Dana White on UFC 133 Evans vs. Ortiz: Tito Ortiz a Top-3 Contender with Win

When previous main-event combatant Phil Davis was forced to drop out of his scheduled UFC 133 fight-card bout against Rashad Evans, the UFC was once again put in a tough situation. But while 2011 has been the year of new-blood fighters like Jon Jones, it was an older, some would say “washed-up” former champion—Tito Ortiz—who stepped up and bailed the company out.

The two light heavyweights will now battle in a rematch of their memorable draw at UFC 73.

UFC President Dana White spoke this afternoon on a media conference call about how impressed he has been with this “New Tito Ortiz,” and that he actually believes that this fight against Rashad Evans is a great fight for Ortiz’s career.

“It’s the absolute, perfect fight for Tito Ortiz,” White boldly stated.

“I’m a huge believer in ring rust. It’s absolutely, 100 percent true. I don’t care how much you train, how much you spar—it’s not a fight,” White continued about his former UFC champion, Rashad Evans, who hasn’t fought since defeating Rampage Jackson in May 2010. “Fighting is what keeps you in the best possible condition you can be. That was my big issue with Rashad. I told him, ‘Shogun has to take this time off. He blew his knee out. You don’t.’”

Meanwhile Ortiz, who had just fought at UFC 132 on July 2, will be stepping back in the cage with less than a month between contests to fight against a second top-10 opponent. He has gone from a guy who was in the UFC president’s doghouse to being someone that is truly respected once again.

“That’s what makes this fight so appealing for Tito Ortiz. I guarantee he sat around and said, ‘That dude hasn’t fought in a year-and-a-half,’” White explained. “[Tito] was a guy who always went the other way, never worked with us, would step over dollars to pick up dimes. Now all of a sudden, he’s a guy who’s not only easy to deal with, but he’s active and wants to fight. I like it. I wish I had this Tito Ortiz six or seven years ago.”

Throughout his career and even during his long winless streak that spanned nearly five full years, Ortiz remained on the UFC’s payroll by continuing to be one of the organization’s top stars. Despite White proclaiming that he believed that Ortiz’s UFC 132 bout against Ryan Bader would be his last, he also always understood why the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was so popular.

“Tito has barely lost those fights. No one has been beating up on Tito Ortiz the last five or six fights. He’s being out-pointed,” he continued. “Tito has that thing, I call it the "it" factor. When he walks into a room, he’s just got that personality. Whether people hate him or like him, people care one way or another. You don’t want to be the guy that people don’t care either way. Tito has always been, since the day I met him...He’s just got that aura to him. People are drawn to him.”

To his credit, Rashad Evans has been anxious to get back in the cage and was ready to fight all comers despite being disappointed that Phil Davis had to back out of the fight.

“I’ve had my moments with Rashad,” White admitted. “When you get the opportunity to fight, you take it.”

“I was bouncing around names. His answer was, ‘I don’t care who you get. You don’t have to call me and approve the opponent. Whoever it is, I’m ready to fight.’”

Ortiz himself wasn’t exactly quick to take the fight. In fact, he originally declined the fight due to personal reasons. At that point, the UFC turned to another former champion, Lyoto Machida, to take the place of Phil Davis in the UFC 133 main event.

The Brazilian accepted the fight and everything appeared to be a go. But when White called back to verify, suddenly he and his camp had changed their tune.

“They told me, ‘If you pay us Anderson Silva money, we’ll take this fight,’” White revealed. “I opted not to give him Anderson Silva money and told him that when he accomplishes what Anderson Silva has, then we’ll pay him Anderson Silva money.”

At that point, the promotion was in a tough spot. Their first two options had essentially declined the fight, leaving very few other options available. The next plan was to move Vladimir Matyushenko, who is already scheduled to fight Alexander Gustafsson on the same night, up into the main event to fight Rashad Evans.

But then White got a call from his first choice, Tito Ortiz.

“I thought Tito was out,” White admitted. “And then he called me. He called and said, ‘Did you get somebody for that fight?’”

“He sat there and said, ‘Let me talk to my guys tonight’ and that he’d called me back tomorrow. Then he called me back the next day and took the fight. I wanted to get off the phone with him as quick as I could before he changed his mind again!”

The previous fight between Evans and Davis had many believing that the winner would be fighting for a title sometime later this year, or early in 2012. But with the newly scheduled main event, some wondered if that possibility still existed. White also dispelled these beliefs.

“There’s no doubt Rashad is in line. He turned down a fight a year-and-a-half ago that he should’ve taken and now he has another guy pull out,” White continued. “Everyone he’s supposed to fight gets hurt.”

As for Ortiz, while he may not quite be at Rashad’s level after going 1-4-1 since 2006, White believes that a win would be huge for his career.

“If Tito beats Rashad...How can anyone deny him?” White asked. “He beats a top-10 guy in Ryan Bader and then he beats Rashad. I wouldn’t say he’s the top contender, but he’s definitely [a] top three [contender].”

As for a prediction, while the UFC president believes that Evans is a physical mismatch for Ortiz, he also stopped short of saying that he believes Ortiz will lose.

“All the same [things] you said about Ryan Bader, you say about Rashad. He’s faster, his hands are better, his wrestling is better at this point. But Tito knocks Ryan Bader out, so who the hell knows what’s going to happen?”

UFC 133 will take place on August 6 from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA.