Forrest Griffin at all times has one other story to inform about Stephan Bonnar and their history-making run on The Final Fighter.
Their April 9, 2005, scrap has lengthy been revered as one of the vital vital fights in UFC historical past, with Griffin finally profitable a warfare of attrition to earn a call over Bonnar and turn into the sunshine heavyweight event champion of the first-ever TUF season. Since then, the bout has been inducted into the UFC Corridor of Fame Struggle wing and is usually cited as taking part in a serious position in pushing the promotion to the mainstream.
Throughout a current look on the Verse Us podcast, Griffin mirrored upon his relationship with Bonnar (who died in 2022), and the way “The American Psycho” greater than lived as much as his moniker.
“We turned buddies,” Griffin mentioned. “He’s a weirdo, I’m a weirdo. He’s nuts. He jogs my memory of one in every of my greatest pals, who’s additionally handed, however he’s similar to he has an excellent coronary heart, however he’s insane. He’s like, ‘Let’s do that,’ however he means effectively, I’m like, ‘That’s a horrible concept.’ Particularly if you’re in your 20s, you want a man that may make you do silly issues. He was an journey. He was like a strolling journey. You simply carry him in and he’s like, ‘Hey, I obtained an concept,’ and also you’re like, ‘That’s a horrible concept. Let’s do it.’”
“We had been strolling right into a bar, out of a bar, these three dudes are messing with us and it’s no matter, and he simply out of nowhere—there’s three of them, three of us—he head kicks a man, knocks out their chief,” Griffin continued. “Head kicks. We’re in costume garments, strolling right into a membership, folks in all places. Sure, Bonnar. I have a look at the opposite two guys with him. They’re in shock, I’m in shock. I don’t know what to do, they don’t know what to do. They only choose their man up and transfer on. We simply go within the membership, like, ‘I hope no one noticed that.’”
It wasn’t a quick friendship for Griffin and Bonnar within the early days of the present. Even earlier than it turned clear they must undergo one another to win the TUF event, the competitors was fierce, and Griffin rubbed each Bonnar and season coach Randy Couture the incorrect means at first.
“Randy didn’t like me straight away as a result of me and Stephan clashed heads,” Griffin mentioned. “The outdated fitness center, there was the mat, and so I stepped down off the mat, Stephan was coming ahead, and I type of appeared again like, ‘Ow, my knee,’ since you stepped off the mat, and he hit me with a 1-2 proper then. I used to be like, ‘Oh, OK.’ So I clinched him and I began kneeing him, and we clashed heads, it was a giant lower.
“I ended up going actually arduous with [Mike] Swick, too, as a result of I didn’t know Swick was good. He instantly shot and took me down. I used to be like, ‘Oh, OK,’ so I ended up throwing him on the concrete. So Randy didn’t like that I used to be simply type of like—however you set folks in sparring, I don’t know these folks. I don’t know these folks. Hastily, individuals are going arduous with me, we’re sparring, the primary week. It’s loopy, proper?”
Ultimately, Griffin turned shut pals with Bonnar and even earned Couture’s respect, with the multiple-time UFC champion later inviting Griffin to coach with him after TUF was over.
Every thing comes again to his first battle with Bonnar, although, which memorably aired dwell on Spike TV on. Because it wasn’t a pay-per-view occasion, the primary TUF finale managed to attract loads of informal eyeballs all through the night, no extra so than when it turned clear Griffin and Bonnar had been throwing down right away traditional.
On the time, the 2 had been competing for a six-figure UFC contract. That they had no concept that this little battle on free TV would assist to form the whole MMA trade.
“You can really feel the stomping within the cage,” Griffin mentioned when requested if he had any idea of the influence his battle with Bonnar would have in the long term. “I’d been in some massive fights, I’d fought in entrance of 1000’s of individuals, I’d fought all around the world by that point, which is admittedly good, type of like I’d had a profession earlier than I obtained to the UFC, which is vital.
“However no. The factor is, after that battle, I knew my life was modified.”
