When I had the opportunity to meet and briefly talk with Forrest Griffin early in 2006, I walked away from the encounter a bigger fan of the light heavyweight than when I first showed up to The Edge (102.1) studio in downtown Toronto, Canada. As I recall it, we were right down the road at a buddy's apartment and got wind that Griffin and Sam Stout would be there giving interviews to promote upcoming bouts and the sport itself on the back of the Ultimate Fighter's tremendous success not a year earlier.
When we showed up, there were maybe four or five other people present to take in the show live and as we stood outside on Yonge St. afterwards considering our next move, the two UFC talents came strolling out onto the sidewalk with a representative from the Fight Network and the six of us began to engage in conversation. Forrest's enthusiasm for the fight was contagious and he even joked, as he often did, that if anyone wanted to know what being a mixed martial artist was all about he'd be happy to show them later on outside the bar.
They extended an invitation our way to join them, but for reasons unknown to any of us we declined and parted ways. That was five years ago, but the landscape has shifted considerably since that time.
A mere two fights after winning the UFC light heavyweight championship, Griffin lost a bout to middleweight king, Anderson Silva, in a brutal display of speed and technical striking that sent the one-time fan favorite running distraught to his dressing room. Shortly after the event, Griffin did an interview in which he stated he did not want to be anyone's hero, seemingly unable to cope with the inevitability of disappointed fans after a loss; I can not recall the media outlet at this time, but my memory of the content is vivid.
In his latest submission of length, Griffin wrote in to Yahoo Sports discussing a number of topics, but primarily his believe that as a fighter he has plateaued in potential, does not enjoy the same escape from fighting he once did, and reiterates that his career has turned more a job than passion over the past few years.
"I’ve been in the UFC for more than six years, but I ain’t got it figured out when it comes to training and training camps. In fact, I think I’m doing everything wrong and I think for my next fight I’m gonna go somewhere for five or six weeks and see what they do. Maybe to AKA or somewhere where there are a lot of guys slightly smaller than me."
"You’d think me not having stuff figured out yet would keep it exciting. Not really. It ain’t been exciting, fresh or fun since 2008. It’s a job, it’s money, and I have a great job, I realize that. Just because it’s work doesn’t mean I’m not gonna do it. You man up and you do your job and I make a lot of money doing this, and I love money and I love the freedom and ability money gives you."
"It quit being fun when I realized I wasn’t getting better. I’m plateauing or almost getting worse sometimes. One of the essential elements to have in this is your perceived expectation of the future, and I’m a painful realist, so I realized that I’m not going to get better; this is it. It’s only gonna get worse from here on and you fight as much as you can, you fight until you don’t have it anymore, and then you fight a couple more times after that."
Despite coming off consecutive wins it seems Griffin's career has come full circle, perhaps sooner than most at just 32 years of age. It's hard to imagine that even a second victory against Rua would amount to much more than a brief period of elation and perhaps rejuvenation at this point; the man is simply losing his will to compete, or at least that's what his recent dialogue suggests, and this sport is not one that will let you down gently while attempting to do so at the highest of levels without being %100 in the game mentally. That time of reflection every fighter must under-go, at times, comes sooner than later. Is Griffin's looming on the not-so-distant horizon?
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