Tito Ortiz is an enigma. He is that rare breed of fighter that evokes a wide range of emotions from fans. Some love him, some hate him, but none can deny that he knows how to hype fights. Not only is his trash talking first rate, he always seems to know how to get under his opponent's skin.
Since the early days of the UFC, when Tito was a brash, up and coming fighter who took on the established fighters such as Frank Shamrock, and Guy Metzger, Tito was impossible not to watch fight. He learned that controversy sells fights, as well as a good image. He started dying his hair blond and broke out the flaming shorts, and starting calling himself the "Huntington Beach Bad Boy".
He tore through the light heavyweight ranks, reeling off a string of wins through the early part of this decade. That lead to the title, one which he defended five times before losing to Randy Couture.
Since losing the title, his career has been up and down, as he has several wins sandwiched in between losses to Chuck Liddell. At UFC 84, Tito fights the last fight of his UFC contract, and has stated that he will not return to the UFC.
Here are the five reasons Tito should sign with Elite Extreme.
1) MONEY
Tito's main problem with resigning to the UFC stems from Dana White stating that at this point in his career, and with his recent in octagon record, he is worth no more than he is currently earning. A look at NSAC disclosure of fighter payrolls puts that at around $200-$250k per fight, not including bonuses or PPV-buy percentages, which are not a part of the disclosed figures. A look at the top fighters in Elite Extreme show that Frank Shamrock and Kimbo Slice have both earned similiar figures over recent fights, and could afford to back the money truck up for Tito.
2) HE CAN BE CHAMP
Elite Extreme currently has no 205-pound division, although they have co-promotion deals with other organizations, and have numerous fighters that could move up from middleweight to fight Tito. With the addition of Tito, Elite Extreme could simply create a light-heavyweight division, and find fights for Tito and, eventually make one of them for their newly created title. Fights with Robbie Lawler, Frank Shamrock moving up to 205, and even Kimbo Slice at heavyweight, are intriguing matchups for Tito.
3) HE WILL GET PUSHED
If nothing else, Elite Extreme pushes their stars. They do behind the scene specials on Showtime, similar to the countdown specials HBO does for their boxing matchups. They now have a deal with CBS to air live events. They have several events in San Jose, home to Cung Le and Frank Shamrock, and they have done events in Miami, home to Kimbo Slice. With Tito being such a known commodity, his fight buildups could be huge.
4)HE MAY NOT LOSE
We have all seen that Elite Extreme is more than willing to build fighters up. Kimbo Slice has yet to fight anyone who remotely has a chance to beat him. Say Tito signed a five-fight deal with Elite Extreme. The first two fights would probably be against no hopefuls, to get fans excited about Tito as he dominates some bums leading to a showdown with Frank Shamrock next year. Tito is likely to win such a matchup if it took place at 205, as he dominated their first matchup way back in the early days of the UFC, until running out of gas late in the fight.
Another fight against a middleweight moving up, and Tito could finish up with a showdown with Kimbo Slice at Heavyweight. Tito would have to be a favorite, if not even money, as he has only lost to the best of the best in MMA, and no one knows if Kimbo Slice is even a decent MMA fighter as of yet.
5) ITS A CHANCE TO SCREW THE UFC AND DANA WHITE OVER
This may be a bigger reason than the money. Tito and his former manager have become so heated in recent years, that they went as far as scheduling a fight that didnt take place due to issues over compensation. Tito hates Dana and Dana hates Tito.
Dana often refers to Tito as "idiot" and has said that Tito is "a big ugly gorilla". Tito feels that he carried the organization when they were small and almost bankrupt, and feels that they dont give him the respect and push of other career UFC fighters such as Franklin, Hughes, and Liddell. Signing with Elite Extreme and regaining his winning and PPV record-breaking ways would be the ultimate "screw you" to the UFC.
Let's just hope this move actually gets made, so the drama can ensue. In the end, the move should be good for all MMA fans, as a legend in the game could get the proper motivation to show us all what made him a legend in the first place.
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3 months ago
good read, i see tito losing than going to elite xc for sure!!
3 months ago
i could tito losing to machido, because he is not up for this fight and wanted shogun instead. I am expecting tito to grind out a boring decision but i could see machido's unorthodox striking giving tito problems and lead to a machido decision.
3 months ago
A response (in order):
#1- It is hard to say that the money is better in EliteXC for the reason you stated, we don't know the PPV money. Tito is a big draw and the UFC is the biggest PPV draw, the money could end up being far less.
#2- As sad as it sounds, this may be right. He could be champ. But what kind of a victory is it really to know that you don't have a chance against the best so you should be the best of what is left?
#3- UFC has Spike and huge PPV numbers. Besides, Tito has gone so far as to go reality with The Apprentice, how much more push does he need?
#4- Again, this one goes with #2 and may be true. It would be a sad state to see him fighting no name fighters just to build a rep in a new org. Fans would hate it.
#5- Yeah, I could see that factor being foremost in Tito's mind. His issues with Dana White are well documented and go back a long way. I see it being more about vendetta than anything else.
Good article, all valid points.
from 3 months ago
maybe the money the fighters are making currently is not better, i simply think elite should/would overpay tito as he would immediately be the biggest star of that organization. we would have no way of knowing what his total compensation would be, but i imagine he would not accept anything less than he is currently making in the UFC. Tito certainly wouldnt be the best in the world by being the champ of a newly created division, but does anyone really believe that the champs in elite extreme(kj noons, robbie lawler) are the best fighters at lightweight and middleweight in the world? ill answer that. OF COURSE NOT! Noons is not even a top ten lightweight and lawler may be, but just barely. Tito is a legitimate top ten light heavyweight who owns a victory over griffin, who is getting a title shot at Rampage soon. While its true Tito does not need push at this stage in his career, he has stated in many interviews that the UFC does not push him in the way he feels they push other career UFC fighters. I simply was stating that Elite Extreme would certainly push Tito. At this juncture in Tito's career, as long as they could build the matchups correctly, fights with shamrock, lawler, cung le, and possibly kimbo slice at heavyweight could all be interesting matchups that i could see tito winning. The last reason i stated is most certainly the biggest and most important, as I see Tito longing to give Dana White the double middle fingers he gave to the lions den some years back in the octagon.
3 months ago
Nice article. I just can't see Tito going to an organization where there aren't a lot of fights for him. Shamrock is getting older and I don't know if he would want to move up to 205. That means tito would have to move down to 185. There are only a handful of guys that Tito would be interested in EliteXC. Shamrock, Lawler, Le and Ninja all at 185.
I Think Tito may sign a non exclusive deal like Sylvia did and we may see Tito at the Affliction shows. Currently Matt Lindland needs an opponent July 19th in Dallas. What a great way to tell Dana White F-You than be on the card that has Fedor-Sylvia.
3 months ago
now thats a definite possibility as more fighters are wanting to move away from non exclusive contracts. he may do just that.
3 months ago
I'm with ryan on this. I don't think he'll sign w/ elite xc for the same reasons.
Are we sure he's gonna fight again? I heard a rumor he was casting for a tv show he was putting together.
Part of me wishes he would go to elite xc just to ground and pound kimbo, but that's wishful, selfish thinking on my part.
Kimbo probably has a clause in his contract to only fight guys with losing records.
If all else fails for tito he can always "stumble" into the porn industry like terrell owens or body slam fred savage on the surreal life.
3 months ago
Good article. A lot of what's posted here is sub-par, unchecked, and ill informed. Not so for this piece.
Tito? He'll still fight, and EliteXC really seems like a frontrunner for his services, but I'm thinking there's a darkhorse here of the Affliction/Hdnet (maybe?) show in Dallas. Sylvia/fedor, Lindland and Tito on the same card, never mind the org's first card? Looks like a distinct possibility.
3 months ago
tito could retire and pursue an acting career, he could return to pro wrestling, or he could sign a non exclusive deal that allows him to fight for elite extreme and the affliction/hdnet show.
3 months ago
There's no way he could make more in EXC than in UFC as a main event fighter. The bonuses are great in the UFC, especially if you're in the main event.
He would automatically be the biggest name for EXC (yes, even more than Kimbo) because he was in the main event of the biggest MMA PPV event of all time. Maybe he'd be a pioneer in that aspect.
As for Frank Shamrock, I don't see Tito being able to go down in weight. He's way too heavy and cuts a lot of weight. Either Shamrock would have to go up, which probably wouldn't be that hard for him, or they'd fight at a catch weight.
3 months ago
Maybe he will not make more in Elite Extreme, but he could certainly make comparable numbers. Remember Elite Extreme just signed a deal with CBS and they have Showtime and PPV to showcase their talent. They most certainly can offer Tito bonuses and other forms of compensation, not to mention that they can simply overpay him per fight. Brock Lesner was paid 500,000 for his fight at a Strikeforce/Elite Extreme copromotion. UFC fighters never earn a base that high, as the highest figures ive seen are around 250,000 with win bonuses up to 200,000 and ive only seen that once or twice. I just think he legitimizes Elite Extreme from day one if he goes there.
from 3 months ago
Elite XC lost something like 20 million dollars in 2007. If this show on CBS tanks, which it more than likely will just based on the horrible promotion, CBS could kill the deal immediately. They get money from Showtime, but aren't doing any PPVs. You make money by gate, but more so by PPV.
Lesnar was paid by K-1, not Elite XC.
Chuck Liddell earns 500K as a base.
Again, if he's in the main events in the UFC, EXC won't be able to come close to matching what we would make in the UFC.
3 months ago
I don't mean to be defensive. I just wanted to reply to some of the statements that you made.
I enjoyed the article and it's a good argument.
3 months ago
well they have done two ppvs to date, if im correct. i dont think they have any currently scheduled, but i think thats more of a result of them not having a card worthy enough to do so and not having enough fighters signed. i also think all new mma organizations are going to lose money initially. new companies are sprouting up at a record pace and diluting the talent pool, thus reducing the chances for an organization to give the ufc a serious run. I certainly am not arguing the staying power of Elite Extreme, because I thought Pride was as good if not better than the ufc and we all see what happened to that organization. For all we know, tito may promote and fight on his own mma shows and beat up off duty police officers and firemen. lol.
from 3 months ago
The thing about EXC's PPV is that they didn't do any business. I think the one show they did was Shamrock vs. Baroni. I would be surprised if that did 50,000 buys. On the flipside, UFC rarely does less than 400,000 buys these days. It's day and night. The reason EXC hasn't done a PPV has more to do with the fact that they haven't built enough big fights to sell.
I have a feeling that if Tito signs with these guys, it's going to be a short deal and only as a bargaining chip to make the UFC come out of pocket. If I were Tito, I'd ask for Kimbo, beat him, and go back to the UFC.
Good stuff though. I'm glad this site has MMA fans. I love talking MMA.
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