Dana White: Tito, Penn deserve to be in UFC Hall of Fame
The UFC Hall of Fame currently consists of: Royce Gracie Ken Shamrock Dan Severn Randy Couture Mark Coleman Chuck Liddell…
The UFC Hall of Fame currently consists of:
Royce Gracie
Ken Shamrock
Dan Severn
Randy Couture
Mark Coleman
Chuck Liddell
Matt Hughes
Charles “Mask” Lewis
Who is next?
The UFC hasn’t set a time or date for its next set of inductions into the company’s Hall of Fame, but company president Dana White said two former champions will likely get a call, former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz and multi-weight class champ B.J. Penn.
“Despite my personal problems with Tito, he belongs in,” said White. “He was the champion when we first bought this thing. The fact that Tito is still here, Tito and I have had our moments, but it doesn’t change what he did for the company.”
“The beef between me and Tito, Chuck and Tito, the fact is, that played a huge role in helping making this thing as big as it is.”
“Definitely,” White said when asked if Penn belongs in the Hall. “The thing about B.J. Penn is that what he brought to the lightweight division, there was a point in time when we first bought this company when people thought guys in the lighter weight divisions couldn’t be stars and couldn’t see pay-per-views and couldn’t cross over. B.J. Penn was definitely that first crossover guy for us.”
“He’ll be back. It’s tough, when there are 16,000 people in the arena chanting your name, it’s tough to walk away from that. B.J. Penn is a fighter. You hear some of these guys, and Tito was one of these guys, he said he wanted to be famous. B.J. Penn is a fighter.”
