UFC Fights

Tito Ortiz v. Dana White

What’s a guy to do? It seems like Tito Ortiz, the Huntington Beach Bad Boy, can’t buy respect these days. Rashad Evans is straight up roasting Tito as their fight approaches – calling Tito a “stepping stone” and a has-been. Pundits are questioning if he still has the ability to be a marquee star in the UFC. I’d also imagine that he gets some looks from guys when he walks into a restaurant with his girlfriend, former porn queen Jenna Jameson (does anything sound less appealing than the moniker “former porn queen”?). Adding to the Tito drama is a tito-lizing storyline with UFC President Dana White.

In case you don’t know the story – and I’m going to give it the fluff treatment here (I wish every article could have porn references), in 2003 Tito Ortiz had a boxing match with Dana White signed into his UFC contract so the two could work out their “differences” – just like Liam and Noel Gallagher did. The details of the fight weren’t signed at that time, but once negotiations began, Tito’s camp (and by camp I mean Jenna Jameson) effectively pulled the plug. Mr. Ortiz claims the reason was that Dana White would not split the profits 50-50 and the aired-special about the fight on SpikeTV would (and did) not have Tito listed as co-producer, something he felt he deserved as he came up with the idea for the whole fight. Eager to disprove that the stumbling block was Tito’s money shot (I’m in writer heaven here), his side stated that he would even prefer all profits go to charity.

As for Dana White, he seems more than content to just rip Tito to shreds in the court of public opinion. In the Spike TV special about the proposed boxing match, Dana is seen training his butt off, only to have Tito pull out (not going to make a JJ joke here. Promise.) at the last second – saying that he was letting Dana “off the hook”. Tito comes across as a showy coward, while Dana White is shown as the true fighter, left in the ring as the credits roll.

Now the behind the scenes negotiation between the two sides clears up some of the issues – White not giving a full three weeks for a bout agreement which all UFC fights have, the argument over profits, the legal mumbo-jumbo. White still however had a chip on his shoulder, saying in interview after interview how Ortiz was “washed up” and needed to do more than “beat up a nearly 50-year old Ken Shamrock”. White even misquoted Tito’s ex wife, who along with Madam Jameson handles Tito’s finances.

For his part Tito has taken by and large the high-road. He believes that Dana is basically threatened by a fighter as popular as Tito is, who is also not afraid to criticize how the UFC treats fighters and pays them far worse than a sport such as boxing, given similar viewing numbers. Dana has countered that Tito is basically done as a fighter and just wants to keep himself in the public eye. Lest anyone forget, Dana is eager to prove that he’s the top dog, saying to CBS Sportsline:

“Tito isn’t aware of anything right now. He is living in a f— ing bubble right now. I just tell what happened. I showed up, he signed a contract to do this thing and I showed up, he didn’t. Is he afraid of me? No, he’s not afraid of me, but he has people around him right now that thought it wasn’t a good idea unless he got paid a s— load of money for it. And why would I pay Tito Ortiz a s—load of money to fight me? It was something he asked for in his contract. He is out there making himself look like a jacka– right now. He ought to shut his face and worry about Rashad Evans.”

Well now. Dem dere dis fightin wards. Perhaps at UFC73: Stacked after Tito fights Rashad Evans, Dana White will pull a Vince McMahon and jump in the octagon and challenge Tito right there and then. If not, can we at least get Jenna Jameson to do a tag-team? Match everyone. A tag team match.

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