Dana White reveals time he & Tito Ortiz brawled on a private plane

It’s no secret that UFC President Dana White and UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz certainly have their fair share of animosity dating back many years.

At one point in time, the two men were set to step into a boxing ring to settle their beef, however despite months of training on both men’s side, and the event making it all the way up to weigh-ins, the NSAC forced their way into the matter, demanding that they oversee the bout. Ultimately, the exhibition boxing match was scrapped.

Now, a decade later, White opened up on another incident which occurred between he and Ortiz, likely around the same time. He spoke to Fox Sports:

“We were gonna fight one time in a boxing match but I actually never told this story publicly before but we were on a private plane on our way to Japan and it was my partners the Fertitta brothers, myself, Tito Ortiz and our matchmaker at the time, Joe Silva. Tito and I were messing around and he put me in what’s called a neck crank,” White explained when speaking to Conan O’Brien. “I was tapping and he didn’t stop. You can seriously hurt somebody in a neck crank, especially as big and strong as Tito is.

“So I just started blasting him in the ribs, started punching him in the ribs and when he let go [I] just jumped up and it was just a full blown fist fight in the plane.”

“We were literally taking off and the plane was [wobbling] and the Fertitta brothers had to jump in and break up the fight,” White said. “So then I sat on the front of the plane, he sat in the back of the plane the rest of the flight.”

Thankfully the Fertitta brothers were there!

on 3/16/2017.