2008-01-29 09:08:16
Tito Ortiz Confirmed to Fight Lyoto Machida in His Last UFC Fight
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Tito Ortiz is confirmed to fight the undefeated Lyoto Machida on May 24th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and he is none too pleased about it.
Tito, former UFC champion and one of the most recognizable faces of the company, has had a long spat with UFC and more specifically, Dana White. Ortiz, who claims to make $1 million per fight with the UFC, claims that the UFC exploits their fighters and keeps most of the profits to themselves.
Ortiz had been expecting a rematch with Rashad Evans in May, but instead gets the undefeated Lyoto Machida.
The "Huntington Beach Bad Boy" and boyfriend of Jenna Jameson currently has a 15-5-1 lifetime MMA record. Eight of his victories have come via knockout or TKO, and five of his victories have come via submission. He has had some of the most memorable fights in the history of the UFC; he lost twice to Chuck Liddell at UFC 66 and UFC 47 in two of the highest-grossing fights ever in UFC history. He defeated Ken Shamrock twice at UFC - The Final Chapter and UFC 61 - Bitter Rivals. He lost to Randy Couture at UFC 44 via unanimous decision and defeated Forrest Griffin at UFC 59 - Reality Check. The question is, does this 33 year old fighter still have enough left in the tank to defeat Lyoto Machida?
 Machida, as mentioned, currently has an undefeated record of 12-0-0. Three of his victories have come via knockout, 2 have come via submission and 7 have come via decision. Machida has defeated an impressive list of opponents, including B.J. Penn in March of 2005, Rich Franklin in December of '03 and Stephan Bonnar in September of '03. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Machida maintain his perfect record, as I am not sure how motivated Ortiz will be for this fight. Will he try to protect his legacy by going out with one last great fight, or will he instead fight tentatively, trying to avoid injury?
We'll find out in May.
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