When everybody had completely written him off, Ortiz had other plans. He clipped Bader with a short right hand and then finished him with an arm-in guillotine at 1:58 of the first round, giving the former light-heavyweight champion his first victory in nearly five years.
Ortiz was 0-4-1 in his five fights prior to Saturday night's win.
Earlier this week marked 10 years since Ortiz had last finished an opponent not named Ken Shamrock inside the Octagon (he did that three times between 2002-06). That night at UFC 32, Ortiz TKO'd Elvis Sinosic in the first round.
Ortiz (16-8-1) captured the UFC title by beating Wanderlei Silva at UFC 25. He defended that title five times, besting Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko and Shamrock before losing the title to Randy Couture at UFC 44 in September 2003.
Ortiz, who frequently pledged to get "my world title back," earned what would be his last title shot at UFC 66 in 2006. In that fight, Ortiz was stopped by Chuck Liddell for a second time in what turned out to be Liddell's last successful title defense.
Ortiz, who coached on both "The Ultimate Fighter 3" and "The Ultimate Fighter 11," will now proceed and earn at least one more UFC fight.
