Tito Ortiz - Image: Zuma Press

Tito’s career with the UFC looked like it was over in May of 2008. He had just finished his UFC contract up with a loss to Lyoto Machida and relations with Dana White were at an all time low. Dana had gotten to the point where he’d regularly call Tito and his wife Jenna Jameson idiots on a regular basis, and Tito Ortiz wore a t-shirt to his final weigh-in that read “Dana White Is My Bitch”.

So what healed the epic rift between the two? No one is sure how it all worked itself out. Some point to the UFC’s other top exec Lorenzo Fertitta, who was also instrumental to bringing Mirko Crocop back to the UFC after Dana White got into a verbal tiff with him in the press. And you can’t ignore the magic a lot of money can weave. Tito Ortiz literally carried the UFC through it’s dark days with his popularity and is one of the company’s all time greatest money makers. Letting him go and potentially breath new life into another promotion would have been insane.

Also announced during the press conference: the return of another old school legend, Vitor Belfort, and a broadcast deal with ESPN’s new UK sports channel. Belfort will be stepping into the cage at UFC 103 to take on Rich Franklin … originally Franklin was set to rematch Dan Henderson, but the fight was scrapped because fans across the internet booed and hissed loudly enough. While I’m not happy that Rich vs Dan was canceled, it’s still pretty cool that the UFC listens to it’s fans like that.

Post from: EveryJoe

Tito Ortiz is Back in the UFC

Tito Ortiz - Image: Zuma Press

Tito Ortiz returning to the UFC: The great thing about Dana White as UFC president is that he gets so giddy he lets things slip all the time. While tweeting about an appearance on a radio show Friday evening, he added an “Oh yea and welcome back tito :)” to the end. On his radio appearance he played it more coy than that, but you can blame that on his attempt to save all the juicy news for a July 31st press conference. Chances of Tito coming back to the UFC? I’d say they’re higher than 90% now, with a 10% chance of talks breaking down as these two haggle over contract details.

Affliction is dead, long live Affliction: The days of the Affliction company throwing live events is over. On Friday morning, the company pulled the plug on their third event and by the evening news had come out that they were in talks to work with the UFC again. No terms were disclosed on the deal yet, but a joint press release came out early this morning confirming their ‘collaboration’ and the return of Affliction Clothing as a UFC sponsor.

What happens to Fedor: The biggest question is what happens to top fighter Fedor Emelianenko now that the UFC and Affliction are ‘collaborating’? Fedor has one fight left on his Affliction contract. Will the UFC pick that fight up and bring him into their promotion? Chances of that are low since the UFC has consistently refused to sign one fight deals with the Russian fighter, but this opportunity might be too good to pass up. Expect some statements from both Fedor’s camp and the UFC regarding his situation which should clarify where the best heavyweight in the world is going. I’m gonna let my inner fanboy get hopeful, but I wouldn’t recommend you hold your breath on this one.

MMA is a pretty crazy sport … I can’t think of another one where interesting stuff like this happens on a fairly regular basis. I’ll keep you informed of all the major developments right here at Everyjoe, so stick around and enjoy the ride!

Post from: EveryJoe

MMA world gets a major shake-up

Tito Ortiz - Image: Zuma Press

So while there’s been no deals signed, the biggest hurdle keeping Tito Ortiz out of the UFC – namely White’s abject hatred of the dude – has been crossed. But keep in mind that the UFC’s rocky relationship with Ortiz (one of the UFC biggest stars) didn’t materialize out of nowhere.

Tito has a long history of being a very difficult person to deal with … just ask some of the companies he almost signed with over the past year or so. At this point all it would take would be a decimal point put in the wrong place during contract negotiations to completely destroy this tiny bit of goodwill that just twittered it’s way into the mixed martial arts universe.

To see more tweets from Dana and Tito, go to DanaWhiteUFC and TitoOrtiz.

Post from: EveryJoe

Tito Ortiz and UFC kiss and make up

Tito Ortiz - Image: Zuma Press

According to Tito Ortiz, he will be starting a new promotion with Strikeforce called Punishment Fighting Championships, which Tito will both manage and compete in. I have no idea how the hell that’s supposed to work, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the ‘new promotion’ is just a differently branded Strikeforce event which Tito gets a cut of the profits from. And that’s if the whole thing ends up happening at all – Tito has been known to talk out his ass on numerous occasions regarding unfinished business deals. Didn’t he learn anything from his time on Celebrity Apprentice?

As for the possibility of returning to the UFC, Tito has said it will never happen so long as Dana White is president of the UFC. I could write a novel about the bad blood between them, but suffice to say they’re not fans of each other. It is worth noting however that quite a few informed people are still betting on the Huntington Beach Bad Boy returning to the UFC in the end. Something to do with money talking and something else walking?

The good (or bad, depending on your opinion of Tito) news is that all signs point towards Tito returning to the cage by the end of the year. As unintentionally entertaining as he can be outside the cage, I’d rather see him fighting than talking any day.

Post from: EveryJoe

Tito Ortiz Talks Return to the Cage

• The Gracie US National And Kids World Championship
• MMA All Stars Demo and Seminar
• The Gladiator Challenge
• Sumo Wrestling

You can meet Tito Ortiz, Keith Jardine and Herb Dean and various other MMA fighters. You can even audition for “I Survived A Japanese Gameshow” that will start airing again this year.

All sorts of great things going on. Only one week away so you better get in while you can. Visit Thefitexpo.com for more information.

Post from: EveryJoe

Los Angeles Fitness Expo

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Liddell vs. Ortiz