The Future of Tito Ortiz

Where will the future carry the once UFC champion Tito Ortiz?  Stevie Wonder can see the friendship between Donald Trump and Tito Ortiz.  But does this mean that it’s a done deal between Tito Ortiz and Affliction?  In the words of college football announcer Lee Corso, “Not so fast sweetheart!”.

For those of you that have been under a rock, Tito Ortiz’s non-compete clause in his contract with the UFC ended on August 4th.  Everyone has just assumed the deal between Affliction and Tito Ortiz.  But as said by Tito, he is looking for where the money and other opportunity lives:

“I guarantee you that my contract will be like no other,” Ortiz said in last night’s SI report. “It will be a ground-breaking record contract for sure, without a doubt. There’s so much money to be made right now in mixed martial arts and it’s all about the fighters trying to make that money. It’s going to be a long-term deal where I put my heart and soul into the company and help build them. That’s something I’m interested in doing. They’re going to bring me on, not just as a fighter but also doing some of the back work also.”

So it seems that Tito Ortiz has confirmed a deal between himself and Affliction but Affliction COO, Michael Cohen, doesn’t seem to agree to all aspects of Tito’s claim.

“Donald Trump, myself and Tito engaged in a conversation,” Cohen said. “There was nothing substantive that was discussed other than that we are interested in sitting down with him, which we are planning on doing in the very near future, to discuss with him the opportunity to join the family of Affliction fighters.”

So it is clearly speculation and no confirmation other than verbally from Tito Ortiz.  Is this all a ploy?  Is Tito setting himself up to be sold to the highest bidder between Elite XC or Affliction?  Both organizations could use the fighter for the crowd draw.

One thing’s for certain though, Tito needs to do as he stated above and put his heart and soul into it if it’s going to be worth either organization to pick him up and use him as a headliner.  Anyone who watched Tito’s last fights at the UFC could see he just didn’t seem into it.

We will bring you more details as we get them.

Last 3 posts by Mat Houchens

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