Ortiz vs Griffin 2: A Risky Move for All Parties Involved

When Mark Coleman pulled out of his November 21 scheduled bout with Tito Ortiz, the UFC found itself without a co-main event for the UFC 106 card. Most observers thought that the UFC would be hard-pressed to come up with an adequate replacement. With the announced match-up between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin, the UFC has not only found an adequate replacement, but also made a much more interesting co-main event.

The idea behind the match between Coleman and Ortiz was fairly simple: Ortiz needed an easy fight to shake of the ring rust after a long absence from active competition. Mark Coleman was thought to be a relatively easy target who would also bring name recognition, which added some credibility to the match-up.

The way the UFC planned on marketing the match is probably something like this: Tito Ortiz struggled against Randy Couture, who is a lot like Coleman in that he is a forty-something former elite wrestler. Thus, a fight with Coleman would carry some intrigue due to the problems Couture’s wrestling posed for Ortiz in the past.

In reality, the match would not likely have been close. Coleman has not aged as well as Couture, and also brings a much more narrow skill set to the table. Tito’s only concern would be to avoid takedowns, as Coleman does not possess much striking ability. Tito would have been a gigantic favorite going into that fight.

The replacement fight, a rematch with Forrest Griffin, is far more interesting, and should be more competitive. The new match is actually a much riskier play by the UFC as it places some serious consequences in front of two of the UFC’s most marketable fighters. Is it possible that both fighters move on from this fight to become contenders again? Yes, it’s possible, but not very likely.

Ortiz’s first fight with Griffin was a very exciting and closely contested battle, which suggests that this fight also could be an exciting affair. But more than just looking at the fight itself, the narrative is also now a lot more complex.

The fact that the fight is a rematch brings the first layer of intrigue and all of the ideas of an unsettled score. At the time, the first fight’s split decision result was questioned by the commentators, spectators, and Eddie Bravo, the unofficial scorekeeper once employed by the UFC.

The new fight gives Tito and Forrest another chance to prove decisively who is the better fighter.

Ortiz has not won a fight in three years, since his match third match against Ken Shamrock in October 10, 2006. He’s desperate for a win in his return to the UFC. While the fight with Coleman would have been more of a “homecoming welcome” for Tito, Forrest Griffin could quite possibly welcome Ortiz back with a loss, which would be devastating to his aspirations of another title run.

Forrest Griffin’s predicament is just as difficult. Forrest is coming off two devastating losses to Rashad Evans and Anderson Silva. Despite the elite level of his opposition, Forrest still finds himself in a position where he can ill-afford a third consecutive defeat.

Therefore, in Ortiz vs Griffin we have a match between two fighters again at another crossroads. As we’ve seen with Couture vs Nogueira and Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva, sometimes the situations have resulted in truly great fights. More often, though, the winner revives and invigorates his career while the loser’s career is put on life-support.

In either case, there should be a lot of drama when the fight takes place.

Until then, both fighters have other questions left to answer.

Tito’s career has been dogged by back injuries. He’s been proclaiming that surgery on his spine has restored him to full health, but he’s claimed to be healthy before. People won’t believe him this time until he’s proved his health in the Octagon.

Forrest Griffin’s questions are more about his mentality than anything physical. After his embarrassing loss to Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin has only appeared in one video interview. In that interview he seemed almost to be suffering from a depression, and didn’t look like he was in the right state of mind to be training for a fight.

He’d stated that he has not really been seriously training since the Silva fight, and that he has not been looking forward to another fight. He’ll need a serious awakening in order to compete with Ortiz, even if Ortiz does bring some ring rust into the fight.

- By Darren Wong for FightMania.com

Tags: Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin, Mark Coleman, Randy Couture, Rashad Evans, Tito Ortiz, UFC, Wanderlei Silva