Tito Ortiz, a former UFC light heavyweight champion who's likely concluded his service to the organization, expects to launch his own fight promotion and co-promote shows with some of the sport's already established organizations.
Ortiz, who's currently promoting his new autobiography "This is Gonna Hurt," briefly mentioned his plans while a guest on today's Howard Stern Show.
Ortiz, who fulfilled the terms of his UFC contract after suffering a unanimous-decision loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 84, also criticized the UFC's pay scale and took a swipe at his recent opponent during the interview.
When asked about the UFC, Ortiz said he was "moving to a bigger and better company." When asked which one, he said he plans to launch his own.
"I'll be doing my own promotions and I'll possibly be co-promoting with some other companies already in the business," he said.
However, when asked about fighting on CBS (which has a deal with EliteXC), the 33-year-old said it was "possible."
Ortiz, who made $210,000 in his latest fight (according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission and Ortiz himself), estimated that UFC fighters are making only "about three percent" of the UFC's per-event take "if they're lucky." He said that prompted his decision to get in the fight-promotion business.
As for his latest fight, Ortiz said the UFC knowingly scheduled an opponent that would "run away from me for three rounds."
"There were a few times when I was like, 'Come on, man. Don't puss out. Let's fight,'" Ortiz said.
Ortiz, the longest-reigning champion in UFC history, dropped his career record to 15-6-1 with his loss to Machida. After picking up five straight victories, he's now 0-2-1 in his past three fights.
