Below is video of “Mr. Sunshine” Steve Cofield conducting a radio interview with Tito Ortiz.

By the way, Ortiz indicated during a post on the Underground forum that he will be attending tonight’s live TUF 7 finale and plans to “slap” UFC President Dana White. Somehow, I doubt we’re going to be seeing that.

As EliteXC builds up its various weight classes, it’s no stretch to say the promotion’s most underdeveloped division at this stage is its light heavyweight class. However, there are plans to rectify that situation and many of those plans surround blue chip prospect Rafael Feijao.

Feijao was discovered by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira when the current UFC interim heavyweight champion was looking for a training partner during a business trip in Brazil, recently. Originally a heavyweight who fought for the IFL, the former veterinarian just recently made the move to 205 pounds. In his EliteXC debut this past February during the promotion’s “Street Certified” event, Feijao knocked out John Doyle with a knee to the body at 2:17 of round one. While Doyle was a virtual unknown to most of the country, he just happens to be one of the top light heavyweight prospects on the Eastern seaboard.

Feijao’s next test will come in the form of 37-year old Wayne Cole, a former Division II All-American at Central Oklahoma. Cole, who like Feijao competed as a heavyweight in the IFL before arriving in EliteXC, made quite an impression when he submitted Mike Kyle with an armbar at 0:45 of round one this past March during the Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le undercard.

Should Feijao get past Cole, it will put him one step closer to the EliteXC light heavyweight title, a title that could be instituted by the end of the year or by early-2009, according to EliteXC Director of Fighter Operations Jeremy Lappen. Considering that Lappen believes that Feijao has a chance to be one of the best in the world at 205, one can only assume that he’ll be a top contender for the title so long as he keeps winning fights.

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MMA Payout has the scoop:

MMAPayout.com has learned that Tito Ortiz was recently served a cease and desist request from the UFC. The subject of the complaint was the cover of Ortiz’s recently released autobiography, entitled This is Going to Hurt. The book’s cover features Ortiz wearing the UFC Light Heavyweight Title is intellectual property of the UFC. As such, its use in promotional materials requires the company’s approval per the terms of its standard contract.

On one hand, this seems a little harsh on the UFC’s part and looks like another attempt to kick Tito in the ass on his way out. On the other hand, you know that some of Tito’s books are selling because he’s brandishing the UFC gold on the cover. And the UFC is not seeing a dime from the sale of his book so can you really blame them?

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz was a guest on the “Howard Stern Show” on Sirius Satellite Radio this morning. Ortiz was in the studio to promote the release of his new biography, This is Gonna Hurt.

Below is a recap of Ortiz’s appearance:

• Stern asked Ortiz about his status with the UFC and Ortiz said he is moving onto a “bigger and better” company without saying one by name.
• As a fullowup, Stern asked if he was going to fight for “that company on CBS” and Ortiz responded by saying “Possibly.”
• Ortiz said he made $210,000 for his last fight while his opponent made only about $25,000.
• When Stern brought up Dana White’s name, Ortiz said he didn’t remember that name and said he’s moved on and was going to pretend he doesn’t exist.
• When asked what company he’s with, Ortiz responded by saying he’s with “the Tito Ortiz Company.” He said he will start his own promotion that will work with other promotions.
• He said Machida ran from him for three rounds in his last fight and that the UFC made the matchup to intentionally make him look bad.
• Ortiz said he’s working on having kids with Jenna Jameson, but that the two have no plans to marry anytime soon.
• Revealed that he waited a month before having intercourse with Jameson.
• In response to that revelation, Stern jokingly asked Ortiz if he was “gay” and Ortiz said if he was, that would make him the toughest gay fighter around. Stern asked him if there were gay fighters in the UFC and Ortiz said “Sure there are.” He went onto joke that White was gay (without mentioning him by name) but concluded by saying, “Oh wait, he’s married.”
• He made more personal revelations saying that he cheated on his first wife and talked about how he went into therapy to try and resolve anger with his parents, who both had drug problems while Ortiz was growing up. He said he was “pretty much abandoned” by his parents and that he sold marijuana as a youth to pay rent.
• He said that six months ago he spoke to his father for the first time in five years.
• Ortiz said he has investigated scientology and is considering becoming a scientologist.

Below is video of Tito Ortiz following his unanimous decision loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 84. Yes, you can actually see what all the fuss was regarding Ortiz’s behavior just prior to the start of the UFC 84 post-fight press conference:

I wanted to give a special hat tip to “Mr. Sunshine” Steve Cofield, as I found the video through his blog. Steve has been a tremendous supporter of 5 Oz. and has been a visionary as far as devoting content to MMA on mainstream sports talk radio.

Cofield also has a ton of UFC 84 audio available, including the entire UFC 84 post-fight press conference, by clicking here.

He also has some pretty good blog posts up where he takes a blogger from the LA Times and Robin Leach to task for their recent lackluster MMA coverage.
Cofield also has a ton of UFC 84 audio available, including the entire UFC 84 post-fight press conference, by clicking here. He also has some pretty good blog posts up where he takes a blogger from the LA Times and Robin Leach to task for their recent lackluster MMA coverage.

I’ve been perusing various MMA blogs, websites, and forums over the past few days and am beginning to see a common theme regarding Lyoto Machida. Either you love him and his style or you hate him and his style. There doesn’t seem to be any in-between. You think he’s boring? That’s fine. You think he’s fun to watch? That’s all good and well too. I, for one, enjoy watching Machida fight because he is so confusing to his opponents, he always has a good gameplan, and he rarely makes mistakes.

But what I don’t understand is likening him to Kalib Starnes in his fight against Nate Quarry. This argument is the kind of uninformed, unintelligent B.S. that I have been seeing spewed all over the place since Saturday night. Did these people even watch the fight?

First and foremost, if you don’t remember, Kalib Starnes lost his fight against Nate Quarry. He absolutely refused to engage and literally was backpedaling around the cage. You can’t fight like Starnes and win. So that begs to the question: how does this apply to Machida? Machida moves in, engages, and moves out. He creates his own pocket, on his time, and by his book. He makes you fight his game.
Picture courtesy of SHERDOG.COM

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FiveOuncesOfPain.com was informed by Rear Naked Radio, a weekly MMA show heard every Saturday from 7-9 p.m. CT on Live 105.3 FM in Dallas, that former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz was offered a contract by the UFC in the days leading up to last night’s fight against Lyoto Machida.

While listening to the initial portion of an audio clip forwarded by Rear Naked Radio, Ortiz begins to talk about possible options outside of the UFC.

“Either I go to Affliction; either I got to possibly something with De La Hoya; or start something on my own; HDNet; I mean there are so many opportunities for me,” said Ortiz. “Lorenzo (Ferttita) came up to me, actually, a day before the weigh-in and he’s like ‘UFC is the place you need to stay. You need to be here. We need you here.’ And he was giving me the old fluff deal…”

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Tito Ortiz was on Sportscenter this afternoon and had a number of things to talk about including Dana White (of course), the UFC stiffing the fighters, his opponent Lyoto Machida and hinted at a possible future fight with Randy Couture.

I came across something called the National Ledger, and in it, there’s a small article on Tito Ortiz and his upcoming fight this Saturday at UFC 84.

The writer quotes former ECW pioneer and ex-WWE writer Paul Heyman (who now does a video blog for The Sun in the UK) talking about what Ortiz should consider doing next:

“Tito is finishing up his UFC contract this weekend. What does he do next? Wear out his name in MMA, or capitalize on his love for pro wrestling and exploit his larger than life personality by joining WWE or TNA? And remember, where Tito goes, so goes Jenna Jameson, the best self-promoter in show business today.“

During Ortiz’s last contract crossroads, he did a brief stint in TNA as a personality but didn’t do any wrestling. He has the look and personality that could make him a superstar in that field. And I think Heyman hits the nail on the head: wear out his name in MMA, or exploit his larger than life personality.

Click here for more 5 Oz. of Pain UFC 84-related content.

There’s an existing sentiment that the UFC and Tito Ortiz will both be making a mistake if they decide to part ways. It’s a sentiment that our very own Adam Morgan agrees with. It’s sentiment that many other pundits on the Internet agree with. It was also a sentiment that I once agreed with as well.

But no longer.

That’s right, I no longer support the idea that the UFC and Tito need each other. In fact, I think both principals will be better off without each other. It’s been a bad marriage for quite some time and everyone will be much happier with a divorce.

I can’t speak for other countries, but in the U.S., divorce is usually seen as a negative. And when children are involved, it truly is. But if both parties are unhappy with one another, why continue to perpetuate a mistake?

When a couple splits, it can be upsetting. But in many instances, both parties actually become much happier. Or at the very least, they move on and survive just fine without one another. Look at the Jennifer Aniston/Brad Pitt divorce. It’s not like either one has had to spend a lonely night since their marriage collapsed. Pitt is doing just fine with Angelina Jolie and Aniston is still making movies and is having no trouble finding a date.

After Tito Ortiz makes his final UFC appearance on May 24 at UFC 84, the UFC will continue to make hundreds of millions of dollars and Ortiz will continue to get paid millions to fight.

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During a Thursday conference call to promote the debut of CBS’ “Saturday Night Fights” on May 31, EliteXC Live Events President Gary Shaw did not shy away from any questions regarding former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz.

Ortiz will become a restricted free agent following his May 24 bout at UFC 84 against undefeated Brazilian fighter Lyoto Machida. Due to the animosity that exists between Ortiz and UFC President Dana White, many pundits have speculated that UFC 84 will be Ortiz’s final fight with the UFC and that he will be seeking a new promotion to call home.

Shaw made it clear Thursday that he wouldn’t mind if that home was EliteXC.

“I happen to be a huge fan of his (Ortiz) on a personal level,” Shaw responded when asked about his feelings towards Ortiz.

At another point in the press conference, Shaw expounded further on his desire to work with Ortiz in the future.

“Of all my years in the fight game, I know one thing that I could see, touch, smell and feel, and that is a star and a superstar,” he said. “Every time I see Tito Ortiz, he reeks of stardom. I think I can even better his days in the UFC. I think I can reincarnate Ortiz. He is a talented fighter and has all the mechanisms that you need to make someone a superstar.”

The former boxing regulator-turned-promoter already has one matchup in mind for the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy.”

“Can you imagine Tito Ortiz and Kimbo (Slice) in the cage together one day?,” Shaw asked. “My door is open. I hope that he’s able to negotiate one day because I would never interfere with a contract. I hope he’s sitting right next to me, not across from my desk, but right with me.”

As stated yesterday, Tito Ortiz made comments stating he would give the UFC another chance should Dana White apologize for the things he has done to him. Well, Dana responded at the conference call and shockingly he’s not playing into Tito’s hand:

“Tito is a f—ing idiot,” White said. “He’s one of the dumbest human beings I’ve ever met. Everything that comes out of his mouth makes no sense.”

White added that he doesn’t think UFC needs Ortiz because he doesn’t think Ortiz can beat any of UFC’s top fighters.

“I put up with his s— when he was a good fighter,” White said. “He’s not anymore.”

“He’s not in anybody’s Top 10,” White said. “I have no interest whatsoever in being in the Tito Ortiz business. … I’ve never wanted to see anyone get their ass kicked worse than I want to see Tito get his kicked next Saturday night.”

As always the problem with White is he’s never clear on his feelings….

While he’s not in many top tens, he’s still ranked at #10 over MMAWeekly, which atleast for a long period of time were considered the best rankings in the sport.

This is one of those rare feuds where a majority of people don’t even care to take a side. Few would side with Ortiz as few of us would put up with someone publicly insulting us time and time again and no doubt complaining about money and holding out on contracts. On the other hand few would side with White who never takes the high road, frequently says questionable and unfounded things, and even had a Spike TV special which was basically a 90-minute infomercial about how his most marketable star was a coward.

Sure, maybe a marketable star and a top promotion are the best fit for one another. But maybe a top marketable star against a top promotion would actually be more entertaining. While White is probably correct that Ortiz is no longer a world champion candidate, he is still arguably the #1 MMA star in the country with his UFC name and his Celebrity Apprentice appearance.

Doesn’t Ortiz deserve the big money of being the top name? Doesn’t the UFC deserve the right to not pay someone ridiculous money when they can’t beat a top star in a big time main event? Does the UFC owe Ortiz for helping to keep them afloat and being their name? Does Ortiz owe the UFC for making him a star?

Welcome to a rare situation where no one is right and no one is wrong.

Ariel Helwani at MMARated.com recently conducted an interview with Tito Ortiz where Ortiz gives some indication that he could possibly re-sign with the UFC. But of course, Tito has certain demands that need to be met before that could happen:

“You know what it really comes down to is just (UFC president) Dana White. If he learns to shut his mouth and learns to respect me there is a possibility yet. (He needs to) give a public apology for the things that he has done. That is just what it really comes down to, but I want to go with a company that is going to respect me and see me as the champion I am and the ambassador that I am of the sport and not really downplay me or disrespect me on television or anything else.”

As has been said before, both parties actually need each other because the UFC is the biggest platform in all of MMA and Tito Ortiz is one of the biggest stars in MMA. There’s plenty of money to be made so why not make it together? But I think we’re past that. I don’t think you’ll see Dana White make a public apology to Tito due to what he’s said about him in the past. That’s genuinely the way that White feels about Ortiz and if there’s one thing we know about him it’s that he doesn’t hold back his opinions. Is there a chance that the two sides come to an agreement? Yes. Is it an extremely small chance? You betcha.

Here’s a nice little sampler for UFC 84: Ill Will on May 24th with some hype for the main three fights: BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk, Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida, and Keith Jardine vs. Wanderlei Silva. If you’re not at least pumped for Penn vs. Sherk, then I don’t know if you’re a fan of mixed martial arts.

HT: Bloody Elbow

Hats off to Adam Wagner of MMAMania.com for conducting a great interview with Tito Ortiz. You’ve got to check it out. Tito always gives good interview, but he was especially on his game. When he wasn’t calling Ed Soares, the manager of Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, and other top Brazilian fighters, a “scumbag,” he was throwing Georges St. Pierre under the bus:

Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): So are you saying that a lot of these fighters who we see on television as the faces of the UFC, do you think that behind the scenes, they are commenting on that type of thing but are just afraid to say it?

Tito Ortiz: Of course they’re commenting on it. There are all kinds of guys … Georges St. Pierre, I know he’s very disgusted with the UFC, but it’s just one of those things where they give him little small things that he thinks are great. He gets a brand new Hummer, like “Wow, I get an awesome new Hummer” (and it) costs 50 grand, and all of a sudden I gotta pay taxes on it, and I gotta pay for gas, and dutta-dutta-duh.

These little small things they give them to make fighters happy because they know they’ve never had those things before. Well let’s think about when fighters have their cars and have their houses, and now all of sudden, they’re like, “Well I want to start paying bills. I want to start paying for all this stuff, because I’m not gonna be able to fight for the rest of my life,” you know.

I can’t be the president of a company and say what happens and say what goes here and what goes there. I want to be a fighter. You got to think outside of the box, and not just think as a fighter, but think as a businessman.

That’s what it really comes down to, because there are other fighters who are screaming as loud as they possibly can … under their own tone. And they can’t say anything, because the UFC holds a thumb over them. If they speak out, they’ll squash ‘em. Just as they did with Randy Couture, they squashed him.

If GSP is in fact disgusted with the UFC, then he’s never said anything publicly. And if he’s said something privately, I’m not sure he’s going to appreciate Ortiz taking the liberty of spilling the beans for him.

You really should check out the entire interview. Just click here.

Tito Ortiz made himself available for a Q&A session with The Sun in the U.K. and confirmed his plans to leave the UFC after his fight with Lyoto Machida at UFC 84:

I’m getting ready for that fight right now, May 24th in Las Vegas , Nevada at the MGM Grand. This is the last fight in my contract with the UFC. Then I’m going to go and sign up with somebody else just because the way Dana White treats me as a fighter is very disrespectable.

It’s not about money anymore it’s about respect. I’m going to go with someone else who will pay me more money and treat me with more respect than Dana White has ever treated me. I’m very excited to move on, to grow and go somewhere else and help them build a company like I did with the UFC.

No real surprising news here, but Tito has been pretty quiet as of late about his intentions to leave the UFC after his next fight. I don’t see the UFC making a big push to keep him and he’s going to be the biggest free agent name on the market when the time comes. If EliteXC does well on CBS, don’t be surprised to see him land there. Kimbo vs. Tito anyone?

Check out more Tito Ortiz content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com!

That might be the case, according to Dave Meltzer at Yahoo! Sports:

But the financial backers for a proposed early 2009 fight have gotten very concerned in recent days after Ken lost on March 8 night to the unheralded Robert “Buzz” Berry in London.

Frank noted they would have paid Ken not to fight, but Ken was confident going in that he was at little risk in taking the fight. In doing so, he has put the value of the much bigger fight at risk. Frank feels the type of casual sports fan that would be intrigued by the “Blood Brothers” promotion due to the story isn’t likely to have seen Ken’s most recent fight.

Shamrock also talked with Ortiz, whose UFC contract ends after his May 24 fight, about having a rematch in late 2009 as the ten year anniversary of their original match.

Frank is probably right about the casual fan not having seen Ken’s latest fight against Robert “Buzz” Berry, but the hardcore fans know better than that. Judging from Ken’s last fight, a fight against Frank would probably not be very competitive at all. The fight that makes a lot more sense is the fight against Tito Ortiz, a rematch of a classic UFC bout from Shamrock’s heyday with the organization. Frank and Tito might be the two biggest trash talkers in mixed martial arts today and would be able to put some serious hype behind the fight. That fact coupled with the right promotion, and the fact that it has the potential to be a very good fight, could mean big bucks for an organization that’s not named UFC.

Here’s a video interview from HollyScoop.com with Tito Ortiz and his main squeeze Jenna Jameson where Tito talks about being done with the UFC and Dana White, says he’s changed his tune on Kimbo Slice, and would welcome a rematch with Frank Shamrock. Also, are we really calling them “Jennito” now?