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Get to training with Tito

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He’s known for his tough talk, short temper and unwillingness to spare others in the ring.

But underneath it all, Ultimate Fighting Champion Tito Ortiz wants young kids to have better opportunities than he had.

That’s why he opened Punishment Training Center with a celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday as an extension of clothing line, Team Punishment.

“I think it starts with the youth,” he said. “This will give them something to go to after school. This will teach them confidence, motivation and self-discipline. It’s really important for kids to have role models and inspirations in life.”

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The center offers a variety of classes, including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, classes for women and children, one-on-one wrestling and personal training by Ortiz, one of the world’s best known mixed martial artists. The cost is $100 a month for one-on-one training in any of the classes and $150 a month for a combination of the classes.

Rocky Arreola, 28, hopes to make it professionally in the mixed martial arts world.

He called training with Ortiz an honor.

“Tito is one of the pioneers of mixed martial arts,” he said. “He teaches a combination of submission and wrestling, and since mixed martial arts has gone to that level, that way, I have a little of both categories.”

Ortiz, 36, began teaching women’s and children’s classes about three weeks ago.

The name Punishment Training Center is reminiscent of what Ortiz dishes out to opponents inside the ring, but it’s also metaphor for life itself.

Whether it’s getting up early to sit in traffic or getting through college, “Everybody in life takes some type of punishment,” he said.

“The harder you work, the better you get out from whatever you do,” he said. “It kind of correlates with hard work and dedication. You decided yourself what to make of it. I made a name into a brand.”

Ortiz was born and raised in Huntington Beach, so opening the center in his hometown felt natural to him, he said.

He lives with his girlfriend, adult film star Jenna Jameson, and twin boys, in Huntington Harbour, a placed he dreamed of moving into as a boy.

“I finally made it there,” he said.

Ortiz has a son, Jacob, from a previous marriage.

Jameson and Ortiz have had some high-profile issues, leading to his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence in 2010. Ortiz vehemently denied the charges, which were dropped by police.

These days he seems focused on family and life in Surf City.

Life wasn’t easy for Ortiz growing up. His parents were drug addicts who didn’t give him the attention he needed, he said. As a result, he looked for it in the wrong places.

“I consider myself lucky,” Ortiz said. “Someone was looking over me.”

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