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This Day in MMA: 7/5/2008 - Closest Fight Ever?

Ufc86avy_medium

On July 5, 2008, Forrest Griffin and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson fought for the UFC light heavyweight title in the main event of the titular UFC 86 - Jackson vs. Griffin.

Rampage was the defending champion, having won the belt from Chuck Liddell at UFC 71 and defended it against Dan Henderson at UFC 75.  Rampage and Forrest were opposing coaches on season 7 of The Ultimate Fighter, with a scheduled title fight at the show's conclusion.

Going into the fight Jackson was a -260 favorite to win, with Forrest at +200.  Six of the 9 luminaries in  Sherdog's customary "The Pros Pick" pre-fight piece picked Rampage to win.

Star-divide

What ensued was an all-out five-round battle which lit up MMA websites and message boards like few before or since.  The fight went all five rounds (25 minutes) to a decision and won both contestants the $60,000 Fight of the Night award.  Additionally the bout was voted the MMA Fight of 2008 by various community segments, including the Wrestling Observer; and was universally considered one of the top 5 fights of the year.  More impressively still, the fight came in at #11 on the UFC Ultimate 100 - the top 100 fights of all time.

It also garnered considerable post-fight ink for being one of the most closely-contested decisions in recent memory, with, in the opinion of most, only two rounds (the second and fourth) having a clear winner (Forrest and Rampage respectively).  However, even that second round was up for dispute as being properly scored 10-9 or 10-8.  At the conclusion of the fight, Jackson could be heard to ask his corner multiple times if he had won the fight; and at the reading of the decision both fighters seemed unsure of the result.

Many fans were surprised and dismayed at the official scoring of the fight.  While most fans seem to have scored the fight closely, the judges' official scoring was less close.  Adalaid Byrd scored the bout 48-46, giving rounds 4 & 5 to Rampage and having round 2 as a 10-8 round for Forrest.  Nelson Hamilton also had it 48-46, with round 4 also for Jackson but giving him round 1 and not round 5; he also had Forrest winning round 2 10-8.  Finally, Roy Silbert had it 49-46, awarding Forrest round 2 with a score of only 10-9 but giving Rampage only the fourth round.

What was clear from the judges' scoring also resonated with the opinion of most fans:  Forrest clearly won round 2 - whether by 10-8 or 10-9 was up for discussion - and Rampage clearly won round 4.  The remaining three rounds came in for much scrutiny and debate. 

The range of perceptions of the fight can be seen in the examination of the live play-by-play from the major MMA websites.  To take examples of four of the biggest:

MMA Weekly's official scoring was 48-46 in favor of Griffin.  They gave Forrest round 2 10-8.

Sherdog's play by play included the round-by-round scoring of three contributors:  TJ De Santis, Jordan Breen, and Mike Fridley. De Santis had the fight as 48-47 Rampage; Breen had it a 47-47 tie; and Fridley also had it a 47-47 tie.  All three gave Rampage round four; two of them gave Forrest 10-8 round 2.  All of them had Jackson winning three rounds to Forrest's two.

MMAJunkie gave Rampage three rounds to two, with a 10-9 round two, leading them to conclude Rampage won the fight 48-47.

Bloody Elbow's play by play scored the fight a 47-47 draw.  BE scored the fight three rounds to two for Jackson, with a 10-8 second round.

So, if we grant Sherdog three votes as there were 3 independent "official" scorers there, then we have three scores of 47-47; two of 48-47 Rampage; and one of 48-46 Griffin.  It doesn't get much closer.

Factoring in a more "objective" view, the widely-respected FightMetric fight rating doesn't produce any more definitive a result.  FightMetric scored Jackson at a TPR of 48 for the fight vs Griffin's 45; and declared the fight a 47-47 draw under the Ten-Point Must system, with an overall fight winner of Rampage.

Finally, the fight continued to stay alive in fans' minds - and on the internet sites, forums and messageboards - as a result of the post-fight repercussions.  Jackson's trainer Juanito Ibarra - who stated on the UFC's "Countdown" show leading up to the event that he would retire if Forrest beat Rampage - threatened for a period to formally protest the decision. "We got robbed," Ibarra said in a Sherdog post-fight interview. "We won the majority of the fight."  Ibarra added more than once, "You have to beat the champion."  For his part, Rampage Jackson, who said in the post-fight interview in the cage that he "got [his] ass whooped", had apparently changed 180 degrees by the time of that evening's post-fight presser, where he stated that he felt he won the fight and was surprised to have lost it unanimously.

A sad and shocking turn of events followed just days after the fight when Rampage was involved in a hit-and-run incident in traffic in Newport Beach, California.  While the event was obviously not a direct result of the loss of his belt in such a close controversial fight, many fans linked the two events causally as they were linked temporally.

In all, the pre-fight hype fueled by Ibarra's provocative offer to retire, the fireworks during the fight comprising one of the most exciting and closest title fights the UFC has ever had, the controversy around the judges scoring the fight a little  less ambiguously than many fans felt it deserved, and the post-fight heat generated by the initial acceptance of and then rejection of the result from Camp Rampage, not to mention the tragic hit-and-run event, has led to this bout being one of the most talked about / debated / discussed fights in the modern era of the UFC.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

Comment 27 comments  |  5 recs  | 

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After watching it live I thought Rampage won.
After re-watching it several times I think Forrest won…….soooo close.

USMC vet. MMA nut. Rousimar Palhares is a dirty fighter.
Pain don't hurt...

by RolloTomasi on Jul 5, 2010 5:40 PM EDT reply actions  

I think Forrest won

Watching it live I thought Forrest won, and rewatching it probably twice I still think he won. But, from a more disengaged perspective, I find the razor-close nature of the fight, and the debate it generated, very interesting.

by Numbers on Jul 5, 2010 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions  

i thought rampage won live

soo close tho.

I'm Not Afraid Of Dying, I'm A Little Bit Scared Of What Comes After

by SouthCaliStunNa on Jul 5, 2010 5:53 PM EDT reply actions  

Rampage IMO

hypothetically if they had scored it a draw would the champion keep the belt?

by bluejitz on Jul 5, 2010 6:27 PM EDT reply actions  

yes

Fan of Tiger 'Makin It Rain' Woods

by B-A-N-A-N-A-S on Jul 5, 2010 7:07 PM EDT up reply actions  

One of my great MMA pet peeves is people who act like this fight was a blowout for Rampage, its a conspiracy, he was robbed, blah blah blah. This was a razor thin decision either way. Honestly, this fight is the perfect example of why we need many more 10-8 rounds in MMA, since the generally accepted end result was 3 rounds to 2 to Rampage with a 10-8 round for Forrest, 47-47, which would have been one of the fairest scorecards I can remember . If ever a fight deserved to be a draw, it was this one.

by Hutchy on Jul 5, 2010 7:23 PM EDT reply actions  

It was razor thin just like Shogun/Machida

Rampage should’ve gotten a rematch, but Dana had plans for his boy Chuck to get a title shot in December. All he had to do was beat some guy named Rasheed Evers.

Cause there's only one, and that's me
You understand? for all that fighting, you understand
That sucka think he good, that sucka think he can whoop me
And i know he can't whoop me, Ay boy, the n**** whole style is chump

by S.C. Michaelson on Jul 5, 2010 7:38 PM EDT reply actions  

Most surprising to me

was two of the judges giving round one to Griffin. Seemed like that tremendous uppercut was enough to win Rampage the round. In my opinion, it was easily the second most significant moment of the fight. It was this fight that made me wonder whether the judges simply tally up the total number of strikes landed and pick the winner based on that (similar to Olympic boxing style scoring). The Penn/Edgar fight just reinforced that belief.

"Deserve's got nothing to do with it." -Will Munny, a known thief and murderer, a man of notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition.

by PapaBumpants on Jul 5, 2010 8:16 PM EDT reply actions  

I watched the fight live,and have watched it countless times on DVD since then,and everytime I have scored it 48-46 for Forrest Griffin.I had Forrest winning the second,third and fifth round,with the second round being 10-8.

Incredibly competitive fight,insanely entertaining,but not horribly hard to score IMHO.

Check out my MMA highlight videos!
http://www.dailymotion.com/WheelchairBandit

by Brian Mayes on Jul 5, 2010 9:59 PM EDT reply actions  

I can never find this fight online anywhere. I’ve always wanted to see it. I’ve only seen Rd. 2 with Forrest kicking the shit out of Rampage’s legs….

by mthom on Jul 5, 2010 10:02 PM EDT reply actions  

Along with Couture vs Rizzo 1 and Couture vs Rodriguez,this was one of the very best UFC title fights ever.

Check out my MMA highlight videos!
http://www.dailymotion.com/WheelchairBandit

by Brian Mayes on Jul 5, 2010 10:03 PM EDT reply actions  

I’ll add Rampage vs Hendo on that list.

I am. I think. I will. - Ayn Rand

by vivero on Jul 6, 2010 4:23 AM EDT up reply actions  

And you’d be right.Can’t believe I forgot that one.Not quite as good as the Couture bouts or Rampage-Griffin,but a damn good 5 round war either way.The sweeps from both men in that fight were just beautiful.

Here’s a highlight I made of the fight.Starts about 9 minutes in.Enjoy.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcb3ck_classic-battles-of-mma-volume-9_people

Check out my MMA highlight videos!
http://www.dailymotion.com/WheelchairBandit

by Brian Mayes on Jul 6, 2010 4:42 PM EDT up reply actions  

Great fight

I had forrest winning also

by 19Miles on Jul 5, 2010 10:31 PM EDT reply actions  

Forrest won that fight pretty clearly, to this day i’m still shockd over the apparent controversy over the scoring.

But I also thought the same about Shogun/Machida I, the only difference being one pair of judges got it right the other fucked up.

"they mad at me, I keep going hard reppin/
cause what's your Rampage to Rashad Evans/"
-Joe Budden (Something To Ride To)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/76866807deabe3c1/

by Nightwhistler on Jul 5, 2010 10:52 PM EDT reply actions  

Brookhouse has some of his best moments in the comments of that liveblog.

When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
Fightlinker.com

by Derek Suboticki on Jul 5, 2010 11:41 PM EDT reply actions  

Brookhouse was on fire that night.And since the link in the Fan Post isn’t working,check it out.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2008/7/5/565428/ufc-86-live-results-forres

Check out my MMA highlight videos!
http://www.dailymotion.com/WheelchairBandit

by Brian Mayes on Jul 6, 2010 1:52 AM EDT up reply actions  

What's crazy about that is looking at the comments.

Only 160 for a live fight blog. These days that number is at like 2000. Pretty cool shit.

Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.

by Geno Mrosko on Jul 6, 2010 2:30 AM EDT up reply actions  

And half of those were devoted to talk of the fight being fixed and Red Belt being the arbiter of everything that is wrong with the sport.Ahhh,those were the days.

To be fair,Red Belt is a fantastic film.To bad MMA fans shit all over it to the point that literally no one remembers it other than it being considered a punchline to a bad joke.

Check out my MMA highlight videos!
http://www.dailymotion.com/WheelchairBandit

by Brian Mayes on Jul 6, 2010 3:08 AM EDT up reply actions  

I liked Red Belt also

all the references to the Gracie/Saku rivalry were cool. But I remember Never Back Down making the rounds in theaters at the time so maybe people lumped it in with that and dismissed it thinking it was the same type of movie

If Derek Jeter clubbed a baby seal on earth day while wearing a mink coat and crocodile skin boots while burning tires on an iceberg, the reaction would be "Its OK Derek, you’re a Yankee." -First mammal to wear pants

by Tonley on Jul 6, 2010 11:29 AM EDT up reply actions  

Never Back Down

what a fucking joke of a movie.

Forget it Donny, you're out of your element.

by Geno Mrosko on Jul 6, 2010 9:06 PM EDT up reply actions  

Redbelt is HORRIBLE

in every possible way. And I’m a Mamet fan (for the most part)

Hey Pete
R.I.P.

by Grappo on Jul 6, 2010 3:17 PM EDT up reply actions  

I'd love to see a feature like this, I always see these sorts of posts on various sports sites.

My avatar has Bas Rutten and Terry Funk in it...therefore it's the manliest avatar on SB Nation.

by RobertGBP on Jul 6, 2010 1:12 AM EDT reply actions  

Ask and you shall receive :)

I’m planning to make this a regular here. Thanks for the props.

by Numbers on Jul 6, 2010 8:00 AM EDT up reply actions  

Rewatched it recently and scored it a draw.

by Sink on Jul 6, 2010 1:34 PM EDT reply actions  

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