The “Huntington Beach Bad Boy”—who faces his final Ultimate Fighting Championship bout May 24—pulls nary a punch when it comes to his life story, one that makes “Raging Bull” look like “Drillbit Taylor.” Ortiz was raised in Orange County motels, apartments and friends’ backyards by heroin-addicted parents; his mom worked as a “pavement princess” to pay the bills. Eventually, Ortiz turned to drugs and dealing until he literally wrestled his way out and into professional sports.
His new tell-all bio,“This Is Gonna Hurt,” reveals the sensitive side of the poster boy for a sport that’s been described as “human cock fighting” by no less a tough guy than Sen. John McCain. Yet Ortiz does a lot more than shed his own tears and other people’s blood. The man is currently romancing ex-porn queen Jenna Jameson; running Punishment, his personal clothing line; pondering an acting career (he recently appeared on “The Apprentice”); and communing with the ghost of Rudolph Valentino.
Are you a violent person?
I do not consider myself a violent person. I’m an Aquarius, man; I don’t like conflict. Somebody cuts me off in traffic, a couple seconds and it’s gone. I believe in helping others and survival skills.
It’s said that the best comedians are depressives. Are the best fighters sensitive?
Without a doubt, because it’s emotion that we put into it. I put my heart and soul into my training, and when I lose a fight, I take it as seriously as a loved one dying. I go through a month of depression, I kill myself, man. What happened? What did I do wrong? And I cry in movies.
Is fear a big part of your life?
Fear is a huge part of my life in everything I do, every single day. My biggest fear is to be broke. As a kid…it was hard. I hated worrying about what I was going to eat that night, or clothes for school.
Broke is one thing, but are you afraid of ghosts?
Actually, Jenna’s house in L.A. is haunted. But it’s not an angry ghost or an evil ghost. [Ortiz yells off-phone: “Hey, Jenna, what was the name of the guy that lived in your house?”] Rudolph Valentino. I’m not sure if that’s him, but for sure there’s a ghost in there. I believe in ghosts 100 percent. And at a real young age I saw a UFO in Mexico with my parents. And there has to be UFOs, come on. The military have to be working with aliens. Where’d the idea for the stealth fighter come from? Is man really that smart?
You were pretty young in the ’80s, but you consider yourself an O.C. punk.
Yeah, early punk was huge for me. There are so many bands that came up in Orange County; we’d always go listen to them and slam-dance. Now I listen to Korn, Eminem, Bob Marley. Just no country. It sounds like they’re saying the same old thing, always crying about something.
Any surprises on your playlist?
Jenna kind of laughed about it, but we went to lunch at the lake in Big Bear and I stuck in a CD of Kenny G. It’s calm and relaxing.
After dropping out of college, you worked at Spanky’s Adult Emporium in Huntington Beach. What was that like?
I needed a job, and it was great. Fifteen bucks an hour, 15 percent commission, I was renting videos and selling toys. I’m a salesman, and I sold a lot. People would come in and buy strap-ons and stuff. I always thought it was a little weird, but when I was making 15 percent of something that cost $300, it was a good thing.
Obama, McCain and Hillary. Who’d make the fiercest Ultimate Fighter?
Obama without a doubt, 100 percent. He’s got brains, he’s athletic, and he knows how to overcome obstacles. Jenna wants Hillary, but McCain? He’s a monster, man. He’s just like Bush.
If you’d had a more traditional background, what might you have ended up as?
I think if I hadn’t burned a lot of brain cells at a young age, I would have worked a lot harder in school. I might have been an accountant.
Catch Tito's fight with Lyoto Michida on pay-per-view May 24.
See Tito Ortiz at his book signing at Virgin Megastore on June 17.
