We passed along news last week that Tito Ortiz would make his first trek back to the Octagon since losing to Chuck Liddell at UFC 66 against either Rashad Evans or Keith Jardine at UFC 71 on May 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
To read more about that click here.
Both Greg Jackson-trained 205-pound hopefuls and The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) alums are hot and will look to continue those streaks in 2007.
MMAWeekly.com is now reporting, however, that Jardine is perhaps the Ortiz sweepstakes winner.
If accurate, it would put the former New Mexico bounty hunter up against his toughest challenge to date. It would also leave Evans open to fight, hopefully, a big-name guy in the division.
An Ortiz-Jardine showdown is somewhat of a clash of styles: Ortiz prefers the ground and pound, while Jardine unleashes insane low kicks and likes to keep it standing.
As promised, we’re back with and update. And, apologies for not finding this clip two hours earlier.
Anyway, Ortiz confirms the Jardine bout in a recent interview with MMAToday.com.
Here’s a snip from Ortiz:
“My heart is really in fighting right now andIm in fighting mode. I want to keep going with Punishment Athletics.Im a business man then a fighter and then actor man but fighter firstand foremost now. My next fight is in May against Keith Jardine.”
In the interview, which is a relatively long read, Ortiz mentions that he wants to fight three times this year. He also wouldn’t mind fighting Chuck Liddell five or six times or “however many times it takes.”
And as for other opponents, Ortiz wants the best because he feels he is the best, including some big-name PRIDE FC studs.
Here’s another snip:
“I would like to fight Chuck, I will fight him 5 or 6 times however many times it takes. Im confident now that I stood with him, and Im confident I can fix the mistakes I made. First thing I think of is who I have to fight to get back to the top and be in contention. I will crush anyone in the LHW division. I only lost to the top guys in the game Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock and Chuck Liddell. I still have a bright future ahead and my body feels good. I have no injuries my knee is great and my back is great. Shogun Rua would be an awesome fight, Id love to fight him, Wanderlei just lost and Id love to fight him again. Dan Henderson would be great. I will fight anyone and make it exciting for the fans. I just want to keep people buying pay per views and keep the fans entertained, me and chuck did it right and broke records for pay per view buys. I will stomp anyone at 205, I am in the top 3 in the world and I will beat Shogun, Henderson and Silva if I get the chance.”
Big words — as usual — from Ortiz. And, if that’s his thinking then he should have no problem dispatching of Jardine at UFC 71.
38 Comments »
In my opinion this is a great matchup. I think it fits logically into the big picture of the 205 lb class.Like it or not Ortiz is one of the top tier fighters and Jardine deserves to fight him. I hope Jardine pounds him…
Check out the pic, Jardine has one seriously long, and messed up, right arm. No one can win against that kind of reach advantage, no one, not even Crocop, not even, gasp, Ross.
Haha … that is a CRAZY jab!
He’s like five feet from Ortiz. Jardine just connected and Tito’s hand is a foot from his head. Jardine via KO in the 1st…..30 secs.
yeah that is one messed up arm…but Ross has been in the worst situation and always prevails…Ross would take the punch and bite it in mid air…making Jardine gravle at his feet with is freek arm in Ross’ mouth and tap immediately to save face
Finally! I can’t wait to see Jardine KO Ortiz.
i got to go for ortiz. he last until the third round with chuck and i don’t think jardine can make it past the first.
Jardine cant make it passed the first?!?!?! Have you seen his right arm?!?!?! Next you’ll say Liddell can beat Ross Pointon, too.
http://i13.tinypic.com/44agps6.jpg
this is a good match up, they share the forrest win, tito’s coming off a loss, so this is perfect, i like it…i like jardine, he’s tough as hell, but tito will find a way to not lose two in a row, i think tito will out work jardine in this one and win the decision
well if tito loses this one he should never again be a contender.
haha mtufc, ol ross giving two girls the heave ho, while Chuck looks on with admiration, i love it
ya i like this fight as well. jardine vs tito is good and griffin vs machida is also good. Im just wondering who rashad is going to get next, i think he is ready for big things. But if all those guys are fighting then who will rashad get?
perhaps rashad could get the very knocked out and angry Babalu?
I am wondering why Rashad Evans gets to fight all the “tomato cans” and not the upper-echelon fighters. Why does it seem like they are nursing him along ? Jason MacDonald fought a couple of fights and then he gets Rich Franklin. Chris Lytle got Matt Hughes. For God sake, Matt Serra is going to fight St. Pierre for the title. Rashad Evans won the Ultimate Fighter. Tito Ortiz should fight Rashad Evans. Am I imagining things ?
If Keith Jardine can get by Tito Ortiz, he might (MIGHT) earn himself a match against Ross Pointon. Of course, Ross will beat the ugly right out of Jardine, kind of like Randy did to Big Poopy.
Nice pic MTU…where was that taken? Pointon’s basement?
No, my backyard. You guys all know how tight me and Ross are. He brought Liddell over since he heard I was sick and had coupons for Nyquil. And the blonde about to blow Liddell is my frigging wife, that cheating bitch.
No just kidding, my wife’s better looking that than whore.
I posted the other two pics on the Liddell vs Rampage thread. Read what I said there.
“I am in the top 3 in the world and I will beat Shogun, Henderson and Silva if I get the chance”
This dude needs to join Randy and Chuck in rehab.
Im a big Jardine fan..
I think he has gotten the short end of any decision he has been involved in.
Id love to see this fight, could be two in a row for Tito, or could get him back into the aggressive style that he needs to be in.
THE UFC NEEDS TO STOP PROTECTING RASHAD THOUGH! Its getting ridiculous.
Ross pointon is a buster ass sucker but anyway, ortiz loses this fight hands down. jardine is on his way up the ranks and ortiz is on his way out! I have money on this one boys, any takers? yeah and tito will never fight chuck again, or any of those pride fighters he mentioned
Yo, Webmaster, I find it odd that you warn us to be respectful of eachother when we get on eachother in a manner you deem unacceotable, and that’s cool as it’s your site, but it’s a bit of a contradiction to allow the demeanig soft-porn at the same time. While I fully realize that this is a good ol boy blog and all, I find it odd that you allow locker room mentality in one area and not others. I know I risk being 86d but had to bring it up.
Marco-
What soft-porn are you talking about? The fully-clothed picture of Chuck Liddell above joking around with some hot chicks? Please provide examples. I may have missed something — comments in in the blog are crazy lately. And I admit, some do slip through the cracks. But, the only problem we have with comments are of the racist variety, for the most part. Or, the outrageous, personal, childish attacks on a poster who speaks his or her mind.
Let me know.
Ortiz better dispatch Jardine or he may go the way of Sobrel.
haha soft porn?? is he talking about fully clothed and tattoed ross, or those picture you always have on here of half naked men brutally beating the crap out of eahother, im confused as well marco..enlighten
soft porn? thats a joke right?
that would make “more than ufc” somewhat like a porn dealer hmm interesting
Jardine ko first round
I wish Tito would lose so the spotlight would go to the other fighters.
Well, Tito isnt going to exactly roll-over there gonna have to take that spot-light and rightly so.
Assuming Liddel doesn’t fight Rampage next, I could see him fighting Rashad nest. Babalu lost and everyone else is fighting. Poor Rashad. Am I missing something as I don’t see whom else Liddel could fight in the UFC?
of course that they’re going to make tito fight jardine instead of rashad. they can’t risk giving rashad a lost on his record. they probably will give him an easy fight and them give him a title shot with the winner between chuck and rampage.
I’m a porn dealer? Dam, I missed my calling.
Sorry if that offended you Marco. I thought it was kinda funny. But in defense of myself, as MMADude pointed out, we are all fans of a very violent sport. I personally dont find full clad ADULTS joking around as porn. But if it makes you feel any better, here, check this one and see if you approve:
http://i3.tinypic.com/4dqo5xu.jpg
Naked heterosexuals you find offensive, but um, two men, mostly naked, in the standard guard position you dont find offensive? I dont understand. Dont ever watch an Eric Pele fight. The dude used to playfuck his opponents just to piss them off.
To each his own.
Go Tito go, I like you, although you’re not my favourite and Jardine is better then you. But that Keith Jardine is the uglyiest mother fucker I’ve ever seen. He’s so ugly, that itself is the only reason I want him to get beating.
You think his face his ugly, have you seen his right arm?!?!?!
Yes, I also root against male athletes because they’re ugly…
I feel….gay right now.
Shogun > Ortiz
I hate tito but his ground and pound is great and dont think for a second that he wants to fight standing against a guy like keith with good stand up. tito take down ground pound 1st round ko. Now forrest given another shot will beat either tito or keith. In my veiws forrest already beat tito and keith got real lucky with one big swing.
This is a great forum, much better then sherdogs. This is all i have to say and excuse my english becouse my land sucks. The heawyweight divison in ufc has been bad for a while but i think it uprising soon! Great site for mma fans!
If TITO works better on boxing he will be very hard man to fight. So when he needs to work on stand up fight.