Forrest Griffin did an interview with The Sun this week discussing his upcoming fight against “Rampage” Jackson. The interview was standard pre-fight fare, and the most interesting portion regarded a completely different subject: Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida. Here’s what Griffin had to say about “The Dragon”:

“I want nothing to do with that guy. Not at all. He’s a tough fighter and I’d like to fight a lot of other guys first.”

Wow. That’s a pretty weird quote, if you ask me. It’s possible that The Sun took the quote out of context, but it does make Griffin sound like he’s afraid of losing to Machida.

Still, we all know that Griffin’s not afraid, and my take on it is that Griffin doesn’t want to face Machida because of his fighting style.

Machida’s last fight against Tito Ortiz was a perfect example of what I’m talking about. While Machida was victorious, he did it in a very surgical manner. It wasn’t the kind of stuff that riles up the fans–Machida got in, got out, and bobbed and weaved around the ring. It was by no means as bad as what Kalib Starnes did at UFC 83 against Nate Quarry, but it still wasn’t crowd-pleasing. While Machida is a talented guy, I’m not exactly excited about seeing him main event pay-per-views if he’s going to continue to fight in that style.

Griffin is smart to avoid Machida if at all possible, but he probably should have expressed his desire to do so in a different manner.