Jackson vs. Griffin: An ultimate classic night at the fights

Preview by Brady Crytzer

Tough as nails. Scrappy. Personable. These adjectives can be used to describe, both, champion and challenger, as fans prepare for UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin.

The event could possibly be designated with some obscure moniker such as “Knockout,” “Reality Check” or the still-lingering “Bedlam.” Perhaps some play on words is possible, but it’s certainly not necessary. Instead, we are left with something as simple and as entirely appropriate as the names of the fighters involved.

After nearly a year away from active competition, both light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and challenger Forrest Griffin will meet in Las Vegas to offer up the UFC’s first classic, blood-and-guts personality clash.

Classic boxing replays offer a new generation of fans the opportunity to see some of the sport’s finest wiseguys and slicksters do battle for fifteen fuzzy and colorless rounds. These instances have been instrumental in shaping the unique treasure that is boxing history. 

The UFC is about to have its moment. 

It appears that all of the elements are there. The champion Jackson does not have an Olympic wrestling pedigree. The challenger Griffin has not won the Golden Gloves. Their MMA debuts weren’t headline news and they weren’t professional wrestling superstars. 

It’s hard to imagine that a former police officer from Ohio and a child of urban Tennessee would be meeting for the title of light heavyweight champion. As they prepare to do battle, this pair of lifelong underdogs has captured the attention of the world.

Griffin’s never-say-die style is an enticing match for Jackson’s rough necked sturdiness. While neither man has outstanding or consistent knockout power, they both enjoy a good slugfest almost as much as a good joke. In a sport like this one, it’s hard to find two more likeable individuals that would love nothing more than to tear each other apart. 

The champion Jackson has made a career out of using his brutal strength to jump to international stardom. He has a wrestling edge over his opponent and seems to have the more powerful strikes, but his past is ever present. After three devastating knockouts at the hands of Brazilians Wanderlai Silva and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Jackson went through a nearly two year slump of losses. It appeared that whatever fueled Quinton Jackson to become “Rampage” was long gone.

A second chance in the form of a UFC contract revitalized Jackson, and a May 2007 knockout over long-reigning champion Chuck Liddell sent him skyrocketing to the top of the light heavyweight division. Just four months later, the once broken Jackson became the undisputed best 205 pound fighter in world defeating PrideFC titlist Dan Henderson. 

Forrest Griffin found stardom in a much different way. The winner of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, Griffin partook in one of the most important bouts in UFC history as he scored a decision victory over Stephan Bonnar. The world had been introduced to the UFC and Griffin was their poster child. His career in the Octagon was an overall success. Though he won a majority of his bouts, losses to Tito Ortiz and Keith Jardine sent him to the back of the line of title contenders. 

In typical Griffin fashion, the Ohio-native turned the MMA world on its head when he defeated the man largely considered as the top light heavyweight in the world in Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. The same man that decimated Quinton Jackson just two years earlier was beaten down and roughed up by the sport’s quintessential everyman. Griffin defeated Rua on the feet and on the mat, never once bothering to mention a severely separated shoulder. 

While it is unclear who will win the bout at this point, fans debate Jackson’s strength against Griffin’s toughness. Both men have been down, but neither one has proven to be out. On July 5, two men plagued by defeats and adored for their resilience meet for the sport’s grandest crown. 

Griffin and Jackson now step into the shoes of the fifteen round warriors of days gone by. The ropes, now replaced by unforgiving chain link fencing, will do little to separate the hearts and minds of fans from battling alongside this dynamic duo. Adrenaline junkies in the highest sense, these two gentleman dream of nothing more than to trade punches with no regard for their own well being. 

Hopefully for the sake of our curious grandchildren watching replays in the years to come, their wishes come true.