UFC 148: Anderson Silva silences Chael Sonnen with knee in second round TKO Referee Yves Lavigne revealed to Telegraph Sport that by the trajectory of Silva's knee to Sonnen's chest, he could tell immediately that the blow was not illegal. There was no issue from Sonnen. "He finds a way to win and I admire it," said Sonnen on Silva. A UFC executive was optimistic that the fight would have reached 1 million pay per view buys with the American audience, and UFC president Dana White, who had called Silva "GOAT," reasoned that the event had generated up to 140 million US dollars to the Las Vegas economy. That would have included the highly-successful Fan Expo at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. It was time to say goodbye to one of the UFC legends. Tito Ortiz came to the Octagon mixing his cultures, and metaphors. A gladiator mask, Eminem "Mosh" playing, carrying the US flag. No mixed messages though... "We will fight, we will charge..." pounded the words of the American rap-poet. Shaking his neck out for the last time, Ortiz circled in the Octagon, soaking it all up. Then Forrest Griffin. Different tempo. Upbeat, folky Celtic, a little glance and smile at Tito. Thirty minutes in, two fights done, about to resume again. Ortiz and Griffin put on a great fight. They are like two heavyweights when they go at it. I had Griffin 10-9 up after round one, his most effective strikes being left hooks. Ortiz took Griffin down and had full guard and landed a couple of elbows. Ortiz then had Forrest down for a second early in the second period with a straight right, and sensed a finish, but Griffin came back into the round and won it on my card. The last round of Tito Ortiz's 15 year career needed something spectacular. He dropped Griffin with a left hook and then got his foe to the ground and tried to pound from top position. But again Griffin came back, landing many more strikes and bizarrely, as the fight ended, Griffin left the Octagon and headed for the changing rooms before the result was read out. Griffin was a 29-28 victor, unanimously, on the judges" cards. White went after Griffin, told him to come back. "I was depressed by my performance," said Griffin. "He's just goofy at times," said White, highly displeased. Griffin added: "I feel like we (he and Tito) had three draws. I want a fourth round. Former UFC light heavyweight champion Ortiz earlier took his place alongside the legends of the Octagon. Ortiz was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, the 9th person to be inducted and 8th competitor. Dana White said time will tell whether Ortiz will be hired by the UFC. I'm cool with Tito. We'll see what happens... Ortiz was exemplary all week, and would make a fabulous UFC ambassador. Cung Le was outstanding against Patrick Cote, winning a 30-27 decision on all three judges cards, finally notching up a win in his UFC career. This is one the biggest accomplishments in my career. To get my first UFC victory, I'm so happy," he said at the post-fight news conference, on crutches. He came in, he was very tough. I hit him real hard with him some kicks and one time he ducked and I clipped the top of his head. I could have swore I broke my foot but I said I'm going to gut it out and fight to the end because I don't have any "give-up "in me. I wanted to win. Cote explained: "I thought it was tricky. I was about to push the pace but he had a lot better footwork than I was expecting. Demian Maia pulled off a startling TKO over Dong Hyun Kim on his UFC welterweight debut. Getting Kim into a hold in a standing position, he twisted and threw the Korean to the mat, his head landing on the canvas, and Maia's knee trapped into his ribcage. It looked as if he had broken ribs. Maia climbed atop him, but Kim looked out. It later transpired his ribs had been injured. "It means a lot to win like this because I was having some problems in my camp," explained Maia. I was trying to bring my jiujitsu back so I did it my whole camp and concentrated on takedowns. That's what took me to this point and helped me win tonight. It was a great test for me as he had just one loss. It was a great challenge. I'm very happy and I just want to fight again. Mike Easton seemed to have a forcefield keeping Ivan Menjivar at bay. The fight never really ignited, to be fair. Clear points victory for "The Hulk." Easton said: "It feels good. I'm very happy for the win. Ivan is an incredible fighter. Usually when I throw my power it offsets everything and I think my strategy helped me come away with the win tonight. I want to fight for a belt. That is my goal. I want to keep getting better, keep getting better and keep getting better. Menjivar was disappointed with his night's work: "I realized I didn't put much pressure. The judges gave it to him because he looked more aggressive even though he didn't connect. I was too calm. Cody McKenzie had new women's MMA sensation Ronda Rousey in his corner, cowboy booted, for his contest with the shorter, bullish Chad Mendes. It was quick. And brutal. A shot to the stomach ended it - after 31 seconds. It ended looking like a mismatch. Mendes said: "It's very rewarding to go through a long and hard training camp with the best fighters in the world and to get in the Octagon and get it done fast like that. I had seen what he had done in past fights and I was prepared. I'm glad I'm here standing with you.