Alberto Del Rio believes he could’ve beat Tito Ortiz in his return to MMA.
Del Rio returned to the cage back in December for the first time in nearly 10 years when he battled Ortiz. It was an anticipated fight and the two did not like each other in the lead up to the scrap.
In the end, it was Ortiz who got his hand raised by first-round submission, which Del Rio was disappointed with. He says he made some mistakes that costed him from winning.
“I think I could’ve won that fight, I really do,” Del Rio said to MMA Junkie. “I made some mistakes with the strategy. but once again the would’ve doesn’t exist. Ring rust is real and it was there. I made two big mistakes and with someone as experienced as Tito that’s deadly.”
Although Del Rio lost the fight, he has no regrets about taking it. He says he is happy how hard he trained but doesn’t expect to fight again.
“I know who Tito is, always have, but I’m a person that likes challenges,” Del Rio said. “I took the challenge thinking I was going to win it. I’ve never taken a challenge thinking I wans’t going to do it.
“Tito is a great fighter and a great legend, and well, I’m at least happy I trained very hard to get to that fight and I gave it 100 percent. Just simply the better man won that night.”
