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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s featherweight champion, Cristiane Justino, recently ended her partnership with Primetime 360, the sports agency founded by longtime mixed martial arts (MMA) veteran, Tito Ortiz.
While “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” stepped down as her manager as far back as 2014, he was still hard at work behind the scenes. That is, until Justino’s new manager and longtime boyfriend, Ray Elbe, started overruling Ortiz with decisions that he insists were bad for her UFC career.
One of which resulted in a first-round knockout loss at UFC 232.
“I haven’t worked with Cris Cyborg since before the Amanda (Nunes) fight,” Ortiz told The Score (transcribed by The Body Lock). “Her boyfriend, I guess you can say manager also, made some bad decisions for her and I kind of had to step away. I made a lot of mistakes with the UFC, and I tried to keep her from doing the same mistakes.”
Elbe was bounced from the The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 9 in the elimination round after getting smoked by DaMarques Johnson; however, is perhaps best known in the MMA world for breaking his penis during rough sex (more on that claim here).
“She’s a big girl, and she can make her decisions, but she was making the wrong decisions. Or I could say her boyfriend was making the wrong decisions for her. But that was just my opinion and I wish all the luck to her,” Ortiz continued. “I tried to give as much as I possibly could to her, but she just was willing to listen to someone else who hasn’t been in the same shoes that I have been in. I guess everyone learns from mistakes, and hopefully, she’ll learn from the mistakes that she’s made and make a positive reinforcement for the future for her.”
As far as mistakes go, it’s hard to beat this one.
After finishing up her UFC contract at UFC 240, a decision win over Felicia Spencer, Justino signed a long-term contract with Bellator MMA, where she’s expected to make her debut opposite current featherweight champion, Julia Budd, next month in Inglewood.
As for Ortiz, he returns to the cage against Alberto Del Rio this weekend in Hidalgo.