Just so the fans and the listeners know, give us the status with UFC and what’s going down?

Ortiz: I’m finishing up the last fight of my contract, you know. I’ll be free at last!

Now Tito, we got to talk about this, because we’ve seen Randy Couture, you know one of the biggest fighters in the UFC walk away with problems. Obviously you have some issues here as well. What is it that all the top guys want to walk away?

Ortiz: Well you know what it comes down to, is all the top guys man, we’ve been doing this for you know ten years, 11 years and we were putting our lives into this company and the revenue hasn’t been growing at all, that much with us. Not as much as they’ve been pretty much increasing their revenue. We have great fans who want to watch this fight and I think the superstars should be built as a company’s being built and they don’t want to do that, you know, they’re really keeping the big piece of the pie and they’re just feeding all the champions and all the superstars just crumbs of it. I’m a smart businessman. I know Randy’s a smart businessman and you know, Tim Sylvia, Andre Arlovsky’s another person, you know and they’ll start seeing the big picture of all of it. I do hear a lot of the fans saying “Oh, here goes Tito, talking about money again,” but they got to understand you know, we put our lives on the line 100 per cent and we’re trying to entertain and we do thank them very much for buying the pay per view and for supporting us and you know we’re looking for the big picture at the end of the show you know, when we are retired and have nothing to worry about and there’s always some type of revenue coming in from the DVD’s or from the video games, because we don’t get nothing from that. We don’t get nothing from the video game. We don’t get nothing from the DVD’s. Nothing in merchandise. UFC owns 100 per cent of that. When it comes down to our fights, people say “what about the sponsor money you make?” Well, if Dana says “you can’t have them as a sponsor,” you cannot have them as a sponsor. That’s the way it goes. The only way you’re allowed to have the sponsors you get is if it’s okay with Dana White, and there’s been a lot of situations that I’ve had sponsors, big sponsors that wanted to pay me large sums of money and Dana said no, just because he had a personal disagreement with them and when personal stuff starts interfering with business with me, I really take it at heart. I put my life on the line when I get in the octagon and I try to entertain fans as much as possible, and that’s my job as an entertainer and as a fighter, to you know, not just make it a fight, but to make it entertaining to make you want to buy the pay per view and they love my pay per views. I don’t come out of shape when I come in to fight. I try to come in 100 per cent, unless and injury, you know kind of hinders me from making it happen, but you know I come in 100 per cent and you know, it’s fireworks when Tito Ortiz fights and that’s how I’ve always fought.

Absolutely, and we’re totally down with that as well. I want to talk a little bit about Dana White though, because it is known that the two of you don’t get along and besides the fact, and I agree with you that you guys don’t get the money that you should get in terms of how much money is drawn by the fights. But it’s known that you have the beef with Dana. How much of this is just you know, you wanting to get away from Dana White?

Ortiz: You know, I think just about 90 per cent of this is me just wanting to get away from Dana White. Because he has a vengeance for me, you know, he’s a person who’s very hateful towards me and he doesn’t want to see me grow as a superstar and he’s always been like that. He’s always been trying to hold me down and not let me go further and it’s just really sad to see.

What about the other side of it though Tito? I mean in your last contract, you said that you would sign only if Dana White would take you on in a fight. Dana set it up. They did the big documentary and then you guys didn’t do the fight. I mean think of that from his perspective.

Ortiz: Well from his perspective, the agreement that we had was 50 per cent of the revenue would be split, er 100 per cent of the revenue would be split 50/50 of anything that was made on that fight and we agreed upon that and that was you know, a verbal agreement and a handshake agreement between both of us that if there’s any revenue that’s grossed on the fight that me and him would be fighting each other, that we’d split it 50/50 and that’s me being a businessman once again and when he came to box and Spike TV bought the show and there was money made there, which I never saw one penny of. There was no valid agreement that was in place. They wanted me to go take my physical work, my blood work as a normal fight would happen and how come there’s no valid agreement in there? I mean everything about it is treated valid so how come there’s no valid agreement in there? When I had the contract myself, it was strictly supposed to be a closed door sparring match, where no one knew about it and then we had this idea of possibly putting it on pay per view and I said something about it and all of a sudden, Dana ran with it too and went to Spike TV and they wanted to make a big show about it and you know, I’m a smart businessman. If there’s going to be revenue, you know, take it in one way or another and I want to make something of it also. That’s just me being a businessman. I’m just, I am a fighter, yes, but I’m a businessman to the very end and it never came about, you know.

But the way it played out, with them showing the documentary and being able to make it look basically like you were a coward, you don’t think that hurt your aura or your drawing power as a fighter?

Ortiz: Oh 100 per cent! I was baffled by that. I didn’t understand it myself. Why would you want to show something like that? And the way they did it. I remember when we were talking about it and one thing I said is “do not show Dana White on the scale going ‘Tito Ortiz is a no show. He’s afraid of me.’” I mean come on Dana, man. I mean that’s fat uncle Fester, I mean he laughed around with me. Back when we used to spar when I first started, it’s just one of those things that it comes down to, he just tried to take advantage of me and I wasn’t going to let it happen and you know what they showed on Spike TV was a one sided story. It was a Dana White special. It was Dana White flying his leer jet, driving around in his Ferrari, you know, showing how tough of a guy he is and this and that. Which is all the hoopla. People will get a chance to see past the smoky mirrors.

Yeah it always amazes me Tito, because as someone who’s followed pro wrestling for a long time and this is exactly what Dana did. It’s very common in pro wrestling, is that when a promoter has someone who can make money but because they have a grudge, a personal grudge against them, they bury that guy, even though it’s detrimental to the company.

Ortiz: Exactly, and that’s exactly what’s happened and the one thing about me is Tito Ortiz will never be buried by Dana White, ever. I have such great fans that support me 100 per cent and to everyone who’s listening, every one of my fans, I got to thank you guys for supporting me. After the Belfort fight, when they were blurting out “punishment!” on all the TV reruns. You know there’s so many fans there that were supporting me and that’s when the company caught a load of what was happening and they’ll support me no matter what because how many millions of fans that I have and you know, after this fight’s over, I feel sorry for the fans, because they won’t see me fight in the UFC anymore, but they will see me fight somewhere else, that’s for sure and I really think that fans have seen the damage that Dana has done to my image and the damage that’s happened because of Dana White. And it’s all Dana White. Completely Dana White. You know, he’s a cut-throat person. If you don’t do what he says, he’ll do everything in his power to hinder you, 100 per cent. I mean look at Randy Couture, look at Andre Arlovsky, look at Tim Sylvia. I mean these are guys that want to try to make more money for their families and Dana White does everything in his power to erase them from UFC history and it’s really hard to see. I mean last time I went through negotiations, I wasn’t on the website. I’m a five time defending world champion in the UFC. There’s never been a light heavyweight that has dominated as much as I have and yes I’ve lost to Chuck Liddell and he’s one of the best in the world, but that’s it. Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture are the only two people I’ve ever lost to in the last nine years and those are two of the greatest fighters in the world. I never lost to anybody else. Yeah I had a draw against Rashad Evans, but I was 50-60 per cent. I wasn’t 100 per cent. And now, Forrest Griffin gets a shot at the world title. I remember a year and a half ago when I beat Rashad, beat Forrest Griffin and now he’s getting a title shot? It just seems like it’s all political and it’s just a big circle now like what’s happened to boxing is now happening to the UFC.

Now what happens if you’re victorious against Machida in this fight?

Ortiz: No not if. I’m going to beat him 100 per cent.

Haha, okay Tito, when you beat Machida in a couple of weeks, what’s going to happen on the TV? They’re not probably not even going to let you talk. I mean, they won’t let you near a microphone I’m guessing.

Ortiz: Yeah I’m probably about 90 per cent sure they’re not going to give me a mic and I think that’s really bad for the fans, because I know my fans want to hear what I have to say. You know, I think I’ve talked all the smack I’ve talked and after the fight’s over, there won’t be no more smack talking about the UFC, no more smack talking about Dana White. I just wanted to be thankful to the fans for being there for eleven years of my career and to continue being my fans for the next three to four years and hopefully they do give me the mic and just give me that much respect to say my piece and so forth and move on.

The fight with Machida, let’s just talk a little bit about that, because the guy is undefeated. His fights usually go the distance. I’m just wondering what your strategy is, going in?

Ortiz: My strategy is do what I always do. Put the pressure on him, you know. He’s never fought anybody like me. Yes he’s fought some great fights. He fought BJ Penn, who’s a 150 pounder that he barely beat. He did knock out Franklin, who’s a 185 pounder. But he’s never fought a natural 205 pounder, you know, I cut from 210-215 to make 205. I’m a lot bigger. Has he ever fought anybody with the wrestling ability that I have? No, not at all. I hope he’s ready, you know, I hope he thinks that I’m an injured fighter, I hope he thinks that I’m going to be gassed after the second round, because I got a lot of things to open his eyes and surprise him about man. I’m in great shape, you know I’ve been up here in Big Bear, California and I got two more weeks to finish off. You know we’re doing six five minute rounds with a 30 second rest and I’m in great shape man, I’m probably in the best shape that I’ve been in the last five years. I think the last time I’ve been in this great of shape was right before I fought Randy Couture, so I’m in great shape. My body’s healthy. I have no back injury right now, knock on wood.

It sounds like you’re obviously ready, physically. What about in terms of promoting the fight Tito? Have you been, you know how they usually do those countdown shows for the UFC. Have you been approached for that or are they staying away from you completely?

Ortiz: Well I know they came out to my house about two and a half months ago and they had videotapes and stuff of me training and me running and so forth. They said they’re going to put it on the countdown show, but we’ll see, you know, but why would they want to hinder their pay per view ratings, you know they would want to have great pay per view ratings and kind of let them know that Tito Ortiz is going to be in one of his biggest fights and hopefully they do let it out, but if they don’t, then you’ll know why.

I want to talk about some of your other projects as well. We heard that clip from Celebrity Apprentice. What was that working with Donald Trump, Gene Simmons, quite the cast of characters.

Ortiz: Yeah all the cast that was on Celebrity Apprentice are pretty cool people, you know besides Omerosa, she was a monster. Donald Trump is an awesome businessman, very smart, you know, someone who I look up to in business and you know, just to be associated with his name was something great, you know asking him business questions and so forth about my future. It was great to be around him.

Now we’re hearing this talk about you doing your own reality show. What’s it called “Any town beat down?”

Ortiz: That’s correct.

So this will just be average joes and they’ll go in for a quick fighting lesson and you’ll go in and bang it out?

Ortiz: It all comes down to hostility, you know, there’s guys who have been best friends for you know, ages, that have some deep down revenge that they want to get on each other like maybe one had sex with another man’s wife a long time ago and he found out about it but still stayed friends no matter what. Or let’s say one guy stole from somebody and he found out about it later on and he always wanted to give him a beat down.

So this sounds to me like the show where you should have your match with Dana.

Ortiz: Yeah that would probably be huge ratings if that did happen

Haha! Tito I want to thank you so much for joining us. We got to wrap things up but best of luck with Machida. Any hints on where you’re going to end up after UFC? Can you tell us anything?

Ortiz: No, not really at all, but I guarantee you it’s going to be an action packed fight no matter where I fight at, you know I thank all my fans for their support. It’s May 24, live at the MGM Grand, watch Tito Ortiz beat Machida and of course check out my Punishment Athletics line. Go to punishment.com and get some gear for the whole family to support the Tito Ortiz cause.

All right Tito, thanks again so much for joining us late on a Sunday night and best of luck in your continuing career.

Ortiz: Thank you very much man, I appreciate it.

(Transcribed by Blaine van der Griend)

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