Last night’s UFC 92 show was quite the event. Although perhaps not featuring as many great clashes as the outstanding UFC 91, it was just as newsworthy, and certainly lived up to the hype. Martin Smith has already covered the show in depth, so I’m going to do something a little different and look at the parallels between the athletes here, and their pro wrestling equivalents.

Forrest Griffin’s Light-Heavyweight title reign ended in a manner similar to how CM Punk came across as a champion. A hard-working, likeable good guy, who everyone wanted to see in the spot he ended up in, was booked to go there quicker than most people felt he logically should. This created a sense of doubt over his “deserving” of being champion. After all, it wasn’t that long ago, that Griffin looked set to fail in developing on his impressive resume. It took one single victory (though a mighty, mighty impressive one over Shogun Rua), to rehab him, and controversially place him in title contention. He took advantage of the opportunity (although many observers felt Rampage had him beat and the decision went the wrong way) winning the strap, and being received with open arms by the MMA community.

But it’s over now.

The thing with Griffin though, a huge favourite with the fans, is that the company are behind him in a way that the WWE was not with CM Punk. He’ll get his chances again, but it seems probably that he’ll get a rematch with Rampage Jackson first, which is likely the only fight that Jackson would consider taking ahead of his inevitable title shot. Will the fan support be enough to keep Griffin in the title mix though? Or like Punk, will he rejoin the pack in the middle, of what is the most over-crowded division in MMA?

In a classic pro wrestling twist, the heavyweight title situation has fallen on its head. The biggest baby face, Randy Couture, was ejected from the Mini-tournament at the first hurdle, shocking the fans, and underlining Brock Lesnar’s status as the Number One bad-guy. Meanwhile, throughout the course of the Ultimate Fighter series, Antonio Nogueira emerged as a fan-favourite, while Frank Mir touched a nerve, and became Public enemy number two. However, the heavily-fancied Nogueria could do nothing last night against Mir, who entered the performance of a lifetime and became the first person to ever knock out Big Nog. Ouch.

Mir’s performance was so impressive in fact that the crowd suddenly seemed to appreciate the guy, especially combining his jaw-dropping performance with the pre-fight video package that showed his comeback from injury. He’s the underdog, the comeback kid, and going against Lesnar, he’s the hot fan-favourite. Mir’s also not known for being humble- like Stone Cold Steve Austin was, he’ll trash talk and rile up the enemy, and I’m willing to bet that’s exactly the sort of hero that MMA fans will want to see topple Brock. He tows the line between heel and face, and is the rebel that Couture is not able to be.

Or if you like, while The Natural was Harvey Dent, then Frank Mir is Batman, and he’s primed to clean up.

Meanwhile, how far down the ladder has Wanderlei Silva fallen? Quinton Jackson totally redeemed himself with a stunning victory, while Silva suddenly finds himself at the lower spectrum of UFC’s light-heavyweight division. There’s still a couple of big names fights that he could be placed in, but if he continues to lose, giving him the bigger names would be mistake, and a detriment to those guys.

If Griffin loses to Jackson, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Wanderlei put against him, as the win would put either guy back on track somewhat… but a loss would cast the other adrift. If not for his status prior to arriving in the UFC, right now Silva would be a gate-keeper, taking up the Chris Jericho role of putting over those who are arriving from developmental (…the Ultimate Fighter TV show).. you know the guys who are meant to become the stars.

Results:

Heavyweight bout: Cheick Kongo (France) vs. Mustafa Al-Turk (UK)
Long…..long delay when Kongo gets a nasty knee to the nards. Crowd are far more patient than the Fight for the Troops crowd, who would have torn this bout to shreds. About thirty seconds later, the crowd go nuts when Kongo gets his revenge with a nut-buster of his own. Ouch. Rogan sees nothing unfair. A Kongo elbow busts Al-Turk open really, really badly, and he viciously beats the tar out of him, with his outstanding ground and pound. I thought the ref should have stopped it a few moments before he actually did. Good showing for Kongo.

Light Heavyweight bout: Quinton Jackson (United States) vs. Wanderlei Silva (Brazil)
Great, great atmosphere for this fight. Rampage pushes the pace, while Silva is more cautious. Jackson’s footwork and movement is impressive, as he seems willing to stand and trade jabs. Like Forest Griffin tends to do though, Wanderlei puts leg kicks to good use. This is not the explosive first round many were expecting. Suddenly Rampage knocks him out, and man, really, really badly. Silva is totalled. Rampage threw a couple more punches than he possibly needed. That’s a fucking horrible knockout, and Silva’s next move is further down the ladder. They show Chuck Liddell looking less than happy.

Heavyweight bout: Dan Evensen vs. Pat Barry
Barry gives up a lot of size to “the Viking”. Blown out knee possibly in the first round ends this, in Barry’s favour. Not much to what we saw, some impressive kicks though.

Middleweight bout: C.B. Dollaway vs. Mike Massenzio
Dollaway is still an arrogant dude. Massenzio’s leg is heavily taped, which completely changes the complexion of this. Dollaway goes down early in the first, but CB attempts to take him down, gets caught in a Neck Crank, but impressively escapes. CB eventually gets his back on the ground, ands stops Massenzio with punches.

Light Heavyweight bout: Matt Hamill vs. Reese Andy
Andy makes Hamill’s nose bleed a little with jabs early on, and Hamill looks tired quickly. Andy gets the better of the early exchanges with some nice combos, and better footwork. It’s Hamill pushing the pace though. First round is all methodical exchanges, and Matt’s face takes a battering, with a cut underneath his eye. Hamill rarely protects his own head, but he’s overwhelming his opponent so badly that it hardly matters. I’m almost certain I’ve seen this exact fight from Hamill before. Eventually the ref steps in. Matt’s pretty emotional in his post-fight interview.

Brock is called on camera for an interview, where he’s pretty modest. Doesn’t call himself champ yet, and wants the rematch with Mir.

Interim Heavyweight Championship bout: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir
Mir gets the first take-down, and lets him up again. He’s throwing smart punches, and didn’t want to get caught in something from Nog’s guard. Mir looks really confident. Big kicks too, but he’s eating a few jabs. With just under two minutes left, Mir scores a knockdown, and once he realises he can’t finish him, lets him up. Another knockdown right at the end of the round!

In the second round, Mir looks just as good, and KO’s Nog. Unbelievable upset! Mir weeps afterwards and has to compose himself to speak. He cuts a really humble, likeable promo and now he’s cast as the unlikely baby face against Brock.

Light-heavyweight Championship bout: Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans
Evans has NEVER attempted a submission. First round is all kickboxing. What Griffin throws, he lands, but they’re both being cautious. Rashad throws a nice jab late in the round that lands. I’d give it to the champ, narrowly.

Rashad slips early in the second, as both guys follow the pattern of the first. Rashad landing more punches, but Forrest is mixing it up really well. Forrest explodes and clinches, throwing knees… Evans survives, and taunts Griffin, not even blocking. Jesus. Evans lands a good left jab, but Forrest is working away with the kicks, and landing a few punches. Low-blow accident, Griffin deals with it. The challenger catches Griffin with a big right, but it’s shaken off. Right at the end, Griffin lands a nice combo, and it’s a good thing the bell goes, for Evans.

Griffin is floored early in the third, and Evans pounces, looks certain to finish him. He ends up on top, and somehow Griffin survives, pulling guard. Holy crap that was so close. Evans looks good though, and dodges the Triangle attempts. Griffin is knocked out. Fuck he was tapping long before the referee stopped it. Crowd boo Evans more than cheer him. I find him a really unlikeable dude to be honest.

Heavyweight bout: Antoni Hardonk vs. Mike Wessell
Wessell’s a big guy, and he looks in awful shape, but it’s a fight at short notice. Big knockdown at the start, but he can’t finish, and they end up standing. Both throw knees, with Hardonk doing more, he lands a couple of big ones to the face. Wessell is badly bloodied at the end of the round, and the refs about to stop it, but the bell sounds.

In the second Wessell gasses, and gives up his back and eventually Yves stops it.

Middleweight bout: Mushin Okami defeated Dean Lister
Welterweight bout: Brad Blackburn defeated vs. Ryo Chonan

Thanks for taking the time to check this out. I welcome any and all feedback and I can be contacted at www.myspace.com/michaelwrestlingetc or simply by emailing me at Michael@ifight365.com. I look forward to hearing from you, and will be back soon.