The fight started with Griffin controlling the action with his jab while mixing up his attacks with sharp body kicks.
The second round saw Griffin maintain his pace but begin to tire while Evans remained fresh.
In round three Evans caught a lazy kick and cracked Griffin with a crisp right hand. With Griffin on his back, Evans began to tee off prompting the stoppage at 2:46.
"The ground-and-pound was effective," Evans said. "I was on him and his guard was loose. He was letting me hit him, and I was saying to myself, 'Dang, he's hurt.' I thought I rocked him, but Forrest was tough."
Griffin told reporters after the fight, that he thought the stoppage was a correct one and said
"I didn't know what was going on at that point, I think I was hurt when I went down, but I honestly don't remember much after that."
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Frank Mir became the first man to ever stop interim UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira.
Mir showed fantastic boxing throughout the first round by dropping his opponent twice with hard southpaw lefts.
In the second round, Mir landed a powerful left hook that flattened Nogueira. Mir followed up with hard shots on the ground and finished the fight at 1:54.
Mir stated his intention to take the belt outright saying "Lesnar has the belt, I don't want to be a half-champion."
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Quinton “Rampage” Jackson avenged his two prior losses by knocking out nemesis Wanderlai Silva with a hard single left hook. The official time was 3:21 of round number one.
After the fight Rampage told reporters "Whooo, I've been waiting a long time for this. Rampage is back, This guy destroyed me twice. I knew I could beat him."
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The Ultimate Fighter 7 middleweight runner up CB Dolloway defeated fellow upstart Mike Massenzio via TKO at 3:01 of the opening round via strikes from the back position.
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Cheick Kongo stopped UFC newcomer Mustapha al-Turk in the opening round with brutal ground n’ pound. The official time was 4:37.
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On the undercard:
Patrick Berry stopped Dan “The Viking” Evensen in the first round
“Bad” Brad Blackburn scored a unanimous decision over Ryo “Piranha” Chonan
Matt “The Hammer” Hamill scored a 2nd round TKO over Reese Andy
Antoni Hardonk stopped Mike Wessell in the second round
Yushin “Thunder” Okami scored a unanimous decision over Dean Lister.
