Tito Ortiz rips Dana White as ‘petty’ over UFC White House fight snub: ‘I’ve done so much for that company’
With just weeks to go before the America 250 UFC fight at the White House, legendary fighter Tito Ortiz is bitter over not being invited to such an important historic event for mixed martial arts, a sport he helped build.
Ortiz's well-documented 20-plus-year feud with UFC CEO Dana White has cost the Huntington Beach Bad Boy an invite to President Trump's big fight event on the White House lawn. "I wish I was invited to the White House card, and I'm not," Ortiz said during an appearance on OutKick's "Tomi Lahren is Fearless" podcast.
Dana didn't throw Ortiz, 51, a bone for this one. The feud continues.
"After the 16 years I gave to them from the very beginning, when they first bought the company, to almost the end, where they sold the company. I don't get tickets. I gotta pay for my own tickets when I do want to go," the former UFC champion added.
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For those who don't know the backstory, White was Ortiz's manager before being hired to run the UFC. When White took on the role of UFC president, it didn't take long before the former business partners were in constant contract arguments over money. Ortiz doesn't dispute that.
The feud even included the two getting into a full-blown fistfight on an airplane as they took off for a flight to Japan. White accused Ortiz of seriously trying to hurt him with a neck hold and admits to punching Ortiz multiple times in the ribs.
Add it all up, and you have two guys who haven't liked each other for a long time.
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"If you want to go to a fight. You're telling me you got to pay for tickets? Just like everybody else?" Lahren asked.
Tito says that is absolutely the case. He claims to have spent $1,000 to attend a recent UFC event in Miami. "If you're on Dana's good side, you don't have to pay for anything. I get it. He said if you want to be a good friend, I'm a good friend. He goes, but if you want to be an enemy, I'm good at that also," Tito told Lahren.
"I'm first one to actually tell you he's 100% correct. Don't get on his bad side. But it's childish. I mean, it's like, to me, it's just it's petty. It's really petty. I've done so much for that company."
Ortiz is bitter over the White House snub, but he's not anti-UFC. Now a Florida resident, Ortiz says he'll be at his Tito's Cantina in Cape Coral, Florida, watching the patriotic event being thrown by White.
"I'll just continue to do what I'm doing for the future of this country and for the future of my children, to love this country because I've traveled the world. I see how the world works, and I love coming back to America every single time," Ortiz added.