Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin meet in the Octagon on Saturday to rematch their epic battle from UFC 59, where Tito won a split decision. Monday night on Spike TV go behind the scenes on the lead-up to the rematch with "Countdown to UFC 106."
The battle continues as Ortiz returns the Octagon to face Griffin once again in a light heavyweight battle for the history books. Don't miss the action Saturday November 21st in Las Vegas.
ESPN's MMA Live, with special guest Rashad Evans, talks about the downfall of Affliction, the Fedor sweepstakes, Tito Ortiz's possible return to UFC, and more.
With his focus now turned directly at Nick Diaz in anticipation of their April 11th main event fight on Showtime, Frank Shamrock told MMAWeekly Radio recently that if he had to pick between Cung Le and Tito Ortiz for his next fight, he'd prefer the "Huntington Beach Bad Boy."
"I think I'd be up for Tito just because I think there's a time limit on that match," said Shamrock. "Both with Tito's fame and his body, and also for me. I love Cung, he's a great guy, but frankly I made nothing on the pay-per-view, and financially it wasn't a big money maker. He doesn't have the personality that gets over, he's just a difficult guy to promote. He looks like a great guy."
The time factor is the biggest reason Shamrock feels that a rematch against Ortiz makes more sense if it gets put together, but he doesn't deny that having a fighter who will promote the fight the way Ortiz can makes a big difference on the back end when it comes to money and fan fare.
"We're in the business of sports entertainment and we're all entertainers. We just happen to fight," Shamrock stated. "If you're not entertaining both in the fight and leading up to the fight, you're not a good entertainer, and there's a lot of fighters we have that are not good entertainers. Unfortunately, Cung falls into that category."
Ortiz is currently still recovering from back surgery, but has said in the past he believes he will be ready to fight again in mid-2009. If a deal can be made to put the two former UFC champions together in a rematch, it could be a super fight that could garner major numbers for either Showtime or CBS if Strikeforce promotes the bout.
Shamrock also knows that the rematch against Cung Le is bound to happen, but he's not rushing it for now.
"I'm not worried about Cung," said Shamrock. "We'll try to get him in this year and if not I'll get him in next year."
Fedor Emelianenko -- who will fight top-ranked heavyweight Andre Arlovski this Saturday, Jan. 24, in the main event of Affliction M-1 "Day of Reckoning" at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. -- took part in the Opening Bell Honors at NASDAQ on Wednesday morning in anticipation of his heavyweight MMA showdown.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion and color commentator for the "Day of Reckoning" Pay-Per-View telecast Tito Ortiz, Affliction Entertainment Vice President Tom Atencio, and Vice President of NASDAQ MarketSite David Wicks joined Fedor, to ring the opening bell at the NASDAQ headquarters in Times Square, New York.
As Halloween approaches this year, many MMA fans are left trying to think of the perfect outfit to wear to the big party this year. Or maybe you still have to dress up the kids in the best MMA outfit to go Trick or Treating?
Well look no further as Punishment Athletics has provided the ideal outfit for the MMA fan who can go as none other than former UFC light heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz.
Costume includes: Original black flame shorts, Tito Ortiz UFC 84 after fight shirt, Titos trademark yellow beanie, Punishment black socks, 2 new Punishment wrist bands
Fight gloves not included.
(Note: Outfit does not include Jenna Jameson as date for Halloween party)
Not too many of today's newer fans probably remember who Lee Murray is, but his name came up on Friday when UFC president Dana White addressed fans in the U.K.
A little background... Murray was a once promising British mixed martial artist with a professional record of 8-2-1. He holds wins over fighters such as Jose Pele Landi-Jons and, at UFC 46, Jorge Rivera.
Asked about Murray facing Anderson Silva again - Murray lost to Anderson in a Cage Rage bout in 2004, which was Murray's most recent MMA action - White told the crowd, while he is definitely a tough guy "fighting Anderson Silva is the least of his problems."
That's probably putting it mildly. To most MMA fans - and UFC fans in particular - Murray is probably most famous for a brawl with former UFC star Tito Ortiz outside of a bar in England after UFC 38. Tito denies the incident happened, but Murray and others say that the Brit dropped Tito during their fight before fleeing the scene.
What White was more likely referring to though is Murray's more recent legal troubles. He is currently in a Moroccan prison for his involvement in the largest cash heist in British history... 53 million pounds!
Less than two weeks ago The Sun newspaper in the U.K. reported that Murray and his partner, Paul Allen, were named in court as the masterminds behind the heist. Allen is being held in the U.K., but Murray is still in a Moroccan jail cell because he is actually a Moroccan citizen and a judge there has yet to determine if he can be extradited to the U.K. to face up to the alleged crime.
Below is his 2004 Cage Rage fight with Anderson Silva. The fight is broken up into three parts, thus the reason for three videos below.
About a month ago, Nate Quarry was minding his own business when he got a call on his cell with an unusual area code for him. "Hmm," he must have thought. "I don't know anybody from there."
"Hi, it's Tito Ortiz, and I'd like to ask you about your back," the voice said.
If you're Nate Quarry, it's not a call you'd expect to get. But he didn't miss a beat.
"You know, the way my life is, nothing really surprises me too much anymore," Quarry told MMA Insider Blog.
Ortiz opened up to Quarry about his longstanding back problems.
"He said 'hey, I've got some degenerated discs and I'm looking at their surgery where they want to cut my abdominals open and snake through the organs and get to the lower back,'" Quarry recalls. "And I said, Tito, man, take my word for it, you don't want to do that. So I introduced him to the people at NuVasive."
Ortiz took a tour of the facility, and ended up getting the surgery done, as he writes on MMAWeekly.com.
At least Ortiz could say he injured himself in a cool way, like fighting. Two months prior, Quarry fractured his left orbital floor at a picnic with friends. Someone had arranged a game involving a golf club, a whiffle ball, and... well, the game really didn't have a name. Quarry was stepping up to take his crack at the ball and walked right into the backswing of a woman on the opposing team. The club weighed five pounds.
"It dropped me to my knees," Quarry said. "I was seeing double for three weeks."
Quarry's old teammate, Randy Couture, suffered the same injury, but in a fight against Ricco Rodriguez at UFC 39.
"There's about a million cool ways to get that injury, and I chose the un-cool one," he said.
So, a consultation with Tito Ortiz wasn't a big deal after all.
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