We are one day removed from another epic UFC card, and as always, there are a plethora of storylines coming out of the latest fight card. We have Cain Veasquez defending his title, Juinor "Cigano" Dos Santos' spinning head heel kick knockout of the iron chinned "Super Somaon" Mark Hunt, "Cowboy" Cerrone's return to the win column, T.J. Grant seemingly coming out of nowhere to earn a title shot at the UFC lightweight champion Ben "Smooth" Henderson's belt by knocking out perrenial contender Gray "The Bully" Maynard and the continued rise of Glover Teixeira in the light heavyweight division.
Today I would like to focus on another storyline coming out of the fight capital of the world. The retirement of the first TUF champion, former UFC light heavyweight champion, MMA superstar, future UFC hall of famer and fan favorite, Forrest Griffin. With a UFC career spanning nearly 8 years and 15 fights inside the octagon, Forrest Griffin has become a household name. Even the most casual of MMA fans know who Forrest is and enjoys watching him fight. Whether we are talking about his epic battle with Stephan Bonnar in the first TUF Finale, his improbable submission win over PRIDE superstar Mauricio "Shogun" Rua or his upset victory over former UFC light heavyweight champion Quentin "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 86 to win the LHW championship, Forrest has done for MMA what nearly $50 million dollars spent by the Fertitta brothers could not do...he saved the sport. With his self deprecating humor, his toughness or his willingness to put himself in harms way to entertain us fans, Forrest Griffin has truly had an epic Mixed Martial Arts career. While capturing the hearts and minds of fans, press and even the literary world (I use the word literary loosely as would Mr. Griffin) Forrest has catapulted the MMA into the mainstream, taking this great sport from a percieved bloodsport to an art that is ever evolving and expanding into the mainstream sports world.
There are very few athletes throughout sports history who have captured our attention with style, humor, grit and guts all the while actually being a world class athlete in their respective sport. While announcing his retirement last night, Forrest seemed a little uneasy and even embarrassed that we would or even should care about what he has accomplished in his life. It's hard for us not to talk about the whole career retrospective that inherently comes after such a great fighting career, in which Forrest himself seemed not to care for the attention. With his fan accessible, every-man persona we would be hard hearted S.O.B.'s not to care. Well, Mr. Griffin, we do care and we care a helleva alot. Just like the look he gave to the camera with a shrug of the shoulders while wearing his new belt after his victory that won him the title that seemed to say "Who fucking knew?" his career was as improbable as it was entertaining and is something that I am glad I had the chance to witness. To Forrest I would like to say thank you, we do care and We Fucking Knew, Forrest, We Fucking Knew.
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