To the surprise of no one, add UFC Hall of Famers Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock—longtime rivals of UFC President Dana White—to the list of competitors who believe the UFC should pay their fighters better.
Late this morning, Ortiz spoke out on the subject through his Twitter page:
@UFC the walls are starting to cave in! Such a shame.The cat is out of the bag.Wonder who has the guts to tell the truth.Reap what u sow!
— Tito Ortiz (@titoortiz) February 18, 2014
“The World’s Most Dangerous Man” only took a few minutes to chime in on the matter:
@titoortiz@ufc they treat the fighters like slaves. The minute you stand up for yourself you are an outcast. Enough is enough
— KEN SHAMROCK (@ShamrockKen) February 18, 2014
The remarks come after fellow ex-UFC fighter Nate Quarry wrote on mixedmartialarts.com, better known as The Underground, that the UFC doesn’t care about their employees—only “the bottom line.”
Ortiz recently made headlines for stepping down as the manager of Invicta FC women’s featherweight champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (formerly Santos), in hopes of making a superfight between “Cyborg” and UFC women’s bantamweight titleholder Ronda Rousey a reality, per MMA Fighting.
The resignation came after White accused the recently divorced Justino of being a regular user of performance-enhancing drugs, further ridiculing her appearance. He also criticized her business sense for hiring Ortiz as part of her team, per MMA Junkie.
Shamrock, one of the pioneers of the sport, competed in his first MMA fight all the way back in September 1993 and went on to capture the King of Pancrase and UFC Superfight Championship in the course of his 17-year career.
Out of 45 professional fights, Shamrock fought 14 of those bouts inside the Octagon and holds the distinction of fighting in the UFC 1 tournament in November 1993.
Meanwhile, Ortiz only competed in one fight outside the Octagon during 28 fights as a pro, establishing himself as one of the company’s most dominant champions in the early-to-mid 2000s.
Unfortunately for the self-proclaimed “People’s Champion,” he compiled a paltry 1-7-1 record in his last nine fights between December 2006 and July 2012.
After a debatable decision loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 148, Ortiz announced his retirement from the sport, but he has been under contract with Bellator since July.
He is yet to make it to the cage for the organization due to injuries and a recent DUI arrest, per TMZ.
Is UFC fighter pay an issue that is in desperate need of a revamping, or is the compensation system just fine the way it is?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
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