The UFC has officially confirmed all 11 bouts scheduled for UFC 106: ORTIZ VS. GRIFFIN 2 on November 21, 2009 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. UFC 106 will air on PPV one week after UFC 105 airs on Spike TV from the United Kingdom.
The show will be headlined by a rematch between Forrest Griffin and Tito 'Huntington Beach Bad Boy' Ortiz. Ortiz got the split decision victory in their first encounter at UFC 59 in 2006, in what was Griffin's first UFC fight against a top level light heavyweight. Two years later, Griffin would go on to the win the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship from Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, only to lose it to Rashad Evans in his first defense in December 2008. Griffin came back in 2009 to get embarrassed against UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva in a light heavyweight bout. Silva appeared untouchable in his fight with Griffin and easily handled the former light heavyweight champ.
After beating Forrest Griffin, Tito Ortiz spent less than four minutes getting two wins in a row over UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock, in what would be Shamrock's last UFC fights. The last Shamrock fight, and Ortiz's last MMA win, was over 3 years ago. Ortiz has fought 3 times since in the UFC, going 0-2-1 with losses to Chuck Liddell and Lyoto Machida, and a draw with Rashad Evans. In the meantime, Ortiz also competed in a different arena, on the first season of newly revamped THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE. Ortiz finished seventh out of 14 celebrity contestants, but did manage to raise $70,000 for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the process, which was the fourth highest amount raised for their charity by anyone on the show.
It's not too often a UFC PPV is going to be headlined by two fighters who have each lost in their last couple of fights, but due to several fighters pulling out of UFC 106, Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz remained the last two standing with the most drawing power to headline the PPV. Most fans won't be looking at the records of these fighters, but rather the starpower of their names. Originally UFC 106 was to be headlined by Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin in a UFC Heavyweight Championship bout, with Ortiz fighting UFC Hall of Famer Mark 'the Hammer' Coleman in the co-main event. First Coleman pulled out due to injury and Forrest Griffin was named as replacement, then Lesnar had to pull out due to a bout with mononucleosis, so Ortiz/Griffin was moved up to main event status and a new co-main event was added.
The co-main event will feature an explosive welterweight fight between Josh Koscheck and Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson. In other action, Phil 'the New York Badass' Baroni will be returning to the UFC for the first time in nearly 5 years. He'll be matched up against TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah.
UFC 106 will also feature the UFC debut of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's twin brother Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. As if their similar names aren't confusing enough, Rodrigo is nicknamed Minotauro and Rogerio is nicknamed Minotouro. That makes Antonio Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueira and Antonio Rogerio 'Minotouro' Nogueira. This is sure to create some interesting confusion among UFC fans. Although the Nogueira brothers are twins, Rodrigo fights at heavyweight and Rogerio fights at light heavyweight. This has lead to the much-less-confusing alternate nicknames of Big Nog for Rodrigo and Little Nog for Rogerio. Little Nog will be fighting Luiz Cane, a fellow Brazilian, at UFC 106.
Complete Fight Card After the Break
UFC 106: ORTIZ VS. GRIFFIN 2
MAIN PPV CARD
Forrest Griffin (16-6) vs. Tito Ortiz (15-6)
Anthony Johnson (8-2) vs. Josh Koscheck (13-4)
Phil Baroni (13-11) vs. Amir Sadollah (1-1)
Luiz Cane (10-1) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (17-3)
Dustin Hazelett (12-4) vs. Karo Parisyan (18-5)
SPIKE TV PRELIMINARY BOUTS
Marcus Davis (16-5) vs. Ben Saunders (7-1)
Kendall Grove (10-6) vs. Jake Rosholt (6-1)
PRELIMINARY BOUTS:
Paulo Thiago (11-1) vs. Jacob Volkmann (9-0)
Brian Foster (12-4) vs. Brock Larson (26-3)
Fabricio Camoes (10-4) vs. Caol Uno (27-11)
Jason Dent (19-5) vs. George Sotiropoulos (10-2)
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