The former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin awaits one of the biggest challenges in his MMA career. He’ll be preparing to take on Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva, ranked by several MMA analysts as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Griffin understands the complex task he’ll be facing at UFC 101, but is confident that he’ll be ready on August 9th, 2009.
This upcoming bout will be Griffin’s first appearance since fighting in the octagon in December of 2008 at UFC 92. He is coming off a recent TKO (strikes) defeat to Rashad Evans, losing his first and only light heavyweight title defense in his UFC career. Griffin plans to come into UFC 101 with a different approach. According to the former champion, past fighters have tried to lead and push the pace and they were quickly punished like Chris Leben and James Irwin. He also doesn’t want to step into the cage like Leites where he basically waited for Silva to attack him.
Here’s a snip from Forrest Griffin:
“I’m just focused on dealing with this dude. I just want to show up prepared and actually fight the guy. I just don’t think anyone has actually tried to fight him up to their ability. Irvin went in and charged him, Leben when in and charged him. He’s a southpaw counter-striker … it’s not like I’m going to go jump his $hit. If you rush into that guy you’re rushing into a knockout. So I’m going to fight the guy, I’ll hit him, and not get too frustrated when I miss. Because he makes you miss and then he makes you pay for it. He’s made a lot of guys feel stupid. It’s when guys get hit, and then they can’t hit him back; they just look hopeless … like they almost want the fight to be over…You know, a lot of guys have hit me real hard. The thing about Silva is that he’s going to hit me a lot quicker. He’s got a great reach, he actually has the same reach I do and I am not going to be much bigger.”
