UFC 88 - Breakthrough

Atlanta, GA - 06/09/2008

 

Time seemed to stand still for a second as Rashad Evans connected with a right handed bomb that dropped Chuck Liddell. Rashad Evans overcame all the odds to do something no other fighter has ever been able to do, and that is knockout Chuck Liddell. On a great card in Atlanta Georgia, Rashad Evans moved straight into a title shot in December. With an overhand right, one of Chuck Liddell’s specialities, Chuck went down for about 3 or 4 minutes after Herb Dean stepped in to call an end to the fight in the second round. The first round had gone to the Iceman as he hunted down Evans and followed him around the ring as Evans didn’t at any point try to take Liddell. A tactic that Greg Jackson had tought Evans, however Liddell couldn’t connect with anything meaningful. In the second round Jackson’s tactics paid off as Liddell continued to chase and walked straight onto an Evans overhand right to bring absolute shock to the thousands in Atlanta and the millions watching at home. What’s next for the Iceman?, there seems to be a few rumblings about his retirement, only Liddell knows the answer and only time will tell. Personally I think Liddell will be back better and stronger than ever, he just needs to realise that good game plans win fights, as for Evans he walks straight into a title shot in December against current champion Forrest Griffin. Who would have thought two former TUF fighters would compete for a title in the most stacked division within the UFC?

Rich Franklins move to the Light-Heavyweight division may be one he’s contemplating making permanent as he put in an excellent performance against Matt Hamill. Franklin dominated Hamill for most of the fight and even though Franklin sustained a nasty cut above his right eye during the fight, it finished with an incredible kick to Hamill's mid section that made the fighter drop to the canvas and wince in pain as the referee brought an end to the fight during the 3rd round.

Dan Henderson is back in the middleweight mix after defeating Rousimar Palhares.  Henderson, a two time wrestling Olympian who is 10 years older than Palhares, wanted to keep things on the feet. With his five-inch height advantage, Henderson would not be taken down and managed to connect a few times with Palhares but he survived the first round.

Things really hotted up in the second round when Palhares knocked Henderson to the floor but didn’t manage to finish it off with a leg submission attempt. Henderson came back fighting in the third round and punctuated the end of the fight by landing Parhares with a big punch.

Henderson's victory over Palhares was his first in the UFC since UFC 17 in 1998. Before this win Henderson had lost to light-heavyweight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and middleweight Anderson Silva.

Jason McDonald defeated Jason Lambert in a middleweight bout. Throughout the first round MacDonald did a good job defending guillotine chokes with one at the end of the round being saved by the bell. He managed some good ground and pound on top of Jason "The Punisher" Lambert, and all three of the judges gave the round to him.

In the second round it was all about MacDonald, who moved down a weight class for this fight, as his choke attempts started to really work on Lambert. The fight was taken to the ground, MacDonald got the mount and when Lambert tried to roll out of it MacDonald took his back and applied a rear naked choke.

Middleweight Nate “The Great” Marquardt took on a good opponent, Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann, and had a great fight. Nate wobbled Kampmann with a great kick to the head then punched away at the fence until Kampmann hit the floor. It was his first loss in five UFC fights.

In Kapmann’s corner there was his Canadian coach Shawn Tompkins and in Marquardt’s corner there was Jon Chaimberg who is Georges St. Pierre’s strength and conditioning coach.

Lightweight Kurt Pellegrino won a unanimous decision in his fight with Thiago Tavares. Taveres took a terrible beating in the first round. Pellegrino floored Tavares twice, beat on him from above and tore his face open with his elbows. Referee Yves Lavigne did not stop the fight and by the end of the fight the canvas of the octagon was covered in blood and Pellegrino's dyed blond hair was red in parts.
Tavares appeared to tap out to an armbar in the second round but Lavigne let the fight continue again.

Light-heavyweight Tim "The Barbarian" Boetch stopped UFC newcomer Mike Patt with a TKO with a big right to the chin at 2:03 of the first round.

Japanese welterweight Ryo "Piranha" Chonan defeated Roan Carneiro on a split decision that could have have gone either way.

South Korean welterweight Dong Hyun "Stun Gun" Kim maintained his unbeaten record of 11-0-1 with a split decision win over Matt "The Immortal" Brown in another bout that could have gone the either way. The crowd also thought so as they booed the decision.

Main Card
-Rashad Evans def. Chuck Liddell by KO (Punch) at 1:51, R2
-Rich Franklin def. Matt Hamill by TKO (Kick to Ribs) at 0:39, R3
-Dan Henderson def. Rousimar Palhares by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28), R3
-Nate Marquardt def. Martin Kampmann by TKO (Strikes) at 1:22, R1

Preliminary Bouts
-Dong Hyun Kim def. Matt Brown by Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28), R3
-Kurt Pellegrino def. Thiago Tavares by Unanimous Decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
-Tim Boetsch def. Michael Patt by TKO (Strikes) at 2:03, R1
-Jason MacDonald def. Jason Lambert by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:20, R2
-Ryo Chonan def. Roan Carneiro by Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)