FIGHTER OF THE YEAR: Rashad Evans

Rashad Evans entered 2008 as just another body in the second tier of the 205 scrap heap.  He started 2007 blazing hot with a highlight reel KO over Sean Salmon, but lost steam after stealing a draw from Tito Ortiz and winning a razor-thing split decision over Mike Bisping in November.

He had to wait just shy of ten months before he had the opportunity to redeem himself.  Scheduled as a replacement for Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 85, Evans' found himself without an opponent after Chuck Liddell and James Irvin both pulled out with injuries.

Zuffa rescheduled the Evans/Liddell matchup for UFC 89 and banked on a Liddell victory.  The company forsaw a huge moneymaker with a potential fight with Forrest Griffin at their year end show.  Evans put the kabosh on all of that.

In a patient first round, Evans kept out of Liddell's range while figuring out his timing.  A minute into round two, Evans backed into the fence, planted his feet, and unloaded a huge overhand right.  Liddell lost consciousness before he hit the mat, and Evans found himself with the knockout of the year.

Without a clear contender for Griffin, the UFC inserted Evans into a main event title fight pitting the winners of seasons one and two of the Ultimate Fighter at UFC 92.  Evans again started slow in the fight, losing the first two rounds decisively.  In round three, Evans dropped the champion , who survived the early onslaught.  Griffin's jiu-jitsu failed him over time, however, and Evans earned himself a TKO stoppage halfway through the period.

Evans finds himself in an entirely different situation than the previous year.  He holds the title for the most prestigious MMA organization in the most prestigious weight division.  He arrived here after impressively finishing two top ten fighters while improving his overall MMA game.

The upcoming year will be a huge test for "Sugar."  He's lined up with former champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, and should he get by Rampge, he'll have to figure out the Lyoto Machida puzzle.  Should he run the gauntlet, we may be crowning him fighter of the year yet again.

2nd PLACE: Miguel Torres
3rd PLACE: Gegard Mousasi

From the UK Sun:

FORREST GRIFFIN could be sidelined for the rest of the year after sources revealed his hand injury is worse than first feared.

The former light heavyweight champion broke his fist during his unsuccessful title defence against Rashad Evans last month and has since had pins inserted into his hand to help the healing process.

Griffin was originally set to be out of action until May but industry insiders told SunSport he will not be back inside the Octagon until Autumn at the earliest.

If nothing else, this clears the way for Rampage Jackson to fight Rashad Evans for the belt without having to wish he was trying to get his revenge on Forrest first.

In what can only be considered incredible news if it is true, Dana White said today that UFC 92 crushed the Lesnar-Couture buyrate:

"I don't want to get into numbers too much—that's our policy. But it crushed it. I'll say this: The Christmas show crushed the Lesnar fight by 150,000-175,000 buys."

If this is true, and Lesnar/Couture did 1.01 million buys, this means UFC 92 broke the all-time record set by Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell at UFC 66.  I am shocked by this, because even though the show had three main events and all three were intriguing, there were no fights on the show that jumped out as major draws besides Rampage-Silva, which was not promoted as the main event.

Perhaps a large amount of fans liked 91 and decided to purchase this as well?  Or maybe Mir and Nogueira coming off TUF was something the fans really wanted to see? Either way, if this is true it's a stunning number, and a further reflection of the counter cyclical nature of entertainment spending.

Hat tip: The Bronzeville Bully.

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MMA Junkie has a disconcerting, but not surprising report about the live attendance at UFC 92:

of the 14,166 attendees, a total 4,465 – nearly a third of the overall crowd – were issued complimentary tickets, according to an email today sent to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) by Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer.

Only 9,701 were paid attendees.

However, despite a lower-than-usual percentage of paid attendees, UFC 92 still garnered a live gate of $3,468,440 – just two days after Christmas. It was the fifth-highest gate total among the 12 events that have been held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the UFC's 15-year history.

It's not news that the economy is terrible, especially in Las Vegas. It's also not news that Zuffa triple-dipped Vegas with UFC 91, 92 and 94 back-to-back-to-back in their home town.

Nevertheless, it's a clear indicator that current conditions are very different from the high-water mark of Las Vegas shows at the end of 2006 but Zuffa is still making good money even in hard times.

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The fight summary tells the story:

Inside The Numbers: Mir’s standup game the surprise of the night.  He set the pace from the opening bell, throwing 86 total strikes in round one.  He landed a combined 32 arm and leg strikes in the round to just 10 for Nogueira, who was knocked down twice. 

Overall stats for the fight:

aFl tats

HT: Baudelaire