Tito Ortiz Says Bellator Could’ve Done Better Job At Promoting Bellator Dynamite 1
Tito Ortiz lost to Liam McGeary in a light heavyweight title bout as the main event of Bellator Dynamite 1. Ortiz was actually winning the first-round as he took McGeary down, outlasted a submission attempted and then started doing his legendary ground and pound. McGeary would end up winning the fight with a submission in the later part of the round.
During a recent appearance on Submission Radio, Ortiz recalled the fight.
“The first little exchange and then going for the takedown I went for his legs and his legs felt … I don’t want to say slippery, but just super soft,” Ortiz told Submission Radio. “I just let my arms slide up the side of him and I had to re-shoot again.
“A little baby lotion or lotion. He uses a lot of lotion on his legs. Everybody, I mean, not everybody, but most people put lotion on themselves so maybe he put a lot of lotion on prior. He caught me in a submission. He was the better man.”
Tito Ortiz (18-11) is currently on a one-fight losing streak. In his last six bouts, he’s 2-3.
Ortiz made it clear that once McGeary had a hold of his neck, it was all over.
“I saw the lights going out super quick when it was locked,” said Ortiz. “I wasn’t going to get choked out on live television. That’s for sure. Checkmate. What could I do? That was it. I wasn’t going to go out. I’ve never gone out before. I’m not going to fight something that could hurt my neck more. He fought the best Tito Ortiz. I was ready.”
Bellator MMA did not do the kind of ratings that they wanted to do. Ortiz blames Bellator MMA’s marketing and public relations team for not doing the kind of business they could have done.
“I think Bellator or Spike or whoever was doing PR for it could have done a little bit better,” said Ortiz. “I did all my own PR. I did more than 50 percent of it. For a fighter to do 50 percent of their own PR for an event? Somebody needs to step their game up. Bellator’s still learning. They’re getting better, but to compete against football … that makes a big difference.
“I think [Coker] did an amazing job, all around. I think the gate was the biggest that Bellator’s ever done. They sold over 14,000 tickets which was amazing. That’s the big positive point they got out of it. And the fans were happy with it.”
Bellator Dynamite 1 took place on Saturday, September 19th at the SAP Center in San Jose, California and the main card aired on Spike TV in prime time.
You can listen to the entire interview here:
