Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar
| Date | April 9, 2005 | ||||||||||||
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| Title(s) on the line | TUF 1 Light Heavyweight Division Champion | ||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||
| Both fighters receive 6 figure contract | |||||||||||||
| Boxer |
 Forrest Griffin |
Stephan Bonnar |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Hometown | Augusta, Georgia | Munster, Indiana | |
| Pre-fight record | 9-2 | 7-1 |
| Date | August 26, 2006 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||
| Griffin wins by Unanimous Decision | |||||||||||||||||
| Boxer |
Forrest Griffin |
Stephan Bonnar |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Hometown | Columbus, Ohio | Munster, Indiana | |
| Pre-fight record | 12-3 | 10-3 | |
| Recognition | Winner of The Ultimate Fighter |
Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar is a duo of fights starting in the finals of The Ultimate Fighter 1 contest which received national acclaim, and was highly regarded among fans as one of the most exciting, greatest and memorable fights in the history of not only the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) but of mixed martial arts (MMA) in general. The bout was voted fight of the year by a poll of over 19,000 readers of the website MMAWeekly.com, and was recognized as the 2005 Shoot Match of the Year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The fight was credited by Dana White as the "most important fight in UFC history". The fight was also voted the greatest fight in UFC history in 2009.
The first season of The Ultimate Fighter reality television show featured sixteen mixed martial artists divided into two weight classes: middleweight and light heavyweight. Coaches Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell were selected to mentor the contestants. The contestants were distributed evenly between two teams, and a series of exhibition matches were held until only two fighters from each weight class remained. The finalists appeared on national television in the show finale and competed for a contract with the UFC.
Forrest Griffin, coached by Chuck Liddell, and Stephan Bonnar, coached by Randy Couture, met in the light heavyweight final.
Both fighters defeated two opponents to make it to the final. On episode seven, Stephan Bonnar defeated Bobby Southworth from Team Liddell in a split decision. On episode nine, Forrest Griffin defeated his first opponent, Alex Schoenauer, by TKO. In the semi-finals, the contestants fought the remaining teammate in their respective weight class to determine the finalists. Forrest Griffin defeated Sam Hoger by TKO; Stephan Bonnar defeated teammate Mike Swick by triangle choke / armbar submission.
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Wikipedia