Chael Sonnen vs Forrest Griffin

[Infinity]

Yesterday news broke of this fight happening at UFC 155 on December 29th, which is set to be headlined by Junior Dos Santos vs Cain Velasquez II for the Title. Chael is moving up from 185 to 205 and is already takin' shots at Jon Jones.

Who ya got?

I like this match up, and I see it going very differently from their last encounter in 2003. Chael is a much different and much improved fighter than he was 9 years ago. I see Sonnen controlling this match for 3 rounds, keeping Griffin on his back while beating up on his face a little, but not being able to finish him. Unanimous Decision over a Forrest Griffin who seems less motivated than he's ever been in his career.

 

[JWGunslinger]

I agree, there are some very important factors going into this fight and they all weigh in favor of our favorite trash talking bad boy, Chael. After 117 Chael's submission defense became a very big part of his training, you could say he should have been doing that the whole time and then maybe he wouldn't have lost so fucking many fights by submission, but better late than never. He's been working subs with Cesar Gracie's boys(that's right ^_^) for some time now and he's improved by leaps and bounds there, not to mention pretty much every part of his game has improved since their first fight.

More importantly is the mental and physical state of Forrest Griffin, which seems to be fading more and more every time we see him. I honestly believe that we lost the old Forrest after the two KO losses in a row to Rashad and ofcourse the unforgettably embarrassing loss to Anderson. Since then he barely beat Tito at 106, won a good decision over Rich Franklin but then looked terrible against Shogun and most recently picked up a BS decision against Ortiz.
Now I'll give credit where credit's due, he had a good win against Rich but he still had something about him that was sad to watch, like you knew he had more in him to do but he just skated by.
With Shogun it was an early KO and you could say that he just got caught with a big shot, but if you say Forrest before that fight and in the cage when it was starting he knew he was losing, I've never seen such a lack of confidence before a fight and it was disheartening because I was rooting for the guy.
Lastly the 3rd Tito fight, he seemed unmotivated and was throwing his combos half assed, getting rocked and getting taken down. He knew his performance was terrible but still got the W.

My point here isn't to give Forrest crap, until his last fight I was always rooting for him and was a fan but I think he's lost it and it's really hard to watch him go in there now. If he fights like he has been these past few fights he doesn't stand a chance, if he can get the fire burning he's got a good chance of picking him apart on the fight and although he'd still get taken down he'd be able to work his guard and get back to his feet. That would be cool to see but I don't think that he's got it in him to fight at this level anymore and should retire soon. I've got Chael by a dominant decision, similar to the Okami fight.

 

[Infinity]

First of all... I just laughed so hard at your sig. Too funny.

But I digress, I remember reading an interview with Forrest maybe 2, 2 and a half years ago, where he said he basically keeps fighting because it's his job. He said he didn't feel the same way about fighting like he did during The Ultimate Fighter. Once I read that interview, I knew he was done. Some argue (including me) that he should have never even been Champ. Dude never even successfully defended his title, and then went on a steep decline. I think Forrest is an overrated fighter that rode his charisma and popularity from the first fight with Bonnar to big fight paychecks.

 

[JWGunslinger]

You can't deny that he's a huge MMA icon and always will be, but skill wise he is a bit overrated. Like I've said I was a fan and rooted for him until recently because when he got past facing guys like Bill Mahood and Elvis Sinosic he was a fun underdog to root for, and before that he was fun to watch because of his style no matter who he fought. He and Bonnar had great wars and he put on great fights, but like you said when he stopped loving fighting and started doing it as a job his decline began.

Part of why I first loved him was his attitude and his love for a good brawl, then he lost that and he started fighting shitty and didn't seem to care as much outside and inside the cage. His fight with Rampage was definitely controversial but as time has passed since then I don't get so upset about it, I was pissed when it first happened and I was rooting for Forrest. But in reality Rampage did hurt him and rock him but Forrest was very active, if anything it was a good lesson for Page and I look at it that way.

If he came into his next fight caring and showing that fighting spirit he used to I wouldnt be hoping for as much of a beatdown, but I'll still be lobbying for a Chael win because he can actually do something with a win at this point in his career and get to a title shot and Forrest probably cant.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

I'm not gonna flake like JW, I'm a real fan and will always stick by Forrest

I do think Forrest was and still is very good. The problem is that he seems unmotivated. I hope that coming in as such a big underdog motivates him. He is a former LHW champ, has a win in the past over Sonnen, and still opened at a -300 Underdog. If that doesn't light a fire under his ass then I firmly believe it's time for Forrest to hang up the gloves.

If the Forrest of old shows up and works his kicks, very underrated btw, and shows decent take down defense he could steal one, but sadly I don't think that Forrest will show up. I think Sonnen will control the fight, mostly against the cage, and cruise to a lackluster decision.

I don't want to go on a rant, but I will, because a certain shitty MMA forum always wants to discredit Forrest and his accomplishments. The fact is he helped bring MMA to the mainstream with one of the best fights ever against Stephen Bonnar. He beat him a 2nd time in another solid fight. He has won fight of the year 3 separate times (Bonnar 1, Ortiz 1, Rampage) He holds two wins over Tito Ortiz, who was the most dominant champion of his day, a submission win over Shogun, and wins over two former champs in Rich Franklin(the 2nd most dominant MW champ of all time) and Rampage. People love to discredit his win over Shogun win a range of excuses, but refuse to allow Forrest off the hook for his loss in the rematch, despite the fact that his wife went into premature labor right before the fight while he was on another continent. The fact is Forrest deserves to go down as one of the greats

 

[Blaze]

Chael Sonnen vs Forrest Griffin

Sounds like a great matchup. First, I'd like to say that there's no way Chael is losing this fight. Forrest Griffin lost his touch right after losing the UFC LHW Title. He's never been the same ever since he was beaten by Rashad Evans. Chael Sonnen was a round away from beating one of the best MMA fighters in history in Anderson Silva. Chael is the superior wrestler, and whether it's by decision, submission, or knockout, Chael Sonnen is winning this fight.