White: "No interest in the Tito Ortiz business anymore."

UFC President Dana White told reporters on a UFC 84 teleconference Thursday, “I have no interest in being in the Tito Ortiz business anymore.”

As recently as March, White had left open the possibility that Fighters.com’s ninth-ranked light heavyweight ”Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz (15-5-1) would return to the big show.

“Even with all the issues I’ve had with that moron, he’s still in the UFC.  We’ll see what happens,” White told MMA Weekly after UFC 82 in Columbus.

In an interview published at MMA Rated Thursday morning, Ortiz also left open a slight possibility of returning to the UFC, “You know what it really comes down to is just Dana White.  If he learns to shut his mouth and learns to respect me there is a possibility yet.”

But by Thursday afternoon, White seemed to have made up his mind.

“Tito is a fucking idiot.  He’s one of the dumbest human beings I’ve ever met.  Everything that comes out of his mouth makes no sense,” White said.

The consummate promoter even broke the the promoter’s number one rule and down-played Ortiz’s fight with third-ranked “Dragon” Lyoto Machida (12-0): “I put up with his shit when he was a good fighter; but, he’s not anymore.”

(Which begs the question: If Ortiz beats Machida 24 May in Las Vegas, where does that leave Machida?)

Ortiz told MMA Rated, “I respect [UFC co-owner] Lorenzo [Fertitta] a whole lot.  He is a great person.  He has helped me out a lot from the very beginning when he first bought the company and I think what they thought I was worth was not anything close to what I thought I was worth and, once again, it was just Dana trying to undercut me.”

White shot back, “After Tito wrecked his car, it wasn’t Lorenzo who brought him back into the UFC.  It was me.”

Ortiz isn’t satisfied with his UFC 84 opponent, Machida.  “I thought that the rematch with Rashad Evans was supposed to happen,” Ortiz told MMA Rated.  “Ask Dana [why the rematch never materialized].”

Last November, White claimed he offered Ortiz the rematch with “Sugar” Rashad Evans (11-0-1), but Ortiz turned it down in order to appear on the Fox reality series The Celebrity Apprentice.

In an EliteXC press conference curiously held at the same time Thursday as the UFC’s, ProElite Live Events President Gary Shaw weighed in, “Every time I see Tito Ortiz, he reeks of stardom.  I think I can even better his days in the UFC.  I think I can reincarnate Ortiz.  He is a talented fighter, and he has all the mechanisms that you need to make someone a superstar.”

Ortiz told MMA Rated, “I see [EliteXC] as a strong company. Of course, Mark Cuban has another strong company.”