Tito Ortiz has reignited his decades-long feud with Dana White after being snubbed of an invite to the UFC White House event next month.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion has a questionable past with the company’s CEO. Once close friends and business partners, White and Ortiz’s relationship soured due to a series of failed negotiations and personality clashes, leading to one of the most talked-about rivalries in the sport’s history. However, Ortiz believes that his ongoing differences with White shouldn’t prevent him from being invited to events and should end his continuous banishment from the promotion’s endeavours.
Advertisement
As summer approaches, the one thing on most MMA fans’ minds remains the UFC White House. The event will attempt to showcase the best the company has to offer come June 14, and despite feeling hurt after missing out on an invitation, Tito Ortiz was complimentary of the card.
“I think it’ll be a great event,” Ortiz told Fox News. “I mean, it’s going to be history in the making. There’s been nothing like this ever before. But, I mean, there’s going to be some good fights, don’t get me wrong. I see there is only one fight that is actually American versus somebody else, and that’s the main event… I’m not going to really talk bad about the card because all these guys have worked their butt off to get where they are and they deserve something like this.”
Tito Ortiz’s praise for the event hasn’t mended his broken relationship with Dana White. Unfortunately for the UFC legend, invitations to once-in-a-lifetime events are only offered to those in White’s good books.
“I wish I was invited to the White House card, I am not,” Ortiz continued. “It’s just, after the 16 years I gave to them from the very beginning, when they first bought the company, to almost the end when they sold the company, I don’t get tickets. I gotta pay for my own tickets when I do want to go…”
Advertisement
“If you’re on Dana’s good side, you don’t have to pay for anything. And 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.’ I’m the 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 petty. It’s really petty. I’ve done so much for that company.”
