# Tito Ortiz Vs. Pro Boxer Dana White



## Andrew Green (Mar 6, 2007)

Dana White, President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, officially received his professional boxing license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Monday morning. 

White was attemping to acquire such a license in order to fulfill a contractual promise that he made to professional MMA fighter Tito Ortiz when Ortiz re-signed with the UFC in 2006.

With the license in hand, White is now cleared to face Ortiz in an exhibition boxing match that will consist of three rounds of three minutes each. All of the standard ringside precautions will be taken, and the bout will take place under the auspices of a professional boxing referee, although there will be no judges or scoring of rounds due to the bout's exhibition status.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3542&zoneid=13


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## The Kidd (Mar 6, 2007)

Go Dana! I hear Chuck Liddell is the fight doctor what is he going to do prescribe them Nyquil if anything happens?


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## zDom (Mar 6, 2007)

And I thought Dana White said we would never see girls fight in the UFC ...


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## terryl965 (Mar 6, 2007)

I say my money is on Tito does anyone think Dana White has a chance even if it is expedition.


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## Andy Moynihan (Mar 6, 2007)

I hope he Kills White in the ring.

TMA, MMA, it matters not--bastard sold us ALL out to line his greedy, unprincipled pockets.


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## matt.m (Mar 6, 2007)

I wander if Dana's entrance is to "I want it all" by Queen.  Followed by getting more than he wanted. hehehehehehe.  Hey you guys, maybe he can get "The King" like on Fight Night Round 3.


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## Dave_T_L_W (Mar 7, 2007)

Apparently dana used to school tito when they used to spar, should be interesting


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## Odin (Mar 7, 2007)

lol you guys are crazy my money is on Dana all the way, why two things Tito is an MMA fighter not a boxer Dana on the other hand was a boxing coach! and second Dana is a businessman do you really think he would take the risk of being made a fool of.

I'll be honest though i dont know why people dislike dana as business men go i think he's a real straight talking guy.


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## zDom (Mar 7, 2007)

Odin said:


> I'll be honest though i dont know why people dislike dana as business men go i think he's a real straight talking guy.



Two reasons, off the top of my head:

a) During one particular TUF show, he was browbeating VISIBLY injured fighters (contusions and cuts from recent fights!) into competing. That's just wrong.

b) Zuffa is making millions, maybe billions, off its pay-per-views  MUCH much more than professional boxing is making  while paying its fighters a FRACTION of what a professional boxer makes.

There are Zuffa suits getting rich off the blood and sweat of their fighters, and Dana is one of them.


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## matt.m (Mar 7, 2007)

zDom said:


> Two reasons, off the top of my head:
> 
> a) During one particular TUF show, he was browbeating VISIBLY injured fighters (contusions and cuts from recent fights!) into competing. That's just wrong.
> 
> ...


 

I agree, get em' z
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





He is right though.....a jerk is a jerk is a jerk.  Sorry, that is just the way it is.


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## Andrew Green (Mar 7, 2007)

zDom said:


> Two reasons, off the top of my head:
> 
> a) During one particular TUF show, he was browbeating VISIBLY injured fighters (contusions and cuts from recent fights!) into competing. That's just wrong.



That was what they where there to do.



> b) Zuffa is making millions, maybe billions, off its pay-per-views  MUCH much more than professional boxing is making  while paying its fighters a FRACTION of what a professional boxer makes.



Top level MMA fighters make good money, the rest get scraps.  Same as in boxing.

The listed payroll does not accurately represent what the top guys make,  as they will also take home bonuses, and maybe a percentage of the gate or PPV sales.  Couture "officially" made $250,000 in his last fight, but he apparently was in the 7 figure range for how much he really got.


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## Odin (Mar 7, 2007)

zDom said:


> Two reasons, off the top of my head:
> 
> a) During one particular TUF show, he was browbeating VISIBLY injured fighters (contusions and cuts from recent fights!) into competing. That's just wrong.
> 
> ...


 
a) You can take that two ways, lets be honest thouse guys from TUF have been given a chance in a life time to compete and win a contract, whats a cut?! when thats on the line???would you really give up a dream because of a cut, maybe Dana was putting that in perspective?...you have to understand from a business sense that those guys from TUF are not Chuck Liddel's or Rich Franklins, when your a nobody you have to expect to be treated as one since your not yet a protected investment... every single fighting organization is the same.

B) as for money, look at Pride, they pay thier top fight fighters Millions to fight and now....they are in finacial difficulty.
 Its up to the fighters promoters to arrange a deal with Dana at the end of the day, fighters arent like baseball stars its a sad to say but unless you are a Mike tyson or a chuck liddel and you can put butts on seats then you'll be paid peanuts...its not right but again the ufc gives a better deal then most.


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## Andrew Green (Mar 7, 2007)

Odin said:


> B) as for money, look at Pride, they pay thier top fight fighters Millions to fight and now....they are in finacial difficulty.



Here is the disclosed payouts for Pride 33 (most recent)



> Main Event Fighters
> 
> -Wanderlei Silva:  $150,000  (28th fight in Pride; lost to Dan Henderson in main event)
> -Dan Henderson:  $50,000  (18th fight in Pride; defeated Wanderlei Silva in main event)
> ...



And UFC 68 (most recent)





> [FONT=Verdana,MS Sans Serif]Title Match & Main Event Fighters
> 
> -Randy Couture:  $250,000  (17th fight in UFC; defeated Tim Sylvia)
> -Tim Sylvia:  $100,000  (11th fight in UFC; lost to Randy Couture)
> ...



Neither includes bonuses or if the fighter got a PPV or gate sale cut or anything like that.

But the days of Pride paying way more then the UFC seem to be over.

The Pride advantge was at the bottom, the lowest pay in Pride was $10000, and in the UFC it was $3000.
[FONT=Verdana,MS Sans Serif][/FONT]


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## Sensei Tom O'Brien (Mar 7, 2007)

*- TITO ORTIZ VS. PRO BOXER DANA WHITE*
Tuesday, March 06, 2007 - by Ivan Trembow and Ken Pishna - MMAWeekly.com 
​​Dana White, President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, officially received his professional boxing license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Monday morning. 

White was attemping to acquire such a license in order to fulfill a contractual promise that he made to professional MMA fighter Tito Ortiz when Ortiz re-signed with the UFC in 2006.

With the license in hand, White is now cleared to face Ortiz in an exhibition boxing match that will consist of three rounds of three minutes each. All of the standard ringside precautions will be taken, and the bout will take place under the auspices of a professional boxing referee, although there will be no judges or scoring of rounds due to the bout's exhibition status. 

The bout is scheduled to take place on March 24th and will not be open to the public. There are plans to air the bout on UFC.com (though not live), with the majority of the financial proceeds going to charity. There will also be a documentary about Ortiz and White's training for the bout on Spike TV.

White received his license following a 3-1 vote by the NSAC to approve him. The lone dissenting vote was from Dr. Raymond Skip Avansino, Jr. who after much discussion said that he could not justify granting a license to an 0-0 professional boxer to face a fighter with as much experience as Tito Ortiz, albeit as a mixed martial artist and not as a professional boxer.

At one point, White did say that he was doing this because he wanted to live up to the word that he gave when he promised the bout to Ortiz. Reassuring the commission, he said, Believe me, if I thought I was going to get seriously injured I wouldnt do it. 

UFC Chief Operating Officer Kirk Hendrick also spoke on behalf of White, saying that he really has been training for this and is taking it seriously. This is not WWE wrestling. This is not Vince McMahon getting in the ring. Were taking this seriously, said Hendrick, addressing another concern of Avansinos that this was some sort of publicity event.

At one point, when Dr. Avansino was saying that he couldn't justify voting in favor of granting White a license to fight Ortiz because he felt it was a mismatch in favor of Ortiz, Hendrick said that if anything it would be a mismatch in favor of White. Hendrick said to the athletic commission that White used to "dominate" Ortiz when they would spar together.

White was an amateur boxer from the ages of 17 to 24 (which would be 1988 to 1995) before turning to managing fighters and then to his current position as president of Zuffa, which is now the most successful mixed martial arts company in the United States, if not the world.

In the end, the argument for the bout to take place won out, and the 3-1 vote was cast in favor of newly licensed professional boxer Dana White. 

White said towards the end of the meeting, "Believe me, I'm never going to fight again after this."
Thanks,
Sensei Tom


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## Sensei Tom O'Brien (Mar 7, 2007)

More on Dana vs. Tito:
March 05, 2007 
*Nevada OKs grudge match between UFC chief White and Tito Ortiz *


ASSOCIATED PRESS 
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada regulators on Monday approved an unusual grudge match between Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White and the "bad boy" of Huntington Beach, Calif., Tito Ortiz. 
White, is the 37-year-old president of the mixed martial arts promotion company that has become a heavyweight in the pay-per-view business. Ortiz (15-5-0) is one of its toughest, most popular combatants. 
Ortiz made the three-round match - in which both fighters will box only, no grappling - a condition of his recent contract negotiations. 
White was once Ortiz' manager, but the two "had a real bad falling out" in 2003, White said. 
"The last time Tito and I boxed was six years ago and he's a lot better than he was six years ago," White said after a hearing at the Nevada Athletic Commission, which approved the fight 3-1. "I'm a lot older than I was six years ago, so we'll see." 
Regulators expressed concern that White would be seriously hurt by Ortiz, 32. 
But most commissioners were reassured by sparring tapes showing White in the ring against another heavyweight from two months ago. White said he's been training since last July. 
"I've seen Tito as a boxer, and he's probably not as good as you are," commission chair Dr. Tony Alamo told White. 
Ortiz will weigh in at 205 pounds, while White weighs 196 pounds, both the boxing equivalent of heavyweight fighters. 
The fight March 24 will likely take place at the UFC training center in Las Vegas and be broadcast later on the company's Web site, http://www.ufc.com , the company said. 
I thought that what dr. Tony Alamo said was interesting.
Thanks,
Sensei Tom


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## zDom (Mar 7, 2007)

Andrew Green said:


> That was what they where there to do.



er... I'm talking about the episode in which fighters who were NO LONGER on the show/in the house, who had lost and been cut, were being asked to come back on because Dana was short on fighters.

Different situation that being on the show and having to do the pre-requisite fights.

So, to review: Randy got paid $250k (heavyweight fight for championship makes him about at the pinnacle, I think we would all agree, and he was definately a fellow who puts butts in the seats).

You saying he got another $750k we don't know about? Show me the money. I'm not talking about Xyience endorsements. Endorsements are nice but not a sure thing for any athlete.

Now somebody post what the heavyweight boxing champs/contenders get paid. I think my statement will be shown proven true: UFC pays its fighters a fraction of what professional boxers get.


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## Andrew Green (Mar 7, 2007)

zDom said:


> You saying he got another $750k we don't know about? Show me the money. I'm not talking about Xyience endorsements. Endorsements are nice but not a sure thing for any athlete.



Can't they don't publicise those numbers.

But a big name fighter will often get a percentage, plus there base pay.  In this case $250,000.


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## Odin (Mar 8, 2007)

zDom said:


> Now somebody post what the heavyweight boxing champs/contenders get paid. I think my statement will be shown proven true: UFC pays its fighters a fraction of what professional boxers get.


 
The UFC still only has a fraction of the fan base that Boxing has, and brings in less revenue, an MMA fighter can not expect to be paid that amount of money, think about it when Mike tyson would fight it would be shown in almost every country in the world all paying some network for the PPV, when liddel fights its not even broadcasted all over the America let alone the world.

For the record though I think Dana treats his fighters just fine, check what he says in his interview on the other thread i posted what he was saying about Pride is so true, look at fighters like Sakurba, Pride destroyed him, how many miss matchs did they give him? how many times did they pit him against heavyweights?how many times did they feed him to wanderlei? they destroyed him, he was an awsome
Could you imagine Dana just randomly declaring that Cro Cop's next fight will be against Matt Hughes?he wouldnt!
Its like the open weight GP, whats the point of that??everyone knows at the end of the day it will be the heavyweights in the final, why would you put your middles weights through it?
Look at Wanderlei now, his whole persona has been destroyed, he's been knocked out twice in two fights, he's no longer unstoppable he's no longer the pride dream boy.


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## Odin (Mar 8, 2007)

(continued from above)

you can tell wanderlei hadnt recovered from his fight from cro cop, and first fight back Pride decide to make him defend his title against Dan henderson???you could tell wandi hadnt recovered mentally from his last fight, he was cautious against Henderson, wandi cautious???

but back to the point....if you look at how other promotions treat thier fighters you'll see dana is not that bad, its not all just about the money you know guys.


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## Odin (Mar 8, 2007)

Funny enough if you dont like Dana White check this out...some naughty mucker has edited his wiki quote page ( : 

Warning Contains Filth.

http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Dana_White&direction=prev&oldid=397700


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## zDom (Mar 8, 2007)

Odin said:


> The UFC still only has a fraction of the fan base that Boxing has, and brings in less revenue ...



I'm not convinced this is true, anymore. At least not around here. In random polls, NOBODY can name ANY of the boxing title holders; nobody pays for boxing fights.

But everybody knows the title holders and top contenders in the UFC. Pride, not so much &#8212; I don't think it gets as much exposure on cable channels, although it is improving.

UFC owes Spike channel bigtime for its success. That was a nice move on Zuffa's part, and on Spike's part, too. A nice partnership.

And as far as pay per view revenue, I'd LOVE to see the figures on the last 10 boxing PPVs and the last 10 UFC PPVs.

Maybe UFC doesn't have the sponsorships that boxing has, but that surely won't last. Surely sponsors are going to get a clue and put their money where the REAL interest is: MMA.




Odin said:


> Funny enough if you dont like Dana White check this out...some naughty mucker has edited his wiki quote page ( :
> 
> Warning Contains Filth.
> 
> http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Dana_White&direction=prev&oldid=397700



Er, as much as I am not a Dana White fan, I don't approve of Wiki-vandalism or libel. That's just wrong.


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## rutherford (Mar 8, 2007)

Odin said:


> Funny enough if you dont like Dana White check this out...some naughty mucker has edited his wiki quote page ( :
> 
> Warning Contains Filth.
> 
> http://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Dana_White&direction=prev&oldid=397700



Luckily, that page was cleaned up and is now protected from future vadalism.  

This is an interesting article, if a bit old and heavy on the Dana-loving:

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Jul-02-Sun-2006/sports/8275533.html


Remember folks, there is no Dana, only Zool.


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## PictonMA (Mar 8, 2007)

Here is an article from about 6 months ago that talks about UFCs PPV buyrates, mostly in comparison to WWE/WWF.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=2359&zoneid=3

The long and the short of it is that in the lead up to UFC 61 they were getting buys in the neighbourhood of 450,000 PPV (at $34.95 - $39.95 each) we're talking $15mil plus per event.

Here is a subsequent article talking about how the UFCs 2006 PPV revenue was in excess of $200mil

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3520&zoneid=3

It's also interesting to note that in this article it mentions that boxing had it's second biggest year ever with a gross revenue of $177mil.

The only records the UFC hasn't broke is are the all-time individual event sales (2.0 mil buys for heavyweight and ~1.4mil for non-heavy weight)

Also interesting to note from the above article:

"The upcoming fight between Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is expected to break the 1.4 million mark and perhaps even approach the 2.0 million mark."

So while the UFC may not be completely blowing boxing out of the water (yet) they are sure as hell making hundreds of millions.

All that being said, I don't begrudge Dana or the Fertatti bros any of this - they are business men and doing a damn good job of making (mixed) martial arts all the more popular again and accessible to the mainstream - in addition to this they are providing the fighters a venue to do this in and make some decent coin.  Could it be more? Sure, and I bet it will continue to go up over time.


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## Stillelman (Mar 8, 2007)

Could it be more?  Probably, however where would the sport be if Dana and the "businessmen" did not take it over.  UFC was almost finished, and now the sport is growing rapidly.  The rapid growth, will cause some backlash, like any fast growing business.  The elite will not suffer, and they make great money (seen Chuck's home, enough said).  

Besides, you are comparing a corrupt org. like boxing to UFC.  I would like MMA to stay small enough that it does not ruin the sport like boxing.


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## Andy Moynihan (Mar 9, 2007)

rutherford said:


> Remember folks, there is no Dana, only Zool.


 
"I looked at the trap. Ray!"


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## Odin (Mar 9, 2007)

zDom said:


> I'm not convinced this is true, anymore. At least not around here. In random polls, NOBODY can name ANY of the boxing title holders; nobody pays for boxing fights.
> 
> But everybody knows the title holders and top contenders in the UFC. Pride, not so much  I don't think it gets as much exposure on cable channels, although it is improving.
> 
> ...


 

The thing is everyone here is judging MMA on the past year and forgetting about the past UFC history, the UFC is reaching a peak right now, there's not telling if it will stay there,I remember the days when the UFC had to travel all over america trying to get a lience to put on a show, or when the only people that watched MMA were the ones that actually trained in it, boxing has been around since the beginning of time and has millions upon millions of fans, alot of people might not know who the champs are but i bet they still follow at least one other fighter, boxing's crowd pullers are it heavyweights and of late there has been a massive drop in talent which isnt drawing any crowds, that is not a constant though and could change very soon, the UFC on the other hand have only just broken in to American and English house holds through Spike and Bravo T.V but it still remains a noverty at the moment,its something new for fight fans that are bored with boxing, but that could all change..... honeslty how many people have you heard on this forum alone state that MMA was 'just the lastest craze ''  Dana is good to restrict how much he pays his fighters its stupid to give them millions now and not think about that future.


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## Odin (Mar 9, 2007)

Stillelman said:


> Could it be more? Probably, however where would the sport be if Dana and the "businessmen" did not take it over. UFC was almost finished, and now the sport is growing rapidly. The rapid growth, will cause some backlash, like any fast growing business. The elite will not suffer, and they make great money (seen Chuck's home, enough said).
> 
> Besides, you are comparing a corrupt org. like boxing to UFC. I would like MMA to stay small enough that it does not ruin the sport like boxing.


 

I agree the problem with the UFC growing the way it is that you start to cater more for the casual observer that just wants to see knockouts, more and more do i here the crowd boo when the action hits the floor....this is the problem with the ufc at the moment since constant referee 'stand ups ' annoy people who actually understand the ground game.


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## zDom (Mar 9, 2007)

Odin said:


> I agree the problem with the UFC growing the way it is that you start to cater more for the casual observer that just wants to see knockouts, more and more do i here the crowd boo when the action hits the floor....this is the problem with the ufc at the moment since constant referee 'stand ups ' annoy people who actually understand the ground game.



Some good points.

The crowds need to respect the fighters and the complexity of fighting in all ranges.


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## zDom (Mar 9, 2007)

Odin said:


> Dana is good to restrict how much he pays his fighters its stupid to give them millions now and not think about that future.



I can agree with this to a point. They shouldn't go overboard, and they should take steps to ensure longevity in the sport, make sure its not just a flash in the pan, or (to get punny ) a "spike" in revenue.

But I kind of see this sport as having a short career span for athletes, and they should be fairly compensated for putting their long-term health on the line for entertainment's sake.

I don't want a bunch of suits to walk off with all the money while the athletes make a few bucks then spend the rest of their lives crippled up.

Also, by giving athletes a more equitable share of the profits, they will be able to entice more athletes into participating and get even better fights &#8212; which may be something to think about if they are trying to keep this sport from fading away.


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## Andrew Green (Mar 9, 2007)

PictonMA said:


> "The upcoming fight between Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is expected to break the 1.4 million mark and perhaps even approach the 2.0 million mark."
> 
> So while the UFC may not be completely blowing boxing out of the water (yet) they are sure as hell making hundreds of millions.



I think, now I could be wrong, but the UFC is more consistant.

That Oscar de la Hoya fight, I'm gonna bet that no one cares at all about the other fighters on the card, just the one fight.

UFC events generally have at least 2 big fights, and a couple other fairly big ones.  This last card had a HW title fight, plus a number of "hot" fighters.  Boxing events seem to put all there eggs in one basket.

Anyways, back to the topic, Tito vs Dana.  I'm betting Tito wins after Jenna smacks Dana over the head with a folding chair while the ref is distracted.


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## Sensei Tom O'Brien (Mar 26, 2007)

*Tito Ortiz No-Shows, Bout With Dana White Never Happened *

The following is from Dave Meltzer'website,WrestlingObserver.com: 

Is that Tito Ortiz no-showed the weigh-in and the fight never happened. 

The Nevada State Athletic Commission was not happy with this turn of events as they had officials there. Dana White was there and got weighed-in. There was no communication from Ortiz as to why he wasn't there. Ortiz did call White and leave him a messages saying that he was letting him off the hook, but White didn't think that message meant he was cancelling the match. 

Spike TV was scheduled to air a 90 minute television special building up the PPV of the fight.
Post by Joe Daddy
I just think it was very unprofessional of Tito to stand him up like that.  Tito is supposed to be a champion.  He did not act like one.  I think it was no class.
Thanks,
Sensei Tom


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