Mar-20-2009

Tyson Griffin and the virtue of patient ambition

By Elias Cepeda

So close. After four years of climbing the lightweight ladder, Tyson Griffin was so close to getting to the top of the mountain on October 25th as he took on former champion Sean Sherk, but he came up just short.

Griffin (12-2) fought Sherk hard for three rounds in the best fight of the night but ended up losing for just the second time in his career as the bout was scored unanimously for the veteran former champ. Heading into the fight, Griffin had a full understanding of how much a win would have done for him.

“Yeah, I definitely felt beating Sherk would put me at, if not the number one contender [spot] then that it would put me in the fight for number one contender,” Griffin says. “So I guess I'm at the bottom of the contender list again and will have to climb back up.”

While certainly not back to square one, Griffin's path towards a title shot did indeed hit a major speed bump with the loss to Sherk. Such a realization would be a letdown to many athletes, but the 24-year old seems nonplussed by the apparent setback.

“I'll be totally honest; I got over [the loss to Sherk] right away,” he says.

“It was kind of the opposite to me in the way it felt. [Fighting for the title after Sherk] was not one of those guaranteed things, it was just an opportunity like all the other opportunities I'd had in my career and it was just unfortunate that I couldn't capitalize on the opportunity and beat him. But at the same time, in some of the magazines and websites Sean Sherk is ranked at number three in the world and I had a real close fight with him – some people say a draw or whatever – but the point is that he didn't dominate me. He didn't finish me and I think that gave me a lot of confidence. It actually pumped me up more than it brought me down.”

While there may not be moral victories in fighting, Griffin seems mature enough to understand the intrinsic value of experience. And he's young enough to know that he's far from out of opportunities.

“I was watching Sherk since I was 19 years old, when I was just learning and playing around with Jiu Jitsu and watching some of the wrestlers that were successful. So I mean, to me, hopefully I have another ten years in the sport. I think that allows me to be patient and not really stress out mentally. It just allows me to have fun and enjoy where I'm at,” Griffin divulges.

Sometimes fighters with nearly spotless records like Griffin can be rattled by a loss, made to feel unsure of their own abilities and insecure about their future. It seems, however, that Griffin has licked that problem earlier than most.

“I used to be a real anxious fighter. Now I've tried to take a step back in the fight game and my career and just take the opportunities as they come and try and make things happen,” he says.

The next challenge Griffin has to enjoy is a main card matchup with Rafael Dos Anjos (11-3) on April 1st in Nashville, TN. Dos Santos is a tough Jiu Jitsu specialist that undoubtedly is hungry for his first UFC win, but Griffin admits to having wanted to fight a “big name” right after the Sherk loss.

Given that admission, one has to wonder if and how the Las Vegas based fighter will keep properly motivated and thus prepare adequately. Griffin assures that he has been training with at least the same type of intensity that he did before his last fight and that the key to preventing a drop off in effort has been the strength of his Xtreme Couture team.

Simply not wanting to get beat up is a powerful motivator, it seems.

“It goes back to our training room and the fact that we have five to ten top notch lightweight guys in there at any time. So if we're not motivated when we show up to the gym we are going to get our heads kicked in. That's what keeps you sharp and keeps you on the ball. It doesn't really let you take things for granted,” Griffin explains.

The young fighter says that he has never had difficulty staying motivated and on task, but that he has had to learn the hard way in the past how to keep mentally focused in spite of periphery distractions. A case in point was the lead in to the bout that would supply Griffin with his first ever pro loss, against Frankie Edgar at UFC 67.

“I was jumping around from gym to gym and I had a falling out with the old coach,” Griffin remembers of the months leading up to the Edgar fight. “It was just hard, the mental games. I even had an eye surgery four weeks before that fight which almost put the whole fight in jeopardy.

“It was just a regular checkup...and it turned out I had a couple holes in one of my retinas that had to get repaired and the athletic commission wasn't agreeing that they were supposed to heal in time and the doctor was. So it was just a constant battle going back and forth. Hearing that I'm OK to fight, then that I'm not OK taught me to be focused on what you've got at hand.”

And Griffin understands that the task at hand for him April 1st, taking on Dos Anjos, is a serious one. Against “big” names or not, each win and loss directly affects a fighter's ability to move forward in his or her career. And though Griffin has the patience to live in the moment and take things as they come, he does have some heady goals.

“I guess my professional goal is to really be a dominant champion,” Griffin says.

Sure, Griffin would have liked the close fight against Sherk to have gone his way instead, and pave a quicker path to a title fight. But if that experience makes him a better fighter and the more winding road helps refine his abilities, Griffin won't mind the wait.

“I don't want to have gotten the title shot yesterday and then just be a one time champion, or whatever you want to call it. I want to fight for the belt and keep it a long time and be known as a great champion.”

All's well that ends well, and Tyson Griffin believes he's a long way from the end of his own golden story.

“A couple wins here will definitely put me in title contention,” Griffin says.

“The fight with Sherk showed everyone that I can compete at the highest level. I'm waiting for a call from the UFC one of these days telling me, 'Hey, you do this, you do that, we'll give you a title shot.' That's motivating.”