10 most disrespectful moments in UFC history

#3 Ortiz flips off Shamrock

Tito Ortiz was the biggest star in the UFC for years, and the source of his stardom could be traced back to one of the greatest disrespectful moments in promotional history – way back in 1999, at the height of the UFC’s ‘dark ages’. Faced with the only man to defeat him – Guy Mezger – in a rematch in the main event of UFC 19, Ortiz absolutely hammered Mezger until the referee decided he’d seen enough.

But Tito wasn’t finished. Rather than be a gracious winner, he pulled on an offensive t-shirt that read ‘Gay Mezger is my bitch!’ before turning to Mezger’s corner – primarily his lead trainer and UFC legend Ken Shamrock – and delivering some gun taunting before flipping them off. Shamrock was absolutely furious and had to be restrained from going after the ‘Huntington Beach Bad Boy’.

It was the moment that shot Ortiz to UFC stardom, as he embraced his bad boy image to the full. And a handful of years later, it was the catalyst for a fight between Ortiz and Shamrock that would end up being the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view show to that point, a full two and a half years before the TUF boom sent the promotion mainstream. Who says disrespect doesn’t sell?