Rashad Sets Up Next Belt Shot
Most lines had Evans at -420, so the way this one played out came as no surprise. Nether did the manner in which the fight was brought to a conclusion.
Rashad Evans never exposed himself to any real danger, in part because he was reluctant to charge out at Ortiz off the initial bell the way he did after Rampage in his last outing 16 months ago.
After a long layoff this was a particularly wise choice by Evans, to remain relaxed and start with half a round of distance gauging. Tito’s only real chance in this fight was to catch an overly excited Rashad in a mistake early and capitalize. It was just not meant to be for the Bad Boy.
Tito always looks stiff against the new guard, and he looked particularly so against Evans who is an extremely flexible natural athlete. I was actually pulling for Tito in this one (and that’s a first for me) because the Rocky story that might have materialized with an Ortiz win would have been quite interesting, but I never had any real confidence it was going to happen.
That Rashad would use his top shelf wrestling to get this fight to the mat when and how he wanted was almost a given, and that same wrestling skill once down was largely insurmountable for Ortiz who has never been known for ground skills once placed on his back.
While Rashad has shown some rapidly improving hand skills over his last 6 bouts (minus the Machida loss), and while he has also shown some serious power in those hands, he took a conservative route tonight, despite tagging Ortiz with a nice hook in the first half of the first round.
Rashad did not hesitate to play to his strengths and he dumped Ortiz on his back with some suplex styled take-downs, once in each of the two rounds.
The second take-down was all that was required, as after several minutes in each round of exposing Ortiz to the dreaded and helpless crucifix position (or a near approximation) Ortiz was gassed and basically defenseless against a relentless and ever more confident Evans.
The end came with an exhausted (and admirable) Ortiz fighting for his life to get back to his feet, while still on his knees he absorbed an absolutely devastating knee from Rashad to the solar plexus. The fight lasted another 10 seconds and a few more strikes, but realistically the knee ended the fight.
Pro MMA fighters rarely end up in a position where a perfectly placed knee to the solar plexus is possible, but this is a great example as to why most traditional martial arts have always instructed students that the area just above the abdomen is a primary target when available.
Rashad looked outstanding after coming off a long layoff and some significant knee problems, and while Ortiz has never been a favorite of mine due to his mouth leading in front of his actions, my hat is off to him for having taken this fight on short rest and notice.
Rashad is no doubt in line for the Rampage vs. Jon Jones victor, and while Rashad has reason for an even higher level of confidence in his game, he needs to be wary of some troubling signs.
First, it is hard to image Bones Jones needing more than half a round to dispose of the now certainly beyond peak Tito Ortiz. Secondly, after the fight when Ortiz and Evans graciously put their hard feelings behind them, it was hard not to notice how significantly bigger Ortiz looked next to the victorious Rashad.
The point is, Bones Jones is substantially bigger than Tito Ortiz. Size isn’t everything, but all other things being equal, Rashad is going next into an assumed title battle against Jones Jones with a serious size problem. Yes I’m assuming Jones crushes Rampage.
I’ve been saying that Evans and all other undersized light-heavies should head for z-hills (aka, 185 pounds) since the game changing Jon Jones destruction of Shogun Rua. Simply put, given the incredibly rapid development of the current champion’s skill set, a significant disadvantage in size is going to be virtually insurmountable for any challenger at 205 pounds.
Also a significant event on tonight’s card, a once again revitalized Vitor Belfort impressed the house in Philly. We havn’t seen Vitor since he was demolished by an outstanding example of a (Seagal) reworked traditional front push kick delivered by the best striker in the sport, Anderson Silva.
And while nothing can diminish the kick (simply one of the most incredible KOs in the history of the sport), it was still mainly a sort of a trick shot.
Granted only a true master could pull off the kick the way Silva did, but I have never thought that the way that fight ended diminished in any way how great Vitor had been looking in his previous 5 fights leading up to that bout, nor have I believed that the results of that fight would have any impact on the results of the inevitable rematch.
Again, bravo to the master Silva for his elite Thai skills, but given Vitor is a bit more cautious and wary of Silva’s trickery, and assuming Vitor can avoid getting tagged with a similar shot in the next fight, Belfort has as good a chance of dethroning the long reigning Silva as anyone in professional MMA at 185 pounds in the potential do-over.
Assuming that Silva walks through Yushin Okami in Brazil at UFC 134 in a few weeks (and yes, I am assuming that also), there are really only two guys besides Belfort that deserve a fight with Silva at 185: Dan Henderson and Chael Sonnen.
Interestingly, all three of the best contenders for Silva’s belt are past victims in the Spider’s web. Both Chael and Vitor succumbed to Silva more recently, while Henderson did so (after a great first round) back in March of 2008.
Vitor certainly re-solidified his claim for a rematch tonight by completely overwhelming Yoshihiro Akiyama tonight in Philly. Throw out the front kick from Silva, and Belfort’s last half a dozen fights all read like deja-vu all over again: Vitor dazes his opponent early with either a flush or grazing punch, and then swarms with a frantic killer instinct that rivals anyone in pro cage-fighting.
As Belfort dramatically declared by aiming his victorious yell “I’m back!” directly at Dana White, indeed Belfort is still in contention for the belt at 185 pounds.
~ J.Wise / Guerrilla Fight – GuerrillaFight@gmail.com
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