Tito Ortiz Talks UFC Fighter Pay, Dana White Being "Like A Chick," Fighters On TRT, Rampage, More
Tito Ortiz was a guest on this weeks episode of Submission Radio. During the interview, Tito talked about Dana White, UFC pay and why he should fight for the Bellator Light heavyweight championship next. You can check out the full interview by clicking here, below are some highlights:
Where Tito stands with Dana White at the moment:
"He's like a chick, man. He's like a chick who has a crush, and will never leave me alone, or he's trying to get me back. I don't know, I just keep my mouth shut about him, and I just let him rant and rave about me. At least his talking about me. I guess I can thank him for that."
If he feels he and Dana can mend their relationship one day:
"I would love that to happen, but I mean it's, a big factor with Dana is just (that) his ego is too big for itself, and I can see right through it. I mean, you can be fake to a person and say 'oh yeah, I'm all cool with him, everything's squashed' but I mean, at the end of the day they're trying to hurt you, and that will happen. And I dunno, maybe it's my trust issues I have. I don't trust people very well and I have just known him for so long, I can just see through the fakeness. You can just see it through the fake smile.
"He's a different person, he's a different type of human being. It's just, he holds grudges and that's, that's him man. That's the way he is, and I dunno. I'm just living my life now happy, in a positive manner. You know, no negativity at all, and time heals all as you said."
If he wishes the exhibition boxing match between him and Dana actually happened:
"Well I think if it actually happened, it would be even worse, because I would have given him an ass whooping really bad. It would have made it even worse I think. That's the only way that I can answer that. For him thinking that he could beat me is just crazy, you know. He used that whole thing as a publicity tool, to make his name seem like he's one of the baddest guys on the earth. I mean, after that he got famous it seems like. And fans still say 'oh you're afraid to fight him'. Come on dude, I fought the best guys in the world in my weight class, and I've never backed out of a fight. The only time fights that didn't happen on time was contract negotiation terms, and that was it. No more than that.
"People say 'oh you're afraid to fight Chuck'. BS, I fought Chuck twice. It's all about us getting paid the right way. This is a business. This is not just a fight, it's a business. At the end of the day, it's a business and people don't understand that.
"People who don't understand that are the fans just watching for a fight, and who don't fight for a living. You know, this is my life, my livelihood. My livelihood is competition, and I love to fight, and I gotta treat that as a business. If I don't, I'm gonna be lost behind, or all of a sudden I'm working at McDonald's or working at some construction site."
Thoughts on current fighter pay and UFC introducing uniforms:
"UFC pay out to the fighters in general about 6% of their revenue that's collected from the fans. That is it. 6% is what the fighters make. Does that sound fair to you? So they (UFC) make 94% of the money, all across the board. That's about as easy as I can make it for fans so they understand it, that fighters don't get anything fair. Zero. They're giving their life and everything they can, and they have nothing to fall back on. And like I say, to make it simple terms so that people understand, 6% of the revenue from the UFC go the fighters. That is it. They sign a contract saying that any type of merchandising, you sign your likeness away for life. They can use your likeness for life and you get zero money from it. Is that fair? No.
"It's a business at the end of the day, that's all it is. And the UFC is doing a great job of becoming a billionaire company by the blood of us fighters."
People criticising him for taking the fight and beating Shlemenko due to the size difference:
"It's just ignorance. People who hate are always gonna hate. I just keep my smile on and all my fans stand proud, because after my match was over it's like, ok look at all the guys now who are speechless, who can't say a word, who were the ones who said I was gonna get my butt kicked."
What he wants to do/ who he wants to fight next in Bellator:
"After the event was over, Rampage and King Mo fought each other and it went to a decision. King Mo thought he won, and Rampage knew he won. I mean, I thought Rampage won, and they're talking about a rematch, and at the press conference Rampage was talking to King Mo about doing a rematch, and Rampage was saying he didn't want to fight the champ because that's his training partner.
"I was like, 'I'll fight the champ. You don't wanna fight him, I'll fight him.' You know, I already beat the 185 pound world champion, give me a chance at the 205 world champion. I beat him, me and Rampage fight for the title, and that would make the best sense PPV wise, and I think it would make a great, great fight for the fans to watch on PPV."
Career time frame:
"I have three fights left with Bellator. If I get the chance to fight for the world title my next fight I'll fight two more times after that, and if I'm still a champion, maybe I will retire at that. It just all depends on my body, how my body withstands the training. That's what it really comes down to."
Thoughts on UFC situation with fighters having issues coming off TRT, Chael Sonnen retiring issues with Wanderlei Silva:
"I think it's awesome. I think it's about time they start shutting these guys down. I said it a long time ago, if they're going to accept steroids into the UFC, I'm out of it. And that's why I retired from the UFC in 2012. Because when I fought Forrest Griffin, he got the TRT exception, he was allowed to use steroids, and I didn't believe in that. My whole career, I've always thought you know, if there's someone that's going to be able to use steroids during competition, they need to retire, and I guess Chael Sonnen is doing that answer. And I think that should be all across the board, if you're not able and capable to compete, against a person at an even playing field, you shouldn't do it. I mean, I've been fighting for seventeen years man, and its hard. It's hard to get up every day and train, you know. I push my body, and push my mind, and push you know, my competition level through the comfort of being ok, and being able to recover. But that's the challenge of competition. You can't do something to make it easier for you, and a lot of these guys are doing that because the UFC is allowing it. And what type of example are we trying to set for our children who are gonna be fighters, who are gonna watch.
"So now that they're making a law saying, these guys can't do that anymore. I think it's great. I think it's the best thing for this sport. I mean, you look at Olympic competitors, they can't do it at all. I mean, they can't even have caffeine. It's making a clean competitor compete at an even playing field, and I think that's the right way to do it. If you can't compete at that level, retire."
If he thinks his fights could have gone the other way if there was more rigorous testing for performance enhancing drugs during his career:
"One hundred percent. You know, in the beginning it was great, because there were guys who were using it and they over used it, and I ended up winning anyways. But my last fight against Forrest Griffin, I think that's why he was able to take the beatings I gave him, was because of that. It kept his aggression level high, and he was able to subdue the punishment I gave him.
"It was too bad for my fans. It was too bad, you know for me. I mean, at end of the day it is about my fans. I fought Forrest (and) I thought I won the fight, and they gave it to him, and I think it's just too bad for my fans, cause all of a sudden it showed everybody, it's ok to cheat. But you know, now they've changed it, now they've taken it out, and I'm actually proud of the UFC for making that happen."
Where he stands with Forrest Griffin after the microphone situation in the octagon after the fight:
"I don't really talk to the guy. I mean it is what it is, you know. He never went on the record saying he apologised at all you know, after the thing he said to myself sorry, but it was kind of a BS sorry. But I guess it's not his fault, I guess that's what happens when you do steroids, you're not sure of what you're doing. So I think that's what it comes down to."
Denis Shkuratov contributed to this article.