When the UFC’s hype engine fails to deliver any real, palpable anticipation for a fight — as in the case of Saturday’s Tito Ortiz/Forrest Griffin rematch, which is fine but far from the Epic Super Rematch of Mega Titans some clever editing and music are presenting it as — you can make up your own narrative.

In this instance, UFC 106’s four light heavyweights might potentially be participating in a four-man tournament for a chance at the title without knowing it. In addition to Ortiz-Griffin, a debuting Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will face Luis Cane; the respective winners would have time to meet before May 1’s Lyoto Machida-Mauricio Rua rematch. It may be all that you need to sit a little closer to the television.

Fewer excuses need to be made for the undercard, a talent-rich program with some genuinely compelling fights and fighters. Any program forced to restrict Caol Uno to preliminary status has things going for it.

What: UFC 106: Ortiz versus Griffin, an 11-bout card from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas

When: Saturday, Nov. 21, 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view, with a live undercard special on Spike at 9 p.m. ET

Why you should care: Because Ortiz, while not for all tastes, usually brings a contagious energy into his bouts; because we’ll get to see what kind of answers Anthony Johnson has for someone like Josh Koscheck, who can take his legs out from under him; because Amir Sadollah and Phil Baroni looks deceptively like a boy versus man match-up, which might amuse your friends; and because it’s a pleasure to watch any Nogueira compete.

Fight of the night: Karo Parisyan versus the UFC. (Previously Parisyan versus Dustin Hazelett.) Parisyan has grappled more with anxiety issues than opponents in recent months; he pulled out of the event Thursday for suspect reasons. Now Dana White swears he’s done.

Sleeper fight of the night: Paulo Thiago versus Jacob Volkmann, two finishing submission artists who aren’t good enough wrestlers to smother the other.

Hype quote of the show: “I’ve sparred with Anthony before. He was afraid to get punched and he got really aggressive and came back swinging whenever I got in his face and put any pressure on him. A win will put me one step closer to my goal of becoming the UFC welterweight champion. When I whip this kid’s ass, I’m calling out Georges St. Pierre next.” — Koscheck, objectively calculating his chances, to UFC.com.
 

Five questions: UFC 106

Q: Is Tito Ortiz ready for an encore?

A: Ortiz’s recent performances displayed a fighter far removed from the kind of dominating, aggressive cage-wrestling he used to great success early on; he blamed back issues, corrected by a new and less invasive surgery. But even if Ortiz reverts to old form, he’ll be a 2002 fighter in 2009: up against athletes who can stuff his takedown, shut him down on the ground and pester him standing. Aggressive wrestlers will always have a chance — even fresh off the college mat — but it’s not as good a guarantee as it used to be.

Q: Can Forrest Griffin handle another loss?

A: Batterings against Rashad Evans and Anderson Silva puts Griffin on track to suffer a third consecutive defeat. While his popularity and “Ultimate Fighter 1″ finale cred probably guarantee him permanent employment in the UFC, he does not strike as the type who will take a run of misfortune with grace. Whether that statistic influences his performance against Ortiz, forcing him to fight more conservatively, is one for the wrap up.

Q: Can Phil Baroni pull it together?

A: Despite being difficult to take down, heavy-handed and sporting the ring temperament of a rabies victim, Phi Baroni’s record reads as 13-11. Depending on which fights of his you’ve seen, he appears either tougher than you expect or weaker than advertised. Fighting a capable Amir Sadollah will help determine whether being “at home” in the UFC’s 170-pound division is going to make a difference — or whether Baroni and Frank Trigg are on course to give each other an exit interview.

Q: Can Karo Parisyan overcome himself?

A: Parisyan, probably the most macho-strapping fighter in the sport today, blames anxiety issues for flat performances. His last, versus Dong Hyun Kim, was erased when he was pinned for painkiller use. Having a mind congested with these issues when Dustin Hazelett is looking to make your ankle touch your ear is not proper, which may be part of the reason he made an unexpected exit from the event on Thursday. Parisyan, only 27 despite his decade of experience, needed a strong performance to mute the negative voices — both in and out of his head. He won’t get that chance.

Q: Will Antonio Rogerio Nogueira welcome success?

A: Long a fixture of the Japanese circuit, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has all the tools necessary to become a legitimate light heavyweight contender — which would place him directly in the sights of associate Lyoto Machida. MMA is not chess, and a punch to the face is not as subdued a move as taking a rook. Nogueira’s success could come with a heavy tax.

Red Ink: Ortiz/Griffin

There is likely to be a moment during the Tito Ortiz/Forrest Griffin bout on Saturday when both men struggle for position: Griffin pressed against the cage, resisting Ortiz’s chances on the ground, Ortiz testing his new back against someone paid to hurt him. There are consequences to how this plays out, but they amount to more than the superficial damage: In jockeying for control, both are really fighting to remain relevant.

Ortiz has not competed in over a year, maintained a nearly annual fight schedule prior to that, and may find that fans have pledged allegiances to more active fighters. In the span Ortiz took time off, fought Lyoto Machida and convalesced, Griffin has fought four top-10 ranked opponents. (And beat two of them.) Ortiz has not had a hand raised in a meaningful fight since he defeated Griffin in 2006. 

If Ortiz cannot beat Griffin, there will be doubts whether a good or bad back has much to do with his recent mediocrity. If Griffin cannot beat Ortiz, he might be doomed to a career as a sardonic special attraction, not a serious contender. This is a fight where the loser leaves feeling lost.

Might look like: Ortiz’s fight with Vitor Belfort, a wild back-and-forth that confuses judges who are already struggling with common sense.

Wild card: Absolutely Ortiz’s back: If he can continue taking effective shots for three rounds, Griffin will need a sewing kit for his forehead.

Who wins: Griffin has his best success when opponents want to take batting practice with him; it’s not a game Ortiz has to play if he doesn’t want to. Ortiz by decision.

There is nothing Brett Rogers can say from now on that can top Ben Rothwell’s recent crazy remarks. First, I want to preface this by saying, I do agree with Ben Rothwell about the fact that the fight was stopped early. I even said so in our UFC 104 post-fight column, but I cannot figure out how anyone, including Rothwell, thought that fight was close or even that though Rothwell was going to mount comeback.

In an interview, Rothwell says the first round was extremely close and he was about to comeback when the fight was stopped. He says a lot more insane things, but I think I will let you read them for yourself. Prepare to laugh:

“So what he was punching me, big deal, isn’t that what happens in a fight? The reality of the situation is that I was using the cage to get to my feet and which I basically did and then for some reason Steve [Mazzagatti] decides to step in. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it. I mean if the punches had some force behind them I could understand it but those were like soft jabs that didn’t hurt at all, it was like he was just hitting me to stay busy rather than damage me. That’s is why I wasn’t covering up – the punches didn’t hurt and definitely weren’t doing any damage, at least not enough to slow me down, but then he [Steve Mazzagatti] calls the fight? Please, my grandmother hits harder that that. Maybe it looked bad to those at home and to those who have never trained but I had worked back into standing position and was ready to fire back some of my own, so how bad could the punches have really been? Come on, if you would have seen me the next day you’d have hardly thought I was in a fight – I woke up the next day with barely a scratch on my face. Look at some fights I have had in my career, I’ve been in plenty of worse positions and managed to turn the fight around and win.

You know Shogun wasn’t the only one robbed that night. So what If I lost the first round by a small margin, all that meant is there were still two rounds up for grabs, my shoulders were just loosening up at the beginning of the second round – the real fight was just getting started. Look, I don’t want to make this sound like I’m taking anything away from Cain, he’s a great fighter, probably one of the best in the heavyweight division at the moment. I just feel like I’ve been working my entire career to get this shot in the UFC, only to have it taken away from me by an incompetent referee. Losing is one thing but to have such a big opportunity taken from you? I’m disgusted.

That’s getting up from his back what my wrestling coach Peter Senerchia and I had worked on before the fight. Each time he took me down I made my way to the fence and got back to me feet like we planned. I had so many different tools in my arsenal that could have led to a victory but I feel like I didn’t really get a chance to show them, that the fans didn’t get a chance to see what Ben Rothwell is all about. I’d have loved to have knocked Cain out and I really feel like I could have, but we all know what happened there. The worst part is I figured out early that Cain is a decent wrestler and was taking me down a lot quicker than I anticipated so I basically told myself the next time Cain takes me down I’m going to forget about the knockout and submit him. I have great jujitsu and great submissions but people don’t realize this because I don’t call on these skills too often because my hands are so devastating. Anyway, sure enough Cain managed to take me down and pressed me up against the cage. I had a standing arm lock (kimura) basically given to me on a silver platter that I was setting up and Mazzagatti went and stole it from me. It was like he stole Thanksgiving day dinner from me right from underneath my nose. I’m still feeling really pissed off about this fight and I really feel like Cain didn’t beat me, poor officiating did.

You feel as ripped off as I do, let me apologize, but I also want all you people to know that next time I step in the cage no ref is going to steal anything from me and tell me what fight I didn’t win, I’m gonna take matters into my own hands and put some people to sleep, bank on it”