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Tito Ortiz: Dana White takes the low road

By Zach Arnold | April 16, 2007

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For Immediate Release

Monday, April 16, 2007

“DANA WHITE HAS ONCE AGAIN TAKEN THE LOW ROAD…” SAYS TITO ORTIZ

UFC Fighter Says UFC President “Disrespects All Fighters,” by his Attitude

Statement from Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Tito Ortiz about accusations by Dana White, UFC President on Spike TV Thursday, April 12, 2007:

“Dana White has once again taken the low road and decided to try to damage my reputation and credibility in a public forum. During an appearance on Spike TV on April 12th White accused me of failure to show up for a fight we had originally scheduled for March 24th. He did so at the end of the program and gave me no opportunity to respond or tell the real story, which is simply this: White was fully informed well in advance of March 24th that I would not fight without a contract, which White refused to sign.

Fighting is my livelihood and jeopardizing my body without a full understanding of conditions, doesn’t make any sense. No professional fighter will go into a risky match without a contract.

I’ve struggled to get respect and dignity for my profession and I do it in the way I lead my life as a fighter and as a human being. Dana’s attitude not only disrespects me, but all fighters. I am taking this stand just not for this one incident, but for all future champions.

I want to reiterate: I am ready to settle my differences with Dana White in any fighting forum we can agree on, but only if there is a signed contract that stipulates where the money is going, whether it is to charity or to the fighters doesn’t matter as much as having a definitive agreement.

Until Dana White is ready to fight me on a professional basis, I strongly urge him to keep his mouth shut.”

For more information or interviews with Tito Ortiz, contact: Sara Perkins-Tito Ortiz Press Office-212-687-1977 or [email protected].

About Tito Ortiz:

Jacob “Tito” Ortiz (born January 23, 1975) is a legendary participant of the sport of mixed martial arts, or “MMA.” Ortiz’ career has been mostly within the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization. A former Light-Heavyweight UFC champion, Ortiz has become one of the sport’s shining stars, headlining pay per view championship events and appearing on the cover of such magazines as Black Belt. He is a native of Huntington Beach, CA and is also known as “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy.” Tito Ortiz is recognized as a charismatic and controversial fighter and has also acted in several films and TV series. Whatever the opinions of Ortiz, he is regarded as a colorful showman, talented athlete and successful business executive who heads sportswear company Punishment Athletics.

Topics: Media, MMA, Press Releases, UFC | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

14 Responses to “Tito Ortiz: Dana White takes the low road”

  1. Lynchman says:

    Good lord! Tito wanted a sparring session with Dana. Now he is whining because he was not going to make money.

    I am happy this entire ordeal is over with.

    And we get more of Tito’s ” I am doing this for all fighters” bullshit. Tito looks out for Tito, end of story.

  2. MMA Game says:

    All I hear is bla bla bla bla bla. He says Dana would do well to keep his mouth shut – perhaps he should practice what he preaches and maybe he wouldn’t have got himself into this mess in the first place.

  3. shatterproof says:

    tito… i am not impressed with your performance. heh.

    Tito just looks like a clown trying to talk about dissrespecting fighters. This from the guy who does his little undertaker dance after wins, gives the finger to the corner of his matchups and wears tshirts mocking other professional fighters. clownshoes, that’s what Tito has become. washed-up clownshoes.

    send him to Pride to introduce UFC fans to the promotion, let W. Silva take a bite out of this new Tito ‘jenna’s renovated vag tester’ Ortiz and see if it goes down like last time.

    didn’t his last excuse for this BS include referance to his ‘manager’ Jenna telling him not to do it. right. clownshoes.

  4. Clint says:

    I love how Tito talks about not having a contract when he was the one that demanded that this fight be in his contract. I could probably put up with Tito if he just ran his mouth about his opponents instead of seeming like a money grubbing primadonna

  5. klown says:

    I’m not a fan of Tito Ortiz, but I love it when ANYONE stands up to Dana White.

  6. Zack says:

    Dana, Tito, and Gary Millen should all take a long walk off a short pier.

  7. Liger05 says:

    The whole thing was a farce from the start and both Tito and Dana are idiots for actually proposing such a stupid idea.

  8. Croatian Strength says:

    Tito is 100% right on this one –
    If you’re a name fighter, you don’t fight on tv without a contract, risking your reputation and money making ability with no guarantees.
    I can’t believe Dana didn’t consider this before setting the Spike special up.

  9. MMA Game says:

    Croatian – he demanded the fight! I doubt he demanded a contract in his initial proposal.

    Anyway, I’ve seen elsewhere comments from Tito saying it was Jenna’s idea to have a contract in place so that he could make money from it. I bet you won’t hear him saying that again though…

  10. I have no idea why Dana White and Spike decided to drag one of their marquee names through the mud. Tito Ortiz has done nothing but good business for the UFC since he came back … the TUF show and two Shamrock fights that did massive money. What a way for the UFC to repay him.

  11. (never mind the Tito-Liddell fight which was the largest UFC PPV in history, wasn’t it?)

  12. Lynchman says:

    Fightthinker,

    Real problem with what Tito is saying is that he previously said that, in the end, Dana told Spike that they would not tape it or air it.

    When it started, the plan was for a private sparring match.

    When Tito starting pushing for money, Dana (Tito said this) pulled the cameras so it woud go back to what it was going to be.

    Tito, IMO, wanted this to go from a simple sparring session to a big payday for himself.

    Poor Tito,
    Dana treated hiim bad.
    Chuck betrayed him by fighting him
    Randy Couture betrayed him by cornering Forrest (with whom he had been training for over a year).
    Rashad Evans tried to start a fight when Tito wanted to wish him luck(This is not what others are saying went down, but Tito never exagerates.).

    Why do so many people do Tito wrong?

  13. GassedOut says:

    Why do so many people do Tito wrong?

    Because he leads like a left-hander…with his chin.

    What a low-class goof. Self-inportant to the end. I think Dana was just doing what any promoter would do…taking out the trash. That show had one point and one point only…to shed bad light on Tito Ortiz and add to the nails in his coffin. Frankly, I think Dana looks on it as a business decision.

    Bad blood runs deep and takes many a strange turn.

  14. Spamking says:

    Did anyone actually think Tito would go through with it?

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