UFC
UFC NEWS: Tito Ortiz gets neck surgery, says he was "fired" from The Ultimate Fighter 11
May 27, 2010 - 8:58:00 AM UFC NEWS: Tito Ortiz gets neck surgery, says he was "fired" from The Ultimate Fighter 11

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Last night's episode of The Ultimate Fighter finally revealed the reason behind Tito Ortiz pulling out of his coaches fight with Chuck Liddell at UFC 115, and though next week's episode will see him leave the show to make way for Rich Franklin, Ortiz has already discussed the reasons he was "fired" as a coach just days before the show completed filming.

At the outset of the episode, Ortiz talked to some of the fighters on his team and revealed he was having major neck issues again, and also that his doctors were recommending surgery. At the conclusion of the episode, Dana White revealed the bad news to Chuck Liddell that Ortiz had pulled out of the fight.

In a video posted after the show aired last night, Ortiz discussed what happened and provided video of his neck surgery.

"I can't fight hurt anymore. I can't fight injured and look for excuses," he said. "I'll get fusion C-5, C-6 in my neck. I’m scared but Dr. Smith is a great doctor... This will be the beginning of the last of my back and neck pain."

"I was having problems wrestling, hitting mitts and getting punched in the head from The Ultimate Fighter. That's why they pretty much fired me... the last 5 days before the Ultimate Fighter was over."

The episode brought to rest months worth of speculation, both on whether rumors were true about him leaving TUF early and not fighting Liddell and the reasons behind said withdrawal from the fight.

Liddell, for his part, doesn't believe Ortiz was ever going to fight him, and says Tito knew he was hurt and wasn't going to fight the whole time they were filming TUF.

For any that are interested, video of Ortiz's neck surgery is below (App users video available at MMATorch.com):



Penick's Analysis: The way Ortiz was talking at the beginning of the video, it certainly sounds like he knew about this before The Ultimate Fighter. He may have wanted to fight through it originally and then decided it was too much, but he certainly knew there was a problem. But when a fighter is hurt to the point Ortiz was he needed to get it taken care of. The UFC did the right thing, ultimately, in removing him from the show if he wasn't able to do the things necessary of him to be an effective coach for his team when he wasn't going to fight for some time at the end of the season. Now next week or the week after on TUF will bring the arrival of Rich Franklin. At least we can finally move on with knowledge of what happened and the speculation finally finished.

RELATED STORY: The Ultimate Fighter Report, episode nine: [CLICK TO READ FULL REPORT]

[Tito Ortiz are by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]