Book Reviews: Tito Ortiz & Chuck Liddell's Autobiographies

[thebwit]

I meant to write one up and post it after I finished Chuck's book, but I got lazy or something. So then I decided that I would wait till I finished Tito's book and compare them considering their rivalry in the cage.

Both fighters covered how they grew up which was cool to learn. Both fighters had it hard growing up, and I am surprised that Tito is actually a fighter. His life was a lot different than Chuck's. Both fighters also covered all of their fights, though Chuck had more details with his fights. He explained why he did certain things in each of his fights. Where as Tito basically said he went at them hard, and beat them up or got caught.

Both fighters were very gracious in explaining their losses. They say you learn a lot more about a person from how they act after a loss, and both fighters showed a lot of class. Neither fighter sounded stupid like they sometimes do while still being interviewed.

Both fighters are very different from the persona they portray in the interviews and in the cage. Both are to quote them, big softies.

Tito's book had parts written by his mom, his ex wife, and Jenna to help fill in some blanks. There were times when this got a little confusing, but it was nice to see someone else's perspective.

Neither fighter went into much detail of the history of the UFC. They mention how it came about and what not, but nothing that I was hoping for. Tito did talk about his relationship with Dana which pointed out some new to me things. The big thing that I took away from it was the money aspect. When Dana became president, the UFC couldn't pay Tito more than his contract because they sunk in a ton of money. Tito said fine, when you start to make money, then pay me more and they agreed. Tito is still asking for the same thing, and stating the same thing - UFC is earning more money, us fighters should be making more. It's a general statement, and one I tend to side with Tito on.

The Tito/Chuck thing is very interesting. Chuck says that Tito was ducking him because Tito said that they were friends. Tito says he wasn't ducking Chuck, but knew that it was going to make the UFC a ton of money and was holding out to get more money for it. Tito says he told Chuck to hold out also and that they should stand together not on opposite sides. Chuck then fought Randy for the interm title. As far as being friends, Chuck says they weren't friends, just training partners. Tito says friends, but from what I gather he considered anyone he trained with a friend. He was willing to fight Chuck and said it was always about the money.

I have always been a fan of Tito's and it took Chuck loosing to Rampage for me to really start to like Chuck. After reading both books I was very surprised by how much more I respected each fighter and as such neither fighter is one who I will ever root against too much anymore.

If I had to pick a book that I liked better, it is a tough call, but Chuck's gave more details about most things which made it slightly better. Both books are ones I would recommend picking up and reading, because who knows, you Tito haters might actually like the guy afterwards.

[pa99fighter]

I didn't like Chuck's biography at all. Made fun of Tito for a quarter of the book pretty much. Too much of I was growing up I was fighting at three hundreds of street fights blah blah blah. He barely went into his personal life besides his childhood and kids. Another part I didn't like was how he explained things everybody knew through a magazine. The part I did like however was how he explained the steps before he got to the UFC, who he was training with, his kickboxing career, how he got started at the Pit, his fight preparation, etc. I would give it a 6 out of 10 and I still need to read Tito's biography

[Ifightforaliving]

I have read them both and I agree with alot of what both of you have said. i found Tito's book more interesting to me. I have always had respect for Chuck just hated him as a fighter. After reading his book I feel like you said that some of the hate kinda went away and I gained a little more respect for him. All in all I would recommend these books to anyone who likes both fighters or just as a great MMA read overall

[pa99fighter]

if anybody wants to do a bookswap the Chuck Liddell book for the Tito Ortiz book just pm me. why buy 2 books? lol
Edit: or I would do it for the Penn, Pulver, or Hughes book but Tito is #1 on my list

[Gurry]

yeah ima go buy titos soon, but chucks book was so shit, not enuf good stories, i wanted to here somma those legendary stories of ngihts out with girls, and the reading level was like grade 3. I was really pised off reading, i cant wait for randys, its gunna be good

[Ifightforaliving]

oh hell yeah randy's will be the shit. Also I have tried finding penns but can't anyone know where to buy it? And Hughes is such a douche his book made him look like the self-centered hypocritical fake ass god fearing bastard he is. That man is so overly full of himself and I seriously hate his guts after reading that book what an asshole

[thebwit]

Yeah Randy's book will be interesting to say the least. I would love to read a book from Dana White himself, but I doubt he will ever write one.

[pa99fighter]

Originally Posted by thebwit

Yeah Randy's book will be interesting to say the least. I would love to read a book from Dana White himself, but I doubt he will ever write one.

I hope he does one day after its all said and done and he steps down. He must have alot of interesting stuff to say in his book

[dbader08]

Originally Posted by pa99fighter

I hope he does one day after its all said and done and he steps down. He must have alot of interesting stuff to say in his book

"one fucking day i was going to my fucking office and that fucking monkey tito ortiz and his **** girlfriend jenna wouldn't quit fucking hassling me so i offered his pussy ass to a boxing match but he declined like a fucking bitch"

quote from dana white's book...(from the future)

[thecoylewis]

I just started reading Tito's book. I think that alot of the people that hate Tito, don't really know as much about him. I think the whole talking smack thing is more to do about the attention and it's more showmanship than anything else. I also don't have a problem with the whole money thing and don't have a problem with others asking for it either. I do see where when the UFC didn't have it, they made promises that they didn't make completely good on when they did have it. If someone promised me something, I would want it when they had it too. It's not always the dollar amount, it's about promises that were made that were never rendered.

I do find it odd that a pretty good chunk of Chuck's book, and a very large chunk of his dvd is reserved for Tito. That's alot of talking about Tito for just a training partner.