Tito Ortiz apologises to deaf community
Known for his outspoken trash talk, Tito 'The Huntingdon Beach Bad Boy' Ortiz may have gone a little bit too far when he said his upcoming opponent, Matt 'The Hammer' Hamill would be easier to beat because
he was deaf. On Tuesday, October 19, Ortiz issued an apology for his comments, a rare event for the brash Ortiz.
"I want to apologize to the deaf community for the remarks I made about Matt, it was uncalled for. He is a good fighter and I was out of line."
Ortiz’s offending comments came earlier, when he said Hamill was using his deafness to get an easier ride.
"He's been babied his whole life, coming from being deaf of course, and he's going to be babied after, when I knock him out," Ortiz had said. But he didn’t stop there.
"I've noticed he's deaf, so he has a soft head, you hit him with more and more shots. You hit them with soft shots because their equilibrium, they don't have no equilibrium. And you hit them with shots and
you hit them with small shots."
What was most surprising about the comments is that the two had previously been friends, when Ortiz served as Hamill’s coach on The Ultimate Fighter reality show’s third season. But Ortiz is desperately needing
a win, as the 35-year-old is 0-3-1 in his last four fights, with his last significant win coming over four years ago.
Hamill, for his part, is avoiding either feelings of friendship or feelings of enmity towards Ortiz.
"This is a big test for me and what I am capable of. I had to get the mindset of our friendship out of the door when I learned who I was fighting. It's business. In the cage, (Ortiz) will be my opponent –
nothing else."
Tags: