Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
Mixed martial arts has no shortage of strange characters and Max Griffin has brushed shoulders with more than his fair share.
Max Griffin can’t stand Deontay Wilder’s costume-related excuses, but that is far from the strangest thing he has seen in the fight game.
Griffin (15-7) sat down with Bloody Elbow ahead of his main card fight vs. Alex Oliveira (20-8-1) at UFC 248 on Saturday, March 7. During the interview, Griffin shared a rather bizarre story involving a former training partner.
“I know this guy, one of my old training partners. I won’t say his name. He had a fight and his mouthpiece disappeared during the fight. The referee was like, ‘where is your mouthpiece?’ They stopped the fight. He’s like, ‘I don’t know.’ No one knew,” Griffin recalled. “They actually had to run to the back and grab a teammate’s mouthpiece and get that. He wore that! He put it in his mouth. He wore that. Used mouthpiece mind you.”
If you think that is gross, just wait until you hear the unsavory (or savory) place the mouthpiece was found.
“That mouthpiece disappears too. They stopped the fight. ‘Where’s your mouthpiece? We’re going to call this fight.’ He pulls the mouthpiece out of his cup and puts it back in his mouth,” Griffin laughed. “I don’t know man. He is a wild guy. He’s from California. I think he’s actually suspended by the California athletic commission right now.”
Griffin is 3-5 in his UFC career with a win over Mike Perry and a loss to Colby Covington in his debut. His last four losses have been competitive decisions, including a controversial split decision loss to Thiago Alves in Fortaleza, Brazil.
“I feel like it’s Griffin vs. the judges, man. I don’t know what they’re seeing. A lot of these fights are close. The only time I’ve ever been dominated is by Colby Covington and that was my first fight in the UFC,” Griffin said. “Since then all the fights I have lost have been razor thin, they could have gone either way. Every single fight you could have called it either way.
Griffin and Oliveira are both 1-3 in their last four fights; however, Griffin believes all the weight is on his opponent’s shoulders.
“He has the pressure,” he asserted. “I don’t believe in pressure. It’s always the same for me. I’ve already been there, I’ve already won the fight, I’ve already done this.”
UFC 248 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on March 7. The card is headlined by a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero. A strawweight title fight pitting Weili Zhang against Joanna Jedrzejczyk serves as the co-main event.