Forrest Griffin: I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again

He’s not the most skilled fighter, nor is he always the most entertaining, but with a modest 17-6 overall record Forrest Griffin has garnered respect throughout his fabled career for being arguably one of the toughest and most interesting fighters to ever grace the UFC. 

As the first winner of the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter competition, a one-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and an author on the New York Times best sellers list, inside and outside of the octagon, Forrest Griffin manages to make new fans every day.

Beginning his MMA career with a loss by decision to MMA legend Dan Severn, Griffin would go on to an almost two-year, eight-fight winning streak, before suffering his first knockout loss to Jeremy Horn in September of 2003.

Since that time, his losses, all during his UFC career have come at the hands of Tito Ortiz (decision), Keith Jardine (TKO), Rashad Evans (TKO) and Anderson Silva (knock-out).  A pretty respectable record as far as the loss column is concerned.

However, the highlights of his MMA career can be noted by wins over Tito Ortiz in their second meeting (decision), Quinton Jackson (unanimous decision), Mauricio Rua (submission), Hector Ramirez (unanimous decision), and two wins over Stephan Bonnar (both by unanimous decision).

With each fight, win or lose, we consistently see Forrest improving, and fixing any holes in his game. This can be validated in his recent win over Tito Ortiz where Forrest clearly showed improvement in his striking, as well as his ground game, both offensively and defensively.

Sadly, one of Griffin’s most memorable fights to date may be his embarrassing loss to Anderson Silva, after which he hastily made his way out of the octagon and out of sight, without comment.  

It can be argued that while still remaining a top ranked Light Heavyweight competitor, Griffin may never be able to climb back up to the very top, with fighters like Silva and Evans on a completely different level of MMA greatness.

Recent reports have stated that Griffin has pulled out of his upcoming fight against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 114 due to a shoulder injury.

After being forced to pull out of this fight, it will be interesting to see who Forrest is pitted against when he returns and whether or not we’ll ever see him in a title fight again (though as a side note, in Griffin’s book Got Fight , Griffin states that titles and championships aren’t important to him, as he fights because he loves to fight, not because he’s got anything to prove.)

If you’d like to know more about Forrest Griffin, outside of his MMA career, I highly recommend reading Got Fight , which touches upon pretty much everything except for his MMA career, though it does give tips and pointers on how to perform some MMA moves, as well as some street fighting moves.

It is one of the most entertaining and hilarious books I’ve ever read and should turn pretty much anybody into a Forrest Griffin fan.  But be warned, there is a test preceding the content of the book in which you should hope to pass before reading any further!

Here's hoping Forrest has a speedy recovery and returns to the octagon as soon as possible!