Tito Ortiz has used the magic of Twitter to inform the world that he has found a replacement opponent for his return match to the UFC...none other than Forrest Griffin! The two are scheduled to meet up at UFC 106 in Las Vegas on 11/21.
Ortiz was originally scheduled to fight Mark Coleman but Coleman pulled out of the fight. The card for UFC 106 has not even been fully revealed but it is already stacked, with a main event of Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin for the Heavyweight Championship and now two of UFC's all-time crowd favorites going head to head in Ortiz's first fight since May 2008. (The card also features Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni, which lol lol lol lol lol)
The fight is pretty much do-or-die for Griffin, who is coming off an embarrassing loss to Rashad Evans last year and a REALLY embarrassing loss to Anderson Silva in August that had the live crowd unilaterally turning on him as he fled from the cage in humiliation. Griffin needs to win here to get back in the good graces of the fans and the UFC and try to salvage his career.
This will actually be the second time these two have fought, the first coming in 2006, where Ortiz won on a split decision. That's actually the first time Griffin has lost on a decision since his very first fight in 2001. When you beat Forrest Griffin, you're gonna beat him by stoppage, by gum!
This is a no-lose situation for Ortiz (you'll be seeing a lot of those in his return), because if Griffin should emerge victorious, it can be spun as a passing of the torch, and people still buy Griffin as a legit contender (for now).
Personally, I'll be rooting for Griffin to knock Ortiz's giant head off, but let's hope for a good fight! ("Good" meaning "Ortiz losing".)