In a recent interview with Punch Drunk Gamer MMA free agent Tito Ortiz discusses former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s decision to change training camps from Juanito Ibarra to Team WolfsLair in the UK, going so far as to call Ibarra a “thief”.

Here’s a snip from Ortiz:

“Let me explain this to you because it really pisses me off that Ibarra has done what he has done, he is a thief. I have been running training camps for seven years up in Big Bear California and the most that my camp has cost a fighter to attend is $35,000. Ibarra was charging Jackson $65,000 to go to Big Bear. I don’t understand that!! He was being very disrespectful and taking advantage of ‘Rampage’. Including travel, training partners, food and lodging, the most ever was $35,000, maybe if you flew in more trainers…$40K. Where did that extra money go that Ibarra was charging? ‘Rampage’ is really pissed and he feels betrayed that he was taken advantage of and I couldn’t agree more with him. I don’t care if Juanito reads this or hears about it anywhere, he already knows that he is blackballed. I don’t care who you are; fighters work very hard for the money they earn and I feel slighted for even knowing Juanito.”

It is believed that when Jackson found out that Ibarra was overcharging him following his loss to Forrest Griffin in July at UFC 86 he went on a fast that caused delirium and ultimately resulted in a hit and run incident in California. Though there’s surely an argument to be made that Ibarra is just more expensive than Ortiz’s camp Jackson obviously felt slighted by Ibarra’s actions.

Jackson is expected to return to the octagon in November against Wanderlei Silva at UFC 91.

• Light heavyweight free agent Tito Ortiz confirmed on the latest edition of HDNet’s “Inside MMA” that he is currently in negotiations with Affliction, EliteXC, and the UFC.
• The winner of the September 10th WEC 36 bout between former WEC lightweight champion Rob McCullough and Donald Cerrone has been guaranteed a 155-pound title shot title shot. [MMA Junkie]
• The California State Athletic Commission this week released the official fight salaries for ShoXC “Suganuma vs. Hamman 2″, which took place earlier this month. The event’s top-earner was Jared Hamman, who made $8,000 for his first-round TKO of Po’ai Suganuma, who made $5,000 in the loss. [MMA Junkie]
• The Ultimate Fighter 6 cast member Jon Koppenhaver this week announced that he has legally changed his name to War Machine due to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling trademarking “War Machine” as the nickname for professional wrestler Rhino.
• A future bout between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho may be a possibility according the fighter’s managers, Ed Soares, but it would reportedly be a “uphill battle” to convince them to accept the bout. [MMA Weekly]
• The UFC and CBS are reportedly again in talks, this time to have the UFC take over EliteXC’s Saturday time slot on the network. [New York Post]
• World Victory Road on Friday announced that former IFL lightweight champion Ryan Schultz will take on Jorge Masvidal at Sengoku 5 on September 28th at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. In middleweight tournament bouts slated for the card Yuki Sasaki will fight Yuki Kondo and Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos will face Siyar Bahadurzada. Kazuhiro Nakamura and Jorge Santiago are also slated to participate the in the middleweight tournaments but their opponents have not yet been announced.
• Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will take on PRIDE and UFC veteran Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at DREAM 6 on September 23rd at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. [Sherdog]

Not only has Tito Ortiz not signed with Affliction after all, but it now appears that the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” is searching everywhere under the sun for an offer to his liking.

What we do know is that Ortiz remains unattached to any particular promotion at this time, and is by all definitions a free agent roaming the open market.

So why has Tito yet to strike a deal? Well this might come as a shock to some of you, but it seems that Ortiz has a bit of an attitude about him which could be delaying that fat new contract.

From The Dayton Daily News:

“…Earlier this month, Ortiz (15-6-1) announced that he had reached a deal with Affliction — a long-term deal that he claimed would make him the highest-paid fighter in MMA. At a press conference the following day, though, Affliction would barely confirm the company was even in negotiations with Ortiz.

Now, according to industry insiders, Ortiz is hosting formal negotiations with all the top promotions — Affliction, EliteXC, the AFL and even, surprisingly, the UFC.

“I don’t know if we’re really negotiating, or simply helping Tito stroke his giant ego,” one frustrated company representative said Sunday, Aug. 17.”

While it certainly would be a trip if the relatively unknown AFL scooped up Ortiz, I think it would be even more absurd if he were to fall back in line with the UFC. I understand that a man of Tito’s ego desires the largest stage and publicity possible, but given the raw, oozing hatred Ortiz and Dana White share, the idea of a re-signing is just beyond my comprehension at this point.

There is also the possibility of EliteXC winning Ortiz over, but the folks at ProElite are reportedly going through some financial troubles lately, which is quite the roadblock when considering a fighter who no doubt is shooting for a seven figure deal. I personally believe that Ortiz will ultimately accept a more reasonable offer from Affliction, as I feel like they are the only party that could really come close to meeting Tito’s money line, while still offering decent pay-per-view exposure as well as a legitimate opponent.

Ortiz, 33, last competed at UFC 84 this past May, suffering a unanimous decision loss to light-heavyweight contender Lyoto Machida.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz is engaged in active contract negotiations with Affliction, though his demands are so steep that the potential contract is “not feasible” for the MMA promotion and a deal with the outspoken 205-pound fighter will not be done in time for Ortiz to compete at Affliction “Day of Reckoning” in October against Renato “Babalu” Sobral as expected, according to MMA Weekly.

From the report:

“…negotiations are now underway with former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz. Affliction COO Michael Cohen confirmed that Ortiz is free to negotiate with the upstart company, and was working on a deal with Ortiz’s lawyers.

As of yet, few details on the negotiation exist, but Atencio initially said the dollar signs associated with the record-breaking contract are the major sticking point.

“We’ve got a contract, and it’s just not feasible,” Atencio said.

Atencio gave no timetable for the potential signing, but Cohen said he did not expect a deal to be reached in time for Affliction’s “Day Of Reckoning” at the Thomas and Mack Center on Oct. 11 in Las Vegas.”

Ortiz is 15-6-1 in his professional MMA career but has not won since an October 2006 first-round TKO victory over Ken Shamrock.

Middleweights Vitor Belfort and Matt Lindland will square off on the main card of Affliction “Day of Reckoning”, which takes place on October 11th in Las Vegas and airs on pay-per-view.

Belfort (17-8) defeated Terry Martin at Affliction’s first-ever event in July, but is currently serving a 180-day medical suspension and will need to be cleared early to take on Lindland (21-5), who topped Fabio Negao via unanimous decision at the July event.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Vladimir Matyushenko was also officially added to the main card.

On the three-bout preliminary card, which will be broadcast on HDNet, IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson will meet Paul Buentello and Mike Pyle will take on Jason High.

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In addition to making headlines with his recent Affliction signing, Tito Ortiz’s name now graces the gossip pages of the New York Post along side his reportedly pregnant girlfriend, Jenna Jameson:

“Congrats to Jenna Jameson. The retired porn queen is pregnant with the baby of her boyfriend, UFC champ Tito Ortiz. “She had a bunch of meetings and things planned for Fashion Week, including meetings for her own line, but she’s postponed everything,” said our source. “She’s completely thrilled, this is something she’s wanted for a very long time.”

Tito Ortiz has stated in the past that he and Jenna were looking forward to having children, though the couple has made it known on several occasions that they did not plan on getting married any time soon.  Ortiz has a son from a previous marriage to ex-wife Kristen, while Jameson, 34, (real name Jennifer Massoli) has yet to spawn any offspring, though she reportedly miscarried two years ago while married to her ex-husband.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz has signed with Affliction, according to Sports Illustrated.

“I guarantee you that my contract will be like no other. It will be a ground-breaking record contract for sure, without a doubt,” Ortiz told Sports Illustrated. “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.”

“[The UFC] have the right to match the offer, so I’ll be getting a deal that no other fighter has ever gotten. It’s going to be some ground-breaking news for sure,” Ortiz continued. “I’m going to a company that’s going to take care of me, a company that’s going to respect me, a company that’s going to put me in the forefront and make me the ambassador that I’ve always been. I think Mr. Trump respects me at that value to get it. My heart’s not with the UFC anymore because of how bad they treated me. They don’t respect me and they don’t see me as a businessman. All they think is that I’m a punk fighter that’s going to fold, and I’ve already proven that I’m not going to fold to anything by not resigning with them.”

According to the report Ortiz officially became a free agent on Monday and finalized his deal with Affliction during a Tuesday meeting with Donald Trump.

The signing is likely to be officially announced later today at a press conference for Affliction’s October 11th pay-per-view event in Las Vegas, “Day of Reckoning”, which will feature Ortiz’s promotional debut against former UFC contender Renato “Babalu” Sobral. Former UFC heavyweight champions Josh Barnett and Andrei Arloski will meet in the “Day of Reckoning” main event.

Jay White vs. Roy Nelson, Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort are also expected to take place at Affliction’s second event.

“Babalu has been in my crosshairs,” Ortiz said to Sports Illustrated. “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.”

For more on Affliction “Day of Reckoning” check out the MMAFrenzy.com MMA rumors section.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz has signed with Affliction and will debut with the promotion at Affliction 2 on October 11th against former UFC light heavyweight challenger Renato “Babalu” Sobral, according to Yahoo! Sports:

Sources tell Yahoo! Sports that the Oct. 11 date has been submitted to the Nevada State Athletic Commission and that the first two fights named on the card are Fedor Emelianenko versus Andrei Arlovski, and the Ortiz-Babalu fight at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Roy Englebrecht will be the licensed fight promoter for the card.

Yahoo! Sports spoke with Affliction VP Tom Atencio who would not confirm the Ortiz-Babalu fight saying that details for the fight card will be released during an Aug. 6 press conference most likely in Las Vegas. Atencio also indicated that he didn’t think Affliction could speak with Ortiz until Aug. 4. Ortiz had a 60 day non-compete in his UFC contract. His last fight for UFC was on May 24 at UFC 84. If the 60 day clause is accurate, the deal ended this past weekend. Atencio said the biggest stumbling block for an Ortiz deal are the financial terms.

Ortiz (15-6-1) fulfilled his contract with the UFC in May with a unanimous decision loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 84. “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” has failed to win his last three bouts and has not posted a victory since a late-2006 win over Ken Shamrock.

Sobral (30-7) dropped back-to-back bouts in the UFC against Chuck Liddell and Jason Lambert but bounced back with a submission win over David Heath at UFC 74. The win, however, sent “Babalu” out of the UFC as he initially refused to release the choke and was subsequently fined and released by the UFC. Sobral won his third-straight bout at Affliction “Banned” with a unanimous decision victory over Mike Whitehead.

Stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com for the latest Affliction news and Affliction rumors.

While much has been going on in the world of MMA this past week or so, we at MMAFrenzy.com would surely be remiss if we neglected to report some of the MMA news that has slipped through the cracks.

Here are some things you may have missed:

• Though superfluous in nature, it has been announced that Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Syliva will be fighting for the WAMMA heavyweight title at their July 19th showdown.
• EliteXC announced during their broadcast on Saturday that Scott Smith will rematch Robbie Lawler on CBS on July 26th.
• After causing quite a stir with an alleged “mind blowing” announcement, Dana White has scaled back on his words and claims that he never even planned on making such an announcement to the media.
• Four additional bouts have been added to the UFC 87 card. The newly confirmed bouts are Cheick Kongo vs. Dan Evensen, Frankie Edgar vs. Hermes Franca, Chris Wilson vs. Steve Bruno, Ben Saunders vs. Jared Rollins.
• Former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk believes he will get another title shot after only one or two more fights.
• IFL CEO Jay Larkin made waves after openly insulting the UFC and the sport of MMA in general, while his promotion hangs in the balance.
• It has been rumored that UFC welterweight Matt Hughes is involved in the development of a new reality television program.
• In a recent interview, Guy Mezger detailed how PRIDE officials attempted to “alter” his fights while competing in the Japanese promotion.
• UFC lightweight Nate Diaz has been tapped to face Josh Neer at UFC Fight Night 15 on September 17th.
• Tito Ortiz recently discussed a move to heavyweight and hypothetical opponent Kimbo Slice, in a brief interview with Maxim.
• After a controversial split decision win over Nate Marquardt at UFC 85, Thales Leites has stated that he does not feel Marquardt deserves a rematch any time soon.
• Spike.com will be the new home of Evan Tanner’s personal blog.
• Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell has reportedly gotten engaged.  Liddell has also begun more heavily promoting his vested web-brand, MMAjacked.com.

EliteXC matchmaker Jeremy Lappen addressed EliteXC’s interest in former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz during a media conference call for Saturday’s EliteXC “Return of the King” event earlier this week.

Here’s a quote from Lappen:

“We’re interested. We’d love to have Tito Ortiz as part of our organization. Any organization out there would love to have Tito. Yeah, we’re talking. We’ll see what happens. The deal has to be good for both sides. He’d be a great addition to our organization. But there are a lot of people actively pursuing him.”

Ortiz (15-6-1) fulfilled his contract with the UFC in a unanimous decision loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 in May. He has not won a bout since defeating Ken Shamrock in late-2006, losing to Chuck Liddell in December 2006 at UFC 66 and fighting to a draw against Rashad Evans at UFC 73 last July. Despite the lack of recent victories, Ortiz possesses a strong fanbase and main stream popularity that make him a strong draw.

Affliction, which will stage its first event on July 19th in Anaheim, California, is also perusing Ortiz. Ortiz recently starred in a celebrity edition of “The Apprentice” reality show, which was hosted by recently-announced Affliction partner Donald Trump.

Dig into the MMAFrenzy.com archives for more Tito Ortiz news.