Ortiz Antagonizing White, UFC?
Written by Ryan Kelly on Fri, Apr 25, 2008
Tito Ortiz and Tiki Ghosn. Photo property of Punishment Athletics.
With the final fight on his UFC contract only a month away, Tito Ortiz is set to announce a major sponsorship deal with former UFC corporate partner, Mickey’s, according to mmajunkie.com.
The agreement comes on the heels of the UFC’s new partnership with the largest advertiser in sports, Bud Light.
As was astutely pointed out by mmajunkie, Mickey’s is owned by the Miller Brewing Company; a major rival of Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch.
Therefore, it must be noted that while this new sponsorship could be the last ditch effort of Ortiz to stick it to UFC brass (subtitle: Dana White) it may not have the desired outcome.
The company has recently flexed their muscles over which corporate logos can be worn by their fighters, as evidenced by the ban on Affliction clothing.
In fact, Georges St-Pierre was the last UFC fighter to wear Affliction gear in his UFC 79 victory over Matt Hughes.
The ban did not, however, prevent fans in Montreal from donning the clothes this past Saturday night, as the town was virtually flooded with Affliction clothing.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I think Tito is just so used to picking up burnt out and used up husks of the business world like his girlfriend that it’s just 2nd nature to him now. Good on ya Tito. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
With the UFC signing on with Anheuser-Busch I cannot see them allowing Tito to come out covered in Mickey’s labels. He’ll likely just be sporting his typical Punishment Athletics gear.
It’s really too bad things like this happen, when GSP walked to the octagon at UFC 83 he was unable to promote Affliction which is likely a very large revenue for him.