"The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz vs. "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock is a mixed martial arts trilogy and rivalry. It is regarded as one of the biggest feuds in MMA history. All three fights took place under Ultimate Fighting Championship in the United States. All three fights have ended in technical knockout with one of them having been for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

At the first meeting at UFC 40, Ortiz won by technical knockout due to corner stoppage following the third round. By this victory he retained the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. The second time, after The Ultimate Fighter 3, at UFC 61 Ortiz won the rematch by technical knockout at 1:18 in the very first round. At the third and final match-up, Ortiz once again won, making it 3–0 for himself, by technical knockout at 2:22 in the first round.

In 2012, UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta described the feud; "A lot of it had to do with their personalities - Ortiz was young, he was brash, he was irreverent. Ken Shamrock was a guy who was well-respected, had accomplished a lot in this sport."Unknown

Background The feud began to build on January 8, 1999, at UFC 18. After upsetting top UFC fighter and Lion's Den member Jerry Bohlander, Ortiz, with his fingers, acted like he was shooting at the Lion's Den corner and coach Ken Shamrock and additionally put on a disrespectful shirt in the octagon after the fight with Bohlander which read "I just f**ked your ass".

On March 5, 1999, at UFC 19, the feud with Ortiz exploded in one of the biggest and most famous altercations in mixed martial arts history. After Ortiz won a referee stoppage in his rematch with Guy Mezger, Ortiz immediately flipped off the Lion's Den corner and then put on a shirt that said "Gay Mezger is my Bitch". The actions by Ortiz shocked and stunned the MMA world because at the time, the Lion's Den was highly respected and arguably the most elite fight team in MMA and was composed of numerous top fighters. At the top was the leader, Ken Shamrock, who at the time still held a reputation as being one of the scariest and most skilled fighters associated with the UFC.

After Shamrock saw the shirt, he yelled into the octagon "Hey Tito, don't let me see you wearing that shirt!". Shamrock then famously leaped onto the top of the cage, screaming at Ortiz and angrily waving his finger in Ortiz's face. Referee John McCarthy picked Ortiz up and carried him across the octagon to prevent the situation from escalating further, as a livid Shamrock was on the verge of jumping into the octagon.

Shamrock, who was still in the WWF at the time, was furious after the event. UFC matchmaker Joe Silva said: "SEG knew this was bad. Ken was really freaking out. Tables were getting flipped, who knows what was going to happen. So they have to usher Tito back to a room and get him away from the Lion's Den. It was craziness, everybody was just looking at each other and saying, 'Did I see that right? Did that shirt really say what I thought that it said?' Everybody's freaking out about it...there was such a buzz about it, everybody was running around everywhere."Shamrock vs. Ortiz: The Untold Truth. Video Documentary. Action Guy Films Silva added, "When I think back and remember all the cool things, all the exciting and crazy things in the UFC, that night is definitely burned into my memory."

Ortiz's manager, Sal Garcia, added: "one of the other fighters comes in at that point and says, 'hey, Ken Shamrock and the Lion's Den, they want to come over and kick Tito and Sal's asses.'" The tension backstage was so great that some feared a brawl between the Lion's Den and Tito Ortiz, Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman and others from the Hammer House (who were in Ortiz's locker room after the event). The situation was escalated to the point that police and security had to be called in to monitor the situation. Jeff Sherwood, creator of Sherdog, wrote after the event: "Someone needs to remind Ken Shamrock that it wasn't Monday Night Raw out there. Not saying he wouldn't tear Tito up though."

Sherwood was not alone in his opinion that Shamrock would have been too much for Ortiz to deal with at the time. Shamrock had a reputation of thoroughly and brutally dominating everybody in training at the Lion's Den, including top UFC fighters Guy Mezger and Jerry Bohlander, and Shamrock, at north of , was considerably larger than Ortiz and would be a full weight class above him. Ortiz also expressed reluctance in confronting Shamrock, saying shortly after UFC 19:

Many fans were upset that this fight probably would never happen due to the weight difference. However, over time, Shamrock began to lose size and by the time he fought Don Frye three years later in 2002, Shamrock was down to around 220 lbs, making it possible to cut weight to 205.

UFC 40: Vendetta

On November 22, 2002, at UFC 40, nearly four years after the confrontation at UFC 19, Shamrock returned to the UFC for the first time since December 1996 to fight Ortiz in a title match for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship in one of the biggest, most anticipated and most important fights in UFC history. By this time, Shamrock's skills had diminished significantly due to injuries and aging but he was still considered to be a very dangerous and strong opponent. Although it was understood that Shamrock was past his prime, many people gave Shamrock a good chance to win based on his size (Ortiz had not fought someone as big as Shamrock to that point in his career), punching power, wrestling skill and submission skill. Shamrock's apparent size advantage did not factor into the fight, however; Shamrock experienced difficulty cutting weight for the first time and cut too much weight, weighing in at 201 lbs, 4 lbs under the 205 lb. limit. Ortiz shed light upon his feelings before the fight in his book This is Gonna Hurt: The Life of a Mixed Martial Arts Champion: "Ken Shamrock is a real good fighter. I was not intimidated by him, but I guess you can say I was a little bit afraid."This is Gonna Hurt: The Life of a Mixed Martial Arts Champion, by Tito Ortiz. Page 123

Color commentator Joe Rogan called the fight a "dream match" and "the most incredible night in mixed martial arts history" at the start of the show and admitted that he had no idea who was going to win the fight. The hype and buzz surrounding the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the event was unlike anything mixed martial arts had ever seen before. The event was also monumental for the future of the UFC and the sport as a whole in America for a variety of reasons. UFC 40 sold out the MGM Grand Arena and sold 150,000 pay per view buys, a rate over three times larger than the previous Zuffa events. It also garnered mainstream attention from massive media outlets such as ESPN and USA Today, something that was unfathomable for mixed martial arts at that point in time. Many have suggested that the success of UFC 40 and the anticipation for Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz saved the UFC from bankruptcy; the buyrates of the previous Zuffa shows averaged a mere 45,000 buys per event and the company was suffering deep monetary losses. The commercial success of UFC 40 provided a glimmer of hope for the UFC and kept alive the dream that mixed martial arts could become big.

Although many in the mixed martial arts media either deemed the fight too close to call or gave a slight edge to the younger Ortiz, the fight was not nearly as close as originally expected. Ortiz managed to hurt Shamrock numerous times in the first with knees and punches in the clinch, though Shamrock managed to briefly drop Ortiz to one knee with a punch of his own. Ortiz recovered shortly after and went on to dominate the fight with takedowns and ground and pound. The manner in which Ortiz easily secured numerous takedowns was surprising to some because Shamrock had displayed excellent wrestling and takedown defense throughout his career to that point. In addition, the fighters at the Lion's Den claimed that nobody took Shamrock down in training. Shamrock provided excitement for the crowd at the end of rounds 2 and 3, dramatically scrambling to his feet after being dominated from his back, but was unable to mount any significant offense after getting up. Right before Round 4 started, Shamrock's cornerman threw in the towel and Ortiz had successfully defended the UFC light heavyweight championship.

After the fight was over, Shamrock revealed that he fought Ortiz with a serious knee injury (a torn ACL). Shamrock's ACL injury explained his ineffective wrestling in the fight, which had been an enormous strength for Shamrock throughout his career prior to the Ortiz fight. Bruce Buffer has said on various occasions that this fight was one of the greatest fights he has ever seen and that the energy from the crowd that night was one of the greatest feelings he has ever experienced. Buffer also compared Shamrock and Ortiz's first fight with boxing's "Fight of the Century" in Ali vs. Frazier.

Significance of UFC 40 UFC 40 proved to be the most critical event to date in the Zuffa era. The event sold out the MGM Grand Arena and sold 150,000 pay per view buys, a rate over three times larger than the previous Zuffa events. The event featured a card headlined by a highly anticipated championship grudge match between then-current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz and former UFC Superfight Champion Ken Shamrock, who had previously defected to professional wrestling in the WWE before returning to MMA. It was the first time the UFC hit such a high mark since being forced "underground" in 1997.UFC's Pay-Per-View Buys Explode in 2006, Ivan's Blog, originally posted on MMAWeekly.com. Last retrieved November 11, 2006 UFC 40 also garnered mainstream attention from massive media outlets such as ESPN and USA Today, something that was unfathomable for mixed martial arts at that point in time. Many have suggested that the success of UFC 40 and the anticipation for Ortiz vs. Shamrock saved the UFC from bankruptcy; the buyrates of the previous Zuffa shows averaged a mere 45,000 buys per event and the company was suffering deep monetary losses. The success of UFC 40 provided a glimmer of hope for the UFC and kept alive the dream that mixed martial arts could become big. Long time UFC referee "Big" John McCarthy said that he felt UFC 40 was the turning point in whether or not the sport of MMA would survive in America.

UFC 61: Bitter Rivals

Ortiz went on to face Randy Couture at UFC 44 for the undisputed UFC Light Heavyweight Championship in September 2003. Ortiz was the favorite going into the fight. Despite this, Couture won a unanimous decision in dominant fashion and became the undisputed UFC light heavyweight champion. The loss ended Ortiz's near three-and-a-half-year title reign. Following his loss to Couture, Ortiz faced Chuck Liddell at UFC 47, losing by second-round knockout. After six months off, Ortiz returned and took a unanimous decision victory over newcomer Patrick Côté at UFC 50 and a split decision over Vitor Belfort at UFC 51. Ortiz than fought against previous The Ultimate Fighter 1 winner Forrest Griffin on April 15, 2006. Ortiz won via split decision.