This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Tito Ortiz Turns 50

The impact Tito Ortiz had on the sport of mixed martial arts still reverberates today, long after he was considered a relevant competitor. A former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight titleholder, he celebrates his 50th birthday on Jan. 23. Ortiz—who compiled a 21-12-1 record as a pro—was front and center in some of MMA’s most memorable and influential rivalries in his prime, first with Ken Shamrock and later with Chuck Liddell. Victories over ex-Pride Fighting Championships titlist Wanderlei Silva, former two-division Bellator MMA champion Ryan Bader and former UFC titleholders Evan Tanner, Vitor Belfort and Forrest Griffin anchor his resume. Ortiz was enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame in 2012.

Others in MMA celebrating birthdays during the month of January:

JAN. 1

Jason Godsey, 61
Guy Mezger, 57
Eiji Mitsuoka, 49
Charles Diaz, 48
Joe Vedepo, 43
Robbie Peralta, 39
Gadzhimurad Antigulov, 38
John Lineker, 35
Stephen Loman, 33
Emily Ducote, 32
Herica Tiburcio, 32
Bella Mir, 22

JAN. 2

Igor Pokrajac, 46
Mac Danzig, 45
Luis Santos, 45
Oli Thompson, 45
Mahmoud Hassan, 44
Valentino Petrescu, 44
Konstantin Erokhin, 43
Tom Santos, 40
Julian Shore, 36
Brittany Camozzi, 33
Samuel Silva, 29
Amanda Leve, 28

JAN. 3

Rodney Glunder, 50
Owen Carr, 38
Josh Martin, 38
Harry Hunsucker, 36
Aleksandar Ilic, 36
Tanner Saraceno, 34
Kendly St. Louis, 34
Vlad Popovskiy, 33
Marif Piraev, 32
Paddy Pimblett, 30
Umar Nurmagomedov, 29
Magomed Saipulaev, 29

JAN. 4

Kimo Leopoldo, 57
Vladimir Matyushenko, 54
Shane Carwin, 50
Justin McElfresh, 45
Donny Walker, 45
Jose Maria Tome, 43
Derek Brunson, 41
Raphael Butler, 41
Jin Suk Jung, 41
Jung Min Kang, 39
Warlley Alves, 34
Damion Hill, 33

JAN. 5

Ruben Villareal, 55
Mike Bronzoulis, 46
John Gunderson, 46
Kaline Medeiros, 46
Trevor Smith, 44
Takahiro Suzuki, 38
Douglas Lima, 37
Albert Duraev, 36
David Rickels, 36
Domingo Pilarte, 35
Goiti Yamauchi, 32
Kai Kamaka III, 30

JAN. 6

Kevin Rosier, 1962-2015
Kenny Garner, 50
Kalib Starnes, 50
Riki Fukuda, 44
Josh Rafferty, 44
Johnny Bedford, 42
Wilson Reis, 40
Michelle Waterson-Gomez, 39
Karl Williams, 35
Matheus Nicolau, 32
Ben Royle, 30
Desmond Torres, 28

JAN. 7

Ramazan Ramazanov, 58
Donald Brashear, 54
Christian Colombo, 45
Maurice Jackson, 44
Caros Fodor, 41
Thiago Santos, 41
Jianping Yang, 39
Matt Hobar, 38
Levan Makashvili, 36
Jeff Peterson, 35
Kaytlin Neil, 33
Luan Lacerda, 32

JAN. 8

Tara LaRosa, 47
Andre Santos, 44
Ertan Balaban, 42
Colin Fletcher, 42
Lee Chadwick, 40
Phil Hawes, 36
Marcus Almeida, 35
Michael Graves, 34
Viacheslav Borshchev, 33
Guram Kutateladze, 33
Shamil Musaev, 31
Iasmin Lucindo, 23

JAN. 9

Pete Spratt, 54
David Terrell, 47
Adson Lira Nascimento, 46
Jake Shields, 46
Garreth McLellan, 43
Danielle Hindley, 41
Yoislandy Izquierdo, 41
Rich Lictawa, 37
Ode Osbourne, 33
Chandler Cole, 30
Trevor Peek, 30
Aslan Utegaliev, 28

JAN. 10

Yumiko Hotta, 58
Mickey Hughes, 46
Matt Brown, 44
Vernon Lewis, 41
Simon Marini, 39
Ben Neumann, 39
Magomed Magomedkerimov, 35
Merab Dvalishvili, 34
Charles Johnson, 34
Serena DeJesus, 33
Joshua Pacio, 29
Kai Tang, 29

JAN. 11

Ivan Salaverry, 54
Rebecca Ruth, 46
Rafael Cavalcante, 44
Muhammed Lawal, 44
Eddie Alvarez, 41
Terry Etim, 39
Peter Sobotta, 38
Kurt Kinser, 37
Anatoly Malykhin, 37
Artem Reznikov, 33
Alex Potts, 31
Bobby Lee, 29

JAN. 12

Ikuhisa Minowa, 49
Frank Carrillo, 41
Young Bok Kil, 40
Angela Hill, 37
Jingnan Xiong, 37
Adam Fugitt, 36
Piotr Niedzielski, 34
Nate Jennerman, 32
Brena Soares Cardozo, 31
Carlos Felipe, 30
Isis Verbeek, 30
Arthur Lima, 29

JAN. 13

George Allen, 58
Leigh Remedios, 49
Nick Agallar, 46
Justin Hawes, 46
Dennis Siver, 46
Thomas Schulte, 44
Joe Schilling, 41
Derrick Krantz, 37
Lucas Almeida, 34
Alyse Anderson, 30
Monika Chochlikova, 29
Rolando Bedoya, 28

JAN. 14

Matt Uhde, 51
Akbarh Arreola, 42
Daniel McWilliams, 42
Robert Turnquest, 42
Matt Riddle, 39
Kevin Chung, 32
Said Sowma, 32
Dricus Du Plessis, 31
Dylan Potter, 30
Bo Nickal, 29
Denice Zamboanga, 28
Dylan Budka, 25

JAN. 15

Alexandre Franca Nogueira, 47
Nobuhiro Obiya, 44
Yuki Nishigo, 40
Andrew Craig, 39
Efrain Escudero, 39
Joao Zeferino, 39
Alexander Gustafsson, 38
Vinicius Zani, 37
Matt Schnell, 35
Michael McDonald, 34
Zubaira Tukhugov, 34
Josh Fremd, 31

JAN. 16

Paul Buentello, 51
Hyun Gyu Lim, 40
Sai Wang, 39
Mikhail Mokhnatkin, 35
Yann Liasse, 34
Juan Adams, 33
Don'Tale Mayes, 33
Genaro Valdez, 33
Chris Avila, 32
Caio Borralho, 32
Josefine Lindgren Knutsson, 29
Luigi Vendramini, 29

JAN. 17

Gary Goodridge, 59
Ryan McGivern, 45
Cole Province, 44
Ariel Sexton, 43
Tyler Stinson, 39
Dusan Dzakic, 38
Brian Grinnell, 37
Ryan Pokryfky, 37
Alexander Sarnavskiy, 36
Marthin Hamlet, 33
Mukhamed Berkhamov, 31
Impa Kasanganay, 31

JAN. 18

Dave Bautista, 56
Fabio Gurgel, 55
Neil Grove, 54
Jeff Monson, 54
Marlon Sims, 51
Yoshikazu Fujiishi, 47
Luis Ramos, 44
Miguel Torres, 44
Diego Ferreira, 40
A.J. Dobson, 33
Marcin Held, 33
Konklak Suphisara, 29

JAN. 19

Aritano Silva Barbosa, 46
Daniel Pinheiro, 46
Justin Guthrie, 44
Joe Cason, 37
Leandro Higo, 36
Dustin Poirier, 36
Anthony Jimenez, 35
Timur Valiev, 35
Steven Graham, 34
Regivaldo Carvalho, 31
Jordan Lucas, 31
Jesse Tafoya, 29

JAN. 20

Marcelo Aguiar, 56
Matt Ewin, 55
Alexandre Ribeiro, 44
Roy Doliguez, 43
Micah Terrill, 41
Donavon Frelow, 40
Juan Puerta, 37
Liudvik Sholinian, 35
Alberth Dias, 33
Erick Gonzalez, 33
Su Mudaerji, 29
Kenny Mokhonoana, 28

JAN. 21

Demetrius Richards, 50
Francisco France, 42
Edson Barboza, 39
Patricky Freire, 39
Willie Gates, 38
Tony Kelley, 38
Matthew Lopez, 38
Shane Campbell , 37
Andre Ewell, 37
Luca Iovine, 37
Ilia Topuria, 28
Michael Oliveira, 29

JAN. 22

Carlton Haselrig, 1966-2020
Min Soo Kim, 50
Jorge Antonio Cezario de Oliveira, 45
Luigi Fioravanti, 44
Tomasz Drwal, 43
Ji Hoon Kim, 43
Steve Ramirez, 38
Daniel Carey, 35
Mickey Gall, 33
Hamdy Abdelwahab, 32
Arnold Allen, 31
Steven Koslow, 28

JAN. 23

Marco Ruas, 64
Tito Ortiz, 50
Cyrillo Padilha Neto, 47
Rodolfo Marques, 41
A.J. Matthews, 37
Korey Kuppe, 36
Christos Giagos, 35
Victor Altamirano, 34
Themba Gorimbo, 34
Justin Wetzell, 33
Haobin Ma, 31
Shamil Akhmatkhanov, 29

JAN. 24

Akira Maeda, 66
Lukasz Chlewicki, 46
Jamall Johnson, 43
Matt Mazurek, 41
Jimmy Spicuzza, 40
Gurdarshan Mangat, 38
Westin Wilson, 36
Oskar Piechota, 35
Radoslaw Paczuski, 32
Yanis Ghemmouri, 30
Christian Lohsen, 30
Serghei Spivac, 30

JAN. 25

Ron van Clief, 82
Jorge Gurgel, 48
Paulo Thiago, 44
Heather Hardy, 43
Tor Troeng, 42
John Quinn, 42
Mike Easton, 41
Dashon Johnson, 37
Dominique Steele, 37
Nic Herron-Webb, 35
Zelim Imadaev, 30
Roberto Soldic, 30

JAN. 26

Dan Bobish, 55
Flavio Luiz Moura, 49
Jared Rollins, 48
Carmelo Marrero, 44
Rafaello Oliveira, 43
Olivia Parker, 43
Justin Edwards, 42
Chico Camus, 40
Viktor Nemkov, 38
Martina Jindrova, 34
Ariane Lipski, 31
Victoria Dudakova, 26

JAN. 27

Matt Skelton, 58
Derrick Ruffin, 54
Tony Sylvester, 47
Klay Konrad, 43
Anthony Pettis, 38
Emmanuel Walo, 38
Vinicius de Jesus, 35
Koki Naito, 35
Luis Saldana, 34
Edgar Chairez, 29
Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani, 26
Tatsuro Taira, 25

JAN. 28

Claudio Rocha, 47
Tim Boetsch, 44
Cortez Coleman, 43
Ashleigh Grimshaw, 43
Jesse Fujarczyk, 42
Mandy Polk, 40
Brandon Saling, 39
Melsik Baghdasaryan, 33
Carson Hardman, 30
Alessandro Costa, 29
Jaylon Bates, 28
Ky Bennett, 27

JAN. 29

Stephen Palling, 58
Valid Abdurachmanov, 53
Kazuyuki Miyata, 49
Annalisa Bucci, 42
Josh Tyler, 40
Rodolfo Rubio, 38
Garrett Mueller, 36
Daichi Takenaka, 35
Nikolay Aleksakhin, 34
Kyung Pyo Kim, 33
Mallory Martin, 31
Chermen Gobaev, 27

JAN. 30

Takaku Fuke, 56
Rob Kimmons, 44
Bruno Carvalho, 43
Jessica Penne, 42
Junior dos Santos, 41
Joshua Montoya, 35
Ali Motamed, 34
Daniel Swain, 34
Alex McGowan, 33
Masuto Kawana, 30
Magomed Mamaev, 30
Danny Silva, 28

JAN. 31

Kristian Rothaermel, 53
Akira Shoji, 51
Kengo Watanabe, 49
Maciej Jewtuszko, 44
Shunichi Shimizu, 40
Renan Barao, 38
Dae Hwan Kim, 38
Kirill Sukhomlinov, 37
Dhiego Lima, 36
Kyle Stewart, 36
Cesar Arzamendia, 34
Bassil Hafez, 33