Forrest Griffin News
News
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June 23, 2009
Got Fight? Forrest Griffin KOs the Publishing World
From UFC.com comes the interview with Forrest Griffin, who now in addition to being The Ultimate Fighter season one winner; Former UFC light heavyweight champion; Cover athlete on the UFC 2009 Undisputed video game, you can add bestselling author to the list. His book “Got Fight – The 50 Zen Principles of Hand-to-Face Combat” currently sits at number eight on the New York Times Best Seller List for Hardcover Advice books.
“You can hope, but you never know,” said Griffin when asked about the success of his first foray into the publishing world, which was co-authored with Erich Krauss. “We all like to be listened to in conversation, so for people to actually spend money to find out your thoughts on stuff is a very flattering concept. I thought that it might just get lost in the shuffle of there being so many fighters’ books. Now, it having the success it has, I’m almost thinking, man, if I had really tried, I could have really written a good book.”
Luckily for readers, “Got Fight” captures Griffin – warts and all – perfectly, making it one of those rare books that has moments that are simply laugh out loud funny. “I’ve always been pretty decent sitting around the bar telling the story in a conversational sense,” he said. “So that’s kinda what I wanted to make it, just telling a story where you can picture me telling it.”And you can, whether the stories are coming from Griffin, or buddies like former trainer Adam Singer, who recalls one instance when Griffin refereed a 2004 fight between 19 year old Evin Rohrbaugh and 60 year old Skip Hall, and let the fight go on too long, simply telling Hall, “Skip, it’s up to you,” over and over before finally halting the bout.
“Officiating is probably not in my post-fight career,” said Griffin. “It’s probably not gonna be an option for me. But I hate when the guys pop up and say, ‘hey man, I wasn’t out.’ I never wanted to be the guy hearing that.”
And whether it’s tales of refereeing, of growing up in Georgia, or dealing with life as a mixed martial artist, “Got Fight” delivers plenty of anecdotes that you will end up repeating to your friends in the future.
Griffin’s humor may be more of a ‘guy thing’. One thing is for sure though – “Got Fight” is for a more mature audience.
“I thought the fact that I cuss a lot and appear to be a profane individual would be kind of a warning,” he said. “If they rated books, this is an ‘R’. Not a hard ‘R’, but an ‘R’, and let’s face it, that’s what’s funny.”
To read the entire article at UFC.com, click here.Source: UFC.com
