Before his TKO loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz revealed that he has plans of retiring after his fight contract is up.
The month of May will mark the 15-year anniversary of Ortiz’s first fight in the UFC and the “People’s Champ” feels that the time has come to call it a career.
With one fight left on his contract, Ortiz wants his final fight to be a memorable one and called out both Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin, two fighters Ortiz has fought twice before.
Liddell has been retired since 2010 and the chances of UFC President Dana White allowing him to step back into the octagon are slim to none, which makes Griffin the more likely opponent.
Griffin and Ortiz split their first two fights, with Ortiz winning the first at UFC 59 by split decision, and Griffin taking the split decision at UFC 106 in November 2009.
Both fights have been close and a third fight could create a lot of hype for Ortiz’s last fight.
This week, Ortiz took to the press, according to Bloody Elbow, and decided to issue a challenge to the 32-year-old.
“Forrest, you know I deserve it, man. Step up. Let’s do this. It’s an awesome fight for you. I lost my last one. You lost your last one. Let’s do this — unless you’re scared!”
Griffin’s last fight was a brutal knockout loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 134, in Brazil.
The Ultimate Fighter winner has undoubtedly taken a lot of punishment over the years and it is unknown how much longer fans will see him in the octagon as well.
But a third fight with Ortiz doesn’t seem to be such a bad idea for Griffin,
“He knows better than that. You know what’s funny about me and Tito? The truth is we each consider the other an easy fight. For me, that’s the perfect ‘get right’ fight. Coming back from a bad loss and beating Tito Ortiz up? No problem. For Tito, he’s thinking, ‘Forrest ain’t that good. He’s getting old, prematurely. This is a great way to go out, with a win over Forrest!’ So, I think it’s a beautiful matchup because we both think of the other as an easy fight.”
Although a second win over Ortiz would not catapult Griffin back into the title picture, a third and final fight between these two would help keep Griffin’s name in the spotlight as the “People’s Champ’s” last opponent.
With both fighters likely calling it quits soon, putting on one final, great fight could be a perfect ending to Ortiz’s career, and a perfect start to the end of Griffin’s.
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