MMA: UFC 92: Two New Champions Crowned, The Ax Murderer Is Dead

UFC 92 was the second straight fantastic pay per view event from the UFC. The main event saw Rashad Evans win the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship of the World from Forrest Griffin. Rashad Evans took Forrest down in the third and was raining down punches on Forrest with great vengeance and furious anger. Forrest was able to tie Evans up in his guard momentarily before Evans was able to rise up and land a series of brutal uppercuts which caused Forrest's head to bounce off the canvas and the referee stopped it at 2:46 of round three. Rashad Evans is still undefeated, he still has not attempted a single submission in the UFC, and he is now world champion in the deepest pool of talent in any MMA division in the universe.

For those of you counting at home Rashad Evans has now defeated two Ultimate Fighter winners. Last night he defeated season 1 winner Forrest Griffin and last November at UFC 78 he defeated Ultimate Fighter season 3 winner Michael "The Count" Bisping. Maybe recent winner Ryan Bader won't completely suck and Rashad Evans can knock him out too.

In the fight for the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship Frank Mir completely decimated Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. Mir's standup game looked better than it ever has and he knocked down Nogueira twice in the first round. At the conclusion of that round both announcers were calling it a 10-8 round for Mir. I wouldn't have scored it that way but I wouldn't have a problem if the judges did(In fact only one of the judges scored it a 10-8 round). The second round was more of the same as Mir dropped him with punches and then became the first fighter to ever finish Nogeuiera. Mir smiled, walked over to the side of the cage where Brock Lesnar was sitting, pointed and said, "You have my belt."

Mir went on to cut a great promo. He said that you can do anything, and that he is proof of that. He said that even he didn't believe that he could beat Nogueira. When Joe Rogan asked him about the Brock Lesnar fight Mir called it inevitable, and he began to talk shit about Lesnar ending with, "We'll see if you can get out of the first round this time." Oh my god, I want to see this fight right now!


Quinton "Rampage" Jackson found redemption by knocking "The Ax Murderer" Wanderlei Silva the fuck out and earning himself a $60,000 bonus for knock out of the night honors. During the pre-fight staredown the referee said, "If you would like to touch gloves do it now." Neither man moved. I told Brookie, "They didn't touch gloves!" And she responded with, "Someone is going to die!" At 3:21 of round 1 that just about happened. Rampage ducked under a 1-2 combo from Wanderlei and countered with a left hook right on the jaw and Wanderlei Silva was asleep before he hit the mat. Sleep safe tonight everyone, Rampage is in a pleasant mood. It's possible that he will get the next shot at Rashad Evans title.

The rest of the show was excellent with a series of knockouts and referee stoppages almost all coming early in the fights.


Cheick Kongo looked stellar as he dominated Mostapha Al Turk. Kongo will probably be next in line for a heavyweight title shot after the Lesnar-Mir match in the spring.

CB Dolloway looked very good though he is still nowhere near ready for a match with Middleweight Champ Anderson Silva.

UFC 94 takes place on January 31, 2009 with a huge main event between UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre and UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn in a rematch from UFC 58. This should be an epic battle.

MMA: UFC 92 Preview

UFC 92 has one of the most stacked cards in MMA history. The show features two title fights as well as the first UFC match between two legends of the sport.

The Ultimate Fighter season 1 winner Forrest Griffin makes his first defense of the Light Heavyweight Championship when he defends his title against the Ultimate Fighter season 2 winner "Sugar" Rashad Evans.

Rashad Evans comes into tonight's fight with an unbeaten record of 12-0-1. He showed in his last fight against Chuck Liddell that he has definite knockout power. That alone makes him a very dangerous fighter.

We last saw Forrest Griffin on July 5th when he defeated then champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson by unanimous decision. Since his last loss, which happened almost 2 years ago, Forrest has turned himself into an excellent all around fighter who can really pick apart an opponent without putting himself in grave danger. In the 2nd round against Rampage he also showed an improved ground game. Forrest does everything extremely well. Some fighters you look at and say, "Oh he's a great stand up fighter," or, "He's a submission expert." Forrest Griffin on the other hand is just a great great fighter.

I expect Forrest to dominate and win this fight fairly easily and give Rashad Evans his first ever MMA loss. I say, Forrest by unanimous decision 50-45.

The Ultimate Fighter theme continues as the two coaches from the 8th season go head to head as Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira defends the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir. Mir is a submission specialist, but he's not as good as the Brazilian Noguiera. At this point in time Mir is best known for beating the current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar in Lesnar's UFC debut. He won that fight due to a questionable stand up and point deduction by referee Steve Mazagatti. One could argue, and I certainly do, that the fight should have been stopped before then and that Mir was being destroyed and he was not intelligently defending himself.

The winner of this fight will face Brock Lesnar sometime in the Spring in a match to unify the two different versions of the UFC Heavyweight Championship. The best case scenario is for Frank Mir to beat Nogueira tonight in order to set up the rematch with Lesnar. Lesnar vs the one man who has beaten him in his career in a battle to unify the world heavyweight titles! That is a huge money fight right there!

Unfortunately for us Nogueira is so much better than Frank Mir and I expect Noguiera to win via submission in the 2nd round.

Probably the most intriguing fight on UFC 92 is Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs Wanderlei Silva. This is of course the first match for Rampage since he lost his belt to Forrest and went on his well, extended rampage. These two men have fought twice previously in Japan for the former Pride organization. Both of those fights ended with two of the most vicious knockouts you have ever seen and with Wanderlei Silva victorious. After the first fight Rampage flipped out and ended up becoming a born again Christian. Shortly after the second loss Rampage fired his coaches and trainers and hired Juanito Ibarra to train and manage his career. After his loss to Forrest, Rampage went on his rampage and then fired Ibarra.

If Wanderlei wins this fight I am afraid of what Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will do. In all of his UFC fights Rampage has showed a propensity for standing and exchanging punches. That is a very dangerous tactic when your opponent is the man known as The Axe Murderer.

I predict that the Axe Murderer will knockout Rampage in the second round. And if that happens, you should probably lock your door.

The only other match scheduled to air live on the PPV is the Ultimate Fighter 7 runner up CB Dollaway against Mike Massenzio. I have no idea who that guy is.

CB Dollaway will win via submission- Peruvian Necktie- in the first round. The peruvian necktie is his favorite submission hold, and he actually tapped out Rampage with it when Rampage was his coach on the Ultimate Fighter.

Overall this should be an amazing show with three huge matches all of which could headline a UFC pay-per-view event.

As is my preference, I will be watching the show at King Cobra in Seattle again tonight. I highly recommend the sweet potato fries.

MMA: UFC 88 Results, Rashad Evans is King

Last night's UFC 88 was a very good pay per view. There were no match of the year candidates on the show, but there were also no boring matches on the broadcast.

The main event saw Rashad Evans become a star when he threw an overhand right haymaker that knocked Chuck Liddell the fuck out! He was unconscious before he hit the ground. Ref Herb Dean did a great job of seeing that and jumping in for the stop before Evans could land any additional shots. This was such a spectacular knockout that I leaped out of my chair and stood there with one hand over my mouth for a couple of minutes in stunned silence.

The replays showed Chuck's jaw move first and then his neck and head followed. He fell like a ton of bricks, and remained out cold on the mat. This was one of the most spectacular knockouts in MMA history. Between this and the fight where Chuck was knocked out by Rampage all I have to say is: When he gets knocked out, it happens in dramatic fashion. You will see this knockout highlight over and over again for an eternity, and it will always be part of Rashad Evans' highlight reel.

Rashad Evans' next fight has already been announced. He will take on UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin on December 27th in Las Vegas.

In the co main event Rich Franklin looked good fighting at 205 lbs. in beating Matt(don't call me Mark)Hamill. Franklin apparently came into the fight with a cut next to his eye, and it was opened up early. In the second round the ref briefly stopped the fight to have the doctor check the cut, and the doctor said it was fine. In the third round Franklin ended it with a vicious body kick that caused Hamill to grab his ribs and crumple in a heap.

The match last night that told the best story was Jason MacDonald vs Jason Lambert. At the end of the first round Jason Lambert locked in a guillotine choke. I mean, it was locked in deep! MacDonald's head was turning red and he was throwing punches to Lambert's head and body, and was able to hold on for the last 10 seconds of the round while in a deep deep choke.

The second round saw MacDonald take down Lambert, get his back, and then after almost being choked out in the previous round he choked out Lambert! It was awesome. In the post match interview he told Joe Rogan that the guillotine in the first round was really deep but he could see the clock on the scoreboard, and he knew that he could hold his breathe for that long.
I loved this match!

Top to bottom this was a very solid show. I want to thank King Cobra in Seattle for showing the pay per view last night. I will keep going back there for UFC events as long as they have them. They had several projection screens set up for our viewing pleasure. They also mix their drinks strong, and the sweet potato fries are excellent. They didn't even charge a cover last night!

MMA: UFC 88 Preview!

It seems that a lot of people have forgotten about tomorrow's UFC pay per view after the big news this week of the UFC return of Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture.

The top two fights on UFC 88 are very solid and exciting matchups in the main event of Chuck Liddell vs Rashad Evans and Rich Franklin vs Matt (Don't call me Mark) Hamill.

Liddell is one of the top draws in MMA history, and I have never seen a boring fight with him involved. He is also a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He has knockout power, and he has that killer instinct that makes all of his fights exciting. If he sees that he has staggered his opponent then he will rush in and try to finish the fight.

Rashad Evans won The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 as a heavyweight. He is unbeaten in his career, but he has never fought anyone of the caliber of Chuck Liddell. I think that Chuck will be victorious by knockout, but this fight is not going to be a cake walk.

Whoever is victorious in the main event will probably get the next shot at Forrest Griffin's Light Heavyweight title at the end of this year or early next year.
Earlier this week Dana White stated that he thinks that November's Randy Couture-Brock Lesner fight will top the one million buys mark on pay per view. I think that a Forrest Griffin-Chuck Liddell fight for the title will be the biggest fight in MMA history.

Former UFC Middleweight Champion Rick Franklin makes his debut at Light Heavyweight on this show as he squares off against the much more inexperienced Matt Hamill. Hamill is deaf, so the referee in his fights always has to be ready to jump in to stop him at the end of each round as he can't hear the buzzer. That's always an exciting aspect to his fights, but so far he hasn't landed any big shots after the round has ended. It will be interesting to see what Rich Franklin looks like fighting at 205(Middle weights fight at 185 pounds), but I expect him to finish Hamill and look great doing it.

This should be a really fun show. If you are in Seattle tomorrow, feel free to join me at King Cobra on Capitol Hill to watch the fights. I can not recommend the sweet potato fries there enough!