Two of UFC's most cerebral athletes will match wits in the Octagon this Saturday at UFC 126.
LAS VEGAS -- Forrest Griffin is 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, with cauliflower ears on his head and a New York Times best seller on his resume.
He would require no more than 15 seconds to make anyone in the gathered media scrum tap out.
But don't bother him right now. He’s busy reciting some Kipling.
"If a man can take all his winnings and put them in one heap, risk it all on one turn or toss of pitch, and lose it all and start at his beginnings, and never breathe a word about his loss," began the UFC Light heavyweight.
Go, baby, go!
"If you could force your heart and your nerve and your sinew to carry on, to force your turn when there is nothing left in you, except that voice that says, ‘Hold on.’ If you can do this, then the world is yours and all that’s in it.
"And what’s more, you’ll be a man (my son)."
In 25 years in this business, through four Olympic Games, several Stanley Cups, Super Bowls, World Series and countless other gigs, this sports writer has never witnessed an athlete recite 30 seconds of poetry the way this former University of Georgia political science major did Thursday in Las Vegas.
We looked up Rudyard Kipling’s poem "If." Griffin wasn’t perfect, but he was close.
"I butchered that all to hell," he said by way of review.
On Saturday, at UFC 126 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Griffin will fight Rich Franklin, a high school math teacher with a face for TV.
Griffin the writer versus Franklin the algebra expert.
Novelist knees Numerist.
We’re calling the bout: "Carry the Nine With a Fist in Your Spine."
"It’s amazing in my life," marveled Franklin, an easy to meet, well spoken 36-year-old. "How I’ve gone from a guy who would put my signature on a piece of paper that kids didn’t want to take home — a progress report — to being a guy people would stand in line for four hours waiting on that same signature."
Franklin came from a poor family in Cincinnati that scraped up just enough money through grants and scholarships to put him through college. "I’m the only college graduate in my family," he said, with some amount of pride.
"When I first quit (to fight as a pro) my Dad was not happy with me…at all," he said. "Of course my Mom, to her I’m the best-looking guy on the planet. She’s like, ‘Why would you ruin that face?’ Still, today, she says, ‘When are you going to stop?’"
Franklin (28-5) knocked out Chuck Liddell 4:55 into the first round of his last fight, at UFC 115. The fight before that he lost to Saturday’s headliner, Vitor Belfort, on strikes in the first round.
| UFC 126 schedule | |||
| What? | When? | Where? | |
| UFC Fight Club Q&A | Friday, 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT | Live stream | |
| UFC 126 weigh-ins | Friday, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT | Live stream | |
| UFC 126 live results | Saturday, 7:20 p.m. ET / 4:20 p.m. PT | Fight card | |
| Kid Yamamoto's UFC debut | Saturday, 8:25 p.m. ET / 5:25 p.m. PT | ||
| UFC 126 preliminary fights | Saturday, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT | Sportsnet | |
| UFC 126 main card (PPV) | Saturday, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT | Pay-per-view | |
| Post-fight press conference | Saturday, 1:15 a.m. ET / 10:15 p.m. PT (approx.) | Live stream | |
Griffin won his last fight too, a three-round split decision over Tito Ortiz. Prior to that however, he had lost two straight — including a knock out in August of ’09 at the hands of Belfort’s opponent on Saturday, Anderson Silva.
Griffin used to be an Atlanta cop. Now he writes books and cracks wise at pre-fight press conferences for way better pay.
"This is the easiest way to make money there is. You make a lot of money doing this *$%#," the 31-year-old said.
That’s why he’s not a full-time writer?
"The written word is dead, brother. Borders isn’t paying their bills. They’re (considering bankruptcy, according to reports)," he said. "The written word is going the way of Tower Records. It’s all going to Kindle."
It’s been a tough year for Griffin, who hasn’t fought since November of ’09 due to injury. Now he’s against a veteran freestyle guy who has seen it all in Franklin, an old hand in the UFC game.
"I’m so scared. &$#%ing terrified. I haven’t fought it in a year and it only gets harder. It never gets easier," Griffin said. "I had a horrible year. It was the first time in my life I had bad things happen that weren’t directly attributable to me. It’s like life *&^%ed me. It’s horrible. Watch out for that.
"As soon as you start being a good person, trying to be nice to people, life will kick you in the %#$."
Is that thought going in the next book?
"Yeah. The next self-help book."
