Tito Ortiz, Ryan Bader to Meet at UFC 132 in July

[Kemal]

Tito Ortiz will go after his first win since October 2006 when he meets Ryan Bader at UFC 132.

The two fighters confirmed the bout on their Twitter accounts, including Ortiz saying it was a fight UFC president Dana White wanted. The matchup was first reported Monday by MMA Weekly.

Ortiz, a former UFC light heavyweight champ, was scheduled to face Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in the main event of the UFC's Fight Night 24 card on Spike TV in Seattle this Saturday. But he was forced out of the bout several weeks ago when he suffered a concussion and cut while training that required more than 20 stitches to his head. Phil Davis stepped up and will face Nogueira on Saturday.

Ortiz (15-8-1, 14-8-1 UFC) began lobbying on Twitter, as well as "The MMA Hour," for a third fight with fellow former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin. Ortiz and Griffin are 1-1 against each other, each with a split decision. Griffin beat Ortiz at UFC 106; Ortiz beat Griffin at UFC 59. But instead, he'll get Bader, the winner of Season 8 of "The Ultimate Fighter" and a former NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at Arizona State.

Ortiz's last victory came against Ken Shamrock, a first-round TKO that came on the heels of another first-round TKO of Shamrock at UFC 61 that some believed was stopped too early. Since the pair of 2006 wins over Shamrock, Ortiz has gone 0-4-1 with losses to Chuck Liddell, Lyoto Machida, Griffin and Matt Hamill and a draw against Rashad Evans at UFC 73.

Bader (12-1, 5-1 UFC) dropped the first fight of his MMA career in February when he was submitted by Jon Jones. That win gave Jones a crack at light heavyweight champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua on Saturday, and he dominated with a third-round TKO to take the title. Prior to that, Bader had gone 4-0 since beating Vinny Magalhaes to win the TUF 8 title.

Ortiz is likely to have plenty on the line. At a small Q&A with troops at the UFC's Fight for the Troops 2 show at Fort Hood in January, White said Ortiz was in a must-win situation against Nogueira. That statement no doubt carries over to his fight with Bader.

UFC 132, though not yet made official by the promotion, will take place July 2 in Las Vegas. The UFC recently announced a rematch between Jon Fitch and BJ Penn for the card – though it is not yet known if that fight will be the main event.

[bazooka]

ORtiz maakt geen kans

[Mule-Kick]

Deze gaat Bader wel pakken. Hij is een jongere, betere versie van Ortiz.

[dirk5]

ik gok dat Ortiz 2 weken van te voren zich uit het gevecht moet trekken met een blessure...

[justsomeone]

Ik denk ook idd dat deze fight er niet gaat komen

[Garcia]

Hoezeer ik Tito mag ben ik blij dat hij dit kan vergeten en dat het na deze partij exit UFC is.

[YoMarK]

Alweer? Wat is het toch ook een eikel eerste klas.

[redjuh]

tito is geblesseerd tot eind 2047... even geduld hebben nog