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Tito Ortiz Reminisces About His Storied UFC Career While Fishing

At UFC 147 in Las Vegas on July 7th, Tito Ortiz will enter the UFC octagon for the last time against longtime rival Forrest Griffin. Ortiz is the longest reigning light heavyweight champion in the promotion’s history, and one of the sport’s first break…

Ortiz has been competing in the UFC for 15 years, and took his first fight for free as he didn’t want to lose his amateur status while in college. In those 15 years, Ortiz faced the best the sport had to offer and walked away victorious against the likes of Evan Tanner, Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort.

He was a longtime rival of Chuck Liddell, and the two were responsible for some of the biggest pay-per-view buyrates in history. The UFC tried to capture lightning in a bottle a third time when they placed Ortiz and Liddell opposite one another on The Ultimate Fighter. The fight fell apart when Ortiz suffered an injury and was replaced with Rich Franklin. Ironically, that would be Liddell’s last time fighting in the octagon.

Ortiz has had a contentious relationship with UFC President Dana White, and at one point, the two were even scheduled to settle their differences in a boxing exhibition. After weeks of build, including a special on Spike TV, the match never came to fruition.

Ortiz is a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer, and one of the first fighters to really show how devastating ground and pound could be. He also showed that a fighter has the ability to build his own brand.

Let’s go and pour one out for the Huntington Beach Bad Boy.

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Ultimate Fighter Live Finale: Live Reaction and Play-by-Play

On Friday evening, the first season of the Ultimate Fighter Live on FX finally comes to a close. It started with 32 fighters vying for one of the 16 spots to live in the house. After 13 weeks of fighting, the field has been whittled down to just two co…

The 10-fight card kicks off with a fight between Erik Perez and John Albert on Facebook.

Then switch over to Fuel TV for four more fights before finally tuning into the finale on FX headlined by Martin Kampmann vs Jake Ellenberger.

Official Card

Erik Perez vs. John Albert (Facebook)

Jeremy Larsen vs. Joe Proctor (Fuel TV)

Sam Sicillia vs. Christaiano Marcello (Fuel TV)

Chris Saunders vs. Myles Jury (Fuel TV)

Daron Cruickshank vs. Chris Tickle (Fuel TV)

John Cofer vs. Justin Lawrence (FX)

Pat Schilling vs. Max Holloway (FX)

Charles Oliveira vs. Jonathan Brookins (FX)

Ultimate Fighter Finales – Al Iaquinta vs. Mike Chiesa (FX)

Welterweight Title Eliminator – Martin Kampmann vs. Jake Ellenberger

Join Bleacher Report for a live discussion and play by play of the card. The night kicks off with the Facebook Prelims at 6:25 p.m. ET. The Fuel TV and FX portions will happen at 7:00 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET, respectively.

Note: The entire card will be airing live for the West Coast.

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UFC: Dana White Announces Retirement of Kenny Florian

Earlier this morning UFC President Dana White teased that he had a special announcement for the Ultimate Fighter Finale weigh-ins. The speculation covered everything from UFC 147 getting put on free TV to a proposed matchup between the winner of Kampma…

What has come as a complete surprise is that the special announcement was for the retirement of Kenny “KenFlo” Florian. Florian was a contestant on the the first season of the Ultimate Fighter where he entered the house as a blown-up middleweight.

After losing to Diego Sanchez at the finale, he dropped down to welterweight where he found success against the likes of Kit Cope and Alex Karalexis. When the UFC announced that they were reinstating the lightweight division, Florian faced Sean Sherk for the vacant title.

Though he was unsuccessful in his title bid, Florian cemented himself as one of the most reliable and feared fighters in the division. He would put together a six-fight winning streak before challenging BJ Penn for the lightweight title.

Again, he was unsuccessful. In his time at lightweight, Florian would pick up wins over such names as Roger Huerta, Clay Guida and Takanori Gomi. Following a loss to Gray Maynard, he tried to reinvent himself as a featherweight.

He picked up a win over Diego Nunes in his featherweight debut before challenging featherweight champion Jose Aldo. It would be his third time challenging for a belt in the UFC, and unfortunately, he was unsuccessful once again in his bid for UFC gold.

Florian should be remembered as a fighter who was successful in four different weight classes and one of the best ambassadors for the sport. He will continue his involvement with UFC as a member of the broadcast team and a trainer of upcoming athletes.

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Patrick Cote Steps Up to Face Cung Le at UFC 148 in Las Vegas

The game of MMA musical chairs continues.Earlier on Wednesday, it was announced that Rich Franklin would be stepping up to replace Vitor Belfort in the main event of UFC 147 against Wanderlei Silva. This announcement came at a bit of a shock as Rich Fr…

The game of MMA musical chairs continues.

Earlier on Wednesday, it was announced that Rich Franklin would be stepping up to replace Vitor Belfort in the main event of UFC 147 against Wanderlei Silva. This announcement came at a bit of a shock as Rich Franklin was already scheduled to face Cung Le at UFC 148.

Le hinted earlier on Twitter that word of his new opponent would be released Wednesday night. It has been announced by MMAJunkie that Le’s new opponent is one-time UFC middleweight title challenger Patrick Côté, though nothing has been officially signed.

Côté is currently riding a four-fight winning streak since his departure and is an 11-fight veteran in the UFC. He holds notable wins over Ricardo Almeida and Scott Smith. He was also unsuccessful in two title fights while in the promotion.

Cung Le is a former Strikeforce middleweight champion and a Sanshou standout. He made his UFC debut at UFC 139 against Wanderlei Silva. He suffered a TKO loss when Silva was able to batter his face and body with knees and punches. He also posted a gruesome photo on Twitter afterwards of his broken nose. Cung Le hopes to pick up his first UFC victory in his fight against Côté.

UFC 148 takes place in Las Vegas on July 7 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

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Phil Davis Draws Undefeated Wagner Prado as Replacement at UFC on Fox 4

When it rains it pours.In a day filled with news and fight announcements, Phil Davis has received a new opponent for UFC on Fox 4. Davis was originally scheduled to face Chad Griggs on the main card but injury has forced Griggs out of the bout without …

When it rains it pours.

In a day filled with news and fight announcements, Phil Davis has received a new opponent for UFC on Fox 4. Davis was originally scheduled to face Chad Griggs on the main card but injury has forced Griggs out of the bout without explanation.

MMAWeekly was the first to break the news that Phil Davis was booked against a new opponent. The mystery fighter is an undefeated prospect named Wagner Prado. Prado is a member of Team Nogueira and holds a professional record of 6-0.

In Davis, he will face a young fighter who happens to be one of the best the light heavyweight division has to offer. Phil Davis will be making his return to the octagon following the first defeat of his career at the hands of Rashad Evans at UFC on Fox 2 in Chicago. It was the kind of defeat that could cause a young fighter to question his skills. Hopefully in Davis’ case it will fuel his drive to improve as a fighter.

Davis recently spoke with MMA Fight Corner and had this to say about his loss to Evans.

“I just needed more time in the gym,” he said. “[Rashad’s] polished, you know, in all the ways I’m not. I just need to stay in the gym and work on my overall game.”

UFC on Fox 4 takes place August 4 in Los Angeles.

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Rich Franklin Steps in to Fight Wanderlei Silva at UFC 147

Following UFC 146 this past Saturday night, UFC President Dana White announced that Vitor Belfort had suffered a broken hand in training and was forced to pull out of his UFC 147 bout against Wanderlei Silva. The two had spent time as opposing coaches …

UFC 147 was set to be the culmination of the series, with the two fighters settling their long-time rivalry in the main event.

Silva went on the attack and said that Belfort breaking his hand was disrespectful. Silva’s thought process was that at the highest level, fighters have the best equipment and training available, so there is no reason to suffer any significant injuries while training.

While Vitor has elected to remain quiet, his wife had some harsh words for Silva:

The only thing Wanderlei can do is talk too much, he chickened out several times on fighting Vitor… and now he comes to talk my husband is ducking. If you doubt, the next opponent of Wand in UFC147 will beat the record of 40 sec of Vitor Belfort or Chris Leben 20 seconds hahahaha.

Today, the UFC announced that Rich Franklin will step up and replace the injured Belfort. Franklin was originally scheduled to face Cung Le at UFC 148. Franklin and Silva have met once before at a bout contested at 195 pounds which fans have affectionately called “Franklinweight.” That bout saw Franklin win a hard decision at UFC 99 in Cologne, Germany.

The rematch will be contested at 190 pounds, which from this day forward shall be called “Wanderleight.” Rich Franklin stepping up is the best possible outcome as most middleweight and light heavyweight fighters currently have fights scheduled. The ones that don’t are either injured or lack the name value to step into the main event role.

While I appreciate the UFC’s effort at trying to save UFC 147, I can’t help but feel that a bout between Franklin and Wanderlei lacks any kind of intrigue. There was no controversy in their first fight and both fighters are on the tail end of their storied careers.

I hope that this fight becomes another example of an unremarkable contest on paper becoming a candidate for Fight of the Year, as is usually the case in MMA. I say this because as it currently stands, UFC 147 may be the weakest card the UFC has tried to put together in the past four years.

Time will tell. I just hope that Zuffa is ready to handle detractors who won’t be pleased with this matchup.

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