{"id":209383,"date":"2016-11-05T09:07:07","date_gmt":"2016-11-05T16:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=209383"},"modified":"2016-11-05T09:07:07","modified_gmt":"2016-11-05T16:07:07","slug":"tito-ortiz-catches-heat-homophobic-comments-towards-chael-sonnen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/tito-ortiz-catches-heat-homophobic-comments-towards-chael-sonnen\/","title":{"rendered":"Tito Ortiz catches heat for homophobic comments towards Chael Sonnen"},"content":{"rendered":"

On January 21st, former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, and former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen will step into the cage<\/a> under the Bellator MMA banner in a highly anticipated matchup.<\/p>\n

When Sonnen celebrated the end of his two-year suspension several months ago, it was announced that he was coming out of retirement, and had already signed an exclusive multi-fight contract with Bellator MMA<\/a>. In addition, Sonnen called out former UFC champ Tito Ortiz for his first Bellator MMA fight. Ultimately, the pair were booked to fight in the main event of Bellator 170 on January 21st, a date targeted by Ortiz due to the fact that it’s just two days before his birthday.<\/p>\n

\"Chael<\/a><\/p>\n

Ahead of the event, both men attended Bellator 163 this past weekend for promotional duties. During which, Sonnen stated that somebody needed to “tell Tito Ortiz his zipper is down,” because, “This is embarrassing!” <\/p>\n

When Ortiz caught word of Sonnen’s comments during a cageside interview, he fired back by saying: “I didn’t know he was gay, but that’s his problem.”<\/p>\n

Ortiz then followed up his statement with another one on Twitter, in which he said:<\/p>\n

\n

.@ChaelSonnen<\/a> didnt know u were gay.Looking @my<\/a> crotch 2 see if my zipper was down?I dont swing that way but I have a few friends that do.<\/p>\n

— Tito Ortiz (@titoortiz) November 5, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n