LAS VEGAS – Max Griffin is still hurt by his loss to Neil Magny, even if he was paid as though it was a win.
Griffin (32-13-1 MMA, 14-10 UFC), who returns to action against Tim Means (17-9 MMA, 6-7 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 213 co-headliner, suffered a controversial split decision loss to Magny at UFC on ESPN 33 in March. The result snapped a three-fight winning streak, and in Griffin’s opinion, cost him a spot in the UFC rankings.
It wasn’t all bad, though. Griffin revealed during Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 213 media day that he was paid the entirety of his purse by the promotion, merely because the brass thought he was wronged by the judges.
“That Neil Magny fight, man – it burns me,” Griffin told MMA Junkie and other reporters. “It burns me in my heart. Right when I finished the fight I walked backstage, (UFC matchmaker) Mick Maynard came right back there he’s like, ‘Yo, me and Dana (White) thought you won. We’re going to give you your win money.’ It almost made it worse. It almost made the burn worse. I mean the money helped. Thank you for that. Just for them to pay me it was like, ‘Hmm.’ It burns me like a hot iron.
“I learned some things. That one burns when you bring it up. I would’ve been ranked, I would’ve had a number and all this. But you know what, it’s what it is. I pulled some things from that fight. There’s always takeaways in a fight.”
Griffin, 36, said he expects the post-fight adjustments from Magny to carry over in a big way into his upcoming fight. He takes on another grizzled veteran in Means, whom he said he has great respect for. In fact, Griffin said he built a personal relationship with Means earlier in his career when Means warned him about being weary of autograph hawkers during fight weeks.
That bit of history between them will carry into the octagon. Griffin said he will treat Means’ “body with respect,” and has no intention of landing any “extra shots” after a potential knockout.
Make no mistake about it, though, Griffin will be looking for that knockout when he meets Means at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on the ESPN+ streamed card.
“It’s going to be violence. I’m going to freaking finish him, but it’s all love. … I’m going to dominate Tim Means. I’m going to put a Performance of the Night. It will not be Fight of the Night.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 213.