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#2 Forrest Griffin
The retirement of one of the original Ultimate Fighter winners and longtime fan favourite Forrest Griffin was a bit of a strange one, in that it came after one final victory, but wasn’t actually announced after that fight at all. His win over Tito Ortiz came at UFC 148 in July 2012, and he was actually booked for another fight – first against Chael Sonnen, and then Phil Davis when Sonnen withdrew – at UFC 155 that December.
Griffin ended up pulling out due to a torn MCL, though, and suggested he’d be back in action in 2013. However, rather than return to the Octagon, the former Light-Heavyweight champion announced in May 2013 that he was retiring from competition – and was subsequently inducted into the UFC’s Hall of Fame two months later.
Griffin ended his UFC career with a record of 10-5, and that strange final fight against Ortiz – a fight that saw Griffin largely outstrike ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ despite being knocked down twice – proved to be the last time we’d see him in action.
Since his retirement, Griffin has worked behind the scenes at the UFC, primarily helping to develop the promotion’s Las Vegas-based Performance Institute. Known for his penchant for taking punishment and still coming forward, it’s likely that he walked away from competing at the right time.
