Babalu: Ortiz is my dream fight

Following a controversial exit from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, former top light heavyweight contender Renato "Babalu" Sobral returned to action in the U.S. during the Affliction: Banned show picking up a unanimous decision win over fellow UFC alum, Mike Whitehead.

Babalu looked solid both on the ground and on the feet during all three rounds with his opponent, even during two takedowns that saw Sobral fall through the ring ropes.

After the fight was over, Babalu expressed a lot of respect for his opponent and even mentioned training with him in the future.

"I would like to train at Xtreme Couture and we almost trained together a couple times, but we just never did," said Sobral. "And I think in the future we can train together."

Of course following the fight, the questions came in fast and furiously as to who Sobral might face in his next fight for the Affliction promotion.

One person not likely on that list is current top-10 fighter, Antonio RogerioNogueira, who was also victorious during the Affliction show, stopping EdwinDewees in the first round.

"(Rogerio) Nogueira, he's a friend of mine, we trained together before," Babalu stated. "Of course if we had to fight, we're going to fight, but I mean that's not the fight I'm looking for, I look for another guy."

The other guy Sobral is looking to fight is none other than former UFC light heavyweight kingpin, Tito Ortiz. "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" was in attendance during the Affliction show and the two fighters have engaged in a war of words previously.

Following Sobral's loss to Chuck Liddell in 2006, Ortiz was quoted as saying, "Renato Babalu is not really that great a fighter. He's a great 'B' fighter and an average 'A' fighter."

Babalu took obvious offense to Ortiz's statement and issued one of his own in which he proclaimed that he hoped to "smash his face" following Tito's fight with Liddell later that year, but the bout never materialized.

Now with Ortiz on the free agent market and Affliction being a heavy favorite to land the perennial MMA bad boy, a fight with Babalu would seem like the perfect match-up.

"That's my dream fight," said Babalu in response to a possible fight with Ortiz.