What’s the story?
UFC President Dana White and former champion Tito Ortiz had one of the most infamous feuds in MMA history and were even set to fight each other in a bizarre celebrity boxing bout at one point.
The boxing bout never took place, but recently Dana White revealed on the Conan O’Brien late-night talk show that he and ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ once had a full blown fist-fight on a private flight to Japan.
In case you didn’t know...
Dana White started out in MMA as Tito Ortiz’s manager and later became his boss in the UFC. Over the years, the two of them have engaged in a war of words, but recently Dana White came out to congratulate Tito Ortiz after his retirement fight at Bellator 170.
The heart of the matter
While on the late-night talk show Conan with host Conan O’Brien White revealed that the two once had an altercation on a private flight to Japan which got out of control. White and Ortiz had a full blown fist fight in presence of several UFC executives. Former UFC co-owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta had to step in and break up the fight before things got even worse.
This is what Dana White said on the talk show,
“We were gonna fight one time in a boxing match but I actually never told this story publicly before but we were on a private plane on our way to Japan and it was my partners, the Fertitta brothers, myself, Tito Ortiz and our matchmakers at the time, Joe Silva. Tito and I were messing around and he put me in what’s called a neck crank. I was tapping and he didn’t stop. You can seriously hurt somebody in a neck crank, especially as big and strong as Tito is.
White then went on to elaborate on how he reacted to the situation:
“So I just started blasting him in the ribs, started punching him in the ribs and when he let go [I] just jumped up and it was just a full blown fist fight in the plane. We were literally taking off and the plane was [wobbling] and the Fertitta brothers had to jump in and break up the fight. So then I sat on the front of the plane, he sat in the back of the plane the rest of the flight.”
What’s next?
Tito Ortiz has officially retired from the world of MMA after defeating another UFC legend Chael Sonnen at Bellator 170.
Author’s take
Dana White and Tito Ortiz have a love-hate relationship that everyone is aware of. At one point they were about to take this longtime feud to the boxing ring which got cancelled at the eleventh hour. So the revelation that they actually once engaged in a full blown fist fight does not come as a surprise.
Who would have come out on top if they had their boxing match?
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