Chad Griggs Basking In The Spotlight After Impressive Win, Hints That Shane Del Rosario Could Be Next

Strikeforce heavyweight prospect, Chad Griggs has been speaking about the change in attitude he’s felt since he put together back-to-back wins inside the cage, as well as hinting he could be about to face another top up-and-comer, Shane Del Rosario next.
Speaking via BloodyElbow.com, Griggs said:

“The ball’s definitely rolling in my favor right now. (There’s) a lot of support around here. It seems this (win) is really gaining me a good fan base now. People are starting to go, ‘Hey, who is this guy? He might be the real deal, looks like he wants to get out and bang.’”

“I wanted to get out there in this one and go full throttle and say, ‘Here I am.’ I trained real hard on my conditioning. I knew this guy’s conditioning was supposed to be real good, so I felt comfortable opening it up and throwing some big punches right off the bat. I felt like he was doing the same thing. As long as I had a little more energy than him, I was OK.”

“I’ve definitely felt the change in attitude of Strikeforce (with) the way they’re looking at me. I think they’re willing to start promoting me a little bit now instead of, ‘Well, here he is, let’s see how he does.’ and building the other guys. It all comes down to excitement and what the fans want to see and I think the fans were happy with me and my performance in this one. I think (Strikeforce) sees that and wants to get me back out there.”

“I’m still doing it and I’m going to have to until three or four more fights when they decide they really want to start paying me well. I’d like to have an idea of what I have coming. So we’ll see. There’s been some talks of me and Shane (del Rosario) fighting, so I really don’t know. I just hope I get another good opponent and have a chance to build my ranking and my credentials and have a good show.”

Griggs has been the surprise package over the past six months, stopping the hype train behind former WWE Superstar, Bobby Lashley last year, before defeating Gian Villante in what turned out to be one of the most exciting three minutes of 2011 so far. Stay tuned to MMABay for more on what’s next for Griggs as we get it.