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#2 Tito Ortiz (Season 3 and Season 11)
There have been a number of fighters who ended up coaching on TUF on more than one occasion, but few managed it quite as well as Tito Ortiz. For a man who’d been accused of being little more than a self-promoter on more than one occasion, it came as a shock to many when ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ did a stellar job on 2006’s Season 3, and then did equally well on Season 11 four years later.
By the time he first coached on the show, Ortiz had almost a decade of MMA experience behind him, and it was quite clear that he was desperate to pass his knowledge onto the younger fighters he was put in charge of. Not only did Tito instil a hard work ethic into his pupils, but he also used some novel methods to help them, such as having Noah Inhofer balance a basketball on his shoulder to ensure he’d keep his hands high during stand-up, and bringing in a sign language interpreter to help the deaf Matt Hamill.
Ortiz clearly out-coached his rival Ken Shamrock during that season, and while his next appearance on TUF – alongside longtime rival Chuck Liddell – proved to be more even in terms of which team came out on top, Tito again proved himself an excellent coach who was willing to go the extra mile – even teaching Clayton McKinney an escape to a triangle choke literally moments after the fighter had been submitted by one.
Unfortunately, Ortiz didn’t finish Season 11 – after withdrawing from his planned fight with Liddell due to a neck injury, he was replaced on the show by Rich Franklin – but as a coach who was clearly prepared to give his all for his team, he definitely warrants a spot on this list.
