THE CANADIAN PRESS
LAS VEGAS — Forrest Griffin has completed the move from reality TV star to real-life champion, taking down Quinton (Rampage) Jackson en route.
Griffin, winner of Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter, won a five-round upset decision over light-heavyweight title-holder Jackson on Saturday night in a raucous UFC 86 mixed martial arts main event before a sellout crowd of 11,172, good for a gate of US$3.3 million at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Griffin (16-4) fought a smart fight. He used his movement, reach and kicks to slow Jackson down and survived the champion’s power shots to win.
“I’m not a feared guy but I’m going to fight you for 25 minutes,” said Griffin, who quit a career in law enforcement in Georgia to become a fighter. “Whoever you are, anybody at 205. I’m not going to break. I’m not going to quit.”
The judges scored it 49-46, 48-46, 48-46 for Griffin.
“You know what, I didn’t think Forrest could hang with me,” Jackson said. “I said if Forrest gets past the third round, he’ll gain my respect. And I respect him. And if I ever fight him again, I’m going to respect the hell out of him with my right hand.”
Jackson (28-7) was a 12-5 favourite coming in. And his trainer, Juanito Ibarra, promised to retire if Griffin won.
Jackson said he thought he had won the fight, but paid the price for letting it go to the judges. “I feel like if you’re the champ, somebody got to beat the champ. But it was unanimous. I’m not a judge.”
In the co-main event, Montreal middleweight Patrick (The Predator) Cote won an unspectacular split decision over Ricardo (Big Dog) Almeida. Two judges scored the mixed martial arts fight 29-28 for the Canadian while the third had it 29-28 for Almeida, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.
“It’s a big win for me,” said Cote, both his eyes slightly blackened. “This win will change my life.”
The main event was a 205-pound matchup featuring the coaches on Season 7 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality TV show. Griffin entered the arena to a raucous reception. The champion followed, stopping to deliver a trademark howl.
Montreal referee Yves Lavigne awaited them in the cage.
The taller Griffin came out jabbing and kicking effectively. But Jackson got his attention in the middle of the first round with a flurry and crumpled him with one minute remaining with an uppercut. Griffin survived and ended the round on his feet.
Griffin hobbled Jackson with kicks to the knee early in the second and took him down with a string of knees. He then worked elbows from half-guard, moving into side control and then mount with two minutes remaining in the round. Jackson survived the round but looked spent. An ice pack was quickly applied to his left thigh.
“I thought it was an amazing display of heart and balls,” UFC president Dana White said later. “He had no leg in that second round and he kept on coming, kept fighting.”
In the third, Jackson was moving like a senior citizen after a bad night’s sleep. He caught Griffin coming in but the challenger kept chopping away at his legs and body with kicks.
Jackson came out firing in the fourth and landed on top of his opponent when a Griffin attempted trip did not go as planned. Griffin locked on a triangle choke from below and Jackson tried to slam him from on high, as he did Ricardo Arona in Pride, but Griffin slipped off. Jackson loaded up on his shots as the round ended.
Griffin, blood oozing out of a cut near his eye, kept kicking and punching in the fifth, finding the range on a tiring Jackson.
Both fighters had been out of action since September, partly because of the TV show. Griffin also underwent shoulder surgery.
Griffin made a purse of $250,000, including a $100,000 win bonus. Jackson collected $225,000. The purses do not necessarily contain other bonuses included in fighter contracts.
The two got another $60,000 apiece for winning fight of the night honours.
“I think we’re going to have to do that again. And that sucks for me,” said Griffin.
“Every punch he threw hurt,” added Griffin.
Said Jackson: “He really hurt my leg. … He just whupped my ass.”
He then limped out of the arena, his arm around one of his cornermen. Griffin, meanwhile, was late arriving at the post-fight news conference after visiting the doctor.
Asked how many stitches he got, he replied: “I lost count. Way more than Quinton.”
The Cote-Almeida fight was billed as a classic striker (Cote) versus grappler (Almeida) matchup. But in the first round, it was Cote who was absorbing punches on his back from a standing Almeida, who needed a tape touchup on a split glove after the round.
Almeida tried to pull guard in the second round, managing one unsuccessful triangle choke attempt. Cote did not connect with many punches but did catch Almeida with a right to the chin as the bell rang.
Almeida (9-3) seemed to fade as the fight went on. Cote came on slightly in a third round that drew boos.
Cote (14-4) has now won his last four outings in the UFC. This latest victory, while underwhelming, may get him a title shot later in the year.
Earlier, welterweight Chris (Light’s Out) Lytle took a bloody beating in losing a decision to Josh Koscheck, who carved his forehead open with his elbows during a protracted and brutal ground-and-pound session in the second round. Despite the damage and needing help to get to his stool, Lytle amazingly answered the bell for the third.
When the fight ended, Lytle – his face a scarlet mask and with blood spattered all over his torso – was still swinging wildly and the cage floor was in bad need of a cleanup.
Lytle, an Indianapolis firefighter with a record of 35-16-4, had a cut on the bridge of the nose and a giant gash over his right eye that looked like someone had taken a box cutter to his head. There was so much blood that Koscheck’s dyed blond hair was tinged pink by the end.
The judges scored the fight 30-26, 30-28 and 29-27 for Koscheck (13-2). One gave the third round to Koscheck, one to Lytle and the third gave each fighter the 10 points for winning the round.
Lightweight Joe (Daddy) Stevenson (34-8) had his hands full with Gleison Tibau (27-5) before locking one of his trademark guillotine chokes at 2:47 of the second round after the bigger Tibau gave up his head trying to take him down.
Lightweight Tyson Griffin, with disgruntled heavyweight champion Randy Couture in his corner, looked dominant in winning a decision over Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Marcus (Maximus) Aurelio. Aurelio (16-6) had no answers on his feet to Griffin (12-1), who chopped away at his legs with kicks and battered his face with punches.
The stocky Griffin did flirt with danger whenever he took Aurelio down, but managed to avoid submissions while doing damage from above.
On the preliminary card, heavyweight Gabriel Gonzaga (9-3) ended a two-fight losing streak by submitting Justin (The Insane 1) McCully via kimura at 1:57 of the first round. McCully (8-4-2) was outmuscled and outmatched.
The smash-and-grab win should move Gonzaga back up the heavyweight ladder. The Massachusetts-based Brazilian upset Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic at UFC 70 to earn a mixed martial arts title shot against Couture. The champion smashed Gonzaga’s nose early on and went on to score a third-round TKO at UFC 74. Gonzaga lost next time out, to Fabricio Werdum at UFC 80 in January.
Lanky lightweight Cole Miller (14-3) showed impressive submission skills, forcing jiu-jitsu black belt Jorge Gurgel to tap out to a triangle choke with just 12 seconds remaining in an entertaining bout. Gurgel (16-4) did not go quickly, hanging on as long as he could with the seconds ticking down. Miller earned $60,000 for submission of the night.
Lightweight Melvin (The Young Assassin) Guillard showed his knockout power by stopping Dennis Siver (11-6) in just 36 seconds, hammering the German with a string of punches to the face after flooring him with a right. Guillard, who had lost his last two UFC fights in rapid-fire fashion to Rich Clementi and Joe Stevenson, improved to 40-8-3.
Guillard picked up $60,000 for knockout of the night.
Lightweight Justin Buchholz (9-2) took advantage of the inexperience of Corey Hill (2-1), reversing ground position to win by rear naked choke at 3:57 of the second round.
