Robert_Lake

The fight that was supposed to take place in October of last year will now be taking place March 24.

I found this article on MMAweekly.com.

Dana White, President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, officially received his professional boxing license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Monday morning.

White was attemping to acquire such a license in order to fulfill a contractual promise that he made to professional MMA fighter Tito Ortiz when Ortiz re-signed with the UFC in 2006.

With the license in hand, White is now cleared to face Ortiz in an exhibition boxing match that will consist of three rounds of three minutes each. All of the standard ringside precautions will be taken, and the bout will take place under the auspices of a professional boxing referee, although there will be no judges or scoring of rounds due to the bout's exhibition status.

The bout is scheduled to take place on March 24th and will not be open to the public. There are plans to air the bout on UFC.com (though not live), with the majority of the financial proceeds going to charity. There will also be a documentary about Ortiz and White's training for the bout on Spike TV.

White received his license following a 3-1 vote by the NSAC to approve him. The lone dissenting vote was from Dr. Raymond “Skip” Avansino, Jr. who after much discussion said that he could not justify granting a license to an 0-0 professional boxer to face a fighter with as much experience as Tito Ortiz, albeit as a mixed martial artist and not as a professional boxer.

At one point, White did say that he was doing this because he wanted to live up to the word that he gave when he promised the bout to Ortiz. Reassuring the commission, he said, “Believe me, if I thought I was going to get seriously injured… I wouldn’t do it.”

UFC Chief Operating Officer Kirk Hendrick also spoke on behalf of White, saying that he really has been training for this and is taking it seriously. “This is not WWE wrestling. This is not Vince McMahon getting in the ring. We’re taking this seriously,” said Hendrick, addressing another concern of Avansino’s that this was some sort of “publicity event.”

At one point, when Dr. Avansino was saying that he couldn't justify voting in favor of granting White a license to fight Ortiz because he felt it was a mismatch in favor of Ortiz, Hendrick said that if anything it would be a mismatch in favor of White. Hendrick said to the athletic commission that White used to "dominate" Ortiz when they would spar together.

White was an amateur boxer from the ages of 17 to 24 (which would be 1988 to 1995) before turning to managing fighters and then to his current position as president of Zuffa, which is now the most successful mixed martial arts company in the United States, if not the world.

In the end, the argument for the bout to take place won out, and the 3-1 vote was cast in favor of newly licensed professional boxer Dana White.

White said towards the end of the meeting, "Believe me, I'm never going to fight again after this."



I will deffinetly have to find that on youtube the day after.

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RIP Rick James

Jason

I was at one time very excited about this, about a year ago. Now after all the times it was supposed to happen I don't have so much care about it. The one good thing for me is that no matter which one get's punched the most I will be fine with it.

I doubt that they will be going balls out though, especially Tito.

Robert_Lake

Here is an article about why Tito pulled out of the fight with Dana WHite.


LOS ANGELES – (March 27, 2007) – Top mixed martial arts fighter Tito Ortiz says he pulled out of a planned boxing bout against Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White because he was being asked to enter the risky match without a contract and for no money. He said he is still willing to box White, but only if financial terms are ironed out in advance.

Ortiz, who has held the UFC light heavyweight championship title, had been scheduled to fight former amateur boxing champion White on March 24th in a “grudge match” in Las Vegas. The match was a pre-condition that Ortiz had imposed before he signed a new contract with the UFC last year. Like Ortiz, White had been training for the fight and had received Nevada State Athletic commission approval for the match.

Ortiz explained in a post on his MySpace.com blog that he had already given up time and lost promotional fees to train for the fight against White, but decided against continuing after White and Spike TV declined to sign a contract agreeing to monetary and other terms, such as filming the fight for broadcast on pay per view television.

After canceling several paid personal appearances in order to train for the fight and undergoing routine medical tests, he received a call from Craig (Piligian, Spike TV’s Senior Vice President of Sports and Specials), who said that “Dana (White) says that they are not going to shoot the fight (for PPV) or cover it in anyway. So this was a real lose, lose situation for me. I lost out on money for appearances. Now I was losing out on promotion and big dollars for the PPV. He didn't want to cut me in on the deal. So as a business man I couldn't do the fight.”

Ortiz also said that he has a “very big fight with (Rashad) Evans” coming up on July 7th. “Why would I risk my health and that fight for free?” he asked, referring to the White boxing match. “I wasn't going to make anything for it. I was not going to get taken advantage of as a fighter or a businessman. You tell me if I made the right decision. Hopefully this will get ironed out and will be done right the next time. Just trying to do business.”

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RIP Rick James

Jamie

Well, the way I se it Tito was in the right.

Although would I pass up an oppertunity to punch Dana in the head? Never

Robert_Lake

I agree, but if i ever had the opportunity to box my boss im sure i just might do it for free, lol, however my name isnt worth as much as Tito Ortiz .

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RIP Rick James

MATT E

yeah whatever we weren't going to get to see it anyways, but i would of loved to see Dana with a black eye or atleast a little shiner.

grawl

dana is a punk, why the hell wouldn't he show the fight. he would show any other fight just to make a buck, so why not this one. just because he knew he would get his ass handed to him. if i was tito i would take the fight anyway. i mean the chances of him getting seriously hurt are slim, so why not risk it all and fight for free and in a secret match that no one is able to watch. i think dana should be the one worried about his health.

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GRAWL

RickJames

Dana is going to stick tito once and then Tito will fall, weak jaw!!!

daywealldie

i know dana was an amatuer boxer or whatever but hes gonna get his own handed to him heh