UFC Light Heavyweight bout: Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
Odds: (+250 Ortiz /-325 Griffin )
Betting Pick: Griffin
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In the semi-main event, two former Light Heavyweight champions will collide as newly-inducted Hall of Famer “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz will square off against perennial fan favorite Forrest Griffin in a decisive rubber match. Twice before these two have fought, and while each has one win over the other, this series is interesting in that both of their wins came in decisions they did not deserve. In their first fight, Forrest clearly got the better of Ortiz but took a confusing split decision loss. The next time they met, Griffin was awarded the split decision in a fight Ortiz clearly controlled. Hopefully this third meeting will actually end with the best man winning and settle matters once and for all.
“The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz is a UFC legend well-deserving of his Hall of Fame induction, which will occur the night before what is likely his final fight in the Octagon. Ortiz was a pioneer of the modern sport, dominating the Light Heavyweight division with his mix of wrestling, ground and pound, and severely underrated jiu-jitsu. Age and a string of debilitating back and neck injuries, though, robbed him of some of the physicality that made him such a force to be reckoned with, and the fact that he has dropped six of his last eight with one draw clearly illustrates that his days as a top fighter are long since passed. Still, while his body may have betrayed him, he is still a savvy veteran with much underrated technical skills on the ground. He can’t change levels for takedowns as quick as he once did, but he still knows how to capitalize on an opening and can turn a mistake into a submission as well as he ever could, a lesson Ryan Bader learned the hard way. In many ways, Forrest is as good an opponent as exists for Ortiz, because he has such a reactive style and isn’t the kind of guy with any one overwhelming skill that lets him take a fight over. As long as Ortiz fights smart and doesn’t get too reckless, he has a great chance of finding his opening and leaving the sport on a victorious note.
Forrest Griffin, despite his mixed results of late, is one of UFC’s most popular fighters. His war with Stephan Bonnar on the finale of The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 paved the way for much of UFC’s current mainstream success, and his gregarious nature and self-deprecatory humor endear him to millions of fans. A big part of Griffin’s appeal is that he comes across as an everyman. He isn’t a dominant athlete and he doesn’t have one world-class skill, but his never say die fighting style and willingness to absorb huge amounts of punishment and keep pushing forward and fighting aggressively make him an easily relatable figure. While he is not one of the best in the world at anything, he makes up for it by not having any really huge holes in his game. He is a decent wrestler, a much underrated grappler, and what he lacks in punching power he makes up for in volume of punches and accuracy. It is unlikely that he will ever reach the top of the Light Heavyweight division again, but he is the kind of guy who you can put in the Octagon against anyone and expect an action-packed, competitive fight.
Put simply, neither of these guys is at the top of their game anymore, but Griffin is much closer than Ortiz. Neither man has the one dominant skill that will enable them to finish the other, but I think Forrest should be able to stop most of Ortiz’s slowed takedown attempts and score enough points with his superior boxing to take, for once, a clear-cut unanimous decision victory.
Prediction: Forrest Griffin by Unanimous Decision.
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