I was on the fence about Tito Ortiz, until I read this book. The main reason I did not like Tito was I started out as a Chuck Liddell fan when I started watching UFC in 2006. Once I watched season three of the Ultimate Fighter starring Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock, I began to appreciate Tito as a coach. He really does wear his heart on his sleeve and cared about his team, which he dubbed team punishment. This was more than we could say for Ken Shamrock.

This book goes all the way back to the beginning of his life, and it becomes clear early on that Tito had a very tough upbringing. Tito doesn't like to talk about it but both of his parents were addicted to drugs. The reason he is so street smart when it comes to business, is he did spend a lot of time on the streets as a kid. He even joined a gang, and was nearly shot. Later in the book, he does credit wrestling for helping him get of the streets and for staying in school. I did not know of his connections to Tank Abbott in the early days of the UFC, but they were spelled out in this book. The book did seem very disjointed and I doubt it was 100% written by Tito. However, just as in real life it did come across as authentic, and Tito did cover the majority of the topics honestly. The chapter on Jenna was the most intriguing, and the fact the met on MySpace still cracks me up.

This was a good quick read for MMA or Tito fans, but outside of that core audience there are a plethora of better constructed books about the sport. I still think Jens Pulver's book is the best to read of the dozen or so MMA Bio's I've read.