UFC 229 aftermath: 6 times in MMA history that brawls broke out post-fight

#3: Ortiz causes chaos again at UFC 51 – 02/05/2005

By early 2005, Tito Ortiz had lost the UFC Light-Heavyweight title he’d held between 2000 and 2003, but he was still easily the UFC’s most bankable star, largely due to his penchant for being able to build major rivalries with his opponents.

Once his feud with Ken Shamrock was done, he’d moved onto a rivalry with former training partner with Chuck Liddell, but after he’d lost to Liddell in 2004 it was somewhat unclear where he’d head next. At UFC 51 he fought – and defeated – Vitor Belfort in the final fight of his UFC contract, and nobody was really sure what he’d do next.

The mayhem that he caused after the Belfort fight gave the fans more than a little indication. Ortiz was highly respectful to Belfort himself, telling him “you bought the best out of me”, but when he was handed a mic, he soon turned to his real targets – his old rivals Shamrock and Liddell.

Tito challenged Liddell first, and ‘The Iceman’ soon obliged and leapt into the cage to confront Ortiz. The two jawed for a few moments before Ortiz then called out “Ken Slam-cock” too, and sure enough, angry as ever, Ken made his way into the Octagon.

It was then that things got really wild, as Shamrock was so incensed that he had to be held back from going after Ortiz by NSAC officials, and that seemed to egg Liddell on too as he was then escorted from the cage. The whole mess finally came to a head when Shamrock was given a mic and began to roar at Ortiz about how he was already signed for the rematch.

It was a chaotic way to end UFC 51, but for Ortiz, Shamrock and Liddell it paid off – Tito’s rematches with Shamrock and Liddell both took place in 2006 and ended up breaking the records for UFC pay-per-view buyrates at the time.