ONE LAST STAND MIXED-MARTIAL ARTS SUPERSTAR ORTIZ GETS IN THE OCTAGON IN WHAT COULD BE HIS FINAL MATCH WITH UFC.

Byline: JAMES SONYE,

Staff WRITER

It is times like he's facing now when Tito Ortiz is at his most dangerous.

Throughout his life, the man known as "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" has faced times when it appears that his career, even his life, is on the brink of taking that first step on the path to destruction.

When he was a child, it was his heroin-addicted parents. As a teenager, it was his relationships with other adolescents who seemed to find the dangerous path as the preferred way to travel. Even early in his mixed martial arts career, it was falling victim to a guillotine choke and being forced to tap out to an opponent he was so thoroughly dominating.

Each of those examples, along with many others only he knows about, could have easily pulled Ortiz the wrong way.

Saturday, the 33-year-old fighter will be stepping into the Octagon for perhaps the final time when he faces Lyoto Machida (12-0-0, 3 KOs) on the undercard of the "UFC 84: Ill Will" pay-per-view event in Las Vegas.

"Ill Will" is as fitting a title as one could think of for Ortiz's departure from UFC, the only MMA organization for which he has fought during his 10-year career. Ortiz's public feud with UFC president and co-owner Dana White has reached a point at which neither feels he can work with the other anymore.

"There's been a lot of things said and I feel (White's) disrespected me to the point that I don't want to be here anymore," Ortiz said. "I don't like his tactics. He bullies people and he's insulted me by calling me dumb and stupid. It's gotten very personal."

Said White in a recent interview: "(Tito) cares about one thing and nothing else, and that is himself. He has this thing with me and him, but it won't be me who he'll be fighting on Saturday. He has to focus more on Machida than me or his next steps."

The direction of those next steps is still unknown. But it might be premature to count out Ortiz despite his imminent departure from the premiere MMA organization.

In his newly-released autobiography "This Is Gonna Hurt: The Life of a Mixed Martial Arts Champion," Ortiz revealed the hardships he faced while growing up. In addition to his parents' drug addictions and hanging with a rough crowd, Ortiz also sold drugs and admits that, with the exception of heroin -- his parents' drug of choice -- he sampled many of the products he distributed.

Gradually, though, athletics began to pull Ortiz into another direction. After finishing fourth in the state wrestling meet at Huntington Beach High his senior year, Ortiz won the junior college championship at Golden West College. He then transferred to Cal State Bakersfield, where he trained with NCAA and world champion Stephen Neal.

After college, Ortiz began working with fellow Southern California native David "Tank" Abbott. After accompanying Abbott to a couple of UFC events as a corner man, Ortiz made his Octagon debut at "UFC 13: The Ultimate Force" on May 30, 1997. Officially labeled as a "streetfighter" during his entrance, Ortiz stopped Wes Albritton in just 31 seconds.

Later that evening, due to an injury to a fighter in the main draw, Ortiz earned the right to face Guy Mezger in the finals of the light-heavyweight tournament. Mezger entered the fight with a 13-4-2 record and trained with the "Lion's Den," which was led by Ken Shamrock.

Ortiz, who was still attending Golden West and fighting as an amateur, came out strong and opened a pair of cuts on Mezger's head, forcing the referee to halt the action to have the ringside physician check the cuts.

Ortiz, perhaps smelling victory, drove in hard again on Mezger to regain his dominant position. Instead, Mezger sunk in a guillotine choke and forced Ortiz to tap out at the 3-minute mark. A clearly-frustrated Ortiz quickly exited the Octagon as members of the "Lion's Den" celebrated.

In January 1999, Ortiz returned to action, defeating Jerry Bohlander via strikes, setting up a rematch with Mezger. That March, the two met in Mississippi at "UFC 19: Ultimate Young Guns" with Ortiz earning a TKO victory with a barrage of strikes after less than 10 minutes of action.

"I don't know that I'd be the fighter I am today if I hadn't lost to Mezger," Ortiz said. "It hurt a lot and I vowed I would never lose that way again. I learned the guillotine inside-out after that. How to apply it; how to counter it; how to counter its counters. I swore to myself I'd never be forced to tap out again, and I haven't."

Building feuds

The rematch with Mezger also set the stage for MMA's biggest feud: Shamrock vs. Ortiz.

After defeating Mezger, Ortiz gestured toward the Lion's Den and fired imaginary guns at them, as well as some profane gestures. An irate Shamrock attempted to climb into the Octagon to confront Ortiz, but was restrained.

"To me, the Lion's Den was like the Cobra Kai in 'The Karate Kid' movie," Ortiz said. "Part of my reaction after the fight was the emotion of avenging my loss to Mezger. I was very emotional because I knew all of the hard work I had put in to get there.

"Don't get me wrong, they were good fighters in the Lion's Den, but I didn't like how they dealt with people. They acted like they were better than everyone else."

In September 1999, Ortiz learned another lesson in defeat, this time to another Lion's Den fighter, Frank Shamrock. Despite being the brother of his bitter rival, Ortiz this time showed respect toward his opponent.

"I had the opportunity to hang out with Frank a little bit before our fight and I just liked how he treated people," Ortiz said. "He didn't act like he was too good for people ... too good for his fans. He was just a normal guy who liked to fight."

After that loss, Ortiz reeled off six consecutive victories. After defeating Wanderlei Silva for the UFC light-heavyweight title at "UFC 25: Ultimate Japan 3" in April 2000, he successfully defended his title a record five times. The highlight of that run was a third-round TKO over Ken Shamrock at "UFC 40: Vendetta" in November 2002.

But Ortiz's title run came to an end with a loss to Randy Couture in September 2003 at "UFC 44: Undisputed." That setback was followed by a second-round knockout loss to Chuck Liddell in April 2004 at "UFC 47: It's On."

Ortiz fought two more times -- decision victories over Patrick Cote and Vitor Belfort in 2005 -- before leaving UFC for nearly a year.

Because of his feud with White, Ortiz flirted with the possibility of signing with another MMA organization, or entering the world of professional wrestling. Instead, he and White attempted to mend fences, and Ortiz re-signed with UFC and headlined "UFC 59: Reality Check" -- the organization's California debut -- on April 15, 2006. Ortiz won a split decision over Forrest Griffin, fighting professionally in front of his hometown fans for the first time.

Ortiz rekindled his feud with Ken Shamrock on UFC's "The Ultimate Fighter" television series, which was among the highest-rated shows on SpikeTV. The two fought twice more in 2006, with Ortiz winning by first-round TKO each time.

Point of no return

With his popularity -- he had begun dating adult film star Jenna Jameson -- at seemingly an all-time high, Ortiz signed for a rematch against Chuck Liddell on Dec. 30, 2006. "UFC 66: Liddell vs. Ortiz" drew a total gate of more than $5 million and topped one million pay-per-view buys for the first time in UFC history.

Though he lasted longer in the rematch, Ortiz still fell by TKO. But it wasn't the loss that bothered Ortiz most.

"I remember sitting in Dana's office talking about the kind of money Mike Tyson makes and asking him when we (the fighters) will be making that kind of money," Ortiz said. "He said, 'When you start doing pay-per-view numbers like Tyson, you'll make Tyson money.' Well, there you go. We set all kinds of records that night and nothing changed. That's about when I reached the point of no return."

Since that loss to Liddell, Ortiz (15-5-1, 8 KOs, two submissions) has fought just once -- a draw against Rashad Evans in July 2007 at "UFC 73: Stacked."

Ortiz has made it clear he's not interested in returning to UFC after this weekend's fight.

"He is out there trying to say his next move will be outside of the UFC," White said. "Well, the truth is, we are not even in a bidding war for him -- we aren't even bidding at all for Tito. We are not in the Tito Ortiz business at all."

Ortiz admits he likely will be talking to EliteXC, which recently signed a deal with CBS to air its fights on prime-time specials on network TV. Other options include Strikeforce and Affliction.

EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw has publicly expressed interest in signing Ortiz, with possible matchups against Frank Shamrock and Kimbo Slice.

"I think I could bring a lot to one of these organizations," Ortiz said. "The fans know me, they know what kind of fighter I am and how hard of a worker I am. I think people still want to see me fight. I'm leaving UFC because of personal issues, not because of anything having to do with my fighting skills. I can still be a big asset to a company."

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Photo:

(1 -- color) Mixed-martial arts star Tito Ortiz, fighting Rashad Evans on a UFC card in 2007, could take his talent to a rival organization, such as EliteXC, Strikeforce or Affliction.

Special to the Daily News

(2) Tito Ortiz, posing with girlfriend Jenna Jameson, will fight this weekend in perhaps his final UFC event.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images