It’s no secret that UFC President Dana White and Tito Ortiz have never gotten along. And it should come as no surprise that White gave Lyoto Machida a bonus for beating Ortiz at UFC 84.
White revealed the news last week. Tuesday, Machida confirmed the story’s veracity to MMAFighting.com:
‘He really did that,’ Machida told MMAFighting.com. ‘I felt like a hitman getting money from the boss, but it was cool.’
According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Machida made $100,000 for his win that night, but the Brazilian declined to reveal what number White wrote in that check.
‘I won’t tell you how much he paid me,’ he said with a laugh, ‘but it was good money.’
Machida dominated much of his fight with Ortiz but was caught in a triangle choke from the former light heavyweight champion in the final moments. Machida survived, however, and sent Ortiz packing from the promotion until his return over a year later at UFC 106.
Machida noted that the near triangle from Ortiz had White sweating in his cageside seat:
‘(White) said I was dominating the fight and out of a sudden (Ortiz) got me on that triangle,’ Machida said. ‘He said “s–t, I can’t believe it.” He went crazy, but then I got out of it. So I guess he gave me a bonus because he was scared of that triangle (laughs).’
Including the loss to Machida, Ortiz would only win one of his next seven fights before retiring after a loss to Forrest Griffin at last summer’s UFC 148. The retirement was short-lived, however, as Ortiz would sign with Bellator. He was scheduled to face Quinton “Rampage” Jackson before an injury suffered in training camp forced him to pull out of the fight.
Machida, of course, went on to become the UFC light heavyweight champion. He’s now competing at middleweight, where he is the odds-on favorite to face the winner of the May title fight between champion Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort.
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