Lyoto Machida reveals the he indeed got a bonus for beating Tito Ortiz

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If you don’t remember the story, UFC 84 was Tito Ortiz’s final appearance in the UFC for over a year before his contract negotiations got really intense with Dana White and Zuffa. Supposedly, Tito, the former light heavyweight champ, was put against Lyoto Machida in a sort of headhunting scenario. Dana White told Machida that if he were to defeat Ortiz, he would get a hefty bonus.

This information has only been known for a couple months, but even then people questioned the validity of the claims. While we don’t know how much that bonus was for, it turns out that there indeed was a bonus, and that’s all that matters.

Machida confirmed it today on MMAFighting.

“He really did that, I felt like a hitman getting money from the boss, but it was cool.”

“I won’t tell you how much he paid me,” he said with a laugh, “but it was good money.”

“He said I was dominating the fight and out of a sudden he got me on that triangle. He said ‘s—, I can’t believe it.’ He went crazy, but then I got out of it. So I guess he gave me a bonus because he was scared of that triangle (laughs).”