The Wounded Warrior Battalion's 242nd Marine Corps Birthday Ball will be held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in Downtown San Diego as it has for the last 2 years. The Guest of Honor will be Mr. Tito Ortiz from Huntington Beach, California.
Jacob "Tito" Ortiz was born January 23, 1975 and is a partici-pant of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). As a former Light-Heavyweight UFC champion, Ortiz has become one of the sport's most shining stars, headlining several Pay Per View championship undercards and appearing on the covers of various magazines.
Ortiz has roles in several feature films, most notably Cradle 2 the Grave and the controversial Turk-ish film Valley of the Wolves Iraq. Ortiz is the CEO of the Punishment Athletics MMA equip-ment and clothing line. He also owns an MMA training gym called Punishment Training Center, located in his hometown of Huntington Beach, California. On July 7, 2012, Ortiz became the ninth inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Mr. Ortiz has always been a patriot. He began lending his celebrity to troop support traveling with the USO on overseas trips in 2005 and was consistent in that effort with annual trips through 2011 also visiting Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals.
Mr. Ortiz has also coached the Army's Battleshark events here in Southern CA, visited numerous bases here at home, visited our own Naval Hospital San Diego through his Ambassador role w American Soldier Network and this year he was flanked by our own combat wounded Marines as he entered the cage at the Los Angeles Forum for his Final fight televised on Spike TV! Of course the People's Champ was victorious ending his amazing career. Retirement has opened the door for more time visiting our wounded, veterans and speaking to both active duty and retired heroes across the USA