“I don’t blame Chael for taking the fight. Why fight your way to the top when you can talk your way to the top?”

Those are the paraphrased words of Forrest Griffin on Chael Sonnen in a private interview with Ariel Helwani after hearing of Chael’s rebooking for The Ultimate Fighter gig. The quirky former champ recently had an interview on the MMA Hour where he stated that he had just started training for the December fight date with Sonnen. It is not known if that training has gone in vain as no replacement opponent has been named for Griffin to face at UFC 155. Obviously, Griffin would wish to stay on the card, because in his words he still has a passion for fighting. Despite Dana White calling for his retirement the boss must have changed his mind since he allowed the former light heavyweight champion on the card.

“Forrest doesn’t know. I actually just spoke to him, moments ago. He said he just found out about the news, as well. He doesn’t know if he’ll still fight on the UFC 155 card at the end of the year, but he did have a couple interesting things to say Chael. He said, ‘I don’t blame Chael for taking this fight. Why work your way to the top, if you can talk your way to the top?’ And he did say, somewhat jokingly, ‘I’m actually glad that I’m not fighting him now, because watching his fights was so boring and tedious.’”

The question is who would step up and face the former champion. There are a few options available. First, if Bonnar feels ready maybe he could get his last match with Griffin to finish their spirited rivalry. He could face Dan Henderson or Lyoto Machida who will be looking for a fight since their bout between each other is yet to finalize. Rashad Evans is due back in early 2013 and has requested a match with Lyoto, but if they were to push back Griffin as well that may be a match-up to make. Lastly, they could use Forrest as a back up in case any other light heavyweight gets pulled from a bout. All of this is speculation, but Forrest does not seem happy about his opponent talking his way to a title shot.