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Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin will meet inside the Octagon for the third time this Saturday at UFC 148.Their borderline historic trilogy may be overshadowed by Anderson Silva’s rematch with Chael Sonnen, but if the first two bouts between two of the s…
Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin will meet inside the Octagon for the third time this Saturday at UFC 148.
Their borderline historic trilogy may be overshadowed by Anderson Silva‘s rematch with Chael Sonnen, but if the first two bouts between two of the sport’s most popular fighters showed us anything, this one is going to be close.
Whether it’s Ortiz over Griffin or Griffin over Ortiz, a classic rivalry is finally going to come to a decisive end.
Here’s the initial head-to-toe breakdown.
I want to get one thing straight from the start: I’m not a fan of Forrest Griffin or Stephan Bonnar.I’m not a fan of them individually as fighters, and I’m definitely not a fan of watching them two get together in the cage. For th…
I want to get one thing straight from the start: I’m not a fan of Forrest Griffin or Stephan Bonnar.
I’m not a fan of them individually as fighters, and I’m definitely not a fan of watching them two get together in the cage.
For that reason this article may contain a bias that I need to be upfront about.
Dana White is reported to have said The Ultimate Fighter 1 finale between Griffin and Bonnar was the most important fight in the UFC’s history.
I can’t find an actual quote of him saying that, so I’m taking all these “reported speech” quotes on face value. What can be confirmed, however, is that Spike TV in 2009 also voted the Griffin/Bonnar fight the greatest in the UFC’s history.
What made it so great? Well, for three rounds, the two fighters went at it with reckless abandon, throwing wild punches, kicks, knees and elbows. What they lacked in talent, they made up in heart.
Neither fighter landed any decisive shots, but they ended exhausted and cut and bruised, nonetheless.
And what’s more, that fight scored 3.3 million viewers for Spike TV, an unprecedented number for an event of this type. No wonder the network voted it the greatest fight in the UFC’s history.
It became the launchpad for the organization to do much bigger things. The UFC developed an expertise in hosting massive live events, and it would exploit this expertise in the Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Brock Lesnar fights to come later.
On the surface it would seem the UFC owes a great debt to Griffin and Bonnar—but that’s just the surface.
The The Ultimate Fighter 1 finale was the culmination of a 3.5-month reality TV show that aired on Spike TV between January and April 2005.
Reality TV is big business today, but in 2005, the format was just coming of age with shows like The Apprentice, Survivor and I’m A Celebrity cashing the biggest viewing figures.
The Ultimate Fighter was another one of these hit shows. What made it special was that it contained one of the most tantalizing and genuine rivalries in MMA at the time: Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell.
In their first fight, an aging Couture beat the then-fancied Liddell, causing a huge upset and winning the interim light-heavyweight championship. The win catapulted Couture to the status of an icon, as he became the face of MMA. The sport was already entering a golden age, as Couture would go on to defeat Tito Ortiz and Vitor Belfort—both huge names in their own right—before facing Liddell again.
In preparation of their second match, the UFC came up with a reality show spin: Make the two become coaches on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter and then have them fight for the belt at the end.
The move was a masterstroke. After The Ultimate Fighter had aired, Couture and Liddell 2 went down on the following weekend and clocked the highest-grossing live gate in the UFC’s history with $2,575,450 ticket sales.
There’s an argument that Griffin and Bonnar rode that wave, and the UFC owes a debt to a reality TV show and the Couture/Liddell legacy rather than those two fighters.
That’s admittedly a harsh view, and I’ll make the concession that, to the untrained viewer, the Griffin/Bonnar fight was a thrilling match. Two white guys slugging it out with tiny gloves like most people on TV had never seen before. It captivated and crowned the night in one of the most satisfying ways possible.
That’s still all it did, though. It promoted a reality TV show.
In the coming years, the show became a huge hit, and a cash cow, for the UFC. And yet even today, as it ever was, the series is a sideshow to what goes on in the UFC.
And with the reality format itself struggling now, The Ultimate Fighter is dying a slow death, churning out—with notable exceptions—mediocre stars.
And with that, with every year that passes, the Griffin/Bonnar fight fades further in the memory of having had the kind of significance it was once lauded with.
Looking back at the UFC today, neither fighter will be leaving much of a legacy, and neither will the fight they fought as part of a reality TV show.
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Tito Ortiz doesn’t believe he’s the only fighter who should be considering retirement.At UFC 148, the former light heavyweight champion has made it clear that it will be the final time he steps foot to compete inside the Octagon.He’ll be looking to end…
Tito Ortiz doesn’t believe he’s the only fighter who should be considering retirement.
At UFC 148, the former light heavyweight champion has made it clear that it will be the final time he steps foot to compete inside the Octagon.
He’ll be looking to end his legendary career on a high note as he takes on Forrest Griffin in an anticipated rubber match.
“I’m excited for the fight. Forrest is a tough guy and I know he’s training really hard,” Ortiz told MMAWeekly Radio. “I just heard a little thing saying that if he loses to me he’s going to retire. Well, it looks like he better put on his retirement shoes cause it’s going to be an exciting fight and I plan on having my hand raised.”
Ortiz and Griffin have a win a piece over one another in a pair of bouts that both ended in split decision.
Griffin is coming off a first round knockout loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, but his recent hiccups pale in comparison to Ortiz, who is 1-6-1 in his last eight bouts.
In an interview with UFC.com, Griffin admitted that Ortiz was still a tough opponent, but he isn’t the fighter he used to be.
If he loses at UFC 148, Griffin says he won’t only retire from the sport, but he’ll “retire from life.”
Ortiz weighs in on those comments:
“Maybe it’s time for Forrest to retire; maybe he wants to retire. Maybe he’s just letting everybody know that he’s going to retire. For me, I know I’m retiring, but it’s an idea. I’m going out, and I’m winning the fight.”
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(In honor of MMAInsidetheCage‘s 100th episode, they put together their 100 favorite knockouts featured on the show. Incredible.)
– Forrest Griffin: ‘Tito [Ortiz] Was Jon Jones Before There Was A Jon Jones’ (Fightline)
– After Nearly Losing Toe In Training Injury, Tim Kennedy Set for Second Crack at Belt (MMAFighting)
– Rashad Evans Willing to Drop to 185 Pounds for Fight With Anderson Silva (FiveOuncesofPain)
– Ronda Rousey Featured Nude in ESPN Body Issue (HeavyMMA)
– Ahead of Title Shot, Strikeforce’s Nate Marquardt Says He Feels Great Without TRT (MMAJunkie)
– Melvin Guillard Exclusive: A Man Living in Memory of His Father (BleacherReport/MMA)
– Video: Chuck Norris Imports Gracie Family in 1988 to Train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(MMAMania)
– ‘Ted’ Star Mark Wahlberg is Greater Than the Sum of His Parts (MensFitness)
– The Man’s Guide to Survival in a Post-Apocalyptic World (DoubleViking)
– 6 People Who Will Ruin Your 4th of July Party (HolyTaco)
– An In-Depth Profile of a Lady Who Makes Fart Fetish Videos (FilmDrunk)
– Hey, Have You Seen That Video of the Bulgarian Sprinter’s Leg Shattering? (Break.com)
(In honor of MMAInsidetheCage‘s 100th episode, they put together their 100 favorite knockouts featured on the show. Incredible.)
– Forrest Griffin: ‘Tito [Ortiz] Was Jon Jones Before There Was A Jon Jones’ (Fightline)
– After Nearly Losing Toe In Training Injury, Tim Kennedy Set for Second Crack at Belt (MMAFighting)
– Rashad Evans Willing to Drop to 185 Pounds for Fight With Anderson Silva (FiveOuncesofPain)
– Ronda Rousey Featured Nude in ESPN Body Issue (HeavyMMA)
– Ahead of Title Shot, Strikeforce’s Nate Marquardt Says He Feels Great Without TRT (MMAJunkie)
– Melvin Guillard Exclusive: A Man Living in Memory of His Father (BleacherReport/MMA)
– Video: Chuck Norris Imports Gracie Family in 1988 to Train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
(MMAMania)
– ‘Ted’ Star Mark Wahlberg is Greater Than the Sum of His Parts (MensFitness)
– The Man’s Guide to Survival in a Post-Apocalyptic World (DoubleViking)
– 6 People Who Will Ruin Your 4th of July Party (HolyTaco)
– An In-Depth Profile of a Lady Who Makes Fart Fetish Videos (FilmDrunk)
– Hey, Have You Seen That Video of the Bulgarian Sprinter’s Leg Shattering? (Break.com)
(FoGriff: A laid back guy in every sense of the word.)
Watching Matt Serra and Forrest Griffin discuss anything from their past fights to the condition of Griffin’s car (which makes me feel a hell of a lot better about the condition of my own) is kind of like watching an Abbott and Costello movie, minus the mythological creatures and slapstick hijinks, of course. The two effortlessly riff off one another like a pair of old pals, which makes Serra’s recent trip to Vegas to film his ongoing series for the UFC, Fight Camp Insider, all the more entertaining.
Taking the typical “light on actual fight discussion, heavy on pizza discussion” approach that Serra has mastered in previous outings, the pair of former champions also make sure to discuss such topics as the shrinkage caused by an ice bath (which I can only assume must be insane), FoGriff’s Ted Bundy-esque mode of transportation, and the ability of Ray Longo to clear a house using only the power of his mighty deuces. Oh yeah, and they manage to find enough time to briefly hype Forrest’s upcoming trilogy match with Tito Ortiz at UFC 148.
Video after the jump.
(FoGriff: A laid back guy in every sense of the word.)
Watching Matt Serra and Forrest Griffin discuss anything from their past fights to the condition of Griffin’s car (which makes me feel a hell of a lot better about the condition of my own) is kind of like watching an Abbott and Costello movie, minus the mythological creatures and slapstick hijinks, of course. The two effortlessly riff off one another like a pair of old pals, which makes Serra’s recent trip to Vegas to film his ongoing series for the UFC, Fight Camp Insider, all the more entertaining.
Taking the typical “light on actual fight discussion, heavy on pizza discussion” approach that Serra has mastered in previous outings, the pair of former champions also make sure to discuss such topics as the shrinkage caused by an ice bath (which I can only assume must be insane), FoGriff’s Ted Bundy-esque mode of transportation, and the ability of Ray Longo to clear a house using only the power of his mighty deuces. Oh yeah, and they manage to find enough time to briefly hype Forrest’s upcoming trilogy match with Tito Ortiz at UFC 148.
Just check out the video and see for yourselves.
Does anyone see these two starring in a buddy cop action comedy flick in the future?
Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin were never the best fighters in the world. There was a time when Ortiz could have been considered for that honor. Back in 2000 and 2001, Ortiz ruled supreme in the UFC’s light-heavyweight division. But that was …
Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin were never the best fighters in the world.
There was a time when Ortiz could have been considered for that honor. Back in 2000 and 2001, Ortiz ruled supreme in the UFC’s light-heavyweight division. But that was before Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell came along to put a permanent end to his reign as the UFC light-heavyweight champion.
Ortiz recovered from those two consecutive losses, winning his next five fights, but he was never really the same dominant fighter that he once was.
Griffin was never a dominant fighter. Sure, he once held the UFC light-heavyweight title, but it always felt like more of an aberration than a sign of changing tides at the top of the division. He’s gone 2-3 since winning that title, with both of his wins coming over aging opponents, Ortiz and Rich Franklin.
What do we make of these two fighters? Are they legends of the sport?
Ortiz certainly qualifies in that category. He’s going into the UFC Hall of Fame, and, according to UFC.com, he’s incredibly happy with the honor:
“It is a huge honor to be recognized as one of the greatest fighters of all time by the UFC,” Ortiz said. “To be inducted into the Hall of Fame is final proof that all the hard work and dedication, all the pain and sacrifices, were all worth it. To be able to walk to the Octagon one last time as an official UFC Hall of Fame level fighter is going to be humbling and awesome. I’m very grateful to have this opportunity to end my career on such a high like this.”
I think what we’re looking at here are two guys who, while they may not go down among the greatest fighters of all time, are certainly men who have established strong personal connections and legacies within the confines of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Take Ortiz, for example. He had his battles with Dana White, to be sure, and at times he harmed the UFC brand more than he helped it—or attempted to, anyway.
But Ortiz was also partially responsible for the promotion’s surge in popularity with the casual viewer. His rivalry with Ken Shamrock took the UFC to heights that it had never before experienced, at least from pay-per-view and television-ratings perspectives.
The same thing goes for Griffin. As part of that epic first Ultimate Fighter finale, with Stephan Bonnar, Griffin helped establish the UFC as an exciting and watchable television product. He, along with Dana White and a handful of other fighters, was responsible for helping push the UFC even further into the mainstream.
In essence, he took the torch initially carried by Ortiz and ran it just a bit further down the path.
No, Ortiz and Griffin won’t go down in history alongside Georges St-Pierres, Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko as two of the best fighters of all time. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t built legacies for themselves.
They’ve been crucial to the UFC’s rise in the public consciousness, and they deserve all the credit in the world for that.
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