By Neil Davidson
THE CANADIAN PRESS
LAS VEGAS — Rashad Evans dethroned light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin at UFC 92 Saturday night, taking away the title with some vicious ground and pound in the third round at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Griffin used his size and kicks to keep Evans at bay in the first two rounds of a battle of winners of Seasons 1 and 2 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality TV show. But Evans took the champion down in the third, hurt him with a big right to the head and then unleashed four more rights and seven lefts to the head and it was over.
Evans joins welterweight title-holder Georges St. Pierre of Montreal as mixed martial arts champions who are part of trainer Greg Jackson’s camp in Albuquerque, N.M.
Elsewhere on the “UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008” mixed martial arts card before 14,103, Quinton (Rampage) Jackson knocked out Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva with one punch in the first round of their light-heavyweight grudge match and former heavyweight champion Frank Mir looked dominant in upsetting interim title-holder Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira via second-round TKO.
Evans, 29, made US$190,000, including a $65,000 win bonus and $60,000 for fight of the night, while Griffin earned $160,000 including the fight bonus, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
The card drew a live gate of $3.47 million.
At 6-3, Griffin had four inches on Evans and used his leg kicks to good effect in the first round as he did in winning the title from Jackson. Evans (18-0-1) came close to connecting with some real power shots but never really found his range.
Griffin (16-5) came on like a man possessed in the second round, with Evans hanging on for a time. Griffin continued to hurt Evans with kicks. Evans caught Griffin with a good right but seemed to get hurt in the eye with a punch late in the round.
All three judges gave the first two rounds to Griffin.
“I felt kind of sloppy in the first two rounds,” said Evans, wearing sunglasses and a suit at the post-fight news conference. “I don’t know where I was at when I first came out. … I knew sooner or later something we worked on would show up and I’d be able to capitalize on it.”
“Sometimes you rhyme slow, sometimes you rhyme quick,” he added. “And I came out rhyming real slow man, but I pulled everything together at the end.”
Evans, whose strength and conditioning coach is Jon Chaimberg of Montreal, said he wasn’t worried because he wasn’t even breathing hard during the fight.
Grabbing a leg, Evans took Griffin down early in the third and hammered him with punches. Griffin somehow survived the initial onslaught but Evans kept going.
“He was smiling the whole time,” said Evans, “so I didn’t know if he was hurt or he was pretending, so I was just like I’ll keep hitting him in the smiling face.’ And then he stopped smiling. But Forrest was tough, man.”
Referee Steve Mazzagatti stopped the bout at 2:46.
“I’m fine, I’ll be back,” said the 29-year-old Griffin, a loser in his first title defence.
Griffin skipped the post-fight news conference to go to hospital with a suspected broken hand.
Jackson and Silva entered the cage with bad intentions. The two don’t like each other and it shows.
Silva beat Jackson twice on the Pride circuit in Japan in 2003 and 2004, brutally stopping Jackson both times with a barrage of knees.
Vengeance finally belonged to Jackson (29-7). He came out stalking Silva, then hung back and waited for the Las Vegas-based Brazilian to come to him.
Silva (32-9-1 with one no contest) attempted a combo and, his defences down, was floored by a crushing left hook to the jaw. He went down as if hit by a wrecking ball. As Montreal referee Yves Lavigne moved in to grab Jackson to stop any more punishment, a vindictive Jackson threw two more punches at the prone Silva for good measure before it ended at 3:21.
The vicious ending was reminiscent of the way Jackson knocked out Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell to win the title at UFC 71 in May 2007. Liddell was ringside Saturday to see the replay.
“Rampage is back, baby. I ain’t going nowhere,” said Jackson, who wants a rematch with Griffin next.
It was Jackson’s fight since losing his title to Griffin at UFC 86 in July. Jackson had a meltdown days after and has charges pending over a subsequent highway chase with police. The UFC blamed the episode on delirium, brought about by a prolonged fast. Jackson isn’t talking about it.
Jackson, 30, made $385,000, including a $100,000 win bonus and $60,000 for knockout of the night, while Silva collected $200,000, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Silva boasted at the pre-fight news conference that he would get the knockout of the night bonus. Instead, he got headache of the night.
Silva, 32, has now lost two of three fights since coming over from Pride.
Mir was a big underdog but quickly took the upper hand in the first round of the matchup of rival coaches from Season 8 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Showing surprising standup skills, he knocked Nogueira down twice and took the 4-1 favourite down once in a dominant first-round performance.
In the second, Mir (12-3) drove Nogueira back with a left and then sent him to the canvas with another, finishing him off with a flurry of blows before the fight was stopped at 1:54.
Mir, fighting as if his life depended on it, dominated Nogueira (31-5-1 with one no contest) on the feet. The craggy Brazilian, known for his comebacks, looked slow and outmatched and had no answers this time.
Mir joins Fedor Emelianenko, Dan Henderson and Josh Barnett as the only men to beat Nogueira. Emelianenko did it twice. Mir also becomes the first man to stop Nogueira via TKO.
He attributed the win to his conditioning and maturing as a fighter, He also thanked his family for sticking with him after the dark days following a motorcycle crash in September 2004 after which he lost the title.
The win sets up a rematch with Brock Lesnar for the heavyweight title. Mir submitted Lesnar at UFC 81 in February before Lesnar stopped Randy Couture at UFC 91 in November to win the championship.
Mir made $90,000, including a $45,000 win bonus. Nogueira got $250,000, missing out on a $150,000 win bonus.
Those figures do not tell the whole financial story since the UFC does not disclose other bonuses and payments that may be in a fighter’s contract. The organization’s marquee fighters also may earn a slice of the lucrative pay-per-view take.
Earlier, French heavyweight Cheick Kongo showed a mean streak in stopping UFC newcomer Mostapha Al Turk of the first round.
Kongo (23-4-1) took a knee in the groin early on and didn’t like it. Later in the round, he returned the favour — doubling over Al Turk (6-4).
Al Turk’s fate was sealed when he appeared to get poked in the eye. He pawed at his face and Kongo nailed him several times, sending the big Brit to the canvas. Kongo carved the former pharmaceutical rep open with repeated elbows and punches until Mazzagatti finally moved in.
Japanese middleweight Yushin (Thunder) Okami won a dull decision over Dean (The Boogeyman) Lister, taking all three rounds.
Okami had been considered the No. 1 contender in the 185-pound division and was headed for a title shot at champion Anderson Silva until breaking his hand. He last fought in March at UFC 82 when he knocked out Evan Tanner.
Okami (24-4) didn’t advance his championship cause with this performance, a dreary 15 minutes that did little for Lister’s career prospects either.
Dutch heavyweight Antoni Hardonk stopped UFC newcomer Mike (The Juggernaut) Wessel, a late injury replacement, at 2:05 of the second round. The 260-pound Wessel, whose gut belied his former job as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University of Arkansas, was big, game and came out strong but could not handle Hardonk’s more complete game.
Middleweight C.B. Dolloway (9-2) stopped Mike Massenzio (11-3) via TKO at 3:01 of the first round.
Light-heavyweight Matt (The Hammer) Hamill (7-2) started off sluggishly but won by TKO at 2:19 of the second round when Reese (Riptide) Andy ran out of steam and was pummelled at the fence.
Former IFL welterweight (Bad) Brad Blackburn (14-9-1 with one no contest) won a decision over Japanese veteran Ryo (Piranha) Chonan to improve to 2-0 in the UFC. The 29-28 verdict seemed appropriate but was greeted with boos from the crowd.
UFC debutant Pat Barry (4-0) showed off his kickboxing background by chopping down heavyweight Dan (The Viking) Evensen in the first round of the opening bout of the night.
NOTES — UFC president Dana White confirmed that Diego Sanchez and Joe Stevenson will headline UFC 95 in London, England, in February. Chuck Liddell could figure in UFC 96 in Columbus in March, he added. As for Montreal and UFC 97 in April, White said the main event will “probably” be middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Thales Leites.
