UFC 106: Forrest Griffin beats Tito Ortiz by split decision

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In a rematch of their memorable 2006 fight in Anaheim, former UFC light-heavyweight champions Tito Ortiz of Huntington Beach and Forrest Griffin of Las Vegas renewed acquaintances in Ortiz’s UFC comeback fight following a contract split last year.

Griffin dominated the third and final round, blitzing Ortiz with hard rights to the face and combinations that included hard shots to the body and tough kicks to the left leg. Ortiz was cut under the left eye in the round and sustained some good combinations.

The judges saw it like this: split-decision win for Griffin.

Ortiz, as usual, had a memorable ring entrance with Eminem blaring at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, waving the American flag.

First round:

Ortiz takes a right standing up, but charges and lands a right. Ortiz takes down Griffin and tries to ground and pound with some elbows flying. Griffin gets up, the pair end up reversing each other against the cage.

Griffin kicks Ortiz in the left leg, like he did against Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. Griffin hits Ortiz with a right-left combo punch to face. Ortiz misses a takedown. Both guys jab.

I give the round to Griffin.

Second round:

Ortiz takes down Griffin, smacks him with elbows. Griffin gets back up. Griffin kicks Ortiz in the mouth, knocking out Tito’s mouthpiece. Tito takes down Griffin again, Griffin playing defense on ground versus former CIF champion wrestler.

Ortiz sends some elbows and fists to Griffin’s face on the mat. Griffin’s cut under the left eye, and now has a nasty cut at the right eye. Gushing everywhere. Griffin reverses Ortiz, trying to win round. Some pushing post-bell.

I give the round to Ortiz.

The UFC sneaked in some undercard pre-pay-per-view bouts on the broadcast, in which welterweight Ben Saunders delivered two brutal knees to the face of Marcus Davis, ending the fight 3:24 into the first round.

Middleweight Kendall Grove used his long legs to force Jake Rosholt to tap out due to triangle choke 3:59 into the first round.

The pay-per-view portion began with a welterweight bout between Phil Baroni and Amir Sadollah.

Baroni, in his return to the UFC following a four-year absence and stint in Elite Xtreme Combat, came out punching, but couldn’t sustain the effort and started taking a slew of knees from Muay Thai specialist Sadollah (2-1). A monster right from Sadollah cut Baroni near the left eye.

Sadollah remained on the attack to start the second, Baroni noticeably tired in the second, taking a wicked right kick to the left leg. His corner urged Baroni to ‘take [Sadollah] out’ in the third, but Sadollah clearly had that same notion in mind. Baroni sustained a big gash on his forehead. Sadollah continued the pounding in the final minutes, a severe test of Baroni’s toughness but a testament to Sadollah’s overall skills.

A tremendous effort by Saddolah (3-1), confirmed by his unanimous-decision triumph as Baroni drops to 13-12.

A light-heavyweight battle between Luiz Cane and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, the brother of the former heavyweight champ, ends quickly as the veteran Nogueira unloaded five big left-handed punches to open the fight, the last of which was the most devastating and led to a technical knockout called 1:56 into the first round.

In his UFC debut, Nogueira (18-3) had an impressive corner, including his brother Antonio Rodrigo and middleweight champ Anderson Silva.

-- Lance Pugmire

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