Following his defeat at the hands of Lyoto Machida at UFC 84, Tito Ortiz revealed in an interview with rearnakedradio.com that he has in fact received an offer to extend his contract with the UFC. The offer came from the Fertita brothers, not Dana White, and the total value of the four-fight deal was rumoured to be greater than what any other company could have offered The Huntington Beach Badboy.
Despite the value of the extension, Ortiz confirmed in a later radio interview with MMAweekly that he has rejected the contract offer from the Fertita’s and UFC and has “100%” decided to explore other fighting avenues.
With that proclamation, it’s become quite clear that the Tito Ortiz Sweepstakes is just heating up. Naturally, MMApayout.com is here to shed some more light on the situation: potential suitors and estimated contract offers.
Under his last contract, Ortiz brought home $210,000 in flat, base salary each fight – meaning the salary was the same, win or lose. It is important to note that the base salary does not include possible undisclosed performance or discretionary bonuses, possible PPV revenue percentages, or the monetary value that can be assigned to the sponsorship of his bouts from his own clothing brand, Punishment Athletics.
It’s a virtual certainty that Ortiz will command a pay increase with his next contract, because of the growing numbers of promoters with money in the MMA game and the fact that despite having lost twice and drawn once in his last three bouts, he still remains as one of the greatest drawing powers in the sport. To his credit, Tito was a headliner for the top two grossing PPVs in UFC history (66 and 61 respectively) and was also a coach on the highest rated Ultimate Fighter series to date (TUF 3).
In an interview on ESPN radio this past week Dana White revealed Ortiz made $5.8 million in the year of 2006 alone. However, it would be unwise to assume this as any sort of ballpark, annual average – 2006 was the year that Tito headlined the aforementioned two biggest cards in UFC history and the successful TUF series.
In fact, a great majority of fighter compensation from the promotion is based upon performance or discretionary bonuses and PPV revenue sharing. Therefore, from year-to-year a fighter’s overall salary can fluctuate dramatically – especially depending on how many times they fight. For example, Ortiz only fought once in 2007 and it’s a pretty good bet that he didn’t make anywhere close to $5.8 million that year.
Potential Offers:
The effects of the competition on the UFC can already be seen as Ortiz probably would not have received any sort of raise if it wasn’t important for the UFC to keep him away from competitors. I suspect the offer from the Fertita’s was heavily weighted towards bonus-laden forms of compensation which may have played an even larger role in Tito declining the offer than the much publicized “respect” issue. Within the UFC it seems as though Tito would have had a difficult time performing or drawing to the level that he has in the past, which effectively makes a potentially lucrative contract, not very lucrative at all.
If Tito is looking for a lucrative contract, his best bet is to start evaluating the potential blockbuster match-ups that exist among all the candidates.
He’ll also be forced to consider the impact on his sponsorship dollars that any potential company move may have. Sponsors are not paying fighters out of the goodness of their hearts. Rather, sponsors pay fighters to gain exposure for their brand – the bigger the exposure, the bigger the sponsorship value. Thus, while Tito Ortiz might bring a certain level of exposure for a sponsor, the value of that sponsorship almost certainly depends on the size of the stage Tito performs on.
However, in his latest sit-down with the Boston Herald, Tito, claims to be 65% sure that he will be starting his own organization in order to, “make a (rival) company neck and neck with the UFC.” If he were to start his own organization, he’d be able to pay himself as much as he wanted and build his name and clothing company the way he wanted – Tito would truly get his chance to “do it my way.”
So, whether he signs to another organization or starts his own, I think there are at least five different potential options for Tito Ortiz:
Affliction:
The clothing brand is scheduled to hold its first event, “Banned,” on July 19th in what looks to be a stacked card on paper. With the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Syliva, Josh Barnett, Matt Lindland, Ben Rothwell and more all partaking in the fighting festivities, Affliction “Banned” has the potential to be one of the best MMA fight cards ever.
While Affliction VP, Tony Atencio, recently told Inside MMA that the speculated purses for the event were inflated by industry discussion – rumoured to be close to $6,000,000 total; Fedor earning close to $1,500,000 and Sylvia $800,000 – one can’t help, but wonder how inflated the salaries truly are. Even if a guy like Sylvia is earning $500,000 for his fight with Fedor, what does that say about what Tito Ortiz might command?
The potential blockbuster match-ups are there, so is the money, and so is the possibility for him to help a brand gain recognition and credibility with the average MMA fan. I suspect Tito could receive a three fight contract from Affliction in the range of $500,000 to $600,000 flat, per fight.
EliteXC:
Gary Shaw’s EliteXC has to be considered another front-runner competing for Tito’s services. The former boxing promoter has expressed great interest in signing Ortiz to a contract, also implying that he’d like to work alongside Tito. Possible match-ups include a rematch with Frank Shamrock, a bout with Strikeforce Middleweight Champ Cung Le, and a mega PPV headliner against Kimbo Slice. You have to figure that Tito will also look long and hard at EliteXC, because of its network television deal with CBS – from a sponsorship standpoint, the stage doesn’t get much bigger than that.
In terms of compensation, organizational comparables include Frank Shamrock at $300,000 flat/fight and Cung Le at $200,000 flat/ fight. Given the serious competition for Ortiz, his drawing power, and the instant credibility that he’ll bring to the organization, I expect that Ortiz could receive a base offer from EliteXC in the range of $375,000 to $450,000 flat, per fight for a contract term of four fights.
Adrenaline MMA:
Monte Cox, fresh off his split with M-1 Global, began Adrenaline MMA earlier this year and has quickly put together a debut card headlined by Jeff Monson and Mike Russow. The inaugural event is set to go down later this month in Chicago. The organization is keen on the idea of co-promotion and has used non-exclusive contracts to sign talented heavyweights like Tim Sylvia and Ben Rothwell to their stable. It has also been heavily speculated in recent weeks that Andrei Arlovski will be making a move to Adrenaline MMA and then exercise his non-exclusivity to fight on the Affliction card in July.
The organization is reportedly paying Sylvia and Rothwell close to $300,000 and $200,000 flat/fight, respectively, each over a three-fight contract. Given their willingness to co-promote and sign fighters to non-exclusives, this presents a third, viable option for Ortiz. You can expect any offer will almost certainly exceed Sylvia’s reported $300,000 and likely be closer to $350,000 to $400,000 per fight.
Golden Boy Promotions:
From an MMA perspective, not much is known about Oscar De La Hoya’s promotion. They are one the biggest boxing promoters out there right now and CEO Richard Schaefer has confirmed that the group is looking at getting into MMA and Major League Soccer within the next year. Ortiz himself has mentioned the promotion as an option; and, Golden Boy has the financial backing, business contacts, and promotional experience to help Ortiz start an MMA organization of his own.
Donald Trump MMA:
“The Donald” it would seem is another good fit for Tito. Despite firing Ortiz from his reality TV series, The Apprentice, both men have a mutual respect for one another and a love for combat sports. Trump frequently loans out his hotel and casino facilities for boxing and MMA purposes, so why not use them for his own MMA organization. From Tito’s perspective, he gets a savvy, self- promoting businessmen just like himself for a partner, and some serious equity behind his brand. Could we see a Trump Punishment MMA banner coming to an arena soon? Maybe.
Conclusion:
If Ortiz signs with an organization, you have to believe that Affliction and EliteXC are the front-runners. If for no other reason, it’s simply because of what they can offer Tito from a match-up and brand development standpoint. There is certainly a degree of risk involved with all of these promotions, but Adrenaline MMA would seem to be a rather risky longshot given that they have yet to hold a show and have little to no brand recognition.
Yet, if Tito’s estimate is accurate he seems bound to start his own promotion. Not much is known about either Golden Boy or Donald Trump’s MMA intentions. Yet, the fact that Tito has formed friendships and business relationships with these two entities suggests that a deal could be possible. Although, one has to wonder how Tito plans to help run a fight organization and continue fighting 3-4 times a year for another 4 years.
Stay tuned in the coming days and weeks, because The Tito Ortiz Sweepstakes seems to change on a daily basis.
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