Tito Ortiz vs Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral Affliction fight being discussed for October … sorta
By: MMAmania
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz could return to action against Renato “Babalu” Sobral at the next Affliction show, which is slated for the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 11, according to Yahoo!Sports.com.
Here’s the weird part: “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” is apparently prohibited from negotiating with any other promotion other than the UFC because of a “60-day” non-compete clause in his contract. That period is set to expire on August 4. And Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio plans to hold a press conference on August 6 to officially announce its second-ever event.
It doesn’t leave too much time to negotiate terms with Ortiz, however. In addition, it is also hard to work on a possible match up if you are legally not allowed to speak with one of the participants.
Therefore, this report should be treated as nothing more than a rumor until the picture becomes more clear. Of course, we can still discuss the possible outcome of a 205-pound showdown between Ortiz and Sobral.
That’s because these two have had beef for years — Ortiz called Babalu nothing more than a “B” level fighter who is an inflated (fat) middleweight back in 2006. The Brazilian responded by saying that he wants to “smash” Tito’s face. To check it out visit one of our ancient posts right here.
The back-and-forth jawing has been on ever since.
Ortiz most recently satisfied his UFC contract, going 3-2-1 since a return from exile. Two of those wins, however, came against an over-the-hill and overmatched Ken Shamrock, and the other was a controversial split decision over current light heavyweight champion, Forrest Griffin.
He lost his last time out to Lyoto Machida — UFC President Dana White’s self-proclaimed assassin — via unanimous decision at UFC 84: “Ill Will” back in May. It’s clear that Ortiz needs a big-time win to silence the critics who feel the sport has passed him by. And a win over Sobral would go a long way toward doing that.
Babalu, on the other hand, is on a three-fight win streak since back-to-back knockout losses to Chuck Liddell and Jason Lambert inside the Octagon. The former UFC title contender outpointed Mike Whitehead on all three judges scorecards at the inaugural Affliction: “Banned” event on July 19.
As we mentioned last week, Fedor Emelianenko will put his newly-won WAMMA heavyweight title on the line against Andrei Arlovski in the main event of the evening on October 11. Stay tune for more updates.
67 Comments »
This fight will be booked for sure and it will probably be for the title. Usually I would oppose TIto fighting for any titles, but Affliction needs his star power to survive, so this is a good move. HOpefully the winner faces Nogueira in Afflictions’ 3rd show, cause I recently heard an interview with Rogerio where he talks about really wanting to be Wamma Champion.
I like Babalu via submission.
possibly another anaconda choke
ala david Heath!! Hope Tito bleeds to death!His head is just too big!
possibly another anaconda choke
john,I agree with the Ortiz/Babalu fight being for a title, but I hope Affliction starts their own title, and drop the lame ass Wamma belt crap..
Ortiz/Babalu, is going to be a great fight for Affliction..Tito will know doubt, help bring in some ppv buys..
Tito will be murdered by Babalu, He doesn’t stand a chance and should not even be in the LHW top ten.
u r right, Stager! Affliction needs to get their own bel;t and get rid of the crappy Wamma title. The only reason that they should keep the wamma is if they plann on cross promoting with other organizations like DREAM or EliteXC. Problem is that their fighter salaries are a lot higher than EliteXC’s, so I dont know if cross promotion between Affliction and ElieteXC could work out, but it would be great!
Hey, if they do fight for a title, at least the winner can fight Rogerio Nogueira, loose and then we will have a credible champion anyway!
Long Live Affliction. I have seen the Affliction 2 poster, and it sends chills up my spine thinking of “THE BATTLE OF RUSSIA”
Either way i think Affliction should get their own title’s to give to the winners..If Wamma wants to run around and hand out belt’s to the fighters they have ranked #1? then go ahead..Go try and give one to Anderson Silva..Dana would shit his pants.. But Affliction needs to get their own strap..
john, I can’t wait until Affliction,2..I have wanted to see Fedor fight Arlovski for soo long, and now it’s finally going to happen..I am honestly happier to see this fight then Fedor/Randy..or Barnett..
Viva la Affliction’
Yeah berty happy to see the Fedor/Arlovski fight and it will be a mucxh better fight then Couture but Fedor is just too good. I hate to see Andre get beaten but hopefully he makes it a good fight before loosing. I love Arlovski, bhut in reality I just dont see Fedor loosing a fight.
I will still b very excited to see it!
if elite xc and affliction combined, for like afflictions third show that would be insane. If you think about all that talent and big names it would be huge. Especially since like randy will be done with this court non sense, and I read ricardo arona is interested in a return if he gets a good contract. but it most likely won’t happen but i guess i will just dream about it.
I’ll take Babalu as well, but I’m having trouble remembering when the last time Tito was submitted.
Guy Metzger got him with a guillotine back in ‘97. I don’t know I’ve never been a Babalu fan, and although Machida beat Tito down I’d have to say that triangle/arm bar attempt at the end was kind of impressive. I’m taking Tito by GnP, or maybe a surprise sub.
Cheff: U r right about that. Tito is a tough guy to submit. Tito is an idiot because he isnt as 1 dimensional as he makes himself out to be. Tito does, and has always had a solid submission game, dating back to when he was competing in Abu Dahbi. He is just stupid because he never attempts any subs, and instead chooses to sit in his opponents guard! I know unlike other fighters, he can actually do damage when in opponents guard, I just hate to watch it!
Makes for a very boring fight.
However, Babalu’s gracie baja jits is top of the line, and I wouldnt be surprised if he caught Tito in a sub. I also think Babalu is the better striker.
Ha, did not know about Tito’s sub background. That explains it I guess, maybe now that he almost caught someone with it he’ll try and use it. You’d think after training with a guy like Rampage he’d have better stand up too, but after that last fight it’s pretty plain to see that the stand up part of his game hasn’t gone anywhere. I’m not really a big fan of either fighter, but I’m gonna go ahead and stick with Tito to win.
lol. i remember Rogan saying back in the day about Tito: Tito knows jitz but choses not to use it because if he taps the guy, the guy will come back and still think he’s better whereas if he pounds on the guy in guard, they’ll remember the beatdown.
his striking again machida isnt what let him down imo, it was his gameplan.. for some reason he expected machida to come in guns blazing and brawl with him.. what an idiot.
Tito’s jits is good but he is too stupid or stuborn to use it. I would compare his jits maybe to Forrest’s, good but under rated. its really ashame he doesn’t use it, or doesnt pass positions on the ground more because then I would be a fan…however I cant root for a guy like him who sits in guard and just pounds away, but also hits like a girl standing.
I hope Babalu or Nogueira take him out, but I also hope that he fights for Affliction.
You are right John. Babalu is the better striker. And IMO, he also has the better ground skills. Bein’ from the Gracie Barra training camp also makes his ground skills more legit!Babalu will dominate all aspects of the game if this fight comes into fruition. All Tito could do is use his brute strength and big head.
Babalu will TKO Tito.
i dont think wamma should give a tito vs babalu a wamma title if they want to keep their credibility as holding the ‘TRUE’ top fighters for each weight class. cause honestly, none of them are top 10 light heavies.
oh i saw this pic of aoki wearing a JZ calvacante(wrong spelling i think?) shirt.
Think about it this way, even if the fight is for the belt, the winner will probably have to defend his title against Rogerio Nogueira in Afflictions 3rd show and neither will beat Rogerio, so he will be champion by March at the l;atest and then they will have a credible champion.
Sometimes up start organizations have to sell out a little bit to survive, so maybe they have to sell out a little to make it a title fight, it will still attract the millions of Tito fans to purchase the card. HIm and Babalu both have beef with each other and they both talk a lot of crap, so they will really help sell the pay per view!
i dont think wamma should give a tito vs babalu a wamma title if they want to keep their credibility as holding the ‘TRUE’ top fighters for each weight class. cause honestly, none of them are top 10 light heavies.
oh i saw this pic of aoki wearing a JZ calvacante(wrong spelling i think?) shirt..
If this is for the wamma title, I will not watch. (and I would love this match by the way). It would go against evreything wamma is supposed to stand for!
i don’t think that tito or babalu are the best lhw’s in the world but the ufc is not included in wamma because they chose not to, so tito and babalu along with lil nog are probally the best lhw’s in the world outside of the ufc.
Exactly! good point Roy!
Say they were to cross promote with ElitexC down the line, we can throw Elite XC’s 205 lbs animal, Feijao!
and arona is still out there
JOHN AND ROY. theres a good interview on mmaweekly right now with arona and he states while he prefers japan, he wants to fight in the ufc cuz he thinks the cage will work to his advantage. he is def a wild-card at 205 and maybee the time off will have helped him.
thanks for the heads up b.w.
Ortiz looked bad against Machida (not a surprise).
How did Sobral look vs. Whitehead?
I see Tito squeaking out a decision vs. Sobral.
He is too strong for Sobral to manhandle but Tito does not have anything but his one dimensional gnp.
Could be a boring fight despite the trash talk.
Babalu woop some ass in is last fight and looked great.
yass i hope tito wins and he goes back to the ufc or he could wait and get that rematch with frank shamrock but i dont think he will wait that long.
I think they will not let him back in the UFC, not unless they have a shortage of 205 lb fighters…
Tito is still a big LHW, I think he can, and will win this fight. I dont think Babalu is strong enough to stop Titos takedowns and hes not that good on his feet either. This is what Tito meant by “I will be a champion again”
Agreed.
Guys, watch this! Full video of Fedor vs Sylvia fight. M-1s version. This is how we did see it in Europe.
http://www.mixfight.ru/multimedia/video/category/fights/2008/7/fedor_emelianenko_vs_tim_sylvia/
I feel the “NOW” Tito will not beat the “NOW” Babalu.. if theis what would of happened..3 yrs ago..different story. Babalu is has more improved stand up.. has matured as a fighter in this las tyear alone..Has equal or better Wreslting then Tito.. and is a wizard in the BJJ game.. I see Babalu..winning via GnP.. from a top half guard/ to even a strong side control on.. Tito’s only pray is to sit in Babalu’s guard.. Tito is still very strong form this top position.. Babalu will need to work alot of half guard stuff with Gordo to prep for this fight.
WAR BABALU!!!
This will be a must see..I hope they can fight in A/C so the peeps and I can link up.. and watch some great fights on the board walk.
Phi. I agree with your whole assesment, but if they do fight it will be at afflictions 2nd show in las Vegas.
Affliction promised that their 3rd show will be in the East Coast for sure, so we can link up then. We will probably be treated to Fedor vs. Couture or Barnett in the 3rd show, so either way we will have a blast!
i say babalu wins by choke and doesnt let go until tito’s big head completely explodes!!!
Didn’t chuck beat the shi*t out of both of them???????
yea twice each lol! beatings for all!
Chuck beat them both… I think it will be a good fight between them. I’m rooting for Babalu
I don’t want to see Tito lay on Babalu for 3 rounds…BOOO@ this fight.
Split decsion Tito
If Tito can get his shit together he can win this fight. He walks around at about 218 lbs. and Babalu doesn’t cut weight anymore to get to 205. I think he weighed in at 202 against witehead. Tito should be able to over-power him and take him down and gnp. But then again that’s what I thought he would do against Machida and there Tito said Machida ran and wouldn’t fight “very elusive!”. I don’t buy that crap. They fight in a cage, how far can he run! Tito was scared for some reason otherwise he would of went and got him.
The question is: Will Atencio succumb to Tito’s undoubtedly inflatable demands when Atencio has already stated that they need to make a profit? My take is that Atencio admits that they can’t continue to pay fighters like they did for their first card. How do you “put the genie back in the bottle”? Furthermore, as far as I’ve read, Trump has no equity in Affliction - he is just getting paid to help promote them. Atencio has stated that they need to be showing a profit and that they will re-evaluate things after their first three cards. Off topic: I wonder what Lorenzo Fertitta is up to these days?
im sure tito will be asking for 500k to 1mil to fight, and he’ll get it either from affliction or elite. thats a huge problem for affliction. babalu made i think 300k for his last fight, so a fight with jacob wil cost them at least a million all together. atencio has stated that the fighters where gonna have to take a pay-cut or “work with him” and i dont see babalu or jacob taking less , nor any of the other fighters. plus they have fedor/a.a. wich will add up to another mil in purse money(or more) and big tim will be fighting again, maybee against barnett and that will be a 1.5 mil payout or more. so we are are already talking about a 3.5 million dollar pay out just for 3 fights alone. thats not even taking into account the under card and this events payout can reach 5 mil easy. they could sell 300 thousand ppvs and still not make a profit. i love all the match-ups that affliction has given the fans and intends to give, but they wont make it out of the end of the year unless the fighters themselves agree to take ALOT less money and like i said once before, once a fighter makes that much, he’s always gonna want that much or more, especially if he wins.
I agree - it’s analagous to letting someone get away with something and then trying to be strict. Atencio needs to tighten up the purse strings - but how do you do that without alienating people?. I do not think though that EliteXC is financially able to meet Tito’s inflated financial demands. I’d like to get Lorenzo Fertitta’s take on the present MMA landscape.
Babalu by TKO-can’t wait! It’s awesome to see Sobral fighting again.
Tito Ortiz is no longer relevant. To be relevant, you have to beat someone other than Ken Shamrock.
Two UFC rejects, not even top 10, I’ll pass.
Regadless of what the outcome of this fight is, that this fight would happoen at all has to send Dana through the roof. Tito, his arch enemy vs. Babalu, whom he kicked out of the UFC and it’s gonna happen in his backyard. It’s a big draw on an already big night with Fedor, whom he would allow int he UFC vs. Andre, whom he wouldn’t re-sign! LOL…gotta love the irony of it all.
I agree that it would be a “bitter pill” for Dana to swallow.
Just wanna fix my spelling errors:
*happen
*wouldn’t
I wouldn’t say that the UFC is totally out of the picture just yet wrt Ortiz. IMHO Lorenzo Fertitta (who Jacob admits to liking and admiring) is in the process of eclipsing Dana. The odds are against Jacob signing with the UFC, but with Lorenzo now basically at the helm and with his expansion plans, I don’t think that it is entirely “out of the question”.
That would be a hard one to swallow for Dana and Fertitta’s
it will be a good fight but i think sobral will win by submission or tito will just lay on him for 3 rounds
HMmmmmm… Thats right the bad biy will return and smash all opponents….I am really starting to like this affliction they seem to be wanting to put on better fights than the ufc,,,one of the ufc evevts has cote headlining it….what a joke like he has a shot…ufc you better make a move or i forsee you guys being a four man star show,a.silva,griffin,george.st.,page…[when he acts like a man]….TEAM PUNISHMENT FOREVER!!
Hard one to call, if you want to go buy both fighters last few performances, then i say Babalu takes it via decision. i would love nothing more then to see Babalu tko or submit Tito but titos to smart to let that happen
Man im a big liddell fan and he kicked these two in to next week!! Currently liddell isnt the champ in the ufc, so why oh why would dana lose any sleep over this fight? As much as i love to watch tito fight hes exciting pre fight and talks a great game, he lost all his confidence with his losses to liddell and cotoure. Personally froma financial position id have signed him if i was dana as he is a croud pleaser! In terms of fighting at the moment he isnt at the top and cant be a contender! Its a little sad to be honest because to date liddell v ortiz is still the fight that kinda made mma HUGE!!
Dana will be more pissed at not signing fedor and leting Arlovski go! Hes looked really good lately!! UFC rules!!
One question, can you use elbows in affliction?
This is a fight that I always wanted to see in the UFC. I’d be just as happy with them fighting in Affliction if it was in the cage. I wonder how many times are they going to have to pull them up and have the reset in the middle of the ring.
i dont think babalu has much of a chance, hes a small light heavyweight, he has no wins over big fighters recently, he hasnt had a big win in a couple a years, if u count travis wiuff or chael sonnen as a big win
if u dont, then its been 5 years
tito isnt the same tito he was but he still has an edge over babalu, in conditioning and strength , he will simply over power him and ground and pound him , even though he doesnt have the cage, he wont have much troubled taking down babalu
this is a sure fire way to ruin a good night of mma. mad respect to babalu but i hate watching tito fight.
Tito lost by decision two months ago against the current best LHW in the world - Loyota Machida. Where he almost triangled him in the last round…..Dam that was exciting!
Tito will bring it in this one because he has too. He’s also believe’s he can beat Sobral which is sooooo important for Tito.
Tito easily by old school ground and pound.
WAR TITO!!
uhhh are elbows aloud in affliction???? anyone?
they might have to skrape babalu’s face off the mat after this one.
Tito did beat the current UFC lhw champ which some mma fans believe the w should’ve gone to Forrest. (Tito clearly had 1st and 3rd rounds). He also would’ve beat Rashad if McCarthy didn’t take a point away. Machida ran from Tito the entire fight. I heard Tito sent him a pair of running shoes after the fight. I will take Tito in this one.