Tito Ortiz Joins Affliction: Will Fight in Affliction Banned 2

Tito Ortiz has joined Affliction, the new Mixed Martial Arts venue that was all the rage two weeks ago when Fedor Emelianenko hammered Tim Sylvia to become the first ever W.A.M.M.A. heavyweight champion. Ortiz has been one of the most popular of the UFC fighters though he often bumped heads with that organization's President, Dana White.

Ortiz reached an agreement with the upstart Affliction organization and will fight on its October 11 pay-per-view show in Las Vegas, Steve Cofield is reporting. The Affliction event would be scheduled one week prior to the UFC 89 Micheal Bisping vs. Chris Leben fight. The UFC had quickly put together a fight to go up against Affliction Banned when the new MMA event debuted. It was unclear at press time whether UFC 89 would be moved up a week or if the UFC would attempt to provide counter programming once again.

Ortiz's opponent will be Renato "Babalu" Sobral,a former UFC fighter who won his match on this month's Affliction: Banned undercard. Babalu called out Ortiz after winning his Affliction fight, which Ortiz attended, and this match-up has been expected since then.

Affliction Banned 2 will take place at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The evening's main event is set to feature the first title defense of undisputed WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko against former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski. Further details and bouts on the card are still forthcoming, but it is rumored that Aleksander Emelianenko and Affliction: Banned winner Josh Barnett may also be on the main card.

Bookmaker.com was expected to release odds on the October 11 Affliction event shortly.