Tito Ortiz Responds To Text From Dana White, How Much Did Ortiz Make For His Win?, UFC On FOX Promo
- A special edition of "Road to the Octagon" aired this past weekend for UFC on FOX 23, previewing the upcoming event. Featured are breakdowns, interviews and fight highlights for Valentina Shevchenko vs. Julianna Pena, Donald Cerrone vs. Jorge Masvidal and Andrei Arlovski vs. Francis Ngannou.
The event airs on FOX from Denver's Pepsi Center on Saturday.
- UFC president Dana White reached out to Tito Ortiz Saturday night through his girlfriend to offer the former UFC champion congratulations for his win over Chael Sonnen. Ortiz told ESPN that White sent Amber Nichole Miller a message through text after his first round submission win.
"He actually sent my girlfriend a text message, cause she used to work for UFC, and they always talk back and forth," Ortiz said. "When I first signed with Bellator, Dana sent me focus mitts with his face on it and said, 'If this doesn't motivate you, nothing will.' So I guess it's that love/hate relationship we have toward each other.
"But, thank you Dana for the text, saying that's the way I should go out, on top. I mean, I love the guy, he was my first manager, you know. I always just fought for what I wanted for my career. No hard feelings, I've grown up a lot over the last four years, and I've done a lot of things business-wise for my future. I've made mistakes before and I will never make those mistakes again."
Ortiz confirmed plans to retire following the win. He is a member of the UFC's Hall of Fame.
- Salaries for Bellator 170 were revealed, with Tito Ortiz and Chael Sonnen scoring the highest disclosed paydays. Ortiz picked up $300,000 for his first round submission of Sonnen in the main event on Spike. The numbers below do not reflect any bonus or locker room money awarded to the fighters.
* Tito Ortiz: $300,000 (no win bonus)
* Chael Sonnen: $50,000
* Paul Daley: $50,000 (no win bonus)
* Brennan Ward: $50,000
* Hisaki Kato: $30,000 (includes no win bonus)
* Ralek Gracie: $33,000
* Emmanuel Sanchez: $40,000 (includes $20,00 win bonus)
* Georgi Karakhanyan: $24,000
* Derek Campos: $34,200 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
* Derek Anderson: $7,800
* Jacob Rosales: $4,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus)
* Ian Butler: $1,500
* Mike Segura: $3,000 (includes $1,500 win bonus)
* Tommy Aaron: $2,000
* James Barnes: $4,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus)
* Rob Gooch: $2,000
* Curtis Millender: $4,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus)
* Johnny Cisneros: $2,000
* Colleen Schneider: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus)
* Chrissie Daniels: $4,500
* Henry Corrales: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
* Cody Bollinger: $2,500
* Guilherme Vasconcelos: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus)
* John Mercurio: $2,000
* Keith Berry: $3,000
* Kevin Casey: $10,000
* Alex Soto: $5,400 (includes $3,000 win bonus)
* Demarcus Brown: $2,300
* Chinzo Machida: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
* Jamar Ocampo: $1,500
* Jalin Turner: $3,000 (includes $1,500 win bonus)
* Gabriel Green: $2,000
* Jack May: $4,000 (includes $2,000 win bonus)
* Dave Cryer: $2,000
* Daniel Rodriguez: $3,075 (includes $1,500 win bonus)
* Christian Gonzalez: $1,350