Did we overvalue Forrest Griffin?
by Zak Woods on Aug 9, 2009 11:00 AM EDT
in Opinion
Email
Print
When it was announced that Forrest Griffin would fight Anderson Silva the reasoning behind the match-up was Griffin's ability to force Silva to fight, something the middleweight champion seemed averse to doing in his past two fights.
Last night Griffin forced nothing upon middleweight champion as Silva simply stood in front of Griffin, bobbing and weaving, while landing power jabs with impunity. It took only two minutes of actual fighting for Silva to knockout Griffin.
How were we so off base?
Is Anderson Silva just that good or have we been inflating Forrest Griffin's status and abilities for some time?
We always knew that Griffin's chin was not a solid rock nor did he have heavy hands but Forrest had reinvented himself into a tactician. None of that was on display last night.
For the record Forrest Griffin is now 2-2 in marquee fights at light heavyweight (victories over Quinton Jackson and Mauricio Rua, loses to Anderson Silva and Rashad Evans). If we include the Keith Jardine loss than Griffin slides to 2-3 in fights against top competition. All three of those loses come via knockout.
If we dissect Griffin's victories than they appear to be paper tigers as well. Griffin was the beneficiary of favorable judging against Jackson on top of Quinton's mental issues that became apparent after the fight. In the Shogun bout Rua was fighting on one leg due to an ACL tear and was still able to bloody Griffin though in the end Rua would be submitted in unspectacular fashion.
Griffin was the underdog in both fights and persevered to win that shouldn't be forgotten or ignored, but that doesn't change the favorable events that went into those victories. Once those factors are considered Griffin's resume appears to be the result of good timing and hard work rather than that of a top-five fighter.
21 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Is Anderson Silva just that good or have we been inflating Forrest Griffin’s status and abilities for some time?
i agree with the latter 100%. Going in did anyone really think Forrest could stand with Silva? If they do they are completely out of their mind. Silva is a technician standing, he has elite top light heavyweight BOXING contender skills. Forrest is just a brawler with no technique (and no chin as well). I’m a big boxing nut, I’ve been watching for as long as i can remember in my 28 years of life, I can safely 100 out of 100 times the technician along with the power is going to make the brawler with no power look absolutely foolish until hes mercifully knocked out. Same goes for an elite boxer that can take a punch will just out class a brawler with little to no technique.
I’m sure everyone seen the replay or gif over and over by now, just look at the dreadful technique displayed by Forrest. Weak, pushing punches, no leverage or balance whatsoever, chin way up in the air, etc. He can get away with that against the likes of Bonner and a one legged Rampage but not someone the likes of Silva.
I don’t mean to discredit Silva’s win any, he looked good, but he had another Chris Leban in front of him. Someone that is just tailor made for me to beat up on. Forrest had one way to survive and win the fight and that was on the ground, yet he didn’t even shoot in for a take down once.
I still rank Silva behind Fedor, GSP and Torres in my pound for pound rankings (not that that means anything whatsoever) with BJ not far behind.
I think the P4P’s are tough right now bc every time a guy in the top-5 fights he traded places with the guy who just fought. its a giant round robin
watchkalibrun.com
P4P argument gets really silly and redundant at this point. Torres and Emelianenko’s records speaks volumes. GSP throughout his career has faced top-notch opponents regularly. BJ Penn has stepped up Pound-for-Pound like Pernell Whitaker, but has only reached the top once in his efforts. Silva has proved that he can move up in weight and win . . . so pound-for-pound his strengths translate in 185 or 205.
The best P4P arguments and rankings are the ones that don’t take a mythical list seriously because it is a joke at best and a used as a marketing tool by promotions or some fighters that love to talk. Note, most fighters like GSP, BJ Penn, Fedor, Anderson Silva don’t take the P4P ranking seriously.
Note: BJ Penn to Anderson “You’re the Best!” Anderson Silva to BJ Penn, “You’re the Best!”
by VeeisAnimated on Aug 9, 2009 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Off base, nah . . No
Give Forrest Griffin credit. He got dropped by Quinton Jackson, came back and delivered. I always thought everybody over hyped his victory against Shogun but still, he clearly won. Yes, SHogun had some physical issues but Rua did look great during the 1st round. He busted up Forrest just like Tito did.
Let’s stop revising history. Griffin clearly owned the 1st and 2nd round against Rashad Evans. Although Tito has been talking about his bad back, Griffin looked really great against Tito Ortiz.
Let’s be real, everybody inflated Griffin’s story like they do Randy Couture’s story but not their abilities. Forrest Griffin = Chris Leben is way off base. Neither posed any threat to Silva but they’re different fighters. Give Forrest his respect but give Anderson Silva his props. He stood directly in front of Griffin evading his shots easily.
Why Forrest didn’t shoot for a takedown? Did you see him shoot for a takedown against Evans or Rampage? No! He has admitted he’s not a good wrestler and what do you think would have happened if he tried to shoot on Anderson Silva? Silva was prepared for the takedown attempts and the leg kicks.
Forrest = Leben is a knee-jerk reaction
Forest = an exaggerated quantity seems more fair statement.
I thought that Forrest’s reliance on leg kicks was a bad thing as they can easily lead to takedowns. Once Rashad capitalized on this the fight was over
watchkalibrun.com
i think the forrest = leban is fair comparison. its two come straight at you type brawling style with very limited actual good boxing abililty. leban even posed a bigger threat to silva standing up being he has some power in his fists.
in response to veeis, the one and only shot Forrest had was to get him on the ground, thats why he should have went for a takedown. what he did in the Evans fight or any other fight for that matter doesn’t mean anything.
Here’s the deal.
When was the last time you saw Forrest Griffin brawl like he did against Stephan Bonnar? Not against, Rampage, Evans, or Shogun. He used measured attacks.
Limited boxing ability yeah, but that’s describing MANY fighters in the UFC.
2nd, I understand that Forrest best shot was to get on top of Anderson Silva, I’m questioning his ability to take Silva down. He hasn’t really demonstrated a consistent ability in taking down his opponents. Taking down a one-legged Rampage is probably not difficult with his reach. With that said, there’s a strong chance with Anderson Silva’s speed he would have caught him attempting to taking him down.
by VeeisAnimated on Aug 9, 2009 5:18 PM EDT up reply actions
Personally I think many UFC fighters are exaggerated quantities for sure but Silva has made many fighters look like pure amateurs ESPECIALLY when you compare fights. Do you recall the general assessment about Rich Franklin after his fights with A. SIlva and I’ll add Lyoto Machida? Anderson Silva completely outclassed Franklin where fighters like Henderson and Wanderlei Silva had their troubles against Franklin. Keith Jardine did not dominate Griffin but compare Jardine-Jackson and Griffin-Jackson. Compare Henderson-Jackson to Henderson-A.Silva.
Take a look at Marquardt fights before and after Silva, look at his record the guy is a phenomenal fighter. Can he hang with the elite like Henderson or Franklin? Maybe, sure. Can he dominate them?
Rashad took 2 rounds and some punishment to get warmed up and get Griffin’s timing down. Anderson has consistently demonstrated using the 1st minute of the fight to do the same thing. Hey, give credit to Cote . .. although he didn’t mount any offense.
by VeeisAnimated on Aug 9, 2009 5:28 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
its all about the styles
styles make fights.
rampage had his trouble against jardine, jardine nearly got killed by wandy, rampage nearly killed wandy in their 3rd fight. countless other examples.
I just read the post, I totally agree with it.
Just a note, it is one thing to know you have to be aggressive, take an opponent down, play half-court defense in the 3rd quarter, or adapt your game-plan midway through out the fight but it is another thing to actually be able to execute.
See Dan Henderson, Sean Sherk, Michael Bisping, Wanderlei Silva, Forrest Griffin. They knew what they had to do to win but were unable to execute their plans or fell in love with their stand-up game.
by VeeisAnimated on Aug 9, 2009 5:43 PM EDT up reply actions
It's crazy that...
…beating up one dude can springboard you back into the media frenzy (Silva).
The thing I still don’t understand is that when Silva starts doing all his fancy sh-t in the ring and standing still with his hands at his side, yelling, dancing, why don’t his opponents try to throw something unorthodox at him?
Griffin looked like a pansy in there with Silva. Silva extends both hands to help Griffin up mid-fight and Griffin takes his hand and stands up? Silva starts gesturing and yelling at him and he just kinda takes it? I don’t know, I would hope someone (maybe not Griffin) has the guts to stand up to this guy and imitate him or something.
I’d like to see him fight Machida though, but it will never happen. I betcha.
It's pretty obvious...
The MMA Community overvalued Forrest Griffin from day one. It wasn’t about Anderson’s skill level, but rather that Griffin’s size and weight advantage would be this skill-set that would reveal weaknesses in Silva. It was totally off base.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
No, just no
Terrible article. I don’t read this awful named site, but was linked to this article from another. Zak, you are jaded, you hate forrest griffin, your opinions are not newsworthy and the are frustrating to read. After reading this crap I took a look, briefly, at some of your other opinions and its just garbage. I am glad you have found an outlet to vent all this anger you have towards certain fighters in MMA but I would never read another pile of steaming dogshit that happens to come from the tips of your fingers ever again.
“in the end Rua would be submitted in unspectacular fashion”
really? I mean really? LOL. Ban my account cuz I will not be visiting this site ever again.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
