Sherdog’s Top 10: Fights That Failed to Live Up to Their Hype

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10. Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar 2

The first meeting between Griffin and Bonnar -- the light heavyweight finale of the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show -- has since taken on mythic proportions. It was the fight that saved the Ultimate Fighting Championship from financial oblivion, the scrap that launched the UFC onto the fringes of American mainstream awareness and the sloppy, violent model for everything UFC President Dana White and the brass hope to see in a matchup.

That understanding of the first Bonnar-Griffin fight is more than a bit revisionist. Spike TV had already offered the UFC a second season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” so its immediate future on the network was secure, and pay-per-view numbers were already trending upwards. Still, there is no denying the importance of the fight, especially to the UFC’s understanding of itself and its place in the sports-entertainment marketplace; and it launched the careers of Griffin and Bonnar themselves.

Since their initial meeting, both fighters had strung together nice winning streaks. Griffin defeated Bill Mahood and Elvis Sinosic before falling just short against former champion Tito Ortiz, while Bonnar took victories over Sam Hoger, James Irvin and Keith Jardine before dropping a scrap with “The Ultimate Fighter 2” winner Rashad Evans. Anticipation ran high for the rematch, and the standard of comparison the three-man booth of Joe Rogan, Mike Goldberg and Randy Couture set for their second meeting was too high for any fight to match.

That was the fundamental problem with Griffin-Bonnar 2 at UFC 62 on Aug. 26, 2006. It was not a bad fight by any stretch of the imagination; in fact, it was pretty good, with a fun back-and-forth flow, multiple exchanges and substantially greater technical skill for both fighters than they had displayed in their first bout. No matter what Griffin and Bonnar did in the rematch, however, it could not possibly match the mythologized understanding of their epic scrap at “The Ultimate Fighter 1” Finale that had already taken hold among both the fans and the commentators.

Number 9 » The short lead-up to the fight likewise accentuated that relative lack of fire. Despite the underwhelming promotional push, the fight itself looked like it had the potential to be a barnburner, and the opening exchange seemed to be evidence of that competitiveness.