Tito Ortiz to return at UFC 106
According to various published reports, Tito Ortiz will be making his return to the Octagon at UFC 106 in Las Vegas, Nevada. As has been speculated, his opponent will be former UFC heavyweight champion Mark Coleman. No official announcement has come from the UFC, but I would expect it to come out in the coming weeks.
Ortiz will fight in the UFC for the first time since a unanimous decision loss to the current UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 in May of 2008. Since that time, Ortiz has undergone spinal fusion surgery to try and fix the problems he’s had with his back over the years. He claims that the back is no longer an issue, but it’s tough to tell what kind of impact he can make in the UFC’s stacked light heavyweight division.
Ortiz was one of the UFC’s biggest stars in the early part of this decade, winning the light heavyweight title at UFC 25 and defending it successfully five times in the next two years before losing the title to Randy Couture at UFC 44. A loss to Chuck Liddell followed before Ortiz ran off another five fight win streak over Patrick Cote, Vitor Belfort, Forrest Griffin and Ken Shamrock (twice). However, Ortiz lost his rematch with Liddell, had a draw with Rashad Evans and lost to Machida to end his UFC run.
Ortiz chose not to re-sign with the UFC because of the issues between him and UFC president Dana White. He entertained offers from the now defunct Affliction as well as Strikeforce before him and White mended fences. Upon announcing Ortiz’s return to the UFC, White had this to say:
Tito Ortiz is still a guy the fans want to see fight. He just had back surgery and he’s getting back into training, his back has healed perfectly. The doctor said he feels good and he’s ready to compete in the 205-pound division and get a shot at the title again…Tito Ortiz will retire in the UFC
Coleman is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100. He’s 16-9 in his MMA career, and will be nearing his 45th birthday when the fight with Ortiz takes place.
An Ortiz victory will still leave his future in the light heavyweight division a bit muddled, but a loss would be devastating for him at this point in his career. We’ll find out on November 21st how much Tito has left in the tank.
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