On Aug. 12, Grispi's first child Josh Jr. was born. Two days later, Josh's father, Richard, was rushed to Tufts Medical Center for emergency surgery to remove a brain tumor the size of a hockey puck. Suffice to say, the two events didn't leave Josh much time to focus on fighting.
"It was crazy. Then they found out it was the worst, most aggressive cancer you can have," the 22-year-old Grispi said of his father's diagnosis. "Now he's on chemo radiation, and I'm trying to help out around the house with the baby. It's just been crazy."
Training took a backseat to caring for his son and his father, so Grispi pulled out of the fight.
He hopes to return to training soon, and it isn't hard for him to find motivation:"It was crazy. Then they found out it was the worst, most aggressive cancer you can have," the 22-year-old Grispi said of his father's diagnosis. "Now he's on chemo radiation, and I'm trying to help out around the house with the baby. It's just been crazy."
Training took a backseat to caring for his son and his father, so Grispi pulled out of the fight.
"All I can think about is I don’t want my dad to see my last two fights be losses," Grispi said. "I want to get back in there. But I don’t think I should have even fought those two fights. I should have just taken care of myself when I needed to, but I needed money. I was having a kid so I needed to save up more money. I was fighting for the wrong reasons."
Grispi seemed to be one of the brightest prospects at featherweight entering 2011, and was scheduled at one point to face Jose Aldo in his first UFC featherweight title defense before Aldo was forced out with an injury. He's still extremely young and has plenty of time to turn things around. Hopefully his father can pull through and Grispi can get everything back on track.