Tito Ortiz signs with Affliction

[Slim Pickns]

Big news today as Tito Ortiz, one of MMA's three biggest draws has signed with Affliction's promotion. Not only does this move give new life to Tito, but it gives Affliction credibility as the definite number two promotion in MMA. Elite XC was the supposed front runner to land Tito after his falling out with Dana White, but there two lackluster events with abysmal ratings along with Affliction better than expected PPV numbers lead to a change.

Overall this is a huge move in MMA. Tito, along with Randy and Chuck are the UFC's biggest all time draws. Tito vs Chuck II was the most watched PPV and Tito vs Shamrock III was the most watched TV event in UFC history. I'm sure Dana White will play this off as nothing, but he has to be worried. Chuck is nearing the end and Randy only want to fight Fedor. Throw in Jackson going insane and Dana is running out of proven draws. Tito may have fallen from elite status, but he still drew in the main event. More fans will still probably pay for Tito Chuck III than they would Forrest Griffin vs anybody.

 

[klunderbunker]

While I'm no where near being a fan of UFC or MMA in general, I've heard of both of these guys and of Affliction. THis to me seems to be MMA's biggest issue: All the various companies. Ortiz is one of the few names I've heard of and one of the few guys that I've seen fight. WIth this move, it seems that UFC may be starting to go downhill a bit. With this move, there seems to be only a handful of big names left in UFC with most of them either moving to other companies or retiring or being insane. While it'd be nice to have MMA step up and become the newest major sport, with all this movement, it seems like its becoming less likely in the near future.

 

[Slim Pickns]

UFC will still sell on name value alone. Proof is in some of the joke events they have put on since 06 and still gotten good enough buys to make it worthwhile. Matt Hughes vs Thiago Alves was a midcard match, but since the UFC knew they could get by on name alone, they made it a main event.

Now, I'm not saying this won't effect them. The difference now is that Affliction is a legit threat. They have the worlds best fighter, and a committee that is determined to make the best fights possible according to their rankings (which are good). Stack that, the signing of Tito, and the UFC running out of draws and we have a legit rivalry going here. The UFC won't go down, but they may lose a few bucks.

 

[Frank the Frowner]

This was pretty much inevitable with him being tight with Trump, the fact that he has personal animosity towards Dana, he appeared at the first Affliction show, and I'm pretty sure he wears their shirts quite often.

Now, just because he's still a top draw, it doesn't mean that he's still good. His last win was against Ken Shamrock, who's horrendously washed up, and that was in 2006. Since then, he lost to Chuck Liddell, had his fight with Rashad Evans go to a draw, and lost to Lyoto Machida. In the Evans and Machida fights, he definitely looked like he's lost a step or two.

What this does is bring a lot of legitimacy to Affliction and its roster. We'll probably see the Tito/Babalu fight now, which has been rumored about for a little bit.

 

[Marquis]

Well from the article i saw hes getting payed big money for this. Honestly i could care less if he signed with them the only way i see this actually even bothering the ufc is if he all of sudden gets gets his "Heart Back in the business" and starts winning. Also he claims that since their first show got 100,000 buys without him now its gonna go 500,000 plus guaranteed please maybe a few years back but now i doubt it. Sure i wont deny their will be more buy rates then the last ppv since he has name recognition but not by that much not now atleast. Also slim i agree with the Matt Hughes vs Thiago Alves fight i couldnt believe they put that as a main event. Good thing the upcoming ppvs will have some decent matchs.

 

[cfluck7]

With all of these other promotions, the sport is going to kill itself. The UFC is running out of names to sell a mega PPV event. The use to have very little PPV events each year but they were prime time fights. Now Elite XC and Affliction(dont mess with Trump) are trying to steal their fighters and their PPV numbers? The sport is only hurting itself. It wont get as big as it was when it had Randy, Chuck, and Hughes running the sport.

 

[MisterRob]

Affliction has had one event, have they not? I think its a bit soon to be talking like they're a huge threat to UFC. I'm not buying it just yet. As for Tito is he still actually a draw? Seriously. I'm not sure anymore, the man has loss after loss, is he still a credible challenger or threat to any of the top names still? Unless he somehow steps up his game and gets back to the level he was at in his prime I don't think he has it anymore and I don't see him in Affliction being anything but a disappointment. His drawing power will drop drastically if he starts losing in Affliction too.. whose going to care about watching him fight?

 

[Slim Pickns]

Affliction has had one event, have they not? I think its a bit soon to be talking like they're a huge threat to UFC. I'm not buying it just yet. As for Tito is he still actually a draw? Seriously. I'm not sure anymore, the man has loss after loss, is he still a credible challenger or threat to any of the top names still? Unless he somehow steps up his game and gets back to the level he was at in his prime I don't think he has it anymore and I don't see him in Affliction being anything but a disappointment. His drawing power will drop drastically if he starts losing in Affliction too.. whose going to care about watching him fight?

Yes, Tito is still a draw. He is responsible for the two biggest UFC events in history. Though he hasn't won since 06, he has only lost to Machida, and he wasn't stopped, it was decision. The draw with Rashad is highly misleading, while on paper it looks like the fight was even, but Tito actually did better. He lost one point on a bullshit call which should have resulted in a warning and not a point deduction.

 

[jmt225]

I'm stoked about this. Tito's my favorite fighter of all time and will probably always be, so obviously I'm happy for him, but at the same time, he does need to win this next fight and I know he can. Babalu's no slouch, but I think Tito can take him. And when it comes to Frank Shamrock (who Tito said he wants to fight after Babalu), that would just be awesome fight, which I think Tito would win by decision.

But did anyone read his interview where he said he might move up Heavyweight? When you think about it, Affliction is kind of short handed when it comes to Light Heavyweights, so it might be hard for Tito to find some good competition in the company after his fights against Babalu and Shamrock (if Shamrock does indeed sign with them to begin with). However, if he were to move up to Heavyweight.... then fuck, there's a lot of money to be made. Him against Fedor would do unbelievable business, especially if Fedor beats the shit out of Barnett and AA like he did Sylvia. I don't think Tito would stand a chance against him (and I HATE saying that), but I think there's a good amount of people out there who would love to see either Tito get his ass completely handed to him, or see if Tito could pull off one of the biggest upsets in history. Nevertheless, it would draw huge I believe.

And lastly, I don't think UFC is in any trouble. They still have GSP, BJ Penn, Anderson Silva, Brock Lesnar (who, if he wins his next fight, will remain being a huge draw), among other big names who will draw for the next five years or so. Then you have guys like Forrest, Matt Hamill, Nate Diaz, Mac Danzig, Lyoto Machida, and a shit load of other young guns who all have the potential to become huge stars in this sport as long as they continue winning. Not to mention the future TUFers that will come along. The UFC isn’t in any trouble whatsoever, IMO. I'm just glad they're getting some good competition, and I've loved how the UFC has handled it thus far. You know, always putting something worth watching on Spike Tv whenever there's a card by EliteXC or most recently, Affliction. It's a great time to be an MMA fan. We can only hope something comes along that will put WWE on its heels and have them step their game up.

 

[Kasey]

Nothing's cemented as of yet. A recent video interview with Affliction Entertainment VP Tom Atencio confirmed that they haven't ironed out a deal with Tito just yet. He may still be a possibillity because they need a viable opponent for Babalu with their roster being thin. It is likely that Tito will get decent money from his fights, but that it won't be the landmark contract he was claiming because he has no bargaining leverage after the snowball job Dana did with him.

Tito is still popular and a draw, but will not be a legitimate threat in the UFC ever again considering the shark-tank nature of the 205 class at present. His most intriguing matchups are outside the UFC at present because he actually has a shot at winning some of them. Frank Shamrock, Babalu, and a few others would be good.

Either that, or Tito should move up to heavyweight and put on the pounds like a lot of people have thought he should do for quite sometime. This would give him some more meaningful matchups and allow him to work without the fear of dropping water for a fight and running out of gas. His drastic 20 lb. weight cuts have sapped his cardio and he hasn't had a gas tank for ages (for the several fights he had one, anyway). He should've beaten Rashad on talent, strength, and size, but his gas tank was shallow and it showed. Plus, the amount of top heavyweights outside the UFC would provide more intriguing and meaningful matchups than any of the free-market 205ers could provide.

 

[imdamiz]

just thought I'd update this...

Tit ortiz hasn't signed with affliction and apparently he's asking for way more money then their offering and negotiations aren't going very well for the former UFC champ. Since negotiations have come to a halt ortiz has gotten in contact with elitexc and has opened up talks with the ufc again, even though his chances for resigning there for what he wants are slim to none.

Personally, if I'm in charge of elite xc I spend the money for him, him versus kimbo would be a dream mathc-up for elitexc and cbs (not for me or most mmsa fans) but I can see gary shaw doing this cause it's a win win, if kimbo beats ken (which he should) then beat tito it makes kimbo look really good (even though he's not) but if kimbo would lose to ortiz, tito becomes the new front man for xc...thoughts?