The return of former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz suffered a setback. Ortiz’s opponent, former champion Mark Coleman has pulled out of their UFC 106 match. Coleman reportedly suffered an MCL tear or as Ortiz said on Twitter, “sissie[d] out.”
In my opinion, this is a blessing in disguise. This fight had boring written all over it. Even with the win over Stephan Bonner, I still can’t take Mark Coleman seriously. Both of these guys have great wrestling acumen which would have likely resulted in a boring, grinding, ground war. Styles make matchups and the styles of Ortiz and Coleman didn’t make this an intriguing matchup in the least.
The money match would be a rematch with Forrest Griffin. Ortiz beat Griffin via split decision over three years ago. To this day, the result is still a controversial decision. Most MMA fans believe that Griffin won the fight and was robbed. The money is in this match, yet I don’t think it would be wise to throw Tito in with Griffin on his first match back. Tito needs a big win to be taken seriously by the MMA community and the UFC fans. After all, it was UFC president Dana White that has been saying for three years how Ortiz is overrated.
UFC could pull a bait and switch and throw Randy Couture into this match. Couture is scheduled to fight Brandon Vera at UFC 105. UFC has changed two big matches in the last few months due to a variety of reasons. A Couture-Ortiz match would be huge. It is the perfect match for either fighter to take. I don’t know how impressive a win by Ortiz would be over Couture at this stage of the game, but he would have a hell of a shot with the Natural. Taking into consideration that Spike TV is televising UFC 105, I doubt that UFC would switch the match. However, it is not entirely out of the question looking at similar business decisions that UFC have made in the last few months.
Thanks to MMAFanhouse.com for the tip!
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