You’ll have to forgive Tim Sylvia if he isn’t doing backflips over the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s new crop of made-for-TV stars. The UFC heavyweight champ is the first to credit The Ultimate Fighter reality show with catapulting mixed-martial arts to a new level.
Sylvia, who reclaimed his title by beating Belarus brawler Andrei Arlovski at last weekend’s UFC 59, said one needs to look no further than the undercard of that fight to see the reality-TV-trained media darlings are no match for the veterans of the cage.
At the Anaheim event, the show’s Season One winner took on UFC fixture and notorious big-mouth Tito Ortiz in a light-heavyweight match.
After a gruelling first-round clinic and a back-and-forth second and third, Ortiz knocked Griffin back to reality with a split decision win.
Sylvia points out Ortiz, a former world champ who earned his right to fight in the Octagon by climbing the ranks, was the first real test for instant celebrity Griffin. A test Griffin failed.
Good lord. Forrest losing a close split decision to a former UFC champ proves that the TUF guys can hang. Most were expecting Forrest to get mauled. Since there is no direct quote in there I really, really hope that is just Sylvia being misquoted.
Also, I love the triple A comment. Many would consider UFCs heavyweight division triple A at this point.
Jesus, I love how the writer makes it seem like these guys have never fought before, like they’re just some shmoes fresh out of the Real World: Las Vegas. While their overall ability to hang in the UFC is debatable (esp. for some of the show’s non-winners), these guys DO have fight records. You gotta start somewhere…
Uhhh, didn’t Diego Sanchez beat Nick Diaz?