Sources have told Yahoo! Sports that free agent Tito Ortiz will fight Renato "Babalu" Sobral in the co-main event at Affliction's next fight card, on Oct. 11 at the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus in Las Vegas. The main event will feature a heavyweight bout between WAMMA champion Fedor Emelianenko and Andrei Arlovski.
Affliction vice president Tom Atencio would not confirm the Ortiz-Babalu fight. He said details for the fight card will be released during an Aug. 6 news conference that most likely will be held in Las Vegas.
Atencio also indicated that he didn't think Affliction could speak with Ortiz until Aug. 4 because of a 60-day non-compete clause in Ortiz's UFC contract. Ortiz's last fight for UFC was on May 24 at UFC 84. If the 60-day clause is accurate, the deal ended last weekend. Atencio said the biggest stumbling block for an Ortiz deal would be the financial terms.
Affliction would seem to have the inside track at signing Ortiz, a former UFC light heavyweight champion (15-6-1, 14-6-1 UFC). He and his girlfriend, Jenna Jameson were conspicuous during the Affliction "Banned' event, sitting next to Affliction partner Donald Trump. Ortiz and Trump developed a relationship during the most recent season of The Apprentice.
Thoughts?
Big coup for Affliction, or more of a move for publicity than anything else?
I think it's somewhere in between. Tito Ortiz would immediately become the biggest star for Affliction in terms of marketing and name recognition. He can help draw viewers to events featuring the likes of Fedor and Barnett, which should make them bigger stars, when fans see them fight. On the other hand, Ortiz could be on his last legs as a fighter, and there's a very good chance he loses to Babalu if that is indeed the fight.
I always thought he would end up in EliteXC. Seems like more of his environment to me, and there's the issue of his Team Punishment clothing line being in competition with Affliction (he may not be able to promote it any longer if he signs with Affliction). He could get on their next show on CBS and do big things for them, but I guess he can see as well as everyone else that Affliction is in position to be the clear #2 to the UFC, and possibly challenge for #1 in the future. Especially if they continue to pay fighters anywhere near what they did for their first show. I'm sure Tito will be getting a fat paycheck from them. If Tim Sylvia is worth $800,000, I wonder what they will pay a guy who can actually draw?
Nothing is official yet, and when it is, we can move this to the other Affliction thread, but I think this is fairly significant news, and deserving of its own thread for now.
