Still can't believe Forrest was the Champ

[ferrisjso]

Just looked it up for fun the big 4 in the Zuffa Era between 2014 (Cormier+Rumble debut) and 2017 (Dc vs Jones Rematch)
Jones,Rumble,Gus and Cormier are undefeated against opponent outside of the big 4 (you could add glover to the mix it would just add 1 loss)

Similar dynamic for sure. I'd include Davis as the fifth wheel for beating Gus when he was otherwise undefeated he also beat Glover. He's the one who taught Gus his wrestling and turned him from a novice to taking down Jones and DC. He's also the ony one in the group who fought Rumble who wasn't finished by Rumble(still has never been finished).

I'd have Bader and Glover would be six and seven and Jan would probably be 8?

Crazy how Jan wasn't a top 7 fighter in that era and he's the champ now.

 

[lefthighkick01]

I agree to an extent about Anderson. That was a video game like ridiculous performance, I still have not seen the likes of since. But I still have no clue how the hell Forrest lasted 25 minutes with prime Rampage? His chin was never very good. He should’ve been knocked out in the first round as he got hurt. Maybe he sold his soul to the devil for one night only or something?

He's better than what most people give him credit for... big LHW that was decent in all areas of MMA, and tough as nails and kept on grinding... I think if he hadn't had that fight against Anderson, he would have been ranked higher in most people's minds imo.

 

[SmokeBear]

Forrest beating Shogun and Rampage was some straight Rocky stuff. He outworked Shogun and outlasted Rampage, i didnt really like Forrest but damn he was a dog

 

[ILIKEROCKHOLD]

Forrest was a big strong light heavyweight and he was pretty well rounded. He was self-deprecating and had a weird sense of humor so people always underestimated him. Maybe he didn’t have the typical angry, overly aggressive face of a fighter. But beating shogun and rampage back to back is no joke or fluke.

 

[icffedor]

This is the worst the division has been in recent memory.

For the most part The fighters Are all forgettable compared to the golden era of the LHW division.
There are some outliers of course.
I’ll take 2007-2012 over this era any day of the week.

Of course the roid era was better and more exciting, todays natural fighters are not as swole and lack the stamina of those roiders from a decade ago, is what it is

 

[KinG]

I mean bisping was also champ for a short time .

 

[Hatz]

Didnt ruin his legacy for me. We all know Forrest is better than what he showed in that fight.

Idk bout that

 

[rjmbrd]

Crazy how Jan wasn't a top 7 fighter in that era and he's the champ now.

It really isn't crazy at all considering Jones and DC were head and shoulders better then other competition over the last two generations of fighters. In his prime Gus was up there.

Jan is a nice, hardworking guy and he's skilled, but he isn't remotely of the qualities that Jones and DC had. We don't have to guess how he matched up with Gus either, he lost.

You get a worker bee 'right time right place' champion like Jan when an already thin division sheds its top talents.

 

[HP_Nut]

Anderson ruined Forrests legacy. It’s hard to be taken seriously when you’re on the wrong end of the most one-sided fight of all time.

But Forrest had some great performances. Back to back wins over Shogun and Rampage (both were #1 LHW and top 5 P4P when he beat them) and then gave prime rashad all he could handle for two rounds before getting clipped in the third.

He wasn’t the most skilled guy but he’s become underrated historically.

Not only did he give prime Rashad all he could handle, many people scored both the first 2 rds for Forrest (though rd 1 was close). So you could argue he was on his way to an incredible run of 3 straight wins over Shogun, Rampage, & Rashad before Rashad caught him in the 3rd. I actually think Rampage deserved the nod against him though it was a great, competitive fight

Because he looked so bad vs Anderson, its really tarnished his legacy or how many people viewed his career in retrospect. I see tons of threads that diminish Anderson's win over him by acting like he was some kind of gatekeeper when in actuality, he had just gone thru an amazing 3 fight run before the Anderson fight

 

[Mesos]

Forest is the definition of an overachiever. His life was meant to be a small time cop in a small town. A boring simple life.

And here he is as a former champion, with a cushy job at UFC making buncha money. Bonnars a dumbass he was going to get set up to but he messed that up

 

[Reffson]

Please Shogun was planning a wedding and barely trained for his first fight with Forest. We all saw what happened in the rematch. He did have a lot of good wins however so he was no dog. Tough guys with skills.
Forrest Griffin MMA Stats, Pictures, News, Videos, Biography - Sherdog.com

 

[M.U.S.C.L.E.]

I dont agree.

At all.

DIvision currently houses GOATkalaev,GOATChazka,BlaGOATawicz,The Jonescrusher Reyes (RIP) and GOATzdemir (welcome back)

Thats more than enough for me,pal.

Thank god, someone gets it.

 

[Dionysian]

Sometimes people beat guys that are better than them. It is why we always have to say "90%" or "80%" likely to win even if a guy is better at literally everything.

Boetsch and Sokoudjou did it too (by "it" I mean beating two guys in a row better than them). Bisping did it too, even grabbing the belt like Forrest did. To quote one of the greatest minds in MMA, "sometimes these things happen in MMA"

Rampage got ROBBED!!! Fuck your vaccine mandates!!!

lol'd due to randomness

I had Rampage too, but honestly it was close enough to go either way.

 

[Merlotte's]

Rampage doesn’t defend kicks and Forest was swinging a telephone pole out there.

 

[kflo]

This is the worst the division has been in recent memory.

For the most part The fighters Are all forgettable compared to the golden era of the LHW division.
There are some outliers of course.
I’ll take 2007-2012 over this era any day of the week.

It’s funny that people say this when Forrest was the champ. Golden era…..keith jardine was a top fighter…..

 

[Aegon Spengler]

It’s funny that people say this when Forrest was the champ. Golden era…..keith jardine was a top fighter…..

They made more money back then and were better fighters. Also testing was easier to avoid. Guys from that era would do just fine today. It wasn't like Jardine even got a shot at the belt. You can't use him as a barometer just for existing. And in the sport of MMA, anyone can go out at any time, especially in the heavier weight classes.

 

[Vampire life]

It really isn't crazy at all considering Jones and DC were head and shoulders better then other competition over the last two generations of fighters. In his prime Gus was up there.

Jan is a nice, hardworking guy and he's skilled, but he isn't remotely of the qualities that Jones and DC had. We don't have to guess how he matched up with Gus either, he lost.

You get a worker bee 'right time right place' champion like Jan when an already thin division sheds its top talents.

His hands are a LOT heavier than DC and def Jones. I can’t remember the last time jones had a ko

 

[Vampire life]

Please Shogun was planning a wedding and barely trained for his first fight with Forest. We all saw what happened in the rematch. He did have a lot of good wins however so he was no dog. Tough guys with skills.
Forrest Griffin MMA Stats, Pictures, News, Videos, Biography - Sherdog.com

The standard excuse at the time was his knee…

 

[kflo]

They made more money back then and were better fighters. Also testing was easier to avoid. Guys from that era would do just fine today. It wasn't like Jardine even got a shot at the belt. You can't use him as a barometer just for existing. And in the sport of MMA, anyone can go out at any time, especially in the heavier weight classes.

Lol. No, they didn’t make more money. And jardine was like top 5 and beat chuck 1 fight after he lost the belt.

But yes, testing was easier to avoid.

But there’s little reason to think they were better fighters.

 

[kflo]

It really isn't crazy at all considering Jones and DC were head and shoulders better then other competition over the last two generations of fighters. In his prime Gus was up there.

Jan is a nice, hardworking guy and he's skilled, but he isn't remotely of the qualities that Jones and DC had. We don't have to guess how he matched up with Gus either, he lost.

You get a worker bee 'right time right place' champion like Jan when an already thin division sheds its top talents.

Forrest was right place right time too. We just didn’t realize jones was going to take over the division. We’ll look back at this time and lump the next champ with Jan and it won’t look so thin.