This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Tito Ortiz Turns 45

He remains one of only 12 men who have captured the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title, and his 1,260-day reign atop the 205-pound weight class ranks as the third-longest in UFC history. Tito Ortiz will celebrate his 45th birthday on Jan. 23.

Ortiz has posted six wins in eight appearances since he ended his retirement in 2014, pushing his overall record to 21-12-2. The Huntington Beach, California, native was involved in some of the sport’s most memorable and influential rivalries in his prime, first with Ken Shamrock and later with Chuck Liddell. Wins over former Pride Fighting Championships titleholder Wanderlei Silva, current two-division Bellator MMA champion Ryan Bader and former UFC titlists Evan Tanner, Vitor Belfort and Forrest Griffin anchor the Ortiz resume. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2012.

Others in MMA celebrating birthdays during the month of January:

JAN. 1

Guy Mezger, 52
Eiji Mitsuoka, 44
Charles Diaz, 43
Robbie Peralta, 34
John Lineker, 30
Herica Tiburcio, 27

JAN. 2

Igor Pokrajac, 41
Mac Danzig, 40
Luis Santos, 40
Oli Thompson, 40
Emanuel Newton, 36

JAN. 3

Rodney Glunder, 45
Vlad Popovskiy, 28
Marif Piraev, 27
Paddy Pimblett, 25
Magomed Saipulaev, 24

JAN. 4

Kimo Leopoldo, 52
Vladimir Matyushenko, 49
Shane Carwin, 45
Donny Walker, 40
Jose Maria Tome, 38
Derek Brunson, 36
Raphael Butler, 36
Jin Suk Jung, 36
Jung Min Kang, 34
Warlley Alves, 29

JAN. 5

Ruben Villareal, 50
Mike Bronzoulis, 41
John Gunderson, 41
Kaline Medeiros, 41
Trevor Smith, 39
Takahiro Suzuki, 33
Douglas Lima, 32
Goiti Yamauchi, 27

JAN. 6

Kevin Rosier, 1962-2015
Kenny Garner, 45
Kalib Starnes, 45
Riki Fukuda, 39
Wilson Reis, 35
Michelle Waterson, 34
Matheus Nicolau Pereira, 27

JAN. 7

Donald Brashear, 48
Christian Colombo, 40
Caros Fodor, 36
Thiago Santos, 36
Levan Makashvili, 31

JAN. 8

Tara LaRosa, 42
Andre Santos, 39
Ertan Balaban, 37
Colin Fletcher, 37
Michael Graves, 29

JAN. 9

Pete Spratt, 49
David Terrell, 42
Jake Shields, 41
Garreth McLellan, 38
Yoislandy Izquierdo, 36

JAN. 10

Yumiko Hotta, 53
Mickey Hughes, 41
Matt Brown, 39
Magomed Magomedkerimov, 30
Merab Dvalishvili, 29

JAN. 11

Rebecca Ruth, 41
Rafael Cavalcante, 39
Muhammed Lawal, 39
Eddie Alvarez, 36
Peter Sobotta, 33

JAN. 12

Ikuhisa Minowa, 44
Young Bok Kil, 35
Angela Hill, 32
Jingnan Xiong, 32
Isis Verbeek, 25

JAN. 13

George Allen, 53
Leigh Remedios, 44
Justin Hawes, 41
Dennis Siver, 41
Joe Schilling, 36

JAN. 14

Matt Uhde, 46
Akbarh Arreola, 37
Daniel McWilliams, 37
Matt Riddle, 34
Kevin Chung, 27

JAN. 15

Alexandre Franca Nogueira, 42
Nobuhiro Obiya, 39
Yuki Nishigo, 35
Andrew Craig, 34
Efrain Escudero, 34
Alexander Gustafsson, 33
Michael McDonald, 29
Zubaira Tukhugov, 29

JAN. 16

Paul Buentello, 46
Hyun Gyu Lim, 35
Sai Wang, 34
Juan Adams, 28
Chris Avila, 27

JAN. 17

Gary Goodridge, 54
Ariel Sexton, 38
Dusan Dzakic, 33
Brian Grinnell, 32
Alexander Sarnavskiy, 31
Arnold Allen, 26

JAN. 18

Dave Bautista, 51
Neil Grove, 49
Jeff Monson, 49
Yoshikazu Fujiishi, 42
Luis Ramos, 39
Miguel Torres, 39
Diego Ferreira, 35
Marcin Held, 28

JAN. 19

Aritano Silva Barbosa, 41
Leandro Higo, 31
Dustin Poirier, 31
Timur Valiev, 30
Regivaldo Carvalho, 26

JAN. 20

Matt Ewin, 50
Alexandre Ribeiro, 39
Roy Doliguez, 38
Donavon Frelow, 35
Su Mudaerji, 24

JAN. 21

Francisco France, 37
Edson Barboza, 34
Patricky Freire, 34
Willie Gates, 33
Matthew Lopez, 33
Shane Campbell, 32
Andre Ewell, 32

JAN. 22

Min Soo Kim, 45
Jorge Antonio Cezario de Oliveira, 40
Luigi Fioravanti, 39
Tomasz Drwal, 38
Ji Hoon Kim, 38
Mickey Gall, 28

JAN. 23

Marco Ruas, 59
Tito Ortiz, 45
A.J. Matthews, 32
Christos Giagos, 30
Shamil Akhmatkhanov, 24

JAN. 24

Akira Maeda, 61
Lukasz Chlewicki, 41
Jamall Johnson, 38
Jimmy Spicuzza, 35
Oskar Piechota, 30

JAN. 25

Ron van Clief, 77
Jorge Gurgel, 43
Paulo Thiago, 39
John Quinn, 37
Mike Easton, 36
Dominique Steele, 32

JAN. 26

Dan Bobish, 50
Carmelo Marrero, 39
Rafaello Oliveira, 38
Chico Camus, 35
Ariane Lipski, 26

JAN. 27

Tony Sylvester, 42
Klay Konrad, 38
Anthony Pettis, 33
Emmanuel Walo, 33
Vinicius de Jesus, 30

JAN. 28

Tim Boetsch, 39
Cortez Coleman, 38
Ashleigh Grimshaw, 38
Jesse Fujarczyk, 37
Brandon Saling, 34

JAN. 29

Stephen Palling, 53
Kazuyuki Miyata, 44
Annalisa Bucci, 37
Nikolay Aleksakhin, 29
Mallory Martin, 26

JAN. 30

Takaku Fuke, 51
Rob Kimmons, 39
Jessica Penne, 37
Junior dos Santos, 36
Daniel Swain, 29

JAN. 31

Akira Shoji, 46
Kengo Watanabe, 44
Maciej Jewtuszko, 39
Shunichi Shimizu, 35
Renan Barao, 33
Kirill Sukhomlinov, 32
Dhiego Lima, 31
Cesar Arzamendia, 29