(Two former champs who are in need of new nicknames.)
According to a report from Tatame, a clash between former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz and former middleweight champion Rich Franklin has been verbally agreed to for the un-televised portion of the UFC’s inaugural event on Fox November 12.
The event, which will take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California and will be headlined by a heavyweight championship bout between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos, will also feature a number one light heavyweight contenders match-up between Ben Henderson and Clay Guida.
Ortiz’s jiu-jitsu coach Ricardo Abreau revealed the news of the potential fight this afternoon.
“Ortiz’s next fight will be against Rich Franklin, at UFC on FOX 1,”said. “He’s out of town travelling and I haven’t spoken with him for a couple days. As far as I know that’s the fight, but it’s not signed yet”.
1-5-1 in his last seven outings, “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was handily beaten by Rashad Evans in his last bout at UFC 133 last month after stepping in for an injured Phil Davis on short notice. He bought himself more time in the Octagon when he snapped a three-fight losing streak by defeating Ryan Bader by first-round guillotine at UFC 132 one month earlier.
Franklin, who stamped Chuck Liddell’s retirement papers with an impressive first-round knockout of the UFC Hall-of-Famer at UFC 115 in June 2010 will be hungry for a win after dropping a unanimous decision to Forrest Griffin in the TUF 1 winner’s first fight back from a year-long layoff due to injury.
Main Card (On Fox)
Heavyweight Championship Bout
Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos
Preliminary Card
Rich Franklin vs. Tito Ortiz
Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida
Dustin Poirier vs. Pablo Garza
Cub Swanson vs. Ricardo Lamas
Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Darren Uyenoyama