MMA Weekly: Evans Gains Respect From Surprised Fans

It all started rather like an “unfinished business” bout for Rashad Evans (17-0-1) and Chuck Liddell (21-6).

Unfinished business indeed, and more.

 
UFC85 was like a merry-go-round of warrior when Evans was brought in as a replacement for Mauricio Rua (who was injured) to face Chuck Liddell.  Liddell have to excuse himself for his injured hamstring.  With both original fighters (Liddel and Rua) out of the game, James Irvin’s name was thrown into the card to fight Evans, the replacement.  Shortly after, Irvin cries “ouch!” when he broke his foot. He has to be replaced again.  

UFC organizers must have gone tired of this endless musical chair and finally said, “What the heck! Let’s remove the card altogether!”

And then comes the fateful UFC88.

It was not difficult to root for the hugely popular Chuck Liddell—who could easily be the greatest 205 pounder gladiator of all time.  After, all he defeated Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz twice.  However, the fight—that dynamite bout—that kept everyone’s butt off the chair the whole time, was nothing short of a tremendous surprise you could easily shout “Holy S*&%$t!” even if your grandma was in front of you.

Evan’s assault of Liddell was spectacular. 

His gameplan was more than what Liddell could have expected.  That one punch knockout that felled Liddel is worth more than any Rocky Balboa slow-mo shots shown over and over again.

That shocking finish, at 1:51 of the second round, was when Evans was being backed by Liddel into the cage.  Evans threw a left jab, and Liddel was throwing an uppercut.  Evan’s quick overhand right follow-up was unexpected and it landed before Liddell’s uppercut found its mark.  Evan’s right on Liddell’s chin was all it took to send Liddell crashing to the canvass.  Ref Herb Dean immediately stopped the fight.

Evans got a knockout bonus of $60,000 plus an unplanned immediate championship title shot against Forrest Griffin.  He now belongs to the 205 lbs elite of the UFC.  Lucky bastard!

This is a huge setback for Liddell.  He must have his comeback fast and a rematch with someone like Keith Jardine would do him good, or else he’s got nowhere to go in this division.  He has lost much in his last four fights and we hate to see this as the beginning of the end of his career.

Here’s the rest of the fight results:

Light Heavyweights:
Rich Franklin (26-3) def Matt Hamill (6-2) by Referee stoppage at 0:39 of the third round

Middleweights:
Dan Henderson (23-7) def. Rousimar Palhares (17-2) by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Nathan Marquardt (30-8-2) def. Martin Kampmann (13-2) by Referee stoppage from punches in 1:22 of the first round.
Jason MacDonald (22-10) def. Jason Lambert (23-9) by a rear naked choke at 1:20 of the second round

Welterweights:
Dong Hyun Kim (11-0-1) def. Matt Brown (10-7) by split decision
Tim Boetsch (8-2) def. Mike Patt (15-3) by TKO at 2:03 of Round 1
Ryo Chonan (12-8) def. Roan Carneiro (14-9) by judges’ split decision

Lightweights:
Kurt Pellegrino (18-4) def. Thiago Tavares (17-3) by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27,29-28)