White details ‘full blown fist fight’ with Tito on a jet
Dana White: “I actually never told this story in public before. We were on a private plane on the way to Japan…”
UFC president Dana White appeared recently on “Conan” and was asked about his longtime feud with UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz.
“I actually never told this story in public before,” began White. “We were on a private plane on the way to Japan. 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.’ I was tapping and he didn’t stop. You can seriously hurt somebody in a neck crank. Especially somebody as big and strong as Tito. So I just started blasting him in the ribs. Started punching him in the ribs.
“And when he let go, just jumped up and it was a full-blown fist fight in the plane. And we were literally taking off and the plane was going like this. And the Fertitta brothers had to jump in and break up the fight.
“So then I sat on the front of the plane and he sat on the back the rest of the flight.’
At this point Conan interected – “You’re like kids that misbehave, we have to separate you two.”
White replied in the affirmative.
“It’s true,” he said. “Exactly. Exactly. That’s exactly [it]. Yes.”
Conan had the last word.
“I’m not going with you anywhere,” he quipped.