It was viewed as a blessing in disguised when Tito Ortiz was forced from the Bellator 106 card due to a neck injury. Ortiz was booked to face Quinton Jackson in the main event of what should have been Bellator's pay-per-view debut, but with the main event scrapped, the decision was made to move the card to Spike TV.
The neck injury was described as "career threatening", with doctors concerned that not allowing time for it to heal up could possibly have some serious ramifications.
Without hopefully sounding too crass, it was a blessing in disguise for Bellator. The rematch between Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez was moved into the main event slot and they saved the card from what was quickly becoming a disaster.
After the failed experiment that was Tito Ortiz's Bellator debut, no one would criticize Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney if he decided to move on. But maybe it's altruism or maybe it's just a water tight contract, no matter the case, Rebney is open to giving Ortiz an opportunity to fight in the Bellator cage...should he be cleared by his doctor.
"He'll be back,. Right now we just have to worry about the fracture in his neck healed 120 percent. Once it's healed he'll be back," Rebney said. "He wants to fight again, and his neck specialist told me that it's not the kind of injury you can't come back from."
While it's commendable that Rebney is open to the idea of still being in the Tito Ortiz business, it's also wishful or possibly naive thinking.
"I've made a commitment to him that we'd try to make another run. And while this went to sh*t, the assumption is he'll heal and we'll give it a run. He's had injuries, but he hasn't made a career out of pulling out of fights."
For more on the rematch between Michael Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez click here.