MANILA – Mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar Tito Ortiz is ready to slug it out once again in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

The former light heavyweight champion and some fighters from the defunct “Affliction” promotion signed a multi-year deal with the UFC last Friday.

Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed, Studio 23’s News Central reported.

Ortiz, known as “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy,” held the UFC light heavyweight title from 2000 to 2003.

He is said to be targeting November or December for his return to the Octagon.

According to UFC President Dana White, the first opponent of Ortiz would be Mark Coleman, a former Olympic wrester who scored an upset over Stephan Bonnar.

“We have put all our differences aside, have squashed everything, and we’re ready to move forward,” White told Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.com.

“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,” he added.

Ortiz, 34, underwent back surgery in October 2008. “Tito Ortiz will retire in the UFC,” added White.

Ortiz, for his part, said, “I think time really cures everything.”

“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,” he noted.

“My fans deserve the best Tito Ortiz,” he declared.

The final UFC fight of Ortiz was against current light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida on May 24, 2008. Machida defeated Ortiz by unanimous decision. With a report from News Central