“They Tried to Cancel Me”: Tito Ortiz Explains Why His Boxing Match with Dana White Never Materialized

Dana White and Tito Ortiz hate each other as much as Zeus and Kratos did, to the point where the pair was expected to fight in a boxing match that never materialized. Now years later, Ortiz has explained why the fight with White never came to pass.

Dana White was an aspiring boxer at one point in time and his beef with Tito Ortiz allowed him to test his skills against a UFC fighter; of some repute as well. Ortiz, as well as former heavyweight champion, Randy Couture, have always been big advocates for fair pay for fighters.

And as the world has found out in recent years, Dana White is not. This was the origin of the feud. White had even gone on air to say that Ortiz was one of the only fighters he was actively rooting against during the Chuck Lidell fight since he ‘tried to destroy the company’.

Now years later, in a recent interview on the Overdogs podcast, Ortiz explained his side of the story,

“It’s something that was never gonna happen because Dana said that we couldn’t do the contract that he agreed upon prior….That’s why they tried to cancel me, that’s why they tried to get me out.”

Tito Ortiz believes the fight was never going to take place because of contractual issues. However, to this day, the UFC president believes Ortiz is one of the ‘dumbest‘ people he knows.

Earlier this year, Dana White had explained why the fight never took place, which starkly contrasts Ortiz’s explanation and defies public perception.

Dana White revealed that Tito Ortiz knew he would lose to him in a boxing fight

During his time on The Rush Podcast with Maxx Crosby, the UFC president claimed that the fight never took place as Ortiz never showed up.  White claimed that Ortiz was aware of his boxing prowess and understood how much of a bad idea it was.

“Tito knows I would have beat the s*it out of him and that’s why he didn’t show up and it was his idea, and it was a really bad idea, he knew it. He and his wife at the time were trying to get out of this fight.”

 

Dana White NEEDS to fight Tito Ortiz pic.twitter.com/R0GryAugUm

— The Rush Podcast (@TheRushWithMaxx) February 27, 2024

That said, the UFC president did admit that if this were an MMA match, Ortiz would probably end up killing him in the octagon. Luckily for both of them, the fight never took place.