fMMANews.com: Do you feel that fighters are under paid?
Tito Ortiz: Oh I definitely think fighters are under paid. The highest paid guys are only making a 1 million to 1.5 million dollars a fight and I think that is way underpaid.
MMANews.com: That is with PPV sales and such added in correct?
Tito Ortiz: Yeah. We only get a small piece of the PPV sales though. Nothing compared to what it could be. The fighters that are promoted well and that promote themselves well and that have big names are those that make the biggest market money. The guys making like $2000 a fight, thats ridiculous. I really feel bad for those guys. What it comes down to is that the UFC needs to start cutting the fighters into the pie instead of giving them the crumbs.
MMANews.com: With the UFC bringing in former Pride fighters such as [Mirko] CroCop and [Heath] Herring, etc. Do you feel that they should be getting the big pay days or should the guys that have been loyal to the UFC start getting bigger checks considering the Pride guys arn't overly well known in the U.S. market?
Tito Ortiz: Yeah, I think the guys that should be getting the most money are the guys that everybody know. Wanderlei and CroCop are well known in Japan but are not really well known in America and maybe they should have to show off their abilities before they really start getting the big money.
MMANews.com: With that being said do you think that may be the reason they are putting the Quinton Jackson and Dan Henderson fight at UFC 75 free on Spike TV?
Tito Ortiz: No, I think that is basically because they have to fulfil their contract with Spike. It's all about ratings with that. UFC brings Spike huge ratings so that's pretty much why. Sponsorship dollars also have a lot to do with it.
MMANews.com: So it is more of a buisness move...
Tito Ortiz: Yeah, it's more buisness than doing it for the fans or for the fighters.
To read the full Tito Ortiz interview conducted on July 17, 2007 - go to:
http://www.mmanews.com/page.php?page=titoortiz2