MMA News: Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin 3, Alistair Overeem, Eddie Alvarez and More

Tito Ortiz has been looking to finish out his career with a third fight against Forrest Griffin, and on Monday’s edition of “Inside MMA” on HDNet, Ortiz once again called Griffin out for a fight.

“Forrest, you know I deserve it, man. Step up. Let’s do this. It’s an awesome fight for you. I lost my last one. You lost your last one. Let’s do this – unless you’re scared!” Forrest responded to Ortiz: “He knows better than that. You know what’s funny about me and Tito? The truth is we each consider the other an easy fight. For me, that’s the perfect ‘get right’ fight. Coming back from a bad loss and beating Tito Ortiz up? No problem.”

Deserving? I guess, if we are talking about what Ortiz did for the UFC throughout his career. But Griffin is higher on the “ladder” than Ortiz, and it wouldn’t really make sense for him to fight Ortiz. That being said, both previous fights were close, so I would watch a third one. I would much rather see Ortiz fight Rich Franklin when he gets back from injury.

According to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Alistair Overeem has been charged with one count of misdemeanor battery stemming from an incident in a Vegas casino after his win over Brock Lesnar in December. Overeem was issued a citation by police that states that around 3AM on Jan. 2, Overeem pushed or shoved a woman in the face, “causing her to stagger back.” Overeem was not arrested on scene. Overeem’s lawyer David Chesnoff stated, “Alistair was not arrested, but was summoned to court. There are two sides to this story and we intend on vigorously defending this. Alistair maintains his innocence.” If Overeem is convicted of the charge, he could face up to six months in county jail and a fine up to $1,000.

Not good. There is no reason to ever push a woman in the face, unless of course your life is in danger. But I doubt that was the case on January 2. I guess we’ll see how this plays out in the coming months.

Former Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez decided against entering their upcoming tournament for a chance to work his way back towards the title. Instead, he was looking to get a rematch with Shinya Aoki. Well, it looks like that is about to happen. According to BloddyElbow.com, Alvarez vs. Aoki 2 will take place in Bellator Fighting Championships this April.

I still don’t get the “not wanting to try for your title” decision, but I can’t wait for this fight to happen.

The Federal Trade Commission’s investigation into Zuffa, LLC’s 2011 purchase of Strikeforce has been closed. The FTC released a statement stating, “The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition has been conducting a nonpublic investigation to determine whether Zuffa, LLC’s acquisition of Explosion Entertainment, LLC may violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act or Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Upon further review of this matter, it now appears that no further action is warranted by the Commission at this time. Accordingly, the investigation has been closed.”

No monopoly, which is what Dana White and the Fertittas have been saying all along. If the NFL, NBA, NHL, etc. aren’t monopolies, neither is the UFC.

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza hasn’t fought since losing his Strikeforce Middleweight Championship to Luke Rockhold last September, but according to a report from Tatame.com, he is scheduled to meet French middleweight Moise Rimbon on March 3 at the Strikeforce “Tate vs. Rousey” event in Columbus, Ohio.

Well, it’s about time. Souza is a great fighter, and his striking is improving every time he takes the cage. This fight with Rimbon should be explosive.