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In the UFC 59 co-feature, the legend of Forrest Griffin grew.
Despite dropping a split decision to former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ season one winner won over a partisan crowd and gained even more fans with a courageous performance and comeback that marked him as truly one of the best 205-pounders in the game.
It was Ortiz’ night on the scorecards though, as ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ earned the close verdict via scores of 30-27, 28-29, and 29-27, as a huge first round and a few big moments in the final frame proved to be the difference.
Oddly enough, this instant classic was almost over in the first round.
With the crowd erupting as John McCarthy waved the fighters into action, both fighters began trading, with Ortiz quickly securing a takedown and then opening up on Griffin, who had no answers for Ortiz’ brutal ground and pound. Finally, with a little over a minute to go, Griffin escaped and opened up with both hands, briefly jarring Ortiz, who fired back and put his foe on the mat again as he pounded his way through the remainder of the round.
Ortiz’ jab was on target to begin round two, with Griffin’s punches landing, but lacking pop. Later in the frame, Griffin stuffed some Ortiz takedown attempts and seemed to have regained his confidence as he tagged Ortiz with a series of roundhouse punches that may not have been hurting his foe, but they were scoring points, and suddenly it was a brand new fight entering the final round.
Looking to regain control, Ortiz tried the takedown twice more early in the third, only to be rebuffed each time. Finally, with under two minutes to go, Ortiz got his first takedown since the first round. This time it was Griffin doing much of the work from the bottom though, and when the Georgian stood up and started trading with Ortiz it was a moment and a fight fans wouldn’t forget.
Watch the fight on UFC Fight Pass