In retrospect who was in the right, Tito or Dana?

[blaseblase]

I'm speaking specifically of Tito's reluctance to fight Liddell and holding out for more money. Back in the day the fanbase was 90% on Dana's side. Tito was considered a duck for holding out for more money. When I first got into the sport I also bought into Dana's narrative.

As I've grown older and seen Dana's constant lies and manipulative behavior, my mind has changed.
Tito is an idiot no doubt, but he was in the right in this particular conflict. He was their biggest star and this was the biggest fight the UFC could have put on at the time and they were getting paid peanuts. Tito was right to demand red panty night.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

Tito stood up to Dana for a good reason.
He was in the right.

 

[joy2day]

The reluctance to fight Lidell was hilarious, because everyone knew Tito was ducking and using the friend bit as an excuse, including Chuck.

Tito- 'Me and Chuck have a lot of love as friends, that's more important than us fighting.'

Chuck- 'We weren't that good of friends. He's exaggerating that because he doesn't want to fight me.'

lol

 

[Thesnake101]

Any fighter, especially a champion, trying to squeeze more money out of the UFC and Dana is always in the right.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Tito ducked... Dana didn't want to pay him Face of the UFC money...

Whatever

I'm kinda glad it happened.


Randy became Champ... Him and Chuck as coaches of TUF1 and the fights after were legendary...

Chuck defends against Tito in the UFC biggest PPV at the time. And both got paid.

 

[HHJ]

I dont blame Tito for being reluctant to fight Chuck. He knew it would be a tough fight not in his favor.

But what he said was that he thought it was smarter for he and Chuck should hold out for more money. Which IS Smart.

But Chuck didnt want to do that. He just wanted the fight. Tito was at the time doing alot of other stuff outside the sport and making good money.

So I do believe he wanted to make it worth it cos he wasnt a slave to Dana in the same way others were.

Dana of course tried to make it look like Tito was a chickenshit and didnt want to fight, which is what Dana does. We have seen that.

 

[Lord Pyjamas]

We always knew Tito would knock Chuck out cold in the end.

 

[ferrisjso]

If was financial Tito if it was sports based the UFC. Chucks win streak was the record at the time.

Titos stupid ass really is responsible for Danas whole life. He might be an idiot but the cause and effect is clear there. Dana bought the UFC because he was Titos manager and Tito was the only fighter who could do even MM numbers in the beginning.

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

Tito ducked... Dana didn't want to pay him Face of the UFC money...

Whatever

I'm kinda glad it happened.


Randy became Champ... Him and Chuck as coaches of TUF1 and the fights after were legendary...

Chuck defends against Tito in the UFC biggest PPV at the time. And both got paid.

Great post man. Great perspective.

 

[Dr. Rose]

You guys remember it differently than I do, but I could be wrong. How I remember it was, Dana was Chuck and Tito manager, but had a falling out with Tito. Eventually Zuffa and Dana get the UFC and Chuck goes on the ko run starting with Randleman (I really wanted to see a match with Tito and Randleman). Chuck calls out Tito, Tito says they were friends, Chuck calls out Tito again, Tito asks for ridiculous money and fights Ken, Chuck calls out Tito again with Tito asking for crazy money, Tito says he is hurt and Randy loses at HW but offers to fight Chuck at lhw, Randy beats Chuck and then literally spanks Tito....

The first time I remember hearing about the conspiring to get more money out of Dana was years later. I may have missed it before then, but I do not know. What I do know is that when I heard Tito asking for a big payday to fight Chuck, I don't think the UFC could afford it. Now of course, is a different story.

 

[Egészségére!]

Tito, Dana & Chuck in the early days

 

[HHJ]

You guys remember it differently than I do, but I could be wrong. How I remember it was, Dana was Chuck and Tito manager, but had a falling out with Tito. Eventually Zuffa and Dana get the UFC and Chuck goes on the ko run starting with Randleman (I really wanted to see a match with Tito and Randleman). Chuck calls out Tito, Tito says they were friends, Chuck calls out Tito again, Tito asks for ridiculous money and fights Ken, Chuck calls out Tito again with Tito asking for crazy money, Tito says he is hurt and Randy loses at HW but offers to fight Chuck at lhw, Randy beats Chuck and then literally spanks Tito....

The first time I remember hearing about the conspiring to get more money out of Dana was years later. I may have missed it before then, but I do not know. What I do know is that when I heard Tito asking for a big payday to fight Chuck, I don't think the UFC could afford it. Now of course, is a different story.

Tito as champion was doing stuff outside of UFC and they didnt have enough money to make him come back and fight for a time. Now if my job is askin me to come and fight this guy who its likely to kick my ass in brutal fashion, I would def hold out for more money. He also said Chuck should do the same.

So tito wasnt exactly gonna run back in there for the same pay when he didnt think it was worth the money.

We seen Frank Shamrock straight up leave as champion for the same reason.

 

[Bullitt68]

The reluctance to fight Lidell was hilarious, because everyone knew Tito was ducking and using the friend bit as an excuse, including Chuck.

Tito- 'Me and Chuck have a lot of love as friends, that's more important than us fighting.'

Chuck- 'We weren't that good of friends. He's exaggerating that because he doesn't want to fight me.'

lol

This x1000000. Tito didn't want that fight because he knew it'd be the end of his championship run. Chuck was his kryptonite and they both knew that. While Tito was champ, he fought Yuki Kondo, a MW or even a WW fighting up at least one weight class; Evan Tanner, a MW fighting up a weight class; Elvis Sinosic, a MW fighting up a weight class; Vladimir Matyushenko, a HW who took the fight as a short-notice replacement and suffered a terrible weight cut; and an injured Ken Shamrock. While Tito was champ, Chuck Liddell fought Jeff Monson, a powerful HW fighting a weight class below; Kevin Randleman, the former HW champ debuting at 205; Guy Mezger in PRIDE, which isn't relevant but he did KO the great striker, and he's the only one who can say that other than Wanderlei, who headbutted him first, not even Semmy Schilt was able to put Mezger out with a knee to the face; Murilo Bustamante and Amar Suloev, both of whom were MWs fighting up a weight class to be fair; and Vitor Belfort, who inexplicably had earned a title shot at UFC 33 but who then was not worthy of a title shot ever again while Tito was champ.

Tito's entire title reign has a gigantic asterisk next to it and that asterisk's name is Chuck Liddell. But he was able to right that wrong by knocking Tito out twice, including once when he was champ and was willing to give Tito a shot at his LHW belt.

 

[Corrado Soprano]

Fans love to clown Tito (deservedly so most times) but he’s a MMA pioneer and he kept the UFC afloat for many years.

 

[Dr. Rose]

Tito as champion was doing stuff outside of UFC and they didnt have enough money to make him come back and fight for a time. Now if my job is askin me to come and fight this guy who its likely to kick my ass in brutal fashion, I would def hold out for more money. He also said Chuck should do the same.

So tito wasnt exactly gonna run back in there for the same pay when he didnt think it was worth the money.

We seen Frank Shamrock straight up leave as champion for the same reason.

The UFC was really bleeding when Frank was there. The interesting thing at this time was they didn't have the exclusive contracts for all fighters. They may want to go back to the model--for the prelims at least.

 

[B ville Famous]

Not a fan of Tito but he’s right. It was UFC’s biggest fight at the time when both had huge leverage. Should’ve waited and negotiated for more money.

 

[Fuzzybabyducks]

The UFC was really bleeding when Frank was there. The interesting thing at this time was they didn't have the exclusive contracts for all fighters. They may want to go back to the model--for the prelims at least.

Why would they want to go back to that model ? Just wondering

 

[CasualBot]

Tito was a goof, scared of Chuck.
Tito wanted money to take a beating.

Dana wanted him to get beat up.
Dana was a goof, and got clowned publicly by Tito.

Tito vs Dana boxing match was goofy.

It was a little bubble drama,
that majority of the MMA world ignored and laughed at.

Most of us real fans were watching TKO, UCC, K1, Shooto, Pancase, Pride, Vale Tudo, Cage Rage, KOTC, Rings ...

not randoms pulled off the street
and jammed into a "tuf" house
while tito fought ken the sham.

 

[Dr. Rose]

Why would they want to go back to that model ? Just wondering

To help mitigate the next anti-trust lawsuit.

 

[SuperNerd]

Any fighter, especially a champion, trying to squeeze more money out of the UFC and Dana is always in the right.

MMA vs everyone.

Dana is a fucking Paladin.