UFC fighter Tito Ortiz (bottom) defends against Rogerio Nogueira during a light heavyweight bout at UFC 140 at the Air Canada Centre. Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRETom Szczerbowski
Former light-heavyweight champions Tito (The Peoples Champ) Ortiz and Forrest Griffin will meet for the third time at UFC 148 on July 7 in Las Vegas.
Ortiz (17-10-1) won the first time they met, via split decision in 2006. Griffin evened the score at UFC 106 in 2009.
This will probably mark the last hurrah for the 37-year-old Ortiz, who has lost five of his last six. He has campaigned for the Griffin rubber match, saying a May fight would serve as his 15-year MMA swansong.
The 33-year-old Griffin (18-7) is coming off a first-round KO loss to Mauricio (Shogun) Rua.
The UFC had previously announced another UFC 148 matchup of former champions with former light-heavyweight title-holder Rich Franklin meeting former Strikeforce middleweight champ Cung Le at UFC 148 in a bout at 185 pounds.
Franklin (28-6 with one no contest) has been sidelined by shoulder surgery in recent months. His last fight was a loss to Griffin at UFC 126 in February 2011.
Le (7-2) was stopped by Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva at UFC 139 last November, his first fight in the UFC since coming over from Strikeforce.
Also at UFC 148, middleweight Tim (The Barbarian) Boetsch takes on England's Michael (The Count) Bisping while bantamweight Renan Barao looks to extend his unbeaten streak to 32 fights when he takes on Jeff (Hellbound) Hougland at UFC 148.
In other UFC news, the rematch between flyweights Demetrious Johnson and Ian McCall will take place on a June 8 televised card. Johnson was awarded the decision when the two met earlier this month in Australia, only to find out later that the judges' scores were mistabulated and the bout was a draw.
The Johnson-McCall winner will meet Joseph Benavidez for the 125-pound title.
Bantamweights Dustin Pague and Jared Papazian will also fight on the June 8 card.
NOTES@ � Diego Wilson (5-1) will meet Corey Gower (3-1) in an all-B.C. main event put on by Victoria-based Armageddon Fighting Championship. "AFC 8: Vengeance" is slated for April 14. The card also features Karel Bergen (5-0) against Adam Smith (3-0) and Nick Driedger (5-1) against Bruno Capdeville (3-3).