Did Forrest Griffin Deserve His Title Shot Against Quinton "Rampage" Jackson?

Since Forrest is currently the light-heavyweight champion, this question may be a moot point. However, after looking back over different fighter’s records, I feel his opportunity for a title shot may have been premature.

Let’s examine his record prior to the title shot at UFC 86 to see if he deserved that fight.

To complete the picture, we will have to look at where other potential contenders were at in their path toward the title and see if anyone was more deserved to face Jackson.

Starting with Griffin: Prior to his title shot, his record was 3-2. Granted, he was coming off his shocking win over Shogun, and the buzz generated off of that win was worth way more than just another “stepping stone” win toward the title. Before that career-changing win, Forrest record was at follows:

Win over Hector Ramirez. Since I had no idea who this fighter was, I went to Sherdog.com, one of the best MMA resources out there. Hector Ramirez also had the privilege of fighting two other TUF fighters. A win over Kendal Grove and a loss to Rashad Evans. It was Hector’s first and last fight in the UFC.

Loss to Keith Jardine. In retrospect, a technical knockout loss to Jardine didn’t look great. Jardine went on to get pummeled by Houston Alexander and Wanderlei Silva.

Win over Stephan Bonner: The rematch wasn’t quite as important or as explosive as the original, yet Griffin ground out another solid win.

Loss to Tito Ortiz: Forrest showed promise by impressing with his toughness and skill yet didn’t have enough to get past "Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz and his ground and pound in a split-decision loss.

After going through the list of his previous fights, I am curious as to how Griffin got the opportunity to fight against Shogun after a loss to Jardine and his “who cares” win over Hector Ramirez.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Forrest Griffin for lots of reasons. This isn’t my heart talking, it’s my head.

So let's look who else was headed toward a title shot prior to UFC 86.

Time Table

Rampage Jackson defeats Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 to win the light-heavyweight title.

At UFC 75, Rampage Jackson defended his title against Dan Henderson and Henderson dropped to Middleweight.

Forrest beat Rua at UFC 76, 10 months prior to UFC 86, leaving lots of time for other fighters to make their case. Also, at UFC 76, Keith Jardine got a split-decision win over Chuck Liddell.

This card was important because it asks which win was more important: Griffin’s over Shogun or Jardine’s over Liddell. Track record is important. Before the Liddell fight, Jardine was rocked by Houston Alexander. But he also TKO’d Griffin.

Which fighter is more marketable though may be the determining factor here. The "Dean of Mean" went on to get destroyed once again, this time by "The Axe Murderer" at UFC 84.

One might wonder why he didn’t get a title shot against Jackson after beating the former champ, in Liddell, and beating Griffin prior. Also worth nothing: He lost to Stephan Bonner while Forrest had two high profile wins over him.

UFC 79 continued to develop the plot in the light-heavyweight division. Chuck Liddell got back on track by beating Wanderlei Silva, and Lyoto Machida looked impressive in neutralizing Sokoudjou and making him look harmless (which he is anything but).

The next important UFC card for the light-heavyweight division didn’t happen until UFC 84. This is where Jardine got axe murdered and Lyoto Machida continued to look impressive (albeit boring) in his win over Tito Ortiz.

After looking through the timetable, the UFC didn’t have much choice in awarding the title fight to Griffin. They clearly didn’t want to give it to Jardine, do to his awkward fighting style and devastating knockout loss to Houston Alexander. He clearly wasn’t as marketable as the TUF Season One winner.

They could have given Chuck Liddell the rematch after his epic war with W. Silva, but clearly they wanted to him to get another win under his belt after his uninspired loss to Jardine. And Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, and Thiago Silva weren’t ready.

So Forrest Griffin was the obvious choice. The win over Shogun, who was clearly being brought in to fight Rampage for the title, handed the fight to him. Does that mean he actually deserved the title shot? That is for history to decide. However, at this point, history may not care because it has given us a real life Rocky Balboa.

The bigger question for me is how the UFC determines who should fight for the title? Or how do they determine that Forrest was the man to fight Shogun Rua? Clearly, I have more questions than answers, so hopefully fellow bleacher readers and writers can offer up their opinions!