A former Pride fighter turn UFC Champion Quintin “Rampage” Jackson and original Ultimate Fighter winner Forrest Griffin collided last weekend in what many expected to be a quick bout ending with Rampage keeping the belt over a knocked out Forrest Griffin.  Already proving that he has the ability, heart and determination to be victorious as the heavy underdog, can lightning strike twice for Forrest?

Striking: 9.0 out of 10

There were two contrasting styles in the standup game this fight, Forrest Griffin using his 2 inch height and 4 inch reach advantage beautifully in his stick’n'jab strategy while Quintin “Rampage” Jackson relied on his boxing to deliver powerful attacks from the inside.

Forrest is a completely different fighter than he was even a year ago, generally being categorized as a brawler with heart but little technique - he is now a disciplined striker using leg kicks, a decent jab from all sorts of different angles. Frequently leading with the leg kick, following with 1-2 combinations, then circling away to avoid most of Rampage’s counter punches - Forrest controlled both the pace and the action.

“My feet are quicker than his, with my length and good footwork I can stay away from his power.  I want to stay on the outside, kick him, punch him, run.” - Forrest Griffin”

Rampage had power on his side, and it showed.  When he was able to slip into the pocket he destroyed Forrest in the inside - jab, right uppercut, left hook combinations - using really crisp and compact boxing to inflict huge damage.  As well as Forrest did to keep on the outside, once inside it was a whole different story.  All he did was cover up - letting Rampage tee off to land huge powershots.  With a minute left in the first round Rampage almost took Forrest’s head off with a nuclear explosion of an uppercut, dazed Rampage quickly pounced but was unable to put him away like he did against Chuck Liddel.

Although Rampage did a fantastic job ducking and weaving underneath Forrest’s jabs and straight punches, thanks to the training received from trainer Juanito Ibarra (who also worked with Oscar De La Hoya), he could not defend against the leg kick effectively until it was too late.  Early in the 2nd round Forrest again lead with the leg kick that connected against Rampage’s left knee - causing it to buckle. This was the turning point of the fight.

Ground: 7.2 out of 10

Sensing Rampage was critically hit by the leg kick, Forrest quickly forces a clinch and gets Rampage into a standing guillotine to get the fight to the ground.  Offering little resistance, Forrest is able to get into half guard easily to start softening Rampage up with the standard body blow to head shot combination. Once in side control he added some short elbows into the mix, grinding Rampage down while earning some scorecard points. Concerned with his left knee Rampage does next to nothing on the ground other than covering up, no sweep attempts, no attempts to power out and scramble up.

“I was just recovering, let it rest up” - Quintin “Rampage” Jackson

Forrest soons takes full mount position but does very little with it, barely postures up, little behind the punches and lets Rampage ride out the rest of the 2nd round.  With the decent transitions from guard -> half guard -> side control -> full mount, Forrest did a great job being active on top but I cant help think that it was only possible because of Rampages weak defense from the bottom.

Thanks to Rampages devastating power, he got to pay Forrest back with some ground and pound of his own.  During the 4th round an aggressive attack opens up an opportunity to again bust Forrest with an uppercut that leads to a takedown.  Forunately for Forrest, Rampage also did very little on top, inflicting minimal damage from inside the guard.

JUjitsu: 7.8 out of 10

Forrest has surprisingly good JUjitsu, and went for some higher level submission attempts throughout the fight.  Going back to the 2nd round, while on top he went for an americana (arm lock) as well as trying to secure Rampage’s arm underneath him for a kind of half cruxifix while delivering some nasty short elbows from the top.

Inside Rampage’s guard, he quickly secures a very deep triangle that would’ve spelt disaster for most fighters.  Summoning all his strength Rampage was able to pick up Forrest and attempt to slam him on his head - as the entire arena flashes back to the devastating highlight reel knockout Rampage gave to Ricardo Arona using this exact same move - Forrest wisely relinquishes his hold to leave Rampage with less leverage for the slam. He should probably thank Ricardo for showing us all what NOT to do when you get Rampage into a triangle.

First submitting Shogun with a rear naked choke, then securing triangles from the bottom and doing fancy JUjitsu craziness like americanas and omaplatas on the Champion? Forrest’s JUjitsu skills have definately improved since his days on The Ultimate Fighter.

Overall: 9.5 out of 10

A war that revolved around excellent striking from both fighters.  Rampage showed his power every time he got inside - delivering arena shaking uppercuts that sent Forrest crumpling to the ground. But Forrest had heart, miraculously surviving these bombing runs to pay Rampage back with leg kicks that left him limping and robbing him of his true knockout power. In the end Forrest was able to play to the scorecards by being more active, controlling the octagon, and dictating the pace of the action that ultimately earned him a VERY controversial decision and more importantly the lightheavy weight title.  Congratulations Forrest, it looks like lightning can strike twice.