UFC 101 Analysis: Can Griffin Pull off the Upset?

Forrest Griffin has long been one of the UFC's most popular fighters. Through four years of hard work, he's also become one of the best. Griffin, famously, works harder than anyone else in the sport of MMA. The result is a fighter who can test his opponent for five long rounds and can more than hold his own both on the ground and on his feet.
Anderson Silva is the anti-Griffin. It's not that he doesn't work hard: he certainly does. It's just that every thing he does comes so naturally. While Griffin struggles to maintain good footwork, Silva flows around the cage, a natural killer. Even Griffin's supposed weight advantage seems moot. Looking like a young Jack Johnson, it seems Silva even puts on extra bulk gracefully.
In almost every category, Silva has the distinct advantage. If it's a pretty fight, where the guys stand at a normal distance and trade strikes, Forrest is a dead man. But in close, in the trenches, when things get ugly, this is his opportunity. A source close to his camp tells me Griffin's gameplan is to create this ugly fight. If you see a fight where Forrest is pushing Silva against the cage, leaning on him, trying to bully him...this may still result in a knockout win for Silva from the Thai clinch. But Griffin will have gone out fighting his fight.
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Snowden thinks he is being clever: all that analysis and no prediction. I’m a real man and will say: Silva KO RD2
by Ty Lannister on Aug 8, 2009 12:46 PM EDT reply actions

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![Forrest Griffin on losing to Anderson Silva and possibly fighting Jon Jones:
Forrest - "I hope I'm not fighting Jon "Bones" Jones. I might be. Fuck it; if I am, I am. I'll do it, but I'm not even training right now. That's a bad dude. That dude wil' whup my ass. Fuck it. What's the worst...I mean, it couldn't be worse than Anderson Silva. It shouldn't be worse than that, right? Every fight I go into, no matter what happens, it couldn't be worse than Anderson Silva," Griffin pointed out. "'Cos that shit was a year ago and literally every day people ask me something about that. 'What happened...What happened?' You want to know what happened? It's on page 23 [of my new book] if you need to know. Check it out."
Ellis - "He punched you in the chin."
Forrest - "Repeatedly. And I was very confused. I tried to punch him and he literally moved his head out of the way and looked at me like I was stupid for doing it. He looked at me like, 'Why would you do such a stupid thing?' He looked at me like, 'Oh, did you really think you were going to hit me? What a stupid thing to think you slow, slow white boy,' and then he punched me. I felt embarrassed for even trying to punch him. I felt like some kid trying to wrestle with his dad."](http://cdn1.sbnation.com/fan_shot_images/139048/2_small.jpg)












