Not long after his stunning win over Ryan Bader at UFC 132, Tito Ortiz expressed interest in a rubber match with old rival and fellow ex-light heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin. However, the “Ultimate Fighter” Season 1 winner has no time for the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” at present, as Griffin is fully focused on his impending rematch with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro.
Griffin’s recent visit to Brazil was short, but marked by a string of hilarious quotes, including advice for Yushin Okami to do the exact opposite of what Griffin did when the Japanese fighter challenges Anderson Silva for the UFC middleweight title on the Aug. 27 card.
Along with his dry wit, another feature of Griffin’s stuck out during his trip: his clearly overweight silhouette, something that has been bothering the fighter of late.
“I definitely put on more weight than I would like,” Griffin told Sherdog.com. “I need to cut weight and it won’t be easy. I’ll have a lot of problems until the fight in Brazil, but I’ve gotta do it. I don’t want to fight at heavyweight, so I gotta cut that f--king weight.”
Griffin’s worry over the weight-cut and potential reduction in stamina is explained by his strategy to wear Rua down over the course of their three-round fight.
“He’s one of the best fighters ever,” Griffin said of his opponent, who he submitted in September 2007. “He has a blitz style. He goes forward. He’s dangerous. I gotta make him move backward and let’s see what happens. I want to go hard for all 15 minutes of the fight.”
Accustomed to competing before American crowds, the 32-year-old Griffin believes he will have to overcome a number of other issues in Brazil before he can beat Shogun once again.
“It’s difficult to adjust yourself [to another country],” said Griffin. “There’s the jetlag thing, and it’s difficult to make weight since Brazil doesn’t have the distilled water I use in the U.S. and the food I need to eat. It’s always difficult to change your routine when you go to another country. I feel stupid because I can’t communicate with people from the hotels and can’t even say how I want my eggs. It’s clearly a pain in the ass.”
