Spawned by The Hardcore Gym in Athens, Georgia, Griffin burst on the global scene when he outlasted Stephen Bonnar in an unforgettable three-round war to win Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series in 2005. He went on to compile a 10-5 record in the Ultimate Fighting Championship—an extended run of success that saw him deliver half of his victories against former titleholders. Griffin reached the mountaintop in 2008, when he became the eighth man in history to capture the UFC light heavyweight crown. He retired from the sport five years later and was subsequently inducted into the modern-era and fight wings of the UFC Hall of Fame.
As Griffin’s exploits in the cage drift further and further into the rearview mirror, a look at some of the numbers that accompanied him throughout his journey:
42: Years of age for Griffin, who was born on July 1, 1979 in Columbus, Ohio.
6: Griffin victories by submission, accounting for 32% of his career total (19). His methods of choice: four rear-naked chokes and two triangle chokes. Griffin owns four other victories by knockout or technical knockout and nine more by decision.
64: Seconds needed for Griffin to punch out Edson Ramos under the Heat Fighting Championship banner in December 2003. It was the fastest finish of his 26-fight career.
796: Significant strikes landed by Griffin as a UFC light heavyweight, placing him third on the promotion’s all-time list at 205 pounds. Only Jon Jones (1,463) and Mauricio Rua (817) have connected with more.
5: Light heavyweights in UFC history who have been credited with more total strikes landed than Griffin (1,096). They are Jones (1,835), Glover Teixeira (1,271), the aforementioned Rua (1,262), Tito Ortiz (1,241) and Corey Anderson (1,103).
9: First-round stoppage wins on the Griffin resume. Only two of them took place inside the Octagon: He submitted Bill Mahood with a rear-naked choke 2:18 into their UFC 53 pairing on June 4, 2005 and put away Elvis Sinosic with punches 3:22 into their UFC 55 encounter on Oct. 7, 2005.
175: Days spent by Griffin as undisputed UFC light heavyweight champion. He laid claim to the title with a five-round unanimous decision over Quinton Jackson at UFC 86 on July 5, 2008 and relinquished it in a third-round technical knockout loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 92 on Dec. 27, 2008. Griffin’s reign ranks as the third-shortest in the history of the weight class.
1: Trilogy completed by Griffin, as he went 2-1 in three head-to-head meetings with Ortiz. Griffin dropped a split decision to “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” at UFC 59, rebounded with a split verdict of his own at UFC 106 and closed the book on their rivalry—and his career—with a unanimous decision at UFC 148.
4: Countries in which Griffin competed as a mixed martial artist. He went 15-6 in the United States, 2-1 in Brazil, 1-0 in South Africa and 1-0 in Ireland.
.735: Cumulative winning percentage between the seven men—Rua, Evans, Ortiz, Anderson Silva, Keith Jardine, Jeremy Horn and Dan Severn—who defeated Griffin. They boast a combined record of 311-95-17.