In the seven hours since Bruce Buffer announced that Forrest Griffin had defeated Quinton "Rampage" Jackson by unanimous decision at UFC 86, I've received a lot of messages from fans who said they were outraged, that Rampage won the fight and that the judges stole it for Griffin. From the crowd's reaction, it certainly sounded like the majority of the fans in attendance at the Mandalay Bay thought Rampage won as well. And yes, my own scorecard gave it to Rampage (I gave Forrest the second, 10-8, but all four other rounds to Rampage, 10-9.)
So does that make it a terrible decision? I don't think so. Judging in mixed martial arts is fairly subjective, and I can certainly understand how a judge could have seen it for Griffin.
Online commentators were fairly split. MMA Mania gave it to Jackson. MMA Junkie scored it 48-47 for Jackson. Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports scored it 48-46 Griffin; Dave Meltzer and Dave Doyle of Yahoo both scored it a 47-47 draw. Bloody Elbow scored it a draw. Jim Murphy of the Savage Science blog scored it 48-47 for Griffin.
I agree with the fans who think Rampage won. But some of the fans I've heard from -- the ones who think the judges should be fired for stealing the fight for Griffin -- need to get over themselves.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-06-2008 @ 12:34PM
jobob972 said...
I too thought Jackson won the fight but it was so close I can see how the judges sided with Griffin. However, I think all the judges gave the first round to Griffin with I disagree with, the secound round was obviously a 10-8 round for Griffin, but the 3rd, 4th, and 5th were a toss up. Although I would give a sligh edge to Jackson in the 4th, and a slight edge to Griffin in the 5th. It was the best fight of the night by a long shot and it was nice to see both fighters heap praises on the other.
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7-06-2008 @ 1:33PM
Fan? said...
That was a suspect decision to say the least. I have emailed UFC to let them know that I will not pay for a WWF/Don King product. I appreciate that most fight don't go to the judges in the UFC but last night was a debacle. What fight were they watching? Or does Forrest get extra points for surviving?
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7-06-2008 @ 1:35PM
JoeT said...
controversial. I hope mma doesn't go the rout of boxing with the bad decisions only to fuel a big money rematch.
http://www.fromthecage.com
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7-06-2008 @ 1:40PM
Bryan said...
I think Forest won the fight. I was more aggressive and scored more strikes. He was constantly doing something and deserved to win. The thing he did best was to avoid Rampage's vicious strikes. Rampage is so fluid and rarely throws a single punch. If only a couple more of them had landed, it would have ended with Rampage winning via TKO.
I'm proud of Forest. He used all aspects of his game and showed how versatlie he is. That's what being a champion MMA fighter is all about.
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7-06-2008 @ 4:05PM
nother said...
Rampage said it best...'He whooped my ...."
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7-07-2008 @ 1:48PM
dawsonjason said...
Yes, Rampage was gracious in defeat but he also said that he thought he won. I will admit it was close but a tie should go to the champ. I really like Forrest but he did not win this one. You don't earn a championship by hanging in and competing with the best, but by defeating the best!
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7-07-2008 @ 1:54PM
tuftone said...
I'm a big fan of forrest griffin but there is no way he won that fight.
his leg kicks were a thing of beauty and he definitely deserved a 10-8 round for round 2...
but that being said rampage got the better of every single exchange they had on the feet. forrest was stunned several times, bloodied up and almost knocked out. forrest threw more but rampage clearly landed more.
i have to agree with "Fan?", I'm worried that with UFC's tremendous popularity it will start to become a Don King style ordeal.
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7-07-2008 @ 2:32PM
thomas graham said...
Forrest controlled the stand-up (sans the uppercut from Jackson that almost knocked out Forrest), he dominated the ground, tried for submissions on multiple occasions, yes Forrest won this match. VERY close, but he won regardless. Jackson's mistake was that he wanted to Knock-out Forrest, but failed to do so. Forrest Griffin out smarted Jackson in that chess match. Go back and watch the fight again, who was the aggressor and who was just swinging for the fences?
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7-08-2008 @ 11:03AM
john w. said...
I don't see how a couple of leg kicks takes a belt from a champ. Rampage got robbed. Dana White really likes Forrest.
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7-12-2008 @ 10:44AM
danno2577 said...
Personally, I thought Griffin won a very close fight. Rampage himself even said after the fight that Forrest "whupped my a**."
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7-20-2008 @ 1:53AM
Kurt Wilson said...
Hey Michael,
I missed the Rampage-Forrest fight, but I just viewed the K. Burns-A. Johnson fight and if anybody has been robbed, it was Johnson.
After several warnings from the referee, Burns finally caught Johnson with a poke in the eye that might leave the man maimed for life, but yet the Judges stopped the fight and gave the decision to Burns who was on his back the ENTIRE match up until that point.
Anyway, I bring this up because I'm starting to see a pattern here. EVERYONE including Joe Rogan was surprised at the outcome and was expecting a disqualification for Burns, and the win going to Johnson...but "NO".
Then you have Dana White trying to keep Kimbo Slice out of the UFC all together. I hope I don't have to spell it out here, but I smell something fishy.
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