Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin: Scoring the Saga

Beating a dead horse; a phrase I've learned to love, a phrase that I hope to avoid in this article.

We've all heard everyones take on the fight Saturday, whether it be Tito fans insisting upon a rematch to settle the 1-1 tie, or Forrest fans insisting that Forrest is back.

I agree with both, but that's not what I'm here for.

At UFC 106 Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz engaged in the long, and I mean long, awaited rematch of their UFC 59 battle. Forrest was coming off of a two fight losing streak, one which saw him lose his Light Heavyweight belt and then be thoroughly embarrassed by the best fighter in the world.

Forrest even went as far as saying that he was broken.

On Saturday, he showed that he was fixed.

Tito was coming off of major back surgery and an 18 month hiatus from the sport he had once dominated. A lot happened for Tito in those 18 months.

He became the proud father of twin boys, made several inklings of a potential deal with UFC rival Strikeforce, buried the hatchet with arch-nemesis Dana White, re-signed with the UFC, and had his original original opponent Mark Coleman bail out due to injury.

Finally, after 18 months away from the game, "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" returned.

Finally, after 43 months of waiting, Forrest Griffin would get his rematch.

The battle was a good one, but it got me thinking (don't you love it when that happens). The split decision victory, this time awarded to Forrest Griffin, was just as close as the original war, awarded to Ortiz.

When the decision was announced, I didn't have the same reaction as everyone else. I wasn't jumping off of my couch with glee or screaming at my TV in disgust.

I was silent in a state of deep thought. What was my thought? I wondered who would come out the winner if all six rounds were judged at the same time on the same scorecard. Lets figure it out.

In order to do this I watched both fights in succession, keeping track of every significant moment and keeping my very own scorecard. As soon as the first fight ended, without watching the decision, I switched over to the second fight, scoring it as round four.

UFC 58

Round 1

Dominance. For those of you wondering how the guy at UFC 106 once dominated the Light Heavyweight division, take a look at the first round of this fight.

About 30 seconds into the fight Tito scored one of his patented precision takedowns. From there Tito Ortiz, renowned as one of the kings of ground and pound, did exactly that, pounding away at the Ultimate Fighter winner and future champion. Griffin would get up, only to end up on his back 30 seconds later. The round would end with Ortiz in the dominant position, taking the round with ease.

10-8 Ortiz

Round 2

In this round it seemed as if Griffin had become a completely different fighter after a one minute sitdown with his corner. Forrest was clearly the aggressor putting together crisp combinations and avoiding all five takedown attempts by Ortiz.

Clearly Griffin had learned his lesson. With no ground fighting in this round, I gave it to the man with the more aggressive and effective striking.

10-9 Griffin

Round 3

This round was unbelievably hard to score. I had to watch this round three times in order to make sure that I scored it right.

After watching it for the second time I considered giving the round a score of 10-10. Then I created a system that works very well if done correctly. I scored this round minute by minute.

After every minute I'd give a tally (yes, a tally) to the winner of that minute. Tito won the first two minutes due to more effective striking, Griffin took the next for the same reason. Then it happened, with 1:38 remaining in the round Ortiz scored the takedown, taking the minute, and the round.

10-9 Ortiz

UFC 106

Round 4

This was another round that was pretty tough to score. On one hand you have Ortiz shooting for and getting a takedown and working some ground and pound, but on the other hand a majority of the round was spent standing with Forrest getting the better of Tito. Although I'm a sucker for a takedown, I feel like Forrest had the better round. He was able to avoid any damage and used a kimura attempt to get back on his feet and fight his fight.

10-9 Griffin

Round 5

It took "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" not even 30 seconds to take this fight to where he wanted it. After a pretty good display of stand-up by Tito, Griffin telegraphed one of his infamous leg kicks and Tito took him to the danger zone.

Don't worry Forrest fans, your boy would get back up and manage to kick Tito in his mouth, something I'm sure some other people would like to do.

Unfortunately that's the only thing of mention the Forrest was able to do in this round. Tito would take him down again and bloody the perennial bleeder with some vicious ground and pound.

10-9 Ortiz

Round 6

I'd like to take this time to reminisce on a classic WEC middleweight bout. It was WEC 36, Paulo Filho was set to defend his title against Chael Sonnen in a rematch of a fight that took place a year prior.

Filho, the favorite, did absolutely nothing in this fight. He just walked around seemingly dazed and confused as Chael Sonnen took every round with ease. At UFC 106 in the third round of the main event, Tito Ortiz became Paulo Filho. Griffin imposed his will on a seemingly careless Ortiz winning the round without question.

10-8 Griffin

After 6 rounds of competition, the final scorecard reads 56-56 with this epic being declared a draw.

If anymore incentive was needed for a third fight, this is it. I watched these fights for two hours straight, going over each round numerous times before finally deciding on a score. I had no idea that what I had done would add up to a draw.

I have no preferences between these fighters, in fact, I'm big fans of both and couldn't decide who to root for on Saturday.

Rumor has it that these two will be coaching the next season of The Ultimate Fighter which begins taping in two months. The season would culminate with these two fighting theie rubber match (unless one of these men is offered a part in a film adaptation of a television classic).

Dana White, make this happen. Both of these men were great in there previous seasons as TUF coaches, and the fans want rounds 7,8, and 9.