Morning Report: Tito Ortiz says Chael Sonnen needs to apologize to him in public to squash their beef

Tito Ortiz has been in this game 20 years, one of the original trash talkers of MMA. But that didn’t stop him from taking umbrage at the pre-fight trash talk that Chael Sonnen directed at him.

After submitting Sonnen in the first round at Bellator 170 on Saturday, Ortiz raised a slight stir by holding onto the finishing submission well after Sonnen tapped, until the referee literally pulled him off. Afterwards, Ortiz said he held onto the submission because he had “ill will” towards Sonnen. And that bad blood hasn’t gone away.

Speaking with Fight Hub TV after the fight, Ortiz said he won’t squash the beef until Sonnen publicly apologizes.

“I didn’t say anything after the fight. He came to my dressing room and said, ‘Good fight, it was an honor, da da da’ and I go, ‘You’ve got to apologize to me in public.’ So we’re gonna see if he has enough balls to apologize to me in public.”

In the pre-fight build up Sonnen repeatedly took aim at Ortiz’s financial situation and his personal life, suggesting that Ortiz was in need of money and had his car repossessed, as well as taking a particularly uncouth shot at Ortiz’s ex girlfriend Jenna Jameson. To Ortiz, Sonnen violated his own personal code of trash talk, and Ortiz’s subsequent win was divine retribution.

“I’m a kid who has a lot of respect. I believe in respect. Talking about another person’s family is something wrong to do and for what he did, that’s just the wrong thing to do. That’s always my three rules of s**t-talking: You don’t talk about a person’s family, you don’t talk about a person’s country, and you don’t lie about a person. He did all three of those things, and the big man upstairs took care of it.”

With the loss, Sonnen now turns his eyes towards a long awaited fight with Wanderlei Silva while Ortiz rides off into the sunset with his fairytale ending. In a sport where, as B.J. Penn reminded everyone recently, so few legends get to go out on a high note, Ortiz seems content with his decision to walk away on the back of resurgent performance.

“I want to go out as my best, no matter what anyone says. I don’t want to go away when people say, ‘Well, he should have left a long time ago.’ I want people to go, ‘He should stay here, he should still stay around.’ But I’m gonna be 42 on Monday. I’ve been in this business for 20 years. I’ve done everything I wanted to do. I’ve became a millionaire, I bought my dream home, I bought my dream car, I bought my dream boat, I’ve been able to give my kids their college tuition, all three of my boys, so I’ve done what I needed to do as a parent, as a man on this Earth and what’s the next thing for me to do is find a different career.”

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MUST-READ STORIES

Results. You can find the Bellator 170 results here.

Bad blood. Tito Ortiz admits he held the choke against Chael because of “ill will.”

Wand. Chael Sonnen says he came to Bellator to “chase Wanderlei Silva.”

Fat shaming. King Mo called Rampage Jackson “fat.”

Sports entertainment. Anderson Silva says the new UFC owners are turning it into entertainment more than sport.

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MEDIA STEW

Free fights.

The champ choking people out.

The champ on TMZ.

Uhhhh.

LFA 2 highlights.

The Menace training vlog.

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LISTEN UP

Severe MMA.

6th Round.

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TWEETS

Holy s**t. And his ear might be the worst part of it anyway.

#hottake

Yeah, that didn’t look good.

T-Wood.

Rory.

Ragin’ Al on Kato-Gracie.

Rematch?

Does not get the LT stamp of approval.

Legends.

#hero

Hatchet buried.

TJ running with the “snake” thing.

Old school.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ovince Saint Preux (19-9) vs. Volkan Oezdemir (12-1); UFC Fight Night Houston, Feb. 4.

Quinton Jackson (37-11) vs. Muhammed Lawal (20-6); Bellator 175, March 31.

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TODAY IN MMA HISTORY

2008: Mike Swick made his welterweight debut, winning a majority decision over Josh Burkmanat UFC Fight Night 12.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Whatever your thoughts on Chael Sonnen, the man is the pound-for-pound king at handling losses well. Every single time he takes questions and gives credit where it’s due. I definitely respect that about him.

And we’re back for another UFC fight week. Get hype everyone, the best women’s bantamweight is fighting this weekend. That’s right, I said it. Come at me.

Take it easy y’all. Until tomorrow.

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If you find something you'd like to see in the Morning Report, just hit me up on Twitter @JedKMeshew and let me know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram and add us on Snapchat at MMA-Fighting because we post dope things and you should enjoy them.