Tito didn't win the battle but says he won the war  | read this item

Tito didn’t win the battle but says he won the war

November 25, 2009   ·   UFC Betting Staff   ·   Jump to comments

Robbed was the word of the night for Tito Ortiz following his loss to Forrest Griffin but deep down he thinks he’s the one who pulled off the heist. That’s right, he won the long war against UFC president Dana White. Ortiz pulled a fast one on the big guy when he got the UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta to overrule White in favor of him.

Tito blurted out that he “won” between the two of them during the press conference (8:25 mark) and also said it during an interview with DC and The Sunshine Man on ESPNRadio1100 on Thursday. Maybe it was an unfair fight. Adam Hill from the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote:

The insults hurled at former friend and manager and current UFC president
Dana White? The shots at the company’s pay structure? The joke about Chuck
Liddell’s speech? Even the shirt with a derogatory term about White that Ortiz
wore to the weigh-ins before his most recent fight? All part of the plan.

How did Ortiz win? Because he’s smart:

“(You) have to understand, it’s all negotiations. It’s all a tactic. I’m slick,
man. I’m smooth. I know what I’m doing. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’m
smart,” Ortiz said. “I went to college and got educated. I understand
negotiations. I understand what you’ve got to do to make your brand better.
That’s why I’m Tito Ortiz. There’s no one like me.”

Ortiz said he forced himself to say nasty things in spite of his love for White:

“It hurt to say the things I did say and to do the things that I did, and, you
know, I (missed) Dana as a friend,” Ortiz said. “You know me and him, we got
along very, very well, so it’s really cool to be able to pick up the phone and
just talk to someone who was always my friend.”

Do you believe any of that?

Ortiz can negotiate. He got himself a deal at UFC 106 that didn’t require him to win. Tito got $250,000 to show and there was no win bonus
regardless of the outcome. He’ll likely receive some sort of backend
pay-per-view bonus as well. UFC fighters are strictly forbidden to speak
about such contract terms. Ultimately, Ortiz was screwed a bit when Brock Lesnar dropped off the card. The card with a Lesnar main event would have done in excess of one million buys. With Ortiz-Griffin as the main event, the UFC is probably thrilled if it eclipses 500,000.

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