Speed kills. You place a burly hard hitting wrecking machine against a smaller, yet quicker fighter with a decent punch and nine times out of ten, I will bet on the quicker guy. This past Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada my theory was proven yet again. Rashad Evans used his god given speed to his advantage as he befuddled Quinton “Rampage” Jackson en route to a unanimous decision in what was and still could be one of the most heated rivalries in UFC history.
The amount of trash talking back and forth had reached a boiling point as the two were on opposing sides on The Ultimate Fighter season ten reality show. Up to that point, the fight was good to go and then, everything went cold. Rampage went Hollywood securing a starring role in the new A-Team movie. Fast forward a year later and both men stood toe to toe in a stare down that resulted in no touching of gloves and had everyone in the arena feeling someone was going to get a beat down.
From the opening bell the disparity in speed was apparent. Bouncing on his toes, Evans came out with a combination that ended in a lead right that cracked rampage and sent him staggering to the cage. He would continue to use his speed to score takedowns on his bigger opponent often setting them up with feints and poking jabs. It frustrated Rampage so much that by the end of the first he let it out with a flurry and landed on nothing but air as Evans quickly slipped and stepped away. Evans would continue this and mix in a bit of what GSP did to BJ Penn; lean against his opponent in the clinch. By the third round it seemed it was all in the bag for Evans, as a slowing rampage could never quite get his timing and distance right. Then a big shot landed via a rampage short hook set up by a lunging left hook. It knocked Evans down as Rampage swarmed him but mostly missed his hammer fist shots. Evans made his way up and was visibly wobbly as Rampage strangely did not press the fight. Momentum quickly shifted back into Evans favor scoring with two more takedowns before the fight was announced as a majority decision (30-27,30-27,29-28)
“I went numb for a little bit,” Evans said of the Rampage shot that knocked him down. In my mind, I was like, ‘I’m not going to give up no matter what.”
“I was very surprised he recovered from that,” Jackson said. “I put all my eggs in that basket. I was trying to take him out.”
For Jackson’s part he admitted after the fight that Evans speed made the fight much more difficult, “Rashad is really tough. I could tell he worked really hard. He was faster than I anticipated.”
Bisping back in the win column
Coming off his decision loss to mma legend Wanderlei Silva, Michael Bisping needed a solid victory at UFC 114 or risk heading into a perpetual down hill slide. With losses to Demian Maia and Chael Sonnen, Dan Miller was put in front of him as a marker of progress. Ultimately Miller would suffer his third straight loss in one year, giving up the unanimous decision on all scorecards (30-27,30-27, 29-28). The two gave a great fight that was mostly fought standing but Bisping would repeatedly score with flush right hands that busted and bruised Dan Miller. Not to take anything away from Miller, but for every shot he landed, Bisping landed about two more. Miller had a chance to change up the score in the second, landing with a series of low kicks but opted to use his fists soon after. It was a major mistake for him, as it could of meant taking away punching power and mobility from the Englishman. He continued on into the third, as volume punching ultimately got the better of him, “I hit him with some big right hands, and he stood right there and took them like a man,” said Bisping. “He was very tough, very durable. I hit him with some big shots, but he was hungry; he wanted to win bad, and he hung in there,” Bisping would later say in the post fight press conference of his opponent.
Lil nog gets controversial decision
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, the little twin brother of former UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was originally scheduled to face Forrest Griffin in a fight that had many salivating. It would of been a hell of a fight, but much to the surprise of everyone in attendance at the MGM Grand Arena, replacement and Pride Veteran Jason Brilz gave a show of his own. At the very end of it, the wrong man was given the decision as everyone press side had given the fight to Brilz while the three blind mice cage side aka the judges gave Nogueira the nod via spilt decision (29-28,29-28,29-28). It was a back and forth bout with the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master spending more time on the ground than he anticipated. Brilz clearly won the first two rounds scoring with takedowns and surprisingly staying on top of Nogueira. Nogueira found himself in trouble in the second as he was put in a guillotine that both fighters struggled to get the better of for about a minute. He would soon be given noodle legs and stopped his advancing late round charge after a Brilz strike connected in the final moments of the second. By the start of the third, Brilz was beaming with confidence, sensing he just needed to survive one more round to get the win.
He jinxed himself.
The third round was close but even I agree that it was mostly controlled by the Brazilian fighter. Nogueira managed to get a crucifix on Brilz, but could not end the fight as his opponent slipped out. When the bell rang and Nogueira’s hand was raised, the crowed expressed their sentiments chanting bullsh** and booing on a decision gone wrong.
Hathaway gets surprise upset over Sanchez
In the opening bout of UFC 114, young gun John Hathaway upseted one time contender Diego Sanchez via a three round majority decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26). The twenty-two year old Hathaway exploited Sanchez’s lack of head movement and clobbered him with right hands for fifteen minutes. Hathaway had Sanchez in serious danger in the first as he telegraphed a takedown attempt and countered with a knee to the jaw. Sanchez immediately fell, but recovered a few seconds later hanging on to the head of Hathaway. “I was hoping I would finish but Diego is incredibly tough and pulled through quite well,” Hathaway said. Sanchez was stylistic overwhelmed by the height and reach of his English counterpart but sneaked in a few good hooks to keep Hathaway from completely blowing him out. It would not be enough though as Sanchez was used as a stepping stone in what could be a very promising talent in John Hathaway.
In other matches:
Mike Russow def. Todd Duffee via KO in R3 (2:35)
Dong Hyun Kim def. Amir Sadollah via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Efrain Escudero def. Dan Lauzon via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)
Melvin Guillard def. Waylon Lowe via TKO in R1 (3:28)
Cyrille Diabate def. Luiz Cane via TKO in R1 (2:13)
Aaron Riley def. Joe Brammer via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Ryan Jensen def. Jesse Forbes via guillotine choke in R1 (1:06)
