Rashad Evans was ripped left and right on his season of "The Ultimate Fighter." He was too small and Matt Hughes said his attitude sucked. UFC president Dana White thought he was the worst prospect of all the heavyweights on Season 2. He overcame everything thrown his way that season to win the title and now he's blazed his way through some of the best 205-pounders in the world to become the UFC light heavyweight champ. In an all-out slugfest, it was ground work that did it for the former Michigan State wrestler who stopped Forrest Griffin via TKO at 2:46 of the third round Saturday.

Evans caught a right kick from Griffin and was able to score a takedown. The former champ's guard was loose and allowed Evans to rise to his feet two or three times to land some solid blows. It was the last time that spelled doom for Griffin. Evans stood up, landed four rights, the first and third really rocked Griffin. Evans then switched to his left and pounded out Griffin with six big shots.

"He kept smiling so it didn't know if he was hurt." 

Griffin was hurt badly. One of those first three lefts that Evans landed on the ground made Griffin's eyes roll back in his head. After the stoppage, as Griffin tried to stand he stumbled badly. He agreed with the stoppage:

"I was flailing not fighting back. It was actually his punches giving my body motion," joked Griffin. "I'm not sure if I was hurt when I went down. That was a lazy guard. I'm better than that. I don't remember being hurt. I just remember waking up."

A humble Evans was still taking in the moment as he sat on top of the heap in the deepest weight class in mixed martial arts:

"It sounds real good," said Evans reacting to being called the UFC light heavyweight champ. "It was a great fight. Forrest gave me everything I could handle in the first two rounds. I took me a while to get warmed up. But I got there."

The margin between Evans and Griffin was razor thin in the first two rounds. Cage Writer had Griffin leading 2-0 but only because the Georgian landed some of his leg kicks. Evans was actually dictating the pace of the fight just missing on a dozen or so counter right hands and big left hooks.