UFC 108 sees the UFC start the new year with a card headlined by Rashad Evans taking on Thiago Silva. Other fights include Paul Daley vs Dustin Hazelett and Junior dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel. Join Will Cooling for live coverage of all the action.
Heavyweight: Junior dos Santos (237) vs. Gilbert Yvel (239)
We’re kicking things off with what promises to be an all-out standing battle in the heavyweight division. Junior Dos Santos was one of the breakthrough heavyweight fighters of 2009, impressing many with his dominant victory over legendary striker Mirko Crop Cop at UFC 103. Pride veteran Gilbert Yvel is making his UFC debut and has an impressive record of 31 KOs in 36 victories. These two heavy hitting heavyweights should hopefully let their hands and feet fly in the first PPV fight of 2009.
Round One
Short fight as both fighters come in with the aggressive, heavy hitting style that everyone expected. Some scrappy exchanges at the start of the fight, with Dos Santos putting together the best combination with a nice set of punches that pushes Yvel back. Yvel gets a good counterpunch in but its clear that the veteran is struggling to contain the power of the rising star. Both fighters try to mix it up with kicks but neither are trying to control the distance so the kicks are ineffective. Yvel tries to get the upperhand but Dos Santos counters with a hard left hook that knocks Yvel down. Dos Santos swarms with some repeated shots to the head and finishes the fight at 2.07
Lightweight: Jim Miller (155) vs. Duane Ludwig (155)
Round One
Duane Ludwig is a last minute replacement for Sean Sherk and the form book says that Jim Miller is the heavy favourite. Early standing exchanges as the two fighters feel other out with both putting together some nice kickboxing combinations. Miller hits a right hook square on Ludwig’s chin and gets the knock down. Miller quickly jumps on him, moves from side control to top position and secures the victory at 2:31 via submission with a well applied armbar. Impressive performance from Jim Miller which showcased that not only is he a tremendous grappler but has well developed standing skills.
Inside Fights: Jim Miller defeated Duane Ludwig at 2:31 via armbar submission
Cole Miller’s pre-lim victory over Dan Lauzon is shown. Fun fight with Dan Lauzon taking the advantage early on with a knockdown but Miller hung on in there and excelled when the fight went to the ground, applying a nice inverted triangle to get the submission at the 3:05 mark. Reveals to Rogan that he doesn’t remember the knock down in the post-match interview.
They announce the signing of Gomi, with Rogan pushing him as one of the best lightweight fighters of the past five years.
Lightweight: Joe Lauzon (155) vs. Sam Stout (155)
Round One
The UFC must surely be hoping that this fight goes the distance – they only have three main card fights left with less than an hour gone and its hard to see Daley or Silva being in a fifteen minute fight. Lauzon is looking to make an impact on his return after a long absence due to injury while Stout will hope to continue his return to winning ways. Lauzon explodes at the start to successfully get the takedown and almost gets the quick victory with an impressive armbar but Stout escapes. Big cut has opened up above Stout’s right eye. Lauzon gets another takedown but Stout gets some hard shots to the head in before he goes down. Stout uses the cage to get up but the fight goes to the ground again as Lauzon pulls guard. They’re back to their feet and Stout lands some nice combinations while Lauzon seems to be tiring with his takedowns now being blocked. Stout ends with some nice shots including a spinning back fist! Difficult round to score as Lauzon was completely dominant to begin with but once Stout was able to keep the fight standing he took control. If pushed I’d give it to Lauzon due to the submission attempt but its close. 10-9 to Lauzon.
Round Two
Joe Lauzon legs seemed to have gone as he just doesn’t have the strength to get the explosiveness in his takedowns that he had at the start of Round One. Sam Stout is dominant on the feet landing some hard punches and a nice head kick that knocks Lauzon down. Stout tries to finish the fight but gets frustrated on the ground. Lauzon tries to slow Stout down by tieing him up in the cage but he just doesn’t have the energy to control the fight. Stout lands another nice headkick, Lauzon responds with another takedown attempt but that is blocked and has to pull guard to briefly take the fight to the ground. They’re back on their feet and Lauzon is just being eaten up by Stout who is hitting him at will with nice, vaired offence. Lauzon pulls guard and the round ends with Stout landing some heavy elbows from top position. The fight is even at 19-19.
Round Three
Scrappy boxing exchanges to start the round with Stout getting the better of it. Lauzon lands a nice kick to the upper torso but just cannot land the takedown. Lauzon seems to be dead on his feet, struggling to offer any offence other than weak, poorly set up takedown attempts that are inevitably blocked by Stout. Stout is just more confident as the round progress, brutally pushing Lauzon off after another takedown attempt. Out of nowhere, Lauzon gets a takedown and manages to move to half guard and apply a gullotine choke but Stout manages to escape and get back to his feet. Stout ends the round with a flourish with some nice boxing combinations, a flying knee and an attempted spinning back fist. Good round, 29-28 to Sam Stout on my scorecard.
The judges decision is unanimous with all three judges giving all three rounds to Sam Stout, one judge giving him a 10-8 round.
Insidefights: Sam Stout defeat Joe Lauzon by unanimous decision
Promo for UFC 108 airs with the first public confirmation that Frank Mir will face Shane Carwin for the Interim Heavyweight Title.
Martin Kampamnn’s pre-lim submission victory over Jacob Volkmann from the Spike Pre-Game show is repeated.
172 Ibs Catchweight: Paul Daley (172*) vs. Dustin Hazelett (168)
This is a catchweight fight at 172Ibs due to Paul Daley not being able to make weight. Strangely Daley was denied the usual sixty-minute grace period to cut the extra weight due to health reasons. Given that and his pained appearance at the weigh-ins one has to wonder whether he will be at 100% in this fight. This should be a good clash of styles, with Daley being an explosive striker while Hazelett is stronger on the ground. One thing we shouldn’t expect is the fight to go the distance as 75% of Daley’s victories have come by knockout while Hazelett has got 75% of his victories via submission.
Round One
Big USA chants from the partisan, American crowd. Hazelett goes for a rolling single-leg takedown that is dodged by Daley. Hazelett hits a nice body kick which provokes Daley to throw some nice kicks in response. Daley looks a tad tentative and is not as aggressive as usual but all of a sudden he lands a devastating right-hand/left-hook combination with incredible torque in his left-hook. Hazelett goes down like he’s been shot and Daley lands some hard punches to finish it at 2:24. Well that could be used as the dictionary definition of one punch knock out power as that was a fight that changed in an instant with just one punch. Very impressive from the dangerous Brit although he’ll have earned no fans in America with his antics afterwards.
Inside Fights: Paul Daley defeats Dustin Hazelett via KO at 2:24
Mark Munoz’s pre-lim victory over Ryan Jensen is shown. Brutal ground and pound from Munoz which leads to Jensen to submit, although it takes two attempts for the referee to see Jensen tap. Very impressive from Munoz.
Light Heavyweight: Rashad Evans (205) vs. Thiago Silva (205)
Our main event is next. Interesting match with both fighters having knockout power with Rashad Evans’ strength in wrestling being countered by Thiago Silva’s excellent takedown defence. While this is a makeshift fight due to the many fighters that have withdrawn from this event due to injury (and Evans’ strange decision to turn down the chance to fight Couture at UFC 105) it actually has several good stories behind it with Evans seeking revenge after Silva’s dominant victory over his teammate Keith Jardine and both fighters seeking a rematch with the only man to defeat them, the Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida. The stakes have been raised in the past few days after Quinton Jackson said that he wouldn’t face Rashad Evans if he loses tonight. There’s a lot riding on this fight for the UFC, the fighters and the light heavyweight division.
Round One
Evans goes on the offence, pushes Silva back onto the cage by throwing some nice boxing combinations. Ties Silva up against the cage. Evans takes Silva down, Silva gets back up only for Evans to get a big takedown. Evans try to control Silva on the ground but Silva is able to get back up. They do nothing in the clinch but then have some nice boxing exchanges with Evans showing superior head movement while Silva goes close with some hard shots. Silva goes for a kick but is taken down again. Evans gets side control but doesn’t do any damage. They’re back up and again Evans uses hard shots to the body and head to set up a takedown. Silva struggles back up only to be taken down again, he does however manage to end the fight on his feet. Really impressive stuff from Evans who is wearing Silva down by using his boxing to compliment his wrestling. 10-9 Evans.
Round Two
Evans takes control at the start of the round, pretty much in the same way as he did in the first round. Ties Silva up in the clinch for almost a minute but breaks when Silva throws a very nice uppercut. They move back to the centre of the Octagon and Evans gets the takedown. Silva tries to set up a submission but Evans blocks and lands a hard punch to the head of Silva. Evans is dominant with his boxing, wrestling and speed being just too much Thiago Silva. Silva lands a couple of shots and seems to loosen up just after the two minute mark, however Evans counters with a big takedown. Silva gets back to his feet but Evans ties him up against the cage. 20-18 to Evans.
Round Three
Early on Evans was in control with Silva unable to hang with him in the clinch. Then Silva made a desperate change in tactics, trying to goad Evans to become more aggressive by working the crowd, putting his hands down and sticking his head out. These seemingly bizarre actions were actually a stroke of deranged genius with Evans forced to open himself up, Silva was able to land a huge punch in on Evans and so got the knockdown. For a minute it looked like Silva was just one punch away from finishing Evans. However Silva ran out of energy and had to take a step back and recover his breadth. Evans used the breathing space to recover and saw out the round by tieing Silva up against the cage for the last minute of the fight. 29-28 to Evans on my scorecard.
All three judges give it to Rashad Evans 29-28. Evans uses the post-fight interview to call out Quinton Jackson.
Inside Fights: Rashad Evans defeats Thiago Silva by unanimous decision
That’s is it for our live coverage of UFC 108. While it may not have had the high profile matches of other UFC events it was by no means short of high quality in-ring action. Stayed tuned to Inside Fights for all the latest news and analysis from UFC 108.
