Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz / UFC 59
By Cliff Montgomery, ExtremeProSports.com
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The match between Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz in UFC: 59 was of course a
fine one, a battle which ended in a split decision for Ortiz. But to fans, a
professional fight often becomes a battle of personalities, and who a fan supports
often says more about the fan than it does about the fighter.
I mention this because it seems this fight was seen--and certainly reported--as
a clash of personalities, rather than as two well-trained, professional fighters
engaging in a simple contest of abilities.
Forrest Griffin of course was the first-season winner of the SpikeTV series
The Ultimate Fighter. He defeated Stephan Bonnar in a wildly popular final
bout, winning by unanimous decision. The victory landed Griffin a professional
contract to compete in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
With his easy charm and unassuming character, Griffin may be the most
immediately accessible person in the UFC. Much of the pre-and post-fight analysis
therefore favored him in spirit, if not in fact. It’s understandable; I truly like what
I’ve seen of Forrest Griffin too. But on that night, Tito Ortiz really did outfight him.
Jacob "Tito" Ortiz is a former Light-Heavyweight UFC champion and one of
the UFC's true stars. Ortiz has headlined several UFC championship undercards,
and has appeared on the covers of such publications as Black Belt Magazine.
As for Ortiz’ character...let’s be generous. My personal view? I suspect all
that bragging and bad-mouthing which Tito constantly spews is his attempt to show
some of the flair which legendary boxers like Ali or Hector “Macho” Camacho had
so successfully employed in their day. Only Ortiz doesn’t possess that sense of
satire which seemed natural to Ali and Camacho, an irony which allowed those
men to perform their bragging spectacles with a wink and a nod to the crowd, even
as their ‘misdeeds’ preyed on their opponents. Ortiz consistently plays the act
without a touch of playfulness, and so it’s perceived as simple vulgarity.
Both are fine athletes in any case, and unless one bites off the other’s ear that’s
all that should matter. Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.com knows this, and tellingly
scored the best pre-fight analysis:
“If the fight hits the mat...Griffin can still be successful as long as he’s not on his
back. If Ortiz gets him down and is on top of him, raining down elbows and
forearms, game over.”
And indeed in round 1 Ortiz began showing some of the old aggression which
made him a UFC star, catching Griffin with a solid left hook before securing a
takedown 30 seconds into the 1st round. And as Gerbasi suspected, once Ortiz
had his opponent down, he edged the talented and aggressive--but less
experienced--Griffin towards the cage and began punishing him with a hail of his
patented elbow strikes. As is often the case with Griffin, he absorbed a fine
pummeling before escaping Ortiz.
Once free Griffin sprung to his feet and began throwing a few punches, which
may well have been his best bet against his opponent. Griffin is probably the better
striker, and the unyielding fighter would almost certainly out-tough
ground-and-pounder Ortiz in a straight slugfest.
But the barrage from everyone’s favorite UFC fighter wasn’t to last this round.
With 50 seconds remaining in the 1st, Ortiz scored his second takedown of the
match, and rained blow after blow onto Griffin before the round came to a close.
The 2nd was another story. Griffin had begun to figure out Ortiz’ gameplan,
and the effect was obvious. And though Tito opened the 2nd by landing a couple of
jabs and a strong right, he began to go up against Griffin’s strength: toe-to-toe
boxing. This helped Forrest to stifle five takedown attempts by Ortiz. As to be
expected, Griffin also consistently scored the cleaner shots, and landed a vicious
left hook midway through the round.
Early in the 3rd and final round Griffin stopped a couple of quick takedown
attempts by Ortiz, but Tito did land a left hook, and walloped Griffin with a huge
straight right. Ortiz also scored a couple more right hands which caught Griffin
looking.
But Forrest wasn’t out of weapons just yet. Throughout the round Griffin
landed a number of low leg kicks, and then began letting his hands go in the
remaining 2 minutes of the match, pummeling Ortiz with a right uppercut and left
jab.
Ortiz quickly answered back with a right hand of his own, then finished his
reply with another big takedown with about 90 seconds remaining of the 3rd.
Griffin had learned from his mistakes in the 1st, and refused to again be
trapped on the ground by Ortiz. Forrest did a wonderful job of getting back to his
feet with 30 seconds remaining, and landed some terrific shots just as the furious
match ended.
