Tito Ortiz Vs. Mark Coleman

[Marquis]

At the UFC 101 post fight press conference, Dana confirmed Tito will be fighting Mark Coleman. I'm a little surprised at this match up to be honest. With Tito making his return to the UFC, I would think they might give him someone less potentially dangerous. As crazy as it may sound(well not really), Coleman is still a very legit threat. With taking number 1 contender for the LHW belt Shogun almost to a decision, in his debut at LHW no less, and actually beating Bonnar via unanimous decision, Coleman is still a real threat. And I think someone like Tito might be a perfect opponent for Coleman to beat. Both of these guys like to ground and pound, and are wrestlers. So it's a match up of similar styles, but the difference is the class of wrestler. Ortiz is a good wrestler and all, but with Coleman's credentials he is the better wrestler. I've counted out Coleman twice in his fights with Shogun and Bonnar, and I won't count him out again. I think Coleman has a damn good chance of winning a decision victory over Tito.

 

[jmt225]

As a Tito Ortiz fan, I was initially worried about Mark Coleman being Tito's comeback fight, but the more I think about.... the more I start to gain confidence in Tito completely dominating this guy. I mean, while Mark Coleman is bigger, stronger, and superior at wrestling, he's still no age 42 Randy Couture. He won't be able to use that to beat someone like Tito. Tito is good and strong enough to keep Coleman from taking him down. And when Tito stops the takedowns... he should have zero problem winning the fight because everywhere else, Tito is far superior. Striking? Check. Jiu-Jitsu? Check. Conditioning? Check.

When you really think about it, if Tito shows up in old Tito form, there is no way Coleman can beat him. No way.Mark Coleman's just too one dimensional to defeat someone like Tito Ortiz.

 

[andymcg]

As Jmt said, and i have said, this fight will be tricky only if the old Tito doesnt show. Im a huge Tito fan so defo wanting a win from him, but Dana has flung a curved ball at him with this.

Tito has to make sure he doesnt go into this fight thinking it will be simple, because i really dont think it will be. And i think Dana new this and is really testing Titos attitude towards other fighters.

Overall i think i see a 2nd round stopage with Tito winning. But i think this will be a tricky fight.

 

[X]

Former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz is set to make his return to the Octagon opposite the first-ever heavyweight champion for the promotion, Mark Coleman, at UFC 106 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Nov. 21.

Mike Disabato, founder of MMA Authentics and long-time friend/training partner of Coleman, today “confirmed” the rumored 205-pound match up via Twitter.com. No official announcement has come from the promotion … yet.

However, company president Dana White indicated on numerous occasions that this is the showdown that fans could expect to see in the coming months.

Spoiler: Rest of Story

“The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” is coming off major spinal fusion surgery to correct a back problem that plagued him in his most recent bouts. His last appearance was in May 2008 — a unanimous decision loss to now 205-pound champion, Lyoto Machida.

It’s been more than a year since Ortiz saw action in that performance, which had him in trouble early only to nearly finish it with a triangle-to-armbar transition that “The Dragon” barely escaped.

After the loss, it appeared that the decade-long tumultuous relationship between Ortiz and White had finally reached its breaking point; however, the pair was able to miraculously mend fences just last month and put their difference aside to start making money together once again.

Ortiz has three wins, two defeats and one draw since he returned to action in 2006 from a brief hiatus. And those three victories have come at the expense of a past-his-prime, Ken Shamrock (twice), and a controversial split decision over Forrest Griffin.

Whether or not a surgically repaired back will help him return to form and make a serious run at the light heavyweight championship remains to be seen. His latest journey begins against “The Hammer.”

Coleman recently notched his first win inside the Octagon in more than 12 years with a unanimous decision over Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100. “The Godfather of Ground and Pound” leveraged his strong wrestling background to takedown the “American Psycho” and keep him there, landing repeated blows from the top position.

The 44-year-old UFC Hall of Famer dropped his return to the Octagon to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 93: “Franklin vs. Henderson” earlier this year. Coleman ended up on the wrong end of a third round technical knockout, which he felt was an unjust stoppage. It marked his first fight inside the Octagon since 1999.

Coleman has vowed that with the proper training and conditioning that he will only get better. He’ll get to put that training and cardio to the test against Ortiz, who has excelled in that department ever since gassing in a fight against Frank Shamrock almost a decade ago.

Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more on UFC 106 as the fight card develops.

So, what does everyone think of this match up? It's not been 100% confirmed yet, but it's looking very much like i will be shortly. I've never been a big fan of Tito, but you can' deny his skills. Him and Coleman would be a good fight, and is just the kind of fight that I expected him to get for his first match back in the Octagon. Someone challenging, but not too challenging to be fed to Tito. Coleman can still throw though, so Tito will have to stay on his toes if this match turns out to be true.

It hasn't been "confirmed" yet, but as you'll see in the video below, the contract has already been drawn up and sent to Tito.

Thoughts?

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[BaconBits]

I'm with Marquis. I'm actually giving Coleman the edge in this one. He's just now hitting his stride at LHW and is training continuiously, and Tito is coming off of a long, long layoff and will be rusty as hell. A very rusty Coleman almost outlasted and held his own against Shogun, and even a rusty Shogun is still much better than Tito.

This is a bad fight for Tito, and rest assured Dana knows that. After all the nice nice supposedly made between Dana and Tito, this sure seems like a big old fuck you from Dana to Tito for all of the bullshit that is Tito over the last year or so. Dana is very sneaky like that. I could also see Dana giving Tito Rashad sometime during this contract, and I'm sorry, 2010 Rashad will own Tito.