UFC 98 Results/Recap: Machida KO's Evans, Hughes Beats Serra, Bonuses

He may be quiet and may be humble, but there is no doubt that Lyoto Machida is one bad man as he put on a dominating performance Saturday night in Las Vegas in knocking out Rashad Evans in the second round to win the UFC Light Heavyweight championship.

A huge crowd favorite, Machida was simply overwhelming in every aspect of the game. Evans couldn't get past Machida's defense, leaving the karate master to land with leg kicks which eventually led to strikes.

The end came when Machida landed a straight left in the last few minutes of the 2nd round that led to an all-out assault. As Evans was up against the cage, Machida connected on a left hook that dropped Evans in a no-doubt knockout, good for Knockout of the Night and an additional $60k. Official time was 3:57 of the 2nd round.

Post-fight, Machida was ecstatic and was overjoyed that he won the gold. He is humble and amazingly likeable, screaming "Karate is back!" and telling the fans that if they have a goal, go for it because anything is possible. It was nice to see a fighter so excited about winning a title and to win in such a convincing fashion.

On the undercard, it would be a night of unanimous decisions as Matt Hughes got the best of Matt Serra, Chael Sonnen defeated Dan Miller and Frankie Edgar beat Sean Sherk.

• Official attendance was 12,606 for $3.26 million.
  
• Serra and Hughes got $60k each for Fight of the Night.
  
• Brock Larson earned $60k for Submission of the Night in his win over Mike Pyle.

Here's the round-by-round breakdown of UFC 98 with more details:

Lyoto Machida def. Rashad Evans via 2nd round KO (3:57) to win the Light Heavyweight Title

Round 1

• Pre-fight, Evans looks pumped...like this is his moment. This would have been a great co-main event with bigger names on top. I'll be interested to see what the buyrates are.
• People are booing a minute in as neither guy has thrown anything yet.
• We're now 90 seconds in and they seem very hesitant to engage the other.
• Machida lands a kick and is the more patient of the two. Evans wants to get in there but can't seem to find an opening.
• We are now three minutes in and still not much is happening. Evans is lightly jabbing trying to get in, but still is having issues.
• Machida hits another left kick and follows with a hard left that drops Evans. Machida starts landing a few unconnected shots but somehow, Evans gets out of it.
• Machida looks unstoppable and hasn't even been touched yet. He is very calm.

Round 2

• Crowd is huge into Machida...not bad for a guy that is still learning English.
• They had a good exchange of punches at the 3:30 mark. Machida is quick, but so is Evans.
• Should Evans be looking for a takedown? Nothing else seems to be working.
• At the 1:30 mark, Evans gets hit hard with a straight left and Machida is on him with punches and punches. Finally, a left hook did it...Evans buckled back and he is KO'd!
• Unreal...Evans was dominated the entire fight.

More after the jump...

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?