Former light heavyweight champions Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin will meet in the co-main event at UFC 106 “Lesnar vs. Carwin” on Nov. 21 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Yahoo Sports was first to report the rematch on Thursday.
The 34-year-old Ortiz, who underwent back surgery a year ago, has not competed since he dropped a unanimous decision to reigning light heavyweight king Lyoto Machida at UFC 84 in May 2008. Though he was dominated for much of the match, he nearly submitted the unbeaten Brazilian with a third-round triangle choke, reminding his detractors that he remains a viable threat at 205 pounds.
Once the poster boy of the UFC, Ortiz has not won a fight since he stopped UFC hall of famer Ken Shamrock on strikes nearly three years ago. Still, the flamboyant Californian counts victories against Brazilian legend Wanderlei Silva, one-time International Fight League champion Vladimir Matyushenko and former UFC titleholders Vitor Belfort and Evan Tanner among his 15 career wins. Five of Ortiz’s six career defeats have come to current or former UFC champions.
After back-to-back wins over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Griffin ran aground. He relinquished the UFC light heavyweight crown to Rashad Evans in December and suffered an embarrassing knockout loss to middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva at UFC 101 two months ago. Based out of Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas, the 30-year-old Griffin had never before lost back-to-back bouts.
UFC 106: Lesnar vs. Carwin
Saturday, Nov. 21
Mandalay Bay Events Center
Las Vegas
UFC Heavyweight Championship
Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin
Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Luis Arthur Cane
Dustin Hazelett vs. Karo Parisyan
Jon Fitch vs. Ricardo Almeida
Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni
Marcus Davis vs. Ben Saunders
George Sotiropoulos vs. Jason Dent