The trilogy fight started with the crowd erupting. Tito landed an early takedown and ended up in Forrest’s guard. Tito moved into half guard, but Forrest scrambled to his feet. Both men threw their hands to the wind in the first round with Griffin landing double the amount. Tito finished the round with another takedown.
Tito dropped Forrest with an early right and followed up with some shots. Forrest withstood the onslaught and pushed Tito up against the cage. Forrest caught Tito with a jab and his nose looked like mush. Forrest seemed to catch his second wind late in the round as Tito looked gassed.
Round 3 started the same as round 2 ended with Forrest pushing the pace. Tito knocked Forrest down again, however Forrest got back up. Tito then landed a takedown and ended up in Forrest’s guard. Forrest got up and Tito looked gassed. Forrest pushed the pace in the last minute and a half. Forrest and Tito go to the judges scorecards again.
Forrest Griffin def. Tito Ortiz by unanimous decision (29-28,29-28,29-28)
Forrest Griffin:
“I’m going to be linked to Tito forever. We have had three really close fights. He was throwing the kitchen sink at me and I was too tired to get out of the way. It always comes down to fatigue. I don’t know who won that fight to be honest. I’m going to need to watch that back.”
Tito Ortiz:
“Forrest hit me with a little more strikes but that never hurt me. I dropped him a couple of times. I got a little tired. I’m not looking for any excuses — I fought a great fight.”
“I put in the work – no excuses. I was at 100%. In my mind I was ready to fight. But Forrest was good, Forrest was tough. He came in to fight. I thought me dropping him would give me more points but I wasn’t looking for points – I was looking to knock him out, try to take him down and beat the (expletive) out of him.
He won tonight. Looks like he doesn’t have to retire. I was retiring either way. I came in I gave it all – no regrets.”
