UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 was a mixed martial arts

Mixed martial arts

Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...

 event by the Ultimate Fighting Championship

Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...

 (UFC) held on December 27, 2008 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas

Las Vegas metropolitan area

The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

.

Background

The main event featured number-one contender Rashad Evans

Rashad Evans

Rashad Anton Evans is an American mixed martial artist from Niagara Falls, New York, currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Evans won the heavyweight division of The Ultimate Fighter 2. Evans lost the UFC Light Heavyweight...

 fighting Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin

Forrest Griffin is an American mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC light heavyweight champion....

 for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship belt.

The first co-main event saw former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir

Frank Mir

Francisco Santos Miranda is an American mixed martial artist, as well as a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Kenpō Karate, who competes in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and a former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion...

 against former PRIDE heavyweight champion and then current UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira is a Brazilian mixed martial artist known for his technical mastery of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He competes in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he is a former UFCInterim Heavyweight Champion...

.

The other co-main event was a fight between former UFC Light-heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson

Quinton Jackson

Quinton Ramone Jackson ;, also known as Rampage Jackson, is an American mixed martial artist and actor. He is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Jackson rose to prominence in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships where he was noted for his powerful body slams including a knockout victory over...

 and former PRIDE Middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva

Wanderlei Silva

Wanderlei César da Silva , nicknamed "The Axe Murderer", is a Brazilian mixed martial artist, who has competed in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships and the American based Ultimate Fighting Championship . Silva is known for his aggressive fighting style with the majority of his fights ending in...

.

Preliminary card

• Heavyweight bout:   Dan Evensen
  Dan Evensen
  Dan Tore Evensen is a Norwegian mixed martial artist. Most recently on May 1, 2009 Evensen won against Raoul Romero by second round TKO at Bellator V.- Background :...
  
   vs.   Pat Barry

Barry defeated Evensen via TKO (leg kicks) at 2:36 of Round 1. This bout aired on the PPV broadcast following the Jackson vs. Silva fight.

• Welterweight bout:   Ryo Chonan
  Ryo Chonan
  is a Japanese mixed martial artist, currently fighting in DEEP where he was the 3rd DEEP middleweight champion. He has previously competed in PRIDE Fighting Championships and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is noted for being one of two fighters to finish Anderson Silva in an MMA fight at...
  
   vs.   Brad Blackburn
  Brad Blackburn
  Brad Lavale Blackburn Jr. is an American professional mixed martial artist. He fought for the Seattle Tiger Sharks in the now defunct International Fight League...
  
  

Blackburn defeated Chonan via unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–28).

• Light Heavyweight bout:  United States Matt Hamill
  Matt Hamill
  Matthew S. Hamill is a retired American wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is a three-time NCAA Division III National Champion in wrestling while attending the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York...
  
   vs.   Reese Andy
  Reese Andy
  Reese Andy is an American mixed martial artist. He has previously fought for Icon Sport and the IFL. After going 5-1 in the IFL, he signed a contract with the UFC. He made his UFC debut with a loss by decision to Brandon Vera at UFC: Silva vs. Irvin in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 19, 2008...
  
  

Hamill defeated Andy via TKO (punches) at 2:19 of Round 2. This bout aired on the PPV broadcast following the Dollaway vs. Massenzio fight.

• Heavyweight bout:   Antoni Hardonk
  Antoni Hardonk
  Antoni Barend Hardonk is a Dutch retired mixed martial artist and kickboxer who competed in K-1 and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.-Kickboxing career:...
  
   vs.   Mike Wessel
  Mike Wessel
  Michael Wade Wessel is an American heavyweight mixed martial arts fighter. Wessel had a brief stint in with the Ultimate Fighting Championships and appeared on The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights.-Biography:...
  
  

Hardonk defeated Wessel via TKO (strikes) at 2:09 of Round 2. (Wessel replaced Mark Burch

Mark Burch

Mark Burch is an American mixed martial arts fighter. He has competed primarily in the Bodog Fight promotion, and has recently been signed to the UFC, where he was to debut against Antoni Hardonk in UFC 92.-Mixed martial arts career:...

, who was originally intended to fight Hardonk) This bout aired last on the PPV broadcast following the Griffin vs. Evans fight.

• Middleweight bout:   Yushin Okami
  Yushin Okami
  is a Japanese mixed martial artist. He currently fights at middleweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship . Okami is currently ranked the #3 best middleweight in the world by Sherdog and the #2 best middleweight by MMAWeekly....
  
   vs.   Dean Lister
  Dean Lister
  Dean Richard Lister is an American mixed martial artist and a former King of the Cage champion. He currently fights at the Middleweight division after moving down from the Light Heavyweight class...
  
  

Okami defeated Lister via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27).

Main card

• Heavyweight bout:   Cheick Kongo
  Cheick Kongo
  Cheick Guillaume Ouedraogo , more commonly known as Cheick Kongo, is a professional French heavyweight mixed martial artist and kickboxer currently fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship...
  
   vs.   Mostapha Al Turk

Kongo defeated Al Turk via TKO (strikes) at 4:37 of round 1.

• Light Heavyweight bout:   Quinton Jackson
  Quinton Jackson
  Quinton Ramone Jackson ;, also known as Rampage Jackson, is an American mixed martial artist and actor. He is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Jackson rose to prominence in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships where he was noted for his powerful body slams including a knockout victory over...
  
   vs.   Wanderlei Silva
  Wanderlei Silva
  Wanderlei César da Silva , nicknamed "The Axe Murderer", is a Brazilian mixed martial artist, who has competed in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships and the American based Ultimate Fighting Championship . Silva is known for his aggressive fighting style with the majority of his fights ending in...
  
  

Jackson defeated Silva via KO (punch) at 3:21 of round 1.

• Middleweight bout:  United States C.B. Dollaway
  C.B. Dollaway
  Clarence Byron Dollaway is an American mixed martial artist. He was a cast member of SpikeTV's The Ultimate Fighter 7 making it to the finale where he was defeated by an armbar from Amir Sadollah.-Early life:...
  
   vs.   Mike Massenzio
  Mike Massenzio
  Mike Vito Massenzio is an American mixed martial artist who competes as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He wrestled in New Jersey and was a two-time high school state champion in 2000 and 2001 at St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, New Jersey. Additionally in 2001,...
  
  

Dollaway defeated Massenzio via TKO (Strikes) at 3:01 of round 1

• Interim Heavyweight Championship bout:   Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
  Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
  Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira is a Brazilian mixed martial artist known for his technical mastery of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He competes in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he is a former UFCInterim Heavyweight Champion...
  
   (ic) vs.   Frank Mir
  Frank Mir
  Francisco Santos Miranda is an American mixed martial artist, as well as a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Kenpō Karate, who competes in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and a former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion...
  
  

Mir defeated Nogueira via TKO (punches) at 1:54 of round 2 to become the new UFC Interim Heavyweight champion, earning the right to face then UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar

Brock Edward Lesnar is an American mixed martial artist, actor and a former professional and amateur wrestler. He is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and is ranked the No.5 Heavyweight in the world by Sherdog...

 in a title-unification bout in early 2009.

• Light Heavyweight Championship bout:   Forrest Griffin
  Forrest Griffin
  Forrest Griffin is an American mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC light heavyweight champion....
  
   (c) vs.   Rashad Evans
  Rashad Evans
  Rashad Anton Evans is an American mixed martial artist from Niagara Falls, New York, currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Evans won the heavyweight division of The Ultimate Fighter 2. Evans lost the UFC Light Heavyweight...
  
  

Evans defeated Griffin via KO (punches) at 2:46 of round 3 to become the new UFC Light Heavyweight champion.

Bonus awards

Fighters were awarded $60,000 bonuses.

Fight of the Night:   Rashad Evans vs.   Forrest Griffin

Knockout of the Night:   Quinton Jackson

Submission of the Night: Not awarded as no matches ended with submission

Purses

Rashad Evans: $130,000 (includes $65,000 win bonus)
def. Forrest Griffin: $100,000

Frank Mir: $90,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus)
def. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: $250,000

Quinton Jackson: $325,000 (includes $100,000 win bonus)
def. Wanderlei Silva: $200,000

C.B. Dollaway: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Mike Massenzio: $5,000

Cheick Kongo: $90,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus)
def: Mostapha Al Turk: $7,000

Yushin Okami: $32,000 (includes $16,000 win bonus)
def. Dean Lister: $19,000

Antoni Hardonk: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
def. Mike Wessel: $4,000

Matt Hamill: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Reese Andy: $15,000

Brad Blackburn: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
vs. Ryo Chonan: $18,000

Patrick Barry: $10,000 (includes $5,000 win bonus)
Dan Evensen: $4,000