Tito Ortiz put an exclamation mark on his legendary mixed martial arts career by submitting Chael Sonnen with a rear-naked choke on his 42nd birthday.
Ortiz survived an early guillotine choke attempt and forced Sonnen to submit at 2:03 of the first round in the main event of Bellator 170.
Ortiz, a member of the UFC Hall of Fame and one of the pioneers of the sport, experienced some anxious moments.
However, he was significantly stronger than Sonnen and essentially overpowered the man known as “the American Gangster.”
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Ortiz, a former college wrestler who was knocked out by Sonnen in the first round 19 years ago to the day, had his son Jacob perform a symbolic act and leave his red gloves in the middle of the cage.
“Guys, this will be the last time I’m in this cage,” Ortiz told the crowd.
“So, like we do in wrestling, take off your wrestling shoes.
“Tonight, January 21, 2017, I will have my son take off these gloves here in the Bellator cage because this is the last time I fight.
“Thank you guys for your support for 20 years.”
Ortiz is a former UFC light heavyweight champion who first won the title on April 14, 2000 at UFC 25 in Japan by defeating Wanderlei Silva.
Since then he has been one of the biggest names in the sport.
He has experienced more than enough ups and downs.
He feuded with UFC President Dana White and was actually scheduled to fight White on Spike TV.
He lost two important fights by knockout against his arch-rival Chuck Liddell and suffered a number of serious injuries.
Towards the end, when he was long past his prime, he found it difficult to win and he reached a record of 1-7-1 in his last nine UFC fights.
But a final neck surgery cured him, he said, and he signed a promotional deal with Bellator.
And that seemed to give him the energy and motivation to sprint to the finish.
After beginning his Bellator career with wins over Alexander Shlemenko and Stephan Bonnar, Ortiz challenged Liam McGeary for the Bellator light heavyweight title, but was smothered in the first fight.
He then signed a contract to face Sonnen, making the fight a personal matter.
And even though Sonnen, who hadn’t fought in over three years, was the favorite, Ortiz delivered on everything he promised.
He was briefly caught in the guillotine, but gave referee John McCarthy a thumbs up to say he was OK as he tried to find a way out.
“I knew I could beat Chael because he’s not very strong and I could fight my way out of (bad) positions,” Ortiz said.
And Ortiz, whose ground fighting was always underrated, was able to break free, go into the mount and then quickly get back behind Sonnen. Ortiz was bigger and stronger and not exhausted, and Sonnen had little way to escape. He gave up after 2:03, giving Ortiz the emotional victory.
