“The Ultimate Fighter 7″ is just around the corner and Spike TV has some new vids of the coaches hyping the April 2nd premiere. You can go here for more “TUF 7″ videos and if you’re feelin’ badass, you can use the same link to apply for season 8 of the show.

Rampage waxes eloquent about Forrest Griffin’s lack of ass-wiping ability:

Forrest Griffin doesn’t know his assistant coach’s name and is all about the new car:

Props: BloodyElbow

Oh, Detroit News.  I can’t help but think that this headline was not properly proofread before being posted on your website.  It’s either that, or Forrest Griffin really is dead and the other two people arrested for his murder were Anderson Silva and Dana White.  If that’s the case, Dana, you’re going to want to do whatever Anderson says now that you boys are in the pokey together.  He could be a good friend to you.  A man with a mouth as pretty as yours is going to need good friends on the inside.

Forrest Griffin may have started in the UFC as the original “Ultimate Fighter,” but since then he’s proved himself in several tough bouts and endeared himself to fans. This Saturday he faces his first title bout against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 86 and another career-defining moment.

In this exclusive interview, Griffin spoke with CagePotato about his experiences coaching drunken fighters, his plans for “Rampage,” and much more.

CagePotato.com: Thanks for talking with me, Forrest. Tell me, how have you been getting ready specifically for “Rampage”?

You know, a little of this, little of that. I’ve just been having people scowl at me a lot. That’s the first thing you’ve got to prepare for with Rampage. He’s got a good scowl. If you’ve ever watched him fight, have you ever watched him fight?

Yes, I’ve seen him fight.

He’s got a nice little scowl, doesn’t he?

It’s not bad. What else do you think he has in his arsenal, aside from the scowl.

He’s got a good chin. He’s a powerful guy, very explosive. He hits hard.

His trainer mentioned that he expected you to try and stay away from “Rampage” for most of the fight.

Sounds good. I think I’ll do that. Stay on the move. I like that. No, but I don’t want to stand in front of him for too long. Unfortunately he hits harder than I do and has a better chin than I do, so that’s not a good idea.

(Video via " target="_blank">MMA Fighting)

After UFC 160, Dana White announced that Forrest Griffin has retired. The announcement came as a surprise to the MMA world.

Griffin won the first season of The Ultimate Fighter and went on to become the first truly unified light heavyweight champion of the world when he won the UFC 205 pound belt. His last fight was a win over Tito Ortiz in July of 2012.

White also announced that Griffin and his fellow TUF 1 finalist Stephan Bonnar will both be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame next month. Griffin spoke with MMA Fighting last night after the announcement and spoke about why he made the decision to retire and what he'll do next.

- Elias Cepeda

Forrest Griffin circa 2005 had the heart of a lion (and the face of a gremlin).

Forrest Griffin became a household MMA name after his run through the original Ultimate Fighter show. Goofily charming, Griffin had already amassed a record fitting a UFC fighter before appearing the show, with names like Dan Severn, Travis Fulton, Jeff Monson, Jermey Horn, and Chael Sonnen on his record. But it was Griffin’s gritty determination to fight and win that so impressed audiences back in 2005 that made him a fan favorite. His three round finale win over Stephan Bonnar, hailed as one of the most important fights in MMA history, was an instant classic not because Griffin thoroughly outclassed Bonnar, but because both fighters showed so much tenacity and desire in the fight. If you don’t mind me throwing the term around, Forrest Griffin won over fans because he showed a great deal of heart.  It was clear just by watching him that Griffin wanted to fight, more than anything.

Six years later, Griffin is still with us and still somewhere in the top tier of light heavyweights, with a rematch against Shogun Rua to prove that Griffin belongs in that tier. Griffin said in interviews prior to the fight that a second win over Shogun would “validate” him as an elite light heavyweight.

And then he lost.

Leading up to the fight, Griffin had been a bit less sanguine about his fight than usual. Oh, Griffin still had jokes — he’s always a guy that will crack off a one-liner at any given time — but reading between the lines, some wondered whether Griffin still had the competitive fire that once burned so brightly in him. And after a loss to Shogun in which he looked slow and disinterested, some have begun to seriously ask: has Griffin lost the heart to fight?

(Pain don’t hurt. Image courtesy of udothedishes.com.)

Like James Irvin and Patrick Cote before him, Forrest Griffin is pretty sure he knows what Anderson Silva’s past opponents have been doing wrong, and doesn’t plan on making the same mistakes when he takes on the Spider in August. As Griffin told MMA Mania:

(Not his finest moment. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Following UFC 92, deposed light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin received a medical suspension for a left hand injury, blocking him from competition until late June unless the hand was cleared by an orthopedic doctor. But according to The Sun, the situation has become a little more serious:

Tough break. But on the bright side, this makes a championship bout between Evans and Quinton Jackson even more likely. Though Rampage originally said he wanted to avenge his UFC 86 loss to Griffin before taking another shot at the title, he has since changed his mind, and it’s highly unlikely that he’d want to wait 9+ months for Griffin to heal up anyway. But who knows, maybe Lyoto Machida can pull off some insane finish against Thiago Silva at UFC 94 and convince Dana White than his 14-fight win streak is more title-shot-worthy than Jackson’s one-fight win streak. Unfortunately, Machida will likely be passed over again if he picks up another decision win.

Be advised! Forrest Griffin and Ice-T’s wife Coco guest star on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — tonight at 10/9c — as a possibly homicidal “ultimate fighter” and the woman who loves him. Detective Stabler better bring his A-game; you don’t just slap cuffs onto the man who tore apart “Shogun” Rua…

Our friend and content partner Ariel Helwani at MMARated just put up a great interview with Forrest Griffin, where the Ultimate Fighter coach and light heavyweight contender reveals that he’s been eating a lot of french toast lately, popping tons of valium, he really doesn’t care about TUF, and he digs Nick Cave, but not enough to actually pay for his music.

The official UFC 85: Bedlam trailer clip, featuring Matt Hughes, Thiago Alves, Michael Bisping, Jason Day, Brandon Vera, Fabricio Werdum, Nate Marquardt, Thales Leites, Marcus Davis, and Mike Swick.

HDNet Fights’ 86-minute “Best of 2008″ video; props to MMAScraps.

And also? You’re going to want to click that “More” link…

(‘Lastly, I’d like to thank the good people at Fisher-Price for finally making an award that isn’t a choking hazard. I’m just saying, it’s about time, you know?’)

The date of UFC 113 have shifted just a bit, but the fight card keeps getting better.  As Tatame.com reported earlier today, a light heavyweight scrap between Forrest Griffin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been added to the Montreal event.  Griffin’s coming off his decision victory over Tito Ortiz at UFC 106, and Little Nog smoked Luis Cane in his UFC debut on the undercard of the same event, so these two are both on the upswing with exactly the same amount of rest time, give or take an hour.

Your presence at this website suggests that you’re probably enough of an MMA fan (or misguided potato fetishist) that we don’t have to tell you this, but this is an excellent fight.  Griffin is still trying to erase the memory of the drubbing he received from Anderson Silva, and Nogueira is trying to continue a win streak that is six fights long and counting, so both these guys have plenty at stake.  In a perfect world they could both have their way.  Ours is not a perfect world, my friends, but it is an interesting one at times.

Forrest Griffin discusses his upcoming bout with Anderson Silva at UFC 101 this weekend with all the self-deprecating dry wit we’ve come to expect.  The good news is, he no longer has any fear of dying at the hands of “The Spider."  As the Kübler-Ross model taught us, acceptance is the important final stage in the grieving process.  

Things get weird around the 5:09 mark when Dave Farra asks Forrest if he’d ever take money from a sponsor to promote a product he doesn’t use, and this somehow leads to Griffin talking about how much he hates condoms, saying they “shrink the pee-pee” and calling the idea that he might wear one “ludicrous.”  In other news, don’t forget to tune into Spike TV’s new show, "Forrest Griffin Has Syphilis Now," which will air immediately following "The Ultimate Fighter."

After the jump, a couple moments from the MMA Hall of Shame, including a couple of guys who are still trying to put those performances behind them.

Watch Forrest Griffin Says He Would Drink Machida’s Magic Pee and Other Wittisms on RawVegas.tv

We couldn’t tell you how Forrest Griffin‘s physical preparation is coming along for his fight against Anderson Silva at UFC 101 (August 8th, Philadelphia) — but at least his head’s in the right place. Here are some highlights from a recent interview he did with RawVegas.tv:

On the Silva fight: "People keep telling me that I’m a big guy and they think I’ll do pretty well. I don’t believe ‘em, I think they’re out of their minds…I’m planning on getting beat up by Anderson Silva…Yeah, he’ll probably beat me up. But I could still win the fight. Even fights I win I get beat up in. That’s just how I roll."

On his book, Got Fight?: "It’s just an insane sense of flattery that people would not only read your random thoughts, but maybe even pay money to read nonsense that you have to say…It’s a very short book. It’s not gonna take you a whole lot of time to get through, so I think you can pick it up and pretty much read the whole thing [at the bookstore] in two or three cups of coffee…and maybe a little piece of brownie or something, and you don’t have to buy the book. But if you would, try not to get brownie on the book because somebody may actually buy it for some misguided reason."

If you were to ask someone like Tim Kennedy why so many fighters have been pulling out of their scheduled fights due to injury this year, he would likely tell you that more often than not, they were faking it. And while he would have at least one case to cite as an example, we’d still like to believe that 90% of the fighters who have gone down with injuries recently were being honest with us. Still, even BG was suspicious when Forrest Griffin withdrew from his UFC 155 contest with Phil Davis, because let’s be honest, it was a terrible matchup for him to begin with. FoGriff has repeatedly stated over the past year or so that his retirement from the sport was looming on the horizon, so one would imagine that he’d like to go out on a win, or at least a fight he saw as winnable heading into it.

Well, you’ll be happy (and disgusted) to know that Griffin wasn’t faking anything, unless by faking, you mean “intentionally taking a sledgehammer to his knee until he passed out from the pain.” Because if the above photo that Forrest tweeted on Christmas is indeed legitimate (and we’re not sure how it couldn’t be), then there is no way in hell he could have possibly faked the gruesome MCL and ACL injury he suffered in training.

Give credit to Dave Farra, he is not going to let Forrest Griffin completely avoid talking about the ass-whipping he received from Anderson Silva or the reaction to said ass-whipping (running out of the arena), even though that seems to be what Griffin would like most.  Instead, Farra not only confronts him about it, but does so by making a joke that has at least a 50/50 chance of eliciting a very negative reaction from the emotional Griffin.  Kudos, man.

But on to Griffin.  Anybody else not buying the explanation that he sprinted out of the view of the cameras because he thinks talking is stupid?  Griffin’s on-camera persona has had a little something to do with his fan-favorite status in the UFC.  I mean, he has a book out.  Clearly this is a man who has benefitted from talking.  His general response to this crushing defeat seems to be to act like it’s no big deal.  As a coping mechanism, that might work for a little while.  Sooner or later though, that proves to be a hollow comfort and the only thing left to do is to lash out violently.  Lucky for Farra that Griffin hasn’t yet reached that point and is still willing to tolerate his jokes.

Speaking of Farra, the poor man’s Dave Coulier actually had a fight in Las Vegas this weekend, and it turns out he’s not as horrible on his feet as he is on the ground.  He’s still not, you know, good, but at least he was able to beat up his radio co-host.  Check out the video after the jump.

Nothing against Forrest Griffin here.  He seems like a genuinely good guy and hard-working fighter.  But he is 29 years old.  He held the UFC light heavyweight title for about five minutes.  Why would I want to read his book Got Fight? at this particular point in time?  Its clichéd title notwithstanding (how long did it take to think of that, about eight seconds?), I’m not sure I see the appeal.

Maybe this is just a pet peeve of mine, but I hate when fairly young people without an especially amazing story to tell put a book out.  At least Tori Spelling was in her mid-thirties when she released sTori Telling.  I realize the rules are a little different in this field, so let me go ahead and list what I see as the five scenarios under which you may release a book if you’re a pro fighter.  Hopefully this will clear up some confusion.

1) You’re a Legend of the Sport
Randy Couture?  Yeah, he gets to put a book out.  He’s old enough and has been in the sport long enough to have some interesting insights.  Chuck Liddell?  It’s a little bit of a stretch, but sure.  Tito Ortiz?  Okay, I guess.  But guys who are still in the middle of their careers, why?  Wouldn’t we rather wait and get your perspective once it’s all over, or at least close to over?

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMAInterviews)

Forrest Griffin interviews make me feel good. Not because Forrest is a funny dude, but rather because they make me realize that not only was he a dick to me when I interviewed him for the first time last summer; he’s a dick to every reporter that interviews him.

Don’t believe me? 

Check out the recent clip above of Forrest telling an interviewer that his hair is terrible and calling him racist for assuming Griffin was referring to Alistair Overeem when he referenced Cro Cop giving up during a fight in which he got kneed in the groin repeatedly. The reporter was right. Overeem did foul Mirko during a DREAM bout, but Forrest assumed he thought our boy Cheick Kongo looked like "The Demolition Man" and he called him on it.

When I interviewed him after he spent four hours signing autographs at the Toronto MMA Expo, I assumed he was simply being ornery because of the long day he had.

Just before we began the interview, which I waited to conduct after a one-hour delay in which Griffin signed a few extra autographs, he tossed aside the Cage Potato t-shirt I gave him to a girl working the booth, told me he had no idea what CP was and then proceeded to "X" out the devil horns symbol on my shirt, informing me that I now had his autograph. Needless to say, I wasn’t overly keen on doing the interview after the way things got started. 

That seems to be Forrest’s MO: insult the reporter at the beginning of the Q&A session and make him feel uncomfortable for the whole interview. The end result is usually an awkward and strange exchange that ends with Griffin smirking and the reporter red-faced and wishing they hadn’t wasted their time talking to him.

Former UFC light heavyweight champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson must really be feeling better. Apparently not content to have his name in the news just for felony charges and rumors of his November return to the Octagon, now he’s revisiting the topic of his loss to Forrest Griffin. Maybe he felt that his clash with “delirium” after the fight robbed him of the opportunity to talk about it, but he’s making up for lost time with this visit from the Ghost of Shit-Talking Past in a recent interview with the UK’s Fighter’s Only Magazine:

“I just want my fans to know, I was at my worst and Forrest was at his best – and I still beat him. …A man is not a man if he can’t ‘fess up to when he gets his ass kicked. See me, if I get my ass kicked I am like ‘yeah, I got my ass kicked’.

However, Jackson says that when he said those exact words at the end of the fight in July, “I was being sarcastic, because I really could not believe that it went the way it did”.

“I’m not a sore loser, shit happens. But I was hoping that Forrest would be a man and come out and say ‘You know what, I didn’t win that fight’, especially after he watched it.

“I wasn’t really sure, right at the end of the fight… I know he hurt me and punched me in the face a couple of times but I was bobbing and weaving and making him miss, stuff like that. I was hoping that he would come out later after he saw the fight and say ‘yeah, I saw the fight and I lost that fight.”

Daaaaaamn! First of all, Rampage really expected Griffin to come out after the fight and voluntarily say that he did not deserve to win the title? Has Rampage ever met any pro fighters? That’s just not their style. Especially with a fight that close, it’s standard operating procedure for both guys to claim they won and for both to go to their graves truly believing it. So basically Rampage wants Griffin to do what no other fighter, including him, would do in this situation.

See what I mean about the bruises?

Cage Potato vs. Forrest Griffin – Watch more Funny Videos

We caught up with Forrest Griffin at the MMA Expo last month in Toronto (before news of his rumored third match-up with Tito Ortiz at UFC 121 was leaked) and we spoke with the former UFC light heavyweight champ about a variety of topics including returning from his shoulder injury, the possibility of facing Lyoto Machida, his new book and how dirty he feels after shaking hands with fans and signing autographs all day. 

UFCs Dana White, Forrest Griffin and Kenny Florian on Dr. Phil – Watch more Funny Videos

The UFC prez and two of his henchmen showed up on Dr. Phil today, during a very special show about dangerous teen trends. After one segment where a boy’s smartie-smokin’ led him to marijuana (gasp!), it was time to cast an eye on the alarming trend of basement fighting. Dana White, Forrest Griffin, and somebody named "Kenny Florini" were on hand to tell two young aspiring fighters that what they were doing wasn’t cool. Well, Forrest did say he appreciated their spirit, and Kenny was basically like "just be careful," but Dana really laid down the law when he explained how boxing resulted in more deaths than mixed martial arts. That’s what we call "staying on message."

(VidProps: YouTube/UFC)

A week or so ago, when we noted that nearly every claim made in the official UFC 126 trailer was at least debatable (if not an out-and-out lie), the one fight saved from our incredulity was Forrest Griffin vs. Rich Franklin. Maybe that’s because the best hype the UFC could drum up for this bout was to have its voiceover guy dramatically bellow, “Former champions Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin will battle it out!” Yep, that feels … accurate. But if, like us, you think this meeting between two old warhorses lacks a certain sizzle, you’re not alone. Even the fighters themselves appear to understand this fight needs a little something extra to get people really emotionally invested.

And so Griffin, that mischievous little imp, would like to propose a gentleman’s wager on the outcome of this scrap: Loser gets tattooed.  A bemused Franklin – who from the looks of this vid has spent the last seven months since his victory over Chuck Liddell making sure that lifetime membership at the tanning salon pays for itself – seems oddly cool with the idea. He suggests the loser must get inked-up with a picture of the winner, which to us is a truly inspired idea. Unless you guys have any other suggestions.

(Props: SNETCF)

With UFC 106 poppin’ off in three weeks, it’s time for the replacement headliners to start selling their match. In the above video, Tito Ortiz talks about going from a wrestling-based training camp for Mark Coleman to switching things up for Forrest Griffin. He says that main event status is comfortable for him, and that the pressure is on Forrest. And of course, he takes time to dump some hate onto his old nemesis Lyoto Machida for running his way to a "robbery" decision against Shogun Rua last Saturday: "Step up and be a man and fight, man. This is MMA, this is not boxing where you win by points…I’m going to look for a knockout, or I’m just gonna look to hurt [Griffin]. My job is to prevail and to make sure I entertain the fans who watch."

After the jump: A somewhat less focused interview with Forrest Griffin, in which he and Ron Frazier touch on Griffin’s refusal to wear condoms, to the great disgust of Todd Duffee.

CagePotato reader Facey sent us this rather sick-ass highlight video that he made, featuring some of the greatest MMA submissions ever, starring Shinya Aoki, Dustin Hazelett, "Jacare" Souza, Frank Mir, Rumina Sato, Anderson Silva (both giving and receiving), and both Diaz brothers. Easy-breezy soundtrack provided by Donavan. 

 
(Props: Bloody Elbow)

In this promo clip for UFC 92, light-heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin discusses his opponent Rashad Evans and what challenges he might present. It’s clear that Griff isn’t underestimating Sugar whatsoever. As he says, "He’s got more knockouts than I do. And his knockouts have been impressive. Like, people-don’t-get-up-right-away knockouts." Speaking of Forrest Griffin, his September 2003 IFC fight with Chael Sonnen is after the jump, courtesy of MMA Scraps.

(See, Forrest? You used to *love* microphones… / Photo courtesy of milwaukeemma.com)

When we hosted Stephan Bonnar on the latest edition of our Bum Rush Radio Show, we ran through the standard set of questions about his training for tomorrow night’s fight against Igor Pokrajac, his opinions on TUF 12, and his future as a broadcaster. But considering Bonnar’s long history with Forrest Griffin, we couldn’t resist asking for his take on the question that’s been plaguing us lately: "Why is Forrest such a dick to reporters?" Bonnar’s candid and insightful answer is after the jump. If you haven’t already, please give the new episode a listen, and subscribe on iTunes!

Chael Sonnen vs. Forrest Griffin – Watch more Funny Videos

Long before either man ever competed in the UFC’s Octagon, Chael Sonnen and Forrest Griffin fought each other in the opening round of the IFC: Global Domination light heavyweight tournament.

Fighting a class above his usual middleweight division, Chael who competed in the tourney at his walking around weight of 197 lbs, was unable to contend with the strength advantage and the ground game of Griffin, succumbing to a triangle in the opening frame.

(Photo courtesy of knucklepit.)

With his original opponent Mark Coleman out due to sissiness an MCL tear Tito Ortiz will now be taking on Forrest Griffin in the co-main event of UFC 106 (November 21st, Las Vegas). UFC president Dana White confirmed the news to Yahoo! Sports last night. The two former light-heavyweight champs previously met at UFC 59 in April 2006, where Ortiz won a split-decision after battering Griffin with ground-and-pound in the first round and scoring a decisive takedown near the end of the third.

Three and a half years later, both men need a victory to redeem themselves. Ortiz hasn’t won a fight since his final whipping of Ken Shamrock in October 2006, and hasn’t competed since his unanimous decision loss to Lyoto Machida last May, which was followed by back surgery and a lengthy recovery. Forrest Griffin is now riding a two-fight losing streak after suffering back-to-back knockouts against Rashad Evans and Anderson Silva. Personally, I wouldn’t bet on the guy who’s returning from major surgery — but has Forrest’s chin become too much of a liability? Your thoughts, please…

(Forrest Griffin’s July 2008 interview with StrictlyFighting is suddenly relevant again. Skip to the 0:30 mark for Griffin’s thoughts on the Spider moving up to light-heavy.)

Both MMA Junkie and MMA Bay are independently reporting that UFC 101 (August 8th, Philadelphia) will host a semi-superfight between middleweight champ Anderson Silva and former light-heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin. It would be Silva’s first match at 205 pounds since his 61-second knockout of James Irvin last July — which also happened to be the last time Anderson was entertaining. If this rumor holds up, it would mean the following:

(That moment when Punch face becomes Troll face.) 

As we all know, inspirational icon Tito Ortiz plans to call it a career after his next fight, or so he has claimed. He has also stated a desire for his final fight to take place on 4th of July weekend, and against either Forrest Griffin or Chuck Liddell. Talk about specific. And while Liddell can’t compete for obvious reasons (specifically, Jackrack commercials), Griffin has already come out in favor of a rubbermatch, and it seems the trilogy’s completion is all but inevitable at this point. On a recent episode of “Inside MMA,” Griffin received a surprise, but pre-recorded (for even more obvious reasons) video call-out from “The People’s Champ,” who all but begged Griffin for another rematch, as if FoGriff was somehow in charge of making those kinds of decisions:

Forrest, you know I deserve it, man. Step up. Let’s do this. It’s an awesome fight for you. I lost my last one. You lost your last one. Let’s do this — unless you’re scared!

Well, not to get technical Tito, but you’ve actually lost your last two, and six of your last eight. Anyway, join us after the jump for Forrest’s response.

(FoGriff: A laid back guy in every sense of the word.) 

Watching Matt Serra and Forrest Griffin discuss anything from their past fights to the condition of Griffin’s car (which makes me feel a hell of a lot better about the condition of my own) is kind of like watching an Abbott and Costello movie, minus the mythological creatures and slapstick hijinks, of course. The two effortlessly riff off one another like a pair of old pals, which makes Serra’s recent trip to Vegas to film his ongoing series for the UFC, Fight Camp Insider, all the more entertaining.

Taking the typical “light on actual fight discussion, heavy on pizza discussion” approach that Serra has mastered in previous outings, the pair of former champions also make sure to discuss such topics as the shrinkage caused by an ice bath (which I can only assume must be insane), FoGriff’s Ted Bundy-esque mode of transportation, and the ability of Ray Longo to clear a house using only the power of his mighty deuces. Oh yeah, and they manage to find enough time to briefly hype Forrest’s upcoming trilogy match with Tito Ortiz at UFC 148.

Video after the jump. 

(“How ’bout this, bro: If neither one of us are married in ten years, *we* get married.”)

According to a tweet sent out last night by Tito Ortiz, the Huntington Beach Bad Boy will return to the Octagon at UFC 148 (July 7th, Las Vegas), where he’ll face Forrest Griffin for the third time. Ortiz and Griffin’s first two fights both ended in split-decisions, with Ortiz winning their first meeting at UFC 59 in 2006, and Griffin taking the rematch at UFC 106 in 2009.

Ortiz has suffered through a 1-5 record over the last four years, with his only win coming via freakish first-round guillotine choke of Ryan Bader last July. Since then, he’s been TKO’d in back-to-back outings against Rashad Evans and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Griffin’s last fight was a rematch with Mauricio Rua at UFC 134 in Rio, in which FoGriff got KO’d in under two minutes. By some accounts, his head just wasn’t in it.