From www.news.yahoo.com – What a great weekend to honor the early days of the UFC. The organization has brought back all of the legends and building blocks that made this 100th pay-per-view possible. Check that, all but one. Because of his prolonged public feud with president Dana White, Tito Ortiz is banned from the premises. He’s in Las Vegas this weekend but not welcome at Mandalay Bay. He’s hanging with his wife Jenna Jameson at Hooters Casino with a few hundred MMA fans instead 10,000-plus at the UFC Fan Expo.
Ortiz called in to ESPNRadio1100 to talk about the snubbing and he said it’s much of the same from UFC. Anything to suppress big names:
“The biggest problem is the UFC in general. They’re all about branding their name. We’re the guys who get inside the cage. Strikeforce is working toward making superstars, not worried about their brand.”
Ortiz said he’s set to sign a four-fight deal with Strikeforce. When asked if he wanted Fedor Emelianenko right out of the gates when he returns from his long layoff from back surgery, Ortiz said he’d like the world’s No. 1 pound-for-pound king in the final fight of the deal at a catch weight of 210 pounds.
Ortiz stay composed for most of the interview and resisted lambasting his nemesis White, but some bitterness seeped through towards the end of the conversation:
“It really comes down to a respect value. They don’t respect me. They don’t cherish me at all.”
Ortiz is doing an autograph signing today at Hooters from 12-4 p.m. PT:
“UFC wouldn’t let me go to the Fan Expo. I feel very sorry for all my fans. I’m here for the fans, I’m going to support them no matter what.”
Frankly, this whole thing is ridiculous. Ortiz was a vital part of the organization’s growth going 14-6-1 with the promotion since his first UFC battle back in 1997 at UFC 13. Ortiz and Dana White should’ve found a way co-exist. Tito is losing money in the long term and the UFC cost itself a good personality that it could’ve pushed for the foreseeable future.
Before you scoff and use White’s line that Ortiz is no longer a top 10 205-pounder, look at what’s happened to the careers of Rashad Evans, Forrest Griffin and Lyoto Machida since they fought “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy.” Ortiz’s 1-1-1 mark against those three doesn’t look so bad now. Ortiz hopes to return in late-2009.