Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin (born July 1, 1979) is an American retired mixed martial artist and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

On April 15, 2006, Griffin fought former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz at UFC 59, in which he lost a controversial split decision.

At UFC 62, Griffin then fought Stephan Bonnar in a rematch from their earlier fight.

Griffin won by unanimous decision, sweeping all three rounds.

Griffin was defeated by Ultimate Fighter 2 semifinalist Keith Jardine at UFC 66 by TKO at 4:41 of the first round.

After the fight, Griffin sat in his corner crying.

Moments later, he walked away from Joe Rogan's attempt to interview him, saying "I don't ev...Keith came in and he did exactly what I wanted to do and he knocked me the fuck out. Let's go home."

Griffin was scheduled to fight at UFC 70 against Lyoto Machida on April 21, 2007, but he was unable to fight due to a staph infection.

On June 16, 2007, Griffin defeated Hector Ramirez at UFC 72 in Belfast, Northern Ireland via unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the fight 30–27 to Griffin.

During the fight, Forrest was able to land 38 leg kicks breaking the UFC record for most leg kicks landed in three five-minute rounds.

This record has since been broken by Amir Sadollah, who landed 46 against Peter Sobotta at UFC 122.

At UFC 76, Griffin fought against PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Champion Maurício Rua.

At the time, Shogun was ranked the number one light heavyweight fighter in the world by several MMA publications.

Griffin won by rear naked choke at 4:45 of round three.

Griffin required surgery after the fight due to a shoulder injury that was sustained before the bout.

Griffin's shoulder has been a recurring problem since.

On The Ultimate Fighter 6 finale, Dana White announced that Griffin was not only the number one contender for the Light Heavyweight title, but also one of the coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 7 and would fight the other coach at the end of the series.

The other coach, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was announced by Dana White on December 9 at Spike TV's Video Game Awards show.

On June 20, 2008, Griffin co-hosted the 25 Tuffest Moments in The Ultimate Fighter with Stephan Bonnar and Dana White.

On July 5, 2008, Griffin fought the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2013 and is the Vice President of Athlete Development at the UFC Performance Institute.

Griffin, a former Georgia police officer, first rose to prominence after winning the first season of The Ultimate Fighter.

In the tournament finals, he defeated Stephan Bonnar, which is widely credited as sparking the success of the UFC.

Griffin, who is of Irish descent, graduated from Evans High School in Evans, Georgia, a suburb of Augusta where he played football.

He then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Georgia.

Thereafter, Griffin served as a law enforcement officer for the Richmond County Sheriff's Office in Augusta, Georgia.

He also served as a patrol officer with the University of Georgia police.

He trained at The HardCore Gym (now SBG Athens) in Athens for seven years under Adam and Rory Singer.

He later left law enforcement to pursue a career in professional mixed martial arts.

Griffin is also an MMA instructor at Throwdown Training Center and Robert Drysdale Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Before The Ultimate Fighter, he fought the likes of Jeff Monson, Jeremy Horn, Chael Sonnen and early UFC veteran Dan Severn in his first pro fight.

Forrest Griffin is also known for a fight with Edson Paradeo, in which Edson broke Griffin's left arm with what appeared to be a badly blocked roundhouse kick aimed at the body.

Forrest continued on to win the fight by knockout.

As a result of the badly blocked body kick, he has a huge permanent lump on his left forearm.

Griffin first became well known by taking part in the first-season of Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter, a mixed martial arts reality show.

At the time, he had given up mixed martial arts and taken a job with the Augusta/Richmond County Sheriff's Department in Georgia, but he was persuaded by Dana White to take part in the show.

On the show, he reached the finals where he defeated Stephan Bonnar by unanimous decision.

The fight was credited by Dana White as the "most important fight in UFC history" and the fight that brought the UFC into the mainstream.

For winning the competition he was given a six-figure professional contract to fight with the UFC.

The Stephan Bonnar fight was declared the #1 UFC fight of all time in the UFC Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights program.