Book Review: “Got Fight?” by Forrest Griffin with Erich Krauss
Posted by Tommy Hackett on June 26th, 2009
There have been a ton of autobiographies from MMA champions released in the last year or so. Here at Total-MMA we have reviewed releases from legendary champions (and controversial figures) like Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Matt Hughes, and my favorite of the bunch, Chuck Liddell. Forrest Griffin, a good-but-not-legendary-fighter who has avoided any controversy in his career, may strike you an odd choice to offer a worthy addition to that MMA library. You’d be right on all counts: his “Got Fight?” which was released by HarperCollins a few months ago, is a worthy addition, and… it’s a pretty odd one.
Subtitled “The 50 Zen Principles of Hand-to-Face Combat,” Griffin loosely follows a self help theme here, including lots of funny anecdotes about his life in and out of MMA and some good advice for the would-be fighter. But “Got Fight?” never feels anything like instructional. Actually, it mostly recalls a few hours at an old and off-color dive bar with an old and off-color friend. (You may have friends like Forrest Griffin, although I’m not sure you want more than one. He’s the one that is featured in all those stories of yours that begin with the words, “do you remember that time…?”)
So in reading “Got Fight?”, you sit at the bar with Griffin, and a few beers later he’s giving you his definition of manhood, including a multiple choice test with point totals. (You must pass in order to read the rest of the book.) Then by beer four, he tells a truly uproarous story or two. Right before closing time, he’s moved a couple of tables aside and is demonstrating his deadliest moves; from an omoplata to his defense to sword attacks. (As an aside, a guy I knew in high school recently released the excellent “Seattle’s Best Dive Bars: Drinking & Diving in the Emerald City” if you want a good locale for this. Nice work, Mike!)
In Griffin’s own words, the self-help stylings of “Got Fight?” are “more than likely to make you dumber,” and maybe he’s right. At times, it’s profane and even reprehensible. But, it is consistently funny and when you think about it, which may be dangerous here, Forrest’s basic premise to take on whatever you fear head-on is as good as any.
Is it worth buying? Sure. It doesn’t cost much more than the price of a pitcher of beer these days. “Got Fight?” is worth getting.
May 11th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Great post as always!