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UFC President Dana White has addressed rumours that he and Tito Ortiz had agreed to a boxing match back in 2008 and has sensationally claimed that he would have won the contest had it ever materialised.
The Interview
The rumoured fight between Ortiz and White has been part of MMA folklore for many years, but during a recent interview with Barstool Sports, Dana revealed what happened between himself and Tito and why the fight fell through.
“I knew I would win, and so did he. That’s why it didn’t happen. Tito Ortiz was doing a new deal with us. Tito and I hated each other so bad that Lorenzo Fertitta did this deal. Tito never had great hands. He had been working on his boxing with Fernando Vargas. He started to feel like his hands were getting in a good place and we hated each other. He told Lorenzo the last thing he wanted in his deal was a three round boxing match with me. Three three-minute rounds. I told Lorenzo yes, sign the deal.”
White didn't stop his confident assessment of the fight there, as the UFC President went on to suggest that he had managed to out-box Ortiz in a behind-closed-doors sparring session previously.
“This wasn’t going to be the first time Tito and I boxed. As it started to get closer and I was training — at the time I was sparring with heavyweight pro boxers who were ranked in the top-10 to get ready for that fight — I was in ridiculous shape and I was ready. I was going to whoop his a** in front of everybody.”
At 50 years of age, it is safe to assume that the ship has sailed on us ever seeing Dana White take part in a competitive fight, however the revelations from this interview give a wonderful insight into the UFC when it was a very different organisation to the corporation we see today.
MMA fans will now have to remain content with speculating what might have happened if Dana White had ever got the chance to step into the ring with Tito Ortiz.
