Tag: Dana White

Dana White: ‘Tito Ortiz Is the Cheapest Mother****** on Planet Earth’

Bellator 106 headliner Tito Ortiz put the word out to fellow UFC employees Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Randy Couture and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson” to join him in Las Vegas on November 16 for UFC 167. 
In an interview with FightHubTV, UFC Presid…

Bellator 106 headliner Tito Ortiz put the word out to fellow UFC employees Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Randy Couture and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson” to join him in Las Vegas on November 16 for UFC 167. 

In an interview with FightHubTV, UFC President Dana White seemed thoroughly amused by the situation (link features NSFW language): 

“They’re gonna crash it? What are they gonna do? ‘YEA!’ They’re gonna come in, sit in their seats and f***ing watch the fight. What are they gonna do? Crash it? Buy seats to the fight, come have fun. Have a f***ing blast. Grab some beers, watch the show and have fun. Ya know? ‘The Super Friends,; yea, the f***ing Super Friends, ‘We’re gonna come to the 20th Anniversary and we’re gonna save the world!’ No, you’re going to walk through the front door, sit in your seats and watch the fights … maybe take some pictures and sign some autographs. Good for you, have fun at the fights.”

White wasn’t willing to let it go without taking some harsh parting shots at Ortiz and the Shamrocks: 

“First of all, Tito is the cheapest mother****** on planet Earth, okay? This guy doesn’t spend a dime for anything. He offered to buy the tickets…the two Shamrock knuckleheads oughta take him up on that one. We know Ken doesn’t have the money, Frank probably doesn’t either, but…” 

While White and Ortiz have never been the best of friends, the bad blood has surfaced again as the long-time UFC light heavyweight champ has recently trashed his ex-boss leading up to his November 2 matchup with Rampage under the Bellator banner (via MMA Fighting). 

Additionally, White just made an allegation that Ken Shamrock owes him $175,000 for legal fees (via MMA Junkie), while Frank Shamrock, a pioneer of the sport, is still waiting to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. 

Needless to say, White is not the biggest fan of the Shamrock brothers either. 

Recently, Frank Shamrock and Couture coached on season one of Bellator‘s reality series Fight Master, while Ken Shamrock hasn’t been involved in the fight game since November 2010, when he lost to Mike Rouke via TKO on the regional scene. 

Ortiz vs. Jackson is the headlining bout for Bellator 106, with the matchup leading to a fair amount of fan criticism, since Ortiz and Jackson have gone 1-9 in their past 10 combined bouts. 

Specifically, Ortiz hasn’t won since submitting Ryan Bader with a guillotine choke at UFC 132 in July 2011, while Jackson last had his had raised after a lackluster unanimous decision victory over Matt Hamill at UFC 130 in May 2011. 

Out of all the aforementioned fighters, Jackson was the last one to leave the UFC, opting not to renew his contract after losing a clear-cut decision to title contender Glover Teixeira at UFC on FOX 6 in January. 

Will White ever patch things up with these well-recognized former employees? Or will he continue to add fuel to the fire in scenarios like this one?

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.

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Shakedown of the Day: Dana White is Coming For His $175K, Ken Shamrock.

(For an abridged version of White’s rant, go here. Video via FightHubTV.)

The war of words/lawsuits between Ken Shamrock and the UFC is as old as the hills that Ken Shamrock’s career went over some five (hundred) years ago, yet it continuously finds ways to entertain us in these troubled times. Ever since ShamWow was defeated by the Zuffa attorneys via first round KO back in 2008, he has not-so-silently been leading the anti-UFC crusade and occasionally ripping off smaller promotions to fund said anti-UFC crusade. His methods, which have included attempting to pay off Zuffa’s court fees with a “superfight” and joining forces with his fellow disgraced UFC fighters for a giggle session on Twitter, have produced few results to say the least.

Recently, however, UFC President Dana White decided to finally address Shamrock during the UFC 168 world tour. The moment was eerily reminiscent of Tony Montana’s final interaction with Frank Lopez.

Ken Shamrock owes ME $175,000.

(*stares directly at camera* *moves in for EXTREME CLOSE UP*)

And I’m coming for it, Ken. I’m coming for the fucking money, you piece of shit. You should have stayed wherever you were, hidden under the fucking porch somewhere.

We reached out to Shamrock for a response this morning, but unfortunately, the traffic light turned green before he could finish wiping our windows with last week’s newspaper. Keep an eye on Shamrock’s twitter account, however, as his local library will be opening its doors any minute now.

–J. Jones


(For an abridged version of White’s rant, go here. Video via FightHubTV.)

The war of words/lawsuits between Ken Shamrock and the UFC is as old as the hills that Ken Shamrock’s career went over some five (hundred) years ago, yet it continuously finds ways to entertain us in these troubled times. Ever since ShamWow was defeated by the Zuffa attorneys via first round KO back in 2008, he has not-so-silently been leading the anti-UFC crusade and occasionally ripping off smaller promotions to fund said anti-UFC crusade. His methods, which have included attempting to pay off Zuffa’s court fees with a “superfight” and joining forces with his fellow disgraced UFC fighters for a giggle session on Twitter, have produced few results to say the least.

Recently, however, UFC President Dana White decided to finally address Shamrock during the UFC 168 world tour. The moment was eerily reminiscent of Tony Montana’s final interaction with Frank Lopez.

Ken Shamrock owes ME $175,000.

(*stares directly at camera* *moves in for EXTREME CLOSE UP*)

And I’m coming for it, Ken. I’m coming for the fucking money, you piece of shit. You should have stayed wherever you were, hidden under the fucking porch somewhere.

We reached out to Shamrock for a response this morning, but unfortunately, the traffic light turned green before he could finish wiping our windows with last week’s newspaper. Keep an eye on Shamrock’s twitter account, however, as his local library will be opening its doors any minute now.

–J. Jones

Tito Ortiz Invites the Shamrocks, Rampage and Randy Couture to ‘Crash’ UFC 167

Former UFC light heavyweight champion and current Bellator fighter Tito Ortiz is once again trying to stir up trouble for his former employer on social media. 
Monday night, the self-proclaimed “People’s Champion” sent out a tweet to fellow MMA pi…

Former UFC light heavyweight champion and current Bellator fighter Tito Ortiz is once again trying to stir up trouble for his former employer on social media. 

Monday night, the self-proclaimed “People’s Champion” sent out a tweet to fellow MMA pioneers Frank Shamrock and Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture and upcoming Bellator 106 opponent Quinton “Rampage” Jackson inviting them to attend the UFC’s 20th Anniversary Show, UFC 167. 

He was even kind enough to offer to purchase the tickets:

Ken Shamrock, a participant at UFC 1 who lost to Ortiz three times during the course of his career, was enthusiastic about the idea, imploring his younger brother to tag along. 

Couture, one of only two fighters in UFC history to win titles in two different weight classes (the other being BJ Penn), was a coach on season 1 of Bellator‘s reality show Fight Master.

That bad blood between him and UFC President Dana White is well-documented, with the hard feelings so severe that “The Natural” isn’t even allowed to corner his son Ryan inside the Octagon (via Bloody Elbow). 

The 50-year-old said to count him in as well, making a joke about the possible reunion among the old-timers: 

Ken Shamrock supported his fellow UFC Hall of Famer, stating that he should be present at the show:

Unfortunately, Frank Shamrock and Rampage did not respond to the stream of tweets as of Tuesday evening.  

Ortiz and Jackson have gone on tirades against their former employer leading up to their November 2 showdown, with White firing back that neither competitor is relevant anymore (via MMA Fighting). 

UFC 167 takes place on November 16 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the pay-per-view event headlined by a welterweight title fight between Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks. 

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.

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Dana White Blasts ‘Irrelevant’ Ken Shamrock, Now Going After $175k He’s Owed

Getting on Dana White’s bad side has proven to be an unenviable place to be over the years, and it appears Ken Shamrock has worked his way back onto the UFC President’s radar.
There has been no love lost between White and the former UFC champion and MM…

Getting on Dana White‘s bad side has proven to be an unenviable place to be over the years, and it appears Ken Shamrock has worked his way back onto the UFC President’s radar.

There has been no love lost between White and the former UFC champion and MMA pioneer over the years, but the grudge between the two parties had fallen by the wayside for the most part. Shamrock attempted to sue Zuffa in 2009 for allegedly releasing him from his contract early, but he failed, and there hasn’t been much cannon fodder traded between the two parties since.

Those conditions changed last week when “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” blasted White on Twitter for his treatment of fighters who helped the promotion establish itself as the premier organization in mixed martial arts with particular emphasis on Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and his half-brother Frank.

The veteran also launched into the issue of fighter pay during his online rant, accusing White of failing to pay the fighters who have paved the way accordingly.

It appears Shamrock’s efforts to get White’s attention have worked, and the UFC front man addressed the matter at the media scrum held Tuesday for the “Silva vs. Weidman 2″ fight.

“I don’t even want to mention this guy’s f****** name,” White said. “Ken Shamrock bursts back onto the scene like, ‘Hey, I’m trying to save everybody.’ No, trying to become relevant again is what you’re trying to do. Let’s not forget that Ken Shamrock tried to sue us about his contract.

“Ken Shamrock owes me $175,000, and I’m coming for it Ken. I’m coming for it you f****** piece of sh**. You should have stayed where you were, hidden under the f****** porch somewhere. The guy owes me $175,000 because him and his scumbag lawyer put together some phony lawsuit that he lost, and he owes me $175,000 in attorney fees. He’s out there talking about what he doesn’t have and what guys aren’t getting, but he’s trying to make himself relevant again. If anybody can’t see that, you’re just f****** stupid.”

White has never been trigger-shy when dealing with the criticism from former UFC fighters over the years. His current beef with Shamrock comes at a time when he’s also in the midst of trading public barbs with former UFC champions Ortiz and Jackson, who he believes are stirring up commotion for the sake of bringing publicity to their upcoming bout under the Bellator banner.

 

Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise. 

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Anderson Silva Still an Enigma in Promotion Ahead of Rematch with Weidman

If you happened to witness the latest edition of Hard Knocks on HBO that centered around the Cincinnati Bengals and the team they will field in 2013, there was one character that stood out above all the rest—mostly because he was unwilling to dan…

If you happened to witness the latest edition of Hard Knocks on HBO that centered around the Cincinnati Bengals and the team they will field in 2013, there was one character that stood out above all the rest—mostly because he was unwilling to dance for the cameras.

That’s metaphorically speaking, of course, but linebacker James Harrison had little interest in being on camera or doing much else during the taping of the show than to give the Hard Knocks team plenty of disdain for their participation in the training camp.

Time and time again, Harrison blocked cameras, refused interviews and even went as far as pulling in quarterback Andy Dalton to act as a human shield to keep the Hard Knocks crew from getting a clear shot of him during one of their locker room shots.

If there was an equal to Harrison in the sport of MMA, it would be former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Over the past seven years, he’s enjoyed the kind of success rarely tasted in MMA, with the longest reign as champion in company history while also becoming an icon in his home country of Brazil. He’s been on the cover of Rolling Stone and been featured on commercials for Fox.

But when it’s time to promote a fight and answer the litany of questions that reporters have for him, Silva’s responses are akin to shoving a quarterback in front of his shot to avoid dealing with the press.

On Tuesday, Silva and the man who took the title from him in July, Chris Weidman, took part in a press conference in Las Vegas to help begin the promotion for their upcoming title fight on Dec. 28 at UFC 168.

Silva was cordial enough with a smile on his face and his eyes staring back over the crowd behind his black-rimmed glasses. One of the first questions that came to the Brazilian asked how many times he’s watched the first fight with Weidman at this stage.

Silva replied that he’d watched it three times, but his coaches have watched it on several occasions to help him prepare for the upcoming rematch. The next inquiry came about his performance versus Weidman’s performance and whether the result in the fight ultimately came down to his mistake when he was taunting his opponent and got clipped with a huge right hand that put him down and out.

It was here that Silva decided to go back into a reclusive mode and avoided answering many of the questions posed to him.

“Chris is the new champion, you need to respect this guy,” Silva said. “Come on.”

Next up was Silva being asked if life had changed for him at all since losing the belt, and the only answer he could muster was “No,” but he didn’t delve any deeper than the simple, one-word response.

Following the fight with Weidman back in July, Silva said directly after it was over that he wasn’t interested in a rematch and would happily watch the champion defend his new belt while he focused on new goals. A few weeks later, Silva changed his mind and decided he did want a second shot at Weidman with a chance to reclaim the gold he wore around his waist for seven years.

So it was a natural follow up to that string of events to ask Silva why he had a sudden change of heart. Why did he not care after the fight but then do a 180 degree turn and want the immediate rematch?

Silva’s answer was somewhat uninspiring.

“I have the new contract. In my contract, I have nine more fights,” Silva answered.

The mundane answers muddled with a few one-word responses weren’t exactly raising the stakes in what is being billed as the biggest rematch in UFC history. At one point when an interviewer gave chase to Silva, trying to prod the former champion for some kind of explanation that wouldn’t fit on a Twitter response, UFC president Dana White leaned over and passed a message to Silva.

“Give people a little more, they want to hear more,” White whispered.

Silva did up the ante a little bit when he responded to the question about the pressure and intensity being raised for this upcoming rematch.

“I no have more pressure now because Chris is the new champion,” said Silva. “I’m working hard to bring the belt back for me, for Brazil, but I don’t have more pressure.”

“I have nine more fights and my focus is my rematch with Chris,” Silva added. “The new Anderson is coming, trust me.”

The press conference ended without much else in the way of fanfare for the fight outside of the customary staredown where Silva covered his mouth while looking back at Weidman.

These two will go through another slew of press conferences, question-and-answer periods and meetings with fans over the next week as they progress on media tour to promote UFC 168.

There is not a fighter on planet earth that doesn’t hate the monotony of doing a laundry list of interviews where the questions will almost always sound the same, and there may only be so much material to cover prior to a bout taking place. Still, most fighters know that interviews and press conferences are just part of the deal.

In the fight business, part of the business is promotion. It isn’t the NFL, where the action moves fluidly week to week and a big game is touted just five or six days before it takes place.

No, in the UFC world of big fights, there are literally months between the announcement and the actual bout taking place, and that leaves plenty of time to convince the average person to plunk down $50 or $60 of his or her hard-earned money to watch the show the company is promoting.

Not every interview has to sound like something out of Bull Durham, but in the fight game, it’s expected that there may be a little heat or at least a rivalry headed into a big showdown.

Silva wasn’t playing that game before he lost the title to Weidman, and he’s certainly not going to sing for his supper now, either.

If there’s one thing that can be said about Silva, it’s that he’s an enigma in and out of the cage, and figuring him out may be a puzzle no one is able to solve. Weidman managed to do it in July, and it brought about a changing of the guard in the middleweight division.

Whether Silva continues to respond with one-word answers or long, drawn-out, St. Crispin’s Day type speeches for the next few months is unknown. But all that truly matters is that he shows up on Dec. 28 ready to face Weidman for a second time.

 

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

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Tito Ortiz Attempts to Unite Fellow Disgraced UFC Fighters for Event-Crashing


(Tito Ortiz makes another stop on his global goodwill tour | Photo via @TitoOrtiz)

Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson and Frank Shamrock are all former UFC champions that are currently personas non grata to the organization and its President Dana White. (Not coincidentally, four of those five guys currently have some role in the Bellator organization.) For that reason, Ortiz seems to think it would be pretty funny if they all went to the UFC’s 20th anniversary show November 16th in Las Vegas.

“@ShamrockKen @frankshamrock @Randy_Couture @Rampage4real maybe we should crash the show. I will buy the tickets.” Ortiz recently tweeted.

Apparently, some of the other guys liked the idea. Tito’s former mortal enemy, Ken Shamrock, tweeted back, “I like TITO’s idea,” and then, “I will stand beside you Tito. – frank lets go!!!!!,” encouraging his brother to join them.

So we guess to Ken, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or something. Ken told Tito to send him a direct message through twitter so they could totally discuss deets, and then sent out a “hi randy” shout out to Couture.

Couture, who is probably smarting more than anyone else about not being allowed at UFC events ever since Dana banned the two-division UFC champion from cornering his son Ryan, then weighed in. “feel sorry for the security guys dana sends to have us removed 🙂 hope they have guns !,” he tweeted, apparently still in character as Toll Road from The Expendables.


(Tito Ortiz makes another stop on his global goodwill tour | Photo via @TitoOrtiz)

Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson and Frank Shamrock are all former UFC champions that are currently personas non grata to the organization and its President Dana White. (Not coincidentally, four of those five guys currently have some role in the Bellator organization.) For that reason, Ortiz seems to think it would be pretty funny if they all went to the UFC’s 20th anniversary show November 16th in Las Vegas.

“@ShamrockKen @frankshamrock @Randy_Couture @Rampage4real maybe we should crash the show. I will buy the tickets.” Ortiz recently tweeted.

Apparently, some of the other guys liked the idea. Tito’s former mortal enemy, Ken Shamrock, tweeted back, “I like TITO’s idea,” and then, “I will stand beside you Tito. – frank lets go!!!!!,” encouraging his brother to join them.

So we guess to Ken, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or something. Ken told Tito to send him a direct message through twitter so they could totally discuss deets, and then sent out a “hi randy” shout out to Couture.

Couture, who is probably smarting more than anyone else about not being allowed at UFC events ever since Dana banned the two-division UFC champion from cornering his son Ryan, then weighed in. “feel sorry for the security guys dana sends to have us removed :) hope they have guns !,” he tweeted, apparently still in character as Toll Road from The Expendables.

“can you imagine those guys would be sh[i]tting their knickers,” he went on gleefully. Bout time Couture took the, “what are you going to do about it, Dana?” approach to attending UFC events.

If these guys got together it might be fun for a few moments but it wouldn’t take long to become awkward, probably. They are a bunch of alpha-personalities who either have a long history of feuding with one another or are set to fight one another in the near future (Tito and Rampage), so chillaxing together seems unlikely. Still, it might be a confusing treat for the OG fans in attendance at the show if they somehow managed to get on the telecast.

What do you think, Nation? Is this is a clever prank or sad call for attention from Ortiz? And, if they are going to do this, which old fighters did Tito leave out that he should invite?

– Elias Cepeda