Forrest Griffin: Pure MMA Talent

At 28, Forrest Griffin stands at 6'3" and weighs in at 205 lbs. Some people believe that he is the toughest pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He is the type of fighter who isn't afraid of anyone. He actually ASKED TO FIGHT Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua! Yes, the 205 lb. Shogun Rua of Chute Boxe.

What kind of guy does that!?

Shogun is the man who beat the crap out of Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson! It takes guts to come off a knockout loss against 'The Dean of Mean' Keith Jardine, and ask to face Shogun. You have to give Griffin some credit for that, even if you don't like him.

Griffin is the kind of fighter who loves it when a fighter comes out of the corner and starts swinging. He isn't phased by seeing his own blood if you tell him he looks like a monkey he'll tell you, "Not as much as I'd like!"

To me he defines a great fighter and a great person. Along with his reputation of being the toughest fighter in the world, he has skill to back it up. When Griffin fought Shogun, he had better Muay Thai skills that made him more than able to stand with the Brazilian fighter. He was happy to stand and exchange punches and kicks with Shogun.

Throughout the fight, both fighters went from feet to ground and back again. While on the ground, it was clear that Griffin was more comfortable then Shogun, but Shogun did get in a devastating elbow to his forehead, cutting it open. It took 12 stitches to close the cut.

Extremely tired midway through the second round, Shogun was slow and sluggish, but Griffin pushed the pace and made the Brazilian try his hardest to keep up. By the third round Shogun had taken enough abuse and could barely defend himself. Griffin dominated the third round ground game with his grappling and basically beat Shogun to mush. As the third round was coming to an end Griffin was winning with points and took Shogun's back and sunk in a match-finishing choke. As Shogun tapped, the clock only had 15 seconds left.

Anyone who watched that fight should realize that Griffin defeating Shogun was proof that he is one of the best light heavyweights in the world, or at least is about to enter that category. When Forrest Griffin won this fight, he instantly became fair game to any top light heavyweights. Hopefully in the future will see more fights like this from Griffin.

It's obvious that Griffin is no longer just that entertaining brawler we all knew from the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. Griffin says, "He ain't great, but he'll fight anyone." He thinks that work sucks and believes that he only needs six more wins to never have to work again. "There is no, 'I'm going to do this,' or, 'I'm going to do that,' this is the only thing i want to do." Luckily for Griffin, he is sure of what he wants and is disciplined enough to achieve his goals.

According to Adam Singer, "Forrest has a work ethic that is borderline retarded. And he has to have a trainer tell him to go the hell home or he'll work himself to death." Clearly, Griffin is the type of person who doesn't give up and knows what he wants.

I think it's safe to say that as time goes on, Griffin will only become more skilled and will rise higher through the rankings of the world's best and most elite in not only the light heavyweight class, but in mixed martial arts in general.

As a fan of Forrest Griffin, I can say that myself and all of his other fans can't wait until the day that we see him get his shot at the title.