Forrest Griffin's No Mas Moment: Did Anderson Silva Ruin Griffin's Career?

but I guess its better than crying in the corner of the octagon

It’s always bugged me how Griffin has, since that fight, taken on this attitude like he’s too good to talk to the media. Especially considering that it wasn’t much earlier that he was saying “I love you guys” to everyone in the arena. But you know, considering the question of “who sleeps better at night” has restored a little of my sympathy for him.

i disagree with your final conclusion. forrest’s lights got turned out by that jab. he was at least 50% on queer street when he quit. he probably immediately regretted doing so and ran for it. he even looked a little unsteady shuffling out of the ring.

but very interesting.

…on a Sirius radio show. Someone called in and asked him and he actually gave a legitimate answer.

He was doing an on-air interview with Jason Ellis, and someone called in and asked about the fight. Forrest actually laughed a bit and went on to say how Anderson was just a lot faster than he was, and that he felt like a kid trying to fight his dad.

I’ll try and find the audio for you.

So this post is on the money.

Forrest was really stressed/amped/overdrawn to begin with. Within the first 30 seconds of this fight he was mentally and physically defeated and when he Quit, which I believe waws more emotional than anything else. He ran, fear and embarrassment has done this to the best of humanity.
He seems determined to make himself relevant again. He seems smart enough to recognize the small window he has to do this. He seems human enough to realize that he could run out of the ring again. I don’t blame him. I can’t imagine most of us would act any differently.

If Forrest hadn’t admitted it himself, we’d never know that he’d quit on himself. He was going forward until the end. Duran easily could’ve continued, but Forrest was legitimately done when the fight ended.

Great article, but its not fair to Forrest in my humble opinion to compare to Durans No Mas moment. Duran was getting clowned yes, but it wasn’t like he was on the verge of being KO’d. Forrest was getting his ass handed to him in a MMA fight and doesn’t get the benefit of an 8 count when knocked down. Anderson would pounded him in unconciousness. No way Forrest would have been able to intelligently defend himself

‘Look, man, I haven’t told anybody, let’s keep this on the down low, but the truth is your mom was waiting for me in the back to suck my d***, and you know how good of a b*** j** your mom gives, so I didn’t want to be late for that sh**.’

I would have no problem saying something like that to one of my friends. Bah.

That fight was probably the most embarrassing mess that just about anyone could go through and it happened to him in front of millions of people. Is anyone surprised that is is a sore point?

and I’m pretty sure his career isn’t “ruined” just yet.

• Unless Griffin breaks something with a leg kick.

Franklin hasn’t been the same fighter since his fights with Silva either, broken in body like Forrest was in mind.

That’s weird. I was saying something very similar to this not too long ago.

I was always under the impression that Duran never actually said “No Mas” and that Howard Cosell was the one that said he said it. But Cosell was on the other side of the ring and there would have been no way for him to have heard it. I think Angelo Dundee stated that he heard Duran say something in English to the same effect, but not the phrase he’s become so famous for.

It doesn’t change the point of the article at all, it’s just an interesting piece of boxing history.

It was real uncomfortable to listen to so I can only imagine how uncomfortable it was to actually do. Griffin really shouldn’t be a dick about the subject though. Just don’t acknowledge the question and rebound. If anything it should be motivation to handle Anderson Silva……which……most likely won’t happen.

Enjoyed the write up and enjoyed the comments and dialogue as well.
A lot of good points were made all around.

I’m still a total Forrest Griffin mark though. Dude seems like he’d be fun to train with and fun to have a beer with afterwards.

was watching his second ever UFC fight that night. I took him to the bar telling him Anderson Silva fighting is something everyone should see. It was the first time he was exposed to both Silva and Griffin, and after the fight, he had this wide-eyed look and said, “Wow. That was greatness right there, wasn’t it? Either that or that other dude didn’t deserve to be in there with him.”

Duran’s life was never quite the same. His cult like demigod status in his native Panama suffered greatly.

This isn’t entirely true. He lost his cult like demigod status in Panama for a time, in fact he was vilified, but regained it following the Davey Moore win, where he won his third world title.

And this article is true I think

people actually believed Forrest would take the fight to Silva and make him work……

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1R50LpFh_M

All I needed to hear was this interview he did on the Jason Ellis show. Plus, it’s on page 23 of his book.

I remember the build up to this fight and it has several interesting storylines. For one, Silva was coming off those performances against Leites and Cote where Dana was shalacking him in the media. “He doesn’t want to fight? Well now he has to.” That was the idea when they signed the Forrest fight and it was supposed to be forced action because he’s the go to guy. The other issue was I read Forrest’s book just before the fight and he makes reference constantly to Silva throughout the book like he’s Superman. So going into the fight there was a great deal of respect and admiration. When Silva had his hands down slipping and cracked him…the second knockdown (although a bad angle on tv) was by far the hardest.

Forrest has very much been spun as the “you and me” every day guy but I don’t see it. I mean he’s 6 ft 2 inches of lean mass with some power and martial arts capability. He was the guy who wasn’t supposed to be there but he beat Shogun and Rampage? So against Silva…what we saw was the guy who wasn’t supposed to be there, being shown that he won’t be allowed passage into Silva’s tier of fighter

Also…great write Jonathan.

Back when Forrest fought Rashad, there was some question as to whether Forrest tapped to strikes from Rashad’s punches or if he was just out and his hand was flopping on the mat. If the former is true then wouldn’t it be more fair to say that Forrest was either broker pre-Anderson or just wasn’t the fighter you made him out to be beforehand in the first place?

that we spend one day talking about how Jens Pulver should retire before he hurts himself, and the next day we’re saying Griffin should fight until his brain falls out of his nose. Forrest is plenty tough.

Jens losing six or seven in a row was hard for his fans but it wasnt Liddell style endings with him getting carted off. Jens still have fight left in him and while it’s a common debate in MMA…it really is Jens business and no one else’s. I mean we can say as fans if we would like to see him go or if we would still love to watch him fight. Chuck on the other hand was getting wrecked in the cage.

Griffin is still plenty tough of this I have no doubt, but being in MMA media I hear things fighters say off record and some of the things definitely point to the Forrest of now being quite a bit different from the Forrest of “then”. I know it’s not fair to say that and not give an explanation but I can certainly see where the Silva match was a turning point.