Forrest Griffin is a professional Mixed Martial Artist from the United States of America and is currently contracted to the Ultimate Fighting Championship or the UFC, the premier Mixed Martial Arts promotion in the world where he has been a former UFC Light Heavyweight champion. Griffin is a former police officer from Georgia and his first claim to fame was when he was signed to take part in the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC’s reality television show to identify the next big talent.
Griffin defeated Stephen Bonnar in the final match-up of the season to be crowned the winner of The Ultimate Fighter and was immediately given a contract with the UFC. Many cite the fight between Bonnar and Griffin as the one fight which made the UFC a household name that it is now. Griffin began training in martial arts while he was still in college and while he was serving as a law enforcement officer, Forrest Griffin saw Mixed Martial Arts as an alternative career.
Soon after, Griffin gave up his day job to pursue a career in Mixed Martial Arts and he fought in several independent promotions before he made that big splash on The Ultimate Fighter. But very soon, he got the chance to be a part of the Spike TV reality TV show and his career has been on up ever since then.
Dana White, the president of the UFC, credited the fight between Bonnar and Griffin at the finale of The Ultimate Fighter as the most important one in the UFC’s history. And as a result of his contributions to making the UFC a household name, the UFC has always given Forrest Griffin a fair share of its fortune. He is also one of three winners of The Ultimate Fighter to win a UFC gold.
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship or the UFC Light Heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin is taking things slow as he recuperates from a knee injury and is targeting the second half of the current year for making his competitive return to the UFC. Griffin, who has a professional record of 19-7 and a UFC record of 10-5 hasn’t stepped inside the UFC Octagon since a hard fought decision victory over former nemesis Tito Ortiz in what was the veteran’s last match in the promotion.
Griffin was scheduled to take on Phil Davis on the December 29th event at UFC 155 but a freak training injury on his knee ruled him out of the match. It was later revealed that he had suffered an ACL strain and an MCL tear, and that meant that he wouldn’t be able to compete at least for the foreseeable future. Forrest Griffin did undergo surgery to accelerate the healing process but keeping in mind he is 33 years old, the injury hasn’t healed quite yet and according to the doctors, it will take another six to seven months for him to return to action.
Griffin posted the news of his recovery himself on the popular social networking website Twitter where he stated that the doctors he has been consulting have mentioned that the knee is healing fine but he will still need another six to seven months for it to be back to normal and bear the burden of a fight.
The Ultimate Fighter winner was on a 3-1 run, having registered two wins against Tito Ortiz and another against Rich Franklin and a loss to Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua before he was shelved. But with the injury, Forrest Griffin is in danger of not being able to fight for one whole year for the second time in his career
With his nail-biting finish in the bout against Ryan Healy at the Score Fighting Series 7, Jesse Ronson can expect an offer from the UFC. In that case, Ronson will be accompanied by another SFS fighter, Jordan Mein who already got a contract with UFC.
Ronson recently defeated veteran fighter Ryan Healy in the co-main event of the SFS 7 held at Hamilton Place Theatre with a unanimous decision. The fight was highly talked about and Ronson made it a one-man show. Healy couldn’t even stand a chance to counter his opponent properly. So it’s not about winning the bout but the way Ronson did it was extraordinary.
Ronson manhandled Healy through all the three rounds with his jabs, punches and kicks. It seemed that Ronson would have won the match in the first round. But as we all know Healy, he is a real tough opponent and he tried his best till the end but only to be defeated by Ronson. Jesse Ronson might take pleasure in his decision win as he also knows the toughness of Healy.
The 26-year-old Ronson has been undefeated in his last seven bouts. In his wining-run, he has beaten fighters like Alex Ricci, Jasson Sago, Tony Hervey and Healy. Though he has lost to Mike Ricci and Lindsay Hawkes, but it seems that he has no real opponents left in the Canadian circuit. That is why the calculation has begun whether Ronson is to join UFC or not.
When the bout was over Ronson was asked about his future plans where he mentioned it would be his pleasure if he gets the call from UFC. He also said that his Chrismas wish was to get an offer from the UFC and the way he beat a fighter like Healy he saw every chance of getting the offer. The UFC kept their eyes on that bout and it won’t be surprising if Ronson fills up the roster spot and joins UFC next season.
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship or the UFC Light Heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin is ready for a fight with old foe Stephan Bonnar and has stated that he just needs a time and place to fight him. Taking to his Twitter account, the former champion stated that he and Bonnar would probably fight each other at some very rich guy’s bachelor party for beer money. Griffin and Bonnar have faced each other twice in the past and another fight would complete a trilogy of a remarkable chapter in the history of the promotion.
The first ever fight between the two is credited as one of the most important fights ever in the history of the promotion and is considered as the fight that made the sport of Mixed Martial Arts a popular sport for the American household. The second fight between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar was in 2006, where Griffin managed to win via a unanimous decision. And according to many fans of the sport, it would only be logical for the promotion to have another Griffin v/s Bonnar fight to complete their trilogy.
Griffin was set to face Chael Sonnen, the former UFC Middleweight Championship contender in a Light Heavyweight bout at UFC 155 in Las Vegas but Sonnen was pulled from the fight, leaving Griffin without an opponent for sometime before the UFC decided to pit him against up and coming fighter Phil Davis at the event.
Bonnar, who last faced the UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva and was easily defeated does not have long in the industry and it is only fair for him to get a chance to cement his legacy with another fight against Forrest Griffin and bring an end to one of the most talked about rivalries in the promotion as well as the sport.
For some months over the last one year, there have been a lot of questions raised about Forrest Griffin at the top of the Light Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship or the UFC. Since he was almost annihilate by the UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva, Griffin has been mediocre at best and has been extremely uninspiring. Even in his last match in the UFC Octagon, Griffin barely managed to scrape to a decision victory over veteran fighter Tito Ortiz at UFC 148, who retired at the end of the night.
Although he won the match, his performance hardly managed to win over any new fans in the UFC and they were left completely uninspired to say the least. And one man who is definitely happy with the performance put up by Forrest Griffin is Dana White, the president of the UFC. And according to the man himself, he would be happy if Griffin called time on his career immediately. Speaking about the future of the industry, White stated that the veteran fighter had nothing left to prove – he has been the winner of The Ultimate Fighter and held the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
Dana also credited Griffin for managing to have one of the most successful careers in the promotion when hardly anyone thought he was capable of it. He commented that Griffin has loads of money, a beautiful wife and a lovely child – he has been given everything that a man could ask for and raised the question what the use for continuing in the promotion was when he didn’t want to win the title.
White admitted that he understood that it is difficult to walk away from the industry that gave him everything but Forrest Griffin should at least think it through and come to a decision.
7th of July, 2012 at UFC 148, Tito Ortiz will step inside the octagon for his final bout against Forrest Griffin and fans of Ultimate Fighting Championship or the UFC will never see the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion strutting his stuff inside the ring again and his opponent for the night sat down in an interview with UFC.com where he stated that with all the hype surrounding the fight, most people have seemingly forgotten about the past of Ortiz.
He went on to add that during the two or three years he was the champion in the division, there was hardly any athlete who was close enough to him in the entire company, he was almost untouchable. He stated that Tito had been a champion when he hadn’t started fighting professionally and was making money by fighting for around $ 400 in the streets.
The match between Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz will be the third time that they will have squared off inside the ring with the scores tied at one apiece, and although Griffin acknowledged the fact that the skills of Ortiz had waned over the years, he admitted that he still has the fire power left in him to beat anyone inside the ring and that is probably the legacy of The Huntington Beach Bad Boy.
Speaking about his career, Griffin stated that although Ortiz is past his prime, he still can compete and beat any fighter inside the ring and although they have faced each other twice and are equal counts with regards to victories, Griffin said that there are some things that will still be difficult to deal with.
And although Forrest Griffin doesn’t expect an easy match, he wants to give Ortiz the best send off possible by pushing him to the limits in his final bow.
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May 13, 2013 2:41 pm | 
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