The Odd Man Out: What's Next For Tito Ortiz?

With UFC 115 in the books and the TUF 11 Finale just over the horizon, it's easy to picture "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz sitting at home shaking his head over his dismissal in the penultimate week of the show in addition to a missed opportunity to take on his nemesis. Getting "fired" from TUF with only six days of filming left was rather harsh, but the UFC had a main event to promote and it doesn't make much sense to have Ortiz finish out the season when it became clear he wasn't going to participate in a fight with Liddell.

It's painfully apparent that Ortiz's days as a contender for the light-heavyweight belt are long gone -- that's what happens when almost four years have transpired since your last win. However, Tito is still one of the most recognizable fighters in the world and he does have his fair share of followers (56,195 to be exact), therefore, he is still a viable commodity to the UFC. 

While his UFC 115 comeback never materialized, it appears that Tito plans on making his Octagon return in October or November. In an interview with MMA Fighting -- his first since getting booted from TUF -- Ortiz jinxed rooted for Liddell and said that he wanted to face "The Iceman" should he emerge victorious (spoiler alert: he didn't). 

In the aftermath of UFC 115 both Dana White and Ortiz have been silent on "The Huntington Bad Boy's" future plans. So what to do when there's no solid information to go off? Randomly speculate of course!

Here are some potential opponents for Tito Ortiz's next fight:

SBN coverage of The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale

Forrest Griffin: While their last bout didn't exactly set the world on fire, the series is split at one fight apiece and a rubber match seems to be inevitable. The winner of the UFC 115 main event was set to take on Forrest Griffin however with Rich Franklin sustaining a broken arm, it's unknown how long he'll be on the shelf. If Franklin isn't recovered by the fall, a Griffin/Ortiz trilogy fight does provide Forrest with an opponent. If this match-up does materialize it will hopefully be as a co-main event rather than the main event, especially since their UFC 106 bout produced lower than expected PPV buys.

Chuck Liddell: One of the strongest possibilities would be for the UFC to put together Liddell/Ortiz III in order to provide Liddell with a winnable farewell fight. For all the "guaranteed" talk of Chuck being done, Dana White has made an about face before when he spewed the same rhetoric after UFC 97 and still brought Chuck back. Not only would this guarantee a win for one of two fighters who have gone a combined seven years since tasting victory, but it would also make TUF 11 not seem totally pointless. There's also little chance of Ortiz knocking "The Iceman" out cold, which is a good thing for Liddell's remaining brain cells.  

Mark Coleman: Although Coleman is no longer in the UFC, this fight still makes a lot of sense. As we know, this match-up was originally scheduled for UFC 106 but Coleman had to pull out due to injury. Of course, Coleman would go on to lose in the featured bout of UFC 109 against Randy Couture and was then promptly cut by the UFC. It wouldn't be shocking if the UFC brought Coleman back into the fold, perhaps signing him to a one-fight deal, to challenge Ortiz. There's already been a precedent set with (Exhibit A: Ken Shamrock, who was brought back specifically in 2006 to serve as Tito's foil) and there's a built-in storyline with the smack talk that Ortiz dished out to Coleman after he was defeated by Couture. 

Keith Jardine: Even if Jardine loses to Matt Hamill at the TUF 11 Finale, it's difficult to envision him getting cut by the UFC. Jardine is still has some value as a "name" fighter and all of his recent losses (with the exception of Ryan Bader) have come to some of the best in the division. Putting him in against Ortiz could prove to be a serviceable co-main event on one of the upcoming fall cards which -- at this point -- look to be lacking in star power. 

Jon Jones: Depending on the outcome of Jones' fight with Vladimir Matyushenko (haha, who am I kidding) this could be a great way for the UFC to put over Jones in a manner similar to Machida back when he was matched up with Ortiz at UFC 84. It's no secret that Jones is already a star on the rise but a win over Ortiz would really put him over the top. 

No matter who and when Tito comes back to fight, it seems inevitable that we'll be subjected to the same tired stories going in about how he's 100% healthy this time and then after the fight we'll hear excuses about how he actually wasn't 100%. We'll hear about how he's been working hard on his boxing and then we'll see him throw strikes that make Paulo Thiago look like Anderson Silva. We'll hear how his cardio is as good as it's ever been and then we'll see him gas out a minute into the second round. 

It'll suck just the same, but at least this time we'll have seen it coming. 

Poll

Who should Tito Ortiz face in his next fight?

30%

Chuck Liddell

129 votes

8%

Forrest Griffin

34 votes

12%

Mark Coleman

54 votes

19%

Keith Jardine

81 votes

22%

Jon Jones

95 votes

7%

Other

32 votes

425 votes | Poll has closed