Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz released a video on his Facebook page of him receiving the alleged 22 stitches that forced him out of his bout with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC Fight Night 24. As we all know, former NCAA Division I wrestler Phil Davis is replacing Ortiz on short notice.
As I stated previously the issue with Ortiz is this:
The problem Ortiz faces is not that his injury is illegitimate. It's that at 35, when he's not losing fights in the UFC, he's withdrawing from them before they ever happen. He is barely able to make it through a fight camp.
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Ortiz is struggling to fight off a reality where he has no relevance, but the quicksand is moving. He'a also so physically ground up from years at the MMA salt mines he's apparently only willing to enter fights with near perfect health - a concept that he should know is both unrealistic and fatuous. Either you are capable of training and competing at this level or you are not. Waiting for the sweet spot of career turnarounds to find it's way to you at 35, particularly after neck and back surgeries and multiple concussions, is the very definition of grasping at straws.
The other issue, of course, is that Ortiz's long history of exaggeration and stretching the truth pushes him into territory where he abandons medical privacy to back up claims that would be accepted without video evidence by virtually any other UFC star.
Here's to hoping for a quick recovery for Ortiz, but I hope he understands he's got a lot more than stitches to heal from.