Ex-UFC fighter Jordan Griffin is currently serving as an active member of the United States military but he\u2019s seeking a return to the cage sooner than later with a chance to win life-changing money.<\/p>\n
The 36-year-old veteran is actually deployed right now for military service but he\u2019s ready to return to his fight career after inking a deal to join the upcoming Gamebred FC lightweight tournament, which kicks off on May 1 in Miami. While booking a fight when he\u2019s still deployed is obviously a risk because he hasn\u2019t endured a full training camp focused only on MMA, Griffin couldn\u2019t pass up on the opportunity, especially knowing the ultimately reward for the winner is a $500,000 grand prize.<\/p>\n
He also knew he wasn\u2019t done fighting yet and he couldn\u2019t imagine a better way to return than this upcoming tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough I feel accomplished outside of fighting I\u2019m not done working towards my dreams,\u201d Griffin told MMA Fighting. \u201cAt the end of the day I\u2019m a fighter and getting an opportunity to fight in the Gamebred MMA tournament for $500K is life changing money, not only for me but most importantly my family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to come back from this deployment, go directly into this fight handle my business with a finish, and go home to my son with a pocket full of money but I need to make it to weigh-ins first!\u201d<\/p>\n
Griffin last fought in 2024 when he scored a first-round knockout over Travis Karppinen, which ended a four-fight losing streak dating back to his final two appearances in the UFC.<\/p>\n
Lately he\u2019s been completely dedicated to his military career but the chance to come back with so much riding on this Gamebred FC tournament, Griffin admits it was just too good to pass on.<\/p>\n
That said, Griffin believes serving in the military is actually the perfect way to get him ready for such an unpredictable tournament like the one he\u2019s entering. Gamebred FC recently relaunched with a heavyweight and lightweight tournament on the books with Griffin slated to face fellow UFC veteran Kurt Holobaugh on May 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI joined the Army because I wanted to serve my country and learn new skills while finishing college,\u201d Griffin explained. \u201cI wanted more direction outside of fighting. While being deployed I finished 42 college credits and I\u2019ll be graduating with my degree in information science & technology with a back ground in cyber security in November of 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the values I learned from fighting professionally I see within the army. Those values are accountability, brotherhood, and pushing yourself past limits you didn\u2019t even know you had. It shaped how I think, how I move, and how I handle adversity. No matter what I do in life, those foundations will stay with me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ex-UFC fighter Jordan Griffin is currently serving as an active member of the United States military but he\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-623020","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}