Heavyweight Chad Griggs has been the heavy underdog in both his Strikeforce fights.
Both times, he’s shocked the MMA world. In August, Griggs beat Bobby Lashley after Lashley could not continue following the second round and then last Saturday, Griggs stopped prospect Gian Villante with strikes in the first round at “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva.” Despite the recent success, the man dubbed “The Mutton Chop Zombie” is keeping a level head.
“The ball’s definitely rolling in my favor right now,” Griggs told Bloody Elbow Radio on Thursday.
“(There’s) a lot of support around here. It seems this (win) is really gaining me a good fan base now. People are starting to go, ‘Hey, who is this guy? He might be the real deal, looks like he wants to get out and bang.'”
More than anything, Griggs is becoming known for his now-famous mutton chops. They’ve taken off to the point that even Villante wore a mock pair during the weigh-in before their fight.
“I definitely like my chops,” Griggs said. “I tell everyone that’s where my power comes from. … I gotta have the chops. They’ve done me good so far, so I’m going to keep ’em.”
Griggs used the power of the chops to punish Villante from bell-to-bell, never letting him breathe and rocking him with hard punches several times. Villante might’ve been the victim of public perception. Griggs said people saying his win over Lashley could’ve been a fluke pushed him to train even harder for his fight with Villante.
“I wanted to get out there in this one and go full throttle and say, ‘Here I am,'” Griggs said. “I trained real hard on my conditioning. I knew this guy’s conditioning was supposed to be real good, so I felt comfortable opening it up and throwing some big punches right off the bat. I felt like he was doing the same thing. As long as I had a little more energy than him, I was OK.”
Now, though, with two straight finishes, both the fans and Strikeforce are starting to take the 10-1 Griggs seriously.
“I’ve definitely felt the change in attitude of Strikeforce (with) the way they’re looking at me,” Griggs said. “I think they’re willing to start promoting me a little bit now instead of, ‘Well, here he is, let’s see how he does.’ and building the other guys. It all comes down to excitement and what the fans want to see and I think the fans were happy with me and my performance in this one. I think (Strikeforce) sees that and wants to get me back out there.”
Even though Strikeforce and the public have been slow to get aboard, his supporters have taken him seriously, some even making a bit of coin off Griggs’ two big wins, as he came into both as the underdog.
“I’ve had a few people tell me they’ve made pretty good money on me now. I just tell them I don’t want to know about it,” he said, laughing. “I don’t want to know about them betting and have that added pressure. If they want to do it, that’s great, then afterwards, yeah, they let me know and I tell them they owe me a Gatorade.”
Griggs’ success is even more notable because he isn’t even training full-time. In addition to being a fighter, Griggs also is a full-time firefighter. He says he gets in a workout or two a day when he is on duty and then can get in more when he’s off.
“I’m still doing it and I’m going to have to until three or four more fights when they decide they really want to start paying me well,” Griggs said, laughing.
The win over Villante could potentially secure Griggs a replacement bid in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament if many things fall into place. Griggs says he is unsure if Strikeforce even knows what they’re going to do if someone gets hurt, but he says he doesn’t want to wait around.
“I’d like to have an idea of what I have coming,” Griggs said. “So we’ll see. There’s been some talks of me and Shane (del Rosario) fighting, so I really don’t know. I just hope I get another good opponent and have a chance to build my ranking and my credentials and have a good show.”
You can hear the entire 15-minute interview with Griggs by listening to Thursday edition of Bloody Elbow Radio Presented by Bad Boy.