Despite what anyone might think, wrestling around with dudes is not on my list of things I really want to do all day long. First of all, I find wrestling singlets and head gear to be kind of weird in an uncomfortable with looking at them kind of way. Wrestling gear is right up there with those Vibram toe shoes on my list of things that creep me out. Second, I’ve experienced the smell of a humid multi-human sweat filled wrestling gym after a two hour training session and I’ve done my time in the trenches washing stinky rash guards and Jiu Jitsu gis. That smell is not something I find endearing or anything I’d like to get up close and personal with on a daily basis.
Forrest Griffin would scoff at my disdain for smelly wrestling gear and probably call me a name that rhymes with ba-dussy, because he lives for wrestling as a matter of fact at yesterday’s pre-fight press conference he said its all he wants to do all day and he’d even die for the ability to do so.
“I like training camps. You’ve got to get out of bed and do something, and wrestling around with dudes is what I want to do.”
“After I got beat up by Silva, I was pretty depressed, and this weird thing happened. Every day, I just got in my car and I went to the gym. And no matter what I’m doing in life, that just seems to happen. Even if I don’t intend to, my car goes right to the gym and I work out. I just really enjoy work. It’s not something I’m ready to give up yet.”
“Tito said something that kind of sparked me. He said, ‘I’ll die for this.’ At first, it sounds kind of outlandish. But if you really think about it, in 20 or 30 years, if I’m remembered for anything, it’s going to be for fighting. I was never a soldier, a fireman, or a cop. I never put my life on the line in another capacity…This is the closest thing to be a hero I’ll ever come. So yeah, I’ll die for this.”
If all you want to do everyday is roll around and grapple and wrestle with sweaty hairy guys, we approve of your dedication Forrest Griffin. Even though I don’t personally want to do such things, it seems watching you guys do it kind of makes me (and the rest of us fight fans) feel warm in our little happy spots. And we will be happy to watch you and Tito get in there and do it again for us this Saturday night at UFC 148.
