UFC 133 Preview: Why Tito Ortiz Will Win on Short Notice

Tito Ortiz will enter the octagon Aug. 6 to take on "Suga" Rashad Evans for the second time in his career, just one month removed from his impressive win over Ryan Bader at UFC 132.

Ortiz's first-round submission over Bader has sparked a lot of talk around the MMA community.

Could the Huntington Beach Bad Boy be back at full health?

How will UFC president Dana White respond if Ortiz loses his next fight?

Will he retire or get shelved like Chuck Liddell?

Come August, following an injury to Phil Davis, which prompted Tito to take this bout on such short notice, all of those questions will be answered.

Evans and Ortiz sparked a draw in their first fight back in 2007 at UFC 73, making this one a grudge match.

Now healthy, with a huge win over a legitimate light-heavyweight contender, Ortiz needs one more victory over a man who he nearly beat before in order to put his name back into the title mix for a chance at Jon "Bones" Jones.

With that said, here's why Tito will prevail over Evans and redeem his once unmatchable octagon charisma.

5. Five Years of Smoke and Mirrors

If you were to look at Tito Ortiz's 1-4-1 record over his last six fights, you'd think he's crazy for taking a fight on short notice against one of the best fighters in the world.

But, despite his lack of success in the third round in nearly every one of his fights over the past five years, Ortiz's failures to top competition can simply be categorized as smoke and mirrors.

In all four of his losses, including a title fight against Chuck Liddell in 2006, Tito has made it to the third round.

And only once did he fail to put it into the judges' hands, losing to Liddell by TKO.

Take away that fight and you have yourself one of most consistent fighters in the division, and one who has fought alongside career-threatening injuries.

He nearly sunk in a decisive triangle-choke on Lyota Machida, but failed to submit the eventual light-heavyweight champ due to the round ending.

His fight against Forest Griffin, who's still one of the better well-rounded stand-up guys in the division, wasn't that bad of a loss as Ortiz scored three big takedowns..

Hardly a battering loss against a top fighter.

As for Ortiz's fight against his former student Matt Hamill, he landed just as many punches as the wrestler but simply couldn't contend with his take-downs.

Going forward into UFC 133, Tito will look to win in dramatic fashion and put these scorecard fights behind him.

4. Submission Victory over Ryan Bader

Tito Ortiz is coming off one of his most significant fights of his career.

His submission victory over Ryan Bader doesn't stand a chance in comparison to Tito's championship title defenses, but it's meaning is just as important.

That fight and that fight alone has put Ortiz back on the map.

He proved his worth to the UFC, president Dana White and fans who've waited for his prominent return.

Considering he sunk in the submission fairly early in the fight, nearly two minutes into the first round, Ortiz isn't going to be as drained as people may think.

His training is more than likely still at an elite level and probably didn't take too much time off after his early-July victory.

This is the fight that pinned Ortiz against Rashad Evans at UFC 133.

If he'd lost against Bader, that may of been the last time we ever saw him fight.

However, it just so happened to work out that he's currently recreating his octagon success and on his way back to earning an opportunity to reclaim the light-heavyweight title.

3. Second Time Around

Despite a draw in their first bout, Rashad Evans got the best of Tito Ortiz.

Ortiz was able to use his takedowns to frustrate Evans, but was on unable to establish a prominent stand-up game, taking more damage and looking like the losing fighter.

With that said, it's going to be interesting to see how each fighter approaches their second showdown.

Will Ortiz still try to shoot and ground and pound Evans?

Or will he decide to use his improved stand-up that he displayed against Ryan Bader in order to surprise one of the most dominating strikers in the division?

Either way he does it, Ortiz has to have the upper hand and here's why.

Simply put, Evans has more to lose.

Just like his fight against Bader, Ortiz is coming out swinging.  He's had his time to shine and has already made it clear that he's fighting for the sport of it.

As for Evans, losing to Ortiz would not only make their first fight look like a loss that went unnoticed, but his future title shot against Jon Jones could be washed away.

While you might consider Evans a better game planner than Ortiz, don't count out the ground and pound as the deciding factor at UFC 133.

2. Big Fight Experience

I'll try to keep this one quick and simple.

There's really no comparison when your talking about big fight experience and title defenses.

Tito Ortiz has the upper hand over Rashad Evans any day of the week.

And considering their bout at UFC 133 is being labeled a title contender fight, Ortiz once again has the advantage.

Ortiz has fought in 10 title fights, winning six of them and doing so in back-to-back fashion, which just so happens to be a UFC light-heavyweight record.

Evans on the other hand has only seen action in two title fights, winning one and losing his chance to defend the belt against Lyoto Machida, who was nearly choked out by Ortiz.

Heading into August's showdown, Ortiz has to be considered the bigger gamer.

He's got more octagon experience, is coming off a dominating performance against a top-notch striker, and is fighting for his right to be considered a UFC employee.

1. Redemption

In the words of Dave Chappelle, I'm going to "keep it real."

Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans is going to be barn burner.

Each fighter has title contention aspirations and have already battled it out in the octagon.

I'm not one of those guys to say there's no way someone could win a fight, so I'm not going to start now.

This whole article has been about Tito's chance and probable execution of Evans at UFC 133.

Now while I think Ortiz's history, round-by-round drive, and overall experience will prevail, I'm not stupid.

Evans is a huge contender and has the ability to knock out anybody that Dana White puts in his way.

With that said, I truly don't believe he's going to do it this time around.

This is Tito's time for redemption.

His battle with career-threatening injuries and public debacles with UFC management has all culminated into this moment.

Things happen for a reason.

Tito's punishment of Ryan Bader, his seemingly healthy back, and the opportunity to fill in for Phil Davis on short notice are three reasons why UFC 133 will mark his return to octagon glory.