Evans then went on to take a verbal shot at his rival Rampage Jackson, who backed out of a scheduled fight with Evans to take a role in the upcoming A-Team movie. Evans said he wants to fight Rampage just as soon as Rampage is ready to get back into the Octagon.
"I hear there's an actor that came back to the fight game in the UFC," Evans said. "Rampage I know you're watching. Let's get it on."
In the main event, Evans immediately went on the attack and clinched Silva against the cage, and he showed that he wanted to use his experience as a former Michigan State wrestler to his advantage, taking Silva downmultiple times in the first round. Silva seemed uncomfortable early on because of the way Evans was clinching with him. It was a very good first round for Evans.
It was more of the same in the second round, with Evans coming in by throwing hard punches and then clinching with Silva and taking him down again. Silva did manage to land a couple of hard punches in the latter portion of the round, but Evans responded with yet another takedown.
The third round got off to a good start for Evans, but midway through the third Silva started to turn the tide, and he landed a couple of powerful strikes that had Evans seriously hurt. A big left-right combination wobbled Evans, and Silva followed it up by knocking Evans to the ground with a right-left. But Evans managed to hold on and survive the round.
"I think Thiago could have finished him in that round, but he gassed out," UFC president Dana White commented at the post-fight conference.
All three judges scored it 29-28 for Evans. I scored it 29-28 for Evans as well.
"I didn't realize how hard it was until I tried to take a step back and was like, 'Where are my legs at?'" Evans said after the fight of the hard punch that wobbled him.
From top to bottom, UFC 108 was an incredibly exciting fight card, with not a boring bout to be found. Although the card lost several marquee fighters to injuries and illnesses, the card delivered.
In the co-main event, Paul Daley showed why many MMA observers consider him the most powerful puncher in the welterweight division, knocking out Dustin Hazelett with a brutal left hook in the first round. Daley isn't a well-rounded mixed martial artist, and he still has a lot of work to do in the ground game, but he's being talked about as a possible future title contender.
The pay-per-view fight card got off to an exciting start when Junior dos Santos knocked out Gilbert Yvel with a hard punch of his own in the first round. The 25-year-old dos Santos is one of the UFC's best heavyweight prospects.
The most exciting fight of the night may have been the back-and-forth battle between Sam Stout and Joe Lauzon, in which Stout won a unanimous decision after Lauzon had initially badly hurt Stout and nearly finished him on the ground. Lauzon (whose brother Dan also fought on Saturday night) gave it a good effort, but Stout's striking was too much for him.
All those injuries and illnesses to marquee fighters led to some talk that UFC 108 was cursed. But no one who purchased this card on pay-per-view will complain: With six first-round finishes on the card, it was a thrilling start to 2010 for the UFC.
Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Overall agood card! Richard Bickle called the fight correct. However, neither Evans nor Silva are future champion material.
LHW
1. Machida
2. Rua
3. B. Vera
4. R. Coulture
5. Jon Jones
6. ?
HW Dos Santos looked good but can he keep Lesnar from taking him down? He Can stand with Mir, but Mir will find a way to take him down.
Daley needs to learn to make weight; GSP or Hardy takes him down & finishes him.
LW Stout looked impressive; however, no threat to B.J.
you left rampage off the list. hells yeah, good night of fights. there's a lot of mid tier lw's in ufc that make it a very competitive division and with the addition of gomi there won't be a shortage of good matchups. i gotta be honest, i didn't call for much but can say ufc 108 was much better than i expected. and lots of finishes. rashad, meh. glad he won the way he did, cause there wasn't much credibilty to it, and now he can get his chin broken by rampage. that'll be worth paying for itself.
Vera? You do realize he was manhandled by Randy a few months ago in Randy's return to LHW. He didn't get badly beat, or hurt, but he was pushed and clinched around like he was thirty pounds lighter. I like Brandon, but I don't see him getting anywhere close to a title shot. I would definitely replace him with Rashad. The dude's only lost once, and that's to the champ.
Can't waite to see Jame Toney get beat up in the UFC. He won't make it throught the first round with an average UFC fighter!
Haha you have a huge crush on Couture, he would get his ass beat by either Rashad or Thiago
Good fights. Better than some PPV's that i actually bought last year. *cough
Evans/Silva was frustrating. Suga had a great gameplan, and took down Silva at will. His lack of damage is what is really the kicker. Sure he technically had great positioning and control, but Thiago was the closest to finishing the fight? It's really a tough call because on one hand you have a guy that's taking down his opponent, stifling his offence, and imposing his will. But then again, it's a FIGHT and your trying to hurt the guy. And Suga was the closest to getting finished, and closest to being knocked out in that last round. Honestly if i scored it on a whole, I'd give it a draw, but the judges had it right on this 10 pt. must system.
Some really nice submissions. Impressed by Kampamann. He's definitely a top 10 lightweight. Cole Miller is improving. I think he's ascended himself to a mid-tier lightweight. I'd like to see him against JLau or Nate Diaz (if he loses to Grey)
Props to Daley. He's definitely a contender with this win. I want to see him against Koscheck. Perfect storyline. Kos calls out his teammate Dan Hardy, but Hardy is fighting GSP. Hardy took out Kos's teammate in Swick, and Kos wants to take out Hardy's teammate in Daley. If Daley could get past Kos, a great wrestling guy, it could show that he has a shot against GSP.
JDS impressed me. He faced a really good striker. He's outstruck Werdum, whose striking has been decent under chutebox coach Rafael Cordero, Cro Cop (whose not the same, but impressive nonetheless), and now Gilbert Yvel. He has a brown belt in BJJ under Nog brothers. I see this guy being the heavyweight Shogun. Too soon to say, maybe, but the potiential is great. I want to see him against a good grappler. Maybe if Cain loses that'd be a good fight, or maybe a fight with Gabe Gonzaga whom he was supposed to fight. Heavyweight divison is STACKED!!
Sam Stout fight was really good. He's become a lot more well rounded, and I think a fight with Gomi would be awesome. While it lacked in start power, the card produced great fights!
I don't understand why people want to watch people hurt each other. To each his own I guess- but I can't comprehend it.
IfYouSeekAmy: I agree with the comment that was made. It is foolhardy to actually try and hurt another person for personal gain, at the expense of the loser. Okay, you win some money, maybe gain a title; in a few years the money is gone and the title, was lost the next bout. Also, a couple of year pass and no one remembers who you are; except for the ones you keep showing that old tattered scrap book to. Lucky them! Oh, the loser in your winning fight, in and out of hospitals with permanent brain damage. Yeah!, You're a real winner. There were no names in the above fight, but, over the years, there are people who can easily fill in those names. Most of the time, all the fighters brains are in his jock strap along with the length of his IQ.
CARROLL, you are either a fat ugly chick who is envious of the ring girls or a wimpy whiney-ass dude who gets his ass kicked on a regular basis and justifies it by screaming "I'm too smart to fight like an animal..." Which is it?
CARROLL "Most of the time, all the fighters brains are in his jock strap along with the length of his IQ." I love in when stupid people speak. You do realize that the % of UFC fighters with college degrees is greater then any other professional sport. Nealry 80% of fighters have a college degree.
I was really impressed in that last round. Thiago almost finished Evans but I think he was already tired from rounds 1 and 2. If he cant stand with Silva then what makes people think he can stand with Rampage. Rampage would beat the brakes off that boi. Just saying.
He gets caught so he can't stand with Rampage? That makes a lot of sense. Like you get rear-ended, so you can't drive anymore. Gimme a break. It happens. Rashad, believe it or not, has some of the best stand-up in the division, if not for his awkward style and awesome timing. Of course Rampage's stand-up is better, but there are just more factors involved in that than who can throw the best fists.
Imshort - Are you clueless? Vera got manhandeled by Randy???? Everyone complained about the Machida vs. Rua decision; Vera got jobbed a lot worse than Rua.
Tedfio, I'm sorry to inform you that you're in the category of people I dislike on this whole subject. Randy MANHANDLED Vera. But because Brandon throws some powerful kicks in when he's NOT being manhandled, he should get the nod? In the immortal words of the Sunday Afternoon ESPN Crew; C'MON MAN! Same thing with Saturday's fight. Rashad MANHANDLED Thiago. But since people "think" he wasn't trying to finish the fight, and they "saw" Thiago being the aggressor and rocking Rashad (for 1 minute out of 14), he should get the nod. Nooooo . . . noooo . . it just doesn't work like that.
The fight wasn't boring. Rashad's gameplan was awesome, he just got sloppy in the third. Plain and simple. Goaded into Thiago's retarded egging and got caught. Fortunately for Rashad the MANHANDLING he put on Silva in the last two and a half rounds paid much dividends.
Anyway! . . . yeah, no, I'm not clueless. Thanks.
imshort - I am deeply hurt that you dislike me; like I give a rats ass. If you think Randy "MANHANDLED" Vera then you're clueless; enough said on that. As for Evans & Silva I don't know why you're comparing that fight to Vera & Coulture. Evans obviously won the fight; Silva has feet like cement. That was not the case with Vera vs Randy.
I dont know what main event you guys were watching,Rashad Evans clinching for nearly 15 minutes,meanwhile Silva lands 3 punches and you guys call it exciting lol
I agree, the fight was a VERY boring fight...Watching Thiago Silva taunt and dance in the rin for 2 minutes while Evans catches his breathe only to do another boring ass double leg take-down just to let him get back up and do the same shit over again....What a waste of $55...I hope UFC 111 when my boy G.S.P gets sum action
Who said it was a good fight? I thought it was a boring exhibition. However, the rest of the card was good!
Can't get behind a guy whose gameplan was to out point his opponent. what happened to actually ending the fight Rashad? Tim Sylvia was the same way. Fighting not to lose. Then you call out a fighter who DON'T PLAY THAT! Rampage fights to win Homie, you aren't ready for that.
rampage is a scared little girl and wants no part of evans thats why he backed out of the fight they were supposed to have !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!