Tito Ortiz compared fighting in the UFC to slavery

Tito Ortiz made millions in fight payouts with the UFC, but now he's with Bellator and will fight fellow ex-UFC champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson on Nov. 2. Though he is with a new promotion, he can't stop talking about his old promotion. Ortiz made a particularly bizarre comment on Wednesday.

"I thought slavery was over a long time ago," Ortiz said to Sports Illustrated.

As SI pointed out, Ortiz made at least $4,075,000 in fight payouts since 2004, when commissions started sharing such information. This doesn't include sponsorships, fight night bonuses or purses for fights before 2004. Ortiz's first fight in the UFC was in 1997. Slaves aren't usually paid for their work.

To be fair, an economist who looked at a UFC contract did question the champion's clause as a violation of the 13th amendment. This clause automatically renews a contract if a fighter is champion, but Ortiz hasn't been a champion since 2003. The clause didn't apply to him, and hasn't for a decade.

Ortiz lost seven of his last nine fights in the UFC. Most fighters would get cut for a record like that, but Ortiz was allowed to fight out his contract. And now he wants to call it slavery? Perhaps Ortiz should spend some time reading about what slavery was like as he prepares for his fight.