The "Huntington Beach Bad Boy" is coming back to the octagon. On Friday, UFC President Dana White and Tito Ortiz squashed their long-running fued when White announced the re-signing of Ortiz during a media teleconference.

“Tito and I have history that pretty much everybody knows,” said White. “We have put all our differences aside, have squashed everything, and we’re ready to move forward. Tito Ortiz is still a guy that fans want to see fight, he just had back surgery, he’s getting back into training, he feels good and he’s ready to compete in the 205-pound division and take a shot at the title again. And Tito Ortiz will retire in the UFC.”

Ortiz was the UFC's light-heavyweight champion from April of 2000 to September of 2003. He owns a 16-6-1 career record in MMA, losing his last fight in the octagon to current light-heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida by unanimous decision at UFC 84: Ill Will. Ortiz still owns the UFC record for most title defenses with five.

Advertisement

“I think time really cures everything,” said Ortiz. “Dana came to me and was a man of his word. He apologized to me for the things that he did prior, and for me, it (returning) was about competition. My fans deserve the best Tito Ortiz.”

Ortiz had back surgery in October of 2008, but he is currently rehabbing and could return to the octagon before the end of the year.

Who might Ortiz's first opponent be? There are a slew of potential matchups that would be extremely interesting.

Ortiz has never faced UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman, who at age 44 is coming off a strong performance at UFC 100 in which he beat Stephan Bonner by unanimous decision. Also, there's the possibility of a third meeting with Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, who has already knocked out Ortiz twice (at UFC 47 and UFC 66).

Liddell has lost four of his last five fights and was put to sleep in his last two by devastating knockouts from "Sugar" Rashad Evans and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. On Tuesday as word spread about Ortiz's potential return to the UFC, Liddell posted this message on his twitter page, "Sign me up to kick titos ass again." (So what if the Ice Man is more into dealing out eye dots than inserting apostrophes?)

Then on Thursday, Liddell posted the following tweet, "Thanks for everyone's support in setting up a third fight with Tito. Thanks for reposting the message. Keep it up."

After losing to Rua, White was emphatic that Liddell was done fighting. However, Liddell has refused to say as much, indicating only that he was taking the rest of 2009 off.

In other UFC news, White announced that Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort will return to the octagon for the first time in four years to headline UFC 103 in Dallas by taking on Rich "Ace" Franklin in a light-heavyweight showdown. Franklin was originally scheduled to face Dan Henderson in a rematch of a recent loss by decision.

Brian Edwards can be reached at briane@vegasinsider.com.