After spending 13 weeks together as competing coaches on Spike’s ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, these two men are set to face off for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship in the main event on Saturday July 5, 2008 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV.
“Who are Quinton Jackson and Forrest Griffin?”
Even Burt Reynolds wearing an over sized hat and requesting that you address him as “Turd Ferguson” could tell you that UFC 86 takes place this weekend, and the MMA world is definitely buzzing with anticipation of what could be a potentially great match-up.
Admittedly I had hoped for just a little heat between the two men as they coached the fighters on the recently ended season of TUF, but I think we all knew that we were not going to be getting Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock going at it. Obviously this fight should be much more competitive, and what these two lack in histrionics they make up for in fighting skills, heart and determination. Hey, had Jackson decided to grab a chair and begin cracking Griffin over the head with it after Forrest won the Coach’s Challenge it would have made for a few “oohs” and “ahhs” but I don’t think it would make this more of a must see fight than it already is. This fight was sold immediately upon announcement.
Forrest Griffin is ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and he always will be. He made this show in more ways than the show made him and Griffin is the first name I think of when hearing of the program. To me it is a pleasure that he has embraced this in the fashion that he has. So many people always seem so quick to bite the hand that feeds them and try to move so far beyond that which made their name to begin with that they end up doing irreparable harm to their careers in the process. So far, Griffin has done no such thing.
Does the name Ben Curtis do anything for you? Probably not, unless I refer to him as the character he played in a series of television advertisements from a few years back. How about “Steven the Dell Dude”? Well, that’s Ben Curtis and no matter what he ever does in life, he IS “Steven the Dell Dude”, whether he likes it or not. If he is 83 years old and lying in a nursing home bed while shouting that he needs to use the toilet, I can guarantee some nursing assistant will cheerily declare, “Dude, you’re getting a bedpan” before yelling at him for interrupting her smoke break.
How about Michael Winslow? Well, perhaps you would know him best as the guy who could make noises with his mouth in the ‘Police Academy’ movies as the character, “Sgt. Larvell Jones”. I have no clue what this man has been up to, for all I know he is on a barnstorming comedy club tour with Jimmie Walker, but I can tell you one thing. Even if he were to settle Wesley Snipes’ tax problems, be found to be the father of Angelina Jolie’s twins; he would STILL be the “guy who made all of those noises with his mouth in the ‘Police Academy’ films”. Once you become something to everyone, it is hard to escape it and you are probably better off to embrace it.
Forrest Griffin has done just this, and from the moment that his hand was raised against Stephan Bonnar in the fight that set the MMA world ablaze; he became THE ultimate fighter and not just the winner of the television show. Griffin is a guy who comes to fight and in a way he is similar to former professional boxer Arturo Gatti as he has made a name for coming forward regardless of the punishment that he was absorbing. He was willing to take two shots in order to dish out one and the fans could not be happier for it. Griffin’s fight loss to Tito Ortiz at UFC 59 was not so much a loss as it was an announcement that this guy was for real. Much like Gatti, he suffered a loss but left the arena as the crowd’s favorite and rather than dwell on his defeat, it became a question of "how soon can we see this guy fight again?"
Forrest Griffin knows he will forever be known as the winner of the first season of TUF, and while he isn’t running away from that, he is not content to rest on his laurels and have that be the hallmark of his career. He has embraced the fact that the television show is what brought him to the dance and is a large part of why he is such a known commodity in the fight game; but beyond that and most importantly, he has evolved.
Forrest’s most recent fight, a submission victory over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 76 was the moment of clarity for Griffin and the moment that he became a serious challenger and so much more than the winner of the first season of TUF.
While many will point out that Rua was injured and thus was not at full strength, the fact remains that Rua was heavily favored to win and it wouldn’t have been much of an event had this indeed been the result. What did happen on this evening is that Griffin showed he has more to offer than his usual head down and hands flying style that seemed to insinuate that he was trained by Don Quixote and as a result the UFC and the world were placed on notice.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is the undisputed champion and his fighting acumen is only exceeded by his ebullient personality which for once is a pro athlete’s posturing that we can actually enjoy. You won’t catch Jackson making it rain in a strip club with the NFL’s Adam “Pac Man” Jones and you won’t find him tossing a chair a la Ken Shamrock before a fight. Jackson’s antics never disrespect the sport, its fans or his fellow fighters. Jackson doesn’t need to glower like Shamrock and cut wrestling style promos in order to intimidate an opponent or sell himself to the fans as he simply steps inside the octagon and flat out dominates. He clearly enjoys what he does for a living and since most of us hate the notion of going to work, it is often hard for the rest of us to understand what makes guys like Quinton and Forrest tick.
This is a big reason why the past season of TUF featured more shots of Jesse Taylor losing control of his bladder than it did segments in which the coaches needed to be separated. The two men love what they do and have the utmost respect for one another as fighters. Head into a McDonald’s at lunchtime and you are bound to see plenty of employees who hate the world and are ready to come across the counter and beat you with one of the Coke glasses that they are giving away. This kind of drama was not to be had from Jackson and Griffin and it all comes down to the fact that these two men enjoyed going to work. Bill Lumbergh wouldn’t have to ask these two if they could work on Sunday; they would show up regardless.
This drive, this passion and this fire is what makes the main event of UFC 86 such a compelling fight. On paper, I would have to say that Griffin is decidedly the underdog and most would be quick to agree. It just isn’t as simple as that would seem to make it. Quinton Jackson is the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and has fought just about everyone. Forrest Griffin is the People’s Champion and will fight everyone.
As for me, I am only too glad to be able to watch this fight come Saturday night and regardless of the outcome I think the winner will be the UFC and its fans. There is a cliché that is said regarding fights and that is may the best man win; well in my opinion there is no such thing as a better man when it comes to this match-up. There will however be a better fighter. Which is what Saturday night will be all about; fighting. No hype, no drama and no manufactured rage in order to sell us on what we are about to see and that is two of the best going at it for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
If I were to ask Ben Curtis and Michael Winslow to sum all of this up I think they would be able to do so in short fashion. Winslow would make a series of explosions and swing his fists around and Curtis would simply say, “Dude. You’re getting a fight.”
If this were Jeopardy, then Saturday night would be “Final Jeopardy” and the clue is “Potential Fight of the Year”, to which I am willing to wager my $44.99 on UFC 86 and my response to the clue is “What is Jackson vs. Griffin?”
