UFC helping fight hunger with check to Three Square Foodbank

By Adam Hill

Las Vegas Review-Journal

6 years ago

UFC President Dana White, Three Square Foodbank Executive Director Michelle Beck, Three Square Foodbank Chief Executive Officer Brian Burton and UFC Hall of Famer Forrest Griffin at UFC headquarters in Las Vegas on Monday, July 30, 2018. (Adam Hill/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Forrest Griffin, former UFC light heavyweight champion, smiles before the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame ceremony at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Friday, May 11, 2018. Chitose Suzuki Las Vegas Review-Journal @chitosephoto

Forrest Griffin, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, speaks after his name was announced for the 2018 Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame class at Findlay Toyota on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, in Henderson. Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal @bizutesfaye

Forrest Griffin, shown against Tito Ortiz in 2012, now works as a performance consultant for the UFC and helps fighters understand the right way to cut weight, something he said he didn’t know during his career. (AP Photo/David Becker)

UFC Hall of Famer Forrest Griffin has a soft spot in his heart for charities that help provide meals for the less fortunate.

He was a WIC program recipient in his youth and believes strongly in what it means to make sure kids don’t go hungry.

“So when I got to high school and I had to do volunteer work to fill out my resume, I chose to work at the food bank because it was fun and I got to lift stuff,” he said. “I just enjoyed doing it.

“As I got older, it was very impactful to me in that I never missed a meal because we got free food. It sounds so simple, but you really can’t expect kids to be good at school and sports if they’re hungry and they haven’t had a certain amount of nutrition.”

Griffin continued to do volunteer work in the field through both hands-on efforts with Three Square food bank in Las Vegas and as a spokesman, a relationship that helped inspire the UFC as an organization to also work with the group.

On Monday, UFC president Dana White presented a check for $25,680 to Three Square, an amount collected through sales of tickets to the organization’s Hall of Fame ceremony this month.

It’s part of the UFC’s continued work with the charity. Three Square can make three meals for every dollar donated.

“It’s such a great cause,” White said. “When you talk about children starving in Las Vegas with all the money in town, how is that even possible? How do we let that happen? There are kids that eat Friday at school and don’t get to eat again until they get back to school on Monday.”

The summer is a particular time of need with kids out of school, according to Three Square CEO Brian Burton.

“I want people to know hunger doesn’t take a summer vacation,” he said. “We are Southern Nevada’s only food bank, so we have 200 agency partners that depend on a continuous flow of nutritious food, and this helps us do that.

“Forrest Griffin is one of our main advocates for us, so we feel right at home with the partnership with the UFC and want it to continue.”

According to Three Square, 1 in 5 children in Las Vegas comes from a food-insecure household. The organization distributed more than 37 million meals last year.

UFC 227

A pair of title fights will headline Saturday’s UFC 227 card at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

“I’m excited about this card,” White said. “This is a great card.”

Bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw will put his belt on the line in a rematch against former champ Cody Garbrandt in the headliner, and flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson will look to extend his record for most consecutive successful title defenses in UFC history against Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo.

More MMA: Follow all of our MMA and UFC coverage online at CoveringTheCage.com and @CoveringTheCage on Twitter.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.