Got Fight? Forrest Doesn't

By John McMullen


Philadelphia, PA - Talk about irony.

The UFC gave out Forrest Griffin's new book, Got Fight?: The 50 Zen Principles of Hand-to-Face Combat, to the assembled media at UFC 101 in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Griffin, the former UFC light heavyweight camp, and the real star of the company's pay-per-view event at the Wachovia Center, promptly went out and showed anything but "fight" as the more-skilled Anderson Silva embarrassed him before a sellout crowd of 17,411.

The result wasn't a surprise. Silva, the current UFC middleweight champ, is on the very short list of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. An extremely gifted mixed martial artist, the 34-year-old Curitiba, Brazil native has a dominant ground game and the ability to strike with anyone. In fact, Silva is so confident on his feet that he wants to take on legendary pugilist Roy Jones Jr. in a boxing match.

To be blunt, most insiders knew Griffin had little chance against Silva but few expected it to be an easy night for the Brazilian star. After all, Silva was moving up to the light heavyweight division for just the second time in his UFC career and Griffin has always been a fighter that relied on his heart and chin to give more talented opponents fits in the Octagon.

Since the bout was taking place in Philly, the comparisons to Rocky Balboa were a natural. However, during Griffin's ring entrance, I began to think about the legend of Bruno Sammartino.

Over 30 years ago, across the parking lot at the soon-to-be demolished Spectrum, Sammartino was trying to regain the World Wide Wrestling Federation championship from the charismatic "Superstar" Billy Graham in a steel cage match.

Nearly 20,000 fans showed up for that one, according to Comcast-Spectacor public relations maven Ike Richman, with thousands more turned away from the box office, creating a huge traffic jam in South Philadelphia.

In the scripted world of wrestling, the Italian strongman was on the verge of a win but inadvertently dropped-kicked Graham through the ropes and out of the cage as the "Superstar" held on to keep the crown.

This was no script for Griffin on Saturday. This was real life and Silva needed just over three minutes to embarrass the Georgia native.

First Silva dropped him with a left but Griffin flashed some of his trademark heart, getting up smiling. The Brazilian blocked everything Griffin threw from there and played to the partisan crowd before decking him for a second time.

His confidence growing, Silva let Griffin off the canvas before knocking him out for good with a glorified jab. A twisted wreck, Griffin wouldn't get off the canvas like Rocky, and he wouldn't save face like Bruno...

In fact, the same fans that roared during Griffin's entrance booed him out of the building as he ran down the Wachovia Center aisle to the back after the beating, and failed to appear at the post-fight news conference.

"We've seen it before with him," UFC president Dana White said. "He's an emotional guy. He came into this fight very confident that he was going to beat Anderson Silva. ...He might be in Georgia by now. He ran out and I haven't seen him since."

Got Fight?

Not Forrest Griffin...not on this night.