Chad Griggs
This Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia former Strikeforce heavyweight Chad ‘The Grave Digger’ Griggs (11-1) will step into the Octagon for the first time when he meets undefeated fighter Travis Browne on the preliminary card of UFC 145.
Griggs enters the fight on a six fight win streak with eleven wins under his belt, all of them finishes.
‘The Grave Digger’ tells MMAMania.com that he is someone who is willing to take risks in order to finish an opponent because he doesn’t want to battle to a decision.
When your fighting at heavyweight, everyone has the potential to knock their opponent out, and with that attitude Griggs feels he can make it a long ways in the UFC’s biggest division.
How far do you think you can get in the UFC heavyweight division?
Chad Griggs: Well, I think the heavyweight division is a funny division. We’re such big guys with heavy hands that anybody can win at any time and one mistake can be it. I see a huge amount of potential for me to excel in the UFC division. I know there’s a ton of tough guys in there and I consider myself one of ‘em. I’m gonna go into every single fight planning on winning and I’m gonna be planning on winning by knockout or submission. I’ve never been to a decision and I don’t want to ever go to a decision. I guess with that attitude comes a little bit of risk and not playing it safe but at the same time, it sometimes brings a little more respect and excitement to the fans. The fans are who’s paying the bills and paying my paychecks and putting me on the cards.
I’m gonna take some risks and I think I have a lot of potential and a good chance of going a long ways. I know I’ve got a reputation of being a crazy brawler but believe it or not, I practice hours and hours on my back, hours and hours wrestling and I just haven’t had the chance to display it yet. I got a chance to have one good lateral throw with Overeem in my last fight but like I said, when you put pressure on people and they cuddle up and you just start hitting them, you don’t have time to do anything else. You just start aiming for their head and hit ‘em hard and wait for the ref to pull you off. So until that doesn’t work and I have to do something else, I’m gonna keep trying that.
You asked for a really big fight after your last victory over Valentijn Overeem and you got Travis Browne, who’s a top 15 heavyweight in the world. Does that excite you that you got what you wanted?
Chad Griggs: Absolutely no question about it. I’m very excited about this fight. I think this is a good fight for me and a really good opponent for me. If I could have picked one out myself, this is probably who I would have picked. He’s a top in the world right now, he’s undefeated. He’s big, great record and has some good highlight fights. He likes to dance around and be snazzy and if I can go in there and get a good win, obviously it’s gonna look fantastic for me and that’s ultimately the goal to get in there and make a name for myself, fight tough guys, beat them and make more money!