Kicking Butt Columbus Style

Last Saturday night, July 5, a UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fight resulted in the underdog, Cinderella decision-win of Columbus-born, cage-fighter Forrest Griffin. And not only did Griffin win despite not being the favorite, but he beat one of the biggest, toughest, scariest, strongest, brawniest, most angry-looking fighters to ever lay the smack-down in the octagon: Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Jackson was not only the favorite, he was the reigning light-heavyweight champion whom everyone assumed would simply kill Griffin after the first of five rounds with either a TKO (technical knock-out) or a tap-out.

But Griffin, bloodied and unable to see out of his swollen right eye, fought a hard fight all the way through five rounds, which was unexpected. As the judges, after no clear knock-out had occurred, had to make a call on either Rampage or Griffin taking the championship title (and that cool gold belt) they chose Griffin as the winner because he outwitted, out-wrestled and out-paced Jackson. In more rounds than Jackson did Griffin control the progression of the fight and was seemingly infallible. Sure, there were tons of time when he was on the defensive...it's Rampage we're talking about here...everyone is on the defensive who ends up fighting him, but more often was Griffin assuming offensive positions. He was, therefore, the attacker rather than the attacked, and this is what really helped him win in the eyes of the judges.

My boyfriend is a martial arts practitioner, connousiuer, sparring-champion and XMA (extreme martial arts) instructor and he has tried to explain the rules and various types of fighting moves and methods many times during the number of amateur (yes this is a professional sport) matches we've watched. This sport, which to the dismay of people like Oscar De La Hoya and Evander Holifield, has surpassed boxing in popularity and has actually become the future of boxing.

It's called MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) aka cage-fighting, and it's the newest phenom to take over the world of contact sports; it combines elements of various forms of combat (not including weapons, clearly): some boxing, some tae kwon do and karate, some jiu-jitsu, some wrestling and some judo. MMA and a number of organizations have been created to cater to this hybrid sport, the biggest being the UFC organization. There are a number of female fighters who are professionals as well.

A TKO stands for a technical knock-out and this happens, when, obviously, an opponent gets knocked-out by a punch, kick, knee or head-butt at any point during a match and the match is over. TKOs are like the touch-downs of mixed martial arts fighting. There are also tap-outs, which are akin to forfeiting and are also known as submission. When a fighter is in a precarious position, typically this is when the opponents are in a wrestling or jiu-jitsu configuration on the ground, and that fighter has no way out and is about to be strangled to the point of not being able to breath...that person may "tap-out."

That is a simply tapping the attacker so that the attacker or the referee knows to let go immediately and the fight is over. If you tap-out, you are surrendering, so to have to do that is sometimes embarrassing and not something you want a number of on your record.

Rampage, who is practically worshipped in the world of UFC, relied on his brut force and his ability to throw the gnarliest punches that knock his opponents out cold, but that's not all that's required to win a title fight, case in point, this July 5, 2008

match. Rampage claimed his place as UFC's most formidable talent when he beat MMA-great, Chuck Liddell, who was rarely defeated and had been the a cage-fighting favorite for years. Rampage's signature move is to howl like a wolf.

There were nine pair-ups including the title fight Jackson vs. Griffin, and the matches took place in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay events center. Celebs are already into this: Mandy Moore, David Spade, Wilmer Valderama, and a number of other big-name stars stopped by to watch the fight. Mandy was cheering for Griffin, I remember. Here in Columbus, there was a big UFC watch party hosted by Patio on Park Street in the Arena District, and Buffalo Wild Wings around the city were also showing the match.

And although Griffin was raised mainly in Georgia, I think a win of this magnitude demands we claim him as an Ohioan and add him to the list of celebrities to have come from C-bus. In his

career, the 29-year-old has had 16 wins, three of which were TKO and seven that were by submission, and only four loses. His main style involves boxing and jiu-jitsu, and from what we saw on Saturday, he likes to kick; he uses his long limbs to his advantage (something Rampage did not do). The fighter, of Irish ancestry, weighs about 205 lbs and stand 6'3''. Griffin is known in the league for his well-roundedness, his durability and never-give-up attitude in the ring. He became well-known first through SpikeTV's The Ultimate Fighter show. Griffin was one of the few people who wanted to take on Rampage Jackson for this title. He's a grad of University of Georgia in Athens, Ga. From this fight, Griffin is now considered the No. 1 Light-Heavyweight fighter in the world by the MMA website Sherdog, and also by MMAWeekly. His estimated earnings from this past fight were a mere $250,000. Griffin's signature move is to beat his fists on his chest like a gorilla.

Hopefully, Griffin will make a trip back to his hometown sometime soon. I'll keep you posted if I hear anything.

There is going to be a huge ICFA (International Cage Fighting Alliance) fight here in Columbus tomorrow Saturday, July 12th; the first bout begins at 8 p.m. It's at The Hoop Sports Complex. You can get tickets at Ticketmaster.com. The main event is Dinos "The Destroyer" Angelas vs. "Money" Mike Roberts. Go to www.icfamma.com for more details.

Sources and Links: http://www.sherdog.com; http://www.mmaweekly.com; http://www.wikipedia.org; http://www.ufc.com; http://www.icfamma.com; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_martial_arts; http://www.mmamania.com