Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, News
Still self-deprecating despite a resume that boasts a UFC championship reign and New York Times bestseller status, Forrest Griffin readily admits that his recent win over Rich Franklin was no thing of beauty.
Griffin outpointed Franklin during the UFC 126 co-main event, using his size advantage to put Franklin on his back and work him over from the top position. For a guy who first gained his fame as a heart-on-his-sleeve brawler, it showed his continued maturity as a fighter, if not his willingness to risk losing for being a crowd-pleaser.
“It’s a win, and at that point I was thinking, ‘I’ll take anything I can get,'” Griffin told MMA Fighting in an exclusive interview.
The physical nature of MMA is such that despite a conservative game plan, Griffin did not emerge unscathed. The popular light-heavyweight broke his right foot during the bout, the second time he’s broken it in the last two years. He previously injured it in training for his Nov. 2009 bout with Tito Ortiz, but fought anyway and won.