Knockout Nation

(KNOCKOUT NATION – JULY 6, 2008)

UFC fans witnessed a huge upset as underdog Forrest Griffin defeated Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to capture the UFC light heavyweight championship. As the match began, Forrest was performing quite well until Jackson caught him with a vicious uppercut that sent him down to the mat. Griffin however was able to make it to his feet and maintain until the end of the round.

Round 2 seemed to be a turning point as was clearly Griffin’s round as he appeared to seriously hurt Jackson’s left knee with stiff kicks. As Jackson stumbled, Griffin scored a takedown and kept Jackson on his back the remainder of the round. Griffin used a constant ground and pound offense that left Rampage on the defensive.

As the match continued, Jackson stayed on the defensive while looking to counter. Meanwhile, Griffin remained consistent applying constant pressure with a varying offense of strikes and kicks. As the match progressed, Rampage landed his share of heavy blows that kept Griffin cautious but undeterred. Rampage was never able to score another knockdown on Griffin, and ultimately found himself following Griffin around the ring as Forrest dictated the pace of the match. In the end, even without pure dominance, the judges unanimously scored the match 48-46, 48-49, & 48-49 all for Griffin.

On the undercard, Patrick Cote defeated Ricardo Almeida via split decision, Joe Stevenson defeated Gleison Tibau via submission, Josh Koscheck defeated Chris Lytle in a bloody brawl via unanimous decision, Tyson Griffin defeated Marcus Aurelio via unanimous decision, & Gabriel Gonzaga defeated Justin McCully via submission.

BY: BROWN

Brownkn1@gmail.com