Rumor: Tito Ortiz Could Return Against Rich Franklin At UFC 103
Posted by on 07.17.2009
"The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" says he's made amends with Dana White...
Former longtime UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz has not competed since the last fight on his UFC contract, which was against Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 last May. Since then he's hinted at new deals with EliteXC, Affliction, and Strikeforce. Now the rumor mill is running rampant with the possibility that Ortiz may in fact be returning to the company where he spent most of his career.
Ortiz was a guest on Tapout Radio recently, and he had this to say:
"UFC is not out of the picture.... There's a possibility - I don't know. I had a conversation with Dana last week, me and him spoke ... we were really, really good friends at a point, best friends at a point, and everything got mucked up because of the fight game.... I wanted to be a man and squash things between me and him and wish him luck in his journeys and he did the same to me. So we kind of amended and squashed things, which is great. Dana showed the kind of person he is by apologizing to me and vice versa.... I'm very thankful for Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta from the UFC and I'm glad that me and Dana (White) kind of got to brush each other off. We may not still like each other or whatever but we came to amends - which is awesome. I gotta thank Strikeforce for giving me an opportunity and I want to thank Affliction for giving me an opportunity."
Ortiz has always had a good relationship with UFC co-owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta. It's possible that Lorenzo negotiated a new deal for Ortiz, much as he did recently with Mirko Cro Cop.
UFC 103 is still in need of a main event, although it's almost certain that Rich Franklin will be one-half of the headlining fight. Speculation has begun that Ortiz will be brought back to face Franklin in September.
Posted By: Guest#5565 (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 03:41 PM
Much more appeal than the Franklin vs. Coleman fight that Larrold speculated on earlier.
Posted By: Todd Vote (Registered) on July 17, 2009 at 04:07 PM
I hope he comes back, I'd like to see that fight.
Posted By: Guest#4633 (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 04:13 PM
Tito Ortiz isn't ready to fight in September and Franklin is a bad fight for him too. Rich has good takedown defence. I want to see Franklin-Liddell, but that won't happen until next year. How about Franklin-Jon Jones?
Posted By: Chico Whoretiz (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 04:30 PM
Over Dana's dead body...unless it gets buys.
Posted By: D. (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 04:33 PM
I'd love to see Lesnar destroy Ortix. And he would. Round One.
Posted By: Guest#9810 (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 04:33 PM
do it, ortiz is awesome.
Posted By: Justin. (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 04:45 PM
i'd love to see Lesnar destroy Ortix. And he would. Round One.
Posted By: Guest#9810 (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 04:33 PM
It would have nothing to do with the fact that Lesnar has almost 100 pounds on him whatsoever, eh?
But, yeah, I can't stand Tito. He's just another fighter who wants to be above MMA and then destroy MMA as a sport and let it turn into what boxing has become.
If Dana does let Tito come back - and that's a huge if - it'll be just like Tito saying "Hey, Mr. White, I sure am sorry I am a fuckin' idiot who thought the UFC needed me more than I needed the UFC. Please forgive me. Shucks, I'll whatever you want, Mr. White, sir."
I wouldn't be surprised if Dana signed him for one more fight against someone like Forrest or Rashad to show how bad Tito is now and then just rockets his ass to pasture.
Used to love Tito; then he spoke. He thinks he's above the sport and doesn't understand why he isn't making 7 figures a fight even though he's way past his prime.
Posted By: Random Boy J (Registered) on July 17, 2009 at 05:08 PM
man what does Tito hope to gain? He coudln't even beat Chuck in their 2 outings and coudln't beat the now champ Machida ! Whats the point if he will never excel !
He is just his own promotional machine trying to get money ..more money than he deserves ! he coudl be fighting for a title in Strkeforce after Bablu and even spoke about a catch weight with Fedor !
The guy is full of shit ! Until i see it on Dana Whites web video Blogs i am not buying the shit Tito is selling !
Posted By: Guest#1670 (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 05:09 PM
Re: Tito SF deal
by condrab on Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:12 pm
the thing is Tito has been close to signing with elite xc, close to signing with affliction, close to resigning with the ufc, close to..... tito has a habit of saying things when he realizes that no ones been talking about him in a while. Take any "tito is signing with" story with a huge grain of salt (never got that expression). until tito is signed with an org, scheduled to fight someone, and they have posters printed up, its just talk
I made those comments 8 days ago when Tito said he was signing with strikeforce. They still apply
Posted By: condrab (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 05:34 PM
My time machine worked I went back three years to when this fight actually mattered.
Posted By: Adam (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 05:40 PM
I almost didn't bother to read this because Tito has as many rumours about him joining organizations then he has fights. Next week he will be in talks with DREAM.
Posted By: Shawno420 (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 06:00 PM
I don’t know whether to believe him or not.
Wasn’t Tito signing with :-
Elite XC,
or Affliction
or Strikeforce
or Dream
or Pride
or Cage Warriors
or Cage Rage
or IFL
or WEC
or TNA
or WWF
or WCW
or ECW
or WWE
Posted By: Lions Dener (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 06:11 PM
I say bullshit. He is just trying to drive the dollar figure better with the strikeforce and afflication deals. He needs to get it thru his head to quit being a loud mouth and focus on not making up reasons for everytime he loses.
Posted By: Bigmatt0011 (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 06:15 PM
"Since then he's hinted at new deals with EliteXC, Affliction, and Strikeforce"
And why should I beLIEve thats hes gonna comeback for Dana. Tito is a wash up and "has been" for almost 5 years now. Im not knocking is abilities, its just the game has evolved waaay past his. He'll always be a legend in the LHW but todays fighters will lay waste to him...
Posted By: hahaman (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 06:51 PM
i'd love to see Lesnar destroy Ortix. And he would. Round One.
Posted By: Guest#9810 (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 04:33 PM
It would have nothing to do with the fact that Lesnar has almost 100 pounds on him whatsoever, eh?
ha, no, I'd just love to see Ortiz get destroyed. Lesnar would probably kill him. I hate Ortiz and his whore wife.
Posted By: Guest#9810 (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 07:14 PM
danawhiteufcDoesn't mean he's back it means we aren't smashing each other anymore and we don't hate each other.
about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
famous people are dropping dead, and tito and Dana are making up. The end of days is upon us
Posted By: condrab (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 09:38 PM
Believe it when I see it, til the who gives a fuck Tito's one of the biggest twats in MMA, yeah he's a legend and did big buys for UFC but he's been on the downside of his career for over 3 years now and will end up as a liability just as before because he cares more about the almighty $$$$ and his porn star wife than he does about the sport and respecting his opponents (similar to a recently crowned undisputed HW Champ)
Posted By: Guest#3388 (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 10:25 PM
Holy shit I said this as a joke under "your mma news" earlier today. wtf.
Posted By: guest guest (Guest) on July 18, 2009 at 12:37 AM
Considering brock talking shit last week was the biggest thing in ufc history I wouldn't be surprised if Dana is bringing in more heels for the goofy mma marks to wimper about.
Posted By: L I A M (Guest) on July 18, 2009 at 01:08 AM
Its not up to Dana.
If the Fertita's want him back, he's back.
Posted By: S Dot (Guest) on July 18, 2009 at 02:30 AM
I can listen to Dana White and tell he's 99% hot air. Not to say White is not genuine, he just likes to overblow things just because that's his personality. But... nobody's perfect and I don't expect him to be perfect either. The point is it doesn't surprise me Dana White would consider bringing Tito Ortiz back in even with everything that's been said.
Posted By: NDN (Guest) on July 18, 2009 at 10:20 AM
If he does so happen to one day magically come back to fight Franklin..
I hope Ace shows his ass the door and he is out of the UFC again.
Posted By: h4gg4rd (Guest) on July 18, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Considering brock talking shit last week was the biggest thing in ufc history I wouldn't be surprised if Dana is bringing in more heels for the goofy mma marks to wimper about.
Posted By: L I A M (Guest) on July 18, 2009 at 01:08 AM
They arent heels, just assholes. And this is MMA not wrestling. There arent heels and faces. Damn
Posted By: Guest#9860 (Guest) on July 18, 2009 at 02:09 PM
Re: Tito SF deal
by condrab on Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:12 pm
the thing is Tito has been close to signing with elite xc, close to signing with affliction, close to resigning with the ufc, close to..... tito has a habit of saying things when he realizes that no ones been talking about him in a while. Take any "tito is signing with" story with a huge grain of salt (never got that expression). until tito is signed with an org, scheduled to fight someone, and they have posters printed up, its just talk
I made those comments 8 days ago when Tito said he was signing with strikeforce. They still apply
Posted By: condrab (Guest) on July 17, 2009 at 05:34 PM
The saying " take it with a grain of salt", comes from the fact that salt naturally breaks down tough meat fibers. So if something is tough to chew, you would take it with a grain of salt to make it go down easier.
But I agree, Tito speaks so we will keep his memorie alive.
Posted By: Thrasher (Guest) on July 19, 2009 at 01:53 PM
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