“Sugar” Rashad Evans (14-1-1) returned to his roots last night as he applied his patented lay-and-pray technique and superior wrestling skills to eke out a decision win over very scary Brazilian fighter Thiago Silva (14-2-0). The light heavyweight fight was the main event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship 108, broadcast on pay per view from Las Vegas.

Evans did the smart thing and chose to grapple for most of the fight, neutralizing Silva’s dangerous striking. Evans is a former junior college national champion and Division I All-American wrestler from Michigan State University. In his past few fights, Evans has chosen to use his tremendous power and speed to strike rather than wrestle.

In this fight against Silva, one of the light heavyweight division’s most dangerous strikers and ferocious finishers, Evans opted not to give Silva too much of a chance to connect with his fists. Throughout the first two rounds, Evans had a simple strategy that served him very well. He attacked using punches and, once he closed the distance, he clinched and got a takedown.

Evans did zero damage once he got the fight to the ground, but he racked up points as he got the fight to the ground over and over again. Each time, Silva was able to get back to his feet, but Evans just repeated his actions and got the same result. It really made for a boring fight to watch, and I was getting kind of frustrated seeing the same thing happen over and over again.

My frustration was nothing, however, compared to that which Silva must have been feeling. By the third round, he couldn’t take it any more. Silva is the quintessential cold-blooded killer, and he’s always cool as a cucumber in the Octagon. In the middle of the third round, however, his frustration pushed him over the edge. He snapped and totally lost it.

After avoiding a takedown, Silva dropped his hands to his waist and started mocking Evans, mimicking his head movements. He was shouting to Evans, inviting him to stand and fight. Evans refused to engage. He danced around, trying to keep at a distance.

I actually thought that Silva’s antics would backfire and give Evans an opening to knock the Brazilian out. Instead, Silva managed to close the distance and land a heavy right that badly hurt Evans. At this point, I was sure it was over. Silva is a master finisher, who is absolutely brutal when he smells blood. He was all over Evans, and connected a couple more times. Evans was wobbling all over the place, barely standing up on his own.

I didn’t start watching this fight with a real preference for either fighter. I’d overcome my animosity for Evans while watching the last season of the Ultimate Fighter, in which he was a coach, and I actually like and respected both fighters going into this fight. But with Evans wobbling, I found myself screaming for Silva to finish it. Nothing against Evans, but I do really dislike boring fights in which wrestlers win just by taking their opponents down, without really doing anything once they’re on the ground.

Alas, Silva couldn’t finish. He just didn’t have enough gas in the tank to put Evans away, and he opted to catch his breath instead of pushing the action when Evans was almost done. This gave Evans a breather too, and the wrestle was able to clinch and hold Silva against the cage until the final bell rang.

Evans clearly won the first two rounds, and Silva won the third. The judges saw it the same way, all three scoring it 29-28 in Evans’ favor. It was a fair decision.

Silva was very distraught after the fight. Viewers got glimpses of him leaning into a wall in grief. I don’t blame him for being upset. He could have won the fight. He blew it, and not just at the very end, when he couldn’t capitalize after hurting Evans.

Throughout the entire fight, he was too cautious as Evans attacked with strikes. Silva chose to defend and cover up, which allowed Evans to close the distance, rather than open up a counterattack. Evans is very fast, and his striking is excellent, but Silva did have plenty of opportunities for counters as Evans came in swinging.

In the second round, Silva should have adjusted his game plan and let his hands go, allowing the chips to fall where they would. He may have been caught by Evans, but at least he would have had a fighting chance to hit the wrestler first. In the second round, Silva may have had enough strength and energy to finish it.

By the third round, after dealing with Evans’ numerous takedowns, and after being ground against the cage for two rounds, Silva just didn’t have enough left, and it was too late. Hopefully, he’ll be a smart enough man to learn from this experience and grow from it.

Evans has exposed a weakness in Silva: lack of adequate takedown defense against top-notch wrestlers. If Silva can go back to the gym and work on that, he’ll come back and be able to stay at the front of the pack of light heavyweight contenders.

As for Evans, I hope he finds a way to win that is more dynamic and exciting than his tried and true lay-and-pray method. The method works, and he can use it to win, but I don’t think many people will want to watch him do that over and over again. He should work on getting better at ground strikes, or mix it up with some submissions. I’m looking forward to seeing him fight Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, but I hope we don’t have three rounds of Rashad taking Rampage down and lying on him.

Finally, for the record, I confess I was disappointed that Evans didn’t tweak his nipples either before or after the fight. That would have definitely added some excitement to the event.

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