Forrest Griffin

By Michael Hatamoto

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin will meet Tito Ortiz in a trilogy match next week at UFC 148, but what happens after that fight remains unclear for the aging fighter.

Ortiz already confirmed this will be his last fight during his famed MMA career, but Griffin hasn’t committed towards retirement or another fight.

Here is what Griffin recently told ESPN.com when asked about a potential retirement in the near future:

“I don’t know. It’s not going to be a long time. I don’t foresee the huge comeback. I worked out with that (Alexander) Gustafsson kid. Young guys, man. I’m old now. I like what Rich Franklin has done, there’s still a lot of guys I can beat — but I don’t know how many of those guys are in the Top 10. I’m still, I’d say, one of the Top 25 guys in the world at 205 pounds; problem is I keep fighting the top 5-to-10 guys in the world.”

Griffin is 33-years-old, but has been in some tough scraps throughout his UFC career.  Although he captured the UFC LHW championship with a win against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 86 in 2008, he lost it later that year when Rashad Evans finished him via TKO at UFC 92.

Since then, he went on to pick up wins against Tito Ortiz and Rich Franklin, but suffered losses to Anderson Silva and Mauricio Rua (both by KO).

If Griffin thinks it’s time to retire after his trilogy fight against Ortiz, he should be able to leave the sport knowing he had a positive influence.  His epic three-round fight against Stephan Bonnar at The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale in 2005 helped put the UFC on the map among mainstream viewers.  Since then, he proved he was ready to step up and fight when called upon, and was involved in some big fights.