Saturday night in Anaheim, California, Tito Ortiz made his much anticipated return to the UFC in a match against fan favorite Forrest Griffin, and after 3 rounds of exciting action Ortiz was awarded a split decision victory. However, many of the fans in attendance expressed their displeasure with how the judges scored the fight, so MMA Ring Report has broken the fight down and determined if the majority of these fans were watching with their hearts or their heads. 

Right from the onset Ortiz showed the aggression he displayed when he ruled the light heavyweight division for two years, as he caught Griffin with a nice left hook and secured a takedown 30 seconds into the 1st round. Once Ortiz took his opponent to the ground, he pushed Griffin towards the cage and began punishing the reality TV star with his patented elbow strikes. Griffin absorbed significant damage and the entire time he was on his back he was in survival mode and offered up nothing in the way of offense. As Ortiz was looking to pass his opponents guard, Griffin was able to push away and scrambled back to his feet where he threw a few punches but only one right hand was able to score. With 50 seconds remaining in the round, Ortiz scored his second takedown of the fight and pounded away on Griffin until the round came to a close.

UFC fight analyst Eddie Bravo scored the round 10-9 Ortiz, and could not have been more off base with his scoring. Bravo referenced the one punch Griffin landed when he got back to his feet as grounds for scoring the round closer then it should have been. Ortiz was in complete control of the round, and was absolutely ferocious with his ground and pound attack so there is no other conceivable way to score the round then 10-8 Ortiz.

Ortiz opened the 2nd round by landing a couple of jabs and a big right hand, but Griffin was definitely into the fight more so this round and was successful in stuffing 5 takedown attempts by Ortiz. Overall, Griffin landed the cleaner shots and a left hook midway through the round clearly had the biggest impact of any shots landed by either fighter, Forrest wins a 10-9 round. Bravo had no problem scoring the round 10-9 Griffin either.

To begin the 3rd and final round, Griffin stuffed a couple of early takedown attempts but Ortiz did manage to land a left hook and a huge right hand down the middle that scored big, as well as a couple more right hands that also found their mark. But Forrest was able to score throughout the round with some low leg kicks and decided to let his hands go with about 2 minutes left in the fight when he landed a right uppercut and left jab. However, Ortiz answered right back with a right hand of his own and was able to score another big takedown with 90 seconds remaining. Forrest was busier from his back then he had been in the 1st round, and did a tremendous job of getting back to his feet with 30 seconds remaining and landed a landed a couple of shots just as the fight came to a close.

Contrary to what the UFC commentary team will have you believe, even though Griffin got back to his feet near the end of the fight, that does NOT negate the takedown Ortiz scored. Ortiz was able to maintain top control and ensure Griffin didn’t attempt any type of submission from his back that could have scored points. Therefore, Ortiz wins the round by a score of 10-9, a round that Bravo decided to score 10-9 for Griffin. Fortunately, 2 of the 3 judges didn’t see the fight the way Bravo scored it. Yet, of the 3 judges, Cecil Peoples was the only one to score the fight correctly, 29-27 in favor of Ortiz, as one judge had Ortiz winning all 3 rounds, and another gave the edge to Griffin. Tito Ortiz clearly won this fight, but in losing Forrest Griffin endeared himself even more to the fans in the process.