From his website, www.titoortiz.com

Sid: How are you feeling these days and really what’s up with Tito Ortiz?
Tito: Just ready to get training for my next fight. Completely healthy no injuries, just took about a month and a half off and am ready to go. I'm looking forward to the fight in October.

Sid: Some say your done, that there is no way you can come off the last two losses and be effective. What are your thoughts?
Tito: The people who say things like that haven’t followed my career. I’ve worked really hard and you can’t bag a fighter that loses two in a row. Randy Couture did it and came back and I have to prove I can do it. Anyone can be as effective as anyone else, it just depends on who’s night it is.

Sid: Tell us about your contract with the UFC and after its complete what’s next for Tito Ortiz?
Tito: I have two more fights on my contract with the UFC. I plan on finishing my career in the UFC so no one knows what holds for the future. I still have two fights to go in this contract so we never know.

Sid: Some say you are ducking Pride that you are scared to fight in that league whether you might get hurt or that you couldn’t hang with the current competition. Your thoughts?
Tito: I would hang with any competition over there. One of the reasons I don’t fight in Pride is because of Rampage. He will be champion and I will not fight Rampage because of our relationship since we have been training partners our entire careers. Rampage will dominate in Japan and make the money there. More than anything that is Rampage’s business to fight in.

Sid: There seems to be a debate going about which league is better the UFC or Pride, along with that is that it is a very tough transition for UFC fighters to cross over to Pride. What is your take on that?
Tito: UFC fighters crossing over to Pride Wow. I don’t see it as an issue, people have been very effective in Pride from the UFC. Wanderlei has done well, Carlos Newton has also. Pride seems like they have a lot of Heavyweight and lightweight guys where the UFC has many divisions. In my mind the UFC and pride are pretty much even besides weight classes.

Sid: The question of Pride seems to be that Pride favors its fighters and doesn’t allow for as much grappling.
Tito: Pride likes to make it exciting for the Japanese crowd. Thats why they stand it up so often. When they started they were giving bonus’ for knockouts. They try to be more exciting than the UFC, but that doesn’t always happen. Depends on the matchmaker and how good of job they do.

Sid: There are probably 6-8 Light Heavyweight/Middleweights in Pride/UFC etc around the world who would be considered the best in their class. Who do you feel they are and in what rank?
Tito: Rankings wow. In my mind rankings don’t matter because coming from my background anyone can win. But if I had to rank you gotta go with the champions first.

Wanderlei Silva
Vitor Belfort
Randy Couture
Rampage Jackson
Chuck Liddell
Tito Ortiz
Ricardo Arona
Rich Franklin
Dan Henderson

Sid: Was the post fight conference at UFC 48 a setup to rile the fans up for a potential bout between you and Ken Shamrock?
Tito: I don’t think it was a setup for the fans. He kept calling me out saying his knee was injured in several interviews on the net. I asked an honest question. I push Ken Shamrocks buttons very well. He’s an explosion and all you gotta do is push his buttons.

Sid: What is the story between you and Rampage? Reports around the web are that there was a falling out and the two of you are no longer training partners.
Tito: Completely Bull****. Me and Rampage have been training for a long time. I had a lot of business opportunities that I had to take care of before. We both have fights coming up now and we are going to train again to help each other. He needs me to help him with Wanderlei and I need him to help me. When I fought Shamrock before I was training with him.

Sid: There’s been a lot of talk about your trainers and how they didn’t step up to guide you with a better game plan against both Randy and Chuck. Your thoughts?
Tito: When I fought Randy, the game plan was to out box him and out wrestle him, but when you injure your back a month before the bought you can’t practice wrestling. I don’t want to take anything away from Randy but I wasn’t 100%. Injuries are a big problem in thie sport. The lucky ones get to fight injury free. With Chuck I had to prove something to myself that I wasn’t afraid to stand with him. I was told I couldn’t do it and I wanted to prove them wrong.

Sid: Have you put any thought into bringing back Team Punishment and helping other fighters join in the success that you have had? And Many greats like Shamrock/Militech/Couture have had success in the team environment do you think you are missing out by training outside of a camp?
Tito: I do plan on bringing Team Punishment back but probably after my fight career. Only the future could tell. I do feel I am missing out a little bit not having the team environment because its nice to have a solid team. We’ll see what happens.

Sid: Do you feel that you have lost the hunger or edge to compete at the highest level and if so how do you plan on getting that edge back?
Tito: I don’t think I’ve lost the edge. I just think that fighters have losses and to persevere through those loses is the most important thing for me.

Sid: What is the truth about Lee Murray and the ‘incident’ in Europe?
Tito: The truth, everyone knows the truth. If you haven’t read it already then its too old.

Sid: Will you fight Lee anytime in the future?
Tito: Its not worth talking about because he won’t fight me anyways.

Sid: Anything to add for your fans?
Tito: I want to thank all my fans. Through the good and the bad times. I will be champion once again. The support that I get from my fans makes me a stronger fighter through the long hours of training. First it will be Ken Shamrock, then it will be Chuck Liddell. We’ll all have our hands up at the end of all this and everyone can participate in the glory of my success.