This weekend Dana White and the Zuffa brass brought us UFC 108 from the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, NV.  Many fans and media outlets voiced that the card was lacking the “star power” a New Years show should have, but once again the fighters showed up and provided some highlight reel finishes with both striking and submissions throughout the night.

One of the few decisions on the card came in the main event as ex-Michigan State wrestler “Sugar” Rashad Evans edged out tough contender Thiago Silva.  The “W” should set Sugar onto a collision course with his greatest nemesis and fellow TUF 10 coach, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, in a fight that was supposed to go down last month in Memphis at UFC 107.

Evans controlled the first two rounds of the fight against Silva with his wrestling and take-downs, as well as grinding the Brazilian against the fence.  In the third round tides turned as Silva rocked the Big Ten product with a hard combination that resulted in Evans being visibly out on his feet.  Rashad did the stanky-leg dance for the next minute or so but Silva was unable to finish, citing in the post-fight press conference that he had become exhausted from the wrestling in the first two rounds.

Sugar got the “win” but undoubtedly suffered the worse of the punishment.  Don’t worry Rashad, Dana won’t let em’ show that shit in the lead up to your super-fight…  Just like that fish your dad caught gets bigger every time he tells the story, contenders’ past performances become suddenly more impressive when a pay-per-view’s around the corner.

In the co-main event of the evening the UK’s Paul “Semtex” Daley knocked the shit out of ju jitsu specialist Dustin Hazelett.  The brutal finish seemed inevitable right from the start as Hazelett began the fight with a cartwheel heel-attack…  Yikes.  Daley has set his career on the fast track after finishing two of the best in the welterweight division by knockout in the first round.  Hazelett has some of the finest submission finishes in the UFC and hopefully will bounce back from the loss and thrust himself into contender talk once again.

Rest of the Pack:

- Sam Stout pulled out a unanimous decision win against Joe Lazon after the two banged it out for 15 minutes in a “fight of the night” performance that earned each fighter a $50,000 bonus

- Junior dos Santos spoiled Pride veteran Gilbert Yvel’s UFC debut knocking him out at 2:07 of the first round after the two exchanged heavy blows throughout the opening minutes

- Martin Kampmann managed to get back in the win column finishing the gritty Jacob Volkmann by guillotine choke at 4:03 of first round

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 3:05 pm and is filed under MMA/Boxing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tags: rampage jackson, Rashad Evans, Thiago Silva