Forrest Griffin's Legacy

Sharknado

Sharknado

Green Belt
Joined
Oct 8, 2013
Messages
965
Reaction score
1
How do you guys see it?

I truly consider him one of the top 205 pounders ever. Certainly not the best, but an argument for top 10/15 can surely be made.

When I think of Forrest I think of the every man. He wasn't really very fast or strong or athletically gifted. He wasn't a great striker or a great wrestler. And his BJJ game was just slightly above average. And yeah in later years his chin started to fail him.

However where Griffin succeeded was a tenacious never give up attitude, fantastic cardio, and a fairly strong fight IQ. Yes he's had tough performances against Jardine and Silva. But remember how his best wins he was not only an underdog, but a HUGE underdog. No one gave him a chance against Shogun and he ended up finishing the number 1 light heavyweight in the world. Then he fought Rampage and was once again the underdog. After getting dropped in the 1st he rallied back and fought in a tooth and nail fight, pulling off the decision. Plus who doesn't like his trilogy with Tito? All 3 of those fights were super awesome and super close.

I'm biased of course, Forrest is my favorite of all time. His heart and his self-degrading sense of humor made me an instant fan. I feel like he really doesn't get a ton of respect on these boards though. How do you sherdoggers feel about the career of Forrest Griffin?
 
Blue collar boss. Forrest did the most with the least and was a pleasure to watch. His books are awesome too.
 
Did a lot with mediocre talent. Hard work goes a long way. Certainly not one of the best ever though, contrary to the opinion of threadstarter.

Edit: and not nearly as funny or charming as he thinks he is. His obnoxious speech after the Tito fight made me wish someone would shoot him in the face.
 
Fringe top 20. Tenacious, and tough but feather fisted, emotionally unstable, and poor technique
 
KoChang said:
Did a lot with mediocre talent. Hard work goes a long way. Certainly not one of the best ever though, contrary to the opinion of threadstarter.
Click to expand...

Like I said arguably top 15/10. Not one of the very best. But certainly in the discussion when ranking the best.
 
Amazing cardio for a guy who cut that much weight to make 205.
 
got a lot of heart and funny as hell

an overacheiver and good fighter, top 10 all time LHW for sure
 
IamTheHero said:
Fringe top 20. Tenacious, and tough but feather fisted, emotionally unstable, and poor technique
Click to expand...

I completely agree.

Did the best he could with his limited ability and put on some entertaining fights.

I just never could get on board with his trying too hard to be funny and was way too emotional for my liking.
 
Not a collegiate wrestler, star kickboxer, physically gifted demigod, olympic medalist, or any of that shit we see today. just a blue collar guy with a lot of heart and a willingness to work hard.


Right up there with Kenflo, he did the best he could with the talent he had and gave us some great fights.
 
Rampage, Shogun, Bonnar, Franklin, Ortiz, Sonnen.... The dudes legacy is legit. He was a great and exciting fighter and deserved to be champion
 
good fighter, not great by any stretch of the imagination, and whether it was through "right time right place" or happenstance or hard work or whatever, he got into a position and made the most of it with a beautiful 2 fight win streak that defined his career and made him a millionaire. power to him.
 
a non prodigy, non gifted fighter that succeeded and inspired tons like him to believe they could be fighters and go start training mma.

most of the mma gyms that have opened and made money since have him to thank
 
He was an elite fighter despite lacking an elite set of skills.
 
Enigma87 said:
Rampage, Shogun, Bonnar, Franklin, Ortiz, Sonnen.... The dudes legacy is legit. He was a great and exciting fighter and deserved to be champion
Click to expand...

Great set of wins. One of my favorite fighters while he was fighting. Wasn't the best at anything but made the best of what he had. Top 10/15 LHW all time at least
 
I rank him right about even with Shogun, they've had similar careers. Early success and reaching the pantheon of the division only to end up with mediocre records as there careers went on. Both are not particularly athletic or talented but they are tough competitors with heart. They had different strengths with Forrest being a little more well rounded and always in shape whereas Shogun possessed good power and great finishing ability that Forrest lacked. Most fitting they both ended up 1-1 with each other.
 
Ryan Phillipe said:
I rank him right about even with Shogun, they've had similar careers. Early success and reaching the pantheon of the division only to end up with mediocre records as there careers went on. Both are not particularly athletic or talented but they are tough competitors with heart. They had different strengths with Forrest being a little more well rounded and always in shape whereas Shogun possessed good power and great finishing ability that Forrest lacked. Most fitting they both ended up 1-1 with each other.
Click to expand...

jezuz. my brain hurts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,266,652
Messages
57,416,136
Members
175,697
Latest member
kerwin

Share this page

Back
Top