White: 'I would knock the wind out of Ortiz in a boxing fight'

UFC CEO Dana White spoke about the failed boxing match with the promotion's former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz.

“My fight with Ortiz, according to boxing rules, would have ended badly for him. If we fought in MMA, then you would see the first death in the Octagon. Tito would smear me. He knew that according to the rules of boxing, I would knock the wind out of him, and that’s why he merged.

He and his wife tried to get out of the fight: they wanted to fight with MMA gloves and so on, and I agreed to all of this. He starred because he knew how it would end. However, I repeat, if we had fought in MMA, he would have killed me,” White said in an interview with the Maxx Crosby YouTube channel.

Let us remember that in 2007, a fight was supposed to take place between Ortiz and White according to boxing rules, but at the last moment Tito did not show up for the weigh-in and the fight was canceled.