Evans, Mir and Jackson win big at UFC 92

By Elias Cepeda

After knocking Sean Salmon, Jason Lambert and Chuck Liddell clean out, people were starting to realize that UFC light heavyweight Rashad Evans hits hard. But Saturday night the former Big-10 collegiate wrestler rode his striking power all the way to championship gold with a stoppage win due to strikes on the ground over champion Forrest Griffin.

After a back and forth first two rounds Evans took control in the third with a takedown and strikes from inside of Griffin’s closed guard. Hammer fist strikes came first from Evans, then a big right to the jaw that was the impetus for the final fight winning flurry. After connecting flush with a right hand downward inside the closed guard of Griffin, Evans sensed that the champion was hurt and unleashed more punches, opening up Griffin’s guard, rendering him helpless and prompting the referee to call a halt to the fight.

The fight was Griffin’s first title defense since taking the belt from Quinton “Rampage” Jackson last July. With the loss he falls to 16-5. With his win Evans wins his first world title and remains undefeated at 13-0-1.

Quinton Jackson claimed he was a different fighter than he was when he lost twice to Wanderlei Silva in 2003 and 2004 and supported his claim with a brutal first round knock out of the former Pride champion at UFC 92. After initially scoring with kicks to Jackson’s legs, Silva once again got wild and wide with his punches and left himself vulnerable to counterattacks.

Jackson stayed calm, covered up and let loose a perfectly timed and placed left hook directly to the jaw of Silva, immediately knocking him unconscious and falling to the ground. Jackson followed Silva to the ground with another punch and was unwilling to control himself as the referee interceded to stop the fight.

After the referee wrapped his arms around Jackson in a clear signal that the fight was over, “Rampage” continued to punch downwards at the prone and unconscious Silva. Jackson got in several extra punches in on his long time nemesis after the referee had called the fight, before stepping over Silva and howling in celebration.

Mir defied the odds and “experts” to claim a share of the UFC heavyweight championship by becoming the first man to ever stop the legendary Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira Saturday night. Mir seemed to land punches with ease before taking Nogueira down and letting him back up to his feet.

From there, Mir remained effective from his left handed stance with uppercuts and straight punches, dropping Nogueira twice before the first round could end. In the second, Mir picked up where he left off, dropping Nogueira once more with left hooks and following up on the ground with punches until referee Herb Dean stopped the fight.

With the loss Nogueira falls to 35-1-1. With the win, Mir captures UFC gold for the second time and sets up a fight with fellow heavyweight titlist Brock Lesnar, who he submitted in under two minutes last February but who also went on to stop Randy Couture in November.