Bad Boy for Life: Tito Ortiz's 5 greatest fights

You don't last 19 years as a cagefighter without earning a few hallmarks along the way.

Tito Ortiz hung up his gloves after submitting fellow UFC alum Chael Sonnen in the first round of the main event of Bellator 170 on Saturday, capping a career that saw him set Octagon records, go from young alternate to light heavyweight champion, and play an active role in elevating MMA from spectacle to respectability.

Related: The Torchbearer: 4 ways Tito Ortiz made his mark on MMA

Here are five shining moments in the illustrious career of "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy":

Wanderlei Silva - UFC 25

In the spring of 2000, Ortiz traveled to "The Land of the Rising Sun" a contender and returned to the States a champion.

Then just 25, the California product met Wanderlei Silva in Tokyo for the UFC light-heavyweight title Frank Shamrock had vacated and staged a wrestling clinic for five solid rounds. Ortiz took the lethal Muay Thai artist down at will and chipped away at his spirit with relentless ground-and-pound to sweep the scorecards and claim the 205-pound title.

Evan Tanner - UFC 30

Versatility may now be the name of the MMA game, but Ortiz needed little more than his vaunted wrestling to build his UFC pedigree and extend his reign atop the light-heavyweight heap.

In his second title defense, the Huntington Beach Bad Boy treated fellow wrestler Evan Tanner to a taste of his own medicine. Ortiz needed just 30 seconds to dispatch the challenger, trapping him in a body lock before taking him on a roller-coaster ride to a monstrous slam that had Tanner seeing stars and fight fans wondering what he'd done to deserve such a cruel fate.

Ken Shamrock I - UFC 40

Ortiz's fifth and final title defense doubled as a watershed moment for the UFC.

The California wrestler and Ken Shamrock built the Zuffa era's first great rivalry, and when they met in the main event of UFC 40 - less than two years after the company had bought the promotion for just $2 million - any doubts the brass may have had about the purchase were thoroughly eradicated.

In the first of three laughs he would have at Shamrock's expense, Ortiz put his nemesis on his back and beat him bloody until he couldn't answer the fourth-round horn. The champ's fifth successful title defense - which stood as a UFC light heavyweight record for the next 11 years - netted a near-six-figure buyrate, a rarity that proved the sport and its preeminent promotion were destined for new heights.

Forrest Griffin I - UFC 59

What Ortiz's rivalry with Forrest Griffin lacked in animosity it made up for in fireworks.

The pair of light heavyweights met in 2006 - in the first fight of a trilogy that spanned over six years - and both rose to the occasion, as Ortiz took the opening frame with his patented ground-and-pound while the ever-game Griffin tuned him up on the feet in the second to lock the Fight of the Year up at a round apiece heading into the third.

After Griffin continued to get the better of him in the striking department for the bulk of Round 3, Ortiz scored a late takedown to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and take two of three scorecards, although Griffin would later come back to secure the trilogy in Ortiz's last fight in the Octagon at UFC 148.

Ryan Bader - UFC 132

Ortiz fittingly turned back the clock against a then-rising contender in Ryan Bader.

At 36 and riding a five-year winless streak, the former champ got a sweet taste of redemption when he squared off against the "TUF 8" winner, dropping Bader with a right hand before squeezing the bejesus out of his neck with a guillotine choke for the tapout in just 1:56.

The victory, Ortiz's first by submission in over a decade, proved to be the last time the legend would have his hand raised in the Octagon.