The first two rounds between the pair were close, as Ortiz wrestled Griffin to the ground several times and unloaded ground and pound while Forrest connected with punches and kicks on the feet, but Griffin dominated the third, battering Ortiz with strikes to earn the split decision with scores of 28-29, 30-27, and 29-28.

Griffin snaps a two-fight losord his ing streak and improves to 17-6 with the win, while the returning Ortiz, fighting for the first time in 18-months, falls to 15-7-1 after failing to record his first victory since 2006.

Excuses were aplenty after the bout, as Griffin said a broken foot hampered his performance in the fight, while Ortiz said his training was limited due to bulging discs in his surgically-repaired back as well as a facial fracture that resulted in a noticeable black eye.

The narrow decision and satisfying action means a rubber match between the former light heavyweight champions is likely, and both fighters indicated after the matchup that they were open to meeting again.

In the UFC 106 co-headliner, welterweight contender Josh Koscheck resorted to his wrestling to take out knockout artist Anthony Johnson, recovering from an illegal knee and powerful combination suffered in the first to force Johnson to tap to a rear naked choke late in the second round.

After the win, Koscheck, improving to 14-4 with his second-straight win, called out upcoming welterweight challenger Dan Hardy and plead for a rematch with title-holder Georges St-Pierre. Johnson falls to 8-3 and has his three-fight win streak snapped in the loss.

Also on the UFC 106 main card, Paulo Thiago grinded out a unanimous decision over newcomer Jacob Volkmann, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira made his UFC debut with a first-round knockout of Luiz Cane, and Amir Sadollah battered a return Phil Baroni en route to a unanimous decision victory.

In preliminary card action, Ben Saunders picked up a first-round knockout of Marcus Davis, Kendall Grove forced Jake Rosholt to tap to an opening-round triangle choke, Brian Foster recovered from two illegal strikes to take out Brock Larson via second-round TKO, Fabricio Camoes and Caol Uno fought to a majority draw after Camoes lost a point, and George Sotiropoulos submitted Jason Dent with an armbar in the night’s first fight.

The official results for UFC 106 were:

• Forrest Griffin def. Tito Ortiz via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
• Josh Koscheck def. Anthony Johnson via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 2, 4:47
• Paulo Thiago def. Jacob Volkmann via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira def. Luiz Cane via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:56
• Amir Sadollah def. Phil Baroni via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Ben Saunders def. Marcus Davis via KO (knee) – Round 1, 3:24
• Kendall Grove def. Jake Rosholt via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 3:59
• Brian Foster def. Brock Larson via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 3:25
• Fabricio Camoes vs. Caol Uno – majority draw (29-27 28-28 28-28)
• George Sotiropoulos def. Jason Dent via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 4:36

The returning Ortiz, who is fighting for the first time in 18-months, tipped the scale at 204-pounds, while fellow former light heavyweight champ Griffin weighed in at 205-pounds for their anticipated rematch.

Welterweight Anthony Johnson, who failed to make weight for his most-recent bout in October, successfully weighed-in at 170-pounds, while co-main event opponent Josh Koscheck came in at 171-pounds.

The card’s official weigh-in results were:

MAIN CARD (PPV)

• 205: Tito Ortiz (204) vs. Forrest Griffin (205)
• 170: Josh Koscheck (171) vs. Anthony Johnson (170)
• 170: Paulo Thiago (169) vs. Jacob Volkmann (170)
• 205: Luiz Cane (205) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (205)
• 170: Amir Sadollah (170) vs. Phil Baroni (170)

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)

• 170: Marcus Davis (170) vs. Ben Saunders (170)
• 185: Kendall Grove (186) vs. Jake Rosholt (185.5)

PRELIMINARY CARD (non-televised)

• 170: Brock Larson (171) vs. Brian Foster (171)
• 155: Caol Uno (155.5) vs. Fabricio Camoes (155.5)
• 155: George Sotiropoulos (155) vs. Jason Dent (155)

Stop back to MMAFrenzy.com tomorrow for live UFC 106 coverage beginning at 8pm ET.

Pictured: Forrest Griffin

The card has undergone many changes due to injuries and illness, including the removal of the original headlining heavyweight title bout between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, which was replaced by the scheduled co-main event of Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin. That bout too underwent some changes, as Ortiz had originally been slated to face Mark Coleman who had to withdraw because of an injury, only to be replaced by Griffin, prior to the bout being elevated to main event status.

The current co-main event for UFC 106, Koscheck vs. Johnson, was only added to the card just recently, following the other changes to the top of the bill.

The now confirmed fight card for the event is:

MAIN CARD

• Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
• Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson
• Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni
• Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
• Karo Parisyan vs. Dustin Hazelett

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Ben Saunders vs. Marcus Davis
• Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann
• Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt
• Brock Larson vs. Brian Foster
• Caol Uno vs. Fabricio Camoes
• George Sotiropoulos vs. Jason Dent

Despite coming off a loss to Shinya Aoki, Uno (27-12-4) returned to the UFC in June, but suffered a unanimous decision loss to Spencer Fisher at UFC 99, his second-straight defeat and third in his last four bouts dating back to 2007. In his first stint with the UFC, Uno compiled a 3-3-1 record between 2001 and 2003.

Camoes (10-4) recently competed for Strikeforce, picking up a first-round submission of Torrance Taylor in his debut for the promotion in May after previously earning back-to-back wins in EliteXC in 2008. “Morango” has won seven-straight, including four-straight first-round stoppages.

For the latest UFC news and UFC rumors stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.

Pictured: Caol Uno

HT: Tony Loiseleur

Silva connected with heavy punches throughout the 195-pound catchweight contest, but Franklin countered with frequent kicks and punches of his own. Both fighters were hurt on multiple occasions during the three-round, 15-minute bout, but the frequency of Franklin’s strikes were enough to earn him the unanimous decision victory.

As was the case with all of the card’s unanimous decisions, the official judge’s scores weren’t announced, but the fight appeared to be closer than the unanimous scores indicated (MMAFrenzy.com scored the bout 29-28 Franklin).

With the win, the former UFC middleweight champion Franklin, who now competes at light heavyweight, improves to 25-4, while Silva, a former PRIDE light heavyweight title-holder who is moving down to middleweight, falls to 32-10-1 following the loss.

In a battle of heavyweight contenders, Cain Velasquez used his superior wrestling to dominate Cheick Kongo en route to a unanimous decision victory in the UFC 99 co-headliner. Velasquez, now 6-0 in his young career with four-straight UFC victories, should meet another contender in the 265-pound division in his next bout with fellow wrestling prospect Shane Carwin among his potential opponents. Kongo, meanwhile, must improve his ground game if he’s to climb back up the heavyweight ladder towards a title shot, as Velasquez easily secured mount and rained down ground and pound throughout the bout.

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic successfully made his return to the Octagon at UFC 99, dispatching of Mostapha Al-Turk with punches midway through the opening round of their heavyweight fight. An accidental eye gouge that set up Cro Cop’s finishing flurry was the only blemish on the bout, but appeared to have little affect on the result as Al-Turk had been staggered with punches moments earlier. Unbeaten in his last four fights, Cro Cop improves to 25-6-2, while Al-Turk falls to 6-5, including an 0-2 mark in the UFC, and should soon find himself released by the promotion.

Mike Swick stopped Ben Saunders with punches in the second round of their welterweight contest on Saturday at the Lanxess Arena, lining himself up for a fight against a 170-pound contender, with the loser of July’s matchup between current champion Georges St-Pierre and Thiago Alves, Martin Kampmann, or Carlos Condit among the possibilities. Swick is now 14-2 on his career with wins in 9 of 10 UFC bouts, while Saunders drops to 7-1 with the first loss of his career.

In other main card action, Spencer Fisher spoiled Caol Uno’s UFC return with a unanimous decision victory and Dan Hardy won the biggest fight of his career by outpointing Marcus Davis via unanimous decision in the pay-per-view opener.

The event’s official results were:

• Rich Franklin def. Wanderlei Silva via unanimous decision
• Cain Velasquez def. Cheick Kongo via unanimous decision
• Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic def. Mostapha Al-Turk via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 3:06
• Mike Swick def. Ben Saunders via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 3:47
• Spencer Fisher def. Caol Uno via unanimous decision
• Dan Hardy def. Marcus Davis via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Terry Etim def. Justin Buchholz via submission (D’Arce choke) — Round 2
• Denis Siver def. Dale Hartt via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1
• Paul Taylor def. Peter Sobotta via unanimous decision
• Paul Kelly def. Roli Delgado via unanimous decision
• Stefan Struve def. Denis Stojnic via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 2, 2:37
• John Hathaway def. Rick Story via unanimous decision

[Pictured: Rich Franklin]

Surprisingly, the staredown between Marcus Davis and Dan Hardy appeared tame compared to the shoving matches that broke out between preliminary card fighters Roli Delgado and Paul Kelly and Denis Stojnic and Stefan Struve.

MMAFrenzy.com will have live coverage of UFC 99 tomorrow beginning at noon ET.

The official weigh-in results for UFC 99 were:

• 195: Rich Franklin (194) vs. Wanderlei Silva (194)
• 265: Cain Velasquez (239) vs. Cheick Kongo (230)
• 170: Ben Saunders (169) vs. Mike Swick (169)
• 170: Marcus Davis (171) vs. Dan Hardy (170)
• 155: Spencer Fisher (154) vs. Caol Uno (155)
• 265:Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (233) vs. Mostapha Al-Turk (236)
• 155: Justin Buchholz (155) vs. Terry Etim (156)
• 155: Dale Hartt (156) vs. Denis Siver (156)
• 170: Peter Sobotta (169) vs. Paul Taylor (169)
• 155: Roli Delgado (155) vs. Paul Kelly (156)
• 265: Denis Stojnic (241) vs. Stefan Struve (248)
• 170: John Hathaway (170) vs. Rick Story (169)

Rich Franklin

On the heels of their official announcement of UFC 98: Lesnar vs. Mir 2, the UFC officially announced today UFC 99: The Comeback, which is slated to take place on June 13th at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany.

Former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin and former PRIDE title-holder Wanderlei Silva will meet in a  in a 195-pound catchweight bout to headline the UFC’s first trip to Germany.

Tickets for UFC 99 are priced from 250 Euro to 45 Euro and go on sale to UFC Fight Club members on Monday, March 9th and for UFC Newsletter subscribers on Wednesday, March 11th. Tickets, which are available via eventim.de or from the Lanxess Arena, will then go on sale to the general public on Friday, March 13th.

Unofficially confirmed bouts for UFC 99 include Caol Uno vs. Spencer Fisher, Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy, Mike Swick vs. Ben Saunders, and Cain Velasquez vs. Heath Herring. Paul Taylor and Stefan Struve are also expected to be in action on the card.

UFC 99 will air in the United States on tape-delayed pay-per-view beginning at 10pm ET.

For the latest UFC 99 fight card check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.

Caol Uno

Two-time UFC title challenger Caol Uno will return to the promotion in June, squaring off with Spencer Fisher at UFC 99 in Cologne, Germany, according to MMAjunkie.com.

After compiling a 14-3-2 record, Uno was recruited to the UFC and immediately challenged Jens Pulver for what would become the UFC lightweight title, but suffered a majority decision loss in the 2001 bout. After earning a win over Fabiano Iha, Uno suffered a first-round knockout loss to BJ Penn before bouncing back with victories against Yves Edwards and Thomas 2Din Thomas. He next rematched Penn for the then-vacant lightweight belt, but the matchup resulted in a draw and the 155-pound class was temporarily abolished.

Since leaving the UFC in 2003 Uno has gone 10-5-1, most recently suffering a unanimous decision loss to highly-regarded lightweight Shinya Aoki.

The Miletich-trained Fisher has gone 7-3 since debuting in the UFC in late-2005, winning three of his last four bouts inside the octagon dating back to mid-2007. Following a unanimous decision loss to Frank Edgar in November 2007, “The King” has won back-to-back contests over Jeremy Stephens and Shannon Gugerty.

UFC 99 takes place on June 13th at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany. For the latest UFC 99 rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.

* Alvarez was unable to continue in the tournament due to a cut and was replaced by Hansen.