In an event that lived up to all the hype, UFC 92 truly was the ultimate 2008 card with three headline-worthy fights.
In the first of the three highly anticipated bouts, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Wanderlei "the Axe Murderer" Silva squared off for a third time in their careers. Both fighters looked ready for war and refused to touch gloves (not surprising after their near scuffle at weigh-ins... see picture here thanks to combatlifestyle.com).
The fighters however didn't come out swinging, with Silva seeming especially tentative. But when the two did engage, it didn't take long for Rampage's tight and crisp boxing skills to come out on top. After blocking two of Silva's wild punches he landed a counter left hook that dropped Silva out cold. Silva was out, and Rampage looked amazing with his hands.
After the fight Rampage gave a lot of thanks to his new training camp. "I came to England with the Wolfslair, got my wolf on, now it's right," he said. "Rampage is back, baby. I ain't going nowhere."
So what's next for Rampage? "I would like to get my title back," he said, which is something every fighter wants, and a fight between Evans and Rampage makes "the most sense" according to Dana White. Although it's doubtful Rampage would turn down a title fight, he also had this to say, "To be honest, I really want to fight Forrest. That's the fight that haunts me when I go to sleep... I would like to get Forrest first, if I could."
In the heavyweight division, Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira faced off for the light heavyweight interim championship, and for the distinct pleasure of being the next to face Brock Lesnar in order to unify the belt and determine the true heavyweight champion.
Nogueria came into the fight as a huge favorite, with many experts saying his improved boxing would be too much for Mir to handle. From the beginning it was Mir that showed the superior boxing skills and a great uppercut as he dropped Nogueira three times in the first round. The first two times Mir followed Nogueira to the ground to do some damage before quickly backing away to avoid Nogueira's ground game. The third knock down of the round came right at the end with Nogueira hitting the mat as the bell rang. As Mir walked by his fallen opponent to his corner you could see the confidence on his face.
The second round proved to be more of the same, as Mir used superior boxing and quickness to fluster Nogueira. Big Nog did get a few shots in, but not enough to phase Mir. In the end, Mir dropped Nogueira early in the second round with a great three punch combo. He followed Nogueira to the mat dropping a flurry of punches from side control until the ref jumped in to stop the fight. As Nogueira tried to get back up he was clearly wobbly and it was clear that it was a good stoppage.
Immediately after the stoppage Mir circled the cage to find Lesnar in the audience and let him know that he was ready for him. In the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, an emotional Mir thanked his family and let everyone know that even he didn't think he could beat Nogueira, but with the support of his loved ones his comeback is complete.
In the main event of the night, Forrest Griffin attempted to make his first title defense against the undefeated "Sugar" RashadEvans. The first few rounds were dead even as both fighters tried to play to their strengths. We saw Forrest using his reach and size advantage while Rashad utlized his speed and quickness. Neither fighter could gain the upper hand. Even towards the end of the second round after Griffin went on a relentless attack, Rashad simply stuck his chin out to show Griffin he wasn't hurt!
At the beginning of the third we saw Rashad take a different approach as he caught one of Griffin's low kicks and took him to the mat. He unloaded with a flurry of punches while Griffin attempted to get to his guard. Once Griffin got to guard he was fairly active, working for a triangle and kumura, however Rashad was having none of it staying very active from the top. Rashad continued to work from Griffin's guard and landed a hard right hand that stunned Griffin. Rashad then postured up and trapped Griffin in a helpless position on bottom while he landed solid blows to Griffin's chin, ultimately knocking Griffin out and forcing the stoppage.
One thought... Griffin's last loss was via the same method, ground and pound from his guard, and was to another fighter out of Greg Jackson's camp, Keith Jardine. Even Forrest admitted that his guard was "lazy".
Always gracious in defeat, Forrest congratulated Evans on the victory and assured the crowd that he did not tap out, it was simply the appearance that he was tapping because he was completely knocked out and Rashad's punches were simply causing his body to move around. That's why we love Forrest!
All in all, it was an amazing night of fights. The light heavyweight division has once again proven to be wide open with a ton of amazing talent. For Evans, winning the title may have been the easiest part of this championship journey. The heavyweight division will now come down to a re-matchbetween Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar, and if Mir continues to look as impressive as he did against Nogueira, Lesnar will have his work cut out for him.
Also, Congratulations to Matt Hammil on his victory! (Would someone tell me why he was not on the main card!?!?!)
Are you ready for UFC 92? What a card!!! This is definitely one that you CAN NOT miss... so here is the listing of bars showing the event to help you decide where to watch it!
Today the UFC announced three huge fights for UFC 92, which will take place in Las Vegas on December 27th, 2008!
"We are ending 2008 with a fight card like no other," said Dana White. "One for every fight fan out there."
The fights announced include:
In the first fight we see newly crowned light heavyweight champ and Season 1 TUF winner, Forrest Griffin make his first title defense against Season 2 TUG winner Rashad Evans. No one can claim that these two haven't earned their place at the top of the division. Griffin claimed the title with a hard fought 5 round decision over Rampage Jackson. While Evans earned his title shot with a stunning knockout victory over the Iceman, Chuck Liddell.
Griffen is known to be one of the hardest working fighters in the UFC with more heart and guts than he knows what to do with. While Evans comes out of a Greg Jackson's camp and who is known for always having a perfect game plan for each fight. This will be a great fight!
Nogueira VS Mir will be another great fight. Nogueria captured the title by beating Tim Sylvia via submission after spending 3 rounds of getting beat up on his feat. Mir earned a title shot with his submission victory over Brock Lesnar. This fight pits two amazing jiu jitsu artists against each other and should make for a very technical fight.
Silva VS Jackson rounds out the trio of great fights and could be the most exciting of all. These two fighters have met twice before in their past lives with PRIDE, Silva winning both times. Rampage is back in his first fight since his "run in" with the Orange County police department, while Silva is coming off his destruction of Keith Jardine at UFC 84.
This one is sure to provide fireworks... Silva said "I'm not fighting him for money - I'm fighting him for pure pleasure. He talks bad about me on the internet, yet he won't talk bad to my face. I don't like him and I can't wait to beat him down at UFC 92." Whoa!!!! I can't wait!
The UFC has been to Minnesota, California, New Jersey, Ohio and the UK, they're going to Atlanta and Nebraska in September, so what's next?
Today, Yahoo! Sports reported that Dana White has confirmed that UFC 91 will take place in Portland, Oregon on November 15th. Apparently he also confirmed that we will get to see lightweights Kenny Florian and Joe "Daddy" Stevenson go to war on that card.
After UFC 91 in Portland, they'll head to Las Vegas for UFC 92 on December 27th, then UFC 93 on January 31st, also in Las Vegas. Also, The Ultimate Fighter Season 8 Finale will take place on December 13th from Las Vegas.
Rumors of a GSP VS BJ Penn fight on the UFC 92 card may have been premature as White stated he thinks that fight will likely be moved back to UFC 93, the "Super Bowl weekend card". We may also see light heavyweight Wanderlei Silva on that card.
All in all, there's a whole lot of UFC action headed our way!
