an overreaction from the head office.
Thoughts?
Thu Apr 1, 12:41 PM
By Seymour Francis, The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS, Nevada - Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz knows what it means to fall from grace. His latest downfall, however, makes his past transgressions look elementary.
Ever the colourful and controversial figure, Tito Ortiz was released from the UFC on Thursday following confirmation regarding rumours that Ortiz was cheating to make the 205 pound weight limit for his division. Rumours began circulating soon after Ortiz was seen to be significantly larger than opponent Forrest Griffin on the promotion’s pay-per-view card last November. A video distributed on YouTube featured Tito Ortiz eating pasta and stepping on a digital scale weighing 252 pounds, merely hours after the official weigh-in. The UFC did not have the legal authority to terminate Ortiz’s contract until Dr. Jia Hongsheng, Ortiz’s physician, admitted to helping Ortiz surgically lose weight, which goes against the promotion’s charter.
Tito Ortiz’s most recent opponent, Forrest Griffin, who is a former champion himself, insists that Ortiz was indeed cheating to make the weight cut, saying “Dude, I train with guys like Randy [Couture] and Todd Duffee, and I guarantee Ortiz weighed more than them the night we were fighting. Good thing the guy punches as hard as my sister or I could have been in a world of trouble”.
Details on how Dr. Hongsheng helped Ortiz surgically remove weight are still being investigated, but a transcript between the disgraced doctor and Sheriff Douglas C. Gillespie has been released by the Los Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to help shed light on the bizarre situation. An excerpt of the transcript is as follows:
SHERIFF GILLESPIE: Did you or did you not assist Tito Ortiz by surgically removing weight from him before his fight in November?
HONGSHENG: I admit that I did, just like I told Dana [White].
SHERIFF GILLESPIE: Is this the only fight you helped him cut weight for, or has this been going on for longer?
HONGSHENG: I helped him cut weight for his last six fights in one way or another.
SHERIFF GILLESPIE: Describe what it means to “surgically remove weight” from somebody.
HONGSHENG: Everybody has a different body type. When you’re dealing with professional athletes, you can’t cut much weight in fat because most of the competitors have low body fat to begin with. This is why athletes cut water weight. Tito Ortiz, however, is unique: he is so heavy during the off season that removing all of the water from his body would still not be enough to reach the 205 limit. So what I like to do with Tito is help him cut water weight until he weighs 230 [pounds], and then we do surgery approximately thirty minutes before he is scheduled to weigh in. I put local anaesthetics in his buttocks and make incisions from there; normally what I do is remove one of his kidneys through his ass, and then cut off about four feet worth of large intestine. We then check his weight; if he’s 205, then it’s go-time. If he is still over, I lay him back down and keep prodding about for more organs to temporarily remove. In his bout with Machida, I had to remove his left lung … I wasn’t sure how he would hold up, but thankfully he made it.
SHERIFF GILLESPIE: What do you do with his organs for the period when he is being weighed and interviewed?
HONGSHENG: Luckily, former WWE superstar Stone Cold Steve Austin and Tito are great friends. Austin usually has a cooler he brings to the weigh-ins for beer, which he lends to us for about half an hour. I put the organs carefully in a Ziploc bag and put the bag in the cooler, alongside the beer. Austin doesn’t seem to mind.
SHERIFF GILLESPIE: Why do you make the incisions through his buttocks? Why not through his back or stomach?
HONGSHENG: It would be too obvious if everybody could see his surgical scars during the weigh-ins. I stitch him up quickly after the procedure and he fits in a pair of shorts to cover the area in question.
Dr. Hongsheng also concedes to the possibility that a part of Tito Ortiz’s brain may have been removed four years ago to help him make weight in a bout against fellow mixed martial arts legend Chuck Liddell, and that it may have been accidentally misplaced or consumed. The part of the brain Ortiz had removed is known to scientists as the “frontal lobe”, understood to control cognitive, sensory, and motor functioning, which may help explain his severe dyslexia.
Sparring partner Matt Hamill of Team Punishment told reporters through sign language, “I‘m not shocked at all about this news; in fact, I think this answers a lot of questions. I’ve always considered that guy [Ortiz] to be a (expletive) retard. He once put deodorant over his entire body to avoid sweating in practice, and he had to be rushed to the hospital immediately as a result”. Amidst awkward laughter, Hamill added: "We were doing jiu-jitsu one time, and I remember very clearly being in his guard ... I guess spreading his legs opened up some of his stitches because his kidney fell out of his shorts and onto the mat, and began frantically crawling away. Luckily Rampage Jackson was there to punch it so it could be subdued and reinserted into Ortiz's body".
Ortiz’s girlfriend, famous pornography actress Jenna Jameson, was very open and vocal about the shocking news.
“We began dating in 2006, and he [Ortiz] seemed to be very charismatic and intelligent back then. However, the day after one of his weigh-ins he completely changed. I naïvely thought he was simply acting nervous because of his upcoming fight, but days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, but his behaviour got progressively worse. He would stutter constantly and make completely irrational statements like ‘let me tell you how you’re feeling right now’ and ‘Vitor Belfort looks great for being one-hundred thirty-one years old’”.
He also began doing uncharacteristic things like drooling and completely forgetting to wipe himself after using the bathroom. When I reminded him to wipe last winter, he grabbed me by my neck and yelled ‘toilet paper is for retards!’ before falling down unconscious.”
When asked by one tacky tabloid reporter as to how these changes in Ortiz affected their sex life, Jameson seemed lax, responding “Sex? With Tito? As if! I let him play with my tits every now and then, and believe it or not, he actually thinks that counts as sex”.
UFC President Dana White was not as easy going as others regarding the situation. “I talked with Tito and told him he is out of a (expletive) job, and to take his chicken (expletive) excuse for a (expletive) doctor with him. I am seriously considering pressing charges on Hongsheng, because Ortiz could have (expletive) died. This isn’t a joke”.
Even more shocking is that these findings coincide with the UFC’s debut of its hit series, “The Ultimate Fighter”, which has reached its eleventh season on Spike TV. Opposing coach Chuck Liddell, who was expected to compete against Ortiz for the third time in his career following the season’s conclusion, was available for comment on Thursday outside of his home in San Luis Obispo, California. A visibly intoxicated Liddell, known for his history of alcohol abuse, uttered barely interpretable nonsense to nearby reporters.
“Uh … yeah, Ortiz is definitely big. He makes, he … 205 pounds definitely hard. I think times are … times are tough, we need to show, uh … support, champion’s have hearts. Big hearts. Trust … we need trust, I mean … trust me, Ortiz will be back. Come on … Ortiz, come back and, uh … let’s give the (expletive) fans what they want to see!”
Reporters described Liddell’s breath as “a notoriously bad odour, saturated with alcohol” and that he “fell to the ground on three separate occasions from his door step to his vehicle, at which point he decided to drive away despite urgent advice not to do so”.
The health hazards concerning weight cutting, and whether or not it can accurately be called a science as claimed by some, will certainly receive more attention in light of these events. Dr. Walter Bishop, PhD of the University of Chicago warns of the dangers of frequent weight cutting and dehydration, and adds “why the (expletive) doesn’t Tito just fight at heavyweight? Dude is bigger than Cain Velazquez, for (expletive) sake”.
Although the investigations are still ongoing, both Tito Ortiz and physician Dr. Hongsheng suffer tremendous damage to their reputations and face criminal charges in the process. Regardless of how the trials may conclude, one thing is for certain: Tito Ortiz has fought his last fight inside the Octagon.
---
To be honest guys, I can't say I'm all that surprised by the news. It was obvious to me that Ortiz was cheating one way or another to make the weight cut, but who knew he went to such drastic measures. I'm not sure if I should respect him for the dangers he underwent to please us fans or criticize him for his wrecklessness.
What are your thoughts, guys? Being released from the UFC may be an overreaction from the head office.
Thoughts?
