Evans survives flurry by Silva
The game plan designed for Rashad Evans was executed flawlessly for two rounds.
A brief lapse in the third, however, nearly cost him the fight in the main event of UFC 108 at the MGM Grand on Saturday night.
Evans survived several big shots from Thiago Silva in the final round and held on to win a unanimous decision in the Ultimate Fighting Championship event.
The former light heavyweight champion returned to the style that got him to the top of the division as he used his wrestling to dominate Silva until he got away from the plan in the closing minutes.
Silva danced around and taunted Evans into standing and trading shots with him, and for some reason Evans obliged.
"A fight is strategy. If he can get me to lose my head, you know, the saying goes, ‘If you lose your head, your ass goes with it,’ " Evans said. "He lost the first two rounds and he needed to knock me out in the third. He was just trying to get me out of my rhythm to open me up a little bit."
Silva put Evans down with a combination, but appeared to make a mistake of his own by continuing to taunt Evans instead of trying to finish the fight.
Evans said Silva was actually trying to rest.
"He was giving himself a chance to recover. That boy was tired. I felt him breathing," Evans said. "He was tired and he was trying to do everything he could to motivate himself."
Evans showed his strategy from the opening bell as he moved immediately into the clinch and eventually slammed Silva to the mat a minute into the fight.
Throughout the first two rounds, Evans used two-punch combinations to set up takedowns and put Silva on his back time after time.
"There was no secret what I was going to do," Evans said. "I talked all week about getting back to my wrestling roots."
Paul Daley executed his strategy just as effectively, knocking out Dustin Hazelett in 2:24.
Daley missed an overhand right, but followed it up immediately with a left hook that landed squarely on Hazelett’s chin and sent him straight to the canvas.
Daley rushed over Hazelett and landed two more left hands that bounced his head off the mat before referee Herb Dean could step in to stop the action.
Daley then made several gestures at Hazelett and the crowd, and celebrated exuberantly while Hazelett was tended to by medical staff.
He quickly took to the microphone to try to atone for his actions.
"I apologize for my antics after the fight," Daley said. "The adrenaline was flowing and sometimes after a knockout you do stupid things."
Joe Lauzon came out of the gate quickly in his return from a torn ACL, but Sam Stout survived an early onslaught and won all three rounds to take a unanimous decision.
Lauzon, fighting for the first time since February, secured a takedown in just 15 seconds and cut Stout open with some elbows before nearly locking in a Kimura. Stout rolled out of the maneuver and got the fight back to the standup, where he is more comfortable.
He used his striking to control the rest of the fight and won each round on all three scorecards.
Junior dos Santos took just 2:07 to knock out Gilbert Yvel. The win improved the Brazilian to 4-0 in the UFC and establishes him as one of the top contenders in the heavyweight division.
All of his wins have come by KO, with all but one occurring in the first round.
Jim Miller took just 2:31 to submit Duane Ludwig. Miller, a talented grappler, made quick work of the striker after using his boxing skills to put Ludwig on the mat.
Martin Kampmann and Cole Miller each won by first-round submissions on the portion of the card televised on Spike.
Mark Munoz, Jake Ellenberger and Rafaello Oliveira all picked up wins on the undercard.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.
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