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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.

It won't be hard to sell a fight between these two behemoths

I wonder who Cain Velasquez pissed off?

Velasquez was set to square off against Shane Carwin, for the rumored number one contender’s slot for the right to face Champion Brock Lesnar. The UFC had a change of plan, and did some card shuffling, which went something like this:

Original Configuration had Cain Velasquez vs Shane Carwin, Ben Rothwell vs Chase Gormley, and Brock Lesnar vs TBD

New Configuration has Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin,Cain Velasquez vs Ben Rothwell, and now, poor Chase Gormley vs TBD

I’m assuming Carwin got the nod because there’s a shortage of heavyweight contenders at the moment, plus he popped off after Brock’s “sore winner” display after UFC 100 so that will build the fight more. Plus, Carwin is no spring chicken at 34, and Velasquez has all the time in the world at a relatively young age of 25. Should Carwin have fought and lost to Velasquez, he may never get a title shot, so why not now? Lesnar is more than capable of carrying a main event, as shown by the UFC 100 buy rate.