Turnabout was fair play in the rivalry between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin, as after he lost a split decision to Ortiz in their first fight, Griffin defeated Ortiz the exact same way in the light-heavyweight main event of UFC 106 Saturday night.
Griffin (17-6) likely won the first round after responding well to a combination of punches and kicks from Ortiz (15-7-1) early on. He later attempted the kimura twice on Ortiz.
In the beginning of the second round, Ortiz beat up Griffin with several elbows before Griffin scored with a front kick that caused Ortiz's mouthpiece to come out, prompting referee Josh Rosenthal to temporarily stop the fight so that it could be put back in. Shortly after the break, Ortiz took Griffin down.
The final round was dominated by Griffin, as Ortiz's work had slowed down considerably. Griffin won with a 30-27 and a 29-28, while Ortiz only had one 29-28 scorecard in his favor.
Earlier in the night, Richmond, VA fighter Amir Sadollah (2-1) rebounded from his bad luck at UFC 101 when he defeated Phil Baroni (13-12) in a welterweight bout by unanimous decision.
Sadollah started off slowly as Baroni peltered his torso with many body shots. Midway in the round, following an unsuccessful walking armbar attempt, Sadollah took command with several knees to Baroni's face.
In Round 2, Baroni's face was bleeding, likely coming from the effects of the knees he got from Sadollah in Round 1.
The scores were a couple of 30-27s and one 29-28.
Also, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (18-3) TKOed Luiz Cane (10-2-1) at 1:58 of the first round in a battle of two Brazilian light-heavyweights. In welterweight action, Brazil's Paulo Thiago (12-1) outpointed Jacob "Christmas" Volkmann (9-1) by unanimous decision to give Volkmann his first loss, and Josh Koscheck (14-4) made Anthony "Rumble" Johnson (8-3) tap out to a rear-naked choke at 4:47 of Round 2.
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