UFC 133: Evans takes rematch from Ortiz
PHILADELPHIA – Rashad Evans did his part to set up what will be one of the most contentious fights in UFC history when he pounded out Tito Ortiz on Saturday in the main event of UFC 133 at the Wells Fargo Center to earn a shot at the light heavyweight belt.
Evans, fighting for the first time in 14 months, ripped Ortiz with a knee to the solar plexus, then finished him with a series of punches on the ground. Referee Dan Miragliotta stopped it at 4:48 of the second round.
The win guarantees Evans a shot at the belt currently held by his former friend Jon "Bones" Jones. The two were once training partners, but had a bitter split earlier this year. Jones will defend his crown in the main event of UFC 135 on Sept. 24 in Denver against another rival of Evans, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Evans hammered Ortiz in the first with a series of punches and elbows, using better boxing skills to take the round. Ortiz nearly finished it early in the second when he caught Evans in a guillotine choke – the same move he used to submit Ryan Bader last month at UFC 132 – but Evans wriggled free and finished the bout a couple of minutes later.
"All the hard work, all the trials and tribulations, paid off," Evans said.
Vitor Belfort rebounded from his February middleweight title fight loss to Anderson Silva with an impressive first-round TKO of Yoshihiro Akiyama. Belfort landed back-to-back left hands that sent Akiyama down in a heap.
Belfort wasted little time in jumping on him, causing referee Mario Yamasaki to save Akiyama at 1:52 of the first. Upon the finish, Belfort shouted, "I'm back!"
Akiyama never had a chance to defend himself as Belfort quickly pounced and finished the fight.
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Brian Ebersole was taken down almost immediately after the opening bell, but the veteran didn't panic and managed to reverse position and pound out Dennis Hallman.
Ebersole got top position and did a lot of damage to Hallman with fists and elbows, forcing referee Kevin Mulhall to stop it at 4:28 of the first round.
"The feeling is bittersweet, [because] the fight didn't start the way I wanted it to start," Ebersole said. "I thought I would have had to wear him down much more, but luckily for me, he had an open guard which let me get in there. I'm ecstatic about my two straight victories. I want to fight the veterans now, the ones that I came up watching."
Hallman said he thought the fight was stopped too quickly.
Costa Philippou, a one-time Golden Gloves boxer, landed his powerful right hook just enough times to claim a close split-decision win over popular veteran Jorge Rivera.
Neither man put together a consistent offense, but Philippou landed the harder and cleaner shots to claim the win. All three judges had scored it 29-28, two for Philippou.
"I am very happy with winning my first UFC fight, but it wasn't the way I wanted to win it," Philippou said. "I wanted to show off my boxing skills and instead I was wrestling and using my jiu-jitsu skills. But I will learn from my mistakes and come back stronger and fitter."
Rivera was disappointed, but had no issue with the verdict.
"I wish I had finished the fight," Rivera said. "I think that when the decision is left to the judges, you get what you deserve, and tonight I didn't deserve to win."
Rory MacDonald, a 22-year-old from Kelowna, B.C., showed why he is one of the UFC's best prospects with an impressive first-round stoppage of veteran Mike Pyle. MacDonald, who knocked Pyle down with a counter right early in the round, finished him with a ground-and-pound attack.
MacDonald landed a left from the top that shook Pyle badly. MacDonald sensed he was hurt and poured it on, finishing him after a series of blows. Referee Kevin Mulhall stopped it with Pyle not defending himself at 3:54 of the first.
Just getting the win wasn't enough, though, for MacDonald.
"I'm very happy, but I wish it went longer, so I could have shown more things," he said. After doing next-to-nothing in the first round, towering Swede Alexander Gustafsson got the first finish of the night in the final preliminary card bout when he stopped Matt "The Hammer" Hamill in the second round.
Gustafsson, who spent the first round circling but not throwing, landed a kick that seemed to hurt Hamill. Gustafsson followed with a left hand that really rocked Hamill. Several punches later, Hamill went down, Gustafsson got the mount and quickly finished it at 3:34 of the round.
"This was by far the biggest fight of my career," Gustafsson said. "It was unbelievable. I think that I was too defensive in the first round, but the second round I felt great. I want a career out of this. I want to fight the best guys in the world."
Hamill said a short training camp was a problem.
"I was eager going into the Octagon, but I was also fatigued," Hamill said. "I had little time to prepare for the fight, and you could see my fatigue as my arms were down from the start of the fight. Alexander is a dangerous striker, and it was dangerous for me to have my arms down. I'll be back tougher than ever, though."
Chad Mendes used his powerful wrestling to repeatedly take submission expert Rani Yahya done and grind out a 30-27 unanimous decision on all three cards. Mendes remained unbeaten and in the running for a shot at the UFC featherweight title with the win.
"Of course, we all look for a finish, but overall, I am happy with the fight and I felt good," Mendes said. "When I took him down the first time, I wanted to see what he felt like. He's a tough guy and I knew he would be strong. I was trying to elbow him and follow through with some quick pop shots as much as possible."
Yahya was impressed by Mendes.
"Chad is strong and Chad is good," Yahya said. "He is really good at what he does. He kicked me a few times and I felt them for sure, and he has great takedowns."
Ivan Menjivar survived an all-out assault by Nick Pace in the final 45 seconds of their bantamweight fight to pull out a unanimous decision victory. Menjivar was controlling Pace with his hands and good kicks, but Pace turned the fight in his direction with a knee with about 45 seconds left.
Menjivar backed off the rest of the fight with a punching Pace in hot pursuit. Menjivar survived and earned a 29-28 verdict on all three cards. Yahoo! Sports had the same score.
"He took me down, so it was a very close fight," Menjivar said. "I think I punched him more than he did me, so I was more in control, but he hit me hard twice and that made my legs shake."
Pace was disappointed by the outcome, particularly since he caught Menjivar in a rear-naked choke at the end of the first, though he couldn't get the finish.
"I hate losing more then I like winning, and I want to be the champion," Pace said. "It was very unlucky, but that's MMA and that's life. It's not always fair."
In a very close battle between wrestlers, Johny Hendricks outlasted Mike Pierce and pulled out a split decision victory. There was little to choose from between them, though Hendricks seemed to have a slight edge in the striking.
All three judges scored it 29-28, two for Hendricks and one for Pierce. Yahoo! Sports had Hendricks 29-28.
"It was a very tough fight," Hendricks said. "It's always hard with other wrestlers, and he changed levels often, making it even harder. I feel that the takedowns were even. In fact, I don't think he took me down at all. I feel awesome, my ground game is good, my knees are great and I am really happy with my improvement."
Former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight champion Mike Brown got back onto the winning track after having lost his last two by edging Nam Phan. Brown had a big first round, taking Phan down and pounding him with fists and elbows.
Phan recovered to take the second round, using a very effective body attack, but Brown won the third round to take the fight. Judges had it 29-28 twice and 29-27, all for Brown. Yahoo! Sports scored the bout 29-27 for Brown, giving him a 10-8 advantage in the dominant first round.
"At the beginning, my back was [hurting] me, so that's why I was a little conservative, but I'm glad I got the job done," Brown said. "There was a lot of repetitive trauma there for over four minutes, so even though I didn't knock him out, I knew that I was breaking him down. It wasn't the most perfect fight, but I’m happy I got the victory."
Rafael Natal won the opening fight of the night almost exclusively with leg kicks. He turned Paul Bradley's front leg a bright red by the middle of the first round and kept firing away on it throughout the bout en route to a unanimous decision.
Judges had it 29-28 twice and 30-27 for Natal, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who never got a chance to work his game game. It didn't matter, though, as Natal at the very least matched Bradley with his hands and did a great job with his kicks.
"I am really, really happy about this fight!" Natal said. "I feel like I needed it. I worked really hard for it. It was a tough fight and I'm glad I came through winning."
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