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[hunterkiller]

Five Ounces of Pain | Babalu against Ortiz?
I'd very much like to see this happen. Ortiz vs Lil Nog would be good too.

[POINDEXTER]

One fight for Tito to potentially be the LHW champion for Affliction? If that's not a paper champion, I don't know what is.

[hunterkiller]

Originally Posted by POINDEXTER

One fight for Tito to potentially be the LHW champion for Affliction? If that's not a paper champion, I don't know what is.

It's not like they have a lot of options. They are an upstart organization.

IMO, what they should do is sign another solid LHW and have a 4 man tournament between Babalu, Tito, Lil Nog and whoever, their other LHW is over the course of 2-3 events and then name one of them the champ.

You also have to remember, Anderson Silva was MW champ after only beating Leben to get his shot at Franklin and Fedor only beat Sylvia in Affliction to get his HW championship from Wamma. It's not like it's highly unusual.

They're just looking for some solid talent with a big name and a former champion to build the organization. No Tito, shouldn't just be named champion if he beat Babalu, they should all have to earn it.

[bega]

Originally Posted by POINDEXTER

One fight for Tito to potentially be the LHW champion for Affliction? If that's not a paper champion, I don't know what is.

How's that different from Fedor. He had only one fight.

And before I get slammed for mentioning Tito and Fedor in the same sentence I want to say that Fedor has deserved to be crowned as a champ after only one fight

[rugoatee]

Originally Posted by thecoylewis

One of the more interesting comments to come from the recent Affliction show was from Renato “Babalu” Sobral. Babalu made it very clear who he wants to fight next.

"I told Tom Atencio who the one guy I want him to sign is,” said Sobral, “Tito Ortiz is my dream fight.”

A potential Sobral vs. Ortiz would be a big one for Affliction - mainly because it would mean they have Ortiz under contract. It would also have a lot of appeal to the casual fan because Babalu is a name most people are familiar with from his fights with Chuck Liddell. Affliction could position the winner as its first light heavyweight champion.

I did recently ask Atencio if he had spoken with Ortiz, and he said that he has not had any contact with Ortiz because he still has some contract issues with the UFC (possibly pertaining to the use of the UFC belt for Tito Ortiz’s book?).

I don't think the contractual obligations have anything to do with his book. That is a different matter entirely. I believe there are non-compete clauses in the contracts that extend past the date of the last fight on the contract. There also may be a specific contract period. For example, you may signe a 2 year contract for 6 fights. If you complete the 6 fights before 2 years is up, the contract is still in effect, and so would the non-compete clause.

This is a fight I have been wanting to see for like 3 or 4 years. Babalu is my favorite fighter and would love to see him mix it up with Ortiz. Tito started bumping his gums after Babalu lost to Chuck saying that he was a B level fighter and not on the same level as himself, Chuck and Randy. What a bunch of crap to include himself in that group.

I hope this fight happens soon and I hope Babalu chokes him for an extra second or two!! LOL!

[POINDEXTER]

Originally Posted by thecoylewis

It's not like they have a lot of options. They are an upstart organization.

IMO, what they should do is sign another solid LHW and have a 4 man tournament between Babalu, Tito, Lil Nog and whoever, their other LHW is over the course of 2-3 events and then name one of them the champ.

You also have to remember, Anderson Silva was MW champ after only beating Leben to get his shot at Franklin and Fedor only beat Sylvia in Affliction to get his HW championship from Wamma. It's not like it's highly unusual.

They're just looking for some solid talent with a big name and a former champion to build the organization. No Tito, shouldn't just be named champion if he beat Babalu, they should all have to earn it.

Agreed, some sort of tournament and/or some amount of time and more fights before a title fight would be better. I don't think they need to rush into having a championship fight until they have enough fighters to warrant such a designation.

In the case of Fedor it was appropriate, IMO, since he is considered by nearly everyone in the world to be the best HW. It's a little different in the case of Silva and Franklin. Franklin was the legitimate champion and Silva was a pretty damn impressive challenger coming in. Neither Babalu or Tito could be considered a legitimate LHW champion at this point. I could be wrong, but I think a few more fights should occur.

[AngryJohnny]

Definitely need a tournament to get the LHW title established. It's too bad Belfort's fighting at MW now, he'd add a little more depth. Anyway I'd love to see Tito vs. Babalu, but if he's held up for awhile get the Babalu vs. Lil' Nog fight going.

[jhell]

My money would be on Babalu, anyway Tito probably wants 20X more than he's worth.

[rugoatee]

Originally Posted by jhell

My money would be on Babalu, anyway Tito probably wants 20X more than he's worth.

Agreed. That is a major obstacle in making this fight happen. Tito is going to want the money Sylvia got (which was obscene).

[fredro32]

Originally Posted by POINDEXTER

Agreed, some sort of tournament and/or some amount of time and more fights before a title fight would be better. I don't think they need to rush into having a championship fight until they have enough fighters to warrant such a designation.

In the case of Fedor it was appropriate, IMO, since he is considered by nearly everyone in the world to be the best HW. It's a little different in the case of Silva and Franklin. Franklin was the legitimate champion and Silva was a pretty damn impressive challenger coming in. Neither Babalu or Tito could be considered a legitimate LHW champion at this point. I could be wrong, but I think a few more fights should occur.

^^^Agreed^^^

Yeah I think that two fighters UFC had no interest in keeping, one of which has only beaten 1 fighter since 06, being named World LHW champion (according to WAMMA) just seems odd. I'm all for the fight, but the title would seem out there a little. Would rather see Lil Nog fight for the title before Tito.