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Shortly after learning that his original opponent, Mark Coleman, had to drop out of their Nov 21 fight, the returning Ortiz must have had a pleasant surprise when Forrest Griffin stepped up on short notice to fill the void.

Coleman suffered a leg injury during training and had to pull out; Coleman asked for the fight to be pushed back to January, but the UFC apparently had other plans. No offense to Coleman, but this bout dramatically increases the drawing power of this card. The main event is Brock Lesnar making his first title defence against Shane Carwin.

Griffin last saw action on Aug 8, at UFC 101 when he took on the freakishly fast and strong Anderson Silva. Griffin was a step behind Silva the whole fight, and was soon stopped by a fade-away left handed jab by Silva. Griffin looked bad that fight, and is now 2-2 in his last 4 fights. He’ll be looking to rebound and get back in the title mix.

Ortiz on the other hand, last fought Lyoto Machida in May 2008, losing by decision. Ortiz then left the UFC and had back surgery, flirting with several other promotions during that time.

The two first met what seems like a lifetime ago, at UFC 59, where Ortiz pulled out a controversial split-decision win. Griffin was fresh off of his TUF 1 win, but has improved by leaps and bounds since that time. With a win, both guys would put themselves in the mix for a crack at the 205lb title.