
Former light heavyweight Forrest Griffin could be sidelined for most of the 2009 fight season because of a left hand injury sustained in his third round technical knockout loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 92: “The Ultimate 2008,” which took place on Saturday, December 27 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The Sun today reports that light heavyweight winner of the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) is out at least until fall, throwing a wrench into plans to keep him active and busy in the talent-rich 205-pound division.
On the flip side, it more than likely opens the door for several other top fighters in the category to step up in his place to participate in high-profile fights sooner rather than later.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was interested in a rematch against Griffin, which would be an enormous money-making match up. He’ll apparently have to wait, making his next fight against Evans all the more likely.
Griffin revealed in the post-fight interview that he had broken his left hand in the second round of his fight against “Sugar.” And the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) issued a medical suspension until June 27, 2009, unless he had the injury cleared by an orthopedic physician sooner.
That prognosis now appears to be optimistic at best — Griffin apparently needed to have pins surgically inserted into the hand to expedite the healing process.
More on this as it happens.
74 Comments »


















Ahhh - too bad about your luck Forrest. Just like Fedor and Rich Franklin before you, sidelined by a slow-healing and difficult hand injury.
If anybody cares Tito is going to be on the Adam Corolla show in about 5-10 minutes. You can stream the show live at adam.freefm.com
Good looking out…thanks
Also as an FYI, The Dead are going back on tour!!!!! Presale begins in 45 minutes!!!!!
impossible…there is no Dead without Jerry…
The Grateful Dead died when Jerry did, but when the living members re-unite, they go by simply “The Dead”
BNF, no volume today…gimme a rundown if there’s new news
I could honestly care less if I ever see him fight again. I would be inetersted in a fight against Liddell or Tiago Silva…but I wont miss him thats for sure!
Thank god he lost the title or we would have to wait forever for a title fight.
Nothing major… His back feels good. He is only commentating to keep his name out there. So I guess he is still a free agent as far as a fighting deal. He said he will NEVER fight for the UFC unless Dana is gone.
JOHN. your just scared that forrest is gonna spank shogun and rampage again. forrest is a blood and guts warrior that is very humble, respectful and always lays it all on the line every time he fights. i seriously question a mans fanhood who doesn’t want forrest to ever fight again.
I have a question..
If Forrest would retire from MMA today.. Would you consider or vote from him to be inducted into UFC Hall of Fame?
If so.. with him being unsuccessfulin defending the title that he ” won ” from Page.. what about Stephan Bonner?
I don’t mind Forrest all that much, I actually picked him in the Rashad fight and go figure, the one time I’m on the guys side, he loses. That being said; he will NEVER repeat the victories he had against Page or Shogun, those are 2 beat downs waiting to happen. I would love for a healthy page/shogun to go in and put the beat down on Griffin just to set the record straight. The hand injury is only pro-longing the inevitable..
I’m happy. I like Forrest. I think his rise was Rocky-like. It’s more than I ever hoped for. It had to be beyond his wildest dreams. He made a lot of money b/c of it. Now he has front row seats to all the 2009 events and he can relax and nurse his hand. It’s good to be Forrest IMO.
Yea there’s no doubt, Forrest is inspirational in that he came from sleeping on a mattress in his boys livin room to being a top 10 ranked LHW fighter; but this is where the dream ends imo and Forrest takes his place as a gatekeeper at LHW, it was a good run; the guy definatley showed that hard work and dedication could compete with natural talent and experience; but I don’t see him being the 205 lbs champ again. I could be wrong, I guess I never saw him holding the belt in the first place.
I’m a fan of Forrest as well, and I don’t get how fans, hardcore and causal alike, can say they don’t care to see a guy like Forrest fight again. As said above, Forrest always comes to fight, and nearly always has a good showing. Dude fights his heart out every time. I will be anxiously awaiting his return.
b.w. is right as usual. The so called “hardcore” fans who followed MMA since the beginning are always hating on Forrest. For some reason they resent the “TUF” era and have an arrogance that is incredibly annoying. The same era that they are hating on is the only reason this site exists and is the only reason we are seeing so many great fights these days. Some people will say they can’t stand that he doesn’t finish fights and those are the same people that will tell you they are a Machida fan. Forrest was and always will be one of my favorites.
No one will dominate the division for the foreseeable future. It is too deep with talent. On a given day there are around 10 in the division all capable of holding the belt or losing. Forrest is just one of this large group and he certainly belongs in the conversation.
dont care for Forrest! simple as that! How can a 205 lb man not have any KO power or finishing capabilities. I think the UFC over rates forrest, he was handed the title. I just dont like the guy and I dont care if I ever see him fight again.
Odamn said it best: Shogun n Rampage are ass whoopings that Forrest can not avoid
randy also has no ko power, however he is a great fighter, hmmm
PHIL. sorry im so late in my response, but to answer your question, no, if forrest retired today he’s not hof worthy,he hasn’t done enough yet but he’s not going to retire and i can see him fighting and or winning the lhw title again, you can never count him out. his lack of ko power doesn’t bother me, he has a better all-around game b/c of his lack of power. i think his biggest weakness is that he does have a suspect chin. if forrest had a iron jaw, he would be very dominant. JOHN is a racist,(jkg) he hates white fighters.
thats funny
So John wonders why a full grown man has no KO power to finish a fight, when the opponent he was rooting for in the same fight also failed to KO Griffin?
I wonder about things as well. How is it that a full grown man still feels the need to constantly whine about the outcome of a fight that happened 6 months ago?
I might be wrong here but I honestly don’t remember John hating on Forrest before he beat his boy Rampage lol. Oh yeah he beat Shogun too no wonder John was so pissed.
I’m guessing John may have lost a couple of sizeable bets due to Forrest lol. I’m kidding.
Rediculous post John, and im glad that your getting flamed for it for the most part haha. Forrest can’t really be THAT bad, he beat a no excuse Quinton, and didn’t just beat the injured Shogun, but finished him. I agree, you hate him cuz he beat those you love hahaha.
I must admit though I think Rampage will beat him in a rematch. Shogun on the other hand, ill hvae to wait and see after his next opponent.
I admitted it a long time ago that I was biased against Forrest. I never liked him since he switched his style (even though its better for him). I think he is over rated. I dont think he should have ever fought for the title and I dont think he deserved to win the title. He was a 1 pump chump and I dont think u r champ until you successfully defend the title. Not to mention he costs me a couple of Grand! I also think he is just a product of Couture’s game plans (although he does work hard and I respect him for that). He was also a Cop, so F that dude! LHW in the UFC that I like over Forrest:
Shogun
Rampage
Wanderlei
Rashad
Machida
Thiago Silva
Banha
I still think Jardine is better then Forrest and I am not even sure that Forrest could beat Liddell.
Forrest fights I would like to see are in order from most to least:
Rampage
Shogun
Rich Franklin
Chuck Liddell
Jardine 2
I cant wait to see him fight rampage again, and Rampage’s enterance music for that fight should be NWA’s “F the police”!
the fact that you put Fedor and Forrest in the same sentence disgusts me!
who cares!!
The fact you put up this post puzzles me! It makes little sense!
let me clear it up for you:
Who cares about Forrest, and unless your saying Forrest couldn’t carry Fedor’s jock strap, the two shouldn’t be in the same sentence!
lol
Forrest Griffin & Fedor are sexy
BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
Oh - you’re serious. Fedor who? What country do you live in? You must mean the guy on the top of everyone’s meaningless pound-for-pound list. What’s your boy Fedor done since August 2005? Yeah, a whole lot of not much.
He’s fought no significant opponent other than Tim Sylvia (debate Big Tim’s relevance among yourselves), and Fedor’s greatest accomplishment is having his management alienate Zuffa by turning down a huge contract worth millions in salary alone. Maybe whining about combat sambo is another accomplishment too.
Forrest Griffin is far more marketable, popular, influential and important to MMA than Fedor could ever hope to be. Until something major changes, Fedor will languish in obscurity for the rest of his career as a might-have-been, with only the keyboard warriors left hugging his nuts.
you lost graham, kevin burned you than you made the mistake of trying to come back by saying fedor who and lost all credibilty.
You have a good point Graham - but that might change if he dominates AA later this month.
Now I’m not a huge Fedor fan and maybe he’s takin on some weak comp lately that is undeserving of the shot but callin him a “might-have-been”? I think not; even without AA and Barnett his resume will have wins on Nog, Cro Cop, Semmy Schilt (I only mention this cause of the size diff), Tim Sylvia, Ricardo Arona, Babalu, Coleman, Mark Hunt, Randleman, Herring etc.. Sure there’s some fluff fights mixed in there with a couple LHW’s but you’d still be very hard pressed to find a HW with a better resume. Maybe Barnett, as far as records go he’s probably fought more big names. If he adds AA and Barnett to the list of victories then at that point there’s no HW out there with a comparable rec. Just my 2 cents.
Sorry roy - I don’t seem to have your reading comprehension so I have to explain myself slowly and preferably with words that don’t have too many syllables.
There seems to be a little confusion here, so, let’s be clear - Fedor laid the smack down on everyone in PrideFC. I was a fan of his in those days. I take nothing away from him whatsoever for his accomplishments of years (note the use of the word ‘years’) past. That was then. This is now, and Fedor only matters to people putting together useless pound for pound lists.
Even with it being 2009, it seems it’s still very hard for some people to admit to themselves that Pride is years-dead, and it died from the inside out in a spasm of corruption, non-regulation, stupidity and scandal. It’s even harder for those same folks to admit that the UFC won the war almost overnight.
For those of us with an MMA attention span longer than the average life of a fruit fly, you’ll note that anything that happened in Japan YEARS ago barely matters. Fedor decisioned Cro-Cop in August 2005. Forrest decisioned Bonnar in August 2006.
It’s very simple - which victory matters more today?
If Fedor runs the table in Affliction, so to speak, and beats AA, Barnett and the like, he’ll have an incomparable resume. But it won’t matter… why would it? Who cares what you do in an MMA sideshow.
Far from being unworthy of carrying Fedor’s athletic support, Forrest is an MMA superstar. Fedor would be lucky to get a match against him, not the reverse. A Forrest loss in the UFC is worth more than a Fedor win in Affliction or Pride. That’s just the way it is.
than you called forrest a supestar, lol.
hey ‘O Damn’ you are correct that Fedor has some big names on his resume and for sure he’ll go down as one of the greatest fighters ever. back then I believe Pride had the best HW. With Fedor, Nog, Cro Cop, & Coleman. The UFC had Tim and AA! I don’t think there was any question Fedor was the best then. But since the sport has evolved and some fighter evolved and got better and some never, I think AA and Tim are still the same fighters as they were back in 05 but the problem is in 08 fighters are better than in 05. Cro Cop is another prime example. With the UFC buying out pride it now has the best HW. Since 05 Fedor has fought no names or fighters that use to be good so how can we call him the best now day’s? If Cro Cop never came to the UFC I guarantee the same peaple that rate Fedor #1 would rate Cro Cop #2. Now outside the UFC cro cop is back to his winning ways. How do you know Fedor has improve since 05,you can’t by the sub par opponents he has faced, then how? I don’t think anybody out there is stupid enough to say the sport & fighters are improved(evolved) since 05? There’s no way fedor can be ranked #1 now, I’m not saying he can’t but he has to prove himself vs the best AA doesn’t count and either will Cro Cop.
Fedor would be lucky to get a match against FORREST??? I get the comparison in fame as far as US fans go, but how many Japanese people know Forrest Griffin?? And no, Japanese fans are not Irrelevant. IF the UFC ever successfully signed Fedor (or any other mma org for that matter), he’d go straight to the title shot. No questions asked, his Debut would be for the HW belt. Could Forrest even say the same thing, if he left the UFC strung together a couple wins and came back? Doubtful. Dana White would be eating every insult he’s ever laid out there; hyping Emelianenko as the best HW in the world.
The only way to judge a fighter is by their resume, how the hell else do we know what their worth?? It’s relevance to present time is that he’s still on an 8 year unbeaten streak; there’s not a fighter in any other weight class that can say that. That alone is gonna garner some measure of intrigue. And if a fighter is only as good as their last fight, then his last fight is a 36 second destruction of Tim Sylvia. Tim might not be all that relevant atm but still; who the hell else walked all over him like that?? No one. You might be right about marketing/publicity here in the US, but hell in his own country the guy is probably a national hero for god sake and there’s probably not one mma fan in Japan that wouldn’t recognize Fedor.
I think there’s definatley marketability out there for a fighter like Fedor, maybe it’s not in the USA, but as far as fan support/sales these #’s could be competitive over seas with the right people. We just haven’t seen anyone come up with a good gameplan for running an MMA org besides the UFC and on a smaller scale strikeforce.
I’m still undecided on “the sport has evolved”; yes we’re seeing some new guys come in with very well rounded skills, but has it really evolved or are the dominant fighters we’re looking at today just on the down side of their carreers? Watch some footage of Cro Cops older fights, Wanderlei, Chuck Liddell, they move completely differently; Cro Cop was way lighter on his feet, way more aggressive, his TDD against Nog and Herring was unreal..
Chuck and Wandi used to have a ground game! Wandi worked some GnP from the guard in plenty of fights, Chuck used to use the clinch/ground game as well. Are we seeing new and upcoming fighters get better or are we seeing the legends of old in a state of decline? Maybe a little bit of both.
IMO, we’re still getting 1 dimensional up and coming fighters that are supposed to be the next big thing; ie: Thiago Alves(no jits), Palhares, Maia, Brock Lesnar, Cheik Kongo, Thales Leites etc. Where’s the guys that have hands like an in his prime Roy Jones and jits skills to match? The only thing thats really seemed to evolve in this sport is TDD. Now no one wants to shoot cause they’re afraid to get worn out. The jits guys seem to be getting a bit more clever/slicker, but they still suck when it comes to striking; guys like Fedor, Rampage (who really doesn’t have/use subs), BJ Penn, GSP and A. Silva that can do it all are still a rarity.
“But it won’t matter… why would it? Who cares what you do in an MMA sideshow.” So Graham, i guess nothing outside the UFC matters eh? you sir, are the season winner… the ultimate jackass, congratulations… i guess Gegard Mousasi’s DREAM tournament where he finished all his opponents in the first round didnt matter either eh? wow… you are a failure
We are not seeing fighters get one dimensional, we are seeing fighters improve their gaurds against styles they don’t want be in. The reason you don’t see as many take down to GnP is because the defense against has improved(evolved). As the sport evolves like every other sport we will see new styles as fighters try to adapt. So if a Jits wants to go to the ground he better find a way to get it there because his opponent is going to have a way stop it and the battles are evolving. Forrest gameplan to take out Rampage’s legs with kicks and it worked, do you think Rampage the second time around won’t prepare(evolve) for that style to prevent it. And if your Alves going against a jits won’t he prepare to stay off the ground? Different styles are against each other who’s going to get their way that’s the Beauty of MMA!! Tito is another prime example now day’s he’s having trouble taking someone down to go to his style GnP.
Totaly agree with your view Derek. I have been watching MMA since the h.gracie days. He f*^$ed every fighter up with his style(jits). Now day’s the fighters are prepared for the arm bars, the chokes and other tap moves. Outside the UFC you see it more though. Because the fight start standing a fighter with a boxing, Kick boxing…or any stand up style start with an advantage. If the fight started on the ground a wrestler or \jits guy would have the advantage easy. There’s no quetion the fighters have evolved since 05. Who cares about Fedor now day’s? His fans are dropping left & right because he’s fighting easy fights now? One of my best buds thought he was king of crap hill back in the day now he can’t even admit he was a fan LOL. Brock at 285 in the cage would smash Fedor!! HULK SMASH!!!!
Hello all my name is Fedor!! Why would I fight in the UFC and take a chance on losing when I can fight easy fights and get the same respect!? Look at my record it does not matter who it was against does it lol.
Your saying if a striker works his TDD then he’s a more well rounded better fighter. Or if a jits guy works his takedown then he’s a more well rounded better fighter. It doesn’t change the fact that the striker is still a striker, and the jits guy is still jits. What IM SAYING is that fighters that can DO IT ALL in MMA are still a rarity.
This sport has YET to evolve to a point where two guys get in the cage and they are both world class strikers w/ world class ground games. Your still talking about styles vs styles when Mixed Martial Arts should be just that. If we’re really talking about an “evolved” sport it still has a long way to go, thats why I don’t think it’s “evolved”; just because fighters found a way to completely AVOID certain aspects of a fight doesn’t make them more well rounded fighters.
And what does you having watched UFC 1 have to do with anything?? I saw the first UFC as well as I lived in Denver CO at the time of the event. So what??? Why does that make someone more knowledgeable about anything?? Irrelevant.
Actually kevin, he didn’t exactly put Fedor and Forrest in the same sentence. There clearly is a period between ‘Forrest’ and ‘Just’, thus ending one sentence and beginning another. While the first makes no reference to Fedor at all, you can make the arguement that the second makes a reference to Forrest, of which you might not be as disgusted as you were, since the name ‘Forrest Griffin’ did not show up in the sentence. A more accurate post would be:
The fact that you put Fedor and Rich Franklin in the same sentence disgusts me!
who cares!!
OR
the fact that you refer to Forrest in the same sentence as Fedor disguests me!
who cares!!
Just thought I’d help ya out buddy.
ROY. forrest IS a superstar! 92 just did over a million ppv buys due in a large part to forrest being on the card. fedor is a better fighter p4p than forrest by far, but forrest is a bigger star in the states than what fedor is or was in japan. in fedors heyday as a champ in pride, he was never their biggest draw, bob sapp was. and cro-cop was after him. i would say that wandi, fujita, gomi and sakuraba were bigger draws than fedor. and yes selling ppv’s and tickets is a big deal. affliction cancelled/rescheduled their 2nd event due to low ticket sales and the fedor fanatics all sadi it was b/c fedor wasn’t on the card. well, he’s on there now, and they still cant sell tickets. you see arlovski doing videos and promos to try and hype his fight with fedor, but where’s fedor?. what andrei is doing is called being a good employee imo and is why the ufc will take him back after afliction folds soon. this is fedor’s last chance, if he loses this fight, he might as well retire. nobody cares.
i was just messing around, i personally don’t care who is the bigger “star” i will leave that to the ufc fans since all that matters is who sells tickects and not who is the best. fedor is the best hw there is they said they cancelled due to other things and have said the tickect sales for this event are fine, i don’t know if its true but neither do you, i will wait and see instead of hating or hoping for them to fail. as far as nobody caring about fedor it doesn’t seem to be true and graham said himself he only cares about american ultimate fighting so he is just not into mma.
cleared in June, fights in August? Not that bad, not good, but not the worst
Yeah, at least it not a blown knee like Shogun or Bonnar.
By all accounts he doesn’t hit hard enough to mess up his hand that badly.
exactly what I was thinking…maybe he fell on it…haha
Hm.. That blows.
guess he won’t be fighting Chuck next
To bad I was hoping to see Forrest and Rampage rematch. I still think Rampage has to win one more fight until he gets a shot at the title, maybe if Shogun wins then he can get some revenge on him. I think Sugar should fight the winner of Machida and Silva and then the winner take on the winner of Shogun and Rampage.
Wow must be a nasty broken hand hope it gets better soon
Hope he gets healed up quickly! Really looking forward to him fighting Chuck Liddell
Show you how hard Evans chin is….
damn. big griffin fan, hope for a speedy recovery.
Damn. I think that does it. Rampage gets next dibs on Evans because you know Machida is not marketable enough to give him a shot yet. I bet Dana makes him wait longer although Machida (in my opinion) has much more of a chance to beat Rampage than Evans. I like page but lets face it…he is not the brightest guy out there.
I say if Shogun and Machida both win their fights, put them against each other for the next title shot after Rampage. Also wouldn’t mind seeing W.Silva vs T.Silva. That would be a slugfest. Meanwhile, have Liddell avenge his loss to Jardine after he beats Cane (if that’s still happening).
Rampage deserves a shot at Evans anyway. Griffon just isnt all that good. I dont think he did enough to justify winning the title in the first place. The UFC bigwigs love him though. What a match that will be though if it happens.
Griffin. I spelled it wrong. Who cares anyway.
Man I keep counting Evans out, I been calling for him to lose every fight starting with his match up against Bisping. He’s come through and beat my guys every time, I gave him no shot against Chuck, I gave him some respect in the Forrest fight but still picked Griffin to win. I don’t know what it is, but with Rampage coming up next I’m STILL thinkin the same damn thing, I see Evans getting beat down. I don’t have anything against Rashad, it just seems like he’s always up against a fighter that I can’t see him beating.
Now its to the point where I’m thinkin he has a 50/50 shot at Page; but I can’t help but root for Jackson to crush him. I just can’t look at Evans as a real champ; I don’t know what it is, he’s proven me wrong time and again but I don’t like seein him with the strap. Is it just me?
Nah its not just you. I feel the exact same way. Although I did think he would beat Griffin. I love Griffin the lads a great guy all round but truth be told I didn’t really see him as the champ either.
Well Lets say he takes this time to heal, and then maybe if Bonnar wins his match thats coming up
Can anyone say UFC 100, and on the card we have FORREST VS BONNAR, DAMNNNNNNNNNNN, Forrest said he would give Bonnar another chance becuase Forrest thought he lost the first fight, Yes……
bring on rampage vs rasad already!!
I’ll be glad when he’s back. I like Forrest.
If Dana can give a fighter like Cote to Silva for a title fight, I see no reason why the winner of Thiago VS Lyoto cant get a chance at Rashad. Cote isnt even a top ten and he isnt very well known either. After UFC 94 Lyoto and Thiago will be just as marketable as Griffin. Dana has to give the winner of that fight the chance a title shot. The true mma fans know whats up with Thiago and Lyoto and they will order the ppv.
Rampage knocked out Wandy, big deal he hasnt earned any stripes in the UFC, Pride king yes but what has he done in the UFC? I say Rampage fights Franklin if he wins.
Anybody Ever Notice the likeness between Forrest Griffen and Alfred E. Neuman from Mad Magazine “What Me Champion” LOL!!!
I hate to open up old wounds, and I truly like Forrest, But he did not win that title, you got to take the title!!, not split descion it, Good Luck to Forrest in His Recovery, but I think he will never have that strap around his waist ever again, IMO…
Sad to hear about Forrest the guy is a warrior and has been responsible destroying the Shogun myth and spanking Rampage. It’s amazing to hear these delusional Pride fans still holding a grudge over a guy who beat up their heroes you’d think that they’d have accepted the truth by now. But no, they are still living in the past talking about Fedor and trying to put down Griffin give me a break. Forrest finished Shogun and then picked apart and dominated Rampage for 4 of the 5 rounds, he was undisputed UFC LHW champion give the man his props. And stop being a bunch of bitter and whinny crybabies because you make yourselves look like idiots when you don’t.
yay for absolute sure rampage and rashad is next. WAR RAMPAGE
who cares he is a crappy fighter anyway, and the least talented UFC champion ever.
My statement from day one after Forrest became champion “he will not be able to defend the title” and it was true. I knew he was going to lose the belt first time out. #1 Forest HATER! H’s in my back pocket…