Tito Ortiz Off UFC Fight Night 24, Phil Davis Steps In Against Nogueira
Fans of the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” will have to wait a bit longer in order to see the former UFC light heavyweight champion look for another win inside the Octagon.
Ortiz has pulled out of his upcoming bout against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC Fight Night 24.
MMAjunkie reports that Ortiz was forced to receive 22 stitches due to an accidental headbutt during training. The wound is reportedly severe enough to force Ortiz out of his headlining bout on March 26.
Undefeated light heavyweight Phil Davis (8-0) will fill in for Ortiz against Nogueira.
Davis was set to compete against Matt Hamill at UFC 129 before an unexpected turn of events caused Hamill to be pulled from the bout to compete against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 130.
Jackson’s original opponent, Thiago Silva, was pulled from that fight for unknown reasons.
Jason Brilz was then called upon to replace Hamill against Davis at UFC 129 but that fight is now off.
“Mr. Wonderful” debuted in the UFC in February of last year and quickly racked up four straight wins within nine months. He last competed at UFC 123 in November earning a submission victory over Tim Boetsch.
Nogueira is coming off a loss to light heavyweight contender Ryan Bader at UFC 119 this past September.
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Finally Davis gets his chance to shoot up the 205 ladder… I can’t wait for Davis to beat Nog.. and then fight Rampage
My first live UFC event and the chance to see my fav fighter of all-time is gone. Why do the MMA Gods hate me.
tito ortiz is your fav fighter? i didn’t know he still had fans…
There are still a few of us lurking around.
Because Tito Ortiz is your favorite fighter. That’s a hangin’ crime in some parts of the country.
That sucks for Tito and Lil Nog. Really is nothing you can do with that bad a cut. they take a long time to heal and you cannot get hit or rub anywhere near the injury during training. if it was 2 or 3 that’s one thing…
I wouldn’t oppose a brilz nog II but prob wouldn’t happen…
oops somehow i missed davis is getting nog. tough fight for nog.
hopefully brilz gets someone good, maybe bonnar or something.
I can’t say I’m shocked, Tito would probably pull out of a fight if he got an f’n paper cut. This guy may be many things but he’s not a fighter.
Fighters don’t pull out of a fight due to stitches, seriously what did he get hit with, a hammer? What a wuss.
woahhhh that’s harsh dude. take it you’ve never had 22 stitches on your face before.
Justice B, guessing you have never competed in any combative sport? Article states it was a head butt that lead to 22 stitches and a concussion. Anyone that thinks a fighter should still fight with that injury, is an idiot.
You calling me an idiot? If so I couldn’t tell because you danced around it so well. Anyways, yes I do train MMA part time, I won’t be in the UFC anytime soon but so what, I still train. you can say whatever you want to because the fact is this is just a small part of an overall pattern with Tito lately.
He has lost 4 of his last 5 fights and fought to a draw with Rashad. Meanwhile when it was Jardine EVERYONE was screaming for him to be cut. So please forgive me if I simply have no sympathy for cry-baby Ortiz. Like I said, it’s part of an overall pattern of chicken sh!t syndrome IMO.
I guess it’s understandable. I mean, if I hadn’t won a fight in almost 5 years, I’d duck and dodge the people who I thought could smash me too. You do realize Tito hasn’t won a fight since 2006 don’t you?
Since you train you should know that a fighter cannot train with 22 stitches in their head. So what is Tito supposed to do, spend the next month on a treadmill so he can make weight and fight for his UFC career that way? I understand people not liking Tito for his attitude and injury excuses, but you can’t hold this type of injury against him.
Why not? What’s worng with spending the rest of your camp on a treadmill? The fight is March 26th he’s still got over a month. He can start sparring lightly again in like 3 weeks. Until then the treadmill should be his best friend.
I’m assuming Tito didn’t just start training for this bout yesterday. That being said, I’m also assuming that he has had time to spar and train wrestling and technique in camp up until this happened. So then why can’t he spend the next couple of weeks on his cardio training and then go back to all the rough stuff that requires contact a couple of weeks before the fight?
We all know very well that there are many fighters out there who would have stepped up stitches or not(provided they’re cleared by the A.C.). This was just a minor setback it happens in training all the time, it didn’t have to be the end of the world.
I guess by your logic Anderson Silva should have postponed his fight with Chael? Because I can tell you from experience that you can barely breathe with cracked or broken ribs, let alone train properly or fight. But he fought anyway, IMO Tito is just a cry baby.
The thing is, it’s Tito Ortiz. If he was too continue with this fight and lost, you know this injury and not having a “full” training camp would be the excuse. And since Tito has chosen to cry injury the last few years, he’s going to get grilled for either choice. Pull from the fight and get called a wuss or complain about losing and get called a crybaby.
About the Anderson fight, there are still people out there that say he lied about the injury. I’m not one of them, but they are out there. If Anderson would have pulled out of that fight, he would have been labeled as scared.
The fact is we are fans and not professional MMA fighters. If a fighter and their camp feels an injury is severe enough to pull from a fight, then that’s their choice. If a fighter fakes an injury to duck a fight, then that’s just douchey.
@will I was simply pointing out that this is part of a overall pattern with him. If Tito wanted to fight, he’d be fighting, period. Since Chuck knocked him senseless in 06′, I haven’t seen one iota of proof that Tito is still serious about competing in this sport.
Yes I am very aware Tito hasn’t won since 2006, but instead of throwing numbers out there, let’s discuss the fights:
Evans- Very good fight that ended up being a draw because Ortiz was deducted a point for grabbing the cage.
Machida- This is a tough fight for any wrestler. If you remember, Tito slapped on a triangle choke at the end of the 3rd. If Machida wasn’t a BJJ black belt, he might not gotten out of that.
Griffin- very close fight that was a split decision and could have gone either way.
Hammill- This one I will agree that Tito did not look like himself. Not sure if the fact that fighting a former training partner and close friend actually did get into his head.
If you look over that list, 2 fighters went on to become the LHW Champ, 1 was the former LHW Champ, and if Hammil beats Rampage, he will more than likely be in title contention.
So I suggest you go back and watch these fights with a lil less hate in your eyes and more MMA fan. You just might find that iota you’re looking for.
nope sorry still don’t see it. I probably stopped seeing even moreso after Tito became a woman beater.
Fighters don’t get cleared to fight if the stitches haven’t healed. Get over yourself. Injuries happen.
Did I say they would be cleared if the stitches hadn’t healed? No I didn’t, I said this is part of an overall pattern in Tito’s behavior concerning fights. He should have let the A.C. make the final call instead of coming out and calling off the fight right away. And a cut that requires 22 stitches isn’t that big to begin with.
Depending on the depth of the cut, he may well have been cleared to fight more than a month from now, you never know. Another thing, I don’t even post here that much anymore so wtf do you mean get over myself? It’s like people can’t have an opinion on this site unless it’s in line with yours. I’ve never disrespected you before or even exchanged words with you for that matter, so fall back.
I stand by what I said which is that since 06′I haven’t seen one iota of proof that Tito is serious about being a legitimate contender and no amount of “getting over myself” is going to change that.
22 stitches isn’t that big??? I hope you aren’t trying to justify that.. 22 stitches is huge.. I have a scar on my forehead that only required 10 stitches and it goes from my hairline to midway to my eyes.. that a pretty big cut..
And I second BsBizs comment.. a fighter needs more than a month and a half to get cleared for a cut this big.. I hate tito too, but this is a justified excuse to pull out of a fight.. especially with a great boxer like Lil Nog.. Nog would go straight for the tenderly healed cut and open it up again..
And if you don’t like the Frenzy and our knowledgable staff and regular posters, there is always Sherpup..
@RussoC13 Just for the record Sherdog is more well known and taken a lot more seriously than MMAFRENZY. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over this site, trust me. At least at Sherdog you can state your opinion without being mauled by the moderators or the b.s. censorship to go along with it.
@justiceb
Really?
You honestly think that the best way to go here is praising Sherdog at the frenZy?
You may never win Poster of the Year here, but I would have thought that by now you would know a LOT better than to post nonsense like that on the main page…
@jcohl To you it may be nonsense, it’s my opinion and many others’ opinion as well. Sherdog is taken a lot more seriously, is more well known and is considered a much more credible MMA news source then your beloved “Frenzy”, get over it.
@justiceb – “He should have let the A.C. make the final call instead of coming out and calling off the fight right away”
Yeah, because getting the fight called off 2 days prior to the event won’t get the entire bout scrapped instead of finding a replacement and keeping lil nog on the card.
It isn’t like Davis-lil Nog will keep people watching the card. I mean much better to lose both Ortiz and Nogueira rather than just Ortiz.
Add in that Dana has all but said loser gets cut in that fight, Tito should totally just suck it up and potentially not be 100% for it.
Maybe you should just hang out at sherpup, where
calling fighters fags is considered honorable and appropriate….We don’t need to mention that, especially as it hasn’t been brought up before. -BSBiz
@justiceb
If you consider the frenZy inferior to Sherdog in terms of quality…the idea of which is still ridiculous to anyone who actually knows and understands the sport AND has visited both sites…then why continue to visit this site when you could exchange “ideas” with the troll horde over there and earn yourself a tangerine belt in the process?
@dbiz is right, perhaps its best if you “contribute” elsewhere…
Actually I’ve had 34 stitches on my face near my lower jaw from work and it only took about a month to completely heal.
It was still a bit tender after that length of time, but nonetheless healed. In fact that scar tissue is still sensitive to heat and touch, I stand by what I said.
Will,
Damn dude that sucks I know how much of a Tito fan you are bro! I’m upset too. I love Tito too and I though he was a bad matchup for lil nog who struggles agains wrestlers.
Davis is an even worse matchup for lil nog. He’s an awesome wrestler/grappler and has from what I’ve seen solid jiu jitsu. We may see lil big get subd…
That’s one big lower jaw you have there dude. 34 interrupted stitches, that’s an incredible amount? what you have done.
As big of a shame it was for tito to get headbutted and cut..I wouldnt put it past him for kinda either hoping it would happen.. or maybe, possibly instigated somthing like that on puprose.. Ok that maybe wrong.. nobody would intentionaly cause 22 stitches to thier own head but if we found out tito did it on purpose would any1 be surprised??? I wouldnt. I have one opinion about tito.. he lost his “fighting spirit” a long time ago.
I hope you don’t truly think that. Despite what your feelings are towards Tito, he is a professional fighter. To assume he did this “on purpose” is a complete ignorance on your part. He has fought many, many fights against some of the best fighters in the world. You ever think that maybe he doesn’t want to go into a fight with a poor training camp when his UFC career may be on the line?
No, I dont think Tito did this on purpose. Im just saying that tito is capable of finding any reason to buy himself more time. If he had a poor training camp then its shame on him. He had the same amount of time as Lil nog. All im saying is that its not a strech for Tito to find ways to avoid or delay the inevitable.. Loosing his UFC career.
this sucks for lil nog, wasnt brilz a replacement also. you train for someone then someone else is thrown at you. this should be a good one.
Also sucks for lil nog because Phil Davis is way better than tito, brilz and probably bader.
The main point of this discussion got lost in all this squabbling. Why did Tito but himself in a position to incur this injury before a match?
PROFESSIONAL boxers don’t risk losing a match and purse by taking unnecessary chances. THEY WEAR HEADGEAR to prevent skin splits and tears over bony surfaces.
ANY respectable trainer would require headgear to prevent such injuries. Either Tito isn’t as professional as he should be or he was looking for a way out of the fight.
Can anyone else think of any other reason?
Headbutts in grappling? Headbutts in wrestling practice? None of those use headgear. It’s an injury. They happen sometimes no matter what precautions are used.
Although Tito is out of this fight with his injury (which for the first time in years I believe is actually legit), I think this is only delaying the inevitable. I really don’t see any mid to top tier guys at 205 that Tito can beat at this point. Even if he gets a couple of months to decide his next opponent, who can the UFC serve up to keep his career alive? I know DW at this point has NO sympathy for Tito and will refuse to feed Tito a taxi driver to pummel on, so to all the Tito haters, you probably won’t have to wait long to see him gone.
retire. tito, nobody likes you, stop pulling out of fights. just leave.
Actually, there is at least one Tito fan on the site, so you’re wrong.
And considering this is the most successful Fight Night ever in terms of ticket sales, Ortiz is obviously still a strong draw. Alot of fans don’t realize or weren’t around when Ortiz was at the top of his game and one of the most entertaining fighters in all of MMA.
YES
Bad matchup for lil nog. I feel sorry for the guy as this could very well be his last fight in the ufc.
When Tito begged his way onto TUF and Chuck told Dana from the beginning, that he wouldn’t fight,and he was right. Thats when Dana should have just been done with Tito. The only fight I want too see Tito in is with Chuck, because I think Chuck would smash him.
Chuck has retired, so you’re going to be waiting a while.
Lil-Rog’s level is beyond what we’ve seen in Davis’ NOT SO WONDERFUL opponents…
Boetsch is arguably the best opponent Phil has faced. And even there the difference in skill was obvious to me.
Boetsch seemed to be able to operate well against Davis but lacked the power, speed and cardio to KO Davis or finish a sub.
Unless Rog gasses he’ll finish Davis and send him back to training. Hopefully catch wrestling. Present day Davis is talented and on the road to greatness – a one armed kimura against a seasoned mma fighter is remarkable – but against Rogerio. ah… NO, unlikely.
it’s like watching the harlem globe trottersfinger twirling a ball – cool but not gonna work against the elite. Elbows from top might be Davis’ best weapon but he might likely get triangled from there.
Even if Davis is all over Nog he probably won’t be able to damage him, and will get caught.
Also Rogerio would have to have been working on strength and on wrestling defense for a fight against Tito. Although Davis is a notch faster and younger, is less experianced than tito
I would say that by the shear number of posts that ANY thread which talks about Tito Ortiz is evidence that the guy is incredibly marketable and should never be cut by the UFC, because Strikeforce would gain a lot of publicity by signing him even with a long loosing record.
I totally get Tito not being able to make this fight. Were this a title fight it would be understandable to go ahead and fight with a bad gash like that (assuming he does in fact get cleared from the doctors, or assuming that this withdraw isn’t forced on him by the doctors), but this fight can determine whether or not he ever fights in the UFC again. Nog is not a top 5 LHW in my opinion, but he is still tough enough to not want to catch an elbow from and lose a fight to doctor stoppage or come in out of shape or rusty. I would not want my career defining fight to have ANY excuses I could fall back on, I’m sure Tito wouldn’t either.
I’m amazed at some of the posts I’ve read here, I really am.
And maybe thats my bad, but I had hoped that after thousands of posts both on the main page and over at the forums the baseline MMA IQ of our posters had risen at least beyond the level of “Tito intentionally hurt himself”.
I understand fans hating Ortiz, I really do.
The man marketed himself for a decade as the “bad guy”, and only recently has tried to project a less abrasive image, with mixed results.
Yes, Ortiz has a history of injury, LEGITIMATE injuries requiring corrective neck and back surgeries.
We aren’t talking about a fighter that drops out of a lackluster fight with a tweaked ankle, only to be miraculously recovered 2 weeks later to step in for a sexier fight here.
We’re talking NECK AND BACK SURGERY.
And now 22 stitches in the head.
Also, Tito Ortiz had accomplished more in MMA and the UFC by the time he was 26 then somefighters do by the time they are 40.
Tito Ortiz is a HUGE part of the UFC’s initial success, and the interest shown in UFN 24 indicates that those posts containing nonsense about no one wanting to see Ortiz fight any longer are absolute dogsh!t.
If any fan chooses to support or not support a fighter, thats their right.
Denying what a fighter has accomplished, or posting sh!t about a fighter while hiding behind a keyboard and never having done anything more combatative than getting beaten up by their sister, quite honestly is out of order.
Consider that if there was no fanbase interest in Tito Ortiz, Dana White & Co wouldn’t still be promoting his fights, especially because the man is on a 5 fight/5 year winless streak.
Consider that if Ortiz were as past his prime as so many think Joe Silva wouldn’t have given him a spotlight 205 fight with LilNog.
Most importantly, some of you seriously need to start considering WHAT you’re posting here before you hit that submit comment button, because some of these dogsh!t posts masquerading as “opinions” drag the frenZy down to the level of sh!t forums like Sherdog and other septic tank sites pretending to be MMA news outlets…
Nice to sell 55,000 tickets to an event – then change one of the main card fights, and then pull it off the card altogether. Seems pretty disrespectful to the people who are filling the UFC in Toronto to get their card downgraded, after the UFC pocketed the money.
I can see your point that they took off a “potential” superstar off the card with Mr. Wonderful, but right now I don’t see Davis ranked much higher than Hamill, Brilz, or Matyushenko. There all around the same (argueably) top 10-15. So i think it makes sense with brilz going up against vlad and it should be a good war too.
Tough luck for Tito. He certainly has been plagued with injuries, hopefully after this he can string at least 2 fights by the end of the year. But another mans low is another mans oppurtunity. This is a much more meaningful fight for the 205 div and i see phil dominating this fight and rocketing into the top 10 ranks.
Also, are we just supposed to assume Thiago Silva fell off the earth or what? How long does it take to look at someone’s pee/blood/saliva?
no kidding! what’s up with that!?