Lester Griffin - Biography

2007

During January & February worked on four Ultimate Fighter Shows for Spike TV Tuff Productions.

January 20 - judged WEC on the Vs Channel.

February 3 - guest of the Athletic Commission for UFC 67 JAckson vs Eastman.

February 24 - judges Pride 33 Second Coming - Lester judged the main event Wanderlei Silva vs Dan Henderson.

March 10 - judged King of the Cage at Laughlin, NV.

April 5 - judged Spike TV Fight Night at The Palms, Las Vegas. Joe Stevenson vs Melvin Guillard.

April 14 - judges Tuff N Nuff Brawl in the Barn at South Point, Las Vegas.

May 12 - judge for WEC at Hard Rock, Las Vegas.

Lester writes for Gladiator Magazine

June 3 - judged WEC Live at Hard Rock, Las Vegas.

June 8 - judged King of the Cage, Soboba, Thomas Kenny vs Thomas Denny.

June 23 - judged TUF Season 6 for Pike TV - to air Sept 19th.

August 5 - Judged WEC at Hard Rock, Las Vegas.

Sept - Hooray! Lester is hired to Ca State Athletic Commission!

Sept 15th - judged KOC at Avi Casino at Laughlin, NV.

Sept 19th - judged UFC fight Night at The Palms, Las Vegas.

Sept 22nd - judged UFC 76 at the Honda Center, Anaheim.

Oct - School moves to bigger and better premises - 1532 South Santa Fe Ave. unit # 301, San Jacinto, CA 92583

2006

February 4th - Guest of UFC in NV Athletic Commission

March 4 - UFC world middleweight champ judge. Canada vs USA

May 14 - Judged King of the Cage -- Don Fry vs Warpath Phoenix

June 9 - Judged King of the Cage at Soboba.

June 24 - Judged Spike Fight Night Finale.

July - School celebrates 11 years.

August 4 - Judged King of the Cage at Soboba.

August 26 - Judged UFC 62 -- Liddell vs Babalu Sobral at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

September - Guest of California State Athletic Commission at UFC 63 Arrow Head Pond, Ca. Included a weekend of official judge and referee training.

October 14 - Judged UFC 64 -- Franklin vs Anderson Silva at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

October 21 - Guest of Nevada State Athletics Commission for Pride Fighting's first show on American Soil.

November 11 - Judged UFC Fight Night Final on Spike TV at Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas.

December 1 - Judged King of the Cage.

December 30 - Judged UFC 66 Liddell vs Ortiz

2005

January - School launches web site.

March 20th - Sifu judged King of the Cage at Soboba.

May - judged King of the Cage at Buffalo Bills Casino in Primm, Nevada.

June - Fought in the Dog Brothers Gathering - "The Pack".

July - School is celebrating it's 10th year!!!

August 15 - Lester turns 45.

August - Set to judge King of the Cage August 5th and the UFC that month too.

October 14th - Judged King of the Cage.

December 2nd - Judged King of the Cage.

2004

Continues to judge the King of the Cage - on average four to five times a year.

July - gets married for the first time to Janine Dodge, his beautiful girlfriend of eight years.

December 23 - Courtney Viola Griffin is born - 7 1/2 lbs.

2003

Receives NEVADA STATE LICENSE from the athletic Commission to judge.

Judges in Reno August 16th. King of the Cage, then goes on to judge two more at Saboba that year.

Lester Griffin celebrates his eighth year Anniversary Celebration

2001

February - Griffin judges King of the Cages “Wet and Wild.”

April - Griffin receives 3rd degree Black Belt in Amercian Ju Jitsu under Dave Tice and Steve Crawford.

June - Griffin judges King of the Cage #9.

August - Griffin judges King of the Cage #10.

September - Griffin judges King of the Cage #11.

November - Griffin back up fighter for extreme pankration 11-11-01.

Currently Lester Griffin is working on his High Performance Kickboxing video tape series, Stickfighting tapes, lost Wing Chun dummy form and other topics.

Lester Griffin celebrated his 6th year Anniversary of his school.

2000	February - Lester judges King of the Cage #2 February - Received 1st degree Black Belt in American Ju Jitsu, Grapplling Division under Dave Tice. Same day received same rank for stand up division. April - Lester’s student Jim Abrille heel hooks a guy name Tim Conrad from Combat Grappling in 37 seconds, it’s the quickest heel hook in King of the Cage history. Jim hurt his knee training with Fabiano Iha getting ready to fight Lion’s Den fighter Dean Lister. June - Lester judges King of the Cage #4. September - Lester judges King of the Cage #5 October 10th - Tyler Lester Griffin is born - 9 1/2 lbs.
1999	October - Lester Griffin’s student Jim Abrille fights in King of the Cage #1 to a draw against a guy with a 20 – 0 record. Jim’s first cage fight!
1997	Griffin receives yellow glove in Savate under Nicolas Saignac (Still waiting for The Silver Glove Nick- hint, hint) Savate ranking: blue, green, red, white, yellow, silver and bronze. December - received Level 3 Instructor in Jeet Kune Do Unlimited under Burton Richardson. Griffin receives 3rd degree Black Belt in Shorinji Ryu Jujitsu, under Kenneth Lyle Penland (10th degree Black Belt). Received Senior Lakan Guro Level 3 under Marc Denny . The cherry on top- received Lakan Guro under Dan Inosanto, everybody knows any rank from Inosanto is an honor. Still working to move to higher levels under Guro Dan.
1996	Went to Italy with Marc Denny to assist in a seminar with over 500 people. Received basic Purple Belt from John Machado.

1995	Received First Level Instructor under Burton Richardson in JKD Concepts, Kali / Silat (Bukti Negara), and Muay Thai. July 1995 – Griffin opens his first school in Hemet, CA
1994	Went to the Philippines with Burton Richardson, John Machado, Chad Stahalski and other great Martial Artists to work on the movie “Heetseeker.” Also, trained everyday with the late Grandmaster Anotonio “TaTang” llistrisimo. Received basic Blue Belt from John Machado. One week back from the Philippines, stick fought Mike Mangini in the ring. Griffin is the first Dog Brother to step in and stick fight in the ring. Very different than the open field. Over 1,000 spectators and Marc Denny as the announcer. Purchase Surf Dogs stick fight preparation tape and see the whole fight. Two weeks later, surf dog fought in the annual May gathering.
1993	Became a Dog Brother stick fighter and received the nickname “Surf Dog” Lester is one of twelve original Dog Brothers. Began training with Marshall Ho in Tai Chi 2x per week for four years, until his un-timely death.
1992	January - Received white glove in Savate under Salem Assli. Marc Denny introduced Griffin to Burton Richardson, Griffin began his training with Burton at his Long Beach school and has been Burton’s student ever since.

1991	November - Received certificate of “Instructor” in Jeet Kune Do Concepts from Paul Vunak. May 1991 - Received red and bronze glove in Savate under Salem Ass
1990	Continued to study with Namfa Lot and received Muay Thai diploma from United Kickboxing Association ( the first Muay Thai in the United States of America). Also, under the direction of Omray Ban, Griffin trained in Cambodian Kickboxing and MUAY KHMER
1989	Saw Marc Denny at the Thai fights in Anaheim, CA. Denny, who was Paul Vunak’s right hand man. At this time, Griffin started to train and learn from Denny and has been training with Marc Denny ever since. Also, trained with Dean Nubling in Judo.
1988	Griffin wanted to learn more about Thai Boxing, so he found Long Beach Kickboxing(one of the first Muay Thai school’s around, whose owner was Omray Ban). Many great fighters came out of this school. Griffin had the chance to train with some of the best: Dean Nubling, Namfa Lot, Omray Ban and Kit Young.
1986	Discovered Paul Vunak and started to train JKD Concepts with Paul until 1991. During this time period, Griffin, studied wing chun under the direction of Jerry McKinley, who is certified under Jim Lau (one of the last students to be certified by Yip Man).
1983	Began Kung Fu under Richard Tism in Long Beach, Cal. Tism is a descendant of Wong Shung Leung (Wing Chun). Spent the next four years studying extensively in the arts of Wing Chun, Hun Gar and Pak Qi.
1976-83	Continued to practice Martial Arts and pursue a professional surfing career.

1976	Obtained a Black Belt in Tang Soo Do.
1973	Mike Stone had closed his school for personal reasons. Griffin then joined the Chuck Norris chain. Lester buys his first pair of throwing knives.
1971	Griffin began Karate with Mike Stone, who, at the time was publicly known to be dating Priscilla Presley. This same year Lester met Bruce Lee himself. Mike Stone and Chuck Norris had organized the “Four Seasons” tournament in Long Beach, Cal., where Bruce Lee’s student Joe Lewis was a participant who ended up winning the tournament. Lester Griffin met and shook Bruce Lee’s hand that night that his life changed forever.
1968	Lester’s interest in Martial Arts first sparked while watching the television shows the “Wild, Wild, West,” and “Green Hornet,” which were the first television shows to show Karate and Kung Fu.