Loretta Hunt of thefightnetwork.com reports on an interview with Tito Ortiz on Sirius’ Fight Network Radio on Monday. During his time on the air, Ortiz discussed his dissatisfaction with the UFC, mainly due to money issues.

“They don’t want the fighters to get as big as a ‘Tyson’ or a ‘De La Hoya’ or one of those types because all of a sudden, they’ll be expecting to see a lot more payment,” said Ortiz. “The UFC makes about 99 percent of the money, and the rest goes to the fighters. That one percent ain’t nothing compared to what they make on merchandising, on pay-per-view, and everything else they make around the world.”

One might dismiss these comments as grandstanding by Ortiz as his current contract comes to an end. However, similar comments have recently been made by Randy Couture, citing compensation as a main reason he resigned last October. Zuffa LLC, the hroup that owns the UFC, filed suit with Couture last Monday for breach of his employment contract.

Ortiz stated that he will face Lyoto Machida on May 24 in Las Vegas which will be the last fight under his current contract. Ortiz is less than thrilled with this matchup.

“I was expecting a bigger fight. I think the fans were expecting a bigger fight,” said Ortiz. “I got pressed into it, and all of a sudden, it’s all over the Internet that Tito Ortiz won’t fight Machida. I’m just looking to get my final fight over with the UFC.”

The disintegrating relationship between Ortiz and UFC president Dana White has been playing out in the public forum for the last several years. Ortiz believes that White’s feelings toward likely means that he will never again get a shot at a UFC title.

“With Dana in charge, I don’t think that fight will ever happen for me,” said Ortiz. “Dana has bad blood for me and nothing but bad blood. They’re going to try and ruin me.”

“UFC is caring so much about the brand itself,” said Ortiz. “They could care less about the fighters. Fighters are a dime a dozen. They’ll keep coming. Dana is really out for himself and the company. He doesn’t give a s–t about the fighters.”

Tito could indeed be using the media to help negotiate his next contract. But there are more options open to him in 2008 than there were in 2004 when he took a hiatus to shoot a movie. There are some newer federations that may be willing to spend money to gain some footing on the UFC.

Would you not be intrigued if a new organization started 2009 with Couture vs Fedor Emelianenko followed up by a Tito Ortiz title fight?