LAS VEGAS -- Light heavyweights Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar were inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on Saturday.
The two have been linked since their legendary bout on April 19, 2005, in "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 1 Finale. Griffin won the back-and-forth battle, which UFC president Dana White says propelled the promotion to its current lofty heights, by unanimous decision.
Griffin would make it two in a row over Bonnar during their August 2006 rematch, winning that contest by unanimous decision. After the fight, Bonnar tested positive for a banned substance.
Induction into the Hall of Fame punctuates a professional mixed martial arts career in which Griffin would capture the 205-pound title en route to compiling a record of 19-7. In his final bout inside the Octagon, on July 7, 2012, Griffin defeated former champion Tito Ortiz by unanimous decision. The bout won UFC 148 Fight of the Night honors.
"When I won The Ultimate Fighter, I told myself I really want to be [light heavyweight] champion," Griffin told ESPN.com. "It's not something I ever told anybody."
Bonnar finished his career with a professional record of 15-8. He suffered a TKO loss to middleweight champion Anderson Silva in his final Octagon appearance on Oct. 13, 2012. The bout was contested at 205 pounds.
While the fight remains fresh in the minds of many MMA fans, it has not dampened Bonnar's joy of being enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
"It's an honor," Bonnar said. "It's unbelievable, just being a part of UFC for as long as I've been and now being immortalized in the Hall of Fame.
"I never dreamed that I'd be able to fight just once in the UFC. I made a job out of it."
