Did Tito Ortiz's return lead to Dan Henderon's possible UFC departure? Tito's mysterious "Fractured skull"..., UFC: 111 GSP vs. Hardy?, & Brock Larson cut, whining about his UFC fights...

Copy and pasted from:
mmajunkie.com. and fiveknuckles.com

Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy under consideration for UFC 111 in NJ
November 26, 2009

A UFC welterweight title bout between long-time champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Dan Hardy is being discussed for UFC 111 in March. News of the bout was first reported by MMA Fanhouse.com.

If made, the matchup would likely serve as the main event of UFC 111. St. Pierre vs. Hardy was originally being discussed for UFC 109 on Feb. 7 in Las Vegas, and also UFC 110 on Feb. 21 in Australia. However, those plans have since been scrapped. The Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort UFC middleweight title fight is expected to headline UFC 109, and Wanderlei Silva vs. Michael Bisping is the new main event of UFC 110.

UFC 111 is in the works for March 11, 2010, possibly taking place at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

If the event gets booked in New Jersey, it will be the promotion's first visit to the Garden State since UFC 78: "Validation" in Nov. 2007, which also took place at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. That event was headlined by a light-heavyweight bout between past TUF winners Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping. The card was heavily criticized for being lackluster, however, it still produced successful numbers, drawing 14,071 fans and a gate of $2,100,000.

St. Pierre (19-2) is currently on a six-fight winning streak, which includes wins over Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Jon Fitch, B.J. Penn and, most recently, Thiago Alves at UFC 100 in July. He has not fought since his win over Alves at UFC 100 because he has been healing a torn abductor he suffered during the fight. St. Pierre has not been defeated since April 2007, when he was upset by Matt Serra.

St. Pierre has put together an impressive 13-2 record during his five-year tenure with the UFC, scoring other notable Octagon wins over the likes of Karo Parisyan, Jay Hieron, Jason Miller, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk and Josh Koscheck; while suffering his only other loss against Matt Hughes. The seven-year veteran of the sport has fought the majority of his career with the UFC, fighting 15 of his 21 career bouts with the promotion.

Hardy (23-6) earned the title shot by scoring a clear-cut unanimous decision win over Mike Swick at UFC 105 on Nov. 14. The win was his seventh straight, and moved his UFC record to 4-0, with previous Octagon wins over Marcus Davis, Rory Markham and Akihiro Gono.

During his five-year career, Hardy has competed for other notable promotions such as King of the Cage, Cage Force, Absolute Fighting Championships and Cage Warriors Fighting Championships. He has finished 15 of his 23 career wins and holds other notable career wins over the likes of Alexandre Izidro and Chad Reiner.

Did Tito Ortiz's return lead to Dan Henderon's possible UFC departure?
by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Nov 25, 2009 at 6:30 pm ET

With his vicious knockout of Michael Bisping at UFC 100, Dan Henderson fulfilled the terms of his previous contract, and a new one doesn't seem likely.

After butting heads with UFC president Dana White, who said Henderson's contract demands were "unrealistic," the veteran fighter could sign with a rival organization, most notably Strikeforce.

But when discussing the series of events as an in-studio guest on MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com), White pointed to a potential and surprising culprit for Henderson's decision: Tito Ortiz.

Over the past couple months, Henderson (25-7 MMA, 5-2 UFC), a former top UFC middleweight and light heavyweight contender (who also simultaneously held two PRIDE belts), has remained in a state of limbo. Although White declared earlier this month that he was positive Henderson had signed with Strikeforce, no deal has been announced.

And while White said he and Henderson have discussed a potential new contract with the UFC, the executive said "Hendo" hasn't been serious.

"Dan is in I-don't-want-to-make-a-deal mode," White said on the Nov. 20 edition of MMAjunkie.com Radio. "There are some deals in which you go in and negotiate and make a deal. You know you want to make a deal. ... Dan Henderson knows he does not want to make a deal."

That's when White pointed to Ortiz, who recently ended a 16-month holdout and re-signed with the UFC, as a potential reason for Henderson's alleged stance.

"The [expletive] that Dan came in and said in my office and what he wants, it's unrealistic, and he knows it," White said. "And it's basically based off of, 'I heard this guy is making this, and I heard this guy made (this much).' Basically, what everybody gets pissed off about is Tito. 'Oh, I heard Tito is making all this money, and Tito is this and that.' And it's because Tito likes to go out there and stay stuff like that or somebody in his camp did.

"That's how [expletive] gets started. "

While no deal no seems imminent, and though Strikeforce officials have expressed interest in signing Henderson, White isn't shutting the door on getting a deal done – with Henderson or any other fighter, including Fedor Emelianenko.

"Doors are never closed," he said. "I'm in the fight business. We put on fights. Doors never close.

"Never say never. Dan could call me tonight. Fedor could call on three-way with him. We could sign them both up tonight if they want to call."

Tito Ortiz’s fractured skull is missing from the UFC 106 medical suspension list
Published on: 25th November, 2009

At UFC 106 Tito Ortiz seemed to get respect from a few of his critics after dropping a decision to Forrest Griffin. Tito fought hard and looked good until he gassed in the third round of his fight. No one is going to fault him, no one really had anything negative to say. A hard fought loss, no harm, no foul. That lasted for about 3 to 5 minutes. The post fight interview came and within seconds Ortiz began talking about how a cracked disc and a then a cracked skull stopped him from competing his hardest. Needless to say that crowd began to boo.

Well, the Medical suspensions were released a few days ago by MMAJunkie.com and there was a notable injury missing from the list. As our friend Steve over at MMAConvert.com points out there is no record of Tito Ortiz’s cracked skull or disc any where on that list.

Normally I really wouldn’t give a crap and would probably not even point this out, but Tito never had to bring this up. We respected him losing with some grace, but losing and making excuses makes him sound like a big baby.

Tito only fed into his critics online hating when he began to make excuses for defeating Forrest Griffn. No one expected him to be 100% in his comeback fight, especially after a 18 month lay off. We didn’t need any other reasons.

Brock Larson Cut by UFC; Blames Undercard Status for Performances
by Brent Brookhouse on Nov 25, 2009 4:31 PM EST

With a TKO loss to Brian Foster at this past weekend's UFC 106 event, UFC welterweight Brock Larson will now look for work outside the organization.

The veteran fighter today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com he was cut from the UFC's roster following the Nov. 21 defeat.

Larson leaves the organization with a 26-4 record, which included a 3-3 mark in the UFC and a 4-1 record in the WEC.

"It's probably a good thing," Larson stated via text message. "I was having a hard time getting motivated for my last two fights. I needed a change. The undercards just didn't do it for me."

Far be it from me to question the motivations of a professional athlete but the idea that Larson was unable to get motivated by being on the undercard seems like a cheap excuse. The idea that he was so upset by being on the undercard that he couldn't focus would seem to fly in the face of the logic that suggests "put on a show and give them a reason to move you to the main card."

Getting beat by Mike Pierce wasn't going to move him up to the main card. If rebounding from the loss and proving himself wasn't enough to motivate Larson than I have some serious questions about how successful he will be in the future. Instead, Larson was dominated in every aspect of the game by a heavy underdog in Brian Foster.

The truth is, most fights on UFC shows make the air these days. Is fighting for Strikeforce, DREAM or WVR really going to provide enough "visibility" to motivate him that much more?