In all the shuffle and excitement of the newly minted match-up between Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and his Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 17 coaching counterpart, Chael Sonnen, is the fact that one man, in particular, was left out in the cold.
That man, of course, being Forrest Griffin, who, before all of the news broke, was scheduled to fight Sonnen at UFC 155 in "Sin City" on Dec. 29, 2012.
The fight was supposed to be the co-main event. It was also a big fight, in general, for Griffin, who ironically made his name as a legendary competitor on the first ever season of TUF, by way of a bloody battle with fellow finalist, Stephan Bonnar.
At the end of the day, talk isn't cheap -- it puts butts in seats and sells pay-per-views (PPV). So, when the opportunity to put a fight together between Jones and Sonnen, it was Griffin who was the odd man out.
During a segment on FUEL TV's "UFC Tonight," on air correspondent Ariel Helwani talked about a conversation he had with Griffin, directly after he received the news of his cancelled bout with Sonnen.
Check it out:
"Forrest doesn't know. I actually just spoke to him, moments ago. He said he just found out about the news, as well. He doesn't know if he'll still fight on the UFC 155 card at the end of the year, but he did have a couple interesting things to say Chael. He said, 'I don't blame Chael for taking this fight. Why work your way to the top, if you can talk your way to the top?' And he did say, somewhat jokingly, 'I'm actually glad that I'm not fighting him now, because watching his fights was so boring and tedious.'"
Call it "sour grapes," but Griffin is saying what a lot of other fans and pundits are thinking. Some have even come out voicing their opinion that the UFC's handling of the situation has set a bad precedent for the future.
Either way, the fight is happening, and fans will be treated to a season of TUF that should almost undoubtedly boost the ratings and possibly even save TUF, on the whole.
As for Griffin, reports have been made that he does, in fact, have a new opponent, however, that opponent and the event at which they will be fighting have not yet been named by UFC officials.
Keep it locked to MMAmania.com as the story develops and an opponent for Griffin is eventually named.