Tito Ortiz sheds light on why his boxing bout against Dana White never happened: "They tried to get me out"
Tito Ortiz recently recounted why his planned boxing bout against Dana White never materialized. The two had a well documented beef for years and even had a public argument during a UFC press conference.
'The Huntington Beach Bad Boy' was one of the most popular and among the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world in his prime. Ortiz had been critical of White and their animosity reached a point where they were actually going to fight each other in a boxing bout, with the UFC CEO even documenting his preparation.
During his appearance on Mike Perry's Overdogs podcast, the UFC Hall of Famer explained the reasoning for the fight failing to materialize. Ortiz mentioned that he wouldn't have been fairly compensated for the bout, so he decided to back out. He said:
"To be strictly honest and truthful, it's something that was never gonna happen because Dana [White] said that we couldn't do the contract that he agreed upon prior saying 50-50...And I agreed upon that...I understand the business model from the very beginning. That's why they tried to cancel me. That's why they tried to get me out...Put me in a bad limelight. And I get it, I understand it's business." [42:47 - 43:21]
Check out the full episode with Tito Ortiz below:
Tito Ortiz claims the boxing bout changed the perception of Dana White
Tito Oritz admitted that the terms of the agreement for the planned boxing bout were a factor in his decision to back out and claimed that it changed the public perception of Dana White.
During the aforementioned appearance, Ortiz mentioned that White was viewed as a tougher man by the MMA community for his willingness to compete against one of his own stars. He said:
"It boosted his name. You know, it showed the MMA community that Dana White's the man, he's not afraid of anybody, he's the king bada** of all, but it's all propaganda." [45:12 - 45:27]
Check out Dana White discussing a hypothetical fight against Tito Ortiz below: