Tito Ortiz explains why he stopped managing Cris Cyborg
Tito Ortiz used to be the manager of Cris Cyborg. He managed her all the way through her UFC career but stopped just before she lost to Amanda Nunes at UFC 232.
Why Ortiz stopped managing her was simple. He did not get along with Cyborg’s boyfriend Ray Elbe, who also handled some management duties. So, Ortiz made it easy and left Cyborg as her manager due to bad mistakes.
“I haven’t worked with Cris Cyborg since before the Amanda fight,” Ortiz said. “Her boyfriend, I guess you can say manager also, made some bad decisions for her and I kind of had to step away.” I made a lot of mistakes with the UFC, and I tried to keep her from doing the same mistakes,” Ortiz said to theScore (via The Body Lock).
“She’s a big girl, and she can make her decisions, but she was making the wrong decisions. Or I could say her boyfriend was making the wrong decisions for her. But that was just my opinion and I wish all the luck to her,” Ortiz continued. “I tried to give as much as I possibly could to her, but she just was willing to listen to someone else who hasn’t been in the same shoes that I have been in.”
“I guess everyone learns from mistakes, and hopefully, she’ll learn from the mistakes that she’s made and make a positive reinforcement for the future for her.”
Cris Cyborg recently signed to Bellator and is set to fight for their featherweight title against Julia Budd in January. In her final UFC fight, she defeated Felicia Spencer by decision at UFC 240.
Tito Ortiz, meanwhile, is set to fight in Combate Americas on Saturday against Alberto El Patron at Combate Americas 51. It is his first fight since knocking out Chuck Liddell in November of last year.
