Silva is a black belt from the Nogueira brothers in jiu jitsu and also holds a judo black belt. He has not been submitted since getting his black while avoiding submissions from guys like Laites and Lutter during that span. Silva has made Dan Henderson and Travis Lutter tap during that span.
Griffin has 2 submission victories since he entered the UFC in 2004 and they are against Bill Mahood (5 of his 7 career losses by sub) and a gassed as hell Shogun who barely had the energy to fight off the choke in the closing seconds. Forrest has never been submitted but he has fought next to no submission fighters.
Griffin has a very underrated submission game... I will give you that. There is, however, no way Forrest is as skilled on the ground as Silva. His size may add up to be the great equalizer but in pure skill there is no way that Forrest has the qualifications of a Nogeuria black belt to go along with a Judo black belt.
Jake there is alot more to grappling than just submissions.
I think it is really cute that you mention Mahoods sub skills and try to use that as a knock on Griffin buit you don't applaud him for tapping Shogun who has gotten in there with the likes of Ricardo Arona, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira , and Kaz Nakamura and not been stopped until Griffin wore him down and got the sub.
Shogun had a blown knee for that fight... torn ACL or some shit. If Shogun wasn't on one leg I'd put much more weight into that victory for Forrest.
Of course there is a ton more to grappling than submissions. Griffin can get the takedown for sure... How he avoids Silva's dangerous ground game remains to be seen. I've said all along that the only possible way that Forrest can win this fight is if he utilizes his wrestling advantage... The guy just never does it though.
while i'm not going to get into a this guy did this or this guy does that pissing match,there is no way nobody isnt going to tell me forrest griffin at +255 isnt the bet here. the spider wants to go back and forth between middle and lhw so be it. but he isnt fighting no james "what the hell am i even in the ufc" irvin here. griffin has been a +200 dog twice and both times won vs. 2 of the best lwh's(rampage,shogun). yes he has been tko'd by jardine and evans but in the jardine fight griffin was still that wild "you punch me and then i'll punch you" kind of fighter. he is a much better rounded fighter. griffin has more range imo and can utilize leg kicks and jabs and like jake said use wrestling to beat him. i wouldnt be real comfortable if its a clinching match. i know the spider is dangerous but i dont feel he is a "true" lhw. guess we just wait til august.
