MMA Legacy 9.28.09: Tyson Griffin
Posted by Bill Wannop on 09.28.2009
Following his great performance at UFC 103, MMA Legacy will focus on the career of Mr. Fight of the Night, Tyson Griffin! From his early battle with Urijah Faber to his tough fights with Clay Guida and Frankie Edgar, join us as we relive some of the greatest fights in the lightweight division!
Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. With a great performance last week at UFC 103, MMA Legacy will be focusing in on Mr. Fight of the Night, Tyson Griffin! From his early battle with Urijah Faber to his tough tests with Clay Guida and Frankie Edgar, join us as we relive some of the greatest fights in the lightweight division!
Early Life
Tyson Griffin was born April 20, 1984 (making him 25 years old today) in Sacramento California. He was a standout wrestler at Albany high school and then went on to wrestle at Santa Rosa Junior College before he dropped out. The reason that he dropped out of the Junior College was that he wanted to become a full time fighter, and once he decided that he wanted to become a fighter he began training at David Terrell's NorCal Fighting Alliance as well as at the Cesar Gracie academy. He also began training in MuayThai and boxing.
Early MMA
Tyson had his first MMA fight on November 18, 2004 for Gladiator Challenge 32: King of the Hill, when he faced off against Ryan Frost. He was able to easily defeat the Frost by TKO in the first round. His next fight was about 5 months later when he defeated Cody Williams by rear naked choke at Gladiator Challenge 36: Proving Ground. Tyson would then be granted a bantamweight title shot with Gladiator Challenge against current WEC superstar Urijah Faber at Gladiator Challenge 42: Summerslam. The fight was all action with lots of scrambles and reversals in positions which has become sort of the trademark of a Tyson Griffin fight. In the fight, Tyson would connect with a punch as Urijah was being too aggressive only 5 seconds into the third round, and would finish him by TKO with punches, handing Urijah his only defeat for about 3 years.
Griffin would go on a tear for Gladiator Challenge defeating Jorge Evangelista by KO, Melchor Manibusan by TKO and Chuck Kim by rear naked choke all in the first round to bring his MMA record to 6-0 and allow him to earn a fight for Strikeforce in 2006. Tyson would face Duane Ludwig at Strikeforce: Revenge on June 9, 2006. Griffin would be too much for Ludwig as he finished him off with Strikes near the end of the first round.
Following the victory Griffin would get an opportunity to fight for the UFC. His first event would be UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn, where he faced off against David Lee. In the first round Lee came out and seemed to land a flying knee on Griffin, stunning him momentarily, however Griffin was able to grapple Lee to the ground, get both hooks in and lock in a rear naked choke for the submission victory.
Next Tyson would get his toughest opponent to date taking on Frankie Edgar at UFC 67: All or Nothing. In what turned out to be a non-stop paced fight of the year candidate Frankie Edgar proved he was not a warm up fight for Griffin and took this fight to the limit. Both fighters matched strikes, takedowns and positioning as mad scramble after mad scramble occurred. In the final round, while Frankie Edgar had Tyson in trouble with a flurry of punches, Griffin was able to roll for a knee bar and locked it in tight, however Edgar refused to tap even while his leg looked like it was going to snap. Edgar seemed to be saved by the bell, and in the end the judges gave Edgar a unanimous decision victory in what earned Fight of the Night honors.
Griffin would get another tough test at UFC 72: Victory, when he was matched up with Clay Guida. This fight did not disappoint, and was another non-stop action packed fight from beginning to end. In the fight there were many scrambles with Guida getting Griffins back in the second round. Griffin tried to avoid the rear naked choke by standing up slamming Guidas' head into the mat by falling forward. Guida however would not let go, but Griffin was able to turn and end up in side control. Take that sequence and repeat many times. The fight again goes to the judges and Griffin earns the split decision victory, bringing his record to 9-1. This fight again won Fight of the Night honors.
Griffin followed that fight up taking on Thiago Tavares at UFC 76: Knockout. As is the case with most Tyson Griffin fights, there was a hectic pace with mad scrambles. This fight again went the distance and the judges gave the unanimous decision to Griffin, however it was a really close fight, with Griffin again being awarded Fight of the Night honors. Griffin would follow this up facing Gleison Tibau at UFC 81: Breaking Point and Marcus Aurelio at UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin. Griffin would defeat both men by unanimous decision by stuffing their takedowns and getting the better of the striking on the feet.
Following the victories Griffin would again be tested when he faced former lightweight champion Sean Sherk at UFC 90: Silva vs. Cote. The fight was spend mostly on the feet and again was at a very face pace. However the veteran Sherk got the better on Griffin in the striking department and was awarded the unanimous decision victory to give Griffin his second career defeat. This fight was also named Fight of the Night.
Tyson would face Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann and again would win Fight of the Night honors. In the first round Dos Anjos would lock in a Calf Slicer leg lock! The torque was pretty bad and Griffin must have been close to tapping from the hold; however he was able to get free and get back to his feet. He did feel the effects of the hold however his leg gives way and he was favoring it for the rest of the first and a little of the second round. Even with the leg damage, Griffin was able to use his stand up and earn a unanimous decision victory.
His most recent fight was against Hermes Franca at UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort and it may have been his most impressive performance. Griffin was able to catch him with a nice jab and finished him on the ground with brutal ground and pound, to become the first person to ever finish Hermes Franca!
Various News
Rampage calls it quits
In what has to be the most shocking news in some time, apparently Rampage is hanging up his gloves and calling it quits to focus on his acting career. He states the comments and disrespect from Dana White as one of his main reasons.
This to me is unbelievable. Rampage hasn't even acted yet and he is quitting fighting in order to make it his prime career? I think this is just the case of Rampage again surrounding himself with the wrong people and being influenced by them, only this time instead of Ibarra it is people from Hollywood. You really get a sense of Jackson's delusions when he talks about UFC 107 in Memphis. In his rant on his website he complained how the UFC postponed the Serra-Hughes fight but were not as eager to postpone his fight with Rashad. Rampage questioned why the UFC could not push the Memphis event back a couple months to when he is done acting.
This thinking is wrong on so many levels. First Serra was injured in his fight and had to withdraw, it was not something he chose to do, he was injured. Second the UFC finally gives Rampage a fight in his home town in December, and he wants the UFC to postpone not only the fight, but still have the fight in Memphis. It takes many months of planning to put on a UFC event in a city, and to simply postpone it a couple months would cost tons of money.
Personally I love Rampage, but I think he needs some guidance badly as he seems just too easily influenced.
Couture vs. Vera
In a somewhat surprising and at the same time expected news Randy Couture will be returning to the light heavyweight division, and will be facing Brandon Vera. I think both of these things will be good for Couture. He is more suited for the light heavyweight division and Vera is a nice warm up opponent that should enable him to get back to the winning ways.
TUF report
The most anticipated episode of the season is this Wednesday when Kimbo Slice finally steps into the octagon. In what should be a tough fight Kimbo faces off against veteran Roy Nelson. Watching the show it is hard not to cheer for Slice as he has been nothing but humble, helpful and eager to learn, while Nelson has been the complete opposite acting as if he knows it all and that the show is below him. I truly wish that Kimbo was selected by Rashad's team that way he would get the better coaching as Rampage does not take the show as seriously as Rashad. This should be the highest rated Ultimate Fighter Episode ever, and it should be a great fight (as opposed to the last fight which was embarrassing).
That does it for another week. Next week we will look at the career of Jason ‘Mayham' Miller!
Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. With a great performance last week at UFC 103, MMA Legacy will be focusing in on Mr. Fight of the Night, Tyson Griffin! From his early battle with Urijah Faber to his tough tests with Clay Guida and Frankie Edgar, join us as we relive some of the greatest fights in the lightweight division!
Next Tyson would get his toughest opponent to date taking on Frankie Edgar at UFC 67: All or Nothing. In what turned out to be a non-stop paced fight of the year candidate Frankie Edgar proved he was not a warm up fight for Griffin and took this fight to the limit. Both fighters matched strikes, takedowns and positioning as mad scramble after mad scramble occurred. In the final round, while Frankie Edgar had Tyson in trouble with a flurry of punches, Griffin was able to roll for a knee bar and locked it in tight, however Edgar refused to tap even while his leg looked like it was going to snap. Edgar seemed to be saved by the bell, and in the end the judges gave Edgar a unanimous decision victory in what earned Fight of the Night honors.
Following the victories Griffin would again be tested when he faced former lightweight champion Sean Sherk at UFC 90: Silva vs. Cote. The fight was spend mostly on the feet and again was at a very face pace. However the veteran Sherk got the better on Griffin in the striking department and was awarded the unanimous decision victory to give Griffin his second career defeat. This fight was also named Fight of the Night.
