The restaurant business has claimed another victim — and this time it somehow managed to make Tito Ortiz tap.
The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight champion announced that Tito’s Cantina Mexican Restaurant in Cape Coral, Florida, will close its doors on Monday (Oct. 5, 2026), ending a three-year run filled with tacos, tequila, UFC watch parties and replica championship belts.
Unfortunately, Ortiz’s latest injuries proved too much to overcome.
“We worked hard over the last three years, but as of this coming Monday, we’ll be closing doors,” Ortiz said. “It’s hard for me because I’ve worked so hard over the last three years. I’m very thankful for every one of our customers who came in and supported us.”
Ortiz opened Tito’s Cantina in late summer 2023 despite having no previous experience running a restaurant. According to “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy,” the business was successful during its first two years before a frightening boating accident earlier this year changed everything.
“On February 28th of this year, I got in a boating accident, and I’ve been hurt now for the last eight months,” Ortiz said. “It’s been hard. I’ve had neck surgery. I had a concussion for over four and a half months. Over the last eight months, I’ve shown up maybe 15 times. It really has hurt my business a lot, being injured.”
Ortiz previously revealed that he was thrown from a boat traveling approximately 55 miles per hour, knocking him unconscious and leaving him submerged beneath the water. The 51-year-old later complained of headaches, memory problems and numbness in his arms before undergoing another spinal procedure.
That would be a devastating collection of injuries for almost anyone. For Ortiz, however, it was simply another addition to a medical chart thick enough to qualify as its own trilogy.
During the later stages of his fighting career, Ortiz seemingly entered every fight held together by athletic tape, stubbornness, and whatever spare vertebrae remained operational. The UFC Hall of Famer previously revealed that he had both ACLs replaced, half the meniscus removed from his right knee, his lower back fused, multiple vertebrae fused in his neck and another cervical disc replaced. He also estimated that he suffered approximately 26 or 27 concussions throughout his career.
Indeed, Ortiz once described his body as his “biggest enemy.” Nearly a decade later, that enemy has now followed him out of the cage and into the restaurant business.
Ortiz admitted that his prolonged absence forced him to continually pour money into Tito’s Cantina just to keep it operating, eventually creating a financial deficit he could no longer overcome.
“After being away for almost nine months, and the injury that I’ve had and the recovery I’ve been going through, I’ve been digging a hole so deep that I can’t get myself out of it,” Ortiz said. “For me to close doors has been a really hard thing to swallow, just because I’ve always been a successful person.”
For all the easy jokes that normally accompany an Ortiz monologue, there was nothing funny about watching him say goodbye to a business that clearly meant a great deal to him. Ortiz thanked his employees, customers and the Cape Coral community while revealing that his grandmother would have been proud of the Southern California-style Mexican food his restaurant served.
He also stressed that he is not leaving the area and remains willing to sell the fully operational restaurant to an interested buyer.
Before the doors officially close, Tito’s Cantina will hold one final week of food, drink and clothing specials. Ortiz will also host one last UFC fight night on Saturday and give away another championship belt.
“You guys want to come down, party with me and have some fun, we’ll be having fight night on Saturday,” Ortiz said. “We’ll be giving away a belt, too. So come down and enjoy this last week together.
“I appreciate you. God bless.”
