Tito Ortiz: “It’s not about money anymore, it’s about respect”

Tito Ortiz made himself available for a Q&A session with The Sun in the U.K. and confirmed his plans to leave the UFC after his fight with Lyoto Machida at UFC 84:

I’m getting ready for that fight right now, May 24th in Las Vegas , Nevada at the MGM Grand. This is the last fight in my contract with the UFC. Then I’m going to go and sign up with somebody else just because the way Dana White treats me as a fighter is very disrespectable.

LINK

Later on Tito...

when has it NOT been about $ for tito

everyone knows that UFC can give a little extra to some of the guys when it comes to money if u dont believe tito how about randy.........also i know u guys hate tito but the person u see is his fighter personna outside of the trash talk hes a chill motha f@#$%...... plus he can back up all his talk hes only lost to champions in his entire career.... finally hes an entertaining fighter in my opinion hes not gonna get that one punch ko or that fancy submission but entertaining all the same

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It’s not about money anymore it’s about respect. I’m going to go with someone else who will pay me more money and treat me with more respect than Dana White has ever treated me. I’m very excited to move on, to grow and go somewhere else and help them build a company like I did with the UFC.

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Is it really not about money?

Well I am glad Tito wants respect but he has too much going on to be a contender in the UFC. I think he goes overboard with his little shows in the ring but you have to respect him for what he has done in and out of the ring (including Jenna Jameson). I believe he is training hard but he is up against a MMA puzzle that has yet to be figured out in Machida. I don't think anyone knows how to train for Machida yet.

for training for machida they should practice how to reverse the lay and pray. and tito he's the man none the less, i know he's not as good as he use to be but he still gets me excited to see what he will do next and that to the ufc =cash $$.

Like him or not, the fact is that losing him is not a good thing for the UFC. He was once the champion and many people know him and he has a lot of fans (many of them old time UFC fans) which represent PPV sales. Just giving my op. from a business perspective. Sport-wise talking I think tha same thing, even with all the drama outside the octagon his fights are good to watch, well most of them.

i will be sad to see him go, i hope he signs with ex elite

I really just want to see him in a rematch against belfort, i think he should stick around to let that fight happen and then he can leave. oh wait, id rather see wanderlei rematch belfort...

(Tito crosses his fingers behind his back)

Its funny how Jenna and Tito merged names as "Jennito" or something.

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It’s not about money anymore it’s about respect. I’m going to go with someone else who will pay me more money and treat me with more respect than Dana White has ever treated me.

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Translation: "it's about the money... the money and the UFC not wanting me around anymore"

Tito Ortiz is an overrated malcontent clown. I know he has a huge following and saying that is probably going to cause frothing and growling, but the fact of the matter is he could never compete with the elite in his weight class. When he faced Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell he got beat and got beat really bad. Three wins against a way over the hill Ken Shamrock (1-8 since 2002) get you nowhere, his biggest win was eight years ago against Wanderlei Silva, an overrated pride fighter who is 1-3 in UFC competition. His wins over Vladimir Matyushenko and middleweight Evan Tanner do him some credit, as does his extremely controversial decision win against a still developing Forrest Griffin, but they simply don't add up to a top ten light heavyweight, and after he loses to Lyoto Machida Tito can be safely filed away as part of MMA's past, a man who's ground and pound (and at times, lay and pray) style had it's time and place and that time and place has past.

I'm sure he'll go on to some measure of success against weaker competition in some smaller promotions, but, simply put, his days of fighting at the highest levels of the light heavyweight division are over.

Personally I like Tito. He's great for the UFC and the sport

I will miss Tito in the UFC, Yeah he is a bit cocky, But who really cares?
I hope he is the first to knock off Machida, Just so he can leave on a high.

Come on Tito lets see some old form then you can go and run through some secondary leagues LH weights.

cuban will give tito respect!!

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Posted by ufcboss


I hope he is the first to knock off Machida

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good luck with that

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Posted by hdnet_mma

cuban will give tito respect!!

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What the hell???? an advertisment member? I thought i was a premium member

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Posted by jimmypockets

Well I am glad Tito wants respect but he has too much going on to be a contender in the UFC. I think he goes overboard with his little shows in the ring but you have to respect him for what he has done in and out of the ring (including Jenna Jameson). I believe he is training hard but he is up against a MMA puzzle that has yet to be figured out in Machida. I don't think anyone knows how to train for Machida yet.

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haha yeah.. he has done a lot.. there is someone out there who can figure him out..

It's always about money to Tito. I call his bullshit there.