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COLUMN: Drama in the UFC - The feud between Tito Ortiz and Mark Coleman that may never be settled
Feb 14, 2010 - 6:04:23 PM COLUMN: Drama in the UFC - The feud between Tito Ortiz and Mark Coleman that may never be settled

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By Laramey Leet, MMATorch Columnist

As many of you know, after the Coleman vs Couture fight at UFC 109, Tito Ortiz yelled at Mark Coleman while Joe Rogan was interviewing Coleman inside the Octagon. There is a history between these two that's worth revisiting.

Tito Ortiz and Mark Coleman were supposed to fight at UFC 106. Coleman had to pull out of the fight due to a leg injury. Ortiz then decided to go public and do simply what Tito Ortiz does best, cause drama. Ortiz wrote on his twitter "Coleman, coleman, coleman, to bad he sissies out!!! Who's next??? I'm kicking someone's ass on Nov 21st!”

After that statement was seen by Coleman and his manager Mike DiSabato, DiSabato decided to release a comment of his own. "The only thing that Coleman is afraid of when it comes to Tito is contracting swine flu from that dirty ass d-bag," he said. "We all know where he lays his head down at night. Tito wants to get personal with a legend? Okay, let's get personal, we can all go to our porn collections and watch what Tito sleeps with night after night."

Fast-forward to UFC 109. While Rogan was conducting the interview, Tito yelled out “Payback is a m*****f*****." When Coleman turned around to see where the yelling came from, Ortiz and Jenna Jameson were giving him the one finger salute. It looked as if Coleman was going to make a run for them, but Rogan grabbed Coleman's arm and told him do not bother with him. Coleman then grabbed the microphone and said, "F*** you Tito. You're a douche bag." The crowd at UFC 109 even began a "F*** you Tito" chant.

So here's my take on this. Tito calling someone a sissy should be considered a compliment coming from a guy who wanted to box the president of the company and has flipped off almost every fighter he has ever been in the ring with. I do not really think that Tito was trying to be completely disrespectful because, let's face it, Tito would have done or said more than he did. I am not excusing his comment, but it is not as bad as most of his antics.

Tito has made his fame and glory by putting himself in the middle of drama. Tito knows what sells fights and that is drama and bad blood. I think Tito was setting himself up for an easy fight after he faces Chuck. Remember it was Tito that shut the door on Ken Shamrock (twice).

As for Coleman he is really in the middle of cross fire. It was Coleman's manager that made the very unnecessary comments and Tito should have come after him if he wanted to argue and "defend his family." Because of Coleman's poor performance and age, it's unlikely he'll be allowed to make a comeback in UFC. It also means it's unlikely these two will ever fight, as it's not likely by the time Tito is gone from UFC that Coleman will be in any position to fight.

[Tito Ortiz photo by Wade Keller (c) MMATorch]