Griffin Upsets Jackson To Win Title

LAS VEGAS, July 5 -- Forrest Griffin upset light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson on Saturday night, winning a five-round unanimous decision at UFC 86.

Griffin (16-4) used his movement, reach and kicks to slow Jackson (28-7) and survived the champion's power shots in an action-packed mixed martial arts fight at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

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 it 29-28 for the Canadian while the third had it 29-28 for Almeida, a Brazilian jujitsu 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 that appeared to injure Jackson. Griffin was then able to mount Jackson and control 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 marked the first time a winner from the UFC's reality series captured a title belt.

"I think we're going to have to do that again. And that sucks for me," Griffin said. "Every punch he threw hurt."

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 minutes 57 seconds 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, forcing him to tap at 1:57 of the first round.