Ortiz, a legend in the Ultimate Fighting Championship who was one of the longest-reigning champions in the promotion, last fought in UFC 84 where he lost a decision to rising light heavyweight Lyoto Machida. The reason for delaying the signing is because of an exclusive negotiating window with the UFC after his last fight. That time period expired Monday, August 4th.

The scheduled presser in Las Vegas will reveal the full fight card for Affliction’s second event, dubbed “Day of Reckoning.” Markazi indicates that Ortiz will take on the always-tough Renato “Babaul” Sobral on October 11th at the Thomas and Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.

While short of offering specifics about the contract, Ortiz confirmed that “It's going to be a long-term deal where I put my heart and soul into the company and help build them. That's something I'm interested in doing. They're going to bring me on, not just as a fighter but also doing some of the back work also."

He is also setting his sights high for pay-per-view purchases for the promotion’s second event.

”I know they want to make some money and I know they got over 100,000 pay-per-view buys on their first show,” he said. “[W]ith me it's guaranteed to be over 500,000 pay-per-view buys just by the number of fans that are going to follow me no matter where I go so they're going to get there money's worth just in pay-per-view no matter what."

While the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion has proven to be a top draw for pay-per-view orders, there is still some debate as to the accuracy of his repeated claim from the company’s VP Tom Atencio that Affliction drew ‘over 100,000’ buys. Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter states that initial figures are tracking in the area of between 50,000 to 85,000 buys.

Moreover, the loss in pay-per-view revenue only serves as a catalyst to the confirmed fighter payroll for Affliction’s first event at $4 million. Of that figure, eye-raising (and grossly generous) amounts were paid to Tim Sylvia ($800,000) and Matt Lindland ($300,000) despite a quick loss and rather uninspired decision win, respectively. Fedor Emelianenko, the legendary PRIDE FC Heavyweight Champion and newly-crowned WAMMA Heavyweight Champion, was officially paid $300,000; that figure does not include a reported $1.3 million signing bonus.

The purportedly-growing losses has even led to Atencio asking certain fighters to take a 50% pay cut for the upcoming October event. In exchange, the fighters would get easier opponents.

One fighter who already is against Atencio’s move is Josh Barnett. He left Anaheim on July 19th with a great knockout win against Pedro Rizzo in the rematch and a cool $300,000 to his name. He staunchly opposes, however any and all forms of a pay cut.

Since Emelianenko hurt his hand against Tim Sylvia, he is not headlining the second event. Instead, Josh Barnett will face off against Andrei Arlovski. The only other bout made official is a middleweight bout between Vitor Belfort and Matt Lindland.