Forrest Griffin-Tito Ortiz II At UFC 106.

To follow up on a story I first reported on Tuesday, Forrest Griffin has agreed to step in as Mark Coleman’s replacement and fight Tito Ortiz next month at UFC 106.

Kevin Iole of Yahoo was the first to break the story with a tweet sent out about 2 hours ago.

The announcement may come as a shock to some as many thought that Ortiz would be given an easier opponent in his first fight in almost 18 months.

Griffin was recently quoted as saying he wasn’t in fighting shape and was about to embark on his honeymoon in the upcoming weeks. Always the company man, Griffin has once again stepped up to help bail the UFC out when they were in trouble.

These two are certainly no strangers to each other having fought at UFC 59 in what many feel was Griffin’s leap from reality television star to a legitimate contender in the UFC’s light heavyweight division.

Their first bout was extremely exciting and saw Ortiz completely dominate Griffin in the first round. Taking him down and utilizing his trademark ground and pound, the fight was nearly stopped but Griffin showed his true resolve and held on. The next two rounds saw a frustrated Ortiz fail to take Griffin down again until late in the third round in what probably sealed the victory for him. Griffin was beating Ortiz to the punch over and over again and stuffing his takedowns. The split decision victory by Ortiz was booed heavily by the crowd in Anaheim, California.

Griffin was last seen bolting from the cage after being thoroughly dominated by UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC 101. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that Griffin broke his silence about the bout and where he had been ever since. The loss was the second in a row for the former UFC light heavyweight champion as he was coming off a loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 92 in a bout that saw him lose the light heavyweight championship via 3rd round TKO.

Ortiz has been out since last May recovering from back surgery and had spent the time flirting with every other major MMA organization until re-signing with the UFC. The last time we saw Ortiz in action he was in the process of losing a unanimous decision to eventual light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.

Both men have a lot to lose here as Griffin doesn’t want to lose his third fight in a row and Ortiz wants to make a big splash in his return. It can be said that both men are so popular that they can afford a loss as long as the bout is competitive but truth be told, both men need the victory very badly.

UFC 106 will be headlined by a battle for the UFC heavyweight championship as challenger Shane Carwin looks to take the title from Brock Lesnar. The card will come to you from Las Vegas, Nevada on November 21st.