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LAS VEGAS -- Forrest Griffin upset light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson on Saturday night, winning a five-round unanimous decision at UFC 86.
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| Forrest Griffin moves to 16-4 with his victory over Rampage. (AP) |
The judges scored it 49-46, 48-46, 48-46 for Griffin.
In the co-main event, middleweight Patrick Cote won a split decision over Ricardo Almeida. Two judges scored the mixed martial arts fight 29-28 for the Canadian while the third had it 29-28 for Almeida, a Brazilian jiujitsu black belt.
The main event was a 205-pound matchup featuring the coaches on Season 7 of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality TV show. Griffin was the popular winner of the show in Season 1.
Griffin landed numerous leg shots early in the first round, but Jackson evened out the round by flooring Griffin with an uppercut.
In the second round, Griffin connected with a solid leg kick which appeared to injure Jackson. Griffin was then able to mount Jackson and conrol the duration of the round.
In a slow paced third round, Jackson was able to recover and in the fourth round both fighters exchanged punches with Jackson opening a cut above Griffin's right eye.
The two stood toe-to-toe in the fifth round with Jackson appearing to get the better of Griffin.
The victory for Griffin marks the first time a winner from the UFC's reality series captured a title belt.
Griffin made $250,000, including a $100,000 win bonus. Jackson collected $225,000.
"I think we're going to have to do that again. And that sucks for me," Griffin said.
"Every punch he threw hurt," added Griffin.
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On the undercard, Gleison Tibau appeared to be in control of his lightweight matchup with Joe Stevenson through the first two rounds until Stevenson caught Tibau in a guillotine choke and forced him to tap at 2:57 of the second round.
Josh Koscheck used his superior athletic ability to maintain a dominant position throughout most of his fight with Chris Lytle. Koscheck left Lytle bloodied and battered and earned an unanimous decision victory with the judges scoring the bout 30-26, 29-27 and 30-28.
Tyson Griffin looked impressive in defeating Marcus Aurelio by unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the bout 30-27.
In the preliminary bouts, Gabriel Gonzaga made quick work of Justin McCully, easily securing a kimura and forcing him to tap at 1:57 in the first round.
Cole Miller submitted Jorge Gurgel by triangle choke with twelve seconds remaining in the fight.
Melvin Guillard dominated Germany's Dennis Siver, knocking him out just 36 seconds into the first round and Justin Buchholz defeated Corey Hill by rear naked choke at 3:57 of the second round.
