UFC 108: Evans vs. Silva
January 2nd, 2010
MGM Grand Garden Arena – Las Vegas, NV



Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva
Dustin Hazelett vs. Paul Daley
Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout
Jim Miller vs. Duane Ludwig
Junior dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel
Martin Kampmann vs. Jacob Volkmann
Cole Miller vs. Dan Lauzon
Vladimir Matyushenko vs. TBA
Mark Muñoz vs. Ryan Jensen
Jake Ellenberger vs. Mike Pyle
John Gunderson vs. Rafaello Oliveira

I wonder how this card will do?

No title fight, Evans/Silva feels more like a co-main than a main event and Dustin Hazelett vs. Paul Daley isn't much of a co-main at all. Still lots of fights I'm interested in. I understand theres been a ton of injuries but this feels like it should be on Spike, Versus, hbo or something instead of PPV.

I think it will probably do comparable business to an Okami/Franklin, Franklin/Henderson, or Franklin/Belfort card.

People seem to have forgotten that not every card UFC has put on in the past was a top to bottom blockbuster card. And cards get hurt by injuries sometimes. Oh well, I'm going to watch the card at The Office with people who enjoy watching fights and don't bitch endlessly about them.

Does anyone have any knowledge about what Cantwell's POSSIBLY CAREER THREATENING INJURY is? I really like that dude and would be bummed to see him go.

He's fine. Just didn't submit all of his medicals on time.

From MMAJunkie:

Well I for one am glad that Fabiano didn't get an undeserved title shot.

Messing with nasty women imo.

He's a young man in Vegas. WHAT HE SUPPOSED TO DO?

Wrap it up.

This show has been like a random PRIDE card. Entertaining fights, but none of it really matters at the end of the day.

Thiago Silva. Just...wow. WOW. You had Evans hurt. Bad. AND THEN YOU JUST STOOD THERE. That was just...inexplicable.

UFC 108: Dustin Hazelett vs. Thiago Silva. WAR of the STUPIDS
who has the better stupid

Hazelett was dumber. He was of sound mind when he chose to let Paul Daley knock him out without even attempting a takedown. Thiago Silva was in desperation mode. He probably should have looked up at the clock.

Rashad almost wins dumbest fighter of the new year by allowing Thiago Silva to taunt him into making a mistake.

Not a great card, but it was decent. People act like UFC has never put on middling PPV shows before. Some fun fights and finishes. I had a good time. I was disappointed with Thiago Silva becoming a retard as well. 4 fights were aired on TV for free. Some MMA fans are spoiled brats.

Props to Jim Miller for calling out spoiled brat whiney bitch net fans.

A hard lesson learned tonight (specifically by Dustin Hazelett and Gilbert Yvel): Make sure your other hand is up by your face so you will not get smashed by a hook in exchanges. I swear the idea of simple defense is absent with most MMA fighters.

Am I the only one who is surprised about Joe Lauzon getting his ass handed to him?

F'n Rashad.

I have been impressed with how he has improved over the past few years, but tonight he took it back to Rashad 1.0. Just a terrible win. He may have gotten the nod, but Thiago certainly won on the audience end.

I definitely thought Lauzon would win, but it's not so surprising considering he's not unbeatable and he was coming off a long layoff. Sometimes it affects fighters differently. Stout's a guy that doesn't have a ton of power, but he's tough and he hits a lot. Lauzon seemed to burn himself out after that sub attempt early in the fight. It looked like all he could really do after that was keep his hands up and attempt a shot.

Don't be stupid. Rashad implemented a great gameplan, and was super effective in doing so. I can't think of another fighter who has that hand speed, and can use their boxing to setup that type of ridiculous shot. "Rashad 1.0" was just taking a guy down and laying on him. The Rashad who fought last night was someone who put together everything he had learned to win in impressive fashion. He made Silva look awfully pedestrian in the first two rounds, and he only took his foot off the gas pedal until his arms gave out on him or if he gassed or whatever in the third. And say what you want about how Thiago won on the audience end, but that doesn't mean shit. Dude spent 45 seconds, at least, looking like a clown, when he could have beaten Rashad in that third round. All that energy he spent with bobbing and weaving, rolling his shoulders, sticking his head out there, etc. would have been better spent, y'know, winning the fight. Instead, he chose to be a dumbass. So, congrats to Thiago for winning over the audience, I'm sure that will matter a whole lot when he's main eventing a Fight Night or is on the opener on the next PPV.

I would lose my shit if a UFC guy came out to the Rocky & Bullwinkle music. Make it happen, Dana.

I did like the ridiculous black belt that was given to Rashad being completely exposed pretty much immediately by a real black belt in Thiago Silva. Rashad couldn't hold his position for shit with Thiago getting all kinds of escapes, and didn't even come anywhere near passing on Thiago from any position. He has to give that thing back to Rolles.

Well, Rashad impressed the hell out of me in the first two rounds. He looked like he finally matured to an elite fighter. He was mixing it up well with his striking and his wrestling. I was loving some of the combination he would throw then effortless go into a killer take down. I mean, I don't know what happened in Round 3, but if the first two rounds is an indication of the new improved Rashad, I am definitely a fan. He is going to be a force for the next 5 years or so in the UFC.

Thiago Silva vs. Rashad Evans II, should happen, but I would like to see it with one of them holding a title.

So REVENGE (!) for Jardine came in the form of doing no damage to your opponent? Well, other than to his ego.

Rashad hasn't really grown or improved as a fighter since Machida. He still has horrible defense, and when someone throws combos at him, he's STILL totally lost. Rashad will beat most guys that he has the speed advantage over (Liddell, Griffin); problem is Lyoto is faster than him, throws cleaner strikes, and throws combos. Rashad's just fucked against him now and forever. Lyoto uses his superior speed and circles instead of just backing up like an idiot, so takedowns against him will be hard too, and that's not even factoring in his takedown defense.

Anyone who throws crisp combos against Rashad will give him trouble. Unless he tries to just LNP Rampage, he'll be in trouble in that fight too. Rampage will combo him to death and Rashad will probably get KOed.

Thiago Silva is also a BJJ blackbelt and they tend to be difficult to hold so I'm willing to give Rashad a pass in this one.

I thought Evan's evolved quite a bit as he finally remembered he's a wrestler.

Rashad 1.0 was a lay and pray fighter without offering much else.
Rashad 2.0 was a boxer who forgot what brought him to the dance.

Last night he finally worked both of his strengths together.

You didn't really learn anything new about either of those guys in the fight. Thiago was slow and stiff in the standup and couldn't defend a takedown which is why he lost the fight. He had a glimmer of hope in the third round because Rashad was pretty much gassed out and he was able to bait him with his antics but then realized that he was too gassed out to finish Rashad. Say what you will about Rashad being a blackbelt but Thiago didn't show much either. Sprewell references "all kinds of escapes" and calls Thiago a "real" black belt but he did nothing remotely looking like jiu jitsu. I'm sorry but wall walking up the cage after being taken down doesn't have anything to do with being a black belt. If he really was a proficient black belt, against a guy that couldn't advance position on the ground, he would have been attempting submissions and sweeps but aside from having a black belt, ground game isn't his bread and butter. He stood back up when taken down. And don't even give me anything about him being a beast in top position. If you're a black belt, you need to be good off your back too. How about, hey this guy is continually shooting a lunging double leg and driving me backward, how about I try to grab his neck one time.

Escapes have nothing to do with having a real black belt. THE BEST.

Controlling someone's posture and top control....also not dealing with jiu-jitsu. Macaco CLEARLY didn't teach him anything.

Controlling posture to the point where Rashad landed 3 ground strikes. On the couple of occasions where Thiago didn't just totally escape, Rashad was so frustrated by the lock down Thiago put on him, he just decided to stand up.

NOT JIU-JITSU UNLESS HE'S THROWING UP TRIANGLES FROM HIS GUARD.

I know you're not seriously arguing that pressing your back up against the cage and standing up is jiu jitsu. Liddell would have been a blackbelt long ago.

Thiago: THE REAL BLACKBELT!

This is the key stat of the fight. Rashad won the fight purely off of takedowns because he couldn't do a thing from top position. If Thiago had a more effective sprawl I have no doubt we would have seen the fight go the other way. I didn't see what the people singing Rashad's praises saw.

That's three ground strikes more than Thiago landed. Not to mention Thiago doing nothing on the feet either until he landed that punch in the third round. Woulda coulda shoulda. The people singing Rashads praises saw him take a guy totally out of his element. A guy that's supposedly a jiu jitsu black belt and continually put him on his back and look like a fish out of water. Thiago had no answer for the takedowns and Rashad nullified anything he did on the feet. If you think badly of Rashad after the victory then you must conclude that Thiago looked horrible(which he did).

Thiago also wasn't relentlessly pursuing the takedown and spending a lot of his time in top position.



Again, I didn't see what you saw. Other than the continually putting him on his back of course. How does achieving top position, only to not be able to do anything with it and continually lose it equal Rashad making Thiago look like a "fish out of water"? If anything, Thiago was able to nullify Rashad's skills on the ground. He just couldn't stop a takedown.

Again, if Rashad did nothing, what did Thiago do? Less than nothing. On top of mounting zero offense for two rounds, he got taken down at will only to get back to his feet and look slow as hell and get taken down again. He did absolutely nothing. In the third, after Rashad gassed out and Thiago baited him into a mistake, Thiago connected on a punch but was too gassed out himself to put him away. Rashad definitely didn't look great in the fight, but he certainly dominated it over a guy who had only lost to Machida.