With the recent news that Mark Coleman was off the UFC 106 fight card with an MCL injury, the hunt began for an opponent to face Tito Ortiz in his return to the Octagon (for the second time).

According to Kevin Iole, former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Giffin will take Coleman’s place and get a chance at avenging his loss to Ortiz back at UFC 59

Griffin most recently fought at UFC 101 this past August where he lost to UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva via first round KO. Griffin has taken some heat for darting from the Octagon following the loss and his failure to speak about the fight in any serious manner.

Ortiz, of course, has not fought since losing via decision to current UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida at UFC 84. During his time off, Ortiz had spinal surgery to repair a back injury that had been bothering him for several years.

In my opinion, this is a dangerous fight for Griffin. Griffin was extremely close to winning his first matchup against Ortiz, and will desperately need a win in this fight as he is coming off back to back losses. Griffin is 4-4 in his last eight fights, and while he undoubtedly will always have a home in the UFC regardless of record, his fight status and reputation depend on an above 500 record.

If Ortiz truly is back to 100% and can put together some of his previous successes, he could easily defeat Griffin again and we could end up seeing more “run Forrest, run” clips following UFC 106.