Ortiz Agrees to Fight Machida at UFC 85

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz has finally signed on to fight undefeated Lyoto Machida on May 24th at UFC 85. Ortiz was offered the fight over a week ago and many were unsure if he was going to accept.

He confirmed today that he has indeed agreed to fight but feels it's a step down in competition for his accomplishments. Machida is 12-0 and won't be an easy task for the 'Huntington Beach Bad Boy'.

This is the last fight on Ortiz's contract and feels like Dana White is black balling him by putting him in the cage against a relatively unknown fighter. Again, Machida is a tremendous fighter but has only a few UFC fights and is not a top draw just yet. Ortiz has been very critical of the company along with a few other elite fighters as of late. Here's a quote from Ortiz:

“They don’t want the fighters to get as big as a 'Tyson' or a 'De La Hoya' or one of those types because all of a sudden, they’ll be expecting to see a lot more payment,” said Ortiz. “The UFC makes about 99 percent of the money, and the rest goes to the fighters. That one percent ain't nothing compared to what they make on merchandising, on pay-per-view, and everything else they make around the world.”

The feud between Ortiz and Dana White has been very public especially after White made a few derogatory comments about Ortiz and his girlfriend, former porn star Jenna Jameson. Ortiz won't negotiate with Dana White anymore and it's unknown if the former champ will even return to the UFC after his contract is up. He went so far as to say that Dana White has such bad blood for Ortiz that he's certain that no matter how good Ortiz performs, he'll never get another title shot if White is in charge.

Ortiz was originally slated to face Rashad Evans in a rematch of their controversial draw but he never signed for the fight. Michael Bisbing was offered the fight instead and went on to lose a split decision to Evans. Ortiz stated that he wanted some time to heal up a bit of wear and tear on his body, and that he had been fighting injured so often that he was making mid carders look like superstars. He was referring to his fights against Forrest Griffin and Evans, in which Ortiz looked very plain and fatigued. He went on to be a contestant on 'Celebrity Apprentice' to heal up.

It's a great excuse, however it could be that Ortiz is a bit past his prime and young guys like Evans and Griffin are in fact as good as Ortiz is right now. We'll certainly find out come May. If Ortiz can handle Machida and dominate like he once did, then we'll have to believe that he really was injured way too much. If Machida runs through Ortiz just like he did Rameau Sokoudjou (who was a nominee for fighter of the year of 2007), then we've probably seen Ortiz's last fight in the UFC.