Forrest Griffin edged Tito Ortiz by split decision on Saturday in the main event of UFC 106 in Las Vegas, using a dominant third round to even their career series at 1-1 in the pay-per-view headliner.
The first two rounds between the pair were close, as Ortiz wrestled Griffin to the ground several times and unloaded ground and pound while Forrest connected with punches and kicks on the feet, but Griffin dominated the third, battering Ortiz with strikes to earn the split decision with scores of 28-29, 30-27, and 29-28.
Griffin snaps a two-fight losord his ing streak and improves to 17-6 with the win, while the returning Ortiz, fighting for the first time in 18-months, falls to 15-7-1 after failing to record his first victory since 2006.
Excuses were aplenty after the bout, as Griffin said a broken foot hampered his performance in the fight, while Ortiz said his training was limited due to bulging discs in his surgically-repaired back as well as a facial fracture that resulted in a noticeable black eye.
The narrow decision and satisfying action means a rubber match between the former light heavyweight champions is likely, and both fighters indicated after the matchup that they were open to meeting again.
In the UFC 106 co-headliner, welterweight contender Josh Koscheck resorted to his wrestling to take out knockout artist Anthony Johnson, recovering from an illegal knee and powerful combination suffered in the first to force Johnson to tap to a rear naked choke late in the second round.
After the win, Koscheck, improving to 14-4 with his second-straight win, called out upcoming welterweight challenger Dan Hardy and plead for a rematch with title-holder Georges St-Pierre. Johnson falls to 8-3 and has his three-fight win streak snapped in the loss.
Also on the UFC 106 main card, Paulo Thiago grinded out a unanimous decision over newcomer Jacob Volkmann, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira made his UFC debut with a first-round knockout of Luiz Cane, and Amir Sadollah battered a return Phil Baroni en route to a unanimous decision victory.
In preliminary card action, Ben Saunders picked up a first-round knockout of Marcus Davis, Kendall Grove forced Jake Rosholt to tap to an opening-round triangle choke, Brian Foster recovered from two illegal strikes to take out Brock Larson via second-round TKO, Fabricio Camoes and Caol Uno fought to a majority draw after Camoes lost a point, and George Sotiropoulos submitted Jason Dent with an armbar in the night’s first fight.
The official results for UFC 106 were:
- Forrest Griffin def. Tito Ortiz via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
- Josh Koscheck def. Anthony Johnson via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 2, 4:47
- Paulo Thiago def. Jacob Volkmann via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira def. Luiz Cane via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:56
- Amir Sadollah def. Phil Baroni via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Ben Saunders def. Marcus Davis via KO (knee) – Round 1, 3:24
- Kendall Grove def. Jake Rosholt via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 3:59
- Brian Foster def. Brock Larson via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 3:25
- Fabricio Camoes vs. Caol Uno – majority draw (29-27 28-28 28-28)
- George Sotiropoulos def. Jason Dent via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 4:36
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Shouldnt of been a split, Forrest definatly won byy U.D.
who cares man a win is a win
Forrest should have won by UD?
Really?
Did I just imagine him getting gNp’ed something stupid for the first 2 rounds of the fight?
Just sayin…
Wow…yeah man you must have imagined that because it certainly wasn’t reality, but at least Tito was able to get through 3 full rounds with his bulging disc the number of which confused the hell out of him and his “cracked skull”. lol…what a joke.
Forrest also picked Tito apart standing. Tito’s GNP wasn’t that impressive tonight, I personally had the bout 30-27, if not 30-26, since Tito did NOTHING in the third round.
In the second, after Forrest got the reversal he landed as many strikes from top as Tito did, only Tito cut Forrest, which we know how easy that is.
wow great fight for minotoro
Kos won the “eye for an eye” fight! He’s more of a threat than Hardy…he would destry Hardy if they fought. I vote for Kos vs. GSP 2
Is it just me, or is anyone else wondering if Dan Hardy has a UFC-level ground game to match his stand-up?
We will soon find out my friend, unfortunately for him…..
My post-106 thoughts
- Maybe Joe Silva could get around to signing G Sotiropoulos to a fight that we could really get fired up about, like against Grat maynard?
- Caol Uno, majority draw.
How often does THAT happen?
- Brian Foster, the new poster child for the H.I.T. [Hughes Intensive Training] Squad out of Granite City, Illinois.
Matt and Robbie Lawler must be proud.
- Kendall Grove would probably be a .500 fighter if he weren’t 6 and a half feet tall.
- Ben Saunders made a believer out of me tonite. I never thought he’d beat Marcus Davis by a “holy sh!t!” knockout. Would love to see a rematch against Mike Swick, or maybe a throwdown with Anthony Johnson.
- Amir Sadollah is the new “best EVA!”
- Luiz Cane and his supporters kept calling for bigger, better fights. Along comes Little Nog to remind him of the old proverb about being careful for what you wish for.
Also, maybe Cane ought to work on some things, seeing as how he couldn’t last 2 minutes with a man some were wondering if he still had the stuff.
- Paulo Thiago wins.
Nothing fancy or flashy there, just grinding out a UD. I’ll be interested to see where he goes from here.
- Koscheck wins.
Ugh.
Not a fan of this guy, but you’ve got to admit that he shut off all of that Rumblemania noise pretty damned quick.
And Anthony Johnson seriously needs to work on his ground game in general, and his sub defense in particular.
Also, Josh Koscheck, if you want to fight Dan Hardy, thats fine. If you want to fight GSP again, I’ve got to ask why.
From what I could determine tonite Kocheck’s game hasn’t enormously improved or expanded, and GSP is the DNA of MMA.
What does Kos think will happen differently in a rematch?
And shouldn’t your boy Jon Fitch get a GSP rematch before you, seeing as how he’s, y’know, better than you?
Or is Kos just oping to land a lucky Serra punch on the Greatness?
- How is it that Tito STILL has back problems after 18+ months off and corrective back surgery? And I thought Tito had learned his lesson about over-training? How the fu<k do you come into a fight with Forrest Griffin with a broken face?
Unreal, but I guess thats Tito for you.
Also, I'm probably in the minority, but I'm not 100% feeling the decision in that fight, but its not like I think it was as out of whack as some shady decisions we've seen drop lately.
The good news is the fight was so good and so close that both guys come out shining, and both guys are eyeballing a rubber match in 2010 sometime.
Good card, and a strong finish to MMA's November to remember IMO…
I agree with you. I had Tito winning the first 2 rounds. Im not a big fan of wrestlers but I thought he clearly controlled the fight through the first 2 rounds. Granted he only threw 1 punch in the 3rd I think that should have been a 10-8 for Forrest which should have made the fight a draw.
We discussed that, but I could not give a 10-8 without a knockdown, regardless of how few strikes Tito threw.
One thing I think we can all agree upon after last night’s fight was that no one should EVER think they’ve got the fight won, and basically take a round off, unless there is some sort of injury issue present…
Man i just got off a flight from ireland coming back from afghanistan and i missed the fights. Sucks as Forrest is my favorite fighter. Owell glad he won, a lil upset that Rumble lost, hopefully this will be his “wake-up” fight like Tito was for Forrest the first time. Glad to see Lil Nog tearin it up… i’d like to see him vs Forrest or winner of Jones and hammil.
Little Nog versus either Hamill or Jones is worth 55 bucks IMO, regardless of whatever else Dana slides onto the card…
LIL NOG v the winner of Evans v Silva imho
man where do i start? first i would like to sit dana white down and chat for numerous hours….. dana i know you read these things, and i have had the pleasure of meeting you and i do respect what you do, but these main events have to stop………always go by your gut instinct you said publicly “i am out of the tito ortiz business” didn’t you….he is washed up he has zero standup game and his cardio is below a 5k runners cardio “terrible”……listen anyone that knows anything about these two characters understands that first and foremost no one is getting ko and both submission games are weak as well. dana awnser this one question?????? when kaleb starnes ran the entire fight in canada “which was a disgrace to fighting” he was cut by the ufc and deservingly so….. that third round performance by tito, pull the iron chef knife out and cut him….. dispicable, the fans that paid the $250 for below average seats in mandalay bay got riiiiiiiiiiped off, because tito thought he had won the first two rounds and decides to stall and maybe throw 8 punches in five minutes……..is this what you call ultimate fighting????? wow….. i have been to six live events and this is why i stopped i have purchased ppv and this is why i stopped over a year and a half ago…… this is not fighting, if i wanted to see guys spar i will go to the local gym and watch for free….. dana i know its a cash cow right now and i understand the business aspect of this, but please limit the fights, having two ppv fights a month is a bit ridiculous……build some anticipation up for a good fight……nights like tonight and so many other nights lately are going to be the downfall of this cash cow…… when the free spike tv fights are better than the ppv card there is a problem, houston we have a problem….. dana i know you read these and i do really like what you and the fertita bros. have accomplished in a short period of time, but please don’t keep this train on this same path, because the tracks are getting loose……tito has no game, dana you and i and the rest of the mma world no that, iron chef your loss and bring a fighter up that is deserving to headline an event in vegas…..fans want to see finishes, not stalling out for decision fights……on a different note, my prayers and wishes are for brock at this time what a great human being first and foremost and what a champion……..dana i don’t want anything but for you to give me five minutes of your busy day……the ufc is all the fight fans have to appreciate since boxing died, please take care of your true fans……..
forrests submission game is weak?
IMO it was a dame good card. Did’nt have too high hope but all in all was a exciting card.
Just as an FYI, Forrest Griffin trains at Xtreme Couture, and routinely rolls wit guys like Robert Drysdale and Neil Melanson, so I wouldn’t be too quick to call out his submission game.
But maybe thats just me.
However I do agree with your sentiments about fans wanting to see finishes to fights, especially “big” fights, and that Tito thought he’d won the first 2 rounds and stupidly cruised the third.
Not only was he mistaken, but he p!ssed away a chance to win the fight…
Well as I come to the FrenZy @ 11:47 after watching the Prelims on SPIKE, then UFC 106 on PPV then switched over to the “great 6″ tourney on Showtime (boxing) Ward v Kessler ie 5 and half hours of fights, lets just say I’ve had a good evening of fights……..
Kendall Grove had an awesome triangle and is working hard at his craft, i’m not a fan but good on ya kid
Brock Larson REALLY? wow he didn’t seem himself what so ever, tap due to strikes I just didn’t see that coming
George S, wow nice split to get the armbar, nice JJ forsure good match
LIL NOG, hello sir nice to see you in the Octagon, couldn’t have won it more impressively…
KOS v AJ was um odd, and that “knee to a downed opponent” didn’t even hit him in his eye and the poke was in the other eye, nice finish by KOS but it was an interesting fight to say the least
Ben Saunders, well who doesn’t love his mouth piece? and wow he KO’D Davis and that was a bit crazy actually, he is progressing nicely
Baroni v Sadollah well I can’t believe that it went to a decision and I don’t care Baroni is awesome, good showing by Amir and wow he has worked on his Thai sooo much good stuff, Baronin @ UFC in New Jersey goodness I hope so…
Paulo Thiago fights with anger and passion, it was a good fight and well just entertaining…
The main Event was pretty good, now not being a Ortiz fan and being a Griffin fan we all know who I wanted to win and in the first round Tito did well ok but after that not much, in his pre fight (during the prelims) interview Tito didn’t seem too confident and well I think as the fight went on I believe he ‘quit”…… Forrest did good but really when it became a split decision me and the fellas got a bit “worried” for I’m a person that thought that Forrest won the first match but anyways good stuff and a good bout…. I think it is a crazy “claim” that tito had a “cracked skull” coming into this fight, I believe that the NSAC would have caught that….. and his back pain??????????? buldging disk??????????? well atleast it was entertaining, no?
O and Ward owned Kessler, yet won due to cuts (head butts) via technical unanimous decision it was a one sided affair…..
The whole bulging disk Crap was exactly that Crap. Having a herniated disk in the cervical spine area (Neck) would stop a guy from fighting, IMO and the orthopaedic surgeons i work with opinion.
Last night one of my regular MMA crew brought his female, a nurse, to my place for 106.
When she heard about all the bulging herniated disk-ology going on, she was also pretty quick to call bullsh!t on that…
Josh Koscheck shouldnt have won.. that knee went nowehere near the left side of his face, and then he pulls out his own intentional eye poke. cheats
Koscheck was going to win that fight regardless, because Rumble’s ground game hasn’t yet caught up to his stand-up…
Koscheck fakes an eye injury and takes 5 minutes to rest and catch his breath.
Koscheck (deliberately?) pokes Johnson in the eye.
Koscheck submits Johnson via rear naked choke.
Koscheck might’ve gotten KTFOd had he not faked the eye injury (I’m not certain, but Johnson might’ve been pwning him at that point).
Anyway, Koscheck fought dirty and won (you can argue that he has superior mma skills, and that might be true… but he still fought dirty, it seems). I was never a fan, but now I just don’t like the guy.
Uuuugh, am I the only one who cant stand Koscheck??? I thought he got rocked before he got kneed and got a little time to recover,,
Ya don’t say ;-)
Maybe he can win one of those acting awards the K-1 guys are fond of giving out. ;)
HAHAHA!
First things first, I thought Forrest lost on points. The second round was the obvious linch-pin, and after a second viewing, even watching it on mute, there is just no single, reasonable explanation that Forrest won that round. Forrest clearly lost the first round. As much as I root against Tito, he clearly got bit by the judging bug tonight.
Enough of that, because a gripe about the current scoring system will only open up a can of worms worse than debating religion or politics.
What I particularly took away from tonight’s card is that George Sotiropoulis needs to be given a legit chance to advance within the division. I would love to see him in a main card against a legit opponent. As far as sheer technical talent goes, I think he is (aside from that Penn guy) just as skilled as anyone around at 155 and would really like to see him challenged more. I think the level of opponents tossed his way so far is borderline embarrassing.
This is why judging is such a dicey proposition.
I like both fighters, but I wouldn’t catagorize myself as supporters of either guy.
I scored the fight 29-28 Ortiz, or if it were allowed I would have had it as a draw, 28-28, because Tito IMO lost that last round 10-8 upon additional watchings.
Justin H, a guy who’s MMA savvy I greatly respectm scored it [I think] 30-27, or even 30-26 with the 8 point final round.
I’ll admit to having been pretty tired by the time Griffin and Ortiz stepped in, and was occasionally distracted by guests questions and comments, but that alone doesn’t explain the disparity in our POVs on the fight.
People might get tired of hearing him say it, but thats why Dana urges his guys to finish their business in the cage as strongly as possible.
If Justin H and I are hypothetical judges cageside, factoring in our scores, its that third hypothetical judge essentially deciding who wins the fight…
anthony johnson is the welterweight cheick kongo
And he’s almost as big as Kongo.
Koscheck is a cheat. He faked injury and then poked his opponent in the eye not once but twice, then he had the audacity to talk sh*t to Dan Hardy. Booooooo to you Josh
Chris Leben had this guy figured out during TUF1, real exciting fighter Josh !!!!
I was hopin theyed give the dec to Forrest but I really thought theyd give it to Tito. It comes down to the same old thing: how much do you score TDs vs effective striking? Titos GnP wasnt nearly what it used to be tho he did some damage.
Impressive night overall: Lil Nog, Grove, Kos (dont care what u guys say, he did get poked by a draggin pinky and I dont think his poke was intentional but who knows), Amir/Phil (bar-room brawl, both those guys shoulda been knocked dead), Saunders (love the guys style but did NOT expect that!)
I would’ve much rather have seen a majority draw than the same fights over and over. It must’ve been some real BS for them to not show it.
The dragging pinky eye poke was the other eye.
Good to see forest not afraid to be ultra aggressive.I thought he might be a bit timid out of the gate.I personally never thought he lost a step.Good to see him prove it.He showed (win or loose)that he’s still one of,if not the most exiting fighter in the UFC.
Hey Kris,
Where’s the post fight presser?
http://mmafrenzy.com/ufc-video/
Thanks Justin.I actually already watched those clips.Was hoping to see the entire presser like you usually post here.
That’s UFC’s player, they control what is available, not us. Not on pc right now so I can’t do it, but you can scroll through a selection of videos. Maybe if you look through you can find it. Like I said, I’m mobile right now and can’t look myself though.
Ok, had a look see at it, and well, they did this after 105 as well. Used to, they would tell us they were showing it live, then it would have “technical difficulties” and then post it later, but the last few they have just done clips like this.
Just want to throw something out there that I haven’t seen a comment about yet, though I admittedly haven’t read all the comments.
Kos said after his fight, when he was calling out Dan Hardy, “He hasn’t fought anyone yet.” I would like to get his teammate Mike Swick’s opinion on that…
Did question that this moring when i watched it, but then again thought it’s KOS and well he talks as much crap a Tito.
I seriously thought that Tito vs Forrest was a lot closer that what was announced. I can’t say that I’m too surprised about the decision though. Dana… you should really make up your mind. Anyhoot, I still am a Tito fan regardless.
Dana should make up his mind what?
A “split decision” is pretty close, actually soo close that the judges were split on who they thought won the bout, actually one judge scored it for Ortiz, an Griffin essentially won by a single point that’s close, too close for comfort one might say ;-)
re. scoring
i give grif the W.
but whatever.
a few concepts still need to be considered in general
OCTAGON CONTROL – is it LEADING TO damage?
MOMENTUM – although griff was ahead on my card anyway, the real reason he gets the win from my eye is that he was picking up steam while tito was seeming more unlikely to do anything each minute
Ah Tito… sad.
Maybe they shouldn’t have a time limit on round 3 and do away with the scoring period.
Hmm…seems the potholes on this bridge are letting the hot air out from underneath.
What??? Just saying I think the scoring was bad imo.
What do you mean?
How in the hell do you go from getting knocked the F*** out to headlining
Because you’re popular and sell tickets/ppvs
Max,
There was major issues with UFC 106 and this was a good Main Event plus it had a really good “back story”, I wasn’t upset with the bout, I believe that the worst things to come out of UFC 106 was Karo doing what he did and the fact that Lesnar and Carwin didn’t happen (due to illness and surgery with Lesnar), Forrest v Tito was a solid main event, o and before someone responds with I should have had to pay for this card BS, let me remind you that last week we had 3 events and 1 was a PPV and the two weeks before that 3 events and 0 was PPV, its ok from the perspective I have on the situation…
I also posted on another thread in response to people who questioned whether or not Griffin-Ortiz was a PPV/main event caliber fight.
I won’t go back to cut and paste the whole thing, or post a link, but suffice to say that when two closely matched former 205 champions that sell tickets, t-shirts, and bump PPV numbers step in against each other, its a PPV main event.
And they proved as much by delivering a great fight, in spite of the fact that both fighters came to the cage at under 100%…
“UFC 106 draws 10,529 attendees (6,631 paid) for $3 million gate
This past weekend’s UFC 106 event drew 10,529 attendees for a $3,003,250 paid gate at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. However, 3,898 tickets (worth an additional $2,331,250) were issued complimentary. A total of 6,631 tickets were sold that accounted for the $3,003,250 gate.” (MMA Junkie)
Again I pose the question…
“How in the hell do you go from getting knocked the F*** out to headlining”
They sold 3 million dollars worth of tickets, and PPV numbers aren’t out yet… oh yeah, then there’s that whole “Brock Lesnar had crap dumping into his abdominal cavity” thing, and the “Mark Coleman blew out his knee” thing which meant the UFC needed people to step up and feel slots vacated by other fighters who were coming off wins.