Dana: ‘Forrest is a warrior’ takes him home on personal jet
Just moments before the UFC 134 post-event press conference, Forrest Griffin received a surprise announcement that his wife was ready to…
Just moments before the UFC 134 post-event press conference, Forrest Griffin received a surprise announcement that his wife was ready to give birth to their daughter some nine days early. He didn’t make excuses for his performance, but UFC president Dana White said he understood completely and wanted to get him back to Las Vegas ASAP.
“Forrest is a warrior,” White told MMAjunkie.com. “He wears his heart on his sleeve. I have so much respect for him for coming and taking this fight in this situation. He knew he was going to be in this situation. He was just hoping – she was supposed to be nine days later.
“He was just texting with her before he came in here, and she said she thinks she’s ready to go, so I’m leaving tonight and he’s flying home with me tonight.”
“I’m not really 100 percent sure (what happened),” Griffin said. “I had a lot of opportunities to go, and I didn’t go. The gameplan was to get off after he missed. He missed a couple of times big, and I just stood there and let him off the hook. It was partly that, and I didn’t really stay in a rhythm.
“I had a decent camp going into this. It’s been nine weeks since the last time we were [in Brazil]. It’s just setting in. I think that’s a fight that I definitely could have done a lot better. It sucks when you do poorly at your job.”
“There’s no doubt Forrest is top-10,” White said. “He can go out and beat anybody on any given night. you never know with him. He’s tough.
“I want to thank him. I appreciate the fact he took this fight. His wife is literally getting ready to deliver their baby in Las Vegas right now. So we’re going to try and get him home as fast as we can.”
