UFC 106: Ortiz-Griffin 2
This card is a mere shadow of what was originally promoted because of bad luck with injuries, with Brock Lesnar, Mark Coleman, Shane Carwin and Karo Pariysan all pullng out. Lesnar in particular is a big loss as he's a huge draw and the fight with Carwin was highly anticiapated. Because of a bacterial infection he has had to have surgery and his fighting future is in doubt. Instead the main event is set to be the rematch between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin.
Ortiz is making his return to the UFC after an acrimonous split following his unanimous decision loss to current Light Heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida at UFC 84. However his public feud with Dana White has been quashed and he looks to finish his career in the UFC as he makes one last run at the title. He will rematch Forrest Griffin in the Ultimate Fighter and former Light Heavyweight champion's first fight since back to back KO defeats to Rashad Evans and Anderson Silva. Griffin's antics following the Silva defeat dented his popularity but he's still a huge star and this fight has been anticipated since Ortiz's controversial split decision win over Griffin at UFC 59. Both men have to prove that they are the better man after the close first fight and it's a must-win to keep both relevant in the stacked Light Heavyweight division. The full card is listed below:
Tito Ortiz vs Forrest Griffin
Josh Koscheck vs Anthony Johnson
Luis Cane vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Amir Sadollah vs Phil Baroni
Paulo Thiago vs Jacob Volkmann
Ben Saunders vs Marcus Davis (free on Spike TV)
Kendall Grove vs Jake Rosholt (free on Spike TV)
Brock Larson vs Brian Foster (unaired prelim)
Caol Uno vs Fabricio Comoes (unaired prelim)
George Sotiropoulos vs Jason Dent (unaired prelim)
Solid undercard will save this one.. looking forward to seeing Nogueira
Lil Nog-Cane will be FOTN, that fight is tough to call and both have a great future in the LHW division, they’re both a lot better than Tito and Forrest in my opinion, shame that they’re not as popular.
Good card, Tito-Forrest was close like the first one though I had it 29-28 Griffin, as he got the better of the striking throughout and used some nice sweeps and submission attempts to negate Tito’s wrestling in the first, while he smashed him in the stand-up in the third. Tito’s interview was funny, I honestly thought he was going to burst into tears, priceless moment (though the crowd were crap and booed for no reason throughout the night). There will probabaly be a rubber match before either guy is found out by a superior fighter like Lil Nog, he looked superb and actually made Cane run away once he got hit before finishing the job with a nice KO.
Hardy would be getting cheated out of a title fight if he has to face Kos next, he was promised one with a win over Swick and it was implied that the fight would happen in the UK. Kos looked awesome against Rumble but losses to GSP, Alves and Thiago as well as a refusal to fight his teammates Fitch or Swick should keep him from getting a fight with Hardy for the next title shot. Dan’s the better striker anyway and his wrestling has improved a lot. I say give him Semtex once he smashes Condit to decide the next contender and let Hardy have his moment because he beat Swick. Nobody will beat GSP anyway.