UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 - in Retrospect

UFC 92 was the most stacked mixed martial arts card of 2008. Featuring three main events, the event delivered on all the hype with three stunning upsets in the main events. Let's take a look.

HEAVYWEIGHT - CHEICK KONGO VS. MOSTAFA AL TURK

Kongo has enjoyed great success in his young UFC career defeating the likes of Christian Wellisch and Assuerio Silva. His greatest success came from defeating PRIDE FC legend and devastating stand-up striker Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic in a unanimous decision win. Although his ground game has been criticized, Kongo has been known for his very dangerous kickboxing. Moving to Wolf's Lair in the UK along with Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, many people wondered whether the change in training camps would have an effect in his performance. Proving it did, a positive one, Kongo TKO'd former Cage Rage heavyweight Al Turk in round one. Lying in Kongo's immediate future, as speculated by UFC colour commentator Joe Rogan, may be a UFC Heavyweight Title shot against the winner of Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir 2.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT - QUINTON "RAMPAGE" JACKSON VS. WANDERLEI "THE AXE MURDERER" SILVA

This fight was seen as quite even until the bookies decided that Silva was more likely of the two to win this bout. Even though Jackson was coming off a big win streak with a decision loss at the end, and Silva was coming off a losing streak with a big knockout win at the end; given all circumstances, Silva was chosen as the favourite.

Since Jackson's last loss, he immediately went into the well documented car chase where he apparently lost his mind. Afterwards, he was involved in court trying to get out of the charges, fired his long-time friend and trainer, and moved his training camp to the UK at Wolf's Lair. This caused MMA viewers to question his mental status heading into this fight.

Silva, on the other hand, moved from Brazil to America with his family, and began training with the likes of, at the time, UFC Heavyweight Champion, Randy "The Natural" Couture, and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Forrest Griffin. Which served as another advantage that Silva was training with Griffin, THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 1 winner who was the person that ended Jackson's winning streak and title reign in his last fight. Adding to all this, of course the two much advertised PRIDE FC fights between Jackson and Silva where Silva knocked out Jackson in devastating fashion both times, remained as a strong platform to support this grudge match.

What a climactic finish to the blood feud that was Jackson vs. Silva, when a serious looking "Rampage" Jackson knocked out Silva with a counter right hook sending the former PRIDE FC Middleweight Champion unconscious to the canvas. While Jackson's future looks bright with wins over Silva, Dan Henderson, and Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell in his last four fights; Silva's lost four out of his last five fights, three of which by highlight reel knockouts. What lies in The Axe Murderer's future in mixed martial arts is hard to predict. Silva will go down as one of the most exciting fighters in MMA history, but unfortunately for now, it looks like his success in this sport is set on a decline.

MIDDLEWEIGHT - CB DOLLAWAY VS MIKE MASSENZIO

UFC fans were bewildered and angered by the decision to place this middleweight matchup on the main card over the Yushin "Thunder" Okami vs. Dean "The Boogeyman" Lister matchup, which was relegated to the undercard. The winner of Okami/Lister was expected to go on to face Anderson Silva immediately. However, the UFC threw a wrench in the plan already setting up Silva's next title defense against the seemingly undeserving Thales Leites, another move that angered fans.

Although UFC commentator Mike Goldberg added a back-story to the fight with previous amateur wrestling matches between the two, the fight between Dollaway and Massenzio still lacked interest. However, the fight did surpass expectations when Dollaway finished Massenzio in the first round with punches. The move to have this fight on the main card notwithstanding, it's clear that the UFC has big plans for Dollaway. With a perfect mixed martial arts record, sans the armbar loss to the resulting THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 7 winner Amir Sadollah, it should be expected that Dollaway is to move on and face established middleweights to get a clearer picture where Dollaway stands with UFC level competition.

HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE (INTERIM) - ANTONIO RODRIGO "MINOTAURO" NOGUEIRA (C) VS. FRANK MIR

After twelve weeks of hype on Spike TV, the "coach's fight" of the hit television reality show, THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER, has always delivered good ratings. From Couture/Liddell to Ken Shamrock/Tito Ortiz to Jens Pulver/BJ Penn to Forrest Griffin/Quinton Jackson, the coach's fight adds an unmatched amount of interest resulting from the reality show, that it usually creates a record amount of buyrates or ratings at the time of the event. Although Nogueira/Mir didn't have the name value hype of a Couture/Liddell or Griffin/Jackson, or the blood feud hype of a Shamrock/Ortiz or Pulver/Penn; it did have the distinction of featuring two of the most popular and revered heavyweight submission specialists fighting for the interim Heavyweight Title.

The fight surpassed most mixed martial arts fans' expectations. Nogueira walked in with the back-story of being run over by a truck when he was a child, being told he would never walk again, and being on the receiving end of a beating his whole life, only to come back and not only survive, but win. Mir, with a similar back-story, having a motorcycle accident at the prime of his career, during his UFC Heavyweight Title reign, coming back against all odds and fighting again, before going on consecutive unimpressive showings. Then finally getting one last chance at glory welcoming former WWE superstar and talented heavyweight prospect, current UFC Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar, to the UFC and submitting him to get a shot at the title; Mir had done the impossible.

And he did it again. Being the first person to finish the seemingly invincible Nogueira with punches in the second round, Mir made a memorable post-fight speech about doing the impossible. Showcasing his incredible boxing skills and much improved stamina, Mir has made it once again to the mixed martial arts' elite. Some would even be just in making a case for considering Frank Mir as the number two heavyweight in the world, having wins over the current UFC Heavyweight Champion and just beating the interim UFC Heavyweight Champion who was considered the number two heavyweight in the world by most prior to this fight. What lies in Mir's future, already confirmed, is a rematch with Lesnar for the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship. Something tells me UFC won't have too much trouble adding a back-story to this fight.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE - FORREST GRIFFIN (C) VS. "SUGAR" RASHAD EVANS

A monumental fight for the UFC having the winners of the first two seasons of THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER face off for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Griffin, looking incredibly impressive since winning THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 1 after a milestone fight against Stephan Bonnar, has gone on to lose a fight in a great effort to long-time UFC superstar Tito Ortiz, which most people thought Griffin had won, submit the number one light heavyweight fighter at the time, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, and better UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in a unanimous decision win to take his title. Although the Ortiz loss and a brutal knockout loss to Keith "The Dean Of Mean" Jardine set him back, to say Griffin's career in the UFC had been a storybook telling up to this fight, would be undeniable.

Evans, since winning THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 2, has had quite a storybook career himself in the UFC. Going undefeated in his entire mixed martial arts career, Evans continued the streak in the UFC, beating the likes of Bonnar, Jason Lambert, current UFC UK poster boy Michael Bisping, among others. Similar to Griffin, Evans had a controversial fight with Ortiz that saw the fight end in a draw after Ortiz held on to the cage to prevent a takedown in the second round. The difference being, most people thought Ortiz would have won that fight if not for the point taken away, whereas most people thought Griffin had bettered Ortiz in their fight. Since then, Evans rose to number one contender status with an epic knockout of long-time UFC light heavyweight king, Chuck Liddell.

Evans stopped Griffin's storybook career to enhance his own when he stopped Griffin with punches in the third round. Although most people didn't underestimate Evans at all, as they may have done in the past with the bouts against Ortiz and Liddell, Evans still walked in as the underdog, but is now the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, as well as the number one light heavyweight in the world. Albeit his in-ring tactics and taunts are disliked by a lot of fans, to not respect "Sugar" Rashad Evans would be a mistake as he has proven himself over top quality talent. His first defense will most likely be against Jackson or the winner between undefeated light heavyweights Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida and Thiago Silva next month. Where Griffin's storybook goes after this major setback loss is anyone's guess. But it's been an entertaining story thus far.

UFC 92 was a card that had a lot of expectations due to the hype behind the triple main events. I think it would be an accurate statement to say that UFC 92 delivered and surpassed expectations. UFC events just seem to appreciate in quality, and it's a wonderful thing for the mixed martial arts industry for the number one promotion to grow. Unfortunately, this past year we saw a lot of mixed martial arts promotions fold, lessening the amount of money that's being poured into the industry. Although, I think as long as our industry leader, the UFC, continues to put on good quality shows and grow as a business, the industry will grow, and we will eventually attract businessmen who know how to properly manage a business to invest into this wonderful sport called mixed martial arts.

~ Ricky Leone