A year removed from his retirement, former UFC light-heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz has hinted that he may be on the verge of a comeback.
“Fighting is starting to sound fun again. Peopleschamp #comeback #Positive body is almost healed. @Punishment99 @ufc @Viacom @MTV @espn,” Ortiz wrote on Twitter.
“Nice 2be a free agent.Need 2make a big decision 4my future 4my kids future. Nice 2 have a great surrounding and 2be healthy.#Positive”
Ortiz appeared to have hung up his gloves for good in July of last year after a loss to Forrest Griffin in their third encounter. Ortiz had picked up just one win in nine Octagon outings and had been plagued by a series of major injuries and subsequent surgeries.
With that in mind, together with Otiz’s troubled relationship with UFC president Dana White, it’s hard to imagine that he would be welcomed back there in a hurry, and so it’s perhaps telling that he mentions Viacom in his Twitter post given that they currently own the Bellator promotion.
Whether they would be interested or not remains to be seen, but after initially being resistant to signing ex-UFC fighters, Bellator has shown a greater willingness to do so of late, with the likes of Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Vladimir Matyushenko and Matt Riddle amongst those who’ve been picked up over the past few months.
Don’t expect a decision to be made in the coming weeks however – Ortiz has indicated that it could be up to five months before he’ll now if he’s healthy enough to compete again.
