Sherdog.com: Talk about Stephan Bonnar. I think he out of the four finalists might have been the most surprising to people. I think people really hadn’t had a chance to see him fight.
Sherdog.com: It seems like he likes to scrap and that’s similar to you. Are you anticipating a toe-to-toe, slug ‘em out kind of fight?
Griffin: That’s what I hope. That would be my wish come true. No matter how it ends up, that would be more fun than the alternative, dancing around the guy for a round and then deciding, “Hey, I may as well be in a fight here.”
Sherdog.com: Talk about your fight with Sam Hoger to get into the finals. He was no somebody you seemed to get along with.
Griffin: You know, I don’t really like to not get along with anyone. I tried my best to get along with the guy. I realized that I personally I didn’t like him, I was never going to like him but you know you function with people. It’s like co-workers you don’t like. You can still benefit from their knowledge and whatnot. The guy’s a good training partner. I just personally didn’t like him. That didn’t make him a bad guy. And I don’t like the animosity, the tension there. I just figure life’s best if you just put all that away.
Sherdog.com: Did that make it easier to fight him? Because obviously the teammate versus teammate — they threw a wrench in there.
Griffin: No, it didn’t make it easier or harder. Man, I just don’t give a f___. You know, for me it’s just a fight. It’s not about friends or enemies. I’m going to hit you just as hard if I love as if I hate you.
Sherdog.com: Did you play other sports growing up? Did you always have that kill ‘em attitude, it didn’t matter to you?
Griffin: No. I wasn’t much of an athlete.
Sherdog.com: So what drew you into fighting?
Griffin: F___ if I know, man. I was in the police academy and the Defense and Tactics instructor showed me a UFC, this is in ’99. I thought it was pretty cool. I’d seen on in ’95 when I was in middle school or high school or some shit, and it was the most boring thing I’ve ever seen. I was like, “why is that guy wearing pajamas … why is that guy wearing tights?” Then I saw Belfort knock out somebody and I was like, “oh my God, that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Man, I gotta do this.”
Sherdog.com: You definitely have more experience than Stephan in big fights. Obviously, you fought in that big IFC tournament in Denver and you’ve had to chance to fight a lot. That experience, do you think that’s going to be a difference at all?
Griffin: Well, he lost to (Machida) by cut. His only loss is by cut. And didn’t that guy beat fricken Rich Franklin? … [Bonnar’s] been in there with the best at 205 or at last the top of the barrel. [Machida] beat Penn as well. He knows the game. I’m no Machida or whoever that fella is. I don’t know. Experience doesn’t really matter that much. This is something new to all of us, being on television in front of however many millions of people and everything.
Sherdog.com: This fight is probably different for you in that you know more about your opponent than any opponent you’ve ever fought before and had the ability to seen him up close.
Griffin: Yeah, but like I said, it doesn’t really matter. He went home and worked on what he wanted to work on. He changed his game, I changed mine. It’s not going to be as bad as it was with me and Sam where you know exactly what the other guy wants to do.
Sherdog.com: Have you always been prone to getting cut (Griffin suffered a bad cut during the taping of TUF) or was that just a freak thing?
Griffin: I don’t get cut too much. I’d kinda like to get cut more. I kinda think it’s sporty.
Sherdog.com: Do you? You enjoy the bleeding all over yourself.
Griffin: It’s kinda cool, man. It’s sexy.
Sherdog.com. Yeah? The girls dig it?
Griffin: I like it. That’s what matters.
Sherdog.com: The chance to fight on Saturday, you’ve been training for a while. You got itchy wanting to fight on the show, and that was just a few weeks in. What’s your emotion like right now?
Griffin: I’m ready for this. Really, I got out here and I was loving the experience. It’s gonna be great.