The feud between former Light-Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz and UFC President Dana White has been a lengthy and very public one.  Ortiz has been vocal about his distain for what he calls “ridiculously low” fighter salaries, and White equally as audible in his response.  Ortiz’ unwavering determination to secure for himself the best deal possible has been the thorn in Dana White’s side when conducting contract negotiations.  Thus, a back-and-forth slagging match has unfolded whereby Ortiz champions himself as the spokesperson for the modern day MMA athlete, whilst White paints a picture of Ortiz as a greedy and ungrateful brat.

Using the various interviews in the lead up to his July 7th bout with Rashad Evans at UFC 73: Stacked, Ortiz has asserted that White and Co. are gunning for him to lose.  Should he lose to Evans, the balance of power will swing in favour of the promotion when contract negotiations commence once again.  Ortiz commented that,

“That’s the way they [the UFC] want to hold me down so that when it comes to negotiation time, they can say ‘look, nobody wants to watch you anymore’”.

With this in mind, Ortiz will certainly be viewing his July 7th bout as a must-win.

Yet there is more to this than his feud with Dana White…

Ortiz is an astute businessman and is all too aware of the consequences of losing, and what effect they may have on his pulling power. 

Enthusiasm for Tito Ortiz has been wavering of late.  Criticism has been levelled at him for having fought the aging Ken Shamrock so many times and for looking lacklustre against Forrest Griffin.  Many have begun to question the validity of the hype that Ortiz has surrounded himself with, and use his loss to Chuck Liddell as evidence.  It has been repeatedly highlighted that Ortiz hasn’t finished an opponent inside the allotted time, other than Shamrock, since Elvis Sinosic nearly six years ago.  Others have cited ex-pornstar girlfriends, buying houses, contract disputes, knee injuries and entertaining troops as possible distractions.  Rashad Evans added,

“I’d be more excited to fight the old Tito Ortiz because he was a lot better.  The Tito Ortiz of now is not as good”.

The result has been that a substantial faction of UFC fans now consider that Tito Ortiz simply isn’t as good as he once was- the ‘Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ is past his prime.

In an attempt to conjure hype about his upcoming bout, Ortiz has set about fabricating a feud with the reality T.V discovery.  Since their altercation after UFC 69: Shootout,which culminated in Ortiz pushing Evans in the chaest, Ortiz has been quoted insulting Evans on several occasions.  Branding Evans as a “nappy-headed ho” among other things, Ortiz has left a large proportion of the MMA fan-base wondering if his hype will ever be matched by his performance.

If Ortiz has any aspiration of commanding the levels of attention he garnered in previous years, he absolutely must defeat Rashad Evans. 

Furthermore, the win must be uncontroversial and unequivocal.  Opinion on Ortiz is very much divided at the moment and the result of his next bout will dictate consensus; whether it be for or against him.