Tito Ortiz Took a ‘Big, Big, Big Pay Cut’ to Fight Ryan Bader at UFC 132

(Props: MMAFighting.com)

Tito Ortiz‘s matchup with Ryan Bader at UFC 132 this Saturday didn’t come without a price. When the Huntington Beach Bad Boy begged for another fight following his loss to Matt Hamill last October, the UFC eventually gave in, but not under the same terms of his former contract. As Ortiz explained to Ariel Helwani:

“I guess it was negotiation on their part of paying me less. And I took it. I want to compete. And that shows how much I want to compete, to take a big, big, big pay cut. It is what it is, man, I’m gonna fight my ass off on Saturday night and I get my contract back, and I’ll be fighting some more.”

For reference, Ortiz earned a $250,000 salary for his last two losses against Hamill and Forrest Griffin, and $210,000 for his previous three fights against Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, and Chuck Liddell; those figures don’t include points on the pay-per-view revenue that may have also been included in his contract. Early next week, we should have a clearer sense of just how “big, big, big” that pay cut was.

Ortiz also discussed the full-frontal Twitter photo that was allegedly sent from his phone by a hacker earlier this month. Here’s how it went down, to Ortiz’s best understanding…


(Props: MMAFighting.com)

Tito Ortiz‘s matchup with Ryan Bader at UFC 132 this Saturday didn’t come without a price. When the Huntington Beach Bad Boy begged for another fight following his loss to Matt Hamill last October, the UFC eventually gave in, but not under the same terms of his former contract. As Ortiz explained to Ariel Helwani:

“I guess it was negotiation on their part of paying me less. And I took it. I want to compete. And that shows how much I want to compete, to take a big, big, big pay cut. It is what it is, man, I’m gonna fight my ass off on Saturday night and I get my contract back, and I’ll be fighting some more.”

For reference, Ortiz earned a $250,000 salary for his last two losses against Hamill and Forrest Griffin, and $210,000 for his previous three fights against Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, and Chuck Liddell; those figures don’t include points on the pay-per-view revenue that may have also been included in his contract. Early next week, we should have a clearer sense of just how “big, big, big” that pay cut was.

Ortiz also discussed the full-frontal Twitter photo that was allegedly sent from his phone by a hacker earlier this month. Here’s how it went down, to Ortiz’s best understanding…

“Someone got on my damn phone and put a nekkid picture of me…FBI called me, we talked, we tried to find it out, what it was, I was at a Starbucks and I left my phone down, and I left it there and totally forgot, came back, and it was at a different table, and what can you do, man…I guess it was one of those pictures that I probably shouldn’t have sent to Jenna before, and left it on my phone, I probably should have erased it. I guess I could uphold it and be proud of it. I hope I didn’t offend anybody. But at the same time, personal life won’t be on Twitter ever again.”

According to our sources, there was an unexplained 11-minute gap in the security camera footage at the Starbucks in question that matches up with the time Ortiz spent taking a dump in the bathroom. We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of this vast conspiracy.