Once again, former UFC light heavyweight champions Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz have gone to a split decision. After six-rounds and two fights, no fighter has yet to decisively finish the other. The UFC 106 main-event lived up to its hype and then some. This time it was Forrest Griffin that won a tight, yet controversial split decision in their rematch.

The fight lived up to all of my expectations coming out of the first match. It was almost as if Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz remained in the ring and the bell rang for Round 4 when it started. Ortiz entered the fight with a black eye from training, while Griffin looked to be fully recovered from the Anderson Silva loss. I would have no problem whatsoever with seeing Griffin-Ortiz III after seeing this fight.

The first round played out a lot like their first match in Anaheim. Forrest seemed to be hitting early on with some beautiful leg kicks. At the same time, you just had a feeling that Ortiz would time them and shoot the takedown. Like clockwork, Ortiz timed his takedown perfectly and resumed where things left off in Anaheim. Ortiz controlled Griffin on the ground and laid in the ground and pound on Forrest. Like their first right, Griffin survived the ground attack of Ortiz. Griffin peppered Ortiz a bit with leg kicks and jabs, but in my opinion Tito dominated most of the round.

Round 2 started off a little bit of the same. Unlike Round 1 and their previous fight, Forrest had much better defense against the takedowns and on the ground. Forrest used a butterfly guard to prevent Ortiz from fully mounting him and unleashing more ground and pound. Griffin seemed to grow more confident and started to dominate the striking game between the two fighters. The high drama came when Ortiz opened up Griffin badly with an elbow on the ground. Griffin remained composed and wound up sweeping Ortiz and reversing positions on the ground. The round ended with a bloody Griffin on top of Tito and some pushing and shoving.

The final round was a little bizarre to me. Ortiz came out fired up to start the round but was completely exhausted. Ortiz wound up becoming a punching bag for five minutes. Ortiz barely moved and had no reflexes to counter Griffin’s jabs and kicks. Griffin nailed a high kick at one point that rocked Ortiz. Ortiz seemed to be saving his energy for a takedown. He tried two towards the end of the round and Griffin blocked them both. It was very odd to see Ortiz go from dominating the first round, pounding Griffin in the second round, to doing absolutely nothing in the third round. The entire round saw Griffin just constantly strike at an immobile Tito Ortiz.

Both fighters acknowledged injuries following the fight. Forrest claimed to have a broken foot, while Ortiz claimed to have a neck injury which prevented him from sparring. I hate excuses but I tend to believe Ortiz. It was obvious he was gassed in Round 3. Say what you will about Tito, but his cardio conditioning is legendary. I had a feeling well before he said it that there was something physically wrong with him because I have never seen Tito that tired in a fight. Although, how did he get a black eye in training if he couldn’t spar for two weeks? The crowd did boo because quite honestly, it seems that Tito has an injury excuse every time he loses a fight.

The match once again came down to a split decision. Forrest Griffin got the win and already asked for a third match with Tito Ortiz on the post-match interview. I don’t think anyone was robbed here, but I can’t comprehend Forrest winning Round 2. Ortiz opened up a huge cut with elbows, took him down, grounded and pounded him, and yet somehow Griffin got the round. Once again a UFC main-event ends in controversy and a questionable judgment. To be fair, I don’t think it was impossible to fathom Griffin winning the round. However, all I saw was Forrest dominate one round of a three-round fight.

Tito Ortiz tied Chuck Liddell with a record 21 appearances in a UFC octagon. Physically, Ortiz looked great other than the black eye. I was also impressed with his efforts considering his age, his long layoff, and recovering from back surgery. Tito lost, but he definitely kept himself relevant on the top of the UFC cards. I think the UFC stumbled onto a gem here with a third Ortiz-Griffin match. I honestly can’t see how and why you would avoid it. Forrest Griffin won the fight at UFC 106, but I think everyone will win in the end with Ortiz-Griffin III.

Full UFC 106 results:
Forrest Griffin defeated Tito Ortiz via split decision
Josh Koscheck defeated Anthony Johnson via submissiono
Paulo Thiago defeated Jacob Volkmann via unanimous decision
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira defeated Luiz Cane via TKO
Amir Sadollah defeated Phil Baroni via unanimous decision
Ben Saunders defeated Marcus Davis via KO
Kendall Grove defeated Jake Rosholt via submission
Brian Foster defeated Brock Larson via TKO
Caol Uno fights Fabricio Camoes to a majority draw
George Sotiropoulos defeated Jason Dent via submission

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New Items Marked Down! Shop the UFC Sale at the UFC Store.

Order Forrest Griffin’s book Got Fight?: The 50 Zen Principles of Hand-to-Face Combat by clicking here.

Tito Ortiz’s autobiography This Is Gonna Hurt: The Life of a Mixed Martial Arts Champion by clicking here.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns this weekend with UFC 106. The UFC 106 presented this weekend will be much different than the original UFC 106 plans. While MMA fans lost one big match, another match change turned out to be better than the original. Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin meet in a long awaited rematch to highlight UFC 106.

This is a rematch that I have always wanted to see. I am actually surprised it took this long to make it happen. Ortiz announced his UFC return over the summer and indicated that he wanted to wait until he was 100% healthy to return to action. He signed to face Mark Coleman in his first match back at UFC 106. Frankly, this was nothing I was excited about and it just seemed like a set up for an easy Ortiz win. Coleman got hurt, Ortiz needed a new opponent, and there will be nothing easy about his new opponent.

The last time MMA fans saw Forrest Griffin, he was awkwardly running out of the cage after being embarrassed by Anderson Silva. He gave a new meaning to the phrase, “Run Forrest, run!” Griffin’s behavior after the match immediately cost him a lot of popularity amongst UFC fans. Griffin went into hiding and the usual media-loving jokester was nowhere to be found. The day Dana White announced the new match was the first anyone had even heard of Forrest since the Silva fight.

Griffin and Ortiz’s first match at UFC 59 has been a forgotten classic. You couldn’t have scripted a better match for a Hollywood movie. Griffin was the underdog, a fan favorite who had just won a reality show. He was truly in a position of being the Rocky of the UFC. Fans loved his courage and his brawling style, but nobody really took him seriously as a threat. Like Coleman, most speculated this match was a tune up to re-introduce Ortiz back to the UFC. To put this into perspective, Ortiz was paid $200,000 for the fight while Griffin was paid $16,000.

The fight turned into a real life Rocky vs. Apollo Creed. Ortiz talked a lot of trash before the match which turned Forrest into a bigger fan favorite. Ortiz started round one with a flurry and overwhelmed Griffin with his attack. At one point he bloodied Forrest and it looked like the fight would be over. Like Rocky, Forrest fought back and as the fight progressed, Forrest got stronger and more confident. By the third round, Griffin was the man in control blocking Tito’s takedowns and strikes. When the bell ended Griffin said he was ready to go two more rounds while Ortiz looked done. The crowd was frenzied as they expected to see the biggest upset at the time in MMA history. Unfortunately, fans and quite arguably Griffin were robbed of that upset. Ortiz won the fight on a very controversial split decision.

Oh how so much has changed since that fight in 2006. Griffin has gone on to win and lose the UFC light heavyweight championship. On top of that, Griffin has become one of the biggest superstars in the UFC. Ortiz tumbled backwards winning two easy matches against Ken Shamrock, yet hasn’t won a fight since. Ortiz wound up out of the UFC, in a public fight against Dana White, and was practically wiped out of the UFC’s history in the Top 100 show. Things changed for the Huntingdon Beach Bad Boy when he and Dana White patched things up, came to terms, and announced his return to the UFC this summer.

This will be anything but an easy fight for Tito Ortiz. I am really surprised that the UFC would risk such a huge investment in Ortiz with this fight, yet I love it as an MMA fan. I love the hype surrounding a Tito Ortiz fight but that is where it ends for Ortiz. I hate to say it, but I really think Tito’s best days as a fighter are long behind him. He hasn’t put anyone away decisively other than Ken Shamrock in a long time. I give him credit and I do think he gave Lyoto Machida a hell of a fight. Yet he hasn’t decisively beaten a big name in eight years since  he beat Evan Tanner at UFC 30. Ortiz has done a better job of creating the myth that he is a great fighter than he has done of actually being a great fighter.

I don’t know what to make of Forrest Griffin. It is really hard to take anything away from the Anderson Silva fight. I can’t say a guy is a fraud who got handled by arguably the greatest fighter to ever step into the UFC. Griffin is coming off of back-to-back losses for the first time in his MMA career. It is quite amazing since he came off consecutive wins over future Hall of Fame fighters, Rampage Jackson and Shogun Rua before his loss to Rashad Evans. I think Forrest Griffin is a very dangerous man right now. You could see the change, the anger, and the frustration in his face during the countdown special. He is probably the last guy I’d want to fight right now if I were Tito Ortiz.

As for the fight itself, I think it really comes down to how healthy Tito Ortiz is. Tito claims he is the healthiest he has been in years. That is fine in training, but it will be real interesting to see how his back holds up during a real fight. The key for Forrest is to keep his distance. If Forrest can avoid takedowns and frustrate Ortiz with leg kicks and jabs, he could set himself up nicely for an opening in the later rounds. At the same time if Ortiz could time Griffin’s strikes and shoot the takedown, he could just as easily frustrate Griffin. Griffin does not want to go 0-3 and he could make a costly mistake if he feels he is getting into trouble and deviates from his game plan.

In the end, I am more excited about this fight than anything in the last several months. These are two guys that don’t have boring fights. I’d expect more of a slugfest early than a slow, grinder on the ground. I think in the end, Forrest takes the fight via TKO or knock out. I just think Tito is too old and too rusty to hang with someone as good Forrest right now. I also think that Forrest is going into this much hungrier and meaner than he has ever been in the UFC. I look for three rounds here, with Forrest getting the win and making a lot more than $16,000 for the fight.

BetUs.com has Forrest Griffin as a -145 favorite while Bodog.com has the fight a little more even with Forrest as a -110 favorite.

Forrest Griffin UFC 59 post-fight interview on the split decision with Tito Ortiz

The entire scheduled UFC 106 fight card is…
Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson
Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann
Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni
Ben Saunders vs. Marcus Davis
Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt
Brock Larson vs. Brian Foster
Caol Uno vs. Fabricio Camoes
George Sotiropoulos vs. Jason Dent

Thanks to MMAFanhouse.com for the tip!

Place your UFC and MMA bets on BetUs.com by clicking here.

New Items Marked Down! Shop the UFC Sale at the UFC Store.

Order Forrest Griffin’s book Got Fight?: The 50 Zen Principles of Hand-to-Face Combat by clicking here.

Tito Ortiz’s autobiography This Is Gonna Hurt: The Life of a Mixed Martial Arts Champion by clicking here.