Victor Ortiz and Lloyd Mayweather
Ortiz admitted that he tried to break Mayweather's nose with an illegal headbutt Reuters

Former welterweight boxing champion Victor Ortiz has revealed that he tried to break Floyd Mayweather's nose with an illegal headbutt during their fight in September.

The 24-year-old boxer made the confession during a candid interview on U.S. TV on Tuesday night when he spoke in detail about the fight.

Talking to RingTV.com, he said: "I was trying to break his nose, 100 percent. Because he nailed me 16 times with his elbow on my right eye, which made me close my eye."

Ortiz said that despite his attempts to get the referee to reprimand Mayweather for "playing dirty," all he was told by Joe Cortez was, "Keep fighting, Victor."

Cortiz added: "He catches me right on my eye. My eye gets closed. So I unleashed a headbutt."

The violent headbutt left five-division world champion Mayweather with cut on the side of his mouth and cost Ortiz a point for his foul.

Following a timeout, Ortiz , clearly regretting his actions, quickly apologized to Mayweather for the aggressive headbutt and even hugged the fighter -- a move that he would later regret.

"You want to get dirty, I got dirty. ... I let the best of me get away. For that, I started feeling bad. That's why I was like, 'Floyd, man, my bad, yo. I apologize, man.' So I gave him a hug," Ortiz said.

But Mayweather refused to let the headbutt go and with an unsuspecting Cortez looking away, he unloaded a left -right combination to Ortiz's face sending him down and unable to beat Cortez's count.

The former champion ultimately lost his WBC welterweight belt to Maymeather.

"I take it as a learning lesson and a learning experience. Next time, it ain't going to be that. If I'm going to head butt you, I'm going to break your nose, next head butt," Ortiz said.

Ortiz is due to fight his former boxing rival Andre Berto in a rematch Feb. 11.