Note to fellow mixed martial arts (MMA) fans: Always find time to watch the post-fight press conference scrum (like this one) with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White, as that's usually when you get him at his most candid.
And most direct.
White sat down with reporters following last Saturday night's (July 27, 2013) UFC on FOX 8 event, which took place at the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington. In the aftermath of "Johnson vs. Moraga," the Las Vegas fight boss was asked about his interest in a possible comeback fight featuring the recently-retired Tito Ortiz.
"Who gives a s---? Does anyone want to see Tito Ortiz in a superfight, with who? I mean, Tito's lost every fight that he's had over the last three years or something. He won one fight in the last three years. Tito hung in there and made some more money. He was a guy who was around in the early days, and, you know, time for Tito to move on. Tito is the guy who back in the early days was like ‘I'm going to retire young from this sport and I'm going to become an actor, and my Punishment clothing line is going through the roof, and I'm not going to be that guy who hangs around in this sport too long' ... now Tito's like, yeah, I want to come back. I haven't won a fight in three years and I'm old and obviously Tito needs money. He needs money."
Ouch.
"The People's Champion" called it a career following a unanimous decision loss to Forrest Griffin, when the two rivals squared off in a third and final fight at UFC 148 last summer in "Sin City." The former light heavyweight champion ended his career on a 1-7-1 stretch, but still made the promotion's Hall-of-Fame for his contributions in the early days of MMA.
One of which may soon be eclipsed.
Since hanging up his gloves, Ortiz has pursued other business endeavors (see them here and here), but recently got the itch to compete again, after finally healing up from a decade of injuries and getting back into fighting shape. The former "Bad Boy" put out his feelers to both UFC and Bellator (see his unsolicited job inquiry here) but from the looks of it, may need to re-tweet that last request and tag @MMAWORLDSERIES.
Hopefully, employment permitting, he can do better than the last former UFC champ to get hired by Ray Sefo.