30 greatest UFC fighters of all time [UPDATED]

23. Tito Ortiz

Tito Ortiz started his career with the UFC in 1997 and went 15-11-1, earning six performance bonuses with the organization up until his brief retirement in 2012 when he was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

Early in his career, Ortiz was a huge PPV draw, especially during his title reign. Oritz went 6-3 in title fights, defending the title five consecutive times. Winning the belt from Wanderlei Silva, Ortiz took care of business against Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko, and Ken Shamrock before losing the title to Randy Couture. After that Ortiz went 5-1 against Patrick Cote, Vitor Belfort, Forrest Griffin, and Ken Shamrock on his way to another title shot against Chuck Liddell. Ortiz lost that fight and he went on a career-worst 1-6-1 run.

Ortiz’s last fight in the UFC was his trilogy bout with Forrest Griffin and since then has had a falling out with boss Dana White. Ortiz moved on to Bellator and other promotions after the UFC, including a boxing match with Anderson Silva and a seat on the city council of Huntington Beach for a bit, but there’s no denying he was one of the most popular fighters of his era.