Forrest Griffin has been a household name to UFC fans since The Ultimate Fighter 1 – when he and Stephan Bonnar collided for what many call the greatest fight in UFC history. The day has now come for that man to call it quits.
On Saturday night, the former UFC light heavyweight champion and TUF Season 1 winner announced that he would be retiring from the sport of mixed martial arts after an eight year career with the UFC.
Griffin gave MMAJunkie.com some reasoning behind the announcement.
“It’s been a good eight years, I guess. The biggest thing I learned is when Dana White says retire, you should retire.”
Many say that Griffin was one of the men who built this sport up to where it is today, including UFC President Dana White.
“I truly believe we are where we are because of this guy. We had this great event tonight that was packed with people going crazy, and he’s one of the guys who has been one of the building blocks in this sport and this company.”
The Las Vegas native went 6-2 inside the Octagon with key victories over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Chael Sonnen, Stephan Bonnar, Rich Franklin, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and two wins over Tito Ortiz.
At UFC 86, Griffin took on “Rampage” for the UFC light heavyweight championship and went at it in a five round war. The fight was very close, but in the end Griffin earned all three judges scorecards to take home the title.
Unfortunately, Griffin was forced to withdraw from two of his last three fights due to recurring injuries and this is one of the main reasons he had to step away from fighting.
In his last Octagon outing, he earned “Fight of the Night” for his unanimous decision against Ortiz at UFC 148.
