When The Ultimate Fighter first debuted in 2005, no one was sure if the mixed martial arts reality show would be an instant hit or a ratings bomb. Twelve episodes of fights, in-house hi-jinks and drunken escapades led to the first season finale where …
When The Ultimate Fighter first debuted in 2005, no one was sure if the mixed martial arts reality show would be an instant hit or a ratings bomb.
Twelve episodes of fights, in-house hi-jinks and drunken escapades led to the first season finale where Forrest Griffin met Stephan Bonnar in a light heavyweight bout to declare the first ever Ultimate Fighter champion at 205 pounds.
What happened next over a full 15 minutes no one could have predicted.
Griffin and Bonnar engaged in a fight for the ages with both competitors slugging away at each other on the feet and on the ground.Neither one ever seemed to truly get the upper hand in the fight, but that didn’t stop them from blasting away, throwing everything and the kitchen sink at each other over the course of three rounds.
When it was over, UFC President Dana White, former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell and just about everyone else at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas were on their feet applauding what is now considered the greatest single moment in UFC history.
Following that fight, both Griffin and Bonnar continued on in the UFC, amassing 30 total fights between the two of them.In late 2012, Bonnar retired from mixed martial arts following a loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 153 and a positive steroids test that would have ended in a lengthy suspension from the sport anyway.
On Saturday night, Griffin joined his former rival and now friend in retirement, and in July the two will team up once again for another moment in UFC history.
Speaking to the media following the conclusion of the UFC 160 post-fight press conference, White announced that Griffin and Bonnar will be inducted together into the UFC Hall of Fame during the UFC Fan Expo the weekend of UFC 162 in July.
The UFC posted the news on its official Twitter account:
The event will take place over July 5 and 6 with Griffin and Bonnar going into the UFC Hall of Fame simultaneously.They will become the 10th and 11th members respectively.
During their UFC careers, Griffin went 10-5 and managed to win the UFC light heavyweight title, while Bonnar amassed an 8-7 record overall.What they will most be remembered for, however, is their fight on April 9, 2005, that helped kick-start the UFC to new heights that it is still climbing to this day.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all information was obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
In a somewhat stunning announcement, Forrest Griffin announced that he is retiring from the UFC at the UFC 160 post-fight press conference.Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports tweeted out the news:At 33 years old, Griffin walks away from the sport with a 19-7 r…
In a somewhat stunning announcement, Forrest Griffin announced that he is retiring from the UFC at the UFC 160 post-fight press conference.
At 33 years old, Griffin walks away from the sport with a 19-7 record, but will always be remembered for his brief light heavyweight championship run and classic fight with Stephan Bonnar at the first-ever The Ultimate Fighter Finale.
Griffin captured the light heavyweight championship by defeating Rampage Jackson via unanimous decision in 2008.
The three-round war with Bonnar is widely considered a hallmark event in the UFC’s history and a reason for the organization’s success on cable television.
It was Griffin’s inability to put on the kind of fights that get fans out of their seats that he felt forced him to retire. After watching Wanderlei Silva and Brian Stann’s epic fight in March, he felt that it might be time to hang it up.Among Griffin’s career accolades and achievements are five fight-of-the-night awards, the UFC light heavyweight championship, the first-ever The Ultimate Fighter championship and one submission-of-the-night award.
Dana White also mentioned that Griffin will have a position with the UFC as long as he wants to hang around:
Griffin last fought in July 2012 against Tito Ortiz in what was ironically promoted as The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’s retirement fight. As it turns out, it was also the last time that fans will be treated to a Forrest Griffin appearance in the Octagon.
(*sniffle*…and then…and then the bad man told me that i would never amount to anything, and that I had a big, stupid face…*begins bawling hysterically*)
Tito Ortizis to conspiracy theories what Wilmer Valderrama is to “Yo Momma” jokes. A fun fact: After slipping on a patch of ice in his driveway and bruising his tailbone as a child, Tito Ortiz convinced himself that the residual water was left behind by an opposing wrestling team in an effort to take him out of the competition. Twenty-some odd years later…crab people. The HAARP Machine? Started by Ortiz to explain his loss to Frank Shamrock at UFC 22. Zeitgeist? A Tito Ortiz production attempting to write off his performance at UFC 44. And don’t even get Tito started on that completely flawed Magic Loogie theory.
Anyways, we haven’t heard much from Tito since he dropped a close decision to longtime rival Forrest Griffin in his retirement fight at UFC 148. Unfortunately, Ortiz recently emerged from hiding to take one final dump on the promotion that made him the man he is today (and a boatload of cash to boot), throwing everyone from Joe Rogan to Dana White under the bus along the way.
Video after the jump.
(*sniffle*…and then…and then the bad man told me that i would never amount to anything, and that I had a big, stupid face…*begins bawling hysterically*)
Tito Ortizis to conspiracy theories what Wilmer Valderrama is to “Yo Momma” jokes. A fun fact: After slipping on a patch of ice in his driveway and bruising his tailbone as a child, Tito Ortiz convinced himself that the residual water was left behind by an opposing wrestling team in an effort to take him out of the competition. Twenty-some odd years later…crab people. The HAARP Machine? Started by Ortiz to explain his loss to Frank Shamrock at UFC 22. Zeitgeist? A Tito Ortiz production attempting to write off his performance at UFC 44. And don’t even get Tito started on that completely flawed Magic Loogie theory.
Anyways, we haven’t heard much from Tito since he dropped a close decision to longtime rival Forrest Griffin in his retirement fight at UFC 148. Unfortunately, Ortiz recently emerged from hiding to take one final dump on the promotion that made him the man he is today (and a boatload of cash to boot), throwing everyone from Joe Rogan to Dana White under the bus along the way.
Video after the jump.
For your entertainment/convenience, we’ve provided a transcript of Ortiz’s latest conspiracy below (starts around the 4:40 mark, via GroundandPoundTV) along with our running commentary:
I thought I won the fight. When you drop a guy twice, when you take a guy down four times and you dominate by doing it…he never took me down, he never hurt me.
Fair enough; you think you won the fight, and you cited a few examples to make your case. So far, so good, although the “he never hurt me” mantra is about as used up as, well…
Go back and watch the fight. For the first time ever in UFC history, they showed strikes attempted. Not strikes landed, strikes attempted. When do you ever show someone with strikes attempted?
He never hit me, I blocked all of them. I checked all of his kicks.
Well that, that is just an outright lie. For proof of this, follow either of the links in the previous paragraph.
And I listen to Joe Rogan and it was like a one-sided fight that he was watching. I gave him shit on the phone one time because of it and when we did the podcast he kind of side-winded around it and never got to those questions. But he said, “Look at the leg kicks that Forrest is hitting him with.” I checked all of them. My shin, I had a chipped bone on the tip of it because I checked all of his kicks.
…and after [Forrest ran] out of the fight, that shows that he lost.
*checking unified rules of mixed martial arts* Nope, it doesn’t. It’s kind of like how the judges don’t pick a winner based on who raises their hands first after a fight either.
…and for Dana to go back and run and get him and to come back, there’s something fishy going on here. How does Dana know how the match is gonna turn out? I thought something was fishy about that. Was it premeditated? Was it pre………….planned out, what the answer was gonna be? If I didn’t knock him out or submit him, they knew who was gonna win. And it’s too bad for my fans.
It bothered me really bad, but I went out the way I wanted to. I went out swinging, I went out on my shield and I held my shield up like no other.
This just in: Tito Ortiz to host a seminar this summer. The topic: Using repetitive metaphors and confusing non-sequiturs to make your point.
Ortiz goes on to make his usual list of post-fight excuses: bum knee, ruptured disks, new injuries that prevented him from training, etc. before stating that “he doesn’t look for excuses.” They sure seem to find him, though.
There’s no doubt that Tito Ortiz deserves his place in the UFC Hall of Fame, and if there’s ever an MMA Hall of Fame, he’ll surely be enshrined there as well. Through a career that lasted 15 years, he established himself as one of the…
There’s no doubt that Tito Ortiz deserves his place in the UFC Hall of Fame, and if there’s ever an MMA Hall of Fame, he’ll surely be enshrined there as well. Through a career that lasted 15 years, he established himself as one of the greatest light heavyweights in the history of the sport.
However, there was another side of Tito that was slightly less “Hall of Fame”—his penchant for rolling out an endless litany of excuses whenever something didn’t go his way.
Ortiz last fought in the UFC back in July 2012, dropping a unanimous decision to Forrest Griffin in the third meeting between the two fighters. The loss brought a close to Ortiz’s career, but, alas, it has not brought an end to his excuse-making and finger-pointing—and he’s seemed to have saved the best for last.
Ortiz’s normal list of excuses for losses usually revolved around undisclosed injuries in the past, but for the Griffin loss, he’s pulled out the big guns. Speaking to Ground and Pound TV, Ortiz pretty much accuses the UFC of fixing the fight:
I thought I won the fight, when you drop a guy twice, you take him down four times and you dominate by doing it. He never took me down. He never hurt me. For the first time ever in UFC history, they showed strikes attempted; not strikes landed, strikes attempted. When do you ever show somebody with strikes attempted? He never hit me, I blocked all of them.
After him (Griffin) running out of the fight, that shows that he lost and for Dana (White) to go back and run and get him to come back, there’s something fishy going on here. How does Dana know how things are going to turn out? I thought something was fishy about that. Was it premeditated? Was it pre-planned out what the answer was going to be? If I didn’t knock him it, if I didn’t submit him, they already knew who was going to win.
If, as Ortiz proclaims, this fix was in, it went pretty deep, as the FightMetric numbers for the fight show that Griffin outstruck (and, yes, out-attempted) Ortiz through the three-round battle, landing 104 of an attempted 280 strikes to Ortiz’s 68 landed strikes.
One can argue that the decision should have gone Ortiz’s way in the bout, but to say the fight was fixed is a reckless statement at best and one I would not expect UFC president Dana White to let slide without at least some type of comment.
The average MMA fighter showcases some tact, respect and honor following combat. There’s something special about sharing 15 minutes of combat with a man. Fighters sweat, bleed and hurt together, and it brings them closer in some strange, almost p…
The average MMA fighter showcases some tact, respect and honor following combat. There’s something special about sharing 15 minutes of combat with a man. Fighters sweat, bleed and hurt together, and it brings them closer in some strange, almost primitive way.
That’s why the outspoken or the overtly arrogant fighters are the exception to the rule. Upstairs, they seem to function a bit differently. Either that, or they’ve been working at self-promotion long before entering the cage.
Either way, a few fighters who always bring a little extra something to post-fight interviews and conferences. These are the guys with emotions seeping from their pores and obscenities flying from their lips. These fighters often stand out in our memory, and if you doubt that, take a look at this group of men.
Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin was scheduled to compete at UFC 155 against Chael Sonnen and then Phil Davis, but Griffin was forced out of action with a knee injury.Griffin was forced to undergo surgery and looks to return someti…
Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin was scheduled to compete at UFC 155 against Chael Sonnen and then Phil Davis, but Griffin was forced out of action with a knee injury.
Griffin was forced to undergo surgery and looks to return sometime later in 2013.
Although Griffin is a former champion and without a doubt one of the most well-known names in the MMA world, it’s clear that he isn’t a top contender anymore. His fight with Tito Ortiz made both men look slow and perhaps Griffin should’ve joined Ortiz in the retirement party.
Still, Griffin sports a nice 3-1 record in his last four outings and is among the upper half of the light heavyweight division. That should leave the door open for some options in his return bout.
It will of course ultimately be up to Griffin and his camp as to how they want to proceed but there are a handful of competitive fights and big money opportunities available for the former UFC champion.
When The Ultimate Fighter first debuted in 2005, no one was sure if the mixed martial arts reality show would be an instant hit or a ratings bomb.
