As the consensus top-ranked light heavyweight fighter in the world prepares for his first title defense against Rashad Evans next Saturday at UFC 92, the main thing the Xtreme Couture fighter seemingly wants you to know is that he is notthe best … or even very good.
“You look at the (other) champions: Anderson Silva, terrifying. B.J. Penn, terrifying,” Griffin said after defeating Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 86 in July. "Every other champion but me is pretty terrifying. I'm just a dude who's trying to put it together."
In an industry where overconfidence is all but a prerequisite for success, the thing that truly separates Griffin from the pack has always been his unwavering refusal to give himself any credit.
Since becoming one of the only “surprise” winners of “The Ultimate Fighter” during the reality show’s first season back in 2005, Griffin’s career has been typified by three things: Almost unparalleled success in the UFC’s 205-pound division, an insistence on being “funny” that borders on pathological and a seemingly uncanny ability to underestimate himself.
Even as champion Griffin is apparently unwilling to even consider himself as worthy of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the company’s elite. He’s reached the mountain top but still claims to be just a “normal dude.”
What’s this guy’s deal?
Is the overachieving Griffin simply a realist? Is he the only MMA fighter on the planet endowed with the ability to honestly and objectively assess his own talent? Does he need a shrink?
Answer: Not a chance. Griffin is just following a tried and true strategy that coaches in other sports have been using for years. After all else is said and done, the truth is this:
Forrest Griffin is Lou Holtz.
Holtz, the legendary former coach at Notre Dame, made a 30-year career out of telling the media his team was probably going to get its butt kicked when it took the field on Saturday. Regardless of whether the Fighting Irish were going to suit up to face the No. 1 team in the nation or were going to play a laugher against the Southern Indiana School for the Deaf and Blind, Holtz would spend the week telling anybody who would listen that his boys were in for a war.
The results spoke for themselves. Holtz became the only coach in NCAA history to lead six different programs to bowl games and the only coach to guide four different schools to the final top 20 rankings. He is a multiple winner of National Coach of the Year award and now earns a comfortable living as an analyst for ESPN.
Griffin is simply following the same strategy. Either that or he’s just being honest.
Fact is, the “regular guy” act only reinforces the image MMA fans already have of Griffin as a tireless worker and hard-nosed fighter who manages to use his physical size and never-say-die attitude to beat fighters who may have more natural talent.
Evans seems to fall into that category, as a gifted amateur wrestler whose maturation in MMA has been slow, but has already gone further than a lot of critics might have expected. The major difference between him and Griffin – aside from their fighting styles – is that Evans has never seemed to lack confidence.
He’ll need every bit of that self assuredness next week, or else he may well be the next fighter to fall victim to Griffin’s shenanigans.
Chad Dundas writes a weekly MMA column for CraveOnline. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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