Former WWE star Bobby Lashley lost as a mixed martial artist for the first time Saturday at Strikeforce Houston, as a little-known opponent named Chad Griggs gave Lashley a tough fight and forced Lashley to quit after the second round.

It was a major upset and a major disappointment for Strikeforce, which hoped to establish Lashley as a star in its heavyweight division. Lashley has been exposed as a big, tough-looking guy who can talk a good game but isn't much of an MMA fighter.
"This is one of the best days of my life," Griggs said afterward. "It feels so good, it's like a dream. Everybody has been talking up Bobby. Bobby is such a big, strong athlete, I've got to give it to him. But I felt him getting tired."

Lashley did exactly what he wanted to do just seconds into the first round, taking Griggs down and putting him on his back. But after a minute and a half of Lashley not doing much more than lie on top of Griggs, Griggs managed to stand back up and start to land some strikes, including a hard knee to the body and a punch that opened a big cut under Lashley's left eye. By the end of the round Lashley was breathing heavily and bleeding profusely.

In the second round Lashley took Griggs down again and controlled him again, and midway through the round Lashley got into full mount and appeared to be close to finishing. But Griggs showed impressive toughness with a bigger, stronger man on top of him, holding on and even landing punches from the bottom.

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With 33 seconds to go in the second round, the cut under Lashley's eye was so bad that the referee paused the fight and asked the doctor to examine it. The doctor said Lashley could continue, but when the fight re-started, it started standing up, rather than with Lashley having Griggs mounted, which is where the fight was when the referee paused it. Lashley went for a takedown and Griggs responded by drilling Lashley with a series of hammer fists. Lashley was badly hurt when the second round ended and couldn't get up to go to his corner, ending the fight.

Griggs improves his pro MMA record to 9-1. Lashley falls to 5-1.


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