The Ultimate eXperience 05:19:08: Affliction, Tito Ortiz & More

Posted by Ryan Seymour on 05.19.2008

The 'Affliction: Banned' event on July 19th looks to be an incredible card, how does it match up with the recent UFC events? One thing for sure is the heavyweights are on show with Barnett, Rothwell, Rizzo, Fedor, Buentello & A.Emelianenko all on the one event. Also my thoughts on The Ultimate Fighter and the whole Tito Ortiz situation.



Welcome to The Ultimate eXperince, as you would have noticed I have a banner now for this column (which totally owns!). Now on to the real stuff which is how good the ‘Affliction: Banned' card on July 19th is going to be. The heavyweight fighters on this show virtually destroy the UFC's heavyweight division. The biggest heavyweight fight out of the lot is #1 heavyweight in the world Fedor Emelianenko against #6 ranked heavyweight Tim Sylvia. It is great that Fedor is finally facing a top level fighter as it has been almost three years since he has fought a real MMA contender.

BABALU IS BACK! That's right Renato Sobral is back after being fired by the UFC for holding a choke hold on David Heath to long at UFC 74. He faces a good test in Mike Whitehead who some might remember from TUF 2, most thought he would win it but he never amounted to anything in the UFC. After losing to Keith Jardine at UFC 57, Mike Whitehead has been able to win 12 straight fights.

Aleksander Emelianenko (brother of the great Fedor) will be trying to show of his skills against a viable opponent in Paul Buentello. Both fighters don't look like the strong type as they have a very relaxed type of style and don't have the six pack physic. Don't let that let you think they don't have punching power as both have had their share of brutal knockout finishes. A.Emelianenko's most famous knockout would be his fight against James Thompson as Thompson came charging in throwing punches and Aleksander managed to casually win the fight in 11 seconds. Buentello's big knockout victyory would be his first fight in the UFC at UFC 51: Super Saturday. His knockout punch on Justin Eilers was incredible as it was one of the cleanest knockouts I have seen.

Another fighter that I am interested in seeing on the show is Matt Lindland back in action. Lindland's last fight was over a year ago, in that fight he lost to heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. Lindland is a very dangerous middleweight fighter and if you look at the people he has beaten then there is no denying that. He has defeated such great fighters as Pat Miletich, Phil Baroni, Travis Lutter, Jeremy Horn and Carlos Newton. Then heavyweight fighters like Ben Rothwell, Pedro Rizzo & Josh Barnett round out the fights on what looks to be a stellar event and could be the event of the year so far.

The Ultimate Fighter

Spike TV announced that UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira & Frank Mir will be the coaches for season eight of The Ultimate Fighter. The two are then expected to meet for a title fight in the near future. Production on the show will begin in late May, with the season premiere shown in September. The show will feature light heavyweight and lightweight fighters.

The thing that I get extremely annoyed with is when the UFC put the champion of a division on the ultimate fighter. The ultimate fighter 6, 7 & 8 will all have had title fights at the end of the season which puts the division on hold. With the news announced that Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira & Frank Mir are the coaches of the next season of TUF really frustrates me. The title fight they have will probably not be until December which puts the division in a stand still for 7 months. Also whose to tell that all the hype Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira & Frank Mir are getting results to nothing like TUF 6 where Matt Serra got injured. Also this could frustrate Fabricio Werdum as if he wins against Brandon Vera at UFC 85, he should be next in line for a title shot. So after fighting in July he will probably have to wait 9 or more months until he gets a shot against the champion.

On the subject of TUF, this season has been probably been my least favorite of the lot so far. I can't quite put my finger on what has made it not as enjoyable as past seasons. It could be because of the fighters not being entertaining characters or it could be because there is no animosity between the two coaches. In my top three TUF's would be TUF 3 which had Ortiz and Shamrock as the coaches as well as TUF 5 which had BJ Penn and Jens Pulver as the coaches. Even though Rampage and Forrest Griffin are funny dudes, they haven't done anything which would make me watch the show so far. The last few seasons would of helped with having fighters who had some experience before going on the show. I am talking about fighters like Mac Danzig (fought in PRIDE), Joe Lauzon (had a UFC win prior to going on the show) and Nate Diaz who people had an interest in him because of his last name.

I am really hoping we have a really memorable moment on this season's ultimate fighter, something like an incredible fight, sick knockout or something that Forrest and Rampage do - I will have my fingers crossed.

‘THE HUNTINGTON BEACH BAD BOY' Tito Ortiz

Dana White

"Tito is a f—ing idiot. He's one of the dumbest human beings I've ever met. Everything that comes out of his mouth makes no sense…. I put up with his s— when he was a good fighter. He's not anymore…. He's not in anybody's Top 10. I have no interest whatsoever in being in the Tito Ortiz business…. I've never wanted to see anyone get their ass kicked worse than I want to see Tito get his kicked next Saturday night."

Elite XC President – Gary Shaw

"Of all my years in the fight game, I know one thing that I could see, touch, smell and feel, and that is a star and a superstar. Every time I see Tito Ortiz, he reeks of stardom. I think I can even better his days in the UFC. I think I can reincarnate Ortiz. He is a talented fighter and has all the mechanisms that you need to make someone a superstar. Can you imagine Tito Ortiz and Kimbo (Slice) in the cage together one day? My door is open. I hope that he's able to negotiate one day because I would never interfere with a contract. I hope he's sitting right next to me, not across from my desk, but right with me."

There has been a lot of talk going around that Tito Ortiz will be leaving the UFC after his fight with Lyoto Machida at UFC 84. He still has four years of fighting left but he is not going to do that under the UFC banner, because of his bad relationship with Dana White. I think that Tito Ortiz is a top class fighter but even if he did continue fighting in the UFC he wouldn't hold the title again. But he is a huge draw, his pre-fight interviews he has are always entertaining to watch and the rivalries he has been able to build have made the UFC a mountain of money. Ortiz has been involved in the two most successful pay per views. His fight with Ken Shamrock drew 775,000 buys (UFC 61) and his fight with Chuck Liddell drew 1.05 million buys (UFC 66).

It doesn't matter if Elite XC is able to get him or if he fights with another organization like Affliction, he is going to draw fans to the company he goes to. I could see Tito Ortiz drawing big with fighters such as Babalu, Kimbo, Belfort (for the second time) Rogerio Nogueria, Arona etc. In my view massive gain for the company which is able to sign the controversial fighter known as ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy' Tito Ortiz.