UFC 88 Recap: Evans Knocks “The Iceman” Out Cold
The Ultimate Fighter 2 winner Rashad Evans moved one step closer to a 205-pound title shot as he remained undefeated on Saturday at UFC 88, knocking out former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell midway through the second round of their main event matchup.
UFC 88 “Breakthrough” took place on Saturday, September 6th, in front of a sold out crowd at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia and aired live on pay-per-view.
An aggressive Liddell circled and punched in the close-yet-tentative opening round while Evans failed to shoot for a single takedown allowing Liddell to steal the first frame 10-9 on the MMAFrenzy.com scorecard. Evans came out confident in the second, countering Liddell’s rights with solid left hooks before connecting with the “Knockout of the Night” overhand right that knocked Liddell out cold.
A disappointed Liddell, who has now lost three out of four fights, took several minutes to recover from the punch before eventually returning to his feet.
With the win Evans moved closer to a future matchup with current UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin.
In the evening’s co-main event former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin successfully returned to the 205-pound light heavyweight division, dominating his former training partner Matt Hamill en route to a third-round technical knockout victory. Despite a large gash near his right eye opened up early in the fight Franklin remain focused and connected with numerous body and leg kicks that slowed Hamill, who was able to take Franklin to the ground just once in their featured bout. After dominating the opening two rounds Franklin finished Hamill off with a kick to the liver in the first minute of the final frame that forced The Ultimate Fighter cast member to tap and the referee to intervene.
Former PRIDE middleweight and light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson won his first bout inside the octagon in over 10 years as he knocked off Rousimar Palhares via unanimous decision. Henderson floored Palhares several times during the three-round bout, including a near finish moments into the contest. Though Palhares attempted to take the fight to the ground and keep it there Henderson escaped several submission attempts in the fights limited time on the ground and was able to keep the fight standing where he picked Palhares apart with crisper striking to earn 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 scores on the judge’s scorecards.
Henderson had previously lost back-to-back bouts while the win snapped Palhares’ six-fight win streak.
In a key middleweight matchup Nate Marquardt dominated Martin Kampmann, defeating the Dutch kickboxer via TKO just over one-minute into the fight. Following a tentative start to the bout Marquardt landed a massive head kick that collapsed Kampmann then finished him off with a flurry of strikes including a big uppercut and shots to the body. Kampmann temporarily withstood the barrage but eventually sank to the canvas forcing the referee to halt the bout.
With the win Marquardt bounced back from a controversial loss to Thales Leites and moves back into the 185-pound title picture while Kampann suffered just his first loss inside the octagon in five fights.
The opening bout of the pay-per-view spawned controversy as Matt Brown was defeated by South Korea’s Dong Hyun Kim in a close-but-exciting welterweight matchup. In the opening round Kim took Brown’s back with ease, securing several near-submissions that came up just short in finishing the bout but earned him a 10-9 round on the scorecards. Brown rebounded in the second, securing a 10-9 round with good body shots and tough defense. In a close final round Brown was aggressive early but Kim eventually took the fight to the ground and stole the decision with a late assault of elbows in the closing seconds of the bout. The judges awarded the close split decision to Kim with scores of 29-28, 28-29, and 29-28.
In preliminary action Kurt Pellegrino earned a hard-fought unanimous decision victory in the “Fight of the Night” against Thiago Tavares, Tim Boetsch stopped Mike Patt via first-round TKO, Jason MacDonald earned “Submission of the Night” honors for his second-round rear naked choke submission of Jason Lambert, and Ryo Chonan defeated Roan Carneiro via split decision in the event’s opening bout.
Evans, MacDonald, Pellegrino, and Tavares each earned an additional $60,000 bonus for their UFC 88 performances.
UFC 88 “BREAKTHROUGH” RESULTS
- Rashad Evans def. Chuck Liddell via KO - Round 2, 1:51
- Rich Franklin def. Matt Hamill via TKO - Round 3, 0:39
- Dan Henderson def. Rousimar Palhares via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Nate Marquardt def. Martin Kampmann via TKO - Round 1, 1:22
- Dong Hyun Kim def. Matt Brown via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Kurt Pellegrino def. Thiago Tavares via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
- Tim Boetsch def. Mike Patt via TKO - Round 1, 2:03
- Jason MacDonald def. Jason Lambert via submission (rear naked choke) - Round 2, 1:20
- Ryo Chonan def. Roan Carneiro via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
For more on UFC 88 “Breakthrough” click here.
does somebody know why rashad evans touched is nipples before the fight ?
HAhahahahah that **** had me on the floor i payed 45$ to see chuck get knocked out in the 2nd round.
i liked rashads game plan
he felt liddell out in the first round faught abit moore in the second but the fusterated SLIGHTLY over confidant liddell took a fiew moore risks and payd
i think the nipple touch is the greg jackson secret to winning…….gsp touched his nipple won….jardine didnt and lost….evans did and lhw version of cro cop gonzaga/greatest ko ever
i predicted i cant believe though i didnt think liddell would get iced out cold…man rashad melt the iceman into ice cream and rashads right was rocky road….lol
http://mmafrenzy.com/2008/06/13/chuck-liddell-vs-rashad-evans-in-september-at-ufc-88/#comment-60476
Go here. You will laugh your ass off.
That was a crazy over hay maker Evans threw! Was a great card, Hamill should some good skills but that leg kick to the ribs had to of cracked something. Marquardt looked really good, MacDonald is improving and has his strikes. I was upset the crowd was booing Kim, that was a very good fight to start the ppv. Chuck’s chances at a title shot are now gone, let him fight Machida, get knocked out again, and retire.
Rashad just did Forrest Griffon the biggest favor ever! I see Forrest being able to out point Rashad fairly well, but he’d have gotten KOd by Chuck
Damn, my prediction was way off (chuck by decision), i’m glad Rashad won though. Atleast i knew Rashad wasn’t gettinmg ko’d lol.
Rashad>Griffin
I didnt see Hamill tap. I don’t know why they say he tapped if you watch the replay he clearly did not tap. not that it matters.
soo evans gets a title shot!??!?!!
man that would be suprising…
anybody got the word on that!?!?
real nice showing by Franklin, looked good at 205 and should stay there as long as he can avoid the spider
now we all know how kampmann vs anderson silva would go down. great ko by rashad.
Wow Liddell is done !
He looked shocking last night.
I’ll give Rashad credit he did look ok but nothing more i’m more stunned on how poor Chuck looked.
Please Joe Silva make Evans vs Machida next month so we can see to 2 of the most overrated snooze fest collide for a shot the title.
I’m also shocked how nervous Kampmann looked like the occasion got to him.
Dana has confirmed that Rashad will get a Title shot against Forrest in December.
Forrest must be thanking his lucky stars he had a huge grin on his face after the fight.
Can not see Evans beating Forrest as Forrest is too smart of a fighter to fall for Evans tatics or lack of them (i.e not throw a punch in the 1st round ;).
Great Coverage once again Kris!
@Raffy,
Hamill taps out on the way down, his hand is on his head, he does it 2x before Franklin starts punching him so Hamill stops tapping and covers up, it took 3 replays before I saw it.
I cannot believe the violence of Evans punch. Just hearing it was sickening. Evans is a legit threat. Power, can wrestle, stronger than most…..I cannot believe how much he has matured and betterd himself as a fighter. I remember how gassed he used to get on the TUF. He looks good, but that KO was unreal. It was kinda like watching your dad get beat up though when Liddell fell…..
wow evans just turned the iceman into ice cream and still you guys doubt him……i guarentee that rashad beats forrest and wins his title………as long as rashad does the greg jackson nipple twist before the fight he will win..jk but r
wow i knew it everyone thought iceman would win i wanted him to but rashad is better but knocking him out! wow and what the hell is with the nipple touching?!?!
rich one by tyo like i thought rich will very good at LHW
and dan hederson didn’t finish him wow the other guy must be good or dan wasn’t going far a finish i dont know
remember one of weirdest things i have ever seen rashad pinching his nipples!?!?!?!~ what the heck is with that!!??
Us and Chuck says:
Wow Liddell is done !
He looked shocking last night.
I’ll give Rashad credit he did look ok but nothing more i’m more stunned on how poor Chuck looked.
—–
So really, what do KO’d nuts taste like? Rashad looked ok and nothing more? He destroyed your idol and you’re going to give him ok and nothing more?
I guess it’s time for Liddell to hang it up then. He’s beyond Hughes’s level of “I’m just here to make a little money….I don’t have the heart to really fight”.
Retire Liddell.
lol thats what i said after he lost the title and lost to jardine but he wanderklei but then he got injured so i said it time to retire but maybe not yet have a couple fights but non going for title more like if someone beats him the get closer to title
What a shock, I was wrong on all my picks.
Liddell got to see first hand what he has done to a number of fighters. That was one of the best KO’s I’ve ever seen.
Franklin looked ok, not great. If he is going to contend for the title he better step up his game a little bit more than that.
Henderson followed his game plan perfectly. He didn’t want to be on the mat with this guy and he easily out punched him. Wish he would jab more, quit trying to land the big right every punch.
Kampmann, well he finally fights someone good and sh*ts his pants.
Matt Brown got jobbed. I thought he clearly won the 2nd & 3rd rounds. Thats what happens when you leave it up to the judges!
This is for all you guys on Kampmann’s bandwagon, which I’m not, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Frank Dux my man.
man that knoc out look brutal!!!
i fear he might of killed chuck! thats why i still believe chuck isnt gona become champ anymore and that puch was more brutal than the rampage punch! and i still wonder why rashad pinched his own nipples?!?! :0
andi alot of you thought kampmann was going to kill and become chap and beat anderson silva if he can do that why didnt he win the fight it was like the oppisite