5 UFC champions that Dana White never liked

#2. Tito Ortiz – UFC light heavyweight champion

Tito Ortiz angered Dana White on multiple occasions during his UFC career

The relationship between Dana White and Tito Ortiz was not always fractious. In fact, when Ortiz first rose to fame in the SEG-owned UFC, White actually acted as his manager. If that were not the case, White’s friends the Fertitta brothers may not have become involved in the UFC.

But while the Zuffa buyout was good for the UFC, it was not good for the relationship between Ortiz and White.

While Ortiz, the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion, was positioned as the UFC’s poster boy, things quickly became strained when ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ decided he was worth more money than the promotion was offering.

Ortiz, in particular, felt that he deserved far more money than what he was offered to fight his former training partner Chuck Liddell. And so, he essentially sat out, forcing the UFC to create an interim title and souring his relationship with White for good.

Ortiz lost the title to Randy Couture in the eventual unification bout, but his relationship with the UFC would never be the same again. And nor would his relationship with White fully recover, as the two embarked on a major feud and were even set for a boxing match at one stage before Ortiz nixed it.

In recent times, however, the two seem to have become more cordial, with White even congratulating Ortiz when he won a seat on the Huntington Beach city council in 2020.

.@DanaWhite great speech #RNC #Trump2020

— Tito Ortiz (@titoortiz) August 28, 2020

---

#1. Randy Couture – UFC heavyweight & light heavyweight champion

No UFC champion clashed with the UFC as much as Randy Couture

While Dana White’s relationship with Tito Ortiz was often fractious, the UFC champion who angered the promotion’s president the most must easily be Randy Couture, who found himself essentially blacklisted by the UFC on two separate occasions.

It wasn’t always that way. Couture was the UFC heavyweight champion when White took control of the UFC in 2001, and he was largely positioned as one of the promotion’s poster boys.

In 2003 he became the first man to have held two UFC titles in different weight classes when he won the UFC light heavyweight title, and in 2005 he famously coached the first season of The Ultimate Fighter alongside Chuck Liddell.

Things went awry, however, when Couture won the UFC heavyweight title for the third time in 2007. ‘The Natural’ was desperate for the UFC to sign former PRIDE champion Fedor Emelianenko for a fight with him, but when negotiations fell through, Couture decided he would walk away from the UFC.

Although White didn’t publically slam Couture, he was clearly furious with him, and essentially blacklisted him from the promotion until ‘The Natural’ agreed to return to the fold in 2008.

It appeared that White was willing to forgive and forget following the end of that sorry episode, and Couture was once again positioned as one of the UFC’s go-to stars. However, after his retirement in 2011, ‘The Natural’ stunned everyone by suddenly walking away from a broadcasting role with the UFC to join their competitor Bellator MMA.

That caused White to erupt, and he finally revealed his true feelings on Couture, stating that he didn’t respect him at all and that “the only time that Randy Couture is a man is when he sets foot in the cage.”

It was one of White’s angrier interviews, which, given his combative nature, said a lot about his terrible relationship with one of the ultimate UFC legends.