Perhaps the top free agent in mixed martial arts and one of the biggest draws in the history of the sport, Tito Ortiz, announced today that he will join the Affliction MMA broadcast team for Affliction: Day of Reckoning on January 24.

When it was announced last week that Ortiz would be the special guest at today’s press conference, the rumors of a possible deal between the two sides for him to compete for the promotion ran wild. However, he made it clear that this announcement does not mean he has signed on to fight for Affliction.

Here’s a snip from the presser:

“This has nothing to do with me fighting for Affliction. I’ve been fighting for 11 years, so I think I know a thing or two about fighting.”

This will be the second event in the young history of the organization. At the first show - Affliction: Banned - in July, sports reporter and announcer Jay Glazer, veteran MMA fighter Frank Trigg and long time referee “Big” John McCarthy served as the announce team.

This time, however, Tito will work along side play-by-play announcer Sean Wheelock and color commentator Jimmy Smith — the duo that calls the action for the M-1 Global events that air weekly on HDNet.

Ortiz is coming off back surgery that he has stated will keep him out of action until the summer of 2009. The actual surgery took place on October 6. UFC middleweight fighter Nate Quarry had the same procedure done earlier in his career and was able to return to the octagon in nine months, making Tito’s estimate pretty accurate.

It’s also been mentioned that he has a non-compete renegotiation clause from his UFC contract that allows the Zuffa boys to match another promotion’s offer if they chose to. Apparently that runs out in June, which is right around the time he expects to be back in action.

Realistically it might not be until then when we finally get to see who the former UFC light heavyweight champion lands with. He last competed against and lost to Lyoto Machida by unanimous decision at UFC 84: Ill Will on May 24.

The saga continues.

Source: mmamania.com