What Does a Tito Ortiz Return Mean for the UFC?

Its being reported that former UFC champion Tito Ortiz has been in serious discussions with Dana White about a possible comeback to the biggest MMA organization in the world.

Both are known for despising each other. The biggest indications of this being Tito sporting a "Dana Is My B***H" t-shirt at his last fight, and Dana pretty much saying he would never re-sign Tito after his last fight.

Apparently "never" means "might" in Dana Whites vocabulary. The reports claim that Dana and Tito have buried the hatchet, a hatchet that has been used by both men against the other.

It would seem absolutely astonishing that two men that hated each other so much for so long would bury the hatchet that easy, but then I remembered that this is Dana White and Tito Ortiz.

Both have an insatiable love of money and attention, and when you put these two men together, they generate a ridiculous amount of both.

UFC 66, which featured Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell in the main event, is the biggest moneymaker in UFC history. With the current tallies of UFC 100, UFC 66 outdid that event by about $300,000.

It could be said that "The Huntington Beach Badboy" was the face of the sport when it was still more of an underground niche sport.

Tito won the UFC Light Heavyweight title by beating Wanderlei Silva at UFC 25 back in 2000. He would defend the title five times before losing it to Randy Couture in 2003.

Tito would prove to be a draw even without the title as he was able to headline UFC 51 against Vitor Belfort and gross $1.5 million for the UFC.

Consider this, Randy Couture made his first title defense against Belfort just two events prior. That event would also have Chuck Liddell on display.

It was outgrossed by $200,000.

Tito is still a major name in MMA. He may not have the same skill at 34 that he had at 25 when he fought Wanderlei, but he can still generate lots of attention.

The biggest question, aside from Tito's skill level at 34 after back surgery, is who will Dana pit against Ortiz.

Will he use Tito as a stepping stone for a promising lesser known fighter like he did with current Light Heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida?

If so, I would recomend Luiz Cane or Jon Jones. Both have proven to have alot of skill, but are having a hard time staying afloat in such a deep Light Heavyweight pool.

Jon Jones is a very exciting newcomer with the ability to end fights at any time and have the crowd applauding all the time. The spinning back elbow he executed, oh so perfectly, against Stephan Bonnar is easily top three coolest things I've seen inside the octagon.

Luiz Cane has only one blemish on his MMA record, a DQ via illigal knee against James Irvin. Other than that mind lapse, Cane has been perfect.

We credit him ousting Sokoudjou from the UFC and for making everybody's top 10 Light Heavyweight lists because of it. He beat Steve Cantwell at UFC 97 and has expressed interst in fighting Rich Franklin. He has definitely earned a big fight, but against who?

What if Dana wants to make big money right off the bat and make a main event out of Titos return? I have two very special men who could make some major cash against Tito.

Lets go back to Rich Franklin. He's coming off of a "Fight of the Night" winner against Wanderlei Silva and is trying to establish himself as a major Light Heavyweight fighter.

As hard as that is to do in such a ridiculously stacked division, but a convincing win against a big name like Ortiz could definitely do the trick. He is currently being rumored as the main event for UFC 103, but he is currently looking for a dance partner.

Last but not least, certainly the biggest moneymaking fight of them all. Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell III. A blast from the UFC's past could still stand to rake in some major cash. Dana White has personally retired Chuck from the sport of MMA, even hastily inducting the legend into the UFC Hall of Fame. Chuck has made no such statement and until then, like Brett Favre, I expect him to return.

Dana has said the following regarding the retirement of Chuck Liddell:

"I care about him. I care about his health, and it's over, man. It's over."

Sounds convincing enough. Then I read further into his statement;

"At the end of the day, I care about these guys. I don't want to see anybody stick around too long. You're NEVER going to see Chuck Liddell on the canvas again."

See that never in there? Now, what was that about never resigning Tito Ortiz?

Yeah, that's why I'm so sure we won't be seeing Liddell/Ortiz 3.

From what I've heard, Tito hasn't put pen to paper on this deal yet. And remember, he supposedly signed a four fight deal with Strikeforce after calling out Renato Sobral.

But if this deal does happen, expect to see a lot of hype over his return, a lot of words exchanged between him and his opponent, and I'm sure at least one person will say the name Fedor Emelianenko.