Bellator 106 headliner Tito Ortiz put the word out to fellow UFC employees Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Randy Couture and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson” to join him in Las Vegas on November 16 for UFC 167.
In an interview with FightHubTV, UFC President Dana White seemed thoroughly amused by the situation (link features NSFW language):
“They’re gonna crash it? What are they gonna do? ‘YEA!’ They’re gonna come in, sit in their seats and f***ing watch the fight. What are they gonna do? Crash it? Buy seats to the fight, come have fun. Have a f***ing blast. Grab some beers, watch the show and have fun. Ya know? ‘The Super Friends,; yea, the f***ing Super Friends, ‘We’re gonna come to the 20th Anniversary and we’re gonna save the world!’ No, you’re going to walk through the front door, sit in your seats and watch the fights … maybe take some pictures and sign some autographs. Good for you, have fun at the fights.”
White wasn’t willing to let it go without taking some harsh parting shots at Ortiz and the Shamrocks:
“First of all, Tito is the cheapest mother****** on planet Earth, okay? This guy doesn’t spend a dime for anything. He offered to buy the tickets…the two Shamrock knuckleheads oughta take him up on that one. We know Ken doesn’t have the money, Frank probably doesn’t either, but…”
While White and Ortiz have never been the best of friends, the bad blood has surfaced again as the long-time UFC light heavyweight champ has recently trashed his ex-boss leading up to his November 2 matchup with Rampage under the Bellator banner (via MMA Fighting).
Additionally, White just made an allegation that Ken Shamrock owes him $175,000 for legal fees (via MMA Junkie), while Frank Shamrock, a pioneer of the sport, is still waiting to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Needless to say, White is not the biggest fan of the Shamrock brothers either.
Recently, Frank Shamrock and Couture coached on season one of Bellator‘s reality series Fight Master, while Ken Shamrock hasn’t been involved in the fight game since November 2010, when he lost to Mike Rouke via TKO on the regional scene.
Ortiz vs. Jackson is the headlining bout for Bellator 106, with the matchup leading to a fair amount of fan criticism, since Ortiz and Jackson have gone 1-9 in their past 10 combined bouts.
Specifically, Ortiz hasn’t won since submitting Ryan Bader with a guillotine choke at UFC 132 in July 2011, while Jackson last had his had raised after a lackluster unanimous decision victory over Matt Hamill at UFC 130 in May 2011.
Out of all the aforementioned fighters, Jackson was the last one to leave the UFC, opting not to renew his contract after losing a clear-cut decision to title contender Glover Teixeira at UFC on FOX 6 in January.
Will White ever patch things up with these well-recognized former employees? Or will he continue to add fuel to the fire in scenarios like this one?
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
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