Report: Affliction Signs Tito Ortiz

by Luke Thomas on Aug 5, 2008 10:20 PM EDT in News Comment 37 comments

"I guarantee you that my contract will be like no other," said Ortiz, stopping short of giving away the specifics of a deal that could include responsibilities outside of the ring. "It will be a ground-breaking record contract for sure, without a doubt. There's so much money to be made right now in mixed martial arts and it's all about the fighters trying to make that money. It's going to be a long-term deal where I put my heart and soul into the company and help build them. That's something I'm interested in doing. They're going to bring me on, not just as a fighter but also doing some of the back work also."

Ortiz, who became a free agent on Monday after an 11-year career with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, met with Donald Trump on Tuesday to finalize the deal and is expected to be at Wednesday's press conference where his first opponent will be Renato "Babalu" Sobral.

"Babalu has been in my crosshairs," Ortiz said. "He's already been talking smack, saying if he sees me he's going to kick my ass, but right on if he keeps thinking that. He'll get his face caved in sooner or later. I know Frank Shamrock is another person who's been opening up his mouth. He beat me the last time we fought and I think that would be a great revenge fight where I kick his ass and finally shut him up. As time goes we'll see who Affliction signs besides me. I don't know. I might even go up to heavyweight if the bigger pay days are there."

...

"Mr. Trump works fast and gets busy in a lot of the things he does and he's going to give me the best deal possible," said Ortiz. "I know they want to make some money and I know they got over 100,000 pay-per-view buys on their first show and with me it's guaranteed to be over 500,000 pay-per-view buys just by the number of fans that are going to follow me no matter where I go so they're going to get there money's worth just in pay-per-view no matter what."

While I think Ortiz is exaggerating his effect, this is an interesting moment in MMA. We now officially have billion dollar companies and entrepreneurs bidding on the sport's most well-known fighters.

It's yet to be seen what sort of contract Ortiz can pull, but the lingering question here is what impact this will have on Affliction's second show. Without exaggeration, Ortiz can ask for enough to break the bank in terms of the second Affliction show being profitable or breaking even.

The fact is Donald Trump needs to use whatever contacts he allegedly has and find Affliction some sort of television deal. It takes two fighters to sell an event and I'm not sure Babalu is enough of a foil for Ortiz. A television deal could assuage this problem and give Affliction's MMA efforts some brand identity and loyalty.

Let the games begin.

UPDATE: There's another issue, namely, who Ortiz is going to fight. While there are probably decent tests for Ortiz in terms of capable or interesting challengers, it's hard to think of who Ortiz can fight down the road who has some "name" behind him to help sell the fight. Just look at our most recent light heavyweight meta-rankings. Affliction is going to have to do some acquiring just to find people to get in the ring with Ortiz. Or, more interestingly, Ortiz is going to have to consider a weight class change.

The plot thickens.

UPDATE II: SI has changed the title of the article from "Tito Ortiz signs with Affliction" to "Tito Ortiz nears deal with Affliction". I can't imagine him signing with any rival brand given his lavish praise of Trump, but for the record it appears matters are not 100% finalized.

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This is going to be interesting. I’m eager to see how well Ortiz draws without the UFC behind him. Ortiz is a master shit talker. That’s in their favor, but they’re not going to have video from his career with the UFC. I think this is a long shot for Affliction although it may be their best bet at the moment. I agree that they do need an opponent that can provide some additional buzz. They need Frank Shamrock, but I don’t think that’s a possibility.

by Cannon Jacques on Aug 5, 2008 8:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I remember all the trash talking Tito and Babalu were doing before Jason Lambert squashed it.

Tito will make millions before Affliction folds by the end of the year and everyone goes to the UFC. He will not draw without the UFC. The UFC has so much top talent that, excluding the Heavyweight division, people believe you aren’t fighting the best if you aren’t in it. I’d agree.

If John Cena went to TNA, if Favre went to the CFL, if Meredith Whitey went to Fox News, they wouldn’t be where it’s at and nobody would care about them. MMA is like a party. The UFC is the hot club because it’s established and where the cool people go. If five of those cool people leave each to different crappy clubs that are gonna fold and filled with squares, who cares.

by godzillad on Aug 5, 2008 8:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Nice analogy

by lovingmma25 on Aug 6, 2008 9:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Affliction needs television

Real television, or they won’t make any money any time soon. Simple as that.

by ghettoiam on Aug 5, 2008 8:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

How does that make them money? They had their undercard on FSN.

Presence on TV doesn’t mean they make money, and even if it does it won’t mean they have stability. IFL was on broadcast television and it folded. EXC is on CBS and it probably won’t make it through the end of the year. PRIDE was on FSN since 2003 and it didn’t make them any money. Wild Bill’s Fight Night and the Palace Fighting Championships are both on Comcast OnDemand and they aren’t blowing up.

by godzillad on Aug 5, 2008 8:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why does Tito sound so much like Dana when he is in hyperbolic PR mode? Can they not form complete sentence without throwing in some totally ridiculous superlative? With his record against quality opponents in the past few years, I am still amazed the power he thinks he has to draw as a main event.

by MusicCityBeatdown on Aug 5, 2008 9:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well, now I really hope Affliction folds.

Intentional Blog on Balls

by Richard Wade on Aug 5, 2008 9:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

He's got moxie

“it’s guaranteed to be over 500,000 pay-per-view buys just by the number of fans that are going to follow me no matter where I go…”

That’s laughable.

You said it, Luke—this signing will break the bank. Nice choice of pics, by the way.

by steak_knife on Aug 5, 2008 9:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Tito is delusional. Casual fans only watch UFC and hard core fans don’t care about Tito Ortiz.

by cyph on Aug 5, 2008 10:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

No doubt

http://tharealness.wordpress.com/

by Tha Realness on Aug 5, 2008 10:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

No question this will be a negative for Affliction, cash-wise.

But it will be interesting to see just how much of an effect Tito’s good for. Without Fedor on the card, you’ve gone from hardcore fan appeal to more casual fan appeal. I’m interested to see their PPV numbers on the event, if Tito does sign and fight Sobral.

by misterjonez on Aug 5, 2008 10:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Remember

he has been hanging around Trump.

by mythbuster on Aug 6, 2008 7:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Is it wise to have a fighter working in the back office as well as fighting?

by The_Vig on Aug 5, 2008 10:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Exactly

what does Tito know about the behind the scenes of running a mma promotion?

by lovingmma25 on Aug 6, 2008 10:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hmm.. this really isn’t going to help Affliction at all.

Tito is over. Gone. Adios.

Rob Dib
http://www.break-your-face.com

by Rob Dib on Aug 5, 2008 10:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Congrats to Tito, I hope makes millions. Now stop whining about the UFC and move on.

On a serious note: A fight with Babalu is risky. Babalu has the skills to beat Tito. Babalu’s only losses in the last six or so years have been KO/TKOs. Tito does not have the power to knock him out.

If Tito were to lose, he would be 0-3-1 in the last two years.

I know Tito and Frank Shamrock want to face off and make money, but a loss by Tito would certainly add fuel to the speculation that he is no longer a serious contender.

by Lynchman on Aug 5, 2008 10:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

interesting...

more than not tito is risking as most of his money on this record breaking deal is on the back end (equity in the company, ppv sales)....

Im sure he is not dumb enough (maybe) to take a deal where at least the front end matches what ufc offered him.

Affliction gets 0 net positive in terms of direct net profits from this deal as what ever they are giving him will not be returned in increase buys or ticket sales.

Its the intangible that is unknown. can he help them get a TV deal where losing money wont hurt as much as the commercial for the “affliction brandl” will be seen by more than 100k people.

at the end of the day they will day… it’s only a matter of how much they want to lose.

The UFC has a whole assortment at their disposal from increasing pay to counter programming etc… and the UFC will up the ante every time.

Every step affliction takes UFC will go into the appropriate defcon stage just upping the ante enough to keep affliction bleeding.

WWE vs. WCW except imagine WCW without TV.

Who won at the end?

by mmalogic on Aug 5, 2008 11:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Tito the Death Blow ?????

Affliction just keeps putting nails in ther own coffin buy high priced signings like this !!!!

by Shocbomb on Aug 5, 2008 11:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

remember when josh gross broke the story....

Remember when Josh Gross broke the story of Frank Shamrock getting the first 7 figure payday in MMA by an organization called World Fighter?

They tried to make a huge deal about it but the company ended up shutting down before their first show.

One big joke and Josh Gross looked like a complete idiot.

by mmalogic on Aug 5, 2008 11:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I totally forgot about that

by Luke Thomas on Aug 5, 2008 11:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

yewn. signing ortiz is a shortsighted move. they need to get some young upstarts, not washed up, overpaid fighters. so long affliction.

by monkeyfightclub! on Aug 5, 2008 11:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

WCW reborn

WCW is now reborn…

Only instead of a billionaire who can leverage one of his tv networks, we have a geek who will leverage his clothing line.

business model virually the same:

“pay a lot more to get already made stars”

essentially trying to use the UFC as the “farm system” as the wcw tried to with the wwf.

Little do they know that all the value in this business is the ability to make stars.

If you have this you basically have a printing press that prints money.

If you don’t you basically have what amounts to alimony payments to all the “has beens”... always trying to break even.

Let’s see WCW even went as far as killing the wwf in ratings at certain stages but ultimately gave up and sold it to the Vince.

The counter programing move by the UFC wasn’t so much to effect affliction’s first show’s buy rates….

It was to send notice… no matter who you sign – no matter what you do you will never get above a certain amount of buys.

and that threshold will always keep an org in the red.

They will gradually move from one level of counter programing which showcases superstars to another where it’s a ppv caliber card on spike.

The only way for a “pepsi” in this market to emerge is to create a whole new set of fan base.

UFC needs to buy strike force to consolidate their holdings as they are the only real operators who have proven they can manage and the guy running it would make for a good asset as part of the UFC team in helping to optimize its growth.

He is a stand up guy and really professional – definite UFC material.

by mmalogic on Aug 6, 2008 12:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Come on man. You know absolutely nothing about wrestling. WCW was NEVER a “farm system” for the WWF. WCW didn’t “gave up and sold to Vince”. The only reason McMahon was able to buy the company was because AOL Time Warner sold it to him for less than the Fertittas paid for the UFC to settle the nWo invasion lawsuit.

You don’t need to try impressing anyone man, you’re looking a little clueless.

by godzillad on Aug 6, 2008 12:53 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

nWo invasion lawsuit?

Normally your commentary is tight, so don’t take this as an attack, Zilla, but where did you hear that? I used to read Meltz and Alvarez and the story they’ve told, and the info available at the time suggests it was Turner losing control of his broadcasting stations to TW. TW was trying to change the TBS/TNT image to what we see today, and had no interest in jacked-up guys in tights pretending to hit each other. So losing WCW’s only PPV promo outlet made the company worthless. That’s why Bisch couldn’t do anything with it, despite having an investment company behind him. It was worthless at that point for anything besides talent. If I’m wrong, please let me know man. Its been a long time. Did something come out afterwards?

And I think he was saying that the UFC/WWE was the farm system, not Affliction/WCW. Affliction/WCW would let Dana build stars (Tito, Babalu, Timmah, Nash, Razor, Hogan) and then poach them with unrealistic and unsustainable contracts – something that helped kill WCW. They gave stars creative control and guaranteed contracts. Then those stars wouldn’t put over new stars.

The post above made an interesting point. It seemed like a stretch to me to, at first. But the similarities are there. Tito signing sets off alarms. Combine desperate, inept promoters, and add egotistical past-his-prime star who gets what he wants and it can be trouble for Affliction.

...

Ok, more trouble for Affliction.

by asa on Aug 6, 2008 6:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

you have understood the correct.

ASA you have understood the correct.

Major props for your reading comprehension.

by mmalogic on Aug 6, 2008 10:56 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

WCW was taken off television by Warner, which is why all of Bischoff’s investors backed out. Yes, Turner had almost now power at the time and couldn’t save the show from getting canceled.

The illy worded “nwo invasion lawsuit” was the 1996 case where Titan Sports claimed that WCW was advertising inter-promotional matched with Razor Ramon and Diesel after Hall and Nash jumped (http://wrestlingperspective.com/legal/titantbs.html).

The case went on for years, and since WCW was a sub division of Warner (wrestlers were signed to AOL Time Warner instead of “WCW”), they used it to not only liquidate the company but settle a lawsuit against it’s parent company. I was wrong when I said Vince bought WCW for less than the Fertittas paid for the UFC, but only by half a million.

MMAlogic, get out of here with your subtle “reading comprehension” jab. You don’t say things like that to other posters, Mr. Thomas has pointed that out many times.

by godzillad on Aug 6, 2008 11:35 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The problem is that Affliction is bringing over the UFC’s leftovers, not stars. They are taking fighters the UFC no longer wants or are relevant and are overpaying for them.

Sobral, Ortiz, Sylvia. The only one in their roster that the UFC wanted to keep was Arlovski. And other than the fight with Rothwell, he didn’t look that great in the UFC in his last few fights. This could mean he’s improved or that Rothwell isn’t that good. You can’t build a new organization by overpaying for another organization’s trash.

The funny thing is that when Pride was the dominant organization, the UFC didn’t try to compete with them by overpaying for talent. They were happy building their empire with lesser talents, cater to their own homegrown stars (Penn, Hughes, Liddell). They didn’t even try to poach expensive talent from Pride because they knew that they have to stay profitable. They allowed many fighters to leave (Frank Shamrock, Randleman, Penn, etc.) because they knew that they are building a brand and not a holding of named fighters.

by cyph on Aug 6, 2008 9:40 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Blah Blah Biggest Deal Ever

Do they really think Tito can help their ppv’s? I know he’s been part of some big ones but they were always with other big names & marketed by the UFC. To get some guy with more head then talent won’t help Affiliction out at all. In fact with his ransom demands, all it will do is hurt them in the long run. Instead of making cheap young stars, bring them up and mix them with a few big ones, I guess they want to sink their money into yesteryears stars that all want to get rich in 1 or 2 fights.

by Tommy7 on Aug 6, 2008 12:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

“all it will do is hurt them in the long run”

I’m thinking that this will actually hurt them in the short run. They won’t come close to getting half of the PPV buys that Tito is boasting about. Good luck trying to book a 3rd Affliction card.

by steak_knife on Aug 6, 2008 12:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Tito on the talk show circuit to promote Affliction is worth a lot of buys. Hes one of the only MMA athletes who carries the clout to get main stream bookings like Jimmy Kimmel live and what not.

If I were part of Affliction I would have Donald and Tito get their faces on every television broadcast possible. This kind of free marketing is the only way they can generate a buzz among non-hardcore mma fans (which is the key to staying alive and keeping UFC from counter-programming their events to death).

by Day Man on Aug 6, 2008 12:43 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

They can’t keep from being counter programmed no matter what. All the UFC needs to do is dig into their library. No need to hold live events every time, just show like the last 3 events for free on Spike. Maybe a Pride UFC greatest fights all day marathon. Just a little imagination on part of the UFC and counter programming will be super effective.

by Tommy7 on Aug 6, 2008 1:24 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It never seems to end ?????

Like a few posters said above you have to build up your own stars and sign already made stars for as cheap as you possibly can. Affliction is doing the total opposite of this, I want these other orgs to make it and be successful becasue compatition is good in any sport of business but what I can’t get for the life of me is why these stupid ass start up new organizations keep following the same old game plan that has failed every other dam organization following them. Its like they don’t learn a thing from the past and the last company that went under ? I just really don’t get who is giving these organizations there business plan to build on ? Yeah lets over pay like crazy for stars so we are already in the negative big time, lets not build up or own fighters and scout out younger talent form smaller shows to sign and on top of it all lets have terrable promotion and production. Every new big org does the same exact shit !!!!!! pleasetake note follow a new business plan !!!

by Shocbomb on Aug 6, 2008 3:23 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The only sad part is that when Affliction does go belly up, Tito will have no place to go. We all know the UFC will not accept him back and EXC is going belly up pretty soon as well. I guess he could fight in Japan – that’s always an option.

by lovingmma25 on Aug 6, 2008 10:08 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If I recall correctly Tito said at the post fight interview of ufc 84 that Dana keeps fighters locked in and doesn’t let them make enough money and that’s why they fight into there forties and he plans on being long retired and so on. Basically just going on and on about how much of a crap talker he is But true passionate fighters like Randy Coutre fight into there forties and make plenty of money as they go but they love to fight and its not about the money. If Chuck Liddell’s two ass whooping of Tito didn’t expose the real pythetic Tito then his semantics after the 3 fights against washed up ken shamrock should have brought out his true colors. Dana White explained at the same interview (post ufc 84) that fighters fight out of passion and thank G-d our sport hasn’t become like basketball, baseball and football were for some players only care about money and Tito is becoming that fighter. Frankly I can’t understand how this Tito still has a fan base and with money first fight second attitude he’ll lose to whoever he fights.

by UFC on Aug 6, 2008 10:59 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I think it has been obvious that Tito has confused money and respect. Money does not equal respect. He says that he wants respect but is he giving respect? I would say most people may not like their boss/supervisor but they do respect them. Respect their position and respect the authority that person has over you in your work environment.

He makes or was making good money for himself in the UFC, but yet he says that not all the fighters are making good money. It’s just like any other company, not everyone is going to get the same salary as the CEO, CFO, and VP’s. You work your way up. He had worked his way up in the UFC and yet it wasn’t enough. The only honorable thing I have seen from Tito is him fulfilling his contract.

I hope this does not backfire in his face. I just wonder what can Tito add to Affliction’s upper management?

by lovingmma25 on Aug 6, 2008 11:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs