Despite being a long standing Tito fan, despite his persona and recent performances I stayed a fan. But at the Shamrock/Franklin fight, did you guys catch Tito in his suit standing behind Chuck Zito trying desperately to provoke Ken, prior to the fight. Luckily the cameraman or someone must have said "don't give Tito screentime" and they managed to minimize his banter by practically edging him out of the screen altogether. It just wreaked of desperation and jealousy towards Ken and the UFC in general. It must have been way to much for Tito to handle not to get the spotlight, and to dazzle the home audience with his pathetic rants, which up till now was confined to PPV audiences.
He tried his best to get his mug and voice into Ken's shot, draw him into an arguement, more for the purpose of shameless self promotion, but it was such a pathetic display I'm not sure if I will ever cheer for the guy again. I'm not a big Ken Shamrock fan either, but that desperate act certainly took me out of the Tito fan base, I almost felt sorry for Tito resorting to such a display, but I'll refrain from judgement. It was for me a glimpse into the future of this sport, where the fighters will become very distant from the fans, as will the MMA promoters in general. Big time here we come, grass roots seems to be over.
You know the producer, director or someone in the "know" told that cameramen to shut him out of the scenes. I mean they didn't pan to him once in the crowd, as they did with "celebrities" in the house. The dejected look on his face made it all worth it in the end.
Interesting, I didn't notice that, Maybe he is on his way out, considering Zuff at least aknowledges their fighters in the crowd, especially a former champ.
I think if they did that may give Tito a little more bargaining power when it comes to contract negotiations. He could come back and say "you used me in your promotion of TUF finals and the UFC, I must be valuable to you, so pay me what I want" kind of thing.
I doubt Spike is that up to date of all the nuances and quirks of the fighters, they are more into ZUFFA's performance as a company, I'm sure they knew nothing of Tito, besides it's ZUFFA's production group that put the entire show together, the same cameramen as the PPV's.
This is about ignorant. Just Maybe no one cut anything out, and that is just how things happened. If Tito really wanted to be on T.V. he would have been in front of Chuck Zito. Maybe he was yelling at Ken because Ken likes to run his mouth to Tito.
Zito was the front row, Tito was further back, which to a normal person would send a clear message to Tito how valued he is the UFC. But no, he tried to get his mug on there with his bullshit, but Zito was the front row, and Tito couldn't get in front of him.