Hangover Sports Roundup: Evans Ruins Ortiz' Comeback, Nfl Hall Of Fame Inductees

\ Aug 11, 2011

2 min read

Hangover Sports Blog: Evans ruins Ortiz' comeback, NFL Hall of Fame inductees — Prime Time—he was a different breed

After injuries to Phil Davis, Antônio Rogério Nogueira, and other main card fighters, the latest event from the Ultimate Fighting Championship featured Rashad Evans looking to gain his No. 1 contender status against the last-minute replacement Tito Ortiz. Many speculated Evans would suffer ring rust and would struggle against the newly confident Ortiz. The fight took place in Philly, and despite the raucus support for underdog Ortiz, Evans put on the best performance of his career by showing powerful combinations to the body and head and avoiding Ortiz’ underrated submissions. Evans used a crushing knee to regain his title shot and will now face the winner of the Jon Jones vs. Rampage Jackson fight in September. Meanwhile, the fighting spirit Ortiz showed should get him another opportunity to prove he has more wins streaks left.

In the co-main event, Vitor Belfort’s striking turned out the lights on Yoshihiro Akiyama. Belfort’s first-round KO puts him back on the middleweight radar and not the employment line. As for Akiyama, he’s 1-4 in his UFC career and is most likely on the chopping block. Belfort called out the winner of the Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami fight, but will have to work his way up the ranking before securing a title shot.

NFL Hall of Fame

The NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony always provides entertaining speeches from some of the league’s greatest icons, sharing anecdotes of their sacrifices and accomplishments. But the 2011 class of Deion Sanders, Marshall Faulk and Shannon Sharpe provided some of the most memorable speeches ever. All three men have different personalities and approaches to the game, but all shared their love for football and family. Sharpe talked about how his farm life gave him the work ethic to become one of the best tight ends in history. Faulk discussed the bond he shared playing with the 2000 St. Louis Rams Super Bowl team. But as expected, Deion Sanders stole the show by thanking a variety of people, from Jerry Jones to rappers Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg. Sanders even got emotional talking about making a better life for his mother by creating his “Prime Time” persona. Richard Dent, Chris Hanburger, Les Richter and NFL Films creator Ed Sabol were also inducted.