Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz could return to action against Renato "Babalu" Sobral at the next Affliction show, which is slated for the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 11, according to Yahoo!Sports.com.
Here's the weird part: "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" is apparently prohibited from negotiating with any other promotion other than the UFC because of a "60-day" non-compete clause in his contract. That period is set to expire on August 4. And Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio plans to hold a press conference on August 6 to officially announce its second-ever event.
It doesn't leave too much time to negotiate terms with Ortiz, however. In addition, it is also hard to work on a possible match up if you are legally not allowed to speak with one of the participants.
Therefore, this report should be treated as nothing more than a rumor until the picture becomes more clear. Of course, we can still discuss the possible outcome of a 205-pound showdown between Ortiz and Sobral.
That's because these two have had beef for years -- Ortiz called Babalu nothing more than a "B" level fighter who is an inflated (fat) middleweight back in 2006. The Brazilian responded by saying that he wants to "smash" Tito's face. To check it out visit one of our ancient posts right here.
The back-and-forth jawing has been on ever since.
Ortiz most recently satisfied his UFC contract, going 3-2-1 since a return from exile. Two of those wins, however, came against an over-the-hill and overmatched Ken Shamrock, and the other was a controversial split decision over current light heavyweight champion, Forrest Griffin.
He lost his last time out to Lyoto Machida -- UFC President Dana White's self-proclaimed assassin -- via unanimous decision at UFC 84: "Ill Will" back in May. It's clear that Ortiz needs a big-time win to silence the critics who feel the sport has passed him by. And a win over Sobral would go a long way toward doing that.
Babalu, on the other hand, is on a three-fight win streak since back-to-back knockout losses to Chuck Liddell and Jason Lambert inside the Octagon. The former UFC title contender outpointed Mike Whitehead on all three judges scorecards at the inaugural Affliction: "Banned" event on July 19.
As we mentioned last week, Fedor Emelianenko will put his newly-won WAMMA heavyweight title on the line against Andrei Arlovski in the main event of the evening on October 11. Stay tune for more updates.
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