Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz competed for the final time at Bellator 170, where he submitted fellow UFC veteran Chael Sonnen with a rear naked choke. A choke tha🍌t Ortiz admitted, was maඣybe applied for a little too long.
“When he was tapping, I thought he was trying to grab my hands, but I kind of held on to it because I have ill will towards him,” Ortiz explained at the post-fight presser. “But that’s just me, when someone talks about my family, when someone talks about my character, I have bad will towards the person. And I’ve never done that before, but it was just something in my mind saying, if I let go and they stop it and restart it again, I couldn’t let that happen. I apologize to the athletic commission for holding on to it a little longer, but I did hold on to it longer. I just had that ill will, I felt like an animal, I felt like a lion, and this lion roared how I said I was going to. This was my fight, no matter what, this is what I was going to do.”
Sonnen doesn’t even harbor any ill will towards Ortiz for the incident, despit🐼e🍸 Ortiz saying it was personal.
“I tapped and he didn't let go. I'm not upset about it. I don't have any ill feelings towards him,” Sonnen said. “But yes did he hold the choke after I tapped? Sure.”
Sonnen is now 0-1-0 under the Bellator MMA banner and it was his first fight in over three year’s time. You can see Fightful's Bellator 170 coverage at this link.
