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News Item

"Babalu" dreaming of Affliction bout with Tito Ortiz
by John Morgan on Jul 24, 2008 at 12:33 pm ET
After a successful return to action against Mike Whitehead at Saturday's "Affliction: Banned" event, light heavyweight Renato "Babalu" Sobral (30-7) hinted at a possibility for his next opponent -- the perhaps-soon-to-be-ex UFC star Tito Ortiz (15-6-1).

The discussion began when Sobral was asked at the post-fight press conference if he would be interested in facing fellow victorious light-heavyweight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who had dispatched of Edwin Dewees earlier in the evening.

"Nogueira is a friend of mine," Sobral said. "We've trained together before. Of course, if we're going to have to fight, we'll fight. But that's not the fight I'm looking for.

"I'm looking for another guy. Wait for the name. It's coming. I think (Affliction Vice President) Tom (Atencio) is going to bring a name for me. And I'll be here to kick his ass."

When probed further by MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), Sobral admitted it was Ortiz he was after.

"That's my dream fight," a smiling Sobral said.

Atencio said while a fight between Sobral and Ortiz, who have never fought, is not a top priority, Affliction would be interested in hosting the match if a mutually beneficial deal could be brokered.

"[Signing Ortiz] is definitely not a priority, but it is something that when he's finished with his contract -- I know [the UFC] has a negotiation period and some kind of a grace period -- when he's done with that, we can talk to him," Atencio said on Wednesday. "If that's a fight that seems financially viable, then absolutely. It's going to come down to dollars and cents, and it's going to come down to if it works for us."

Ortiz, who is winless in his past three bouts, has been vocal about his desire to compete outside the UFC. As reported previously by MMAjunkie.com, EliteXC has also shown interest in the former champion. Ortiz has also mentioned the possibility of starting his own promotion.

John Morgan is the lead staff reporter for MMAjunkie.com.

theEmpiric

This would be a good fight.

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GSP - A. Silva - BJ Penn - Huerta - Guida

WanderleiSliver

I would love to see Babalu choke Tito out.

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"To beat Fedor, you would have to kill him twice, and then push him over" - Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

T-Bone

So how much longer do you think Tito is in UFC lockdown?

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TapOrNap

X 2

MTKrav911

Too bad Frank Shamrock was on Jim Rome's Radio show Wed morning and said he had dinner with Tito and that more than likely he and Tito will fight for "Some Organisation"

By years end

It was all on Jim Rome and Frank closed by saying


"Im the only fighter that can make Tito tap and vomit at the same time!"

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"For a person with no forgiveness in their heart? His living is even worse punishment than his death!"

Miyagi

FightFan76

Me too, just not so sure it would happen.....

Stu Katz

Tito and Babalu would be a good match up. I would like to see it hopefully by years end.

Cuts O Meat

I see Tito getting choke out in a bad way.

Babalu is better than Tito in every aspect of the sport.

SmashingMachine

This'd be a good fight. Babalu should just keep it standing, given his display of hands against Whitehead. Tito's too good with elbows when he's in someone's guard and I doubt he'd get caught in a submission. His own BJJ is pretty decent, he's done the ADCC thing, I think Babalu would want to keep this one standing.

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Drewplata

With all this news and the Affliction momentum, looks like we might need another sub section for Affliction!

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Cuts O Meat

Babalu is heaps better than Tito in striking, but Babalu is also just as good a wrestler as Tito. I don't Babalu has to worry at all if the fight goes to the ground.

ninjashoes

I dont really care too much for either of these guys

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FightingIrish

Good to know.

I would love to see this fight and I see Babalu coming out the victor.

Greenman

Well, as a self proclaimed Babalu nuthugger, I would like to see him fight anytime. Tito would be a great fight, but as you could expect I would expect Babalu to pull off win.

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riversideblues

The only problem with that is a lot of the smaller promos can fold at anytime if they don't sell well, even just once.

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I don't know what fight I'd rather see, Tito and Frank or Tito and Babalu.
Overall, I really don't want to see Tito beat Frank because he'd never stop shutting his mouth about it, as much as it would be an epic superfight, Babalu would probably come closer to beating him. I mean, after seeing Tito do a 180 on his stance on the UFC after he lost to Machida rather than win, I've completely lost respect for his character...

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KungFuGrip

Great fight if it happens. We been talking about a Sobral/Ortiz fight since I join the this site. This fight could go either way, but I lean towards a Babalu sumission.

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"If you don't want to be hit in the back of the head, turn around."

Rundown

I snapped a pic of my grilfriend after Affliction aired..............





I would rather see Tit fade away.

Badfish

Personality wise, I don't like either fighter, but Babalu probably has more skills to end this fight.

As for tito starting his own promotion....well that sounds like a crazy bad idea to me. if it happens, i predict it fails and vanishes within 6 months.

SmashingMachine

Wow...what a hottie.

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