Live Blog: Forrest Griffin gets revenge with split decision

By Brett Okamoto

Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009 | 5 p.m.

Forrest Griffin waited over three years for a chance to beat Tito Ortiz after a very close split decision loss to the Huntington Beach Bad Boy in 2006.

On Saturday night, at UFC 106 at Mandalay Bay Events Center, Griffin got his revenge.

The fight was somewhat similar to the first meeting, with Griffin handling Ortiz on the feet and Ortiz scoring his points with takedowns and ground and pound.

It was also similar in that many fans probably wish the fight could have been five rounds, as the entire contest was extremely close.

The two shared smiles and a couple of jokes as soon as it came to a close before going to the judges' scorecards. One judge scored it 29-28 in favor of Ortiz. The other two went 29-28 and 30-27 for Griffin.

"Tito was a great fight for me to come back," Griffin said after pointing to Anderson Silva in the crowd and saying Silva 'broke him' in their fight at UFC 101. "I think we're going to have to do a third. It's 1-1, man."

Ortiz received a few boos from the crowd when he admitted that he was fighting with a cracked skull. Ortiz continued to say that Griffin was the better man on Saturday and that it was difficult for him to lose in his first fight back.

As the crowd booed at Ortiz's excuse of his health, Griffin came to his defense.

"Hey, you guys are booing but when you get in the gym and train to fight someone, sometimes you get hurt," he said.

Main Card:

Tito Ortiz v. Forrest Griffin

Round Three:

Griffin comes out looking to be aggressive. Ortiz is probably going to wait for the right takedown shot here. Good leg kicks from Griffin. A good high kick from Griffin and he follows with a few effective jabs. Ortiz hasn't thrown a punch yet, there he goes with a combination that just misses. Another straight left for Griffin. Ortiz really covering up his face right now, hasn't looked for a shot yet. Three minutes to go. There he shoots but it's defended by Griffin, who though guillotine for a second and then just pushed him off. Griffin fakes high and then goes low to the body with a straight punch. Ortiz mush have thought he won the first two rounds because he's not working any offense. There he decides to throw a left hand and gets countered badly. Ortiz throws a few punches now but they don't got much on them. One minute to go. Weak takedown attempt by Ortiz that Griffin defends easily. Good right hand by Griffin looked to buckle Ortiz's legs just a little and he clinches to save himself. Now the two stand and trade for the final 10 seconds. Griffin easily won the final round, it will depend on what the judges thought of the first two.

Round Two:

Ortiz goes for a big right hand to start second round but it's blocked by Griffin. Griffin tries a leg kick and Ortiz shoots and gets the takedown. Ortiz trying to work those elbows from the top position for the second time tonight. Griffin can't stay here for long. He wraps his arms around Ortiz, who looks to advance position but Griffin works to his feet. Griffin lands a good punch while Ortiz shoots and then a kick that knocks Ortiz's mouthpiece five feet. Griffin starting to control the standup. He's working uppercuts to straight punches. But Ortiz shoots again and gets his second takedown of the night. Griffin locks him up with his arms again, hoping referee Josh Rosenthal will force him to advance position or stand them up. Ortiz landing good elbows from top position. Griffin's face starting to look exactly like it did in the first fight, but he reverses positions and gets on top and crowd is going nuts for it. Griffin in Ortiz's half guard landing some good shots of his own, trying to drive that elbow down. Griffin ends round on top, don't know if that will be enough to win him the round.

Round One:

Fighters touch gloves and rematch is on. Ortiz comes forward and Griffin knocks him back with a jab. Crowd chanting 'Forrest'. Ortiz throws a high kick and Griffin blocks it and counters. Again Ortiz throws a leg kick and Griffin counters by coming forward with straight punches. Ortiz shoots and lands his first takedown of the night. Easy takedown for Ortiz and we've seen this before. Ortiz working ground and pound from Griffin's full guard. You could see him get a burst of adrenaline from that takedown. Griffin goes for a kimora attempt that Ortiz breaks but Griffin uses the chance to work to his feet. The two clinch against the cage, first Griffin's back to it then Ortiz. Clinch breaks, back to standup with two minutes left. The two mirror each other with hooks but Griffin lands a nice extra one to finish. Ortiz goes for the takedown but Griffin defends. Crowd chants one name then the other. Ortiz leads with a big left hand but misses and Griffin works him into a clinch against the fence. End of close first round.

Anthony Johnson v. Josh Koscheck

Round Two:

Now Johnson complains of an eye poke early in second round. Action stops for a moment and Koscheck comes back when it starts with a strong kick to Johnson's body. Johnson just ducks away from Koscheck's right hand and now Johnson goes down complaining of an eye poke again. Replay shows it's for real. Action stops for the third time. Now it starts again and Johnson looks like he wants to be aggressive. Big exchange from both fighters in the middle of the Octagon, ended by a kick from Johnson. Koscheck shoots and gets the takedown. Koscheck working elbows from the top position. Johnson locks his arms around Koscheck to slow the strikes, but he's still taking a lot of elbows. Johnson can't get out of this position and Koscheck is doing a lot of damage from his half guard. Now Koscheck takes the back and slips in the rear naked choke and that's it for Johnson. He could not handle Koscheck's wrestling.

Round One:

Two fighters meet right in center of Octagon. Koscheck lands a left hook. Koscheck staying patient, throws overhand right out of nowhere. Johnson lands a jab as Koscheck tries to duck and then comes forward with more straight combinations. Johnson mixing in leg kicks as well. Johnson lands a right counter when Koscheck comes forward that dropped him for a second. Koscheck up against the cage a little dazed, he shoots in, Johnson throws him off and then they wrestle to the ground in a clinch. They stay that way for awhile before Johnson throws an illegal knee while Koscheck is on his knees. Doesn't get more obvious than that. Johnson looks frustrated with himself, throwing his hands in the air and patting his chest acknowledging the illegal strike. Mario Yamasaki deducts a point from Johnson. Now they're going to bring in the doctor to check out Koscheck, who is blinking his left eye quite a bit. Action finally resumes. Koscheck comes forward and lands a right hand. Koscheck shoots, Johnson defends and they end up in a clinch against the cage with a minute to go. Koscheck still wrestling for takedown and he gets it. Johnson crouching down with Koscheck trying to take his back. He does and looks for the rear naked. It looked dangerous for a second but Koscheck gives up on the choke. Round ends.

Jacob Volkmann v. Paulo Thiago

Round Three:

Good right hand by Thiago to start round three and so far it just doesn't look like Volkmann should be standing with this guy. Now Thiago puts Volkmann down again with a punch, but Volkmann hanging in. Volkmann back to his feet — the last place he wants to be. He shoots the takedown but Thiago sprawls. Volkmann shoots again and this time he gets the takedown. Volkmann moves to side control and then traps Thiago's arms, leaving him defenseless to a few good elbows before Thiago throws him off. Now Thiago looking for the anaconda choke, but Thiago had his arm in and survives. On replay, looks like some of Thiago's strikes in later rounds were with an open hand. Thiago wins by unanimous decision.

Round Two:

More striking dominated by Thiago to start the round. Volkmann kicks but Thiago catches and kicks his other leg out from under him. Volkmann gets back to his feet and lands a takedown. Best moments of the fight so far for Volkmann, who is using his wrestling to keep Thiago down and try to work some ground and pound. Fight moves to the clinch against the fence where it stays for awhile. Volkmnann gets the better of a small exchange and wrestles Thiago back to the ground. Now Volkmann mounts but Thiago reverses and puts Volkmann on his back. Thiago working out of Volkmann's full guard and even though he isn't causing a lot of damage, staying in this position may win him the round. Now he stands, throws Volkmann's legs and comes crashing down with a right hand.

Round One:

Thiago keeping Volkmann out of rhythm as the busier fighter, throwing a big kick that gets a response from the crowd. Volkmann looked to be in a good position for a takedown with Thiago against the cage, but Thiago just muscles him down to the canvas instead. Thiago moves to the mount position but Volkmann squirms out of it. Thiago still in top position though where he lands a decent elbow. Volkmann kicks him off and thiago lets him get to his feet. Volkmann shoots but Thiago sprawls and defends it well. Thiago lands a good uppercut, hook combo and then a straight right that drops Volkmann right as the horn sounds. Thiago walked off like he thought he won the fight but we're going to round two.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira v. Luiz Cane

Round One:

Welcome to the UFC Lil Nog. He starts with the conservative approach, trying to get a feel for Cane. Nogueira lands a decent left hand as the first big strike of the night. Now Nogueira lands two more and Cane retreats to get his composure. Nogueira catches him though and lands a few more to put Cane against the cage and then levels him with a left hook. That's it for Cane. Nog wins by TKO at 1:56 mark.

"I feel very good to be here," Nogueira said. "It's the biggest chance for my career to be in this promotion. I know Cane's a very good boxer and I respect him, but I trained a lot and wanted to keep it standing.

Phil Baroni v. Amir Sadollah

Round Three:

Sadollah throwing some good leg kicks early in round three. Sadollah eats a jab as he comes forward with a kick. Sadollah comes forward with punches and knees and Baroni swings and misses so hard with a counter he almost falls over. Superman punch from Sadollah hits. Good elbow by Sadollah there open another cut on Baroni's forehead. Sadollah lands another combination of punch, knee and Baroni looks in trouble but stays up. Blood is really coming out of that cut from Baroni's forehead. Sadollah ends the round with a flurry of knees and Baroni kneels down immediately at the horn. Unanimous decision win for Sadollah.

Round Two:

Baroni's pace much less to start this round and Sadollah has become the aggressor, moving forward. Baroni leans against the cage even when a clinch breaks and it looks like he's a bit worn out. Sadollah lands a kick threw Baroni's gloves. Frew more kicks from Sadollah. Baroni is doing nothing but keeping his back to the cage and trying to counter. It looks like he's still got something behind his punches, but Sadollah is winning the round so far on activity alone. Sadollah goes for a flying knee that Baroni blocks. Sadollah loses his balance for a second from a Baroni punch but Baroni doesn't have the energy to jump down and capitalize off it.

Round One:

Baroni comes out aggressive, knocking Sadollah down in the first 20 seconds with hard body shots, but Sadollah recovers. Sadollah trying to keep up with this frantic pace from Baroni. Sadollah now bleeding from the right side of his face but he's hanging in there, working the Muay Thai clinch and landing a few knees. Now he shoves Baroni up against the cage in a clinch to maybe try and wear him out, Baroni has barely stopped throwing since the fight started. Now Baroni doing a little dirty boxing but Sadollah still using the clinch to his advantage. Now Baroni catches Sadollah off guard and takes him down. Sadollah may actually prefer this situation and Baroni lets him up to his feet. Straight right hand lands for Sadollah. Now good knee lands for Sadollah from the clinch. Sadollah lands a few good shots to finish the round and Baroni is bleeding badly.

Prelims:

Ben Saunders v. Marcus Davis

Davis comes forward and puts Saunders into a clinch against the cage. Saunders pushes him off but Davis comes right back to the position. Saunders landed a knee while Davis was coming forward though and it looks like Davis is bleeding a little from a cut near his right eye. Saunders working the Muay Thai clinch again and lands a few more good knees. More knees from the Muay Thai clinch from Saunders and he lands two right under the chin of Davis that puts him out for good. Huge TKO win for for the Killa B.

"I'm on top of the world," Sanders said. "This was the most amazing fight of my career. I respect Marcus Davis's talent and experience and I hope I can be where he's at 10 years from now."

Kendall Grove v. Jake Rosholt

After a brief feeling out, Rosholt shoots for the takedown and body slams Grove to the canvas. Grove doesn't want to let Rosholt turn this into a wrestling match where he clearly has the advantage. Grove works to his feet but Rosholt takes him down again. Grove doing a nice job of scrambling up each time though and his height alone is making it hard for Rosholt to control him. Now Grove beats Rosholt at his own game, clinching him against the fence and landing the takedown. Rosholt gets back to his feet though and lands some good shots, first a right hand and then a knee. Rosholt gets the takedown but leaves his right arm down and Grove throws his legs up and gets the triangle choke for a first round submission win.

Brian Foster v. Brock Larson

Feeling out process doesn't last long, as both Foster and Larson come out swinging. Larson got the better of it and Foster seems to have been bothered by it on his right eye. Larson lands the takedown and puts Foster against the cage. Foster works to his feet to a clinch and then takes Larson down and mounts him quickly before Larson throws him off. Larson still on his back though and Foster stands over him and lands some wild haymakers that seemed to have Larson in trouble for a bit. Foster works back to the mount and Larson working to just survive the round now. And now Larson kicks out Foster's legs from under him and lands a direct kick to his face. Action stops and that should be a point deduction for Larson, and referee Yves Lavigne says it is. Action resumes and with 30 seconds left Larson puts Foster in a guillotine and knees the top of his head while Foster's hand was touching the canvas which is another point deduction.

Foster showing his toughness. Both illegal shots looked pretty rough but he comes out swinging to start round two. Now a long period of inactivity from both fighters, as both feint but neither want to come in. Foster ends the standoff with style, landing a kick a few punches and then taking Larson down and working some very effective ground and pound. Larson survives, gets back to his feet but then gets knocked down again by an uppercut and Foster finishes him from there. Foster gets the TKO win at 3:25 mark of second round.

Fabricio Camoes v. Caol Uno

Great kick by Camoes lands early in round one. Uno tries to answer with one of his own but Camoes catches and takes him down for a second, but Uno back to his feet. Camoes lands a knee from the Muay Thai and follows it up with a takedown. Uno back to his feet but Camoes wrestles a takedown and takes Uno's back. Camoes working for a rear naked choke, looks deep. Uno fighting for his life and somehow slips out. Uno trying to make the most of this second life as he works a takedown following a clinch against the cage. Uno landing some good ground and pound towards the end, but still looks like a round for Camoes.

Both fighters landing some shots to start the second round until Camoes gets the takedown. Good reversal by Uno though who ends up on top. And now Camoes is gets a point deducted for hitting Uno in the face with his kneel while he was knelt in his guard. Action resumes and Camoes works to his feet, lands a few good shots and looks to take Uno down. Again Uno does a nice job of reversing the takedown and winding up on top, but he hasn't done much damage from this position.

Camoes lands a straight right hand as Uno comes forward with a kick. Uno slips on a leg kick and then is slow getting up, he looks a little tired. Uno pressing forward, exchanges strikes and takes Camoes down. Uno needs to score some points here. Uno trying to land strikes but Camoes defending nicely. Uno now works into side control and then takes Camoes's back for a second but he slips out. That deducted point for Camoes turns out huge, as the fight is declared a majority draw.

"I understand the game — the ref took a point there," Camoes said. "I was making my debut against a legend and I'm happy with my performance. I try to evolve in every aspect of the fight game. I almost got him with the choke, but he's very experienced."

Jason Dent v. George Sotiropoulos

Fight begins with Sotiropoulos on the attack, coming forward with a few punch combinations. Sotiropoulos looks for the Muay Thai clinch but Dent knocks him back. Now Dent lands a few good shot. Fighters trade a few shots at the center of the Octagon. Good body shot by Dent lands. Sotiropoulos shoots and lands the takedown but Dent puts him in halfguard and avoids damage. Sotiropoulos stays on top and moves to north/south and now mounts. Dent covering up but Sotiropoulos is landing some good elbows from the mount.

Sotiropoulos lands a kick to start second round. Dent can't afford to let this fight go to the ground again. Over a minute in and Sotiropoulos hasn't looked for the takedown yet, striking has been pretty even. Now Sotiropoulos catches a leg kick and takes Dent to the ground. Sotiropoulos dominating on the ground, moving to side control and landing some good elbows. Dent able to scoot to the cage and back to his feet, but Sotiropoulos quickly puts him back on the ground and mounts. Sotiropoulos now looking for the armbar, Dent trying to fight it with 30 seconds left but Sotiropoulos wrestles it free and gets the submission win.

"I went for the arm crush and I was holding the leg but he defended," Sotiropoulos said. "So, I let go of the leg and went for the arm and got it."

Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or [email protected].