Anybody watch Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz fight? (Fight Spoiler)

[Wetzelbill]

Fuckin' A, Forrest hung in there! I thought he was in deep trouble right off, he looked cold and Tito pounded him that first round. I also felt Forrest won the next round pretty easy then barely pulled the last one out. The reason is Tito got a late takedown, but didn't do anything with it. Forrest elbowed the hell out of him from the bottom then got out and finished it strong on their feet. I felt Forrest eeked it out, but Tito got the decision. Tough call, could've went either way. But, Forrest hung in there nicely, I was surprised he made that close a go of it. :)

[TroubleMan]

1. I thought Forrest won.

Forrest makes every fight exciting. That guy's fun to watch. Still a close fight though....but I can't believe that one judge had it 30-27. There's no way Forrest lost the 2nd round.


BTW....I can't believe Arlovski lost. He had Sylvia, and got sloppy. What a comeback by Sylvia.

[Wetzelbill]

4. that one judge had to be on crack

No effing way did Tito win round two! I still feel Forrest did enough to win. He finished the fight strong.

Arlovski let Sylvia back up, he looked for a heel hook, didn't go for it and Sylvia got back on his feet. Arlovski should have went to the ground to pound him. He did get sloppy, that was a luck shot that Sylvia caught him with, but when guys are hurt and start throwing punches they are dangerous. Sylvia is huge too, he threw a shot when he was wounded and ended it. I give Sylvia credit though, he showed some balls coming back like that, especially against a guy who is a special athlete like Arlovski.

[poleepafrog]

2. I LOVE the UFC!

Damn, I knew Forrest would have a rough go of it. I was surprised that Tim won, tho. Arlovski is an animal.

[TroubleMan]

3. Arlovski almost knocked him out.

Arlovski absolutely clocked him. When they stood back up, he tried to jump in for the kill and came in recklessly. Sylvia (who was pretty dazed at the point) snuck in a half uppercut/half hook and Arlovski jumped right into it and went down. Sylvia took his back and pounded him. Arlovski just laid there, so the ref stopped it.

Arlvoski had it.....he just got too overconfident and sloppy. However I gotta give a lot of props to Sylvia. That shot that took him down.....anybody else wouldn't have been out cold. Then when Arlvoski came in for the kill, he stood strong, fired back, and caught him coming in. IMHO 9 times out of 10 Arlovski wins that....I was speechless.

[Wetzelbill]

5. you're exactly right Arlovski did have him

Did you hear that pop when he caught Sylvia? Man, he hit him hard, I'm so surprised he survived that.

I'd like to see Paul Buentello get a shot at Sylvia. That'll be fun, Buentello has great hands.

[Mojambo]

15. So Arlovski will probably have to have a rebound fight.

Where is Brandon Vera as a potential matchup for Arlovski? Too soon? I'd love to see that fight.

I know Sylvia wants him bad, but Frank Mir is nowhere close to being ready for a title fight.

Buentello/Sylvia would be fun.

[Wetzelbill]

19. Vera is a great athlete

probably a few fights too soon for him though. I'd like to see Vera fight somebody like Brandon Lee Hinkle and keep moving up. I think Jeff Monson will probably get a shot at Sylvia next. He should anyway. You're right, Mir is not even near being ready. I hope he can comeback, he looked terrible versus Pe De Pano in his last fight. I was hoping Buentello would have gotten another shot at Arlovski, as I think he was lighting him up a little before he was knocked out. I doubt he could ever beat Arlovski, however he's definitely capable of making it an exciting fight. I hope Sylvia gives him a shot.

[Mojambo]

25. Man, how big would the reach advantage be in Monson vs Sylvia?

If Monson did manage to get it to the ground it would be over pretty quick.

[Wetzelbill]

27. Monson is a machine on the ground

those Abu Dhabi guys are badasses. If he got it on the ground, Sylvia would be screwed. The reach would be insane though. Monson is like a block, haha. I give Sylvia all the credit in the world, that guy is resilient.

[Mojambo]

30. Regarding Monson

There is a nice piece on him in April's In These Times magazine. He holds political views that would fit right in here at DU.

Anyway, after reading it he went way up on my list of favorite fighters.

Check it out.

[Wetzelbill]

6. hey welcome to DU!

Yes, Arlovski is an animal, I was definitely surprised Sylvia won too. He did a great job coming back. :)

[poleepafrog]

7. What did Nick Sanchez look like?

And Tanner--he won?

[Wetzelbill]

8. Nick Diaz?

He lost to Sean Sherk. He look terrible I thought. He's lost his instinct to finish. He's content to go the distance, that's why he's lost three in a row. Sherk is tough and each round was pretty competitive, so that is some saving grace for Diaz. Other than that, he just isn't all that impressive anymore. He's so young, I hope he gets out of this rut, otherwise he'll ruin himself.

Evan Tanner looked great! He submitted the guy he fought pretty quickly. I really like that guy, he's a hard worker, nothing fancy, he just goes in and gives it his all.

[poleepafrog]

9. Yeah Diaz--I get him mixed up with Diego!

Yeah, Tanner is a real trooper--remember when his eyebrow was damn near laid open to the bone?

I knew Diaz was gonna get his mouth swelled shut one day....

[poleepafrog]

10. I hope he's smart enough to figure out...

...that the real champs of the game DO NOT 'go the distance' (that way, they don't have to put get stores of energy into enurance, though they're in good enough shape to do that.) Randy, Chuch, Matt, Rich, Forrest etc. put 'em away in the first round, maybe stretching it to the first half of the 2nd round--and not by any wimpy 'judge's decision', if they can help it.

[Wetzelbill]

11. that's a big problem nowadays

when the UFC first started they had no rounds or decisions. You basically just went until somebody was submitted, knocked out or beat by a ref's stoppage. A lot of guys try to win decisions, and that isn't a real fight. They almost had to make rounds for marketing purposes because you were starting to see guys stay in guard on the ground for 30 minutes, but it wasn't designed to have fighters let up and try to win a decision. Diaz is good, he just is in a rut. He should be able to get out of it. A good thing for him to do is start training at another camp, one that has some fighters who are great finishers. Like maybe go train in those camps with Nate Quarry and Mike Swick or hit Bas Rutten's gym in Beverly Hills. He probably just needs to switch things up.

[Mojambo]

16. Diaz looked totally disinterested.

He had a HUGE reach advantage and fought like he was uncomfortable with it.

[Wetzelbill]

12. Here is Forrest Griffin's website

http://forrestgriffin.net/

[Room101]

13. I felt Forrest Griffin won as well

Tito gassed out and did almost nothing the last two rounds. Forrest landed allot more punches and made tito's take down attempts look like child's play. 30-27 what a bullshit score.

[Wetzelbill]

20. oh yeah that was a bullshit score

There is no way in a million years that anybody who is objective could say Tito won that second round. Forrest lit him up the whole time and stuffed the hell out of his shots. Tito was so disheartened that round. No way, that judge must have been blind or something.

[Mojambo]

14. bookmarking until after I see it.

I'm literally holding my hand over the text above to avoid the spoiler.

Can't wait to see it.

[Mojambo]

17. Super close fight, but Forrest should have won that decision.

That guy is an effing animal.

The only good thing about Forrest losing is it opens us up for the long awaited Griffin/Bonnar rematch.

[Wetzelbill]

18. I think he's improved much more than Bonnar now

He's a better natural athlete. I thought Bonnar lost to Keith Jardine the other week. He didn't look all that good to me in that fight. Like something was a touch off with him. I tell you what though, I'd love to see those two have a rematch. What fun! :)

[scordem]

21. Is the pay-per-view price worth it?

Or did you see it live?

[Wetzelbill]

22. for this one the price was worth it

It sort of depends on the card though. I don't buy many PPVS. If you go to You Tube they already have Arlovski and Sylvia up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Whl2Y-XR4&search=Arlovski

[SlavesandBulldozers]

24. wow thanks for that post

Tim turned that one around. amazing. absolutely amazing fight.

I've always wanted to see Fedor come over to UFC and show some of the Milletich camp how the ground and pound works.

[imperialismispasse]

23. There is no way Forrest won that fight

Don't get me wrong his comeback was fucking amazing after the beatdown he took in round one, but he never at any point dominated the fight after that - not the way Ortiz dominated the first round. It was fairly evenly matched after that, and I think Ortiz was hurt too. His knee was taped up pretty good. Ortiz' decision win was the right one in my opinion.

The one that pissed me off was the Silvia Orlovsky fight. That fight was called waaaay too early.

[Wetzelbill]

26. he didn't need to dominate

it's a ten point must system, Forrest easily won the 2nd and I think he squeaked out the third. Tito didn't do enough to win the first 10-8, so that's how I think Forrest won. Now, there is a definite argument to be made that Tito won the third round, which would then win the fight for him, and that's how it actually did play out. But the first two rounds had clear cut 10-9 winners, the last one is up in the air.

I think you're right. If you watch that fight Arlovsky is lying on the ground blocking those punches. He wasn't doing anything, but I still felt it was called a bit early. He wasn't given the chance to clear any cobwebs. He was in a tough spot, no doubt, but I think that could have went on a little longer.

[imperialismispasse]

28. Yeah Silvia was hitting his hand not his ear

He didn't have half a second to decide how to get out from under that flabby giant before the ref was waving his arms. I seem to see a pattern with that particular ref calling fights early. If it had been John McCarthy I think he would have let it go a little longer.

I understand what you're saying about Ortiz/Griffin, but I guess my point was either one could have won the last two rounds. They were close. The first round was the only one where I felt either of them dominated, and that was Ortiz. That's how I justify the decision in my mind. However I'm just getting into UFC so maybe you know more than I do. Pretty cool sport! :D

[Mojambo]

31. Maybe called a tad early, but it wasn't egregious, IMO

One of the standards, as I understand it, is that a fighter must be intelligently defending themselves. Arlovski wasn't. Just covering up your head and taking punches will get the fight stopped. Arlovski knew this, but he was rocked too badly to do anything about it.

It was a fluke win for Sylvia (although he gets major composure points.) I think Arlovski is going to destroy him in the third fight, that is if Sylvia gets past Monson (if it is Monson) in his first title defense.

[ucmike]

29. I thought tito did enough to win. nothing against forrest

tito DOMINATED round 1, forrest was lucky to survive. the fact that he got through it speaks of his ability.

round two went to forrest. tito seemed to gas a little, maybe ring rust, maybe the knee injury. forrest was the aggressor and shifted the momentum of the fight.

round three was close, but i thought tito was effective enough on his feet to win it. if you watched closely you could see that tito landed more, cutting forrest under the right eye during the third round. although forrest avoided the takedown attempts tito was more aggressive and kept trying. tito also landed a lot of crisp jabs, forrest only landed one big punch during the fight and less overall punches. tito effectively blocked a lot of forrests punches, if you watch slowly/closely many landed on tito's arms and forearms, not many made it to tito's face. after tito's takedown forrest landed those elbows from his back but they were largely ineffective against an experienced fighter with a head like tito. they looked good and showed that forrest was still active, but didn't do a whole lot.

both fighters get my credit. tito shakes off a couple years ring rust and defeats a very talented and tough up-and-comer. he could've had his return fight against a tomato can and been fresh for his big money appearance against shamrock, but took the tough fight with forrest. forrest survives a first round onslaught and makes a very close fight against one of the ufc's all time best.



i scored it 2-1 tito, with forrest taking the second round. i also thought that tito could've earned a 10-8 round if it were allowed in the first round.

i thought the whole card was great, silvia gets off his back to knock out arlovski??? wtf?