Late Monday night, former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito ‘The People’s Champ’ Ortiz (16-10-1) announced his next fight on Twitter (@titoortiz), naming Forrest Griffin (18-7) as his next opponent.
Ortiz also named the event, UFC 148 on July 7th in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
This will be the third meeting between the two fighters, with each man scoring a victory over the other. Ortiz has been campaigning hard for the grudge match, which will likely mark his last appearance in the Octagon as a fighter.
They first met back in 2006 at UFC 59, with Ortiz earning a split decision win in their first meeting. It would be three years later when both fighters would square off again as part of UFC 106 in November 2009. Again they would battle to a split decision, but this time it would be Griffin earning the W.
Ortiz is 1-5 in his last six, dropping his last two matches via TKO. ‘The People’s Champ’ suffered a first round finish at the hands of Antônio Rogério Nogueira last December at UFC 140 and was stopped by Rashad Evans at UFC 133. His last Octagon win came against Ryan Bader at UFC 132, when Ortiz surprised everyone with a first round submission finish.
Griffin had his last fight in August in Brazil at UFC 134, suffering a knockout loss to Mauricio Rua at the Rio de Janeiro event. The loss ended a two fight win streak which saw Griffin earn a decision win over Rich Franklin at UFC 126 and the split decision over Ortiz at UFC 106.