[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MARCH 21, 2017, 8:00 AM]
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz confirms UFC President Dana Whites comments that both men fought on a private plane.
However, the details of that fight are somewhat different to those recounted by White. MMAJunkie reported on Tuesday that Ortiz’s side of the story is significantly less aggressive and sensational. “The Huntington Beach Bady Boy” does remember the altercation with White:
“Yes, of him (saying) stop stop Tito!!!!” “I was manhandling him. But it was fun.”
White made the comments on this recent appearance on TBS’ “Conan,” where he claimed himself and Ortiz went at it while aboard the Fertitta’s plane which was still in ascent:
“We were on a private plane on our way to Japan, and it was my partners, the Fertitta brothers, myself, Tito Ortiz and our matchmaker at the time, Joe Silva,” White told host Conan O’Brien. “Tito and I were messing around, and he put me in what’s called a neck crank.
“I was tapping, and he didn’t stop. You can seriously hurt somebody in a neck crank, especially as big and strong as Tito is. So I just started blasting him in the ribs – started punching him in the ribs – and when he let go, (I) just jumped up, and it was just a full blown fistfight in the plane. We were literally taking off, and the plane was (going back and forth), and the Fertitta brothers had to jump in and break up the fight.”
The relationship between both men has been known to be tumultuous at best in the past. Despite this, Ortiz recently stated that White was among the first to congratulate Ortiz on his victory over Chael Sonnen at Bellator 170 in January, and made comments of his own (via ESPN) where he stated:
“I love the guy [White] man. He was my first manager. I always just fought for what I wanted in my career. No hard feelings. I’ve grown up a lot over the last four years.”
