Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Dana and Tito squabbling to the very end, White says ?it?s the last chapter?

With the likes of Tito Ortiz, Wanderlei Silva and Urijah Faber, the UFC 132 press conference was star-studded. But there was one notable absence. Dana White, who usually leads the pressers, didn't arrive until the end of the fighter question and answer portion.

The UFC president stood in the back of the room until Ortiz walked in his direction. The promoter and fighter, who have had a well-chronicled rocky relationship over the years, had words and separated with less than pleased looks on their faces.

White told AOL's Ariel Helwani that he and Tito had some drama earlier in the day.

"Same old stuff. Little something between me and Tito," White said, but wouldn't elaborate on the conversation after the press conference. "What's the point? It's the same old [expletive]. It's the last chapter."

White went onto tell the rest of the media that he wasn't very pleased with Ortiz's mood during the press conference.

"I caught the end of my own press conference and Tito is saying stuff like 'I'm supposed to lose.' That doesn't sound like a guy who's expecting to win," said White.

Ortiz is 0-4-1 in his last five fights against very competition and hasn't won a tilt since 2006. Under the pressure of his career possibly coming to an end, White expects Tito to come out and put on a good show. He just doesn't know what's left in the tank for the 36-year-old.

White made it clear that Tito needs to beat Ryan Bader tomorrow to stick around. From the mood on Thursday, Ortiz may actually need to destroy Bader to get a new deal.

As a part of a discussion about Ortiz's possible future inclusion in the UFC Hall of Fame, KLAS's Chris Matthius asked about Tito's contributions to the sport.

"That's debatable. [...] Let's just say, Tito hasn't always done the right things to build the sport or build the UFC. Tito would like to think so. I would beg to differ," White said (2:30 mark).

??You can watch UFC 132 right here on Yahoo! Sports

Nikki Cox Carla Gugino Ana Hickmann Mischa Barton Jamie Lynn Sigler

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