Recently crowned UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin telephoned for three consecutive days to no response, and he had the feeling it was over.
This was a fight in which he had no control.
His first stepfather, Clifford Abramson, died June 18 at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in Augusta.
Griffin, who was in Las Vegas preparing for his Ultimate Fighting Championship bout with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, had called Abramson all three days of Father's Day weekend without getting an answer.
Griffin's mother, Kathryn Danielson, called her son later that week to break the news of the death.
Griffin knew about Abramson's heart troubles, but had been optimistic. Abramson suffered his first heart attack when Griffin was 14 and doctors told him the situation was dire. Fifteen years later, Abramson was still with him.
"That was Abe," Griffin said of the man who helped raise him from 18 months to 8-years-old. "Abe always pulls through."
The news hit Griffin hard the first day, then he let it go. He said he was desensitized.
The memorial service was pushed back until after Griffin's July 5 fight with Jackson for the UFC light heavyweight title.
The Wednesday after the fight, after the 1997 Evans High School graduate had taken the championship belt from Jackson by unanimous decision, he took the red eye to join his family in remembering Abe.
'Old-timey values'
Abramson worked for years as a contractor for Sitemaster Inc. He gave Griffin his first job, picking up rocks and other debris from construction sites. The job gave Griffin pocket money and a sense of the man who was awarded two Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts in Vietnam.
"He had an old-timey value system," Griffin said. "You joked with him, but you didn't do stupid stuff. I never dyed my hair funny or anything like that. He wouldn't understand it."
Abramson and Griffin's mother divorced and she married Byron Danielson when Griffin was 12.
Griffin and Abe stayed in touch, though. Griffin would tag along with Abramson on his many excursions to the Pinetucky Gun Club.
The two would use the shooting range and have dinner at the club each Wednesday that Griffin was in town.
Griffin said he was 18 the last time he spoke with his biological father, Dan. Griffin's mother hasn't told him what happened between her and his father, and he hasn't asked.
"There's no animosity," Griffin said. "I had Abe and Byron. I had two dads, really."
After Griffin graduated from the University of Georgia, he had a degree, but went looking for a different education. He found it one day at The HardCore Gym in Athens, Ga.
"We were before this huge explosion in mixed martial arts," said Adam Singer, the gym's head coach and Griffin's first teacher. "We were doing this when UFC wasn't on pay-per-view. No one had fought from the gym."
Griffin had a passion for fighting. He decided to pursue it for a living. But after a fight left him with a broken arm and a $3,000 doctor bill his $1,000 fight purse wouldn't cover, he decided to hang it up and work for Richmond County Sheriff's Department.
About a year later, Griffin was asked to be a contestant on the first Ultimate Fighter reality show on Spike TV. Griffin won the show, earned a contract to fight for UFC and left law enforcement behind.
His career, and the sport, took off.
The underdog
Kathryn Danielson doesn't know how breaking the news of Abe's death affected her son. She doesn't hear from him in the days leading up to a fight.
"He kind of goes into himself that week before and doesn't have a lot to do with family," Danielson said. "He's getting his head set for the fight."
No one gave Griffin much of a chance in the fight held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. He had returned to the Ultimate Fighter show as a coach, with his team of fighters pitted against a group coached by Jackson. At one point during the show, which concluded June 21, Jackson bet his purse that his fight with Griffin wouldn't go to a decision.
He would have to backtrack.
Griffin emerged from his pre-fight routine with a solid plan: avoid Jackson's power punches, keep him moving and create space with a healthy dose of leg kicks.
Early in the first round, the fight's announcers recognized what Griffin was trying to do.
"He's out-moving him."
"He's catching him right on the knee every time, Joe."
"It's possible Quinton Jackson underestimated Forrest Griffin."
But then Griffin was buckled by a shot to the temple. Jackson tried to force Griffin to the cage and better position him for a pounding.
But Griffin trapped Jackson's arms at his sides to limit the damage. He was soon back on his feet and delivering knees to Jackson's gut.
An uppercut sent Griffin reeling, but Jackson was unable to do anything more with his opponent before the first round ended.
Less than 10 seconds into Round 2, Griffin landed a crushing leg kick to Jackson's left knee. He then forced Jackson to the ground -- uncomfortable territory for the champ. Griffin mounted Jackson with 2:10 left in the round and delivered elbows to his opponent's head.
Jackson came out for the third round favoring his left knee and avoiding Griffin's subsequent leg kicks. Griffin tucked his chin to avoid Jackson's uppercut.
In the fourth, Jackson opened a deep gash near Griffin's right eye and then got on top of him. Griffin tried for the triangle choke -- a submission move in which the fighter wraps his legs around his opponent's head and squeezes them together. Instead of tapping out, Jackson rose to his feet with Griffin suspended upside down, his legs still securely wrapped around the champ's neck.
Griffin had done his best to avoid one of Jackson's signature slams throughout the fight, but it appeared he was about to feel the full force of one.
But Jackson's slam wasn't as powerful as the one he'd used to turn the tables during a 2004 knockout of Ricardo Arona. Griffin grabbed just enough of Jackson's leg to limit the fall.
The fifth round concluded without further highlights. The two television announcers struggled to call a clear-cut winner.
When the ring announcer belted the word "new" before "light heavyweight champion of the world," Griffin threw his arms up to celebrate.
He called it the best moment of his life and said he expected a rematch was in his future.
Awaiting a rematch
A few days after Abramson's memorial service and 10 days after the fight, Griffin sat in the lobby of Omni Health and Fitness in Martinez while one of the club's employees read him a list of medical suspensions from a UFC Web site.
"Says you're out until Sept. 4 with a lacerated right eyelid," he told Griffin.
"Sounds about right," said Griffin, whose area around his right eye had gone from black and blue to a yellowish tint.
"Says Jackson's out until Jan. 2."
"What? Because of the knee?" Griffin asked.
The man read off Jackson's various ailments, including the knee Griffin had slammed with the second-round leg kick.
Jackson could be out longer. He was arrested July 15 in Newport Beach, Calif., and charged with felony evading, reckless driving and hit-and-run.
Griffin will have plenty of time to heal before a potential rematch -- both physically and emotionally.
"I was just hoping it didn't interfere with Forrest's fight," Danielson said of Abe's death.
"But he did it. He won the championship. That's one of the things Abe had taught him, to be determined and never give up. That definitely came from Abe.
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