UFC 133 Fight Card: Evans vs. Ortiz, What Happens If Tito Wins?

Just a few weeks away from UFC 133 in Philadelphia, Pa., Phil Davis suffered a knee injury and is now out of the main event against Rashad Evans and now stepping in to face Rashad is Tito Ortiz. 

Ortiz is fresh off of his first victory in four years, when he defeated rising star Ryan Bader by guillotine choke in the first round. That fight gave Tito heavy momentum, and now he will get to put that momentum to use just a month later when he now faces "Sugar" Rashad Evans.

Tito and Rashad have fought once before at UFC 73: Stacked. Tito would have been awarded the fight, but was deducted one point for grabbing the fence. In that fight, Tito was having his first fight since losing to Chuck Liddell and appeared to be on his way to victory.

After the draw, Tito went on a downhill spiral. He was losing fights, suffering injuries, surgeries, family issues, contract disputes, everything. His mind was just not in the correct place. Going into the fight with Ryan Bader at UFC 132, his mental aspect was questioned again. Months before, he had problems with longtime girlfriend Jenna Jameson, as well as some nude images of himself leaked online. 

Tito always posted confident posts on his Twitter account. With that being said, many thought it was a front, but at UFC 132 you could tell something was different in his eyes.

In all of his pre-fight interviews, all you could sense was confidence, and going into the fight, the same thing. Tito knew that he was fighting for his job and he put his mind in the correct place and got the win. That win really boosted his confidence and he has decided to take the fight with Rashad Evans. 

If Tito wins, what will the UFC do with him?

The way things look, the title picture for light heavyweight is partially slim. Odds are, Machida will face the winner of Rampage and Bones. If Ortiz wins, he will put himself into the title picture, and would most likely face the winner of Forrest Griffin and Shogun Rua, with the winner of that going on to face either the champion, or they would be put in a title eliminator bout. 

The win over Bader and the fill-in for Davis has really put Tito in a good position. It was unknown what the UFC was going to do with him next, and now that he is fighting a top-four in the division, that puts him into position to break the top 10 in the UFC as well as making him a title contender. 

At this current moment, you cannot go as far as saying that Tito will make his way to a title shot or anything, but if he keeps this momentum up, anything is possible.