Rashad Evans’ systematic destruction of Tito Ortiz, in their
headlining fight at UFC 133 in Philadelphia, was beautiful to watch. The former
light heavyweight champion opened cautiously, taking his time to find his
rhythm after an absence of fourteen months from the octagon, but was quickly
pressured by Ortiz looking for an early take down. Evans managed to weather the
storm and then unleashed a barrage of punches on Ortiz which had the Huntington
Beach Bad Boy covering up for dear life. There was no stopping Evans from here
on out as he took Ortiz to the matt in both rounds one and two and unleashed
some calculated ground and pound, eventually stopping him in the second with a
well placed knee to the solar plexus followed by a flurry of punches.
While this victory has got the critics talking about Evans
in a positive light, I feel it is only fair to keep the context of the fight in
perspective. Ortiz, a legend of the sport, has a list of accomplishments behind
his name which often mislead the inexperienced spectator. Yes, he is a former
light heavyweight champion, and yes, he has the record for the most title defences,
but one must remember that he is not that fighter anymore and that prior to his
win last month against Ryan Bader at UFC 132 Ortiz had not won a fight in
almost five years. Couple this with the fact that he took the fight on less
than three weeks notice and the picture becomes a lot clearer. While a victor
is never a foregone conclusion in MMA, Rashad Evans’ absolutely had to dominate
Tito Ortiz, there was no other probable outcome. Evans (16-1-1) did exactly
what was expected of him, nothing more.
This fight, whilst a great warm up fight for Evans after his
long layoff, did nothing to further enhance my opinion of the fighter ahead of
his possible title shot with friend-turned-foe Jon “Bones” Jones. If anything,
the question it raised for me, on seeing the size difference between Ortiz and
Evans, was whether it is physically possible for Evans to enter the octagon
with a man so much bigger than himself. It has a David versus Goliath feel,
except in this rendition we know that both fighters have both the skills and
the attitude to win, both fighters have held the coveted LHW strap, and both
fighters have talked enough smack which they desperately need to back up.
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