How do you make it as a mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter?
Two key ingredients are homework and ass-busting, according to former UFC light heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz. In fact, you can just follow the blueprint set forth by UFC president Dana White, who serves as the “perfect example.”
That’s why promotions like EliteXC, Strikeforce, PRIDE and Affliction, among others, have all tried to master the cage fighting business and failed, unlike White, who helped UFC become the $7 billion business it is today.
And we can now add Golden Boy MMA to that list.
“Yeah it’s dead,” Ortiz told Aaron Bronsteter (transcribed by BJPenn.com). “They are just in the boxing business and I can leave it there. I gave them the opportunity to run with something and make it huge but it just didn’t work out. I did what I needed to do promotion wise. Getting ready for the fight it was eighteen weeks and it just ended up getting me another fight in the future.”
Ortiz headlined the first and only Golden Boy MMA pay-per-view (PPV), capturing a first-round knockout win over Chuck Liddell last November (see it). There was talk of a second “disaster,” but that never came to fruition.
“I can’t say nothing bad about Oscar because he gave me an opportunity and I am very thankful for it. It’s just one of those things as a promoter, you’ve got to do your homework. You know a perfect example is Dana White. He does his homework, he busts his ass and he does it for the MMA crowd and not just for his family but for fighters and their future. Oscar just really didn’t put his homework in and he didn’t do what he wanted to do for mixed martial arts. He’s a boxing promoter, and I guess we will leave it right there.”
Ortiz, who also competed for Bellator MMA after retiring from UFC, is expected to return to combat sports at some point later this year, though a date and promotion have yet to be determined.