Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar is one of the most important fights in the history of mixed martial arts (MMA). It was a 15 minute slobberknocker on The Ultimate Fighter 1 finale, one of the first UFC fights aired on cable TV, and ratings climbed through the roof as the back-and-forth fight continued until Griffin got his hand raised in a close decision win.
That cultural moment kicked off what us old dudes call the TUF era of UFC, where the promotion went from financially bleeding out to selling over 500,000 pay-per-views per event for several years. As for Griffin and Bonnar?
“We became buddies,” Griffin said on the Verse Us with Eric Nicksick show (via BJPenn.com).
UFC fighting days, Forrest Griffin would be given a cushy job behind the scenes with the promotion that no one actually expected him to show up for. But he surprised everyone by becoming one of the hardest working guys at the office, and he’s now the Vice President of Athlete Development at the UFC Performance Institute.
Stephan Bonnar’s story ended on a less positive note. He carved out a niche for himself as a pro wrestler after MMA, but the damage to his body from both pursuits led to him getting hooked on painkillers. He would die of a fentanyl overdose in 2022 at just 45 years of age.
