DaytonDailyNews.com

LAS VEGAS — Winning a title is one thing. Defending is a whole 'nother matter.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin and former interim heavyweight title-holder Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira learned the hard way and surrendered their belts to Rashad Evans and Frank Mir, respectively, at the UFC's stacked year-end event, "UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008."

The event took place this past Saturday, Dec. 27, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The main card aired live on pay per view.

In the night's main event – one of the most evenly matched title fights in recent mixed-martial-arts history – Evans spoiled Griffin's first-ever attempt at defending his title with a come-from-behind third-round TKO.

The mostly stand-up affair favored Griffin through the first two rounds. However, once Evans got the fight to the ground in the third, a brutal ground-and-pound assault forced the TKO stoppage at the 2:46 mark.

"It was a great fight," Evans said. "Forrest gave me everything I could handle those first two rounds. It took a while for me to get warmed up, but I got there."

The headline bout featured the first-ever title fight between winners of "The Ultimate Fighter," the UFC's groundbreaking reality series that's launched the careers of more than 100 UFC fighters. Griffin won the belt with a unanimous-decision victory over Quinton Jackson in July, and Evans earned his title bid with a vicious knockout of former champ Chuck Liddell in September.

With his victory, Evans remains undefeated with a 13-0-1 mark. Griffin falls to 16-5 with his first loss in two years.

In the night's co-main event, Mir, a nearly 4-to-1 underdog, simply dominated Nogueira and dropped him twice in the first round and a final time in the second.

In a battle of Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts, Mir kept the fight standing and battered Nogueira from the opening bell. With help from striking coach Ken Hahn, Mir (12-3) appeared a completely new fighter and continually struck his way through his opponent's defense while battering Nogueira (31-5-1) with uppercuts.

Mir, a former UFC heavyweight champion, was stripped of the title after a devastating motorcycle accident in 2004. Assumed dead by early arrivals at the crash scene, Mir was sidelined for a year with a mangled leg. Even after his return, he seemed a shell of his former dominant self, and many critics claimed he wasn't even worthy of a title fight.

"I faced such demons after my wreck," Mir said. "To come back and fight the best heavyweight to ever fight in the UFC and get a win over him after what I've gone through, it just shows man – everybody, right now look at your life. They say you can't do [expletive]. I proved you can do anything.

"I didn't even think I could beat Nogueira."

With the win, Mir will now meet current heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in a title-unification bout. Mir defeated Lesnar once before, but the win was largely considered a fluke; Lesnar, a former WWE "pro wrestler" still adapting to the MMA game, battered Mir throughout the fight. But on the verge of defeat, Mir secured a kneebar to force the tap-out.

The rematch is tentatively planned for the first half of 2009.

"Rampage" returns in dominant fashion

Five months ago, Quinton Jackson's life was turned upside down, and the ensuing mental breakdown left doubts about his future in the sport.

However, with a brutal first-round knockout of arch rival Wanderlei Silva at UFC 92, Jackson avenged two previous early-career losses to the Brazilian fighter and put to rest many of the doubts about his mental health.

After losing his light-heavyweight title to Griffin in July, Silva was subsequently arrested at gunpoint after a high-speed police chase in California. After posting bail, he entered a mental-health facility after friends and family questioned his mental stability. At about the same time, he split from his longtime trainer and friend amid allegations the manager was stealing from him.

A few months ago, though, Jackson (29-7) joined the U.K.-based Wolfslair fight team, and in his first fight since the highly publicized breakdown, he delivered a violent left hook to KO Silva (32-9-1).

"It's the best thing ever," Jackson said of joining Wolfslair. "My new team really took care of me."

As for an immediate title shot, Jackson was noncommittal.

"That's up to the UFC," he said. "I'm just getting my stuff together. I need to get my mind right.

"I didn't want to go in there with one mindset to do anything because when you do that sometimes it messes you up in another part of your gameplan."

Dollaway storms back for TKO win

C.B. Dollaway was tested but not bested in his televised bout with fellow middleweight Mike Massenzio.

The former Ohio high school state wrestling champion (Northmor High School in Mount Gilead) was rocked with an early punch from Massenzio and nearly submitted with an ensuing guillotine choke. Although he was on the verge of tapping, Dollaway escaped and eventually forced a TKO stoppage at 3:01 of the first round.

"He hit me pretty good, and I was like, 'I've got to get this guy out of here,'" Dollaway said.

After escaping the choke, Dollaway claimed the dominant mount position. After Massenzio – a former collegiate wrestling rival – gave up his back, Dollaway battered him with unanswered blows to force the stoppage.

Dollaway, a runner-up from the seventh season of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality-show competition, moves to 8-1, which includes a 2-1 mark in the UFC.

Massenzio falls to 11-3.

Cincinnati's Hamill stops Andy

In his first fight since a September loss to former UFC middleweight champion and fellow native Cincinnatian Rich Franklin, Hamill (5-2) used a striking-heavy gameplan for a dominant second-round TKO of Reese Andy (7-3).

The Hamill-Andy fight was one of five un-televised preliminary bouts.

Despite being a former three-time NCAA Division III national wrestling champion (at the Rochester Institute of Technology), Hamill largely ignored his world-class wrestling skills and instead engaged in a true slugfest.

He absorbed about as much punishment as he delivered in the first round, but after stuffing a takedown attempt in the second, Hamill collapsed on top of Andy and battered him with dozens of unanswered blows. Andy had neither the position nor the energy to fight back, and the referee halted the bout for a TKO stoppage at the 2:19 mark.

"That first round was horrible," said Hamill, who was born deaf and uses a translator in post-fight interviews. "The second round was much better, don't you think?"

Hamill, a 32-year-old fan favorite who entered the UFC after competing on the third season of "The Ultimate Fighter," had lost two of three fights prior to his UFC 92 bout. He considered the bout a must-win and knew three losses in a four-fight span would likely earn him his walking papers.

The victory, though, gives him new life in the organization's stacked 205-pound division and will likely result in a new contract extension.

FULL RESULTS

• Rashad Evans def. Forrest Griffin via TKO (punches) — Round 3, 2:46 (to claim UFC light-heavyweight title)

• Frank Mir def. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:54 (to claim interim UFC heavyweight title)

• C.B. Dollaway def. Mike Massenzio via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 3:01

• Quinton Jackson def. Wanderlei Silva via KO (punch) – Round 1, 3:21

• Cheick Kongo def. Mostapha Al-Turk via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 4:37

• Yushin Okami def. Dean Lister via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

• Antoni Hardonk def. Mike Wessel via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 2:09

• Matt Hamill def. Reese Andy via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 2:19

• Brad Blackburn def. Ryo Chonan via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

• Patrick Barry def. Dan Evensen via TKO (injury) — Round 1, 2:36