The 10 most popular fighters in UFC history

#4: Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin became popular as an everyman figure with the crowds

The official line of UFC history will tell you that the promotion was practically dead on its feet when Spike TV decided to televise the first season of The Ultimate Fighter back in 2005, and it was that reality show – and more importantly, the insane brawl on the Finale card between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar – that saved everything and allowed the UFC to grow and become the juggernaut it is today.

That in itself would’ve made Griffin one of the most popular fighters in UFC history, but the loveable brawler from Georgia had a lot facets than that to him. He wasn’t a stoic scrapper like Lawler and Condit – Griffin drew the fans in due to a unique, self-deprecating personality that made him the ultimate everyman, especially when he was faced with super-athletes like Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson.

The fact that Griffin somehow found a way to beat such great fighters – he took the UFC Light-Heavyweight title from Jackson and also became the first UFC fighter to defeat the feared PRIDE Grand Prix champ Shogun Rua – seemed to come as much of a surprise to him as it did to his legions of fans. And that was often what made the crowds love him so much.

Griffin was never the best athlete in the UFC, nor was he the best fighter. But few men ever displayed the kind of heart that he did when he stepped into the Octagon, whether he was faced with a monster like Anderson Silva or someone overmatched like Elvis Sinosic. Griffin was the UFC’s posterboy for hard work paying off – and the fans loved him for it.