Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

Forrest Griffin and Rampage Jackson step into the octagon at the Mandalay Bay, ending up at the same place at the same time. But you can't deny the irony in that that the two couldn't have taken more opposite approaches to their destination.

Griffin was a kid who dreamed about being a police officer, while Jackson was a kid who spent plenty of time involved in street fights. While Griffin is known for his legendary work ethic, Jackson repeatedly laments how boring he finds training. And while Jackson relies on power and ferocity, Griffin's game is predicated on finesse, movement and stamina.

But that is the beauty of sports, and of mixed martial arts. Despite different approaches and different paths, they are both capable of being the best in the world. Rampage has his belt, but can Forrest buck the odds one last time.

Corey Hill vs. Justin Buchholz

Round one: Hill looks like he wants to showcase his standup early with lots of kicks and knees. Hill looks fast early and Buchholz won’t have an easy time closing the distance with such a height disparity. Great sequence midway through the round with Buchholz throwing a leg kick, Hill catching it, and Buchholz pulling guard. Hill got a clinch late and landed some knees with it.

Round two:  Buchholz landed a kick to the face which stunned Hill, who immediately looked for the takedown. A scramble ensued and Buchholze escaped, taking Hill’s back and choking him out.

Winner: Buchholz via rear naked choke

Dennis Siver vs. Melvin Guillard

Round one: Guillard rocks Siver early with his first punch of the fight, but Siver recovers. They go back to standing, Guillard hammers him again with two shots that put Siver on his back, and Guillard mounts his fallen foe and unloads until ref Herb Dean stops the action.

Winner: Guillard via TKO

Jorge Gurgel vs. Cole Miller

Round one: Gurgel throwing a lot of leg kicks early against the bigger Miller, who has about five inches of height advantage. Gurgel rocked him with a right with 1:30 to go, and Miller stumbled back to the cage. Gurgel followed with a flying knee, but Miller avoided it and managed to clinch and rest.

Round two: Action-packed round in this one. Miller rocked Gurgel with a straight right and followed with ground-and-pound, then nearly finished with a guillotine, but Gurgel escaped, ended up on top and threw some offense of his own.

Round three: Wow, electric finish in this one. The two fought a war on their feet, and Gurgel scored a late takedown with about a minute to go. With Gurgel trying to pass his guard, Miller caught him in a triangle and squeezed it tight, and Gurgel held out seemingly forever, trying to find a way to escape. The crowd sensed the end coming, but Gurgel just wouldn’t tap, twisting and turning as he tried to free himself. Finally, Miller used his leverage to re-position himself on top, and squeezed the triangle until Gurgel tapped after being in the hold for 45 seconds. Impressive tapout for a purple belt against a black belt.

Winner: Miller by triangle submission.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Justin McCully

Round one: Gonzaga just has so much power that when he truly learns to harness it all, he’ll be scary. In this one, he knocked McCully down with a leg kick just 40 seconds into the fight. Fighters don’t often get knocked down with the first leg kick of the fight, but Gonzaga kicks like a horse. He soon mounted McCully and tapped him with an Americana.

Winner: Gonzaga by Americana submission

Marcus Aurelio vs. Tyson Griffin

Round one: Auerlio wants to fight on the ground, and tried to pull guard when Griffin came in for a clinch. Griffin didn’t go to the ground, instead utilizing ground and pound while staying upright. Griffin opened up a cut under Aurelio’s eye from the flurry. Aurelio eventually thought better of the strategy and got back to his feet. Griffin hit him with a hard body shot late in the round and likely earned the round convincingly.

Round two: Aurelio tried for a takedown in his effort to get it to the ground, but Griffin stuffed it easily. The two clinched against the cage for an eternity, jockeying for position until Griffin slammed him down. Aurelio reversed position and worked to get Griffin’s back, but Griffin escaped. Then Aurelio tried a triangle, but Griffin again pulled out before it was locked in. Close and difficult round to score.

Round three: Griffin looks the fresher of the two, and he’s known to have a fuel-efficient gas tank, often comfortable in the late rounds. His standup is crisper, and he tags Aurelio early. Aurelio resorts to a takedown try, which is easily rebuffed. Griffin then lands a nice series of punches as the round nears its halfway point. Griffin gets a takedown with 1:40 left, perhaps anxious to score some points with the judges, but he puts himself in danger. Aurelio tries an armbar, but can’t finish. Aurelio then shifts his hips again, hoping for an omo plata. Griffin powers out again. It should be enough for the American to squeak by.

Winner: Griffin by unanimous decision

Chris Lytle vs. Josh Koscheck

Round one: Lytle is the aggressor early, as Koscheck settles in and feels out the distance. Of course, the crowd doesn’t enjoy it and gets quicly restless. Koscheck finally tried a headkick, slipped and went down with a thud. Lytle threw a body kick a few seconds later, and Koscheck took the opportunity to score a takedown. Koscheck worked diligently to improve his position, but the two ended up in a stalemate. Koscheck went back to full guard and postured up to land a few punches before Lytle closed the distance. Lytle tried to escape in a scramble, but Koscheck held him down as the round ended.

Round two: Koscheck got the early takedown but this time Lytle got up. Koscheck tried another, but Lytle sprawled, then tried a guillotine as they fell to the ground. It wasn’t tight and Koscheck pulled out. Koscheck postured up and threw a punch that bloodied Lytle’s eye, then followed with elbows. Koscheck has such good positional control that Lytle could do nothing to buck him off or reverse position. Koscheck continued with punches and elbows until Lytle’s blood left a three-foot trail near one corner of the cage.

Round three: Lytle has a huge gash on the right side of his head but the doctor is letting it continue. Lytle stuffs the first takedown attempt and looks for a kimura but Koscheck escapes. Then he almost catches him with a guillotine but Koscheck powers out and ends in top position. Elbows will be dropped, and yes, there will be blood. This is not for the faint of heart as Lytle leaves another trail of plasma in the octagon. But Koscheck doesn’t stay active enough and the ref stands them up. Lytle’s face is a crimson mask. Lytle connected with a hard shot but Koscheck immediately clinched against the cage. The crowd chants Lytle’s name in reverence of his courage. With 20 seconds left they throw haymakers until time runs out.

Winner: Koscheck via unanimous decision

And while we have a break in the action, here's today's celebrity roll call:

Anthony Kiedis
Tito Ortiz and Jenna Jameson (hmmm...)
Pete Wentz
Laura Prepon
Mandy Moore (a superfan who seems to be at every event)
Criss Angel
Jim Norton (comedian - does he count? I'll leave it up to you.)
Wilmer Valderamma

NOTE: The emails are in, the people have spoken, and Jim Norton counts! For whatever it's worth, I listened to O&A going back to the WNEW days in New York, watched Lucky Louie and have seen Norton's standup, too. No disrespect intended; just wondered if most of mainstream America knew who he was. Turns out I'm the idiot.

Joe Stevenson vs. Gleison Tibau

Apparently, Chuck Liddell doesn't have a trademark on UFC fighters wearing the mohawk, because Tibau is sporting the look. But if he sees the Iceman, he better walk by quietly and quickly.

Round one: Stevenson landed a hard early punch that put Tibau down, but they scrambled back up to their feet. Stevenson tried a guillotine on a Tibau takedown try, but Tibau powered out. Lots of early action. Tibau scored another takedown. They got to their feet again. Then back to the ground. Back and forth. Tibau tried an omo plata. And he held it for an eternity. Stevenson couldn’t escape, but wasn’t in trouble, either, and looked downright bored as he asked Steve Mazzagatti to stand them up. He didn’t. Tibau held the position for over two minutes.

Round two: Tibau scores a takedown after a clinch, but Stevenson gets right back up. Then on the re-start, Tibau gets another takedown into side control, then full mount. Stevenson somehow bucked him off and they went back to standing. Good composure because Tibau is no slouch on the ground. Tibau goes for another takedown. Stevenson cinches in the guillotine, locks it up this time, and Tibau taps.

Winner: Stevenson via guillotine choke

Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida

Almeida is a great guy; had a chance to talk to him on Wednesday and he couldn’t be nicer, which is a running thread with these guys. It seems the more dangerous they are, the nicer they are. There must be something calming about knowing the ability to beat up most humans if necessary is within you. I like him even more now that he came out to Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son.” This guy is a killer on the ground but has to get it there, because Cote’s fists are murder. Cote's been training with Mark Dellagrotte, the same guy who trains Kenny Florian, Marcus Davis and others. Dellagrotte's known for getting the most out of his guys, so he will be well-prepared, but Almeida's jiu-jitsu is on another level.

Round one: Cote comes in with a low stance, ready to defend the takedown. Almeida pulls Cote down and into his guard, but Cote escapes. Long clinch against the fence with Almeida trying to get deep enough for the takedown and his opponent fighting him off. Finally, midway through the round, Almeida takes him down. He passed to half-guard, but didn’t do a whole lot with the position and Cote kept throwing upkicks to distract his offense. Almeida did manage to get a few punches through before time expired but Cote didn’t take a whole lot of damage.

In between rounds, Almeida had a tape issue on his glove and had to be re-taped, giving both fighters more opportunity to recover.

Round two: Almeida ducked a Cote hook and pulled him down and into his guard again. Cote wanted no part of it and pulled out, allowing the fight to go back to standup. This is looking more and more like a bad matchup for Cote because he looks very tentative to get into punching range because he doesn’t want to be taken down, but if he doesn’t get into punching range, he has no chance. Almeida started lowering his hands, almost inviting him closer, but Cote understood what was happening and proceeded cautiously. Almeida tried a guillotine out of the clinch but Cote powered out. Cote landed a right hook, his best punch of the fight, as the round concluded.

Round three: Cote looks a little more confident now, as though he’s figured out what he’s doing. Cote landed a solid leg kick at 3:30, but Almeida still managed to stay just out of his comfort range. Almeida landed a right hook, then a left hook as he tried to not let the round escape him, but Cote’s the one pushing the action forward although neither is landing much. Almeida scored a takedown with 30 seconds left but couldn’t unleash anything of note. Cote reversed him as the final bell rang.

Winner: Cote by split decision

They say styles make fights. Those styles did not make a good one. Striker vs. ground fighter is sometimes awkward and sometimes spectacular, but in this case, both guys were good enough to avoid their opponents' wheelhouse, and offense was hard to come by.

Forrest Griffin vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

This crowd clearly sees Griffin as a superstar. If he can manage to win this thing, he's the type of guy you can see making the rounds on talk shows and getting marketing deals. He's a hard-working kid from the south. He's everyman. For some reason, Rampage is getting a mixed reception. Kind of strange given his charisma, sense of humor and sucess. Maybe it's because he's going Hollywood? For some reason, Rampage stopped to say hello to Wilmer Valderamma on the way to the cage. They did pop big for his pre-fight howl, though. In my opinion, he's got the best pre-fight staredown/sneer in the biz. We'll see what happens.

Round one: Forrest starts with a leg kick, Rampage follows with an uppercut. Griffin using the leg kicks early and often. Rampage connected with a hook and looked to close the distance, but Forrest clinched first and Jackson pulled away. Rampage hurt him with a combo. You could see Griffin buckle, but Forrest charged across the ring and fired back with a combo that connected. Jackson landed an uppercut that put Forrest down with 1:15 left, but Forrest hung on for dear life when Jackson followed him to the ground. Rampage dragged him across the cage to the corner. Forrest worked his way up and landed knees from the clinch and the crowd exploded. Great round made better by the fans’ electricity.

Round two: More leg kicks early from Forrest. Rampage looks for the takedown and Forrest clinches, lands knees to the body and then looks for a guillotine. Forrest drags him down to the ground and works to half-mount, then side control. The crowd is popping for everything he does. He tried a kimura, but Jackson escaped. He grinded Rampage with elbows to the head then got full mount with two minutes left as the crowd erupted again, then started chanting his name. Jackson is keeping him close enough that Griffin’s shots don’t have much steam, but Forrest won the round big.

Round three: Rampage lands another left hook early; that’s been his best weapon in the fight so far. Forrest looks a lot more comfortable trading than Rampage probably expected. More leg kicks from Griffin as he chops away from the outside. The round was completely stand-up. Rampage’s punches are bigger; Griffin’s find their mark more often, so it’ll be interesting to see how the judges see it.

Round four: Rampage scored from inside with a short right, and they traded blows before Rampage took Griffin down, landing in his guard. Forrest looked for a triangle. Rampage picked him up and just before he slammed him, Griffin broke free to dull the impact. This is great effort. Just great. Rampage ended up on top again. Griffin escaped and they went back to their feet at 2:00. Rampage hurt him with a hook, but Griffin shrugged and stepped right back into the pocket. Jackson landed another crushing hook, but Griffin’s chin is proving itself.

Round five: Expect Forrest to throw out the kitchen sink here. More leg kicks early by Forrest, while Rampage lands a hook. Forrest back with combinations. Forrest has a cut over his right eye while Rampage hasn’t taken as much damage, but this fight is remarkably close. Griffin tags Rampage with a body kick, and starts to take over the pace of the round. He’s suddenly the one pushing ahead more often. With a minute to go, the crowd raises the decibel level again, hoping to push the men to the finish line. Griffin lands a hard knee and the two exchange as the bell ends. The ref breaks them apart and the champion and challenger embrace over their brilliant effort. We're going to the scorecards.

Winner: Forrest Griffin by unanimous decision

Griffin raised his hands as his cornermen jumped up and down in happiness at the decision. Rampage's shoulders slumped and he hung his head against the fence, but both men fought valiantly.

Jackson looks like he was hurt by Griffin's leg kicks as he's limping badly on the way out of the arena.

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