ufc 92 fight card of the year tonight

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ufc 92 fight card of the year tonight

Whenever a mixed martial arts card is tagged with the brand UFC, it has to be entertaining. But rarely does a card contain two title matches and a long-awaited grudge match. Tonight, starting at 9 on pay-per-view live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the UFC will deliver such a card.

The main event is a light heavyweight title match between 'The Ultimate Fighter 1' winner,Forrest Griffin (16-4), and the TUF 2 winner 'Sugar' Rashad Evans (17-0-1). Both are extremely hard workers, coming from two of MMA's top camps -- Griffin from Xtreme Couture and Evans from Greg Jackson.

Evans beat Chuck Liddell with a highlight-reel knockout. Evans has possibly the best wrestling in the division, and has groomed his striking to be very well-respected. For the first couple of rounds, Evans is not very active, as he tries to feel out his opponent, which generally doesn't sit well with the judges.

'When you’ve got the wrestling as your background, you learn to use it as a defense, so you can take a little more chances on your feet and slug it out,' Evans said on a conferencecall about his growth as a fighter.

Griffin recently submitted top-ranked Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua and then decisioned Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson to gain the crown. Griffin relies on his heart and precision to win his battles, and has extremely underrated ground and submission skills.

The co-main event is for the interim heavyweight belt, and is between the coaches for TUF 8, Antonio 'Minotauro' Nogueira (31-4-1) and Frank Mir (11-3). Nogueira, nicknamed 'Big Nog' by his fans, submitted Tim Sylvia to gain the belt after taking two rounds of severe punishment. He has the best jiu-jitsu in the division, is a decent boxer, and has never been finished, with his only unavenged loss being against Fedor Emelianenko.

Mir also has amazing jiu-jitsu skill, and is extremely dangerous in the first couple minutes of a fight. However, his conditioning has been lacking in previous fights, and has been unable to keep up after the first round. Unless Mir can be the first man to finish Nogueira, he will have to go a full five rounds in order to win.

CB 'The Doberman' Dollaway (8-2) and Mike 'The Master of Disaster' Massenzio (11-2) faced each other five years ago in college wrestling, with Dollaway taking the win. Now, Massenzio gets a chance to avenge his loss to the TUF 7 alumnus. WIth their wrestling being close, they will likely be forced to fight on their feet, and Dollaway's trainers specialize in turning wrestlers into strikers. If the fight does go to the ground, it's a toss-up of who makes the first mistake or who has improved the most.

Wanderlei 'The Axe Murderer' SIlva (32-8-1) was a terror in Japan's PRIDE Fighting, and brutally knocked out Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson (28-7) twice, both times leaving him unconscious in the ropes after delivering knees to the face. Silva is a Muay Thai fighter with a black belt in jiu-jitsu, but he mainly uses his jiu-jitsu for defense, and prefers to brawl and get a knockout, especially against Jackson.

'I’m not fighting him for money – I’m fighting him for pure pleasure,” Silva said of their third meeting. “I don’t like him and I can’t wait to beat him down.'

Jackson's main technique is his striking, which has been significantly upgraded since his last meeting with Silva. He is a powerful wrestler, but utilizes it as a defense. He took the light heavyweight title by knocking out Chuck Liddell, and lost it to Forrest Griffin. After the loss, Jackson re-dedicated himself to the sport.

'I had to man up and really work my *** off and train hard because I really wasn’t happy with my last performance,' Jackson said. 'I think about that fight almost every day.'

In the premiere fight of the broadcast, established heavyweight Cheick Kongo (22-4-1) and UFC newcomer Mostapha Al-Turk (6-3) will have a clash of styles. Kongo has shown impressive striking, but has been lackluster on the ground, being defenseless in a decision loss to Heath Herring. Al-Turk is a jiu-jitsu and grappling fighter, but has yet to fight anyone as skilled as Kongo.

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