Forrest Griffin’s net worth in 2021

Forrest Griffin is a retired mixed martial arts fighter and a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He is inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2013 is currently serving as the Vice President of Athlete Development at the UFC Performance Institute. In this article, we will take a look at his journey and Forrest Griffin’s net worth in 2021.

Forrest Griffin’s Net Worth in 2021 (estimate): $7 million

Forrest Griffin’s net worth in 2021 is valued at $7 million. This is according to multiple reputable sources such as Celebrity Net Worth.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Forrest Griffin moved to the state of Georgia where he graduated high school at Evans High School in Evans, Georgia — a suburb of Augusta-Richmond County. He then enrolled at the University of Georgie where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.

During his time at the University of Georgia, he served as a patrol officer for the University of Georgia police. That led him to serve as a law enforcement officer for the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office in Augusta, Georgia.

He eventually left his profession as a law enforcement officer to pursue a career in professional mixed martial arts.

Forrest Griffin made his professional MMA debut under the Reality SuperFighting promotion on October 27, 2001, He faced UFC veteran Dan Severn for the RSF Heavyweight Championship. Unfortunately, he lost the match via unanimous decision.

After his first professional defeat, Griffin won the next 8 fights of his career. He fought, and won, against the likes of Jeff Monson, Travis Fulton, and Chael Sonnen during that winning streak. The streak was eventually snapped by Jeremy Horn when they faced each other at IFC: Global Domination as he lost via KO after a head kick in the 2^nd round.

In one of his more known bouts, before he joined the UFC, Forrest Griffin fought Edson Paradeo wherein Edson broke Griffin’s left arm after a bad block attempt on a roundhouse kick aimed at his body. Despite that, Forrest came out the victor via knockout.

Forrest Griffin joined the first season of the UFC’s mixed martial arts reality show titled “The Ultimate Fighter”. He reached the finals of the show where he faced Stephen Bonnar. Griffin won via unanimous decision to become the inaugural The Ultimate Fighter winner.

UFC President Dana White labeled the fight as the “most important fight in UFC history”. It was the first time the UFC aired on live television and the fight helped the UFC launch into the mainstream. Along with winning the competition, Forrest Griffin was given a six-figure professional contract to fight with the UFC.

Griffin proceeded to win his first two official fights under the UFC. He defeated Bill Mahood via submission at UFC 53 and Elvis Sinosic via KO at UFC 55.

On April 15, 2006, Forrest Griffin faced off against Tito Ortiz at UFC 59. Griffin suffered his first UFC loss after Ortiz won the fight via a controversial split decision. Despite the loss, the match was awarded Fight of the Night honors.

Forrest Griffin was slated to fight PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 76. The fight went on until the final seconds of the final round until Griffin caught Shogun in a rear-naked choke that forced him to tap out. Forrest was awarded his first submission of the night honors.

On July 5, 2008, Forrest Griffin challenged Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship at UFC 86. Griffin was considered to be the heavy underdog going into the fight. In the first round, he got knocked down by an uppercut, but he rallied back in the 2^nd round as he landed a powerful leg kick that damaged Jackson.

Both fighters fought until the end, and Griffin eventually won the fight via unanimous decision, making him the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. The match was also awarded the Fight of the Night honors.

Forrest Griffin earned a total of $310,000 for the championship bout — $100,000 for the fight, a win bonus of $150,000, and $60,000 for the Fight of the Night award.

In his first title defense, Griffin fought the undefeated Rashad Evans at UFC 92. Forrest controlled the first 2 rounds of the fight, but Evans caught one of his kicks in the 3^rd round and took him down. That led to him securing the win via TKO after a ground and pound from inside the champion’s guard.

Aside from losing the UFC Light Heavyweight title, Forrest Griffin also broke his hand which sidelined him for several months.

After recovering from his injury, Griffin was scheduled to take on Anderson Silva at UFC 101 on August 8, 2009. During the match, Silva was in control as he easily dodged most of Griffin’s punch. A few seconds after the 3-minute mark, Griffin unleashed a barrage of punches — which Silva easily weaved through before landing a solid right hand to knock out Griffin and win the match.

Despite the loss, Griffin was awarded $60,000 after the match was given Fight of the Night honors.

A rematch between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin was scheduled for UFC 106 after Mark Coleman, who was Ortiz’s original opponent, dropped out due to injury. This time, Griffin got the win via a split decision, which is how Ortiz got the win in their first matchup.

After the fight, Griffin said that they should do a third match to settle the score as both of their matches finished with a split decision victory for each of them.

At UFC 134, a rematch between Forrest Griffin and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua took place. Unfortunately, he lost this match via KO and was out for at least 6 months due to a right foot and jaw injury.

In his return, Forrest Griffin faced Tito Ortiz for their most-awaited trilogy fight which was scheduled at UFC 148 on July 7, 2012. Despite being knocked down and taken down twice by Ortiz, Griffin still won the match via unanimous decision. The match was also awarded Fight of the Night honors.

Griffin’s next fight was supposed to be a rematch against Chael Sonnen. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury to his MCL and ACL which kept him out of action. He was hoping to return at the end of 2013.

On May 26, 2013, it was announced that Forrest Griffin was retiring from MMA, saying that the injuries were a major part of his decision. Dana White subsequently announced that Forrest Griffin, along with Stephen Bonnar, will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.

Aside from his MMA career, Griffin also wrote two books: Got Fight? 50 Zen Principles of Hand-to-Face Combat, which was released in 2009, and Be Ready When The Shit Goes Down: A Survival Guide to the Apocalypse, which was published in 2010. Both books received positive reviews.

He also has multiple TV and film appearances that are credited to him.

As for the video games, Griffin appeared in 7 UFC video games. The first one was UFC 2009 Undisputed where he was also the cover athlete, as well as UFC Undisputed 2010 and UFC Undisputed 3. He was also part of all of EA Sports’ versions of UFC games.

Forrest Griffin still stays close to the sport as he currently works at the UFC Performance Institute as their Vice President of Athlete Development.

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