UFC 148: Forrest Griffin and the 10 Most Unlikely UFC Champions

Forrest Griffin will be battling Tito Ortiz in Ortiz's farewell bout at UFC 148. While fans are recounting the accolades of Ortiz's career, the fight could very well be the last for Griffin as well. The original Ultimate Fighter winner, Griffin kick-started the growth of the UFC and MMA in general.

Possessing neither amazing athletic ability or a freakish physical frame, Griffin reached the pinnacle of the sport with a sheer will to win and underrated skills. When he took the title from Quinton Jackson at UFC 86, it was a big upset as Jackson appeared to be on his way to a lengthy title reign.

All of the fighters on this list can share that feeling of being the underdog en route to winning an UFC title. On the list fans will find current and future Hall of Famers but all weren't expected to win in their title bouts.

Frank Mir

Frank Mir may be among the most accomplished heavyweight fighters in the UFC but back at UFC 48 Mir was a young jiu-jitsu specialist taking on a gigantic challenge in Tim Sylvia.

Mir was coming into the bout after defeating Wes Sims in a rematch. Sims was disqualified in the first meeting for stomping on Mir. Sims was dropped by Mir in the second meeting but outside of the fight-ending flurry, Mir looked anything but impressive.

Sylvia meanwhile had won his first three UFC bouts en route to becoming UFC champion. Standing at 6'8” and tipping the scales at 265 pounds, Sylvia was a mountain of a man. He was also a great finisher at the time, evident by his eight KO victories prior to the bout with Mir.

Mir wasted little time in using his submission skills as he snapped Sylvia's arm in the first round.

A debilitating motorcycle accident sent Frank Mir's MMA career into a downward spiral that played out inside the Octagon. After an ugly 1-2 start in his return, Mir put together two-straight submission victories over Antoni Hardonk and Brock Lesnar.

Still, Mir was a clear underdog to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92. Nogueira had one of the most historic careers while in Pride and had just defeated Tim Sylvia for the UFC belt in typical Nogueira fashion.

Perhaps the most surprising part of this fight was the manner in which Mir won. Mir dropped Nogueira numerous time with some technically sound combinations.

When a fighter admits to not believing they would win coming into the bout you know it was a huge upset.

Forrest Griffin

Despite being a part of the most influential fight in UFC history, Forrest Griffin was never believed to be a champion-level fighter. Sure he could put on some entertaining bouts, but he seemingly lacked the skills to defeat elite level fighters.

That train of thought seemed to be true as Griffin stumbled a couple of times in his career against Tito Ortiz and Keith Jardine. Wins over Hector Ramirez and a shocking upset victory of Mauricio Rua set Griffin up for a showdown with UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

“Rampage” looked be near unbeatable at 205 pounds after knocking out Chuck Liddell and surviving a war of attrition against Dan Henderson. With KO power in both hands and almost super human strength, Jackson was the clear favorite heading into the fight.

Griffin survived an early scare from Jackson and used some heavy leg kicks to slow down the champion. Griffin found his hand raised in one of the most controversial decisions in UFC history that forever immortalized Cecil Peoples to MMA fans.

BJ Penn

Nobody can dispute BJ Penn's accomplishments at lightweight. He's undoubtedly the best fighter to ever compete in the division. Even in 2004, Penn was considered a great lightweight but that seemed to escape the minds of MMA fans when breaking down his fight with Matt Hughes.

Hughes was the reigning king of the welterweight division. Possessing a strong wrestling background, Hughes seemed unstoppable once he grabbed a hold of his opponent's legs.

In one of the most shocking upsets in UFC history, the much smaller Penn proved once again that size isn't everything by taking out Hughes in the first round.

The fight would begin an intense rivalry that eventually turned into a friendship that has produced some great fights between the two men.

Evan Tanner

Evan Tanner never seemed to offer anything exceptional to MMA fans. Sure he was an entertaining fighter but nobody would ever say Tanner possessed “world class” skills in any area of the game.

The same can not be said of Tanner's opponent at UFC 51, David Terrell. A jiu-jitsu black belt under the renowned Cesar Gracie, Terrell was one of the most accomplished grapplers to enter MMA at the time.

It seemed as if Terrell was set to validate the hype as he locked in a guillotine choke but Tanner fought it off before stopping Terrell via TKO.

For a guy who lost his first UFC title fight against Tito Ortiz the win was huge for Tanner's MMA career and a shock to fight fans.

Randy Couture

Randy Couture had previously worn heavyweight gold on two occasions. Those title victories also occurred in 1997 and 2000, seven years prior to his showdown with Tim Sylvia at UFC 68.

Couture was coming back after a long hiatus to face off against Sylvia, who had won six-straight bouts including wins over Andrei Arlovski and Jeff Monson.

Sylvia had all the advantages a fighter could want like height, weight, and age among others. None of those mattered to Couture as he came out and dropped the champion with a huge right hand. “The Natural” would then go on to shock the world over the course of five rounds by defeating Sylvia in dominant fashion.

Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva seems like an unbeatable fighter today but back in 2006, “The Spider” was still a relative unknown to UFC fans. It helped that Silva made a huge entrance into the UFC by destroying Chris Leben but prior to that Silva had a measly 3-2 record in his past five fights.

It seemed that Silva had talent but couldn't put it all together as a series of losses put an end to any momentum the Brazilian would gain. The pieces of the puzzle finally came into place as Silva walked through the tough Rich Franklin in only Silva's second UFC fight.

The title victory may seem like an afterthought given Silva's legacy in the UFC but when you consider Franklin had only one loss in 22 fights prior, it's clear that fans didn't imagine “The Spider” to be the beast he is today.

Frankie Edgar

BJ Penn was unbeatable at lightweight prior to UFC 112. Amazing takedown defense combined with world class jiu-jitsu and some of the best boxing in all of MMA created a big mountain to overcome for the title challenger Frankie Edgar.

Polar opposites, Edgar entered the UFC 112 bout with little fanfare. The New Jersey native had won three straight fights including a victory over former champion Sean Sherk. But wins over Hermes Franca and Matt Veach aren't exactly the best fights to put on a resume when looking for a title shot.

Always the underdog, Edgar shocked the MMA world by defeating Penn in a five-round affair. Other than actually winning the fight, the most unlikely turn of events saw Edgar outpoint Penn in the boxing exchanges and land a couple takedowns as well.

Maurice Smith

Maurice Smith was a huge underdog coming into his title match with Mark Coleman. The future UFC Hall of Famer had ran through the competition en route to becoming the UFC Heavyweight Champion while Smith had a pedestrian 4-7 MMA record.

Coleman was one of the first to show the world what a powerful wrestler could do when on top. The infamous moniker of "The Godfather of Ground and Pound" was earned during Coleman's early years atop the UFC's heavyweight rankings.

Just as Royce Gracie made MMA fans and fighters realize the importance of jiu-jitsu, Coleman and other heavyweights changed the focus to wrestling. It was believed wrestling was the best martial art to go along with jiu-jitsu and thus Smith, along with his kickboxing background, was predicted to lose.

Smith became the first fighter to survive Coleman's wrestling attack in the UFC and effectively dispelled the myth of invincibility surrounding wrestling.

Despite being an accomplished kickboxer, Smith's title victory was one of the biggest upsets in UFC history given his start in MMA and Coleman's dominance prior to the fight.

Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar entered the sport of MMA with a large fan base due to his days in WWE. Lesnar also had legitimate wrestling credentials that, coupled with his size and athleticism, presented a nice base to build a fighting career around.

Still, nobody could argue Lesnar deserved an UFC title shot against Randy Couture at UFC 91. Couture was fresh off shocking the world against Tim Sylvia and dominating the talented Gabriel Gonzaga.

Lesnar used his size to overwhelm Couture and eventually stopped “The Natural” with a series of hammer fists. The victory for Lesnar wasn't shocking due to a lack of talent but more so because it was only his fourth career MMA bout.

Matt Serra

The biggest upset in MMA history happened when Matt Serra took out Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69.

Serra earned the title shot by winning The Ultimate Fighter 4 in which Serra defeated Chris Lytle via split decision in the finale. Serra had renowned jiu-jitsu skills but was often thought of as too small of a fighter to compete at welterweight.

GSP meanwhile had just defeated two future UFC Hall of Famers in Matt Hughes and BJ Penn. The win against Hughes in particular was a vindication of St. Pierre's arrival as “the next big thing” in MMA.

In a little over three minutes, all that GSP had worked so hard for fell apart as Serra dropped the champion with a number of punches.

The fact that St. Pierre simply demolished Serra in the rematch proves just how unlikely Serra's victory in the first meeting was.