UFC 108 results: Rashad Evans survives Thiago Silva, Daley and Miller get knockouts

UFC 108 results: Rashad Evans survives Thiago Silva, Daley and Miller get knockouts

Rashad Evans survived a third round scare to defeat Thiago Silva (photo: Sherdog)
UFC 108 will go down in history as the first major MMA event of this new year, as well as the decade. Whether or not the weight of that responsibility influenced the selection of fights for this card, the UFC certainly put together an event that was worthy of the honor. There were some great fights and a couple of them will end up having serious implications in their weight divisions.
Junior Dos Santos knocked Gilbert Yvel out in the first round, and I can't really say I was surprised. Dos Santos came into this fight already having knocked out quite a few big names in the UFC. Although Yvel has a ton of experience, I felt that he was significantly overmatched in this fight and predicted a knockout in my predictions article earlier in the week. It didn't take long and Dos Santos was dominant from the opening bell. He landed a counter left hand that dropped Yvel in the first round, then attacked with more strikes on the ground, forcing a stoppage and earning a TKO.
Jim Miller submitted Duane Ludwig with an arm bar in the first round. This was one of the fights I was most looking forward to on the card. After fighting in Strikeforce for a few years, Ludwig made his return to the UFC to face the always formidable Jim Miller. It didn't surprise me that MIller was able to get Ludwig down in teh first round, but the fact that he did it by dropping him with a punch did. Instead of going for the TKO, Miller wisely used the opportunity to mount Ludwig and immediately started looking for a submission. He got an arm bar a few seconds later and finished the fight without even breaking a sweat.
Sam Stout defeated Joe Lauzon by unanimous decision. This was another clash of contrasting styles. Stout is about as pure a striker as you'll find in MMA, while Lauzon is a submission artist. The result would hinge on whichever was able to dictate the location of the fight. Early in the first round, it looked like Lauzon was going to do just that. He got Stout down and appeared to have a very painful arm bar, but Stout kept spinning and eventually got back to his feet. The remained standing for the rest of the first round. Stout was dominant in the second round, because he was able to avoid being on the ground for any length of time, while punishing Lauzon on his feet. Lauzon got one nice take down in the third round, attempted a guillotine, but Stout was able to get up yet again. He dominated most of the final five minutes and won the last two rounds going away. I wasn't sure how the first round would be scored, but all three judges gave it to Stout, making it an easy win on the score cards.
Martin Kampmann submitted Jacob Volkmann via guillotine choke. Once again, Volkmann proved to be a very game and aggressive opponent, but Kampmann's punching power was the difference in the fight. After landing several heavy shots in the first round, Kampmann seized the opportunity by sinking a very tight guillotine in while Volkmann was trying to recover.
Paul Daley knocked Dustin Hazelett out in the first round. Of all the striker vs. grappler match-ups on this card, this was the big one. There have never been two fighters with two more drastically different game plans than these guys and everyone was excited to see how it would play out. Hazelett was unable to get a take down early and that spelled disaster. Daley landed an enormous left hook that put Hazelett right on his back, then followed with three more heavy shots on the ground. The fight was mercifully stopped at that point and Daley has sent another message to the rest of the welterweight division.
Rashad Evans defeated Thiago Silva by unanimous decision. Unlike the previous fight, there wasn't much doubt as to how this one would go. Everyone suspected that these two would stand and trade heavy leather until one of them fell down. Both actually have very good ground games, but normally that only increases the chances of a stand-up fight. The funny thing was that they actually went down to the ground at the beginning of the first round and Rashad actually had Silva mounted for a second. But they got back up, traded more strikes, and then Rashad took Silva down again. He probably won the first round based on a couple of take downs and accurate striking. Silva looked a little tentative again in the second round and although he held his own striking, Rashad was still able to set up and get take downs. Both fighters slowed a little in the third round and Silva landed a couple of very solid shots that looked like they put Rashad in trouble. The problem was that Silva was too tired to finish him off and Rashad survived until the end of the fight. The biggest surprise was that it the fight went the distance, because everybody expected a knockout. Based on the strength of the first two rounds, Rashad won a unanimous decision.