UFC
UFC QUOTABLES: Forrest Griffin healing from broken foot, looks to climb back to the top of the light heavyweight mountain
Feb 21, 2011 - 3:50:16 PM UFC QUOTABLES: Forrest Griffin healing from broken foot, looks to climb back to the top of the light heavyweight mountain

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"I don't have a target date [for returning] in mind. I just want to get healthy, to get in the gym and enjoy training, have some fun, and when I'm ready, I'm ready. Right now, I can't jump rope or run. I tried grappling [last week] but it was a bad idea. I wasn't ready. Just pushing off with it hurt...

I want to make a run in that direction [towards a title shot], stack a couple wins together and let's see what happens. The mountain is tall. It's huge. I mean, look at the guys in the division. Lots of good guys. There's really no alternative. What are you going to do? Take a pay cut and fight lesser names? Might as well fight these good guys and see what happens...

Here's the deal: the extraordinary becomes ordinary really quickly. One minute, everything is new and amazing, the next it's expected. I guess for other people, I can equate it to having a kid. Before it, you can't fathom how different life can be, but once it happens, it's your new reality, and that becomes your normal life. Winning the championship, I remember back in 2000, I thought, 'Wouldn't that be cool?' and it happened years later. And now I'm here, and there's lots of guys who want that belt, so you've got to move up that mountain. And there's plenty of good fights as we move up the mountain."

-Forrest Griffin talks to MMAFighting.com about healing up from a broken foot suffered before his win over Rich Franklin at UFC 126 and looking to make a return to the top of the light heavyweight mountain.

Penick's Analysis: It's going to be no easy task in this extremely deep division, but because of his name and the fact that he is a former champion, he's likely not very far away from getting back to a shot at that belt. He'll have a tough opponent in his next fight when he returns to action, which likely won't be until sometime this summer with the foot injury, but if he can get past whomever that may be, he might get the next shot depending on who the champion is at that time. Whether he can get back there or not, fans will continue to tune in to see him fight, as he remains one of the UFC's top names and fan favorites.

[Forrest Griffin art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]