The Tito Ortiz Vs. Ken Shamrock rivalry may have seemed to jumpstraight out of the WWE, but it converted a great deal of fans to the sport and was a huge PPV draw. It all started when Ortiz decided to wear offensive t-shirts after defeating his opponents when Ortiz wore one insulting a Lions Den fighter (Kens camp), the ever impulsive Shamrock reacted. Ken shamrock has never been known for his calm and serene nature so he took these insults personally. He jumped on the cage's fence and started furiously shouting at Tito until referee Big John McCarthy was forced to drag Tito away and diffuse the situation. Four years after this event, Tito and Shamrock finally got to face off against each other at UFC 40 for the 205-lbs title. Ortiz would beat the aging Shamrock and this was followed by two further fights (both of which Tito won). The rivalry these two had did wonders for the UFC. Their first fight at UFC 40 sold out the sizeable MGM Grand Arena and sold some 150000 PPVs 3-times more than any event before. It was also marked the first time mainstream media had paid any attention to MMA and was covered on ESPN. The subsequent two fights did increasingly better business for the teething company. Were it not for rivalries like these, who knows if the UFC would be enjoying all the success it receives today? Now that Dana White is so openly at loggerheads with the former Champion, he would certainly rather the MMA community forget that the company owes so much to Tito Ortiz.
Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.
