Rivalries: Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin could not have done any more with the tools he was given.

“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 1 winner and former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight titleholder compiled a 19-7 record during a career that ran from Oct. 27, 2001 to July 7, 2012. Though not an overwhelming physical force by any stretch of the imagination, Griffin delivered more than half (10) of those 19 victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission. Will and determination were his building blocks. Griffin was also a model of consistency, suffering back-to-back defeats just once as a professional.

As Griffin’s in-cage exploits drift further and further into the rearview mirror, a look at some of the rivalries that helped chart his course:

Stephan Bonnar

The Ultimate Fighting Championship dialed up its lifeline on April 9, 2005 inside the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas. There, it closed out its inaugural season of “The Ultimate Fighter”—a groundbreaking reality series that placed young unknown mixed martial artists in a house, forced them to live together and built a tournament around them, with the winner earning a six-fight contract with the promotion. Griffin and Bonnar were the last men standing at 205 pounds, and their remarkable 15-minute war in the light heavyweight final breathed new life into a sport that once teetered on the brink of collapse. They tore into each other across three grimy rounds, as they kicked, kneed, elbowed and punched with no regard for their own well-being. What the encounter lacked in technique, it made up for with human drama and competitive spirit. Griffin emerged with a unanimous decision, and the birth of a new legion of fans gave rise to the modern MMA boom. They met for a second time in the UFC 62 co-feature some 17 months later, and while the rematch failed to live up to impossible expectations, it provided a definitive conclusion to their rivalry. Griffin walked away with a unanimous verdict that was far more decisive in nature.

Quinton Jackson

Griffin peaked in the UFC 86 headliner on July 5, 2008, when he upset “Rampage” by unanimous decision and captured the undisputed light heavyweight championship at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 1 winner carried all three scorecards: 48-46, 48-46 and 49-46, this after entering the Octagon as a +245 underdog. Griffin recovered from an early knockdown courtesy of a Jackson uppercut and outlanded the Memphis, Tennessee, native in the first, second, third and fifth rounds. He doubled Jackson’s output in the 25-minute affair and proved particularly effective with his lower-extremity attacks, as he connected with 35 leg kicks. Those efforts resulted in diminished mobility for the champion. Griffin stayed busy when it mattered most, weaponizing his cardio and unleashing 84 total strikes—he found the mark with 22 of them—in the fifth round. While his reign lasted just 175 days, it remains the signature achievement of his 26-fight career.

Rashad Evans

Once Evans laid waste to Liddell, Ultimate Fighting Championship brass had no choice but to offer him a shot at the title, so he was paired with Griffin in the UFC 92 main event on Dec. 27, 2008 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Griffin kept a safe distance for the better part of two rounds, frustrating the challenger with a hefty diet of leg kicks—the same tactic that had brought him the light heavyweight crown in an upset of “Rampage” Jackson some six months earlier. Evans resorted to blowing kisses and grabbing his athletic cup, but his fortunes changed in the middle stanza. There, Griffin slipped during an exchange and wound up on his back. Evans capitalized on the opening, swarmed with punches from both hands and successfully avoided triangle choke and omoplata attempts before moving into position for the finish. He cut loose with a series of jackhammer rights that scrambled Griffin’s circuits and then followed with a volley of lefts that had the dazed and defenseless champion tapping the mat as referee Steve Mazzagatti swooped in to stop it 2:46 into Round 3.

Mauricio Rua

“Shogun” avenged his shocking September 2007 submission defeat to Griffin and did so in savage fashion, as he buried his fellow former light heavyweight champion with first-round punches in the UFC 134 co-headliner on Aug. 27, 2011 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Rua drew the curtain 1:53 into Round 1. Griffin dared to exchange with the 2005 Pride Fighting Championships middleweight grand prix winner and paid the steepest of prices. Rua clipped the Xtreme Couture rep with a combination in the center of the Octagon, put him on all fours and launched a stinging assault, first with punches and then with hammerfists. The encounter nearing its end, Rua bounced the Columbus, Ohio, native’s head off the canvas like a basketball, his superiority over him clearly established. The Brazilian outlanded Griffin 16-3 in their rematch, evening their head-to-head series at 1-1.

Tito Ortiz

Griffin weathered a pair of knockdowns—one in the first round, another in the third—to claim a unanimous decision over “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” in the UFC 148 co-main event on July 7, 2012 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges scored it 29-28 for Griffin, who completed his trilogy against Ortiz with a 2-1 advantage. Ortiz showed glimpses of his former self, as he delivered takedowns and administered some patented ground-and-pound in the first and third frames. However, it became clear midway through the fight that he lacked the energy required to finish the job. Griffin consistently beat him to the punch, landing two, three and sometimes four strikes to his one. Ortiz saw his last best chance at victory come and go in Round 3, where he floored “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 1 winner with a clean left hook. He did not have the reserves he needed to pursue the finish. Griffin recovered, picked up where he left off and took the rubber match between the two former champions. He announced his retirement less than a year later, citing chronic injuries.