Tag: Forrest Griffin

UFC 148: The Big Silva vs Sonnen Question: Will Chael Go to the Barbecue?

It was the re-match we’d been waiting nearly two years for as Chael Sonnen challenged Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title in the main event of UFC 148, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on ESPN here in Britain. The b…

It was the re-match we’d been waiting nearly two years for as Chael Sonnen challenged Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title in the main event of UFC 148, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on ESPN here in Britain.

The broadcast began in the bantamweight division as Ivan Menjivar faced Mike Easton.

While this may not go down as one of the most memorable fights in UFC history, it certainly was entertaining.

Easton put in a very solid performance. His striking was crisp and he often met his target, his main success coming with a left high kick in the first and a flying knee in the second.

Menjivar just didn’t seem able to get into this fight at all. It was as if he couldn’t get out of first gear. He managed to get off a few good strikes but these were nothing compared to Easton’s work.

The only ground work came in the third when Easton countered Menjivar’s spin kick attempt with a takedown. There was a little work there until Menjivar kicked his man off and got back to his feet.

With neither man able to get the finish, the judges were called into action—with all three giving the fight to Easton.

It was up to featherweight for the next fight as Chad Mendes took on Cody McKenzie.

The first blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair of the evening saw Mendes coming forward early. McKenzie went for a couple of high kicks, but when Mendes caught another kick and connected with a blow to the body, McKenzie fell to the mat.

Mendes followed him down for a brief moment of ground and pound until the referee stepped in to stop the fight, giving Mendes the TKO win after just 31 seconds.

Welterweight action followed as Dong Hyun Kim took on Demian Maia.

The second blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair of the evening saw Maia going for the takedown right off the bat. There was a bit of a struggle on the feet as Maia quickly took Kim’s back.

Maia scored with the takedown seconds later, but when he went for the mount Kim gave the “X” sign with his arms. The referee stepped in straight away as Maia took the TKO win after just 47 seconds.

It was on to the middleweight division for the next fight as Cung Le went up against Patrick Cote.

Le began his night’s work by throwing Cote down to the ground, and for the next few minutes these two engaged in a very entertaining striking battle.

Once again, Le’s kicks looked top notch and his unusual stance seemed to confuse Cote a little. It took the Canadian quite a while to figure him out.

Cote’s best moments came in the second round when he rolled off a couple of good combinations. Le re-established control in the third round though, when he scored with a couple of takedowns.

Once again the judges were called into action as they gave Le the unanimous decision.

The co-main event featured the light heavyweight rubber match between Forrest Griffin and new Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz.

This was a great way to end their trilogy. Griffin began with a series of kicks. Ortiz scored with the takedown a few seconds later and briefly went for some ground and pound until Griffin managed to get to his feet.

From there Griffin took control. Ortiz seemed helpless at times as Griffin began to pick him apart, until a big right hand in the second round put Griffin on his backside.

Griffin managed to recover though and once again re-established control, and although Ortiz had his moments, both in the striking department and on the ground, the former Ultimate Fighter came back time and time again.

After all of that they still couldn’t put each other away, so once again the judges came into the equation. No split decisions this time as they gave everything to Griffin.

The main event saw Chael Sonnen challenging Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title.

This one certainly lived up to the hype. Sonnen scored with the big takedown just six seconds into the fight, and from there he went on to dominate the first round, although Silva did a very good job in the defensive department as he held his challenger in the half guard.

Sonnen eventually managed to take the mount, but once again Silva did a good job of defending.

Sonnen tried for the takedown again in the second round, but this time Silva was having none of it as his defensive work got even better.

A few moments later Sonnen went for a spinning back fist and slipped. It was then that Silva pounced, connecting with a knee to the chest before delivering some ground and pound.

Sonnen managed to get back to his feet though, until another right hand sent him back down. Silva went in for the kill with some more ground and pound until the referee stepped in to give the Spider the title retaining TKO win.

Afterwards Silva showed that he held no grudges by inviting Sonnen to a barbecue!

The show rounded out with an hour’s worth of filler material, beginning with the lightweight encounter between Gleison Tibau and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

This was one of those fights that fit firmly into the very interesting category.

Nurmagomedov was relentless in his takedown attempts throughout the fight. The only problem was that Tibau’s defensive work was even better, and even though Khabib never scored with the takedown he went for it time and time again.

Tibau was more successful with his takedowns though, although there was very little ground work to speak off afterward.

The striking exchanges were certainly entertaining, with Nurmagomedov’s best work coming as the fight came to an end.

With no finish the judges were called into action as Nurmagomedov took the unanimous decision. Am I the only one who thought that this decision was a little bit strange?

The lightweight action continued as Melvin Guillard faced Fabricio Camoes.

This one was a little better action-wise. Camoes looked good with his takedowns, especially in the first round.

But when he went for further takedowns, Guillard managed to escape more often than not, often getting in his own brand of ground and pound.

In between this ground work, Guillard put on a good striking display. Camoes wasn’t far behind him in that respect, although neither man managed to get in that one big blow that would have made a difference.

Camoes went back to the ground game towards the end of the fight when he went for a leg lock, but Guillard managed to hold on as the time limit expired.

More work for the judges at the end of this one, and this time they got it right as Guillard took the unanimous decision.

The final fight of the broadcast featured middleweight action as Costa Philippou faced Riki Fukuda.

This one featured the story of the striker stuffing the takedowns.  After a bit of a feeling out period at the beginning, Philippou began to find his range with some nice strikes. Fukuda tried to counter with a takedown, but Philippou easily managed to escape.

This was more or less how the rest of the fight played out: Philippou putting on a good display in the striking department and Fukuda failing with the takedowns.

That was until an unfortunate incident where Fukuda accidentally poked Philippou in the eyes before connecting with a body kick. Philippou cried out in pain as he went to the ground, clutching his face, and for a while it looked as if he wouldn’t be able to continue.

Thankfully he was given the all clear by the doctor, and a fired up Philippou returned to action like a house on fire, throwing some more great strikes and once again defending against Fukuda’s takedown.

No surprise with the decision in this one as all three judges gave the fight to Philippou.

In conclusion, this was touted as the biggest UFC event ever, and it certainly delivered it’s fair share of excitement.

There were some great fights throughout this marathon show, and while there are many that would have earned my “fight of the night” award if they’d been on other shows, it’s kind of easy for me to give that particular honour to the Silva/Sonnen encounter.

It remains to be seen though if our Chael will accept that barbecue invitation offer. Who knows, maybe he’ll take a bottle of good ol’ JR’s good stuff with him!

So with all of that out of the way there’s only one thing left to do. Yep, you guessed it. UFC 148 gets the big thumbs up from me.

Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com. It’s been online in one form or another for over 12 years now!

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UFC 148 Results: Making a Case Against Forrest Griffin as a UFC Hall of Famer

Forrest Griffin came away from his UFC 148 clash with Tito Ortiz on Saturday victorious, with a unanimous decision going in his favour. It was a fight which retired Ortiz and saw him enter the UFC Hall of Fame. With that inauguration, questions are now…

Forrest Griffin came away from his UFC 148 clash with Tito Ortiz on Saturday victorious, with a unanimous decision going in his favour.

It was a fight which retired Ortiz and saw him enter the UFC Hall of Fame. With that inauguration, questions are now also being asked of the 34-year-old Griffin and his place in the UFC’s pantheon of stars.

He has credentials, such as winning the UFC light heavyweight championship, defeating fighters of the calibre of Mauricio Rua, Quintin Jackson and Rich Franklin, and he took part in one of the most watched The Ultimate Fighter finales ever.

In the promotions recent history, he has been a big player. However, take the longer view, and the arguments in favour of his inclusion in the Hall of Fame are diminished.

While Dana White said at the time that the Griffin/Stephan Bonnar fight in 2005 was one of the most important in the UFC’s history, it may have been up to that point, but its significance has quickly faded from memory. The real torch bearers for the organisation were Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Brock Lesnar and George St. Pierre, who came shortly afterwards.

And even though Forrest Griffin won that match, he won it against a fighter that quickly faded into obscurity.

His title reign was also a short lived one. He failed to defend it even once, and with that loss to Rashad Evans, he’s gone 3-3 in his last six. Particularly embarrassing for him was the first round knockouts at the hands of Anderson Silva and Rua.

All his victories in that period, against Ortiz and Rich Franklin, were extremely closely run matches that could have gone either way. Against Ortiz twice, who has long been a spent force in MMA, and against Franklin once, who was fighting way out of his natural weight division of 185 lbs.

This is the record of a journey man fighter, not a Hall of Famer. For however fondly people like to remember Griffin’s time in the cage, his impact on the sport and the promotion has been mediocre. And for that reason, he doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame.

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UFC 148 Salaries: FoGriff Out-Earns Anderson Silva with a $275K Payday

Anderson Silva Forrest Griffin UFC 101
(He may not have invited him to the BBQ afterward, but Anderson was going to make sure that Griffin squealed like a pig one way or another.)

The salaries for UFC 148’s twenty-two fighters were released earlier today, and it appears that Chael Sonnen earned exactly one dollar for every insult he aimed at the people of Brazil, which is 50% higher than the UFC’s current average compensatory rate for drawing the ire of an entire nation, a.k.a the Josh Koscheck clause, so a tip of the hat is in order for The Orgeonian in that regard. It will surely by him all of the medium rare steak sandwiches he could ever hope to have.

In other news, despite getting rocked on more than one occasion in his fight with the now retired Tito Ortiz and sprinting out of the cage like he was reliving his fight with Anderson Silva before the decision was even read, Forrest Griffin managed to walk away with the W and a cool $275,000 to boot. Actually, when you add in his $75,000 FOTN bonus, the total comes to…a much higher number. It would be impossible for us to crunch those kinds of numbers and still get this article together in just 8 hours, so take it for what it is and shut up.

The full list of salaries, along with our thoughts (read:complaints), is after the jump.

Anderson Silva Forrest Griffin UFC 101
(He may not have invited him to the BBQ afterward, but Anderson was going to make sure that Griffin squealed like a pig one way or another.)

The salaries for UFC 148′s twenty-two fighters were released earlier today, and it appears that Chael Sonnen earned exactly one dollar for every insult he aimed at the people of Brazil, which is 50% higher than the UFC’s current average compensatory rate for drawing the ire of an entire nation, a.k.a the Josh Koscheck clause, so a tip of the hat is in order for The Orgeonian in that regard. It will surely by him all of the medium rare steak sandwiches he could ever hope to have.

In other news, despite getting rocked on more than one occasion in his fight with the now retired Tito Ortiz and sprinting out of the cage like he was reliving his fight with Anderson Silva before the decision was even read, Forrest Griffin managed to walk away with the W and a cool $275,000 to boot. Actually, when you add in his $75,000 FOTN bonus, the total comes to…a much higher number. It would be impossible for us to crunch those kinds of numbers and still get this article together in just 8 hours, so take it for what it is and shut up.

Anderson Silva: $200,000 (no win bonus)
Chael Sonnen: $50,000

Forrest Griffin: $275,000 ($125,000 to show, $150,000 to win)
Tito Ortiz: $250,000

Cung Le: $150,000 (No win bonus)
Patrick Cote: $21,000

Demian Maia: $96,000 ($48,000 to show, $48,000 to win)
Dong Hyun Kim: $44,000

Mike Easton: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Ivan Menjivar: $13,000

Chad Mendes: $36,000 ($18,000 to show, $18,000 to win)
Cody McKenzie: $10,000

Habib Nurmagomedov: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Gleison Tibau: $31,000

Constantinos Philippou: $32,000 ($16,000 to show, $16,000 to win)
Riki Fukuda: $28,000

Melvin Guillard: $72,000 ($36,000 to show, $36,000 to win)
Fabricio Camoes: $8,000

Rafaello Oliveira: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Yoislandy Izquierdo: $6,000

Shane Roller: $46,000 ($23,000 to show, $23,000 to win)
John Alessio: $10,000

Overpaid: Look, we know Cung Le is a big time movie star (He was the bomb in Phantoms Pandorum, yo.) and all, but is he really popular enough to earn a 150 thousand dollar paycheck? We’ll give him all the credit in the world for his performance against Patrick Cote, which was easily his finest since he permanently impacted five pounds of undigested raw meat into Scott Smith’s small intestine at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum, but to think that his base rate is almost as high as Silva’s is pretty unbelievable. Granted, Silva likely took home a significant cut of the astronomical PPV dollars, which likely boosted his salary toward the half mil mark considering those numbers. We imagine that was the case, though to a lesser extent, for Sonnen as well, because 50K doesn’t seem like much compensation for a man who has been tirelessly trolling the MMA world for a good two years now.

Also, Riki Fukuda apparently makes 28K to show. If we could tell you who that is, we would surely have more of an opinion on the matter.

*Checks Sherdog*

Ah, he’s the defending DEEP middleweight champion. Nope, still nothing.

Underpaid: Honestly, there isn’t really any figure that jumps to our immediate attention. We just hope DW threw Cody McKenzie a few extra dollars for essentially jumping on a grenade against Chad Mendes. And while we’re speaking of Mendes, considering that the man is a former title challenger, he isn’t exactly living up to his “Money” moniker. Let’s hope when his contract expires he can at least start making the money he rightfully deserves as the number 2 featherweight in the world.

–J. Jones 

UFC 148 Results: Did Tito Ortiz Call It Quits Too Late in His Career?

When UFC 148 was put into the record books on Saturday night, Anderson Silva’s TKO win over Chael Sonnen wasn’t the only compelling story of the evening. In the night’s co-main event, Hall of Fame fighter Tito Ortiz put on a less-than-stellar perf…

When UFC 148 was put into the record books on Saturday night, Anderson Silva‘s TKO win over Chael Sonnen wasn’t the only compelling story of the evening. In the night’s co-main event, Hall of Fame fighter Tito Ortiz put on a less-than-stellar performance against former champion Forrest Griffin.

The showing would be the last of Tito’s career, as “The People’s Champ” announced that his trilogy-ending battle with Griffin would also be the final fight in his life of pugilistic endeavors. 

Although Griffin looked like a shell of himself during the fight, most people will overlook that fact simply because Ortiz looked even worse. Early in the second round, Ortiz could be seen taking heavy breaths and being forced to slow down the pace.

The Huntington Beach Bad Boy has seen UFC combat 27 times, and in the process, won championships and broke records. However, sporting an embarrassing 1-7-1 record through his final nine fights, you’ve got to think that Ortiz’s decision to hang up the gloves is overdue.

Although he was only 33 at the time, many would argue that Ortiz should have called it quits when he required an intensive back surgery in 2008. Since returning to action, the former light heavyweight champion has simply not looked the same, while turning in a 1-5 record.

Ortiz has many accomplishments to his credit, which includes five consecutive title defenses, 15 organizational wins and a trio of wins over fellow Hall of Fame fighter Ken Shamrock.

Like Ortiz, Shamrock would only win one time in his final nine fights with a major organization. Continuing to fight well beyond his physical prime, fans have criticized Shamrock for not knowing when to call it quits. One can only speculate as to the parallels that will be drawn between the two careers.

Will history be kind to Tito’s legacy, or will he be remembered for the losses that plagued his final years? Unfortunately, I think the latter is more likely. In any situation, Ortiz is a pioneer of this business, who should be honored for his contributions to the sport that we love.

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UFC 148: Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin Should Retire After Thrilling Bout

Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin put on an entertaining—but slow—show at UFC 148. For the sake of themselves and MMA fans, I hope this is the last time we see them competing.The two warriors have tremendous heart and resolve, and I will forev…

Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin put on an entertaining—but slow—show at UFC 148. For the sake of themselves and MMA fans, I hope this is the last time we see them competing.

The two warriors have tremendous heart and resolve, and I will forever respect the Huntington Beach Bad Boy as the first true personality in the sport. That said, everything has to come to an end at some point.

It was clear last night that the time has come for both men.

Griffin won a controversial decision, but the outcome was secondary to the bottom line.

Through a slow but steady flurry of punches, both men breathed heavily through their mouth. It’s obvious, neither of them could compete against the best in the sport.

It appears that Tito knows this was the end of the line for him, as he was just inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Everything about this night said farewell for the Bad Boy. But Griffin is delusional enough to believe that he still has some fights left in him.

He seems even more out in left field than normal.

Not only did he leave the Octagon immediately after the fight (Dana White had to chase him down and tell him to get back in there), but he went even more weird.

He took the mic from Joe Rogan upon his return and insisted on doing the post-fight interview with Ortiz. His in-fight actions demonstrated that he is past his prime, even in victory, and his post-fight actions proved he isn’t all there mentally.

Ortiz and White weren’t happy with Griffin’s display. Check out this video from MMA Weekly:

If Griffin wants to be with the UFC going forward, maybe he can pine to become a part of the commentating crew. It’s obvious he has an itch to get involved in that aspect of the business.

It was a weird end to what should have been a respectful bout. A bout that should be both men’s swan song.

 

Follow Brian Mazique and Franchiseplay.net for reactions, analysis and news from the world of sports and sports video games.

 

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UFC 148: Forrest Griffin’s Mistakes Are Being Overblown

At UFC 148, Forrest Griffin defeated Tito Ortiz in a co-main event battle that ended up winning the Fight of the Night award. However, no one seems to care that Griffin just earned a much needed UFC win. Following the fight, Griffin showed off part of …

At UFC 148, Forrest Griffin defeated Tito Ortiz in a co-main event battle that ended up winning the Fight of the Night award.

However, no one seems to care that Griffin just earned a much needed UFC win.

Following the fight, Griffin showed off part of the weird personality that fans once adored. He ran out of the cage before the judges decision was even read, and then stole the microphone out of Joe Rogan’s hands in order to give Tito Ortiz his final interview inside the Octagon.

Running out of the cage wasn’t a big deal. We’ve seen Forrest do this before, and most fans just chalked it up to “Forrest being Forrest” without giving it a second thought.

Stealing the interview from Rogan, however, has fans in an uproar.

From the second Griffin grabbed the microphone you could tell Ortiz wasn’t thrilled that the man who had just handed him a loss in the final fight of his career was interviewing him. To Griffin’s credit he was very respectful with his line of questions, and it seemed like he was trying to let Ortiz go out on a high note.

Ultimately, Griffin’s choice to play commentator ended up earning him far more backlash than anything else he’s done in his career.

Both Ortiz and UFC president Dana White expressed their displeasure with Griffin for stealing Tito’s moment, and once Griffin himself arrived at the post-fight press conference, he was soon on the defensive.

Griffin was quickly informed that Ortiz had not enjoyed his little stunt inside the cage, and immediately the winner of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter started apologizing to anyone that would listen. You could tell he felt genuinely bad about what had taken place inside the cage.

It was an incredibly stupid decision on Griffin’s part, but the backlash from fans around the world has been shocking.

Bleacher Report’s own Scott Harris wrote an interesting article that gives the impression that Griffin’s good will amongst fans may be running out, and that seems to be exactly the case.

Griffin has been known as somewhat of an enigma for a long time, so it’s confusing as to why fans are so shocked an outraged by his actions at UFC 148. We should always expect something strange to happen every time Griffin steps into the cage. While last night’s events may have been a bit more eccentric than usual, it should be common knowledge that weird things are going to happen when Forrest fights.

In the end, Griffin made a mistake and he’s going to pay for it both in the eyes of fans and his fellow fighters, but lets not let one mistake ruin our perspective of Griffin.

Forrest made a mistake and he owned up to it. No one will deny that he should have handled things a different way, but in the end he made his apology, was sincere about it and tried to make sure he didn’t disrespect Tito any more than he already had.

You can’t really ask for much more than that.

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