10 fighters who feuded with the UFC

#2 Tito Ortiz

Tito Ortiz has feuded with the UFC on more than one occasion

Perhaps no other fighter has had as many feuds with the UFC as Tito Ortiz; the former Light-Heavyweight champion has been in and out of the promotion on numerous occasions, and has gone from being considered persona non grata, back to being a company man and a Hall of Famer, to being back on the outside looking in. Largely, Ortiz’s issues with the UFC have been around the subject of money.

When Zuffa purchased the UFC in 2001, Tito was their first poster-boy and everything was rosy between the two parties – unsurprising, as Dana White had managed Ortiz prior to becoming the UFC President. Their relationship took a knock in 2003 when Tito refused to defend his Light-Heavyweight title against Chuck Liddell, but months later ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was back in the fold, dropping his title instead to Randy Couture.

2005 saw Ortiz end his contract with the UFC with a win over Vitor Belfort, and the months that followed saw him play a role as a free agent – teasing a move to the now-defunct WFA promotion or even the beginning of his own promotion alongside the Maloof brothers – but by 2006 he was again back in the UFC’s Octagon. This time it came with a caveat, though – due to his disagreements with Dana White, he’d demanded that a boxing match between himself and the UFC President be organised as part of his contract.

That boxing match – initially pegged to be a behind-closed-doors match – was then promoted by the UFC, and when Ortiz decided not to go ahead with the fight, relations between the two parties became ever more strained. By 2008, Ortiz had decided to leave the promotion following the final fight on his contract – against Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 – and even wore a t-shirt stating “Dana is my bitch!” at the weigh-ins.

Incredibly, Ortiz and White mended fences yet again and ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was back in the Octagon by 2009. This time he proved himself the consummate company man, as he stepped in on late notice to save UFC 133 when Phil Davis was forced out of a fight with Rashad Evans, and ended up being inducted into the promotion’s Hall of Fame in July 2012.

A year later, however, Tito was burning bridges again. This time he came out of retirement to sign with the UFC’s rival promoter Bellator, and although this didn’t draw the ire of Dana, his most recent venture with Oscar De La Hoya and the burgeoning Golden Boy MMA certainly has. It seems like Tito’s on-off feud with the UFC will never end – even if it hasn’t hit court like some of these other feuds have.