Clark Kent
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11-22-2009 01:44 AM:
It was a close decision but the UFC escaped fan outrage because they agreed with judges who sided with Forrest Griffin. It was a fight that could've gone either way but Tito Ortiz is still clearly a heel in the minds of many fight fans. He probably added to their dislike when complained about multiple injuries as part of the reason he lost the fight. The fight was een on two judge's scorecards but the younger Griffin played target practice with Ortiz' face and won a split decision 30-27, 29-28 and 28-29 in the light heavyweight bout to close UFC 106 in Las Vegas. More than a few folks along press row scored it 29-28 for Ortiz.
During his postfight conversation with UFC color analyst Joe Rogan, Griffin mentioned that he broke his right foot. That set off Ortiz. He gave credit to Griffin but mentioned that he couldn't spar before the fight suggesting that beyond a badly blackened eye, he also had a bulging disk in his back. That's bad news from a guy who just missed 17 months recovering from back surgery.
Attempt to shutup Ortiz, Griffin returned to grab the microphone and say all fighters get hurt in training.
Ortiz suffered the eye injury back on Nov. 9 in training. That cut down on his sparring in the two weeks before the fight and it showed. The fight went to the third round even on two scorecards but Ortiz had nothing left in the gas tank.
Tito's stand up looked sluggish from the get-go. He missed with both hands throughout the fight. He kept himself alive by scoring three takedowns on four attempts in the first and second rounds. He didn't deal out a whole lot of punishment to Griffin until he landed a big elbow midway through the second. That busted open Griffin just over his left eye.
In the third, Griffin regarded as a cardio machine, threw everything he could at Ortiz. He landed lots of leg kicks and hit Ortiz' gloves for the three minutes. In the final two minutes with Ortiz taking deep breaths, he got popped by plenty of clean shots to seal the deal for Griffin.
It was a battle between former UFC light heavyweight champs. Griffin (17-6, 8-4 UFC) still has plenty of game in front of him. You have to question how much Ortiz (15-7, 14-7 UFC) has left in the tank. He returned after a vicuous falling out with UFC president Dana White, Ortiz rejoined the promotion on a six-fight contract. He really needs to work on his conditioing if he's going to compete with top 10 fighters.
More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
It was a close decision but the UFC escaped fan outrage because they agreed with judges who sided with Forrest Griffin. It was a fight that could've gone either way but Tito Ortiz is still clearly a heel in the minds of many fight fans. He probably added to their dislike when complained about multiple injuries as part of the reason he lost the fight. The fight was een on two judge's scorecards but the younger Griffin played target practice with Ortiz' face and won a split decision 30-27, 29-28 and 28-29 in the light heavyweight bout to close UFC 106 in Las Vegas. More than a few folks along press row scored it 29-28 for Ortiz.
During his postfight conversation with UFC color analyst Joe Rogan, Griffin mentioned that he broke his right foot. That set off Ortiz. He gave credit to Griffin but mentioned that he couldn't spar before the fight suggesting that beyond a badly blackened eye, he also had a bulging disk in his back. That's bad news from a guy who just missed 17 months recovering from back surgery.
Attempt to shutup Ortiz, Griffin returned to grab the microphone and say all fighters get hurt in training.
Ortiz suffered the eye injury back on Nov. 9 in training. That cut down on his sparring in the two weeks before the fight and it showed. The fight went to the third round even on two scorecards but Ortiz had nothing left in the gas tank.
Tito's stand up looked sluggish from the get-go. He missed with both hands throughout the fight. He kept himself alive by scoring three takedowns on four attempts in the first and second rounds. He didn't deal out a whole lot of punishment to Griffin until he landed a big elbow midway through the second. That busted open Griffin just over his left eye.
In the third, Griffin regarded as a cardio machine, threw everything he could at Ortiz. He landed lots of leg kicks and hit Ortiz' gloves for the three minutes. In the final two minutes with Ortiz taking deep breaths, he got popped by plenty of clean shots to seal the deal for Griffin.
It was a battle between former UFC light heavyweight champs. Griffin (17-6, 8-4 UFC) still has plenty of game in front of him. You have to question how much Ortiz (15-7, 14-7 UFC) has left in the tank. He returned after a vicuous falling out with UFC president Dana White, Ortiz rejoined the promotion on a six-fight contract. He really needs to work on his conditioing if he's going to compete with top 10 fighters.
More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
