In the second upset of the night, Rashad Evans blew his chance to challenge Anderson Silva for the 185-pound strap. Dropping down from 205, there were questions as to how it would affect Evans' strength but in the end, it was Antonio Nogueira's superior boxing that proved to be the determining factor.
That and his takedown defense. Evans, one of the sports' premier takedown specialist, managed to score one takedown from which Little Nog was able to pop up. The majority of the bout was uneventful at best, with Nogueira controlling the distance and keeping Evans at bay with some technical but hardly violent striking.
Evans was listless and passive for most of the fight. Official scores were 29-28 across the board in favor of Nogueira. With the win it'd be interesting to see where Nogueira goes from here. Rashad Evans, on the other hand, may have just fought (or un-fought) his way to irrelevance.
For the action-version of the fight, click on the video!
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