Affliction sends mixed message about Tito Ortiz
August 13, 2008 by Sam Caplan
Tom Hamlin of MMAWeekly.com has a good followup to a SportsIllustrated .com report last week that indicated that former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz was about to finalize a contract with Affliction.
The report was later amended after Ortiz failed to show up the next day for a press conference in Las Vegas to promote Affliction’s second-ever event, “Day of Reckoning.”
Hamlin quotes Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio as confirming that the promotion is engaged in contract talks with Ortiz. At one point he goes so far as to say there’s a contract in place.
“We’ve got a contract, and it’s just not feasible,” Hamlin quotes Atencio as saying.
Wait, did he mean they have framework of a contract or do they actually have a finished contract and simply have buyer’s remorse regarding a contract that Ortiz described as record-breaking?
Based on the timing of last week’s events, I’m not sure what to think because there were people convinced, Ortiz being one of them, that an agreement was in place.
Hamlin states that few details are available regarding the state of the negotiations but that the money being discussed is a major sticking point.
The article quotes Affliction officials as saying that if Ortiz does sign, he’d be unlikely to be available for the Oct. 10 show.
Could this be the economic realities of MMA hitting Tito right between the eyes? Maybe the grass isn’t always that much greener on the other side.
I think the issue is as simple as Tito thinking he’s worth a lot more than he really is at this point in his career. Plus, you’ve got to think Affliction is waking up to the reality of how much they paid in salaries for that last PPV and that they have to pull back quite a bit if they expect to survive.
“Maybe the grass isn’t always that much greener on the other side.”
I was thinking the same thing.
Tito should really go to EliteXC. Being on CBS is greater than PPV for AFFLICTION.
This makes me love the “Crazed fan goes off on Dana White ” video even more.
Tito is laugable.
OH TITO WHEN WILL IT SINK IN? YOUR NOT A MILLION $ MAN SO GET OVER YOURSELF 50 BUCKS 2 FIGHT & 50 BUCKS 2 WIN AND THATS BEING GENEROUS!
Atencio already drained the coffers with Fedor and Timmy… didn’t they tell Tito?
AGREE!! If you give boring arsss Ortiz a record breaking contrat you will file Record breaking chapter 13. Affliction has to scale it back.
In reality, affliction is bad for the sport. when you over pay for athletes, you give the fighters an inflated view of worth. in reality the roger huerta shit was probably due to seeing what affliction was paying. if affliction wasn’t paying so much, then the fighters would be getting great contracts (i still think huerta will get something around 40/40) but not the 100/100, 300k(lindland) that are being given to mediocre fighters.
Tito will get a contract eventually, but Affliction probably wont be around to honor it…so does it really matter?
seriously….. tito is washed up. Dana may be wrong about alot of things but he hits the nail on the head when he talks about titos fighting spirit. tito fights are soooooooooooo boring! Just watching him fight is like reading an english lit book. tito and ricco should both retire together. sorry tito but mma was never in your blood.
How much money is a trash-talking former UFC fighter who hasn’t won a fight in 2 years?
Affliction is leaking money like a verifiable black monday titanic. Do they want to risk any chance at being a force in the market by spending big bucks on Ortiz? The risks, to me, seem way too high.
Ortiz, should he come in and lose, will be a failure money-wise. Should he win, he will expose that a mediocre UFC fighter can beat up the best in Affliction.
Oh, and there is also the risk that Tito will play the same games with the Affliction management as he did with the UFC. Who wants a million dollar pain in the tuckus??