UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008
Heavyweight Fight- Cheick Kongo (22-4-1) vs. Mostapha Al Turk (6-3)
This is Turk's debut in UFC. He was born in Beruit, Lebanon and is fighting out of London, England. Turk is a jiu jitsu based fighter. If Kongo can win this fight he puts himself in position to be a possible title contender later in 2009 due to the soft UFC Heavyweight Division. Kongo has a 4 and a half inch reach advantage which could be huge since he's a better striker.
"This is a battle of the cool names"- Joe Rogan
R1- They exchange low blows in the first round. Kongo came on really strong in the last minute of the round and knocked Turk down and started hitting a ton of strikes and busted him open and reigned down elbows and hammer fists. Great finish by Kongo. He really took it to Turk once he got him down. This is as good as I've seen Kongo look. Rogan described it well by saying he was "completely relentless."
Winner: Cheick Kongo by TKO (strikes) R1 4:37
Randy and Kim Couture are in attendance tonight.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Rampage Jackson (28-7) vs. Wanderlei Silva (32-8-1)
What a stacked card when you can bring out Rampage/Wanderlei for the second fight on the show. This should be FOTN and has the ability to be one of the most exciting fights this year. This is the third match-up between the two fighters with Silva winning the first two. Winner of this fight steps up in line (with Lyoto Machida) to face the winner of Griffin/Evans for the Light Heavyweight Strap. Rogan calls Silva the most consistently exciting fighter in MMA history. This should be a Main Event on any show for any organization. Very mixed reaction for Rampage from the crowd. The fighters don't touch gloves prior to the fight. This is a GRUDGE match!
R1- Rampage hit a big knockout punch towards the end of the round and then continued to pound on Silva as the ref tried to pull him off. Big knockout punch by Rampage. Big left hook by Rampage. They cut to Chuck Liddell after the knockout and he looked less than thrilled with the finish. Great comeback for Rampage after the Forrest fight and he looks to step right back up in line for a re-match for the Light Heavyweight Fight.
Winner: Rampage Jackson by KO (left hook) R1 3:21
In the post-fight interview Rampage says he's back.
Heavyweight Fight- Dan Evensen vs. Pat Barry
This is from the pre-show. Barry is hyped as a big-time striker. Evenson lost to Kongo at the UFC 87 show at the end of the first round by TKO. This is Barry's debut in the UFC.
R1- Barry looked decent and it looked like Evensen tweaked something (due to Barry's leg kicks) and could not continue.
Winner: Patrick Barry by TKO (Leg Kick) R1 2:36
Middleweight Fight- CB Dollaway (8-2) vs. Mike Massenzio (11-2)
Both guys are college wrestlers with Massenzio's only loss coming on an upset at the hands of Dollaway. Dollaway has a 2 and a half inch reach advantage.
R1- Massenzio got some shots in and knocked CB down and then grabbed a guillotine but CB survived. CB mounts him and then takes his back and starts to hit him with punches on both sides of the head and Massenzio does nothing to get out of the strikes and the ref stops the fight. Not much damage done by CB but Massenzio did nothing to defend himself. Questionable finish but Massenzio didn't help himself out. Big win for CB.
Winner: CB Dollaway by TKO (strikes) R1 3:01
Light Heavyweight FIght- Matt Hamill vs. Reese Andy
Hamill is coming off a loss to Rich Franklin and Andy is coming off a loss to Brandon Vera. This is a pre-show fight.
R1- They stand up for the round and trade strikes. Hamill got a cut under his eye but pushed forward for the majority of the round. The guy in Matt Hamill's corner drops the f bomb about 50 times as Hamill reads his lips for instruction.
R2- Andy looked for some take downs but Hamill stuffed them and then hit some good strikes on Andy. Andy just slumped down to his knees and basically looked like he gave up as Hamill started to hit him with strikes. The ref finally stops it. Great second round by Hamill.
Winner: Matt Hamill by TKO (strikes) R2 2:15
Brock Lesnar joins Mike and Joe between the fights. Basically says he's not the champ yet until he beats the winner of Mir/Big Nog.
UFC Interim Heavyweight Title Fight- Antonio Minotauro Nogueira © (31-4-1) vs. Frank Mir (11-3)
Mir's average fight lasts 3:38 according to Mike Goldberg. Big Nog comes out to the Rolling Stones.
R1- Mir hit a good jab early. Mir is looking good early and gets a take down but gives it up to stand back up. Mir knocked down Big Nog at the 3 minute mark but again lets Big Nog up. Big Nog got in a good combo against the cage at the end of the round. Mir looked really good in this first round and got another knock down at the end of the first round. Mir won this round. Possibly 10-8. The announcers say it's 10-8, Big Nog got in some shots but Mir knocked Big Nog down 3 times.
R2- Mir hits Big Nog with two big punches and knocks him down and then jumps on top with some punches and Herb Dean stops the fight. Surprising finish and I think the stoppage was early considering how much punishment Big Nog takes but Mir was definitely owning this fight.
Post-fight Mir basically stares down Lesnar.
Winner and new Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion: Frank Mir by TKO (strikes) R2 1:54
Light Heavyweight Title Fight- Forrest Griffin © (16-4) vs. Rashad Evans (17-0-1)
The battle of the winners of TUF Season 1 and Season 2. And they are Main Eventing a show with Wanderlei Silva, Big Nog, Frank Mir and Rampage Jackson. Forrest has a 4 inch reach advantage and a 2 inch height advantage. I have a feeling that Rashad is going to win this fight but I've got to pull for Forrest since he's from Athens.
R1- Huge "Forrest" chant at the beginning of the round. Rashad laying back early like he did in the Liddell fight. Forrest took Round One 10-9. Rashad looked like he definitely has the quickness factor but he's laying back more and Forrest is pushing forward. If this fight stays on it's feet I can see Rashad getting a big punch in and ending this.
R2- Forrest hit a big right hand about a minute into the fight and they really mixed it up against the cage and then Rashad smiled at him and kind of gave him that "you can't hurt me" look. Forrest is doing a really good job with his kicks in this fight. Forrest took this round as well and is up 20-18 on my score card. His leg kicks seem to be taking their toll and Rashad is having trouble so far with Forrest's reach advantage. Still anybody's fight but Forrest is the aggressor so far and is out striking Rashad. Rashad has more power though so he's far from out with 3 rounds left. Neither guy looks to have sustained significant damage.
R3- Rashad grabs a Forrest leg kick and takes him down and is delivering hammer fists to Forrest. Forrest was in trouble but took him to full guard. Rashad hits some nice elbows while in Forrest's guard. Rashad delivering lots of punches from the top and the ref stops the fight. Big time round from Rashad. Forrest shows a lot of class and immediately congratulates Rashad once he gets up.
Winner and NEW Light Heavyweight Champion: Rashad Evans by TKO (strikes) R3 2:46
Heavyweight Fight- Antoni Hardonk vs. Mike Wessel
This is a pre-show fight. This is Wessell's UFC debut.
R1- Wessell overpowers him early and gets him to the ground. Back to their feet. Wessell is thick. Hardonk hits some good knees. Wessell gets Hardonk down again and Hardonk goes for a triangle but can't get it. Wessell gets full mount right at the buzzer. Wessell is bloodied up from the knees to his face. Good first round.
R2- Hardonk takes Wessell's back and gets the hooks in on him. Hardonk finishes him with strikes.
Winner: Antoni Hardonk by TKO (strikes) R2 2:09
Overall a strong show with a good Main Event in Evans/Griffin. Mir/Big Nog was a surprisingly one-sided fight and Silva/Jackson had a big KO. FOTN was Evans/Griffin.
UFC awarded Evans/Griffin the "Fight of the Night" 60K bonus and Rampage got the 60K "KO of the Night" bonus. No submission bonus was given as no fight ended by submission.
Where do we go from here?
Light Heavyweight Division- Looks like we are set up with Rashad Evans vs Rampage Jackson for the Light Heavyweight Championship with the winner taking on Lyoto Machida/Thiago Silva winner. Forrest versus Chuck Liddell would be an interesting fight for Forrest's next fight.
Heavyweight Division- Obviously we have the Lesnar/Mir re-match. It will be interesting to see where they go with Big Nog. Maybe a fight with Randy Couture?
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale 12/13/08 Re-Cap
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale 12/13/08 Re-Cap
Lightweight Fight- Junie Browning (2-1) vs. Dave Kaplan (3-1)
Since leaving the house Junie has been training at Xtreme Couture and working on his stand up game and his ability to be a civil person. Kaplan is a former Division 1 wrestler. Kaplan comes out wearing sunglasses and a gold chain and dancing to some pop tune. He gets a laugh out of Joe Rogan. Junie Browning fittingly picks an Eminem song for his entrance. "Without You" is a better song to hype up a fighter but he goes with a song that is more fitting to his personality. Junie has a 3 inch reach and height advantage in this fight.
R1- Junie shows good stand up and Kaplan gets cut early. Kaplan shows a good chin in the first round. Junie takes round one with his stand up and is up 10-9.
R2- Junie got a take down and an arm bar and finished Kaplan pretty quickly in Round Two. Junie looked good in this fight.
Winner: Junie Browning by Submission (Arm Bar) R2 1:32
Light Heavyweight Fight- Eliot Marshall vs. Jules Bruchez
R1- Marshall just imposed his will on Jules in this fight and dominated.
Winner: Eliot Marshall by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 1:27
Middleweight Fight- Jason MacDonald (22-10) vs. Wilson Gouveia (11-5)
MacDonald has a 4 inch reach advantage and a 2 inch height advantage. Gouveia failed to make weight in this fight as he came in 3 pounds over the acceptable threshold. MacDonald chose to take the fight anyway.
R1- Gouveia caught MacDonald coming in early and then hit a ton of elbows, cut MacDonald and finished him.
Winner: Wilson Gouveia by Submission (Strikes) R1 2:18
Welterweight Fight- Kevin Burns (8-1) vs. Anthony Johnson (5-2)
This is a re-match from early this year from a fight that Burns continually poked Johnson in the eye and finally finished him off with a big eye poke and was given the victory. It was one of the worst decision's I've ever seen in MMA. This is the re-match and a chance for Johnson to get his win back. The win was not overturned on the early fight basically because Vegas had already paid out the bets for the Burns win by the time the appeal was heard. AJ trains with Cung Le and Josh Thomson and has a 3 inch height and 4 inch reach advantage in this fight. AJ is a former JUCO wrestler and Burns is a jiu jitsu fighter and taekwondo black belt.
R1- This was a close first round with the stand up being pretty even. AJ got 2 take downs and Burns had 1 submission attempt. AJ took this round 10-9.
R2- AJ got a take down in this round and controlled the action. AJ 20-18.
R3- AJ hit a HUGE big left kick for the KO. Wow! They had just talked about him training with Cung Le and then he Cung Le'd Burns.
Winner: Anthony Johnson by KO (High Kick) R3 0:28
Forrest Griffin and Frank Mir are interviewed and they talk about UFC 92 and the Spike TV Video Game Awards.
Light Heavyweight TUF 8 Finale: Ryan Bader (8-0) vs. Vinny Magalhaes (3-2)
Bader is a two-time All American College wrestler and beat Kingsbury, Lawlor and Eliot Marshall (who won impressively earlier) to get to the finals. Bader is training with CB Dollaway. We'll see if CB can teach him how to avoid an arm bar. Vinny is a 4 time Jiu Jitsu World Champion and a Jiu Jitsu Black Belt. He beat Lance Evans (Rashad's brother), Bruchez (who got destroyed earlier) and Krzysztof Soszynski (who I thought would make the finals) in order to get to the finals. Forrest Griffin has been training with Vinny lately.
R1- Pretty even fight in the first couple of minutes. Bader hit a big right hand shot that put Vinny down. The shot was partially deflected but it put Vinny down and then Bader jumped on top with hammer fists and Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight.
Winner and TUF 8 Light Heavyweight Winner: Ryan Bader by KO R1 2:18
Light Heavyweight Fight- Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Shane Primm
Dan Henderson is in Krzysztof's corner.
R1- Good first round. Krzysztof controlled as he was the superior striker in the round but Primm did a good job trying take downs and staying close to Krzysztof to avoid a lot of striking opportunities. 10-9 Krzysztof after one round.
R2- Krzysztof got a kimura half way through the round and tapped him out.
Winner: Krzysztof Soszynski by Submission (Kimura) R2 3:27
Lightweight TUF 8 Finale: Phillipe Nover (6-0-1) vs. Efrain Escudero (11-0)
Nover was a relative unknown coming into this season of TUF but has developed into the favorite to win the fight. He defeated Joe Duarte, Kaplan and George Roop to make the finals. Nover has just recently received his jiu jitsu black belt. He is a nurse from Brooklyn. Efrain defeated Pariente, Shane Nelson and Junie Browning to make the finals. He is a former high school and JUCO wrestler and is described as a "free style" fighter.
R1- Escudero got a good shot in on Phillipe early as he was getting up from a take down. Efrain got Phillipe's back and then later got in some good Ground and Pound. Really good first round that was controlled by Efrain to the tune of 10-9. Nover had a couple of near submission attempts.
R2- Efrain controlled this round with his wrestling and goes up 20-18. The round ended with a bang as Nover came at Efrain and hit a kick but Efrain absorbed it and slammed Phillipe to the mat.
R3- Nover's stand up looked better at the beginning of this round but he still got taken down. Nover worked his way into an Omaplata attempt in this round and nearly got it locked in. Phillipe stole this round by working that submission attempt for about two minutes at the end of the round. Efrain wins the fight 29-28 on my score card.
Judges all score the fight 29-28 in favor of Efrain.
Winner and TUF 8 Lightweight Winner: Efrain Escudero by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Fight- Junie Browning (2-1) vs. Dave Kaplan (3-1)
Since leaving the house Junie has been training at Xtreme Couture and working on his stand up game and his ability to be a civil person. Kaplan is a former Division 1 wrestler. Kaplan comes out wearing sunglasses and a gold chain and dancing to some pop tune. He gets a laugh out of Joe Rogan. Junie Browning fittingly picks an Eminem song for his entrance. "Without You" is a better song to hype up a fighter but he goes with a song that is more fitting to his personality. Junie has a 3 inch reach and height advantage in this fight.
R1- Junie shows good stand up and Kaplan gets cut early. Kaplan shows a good chin in the first round. Junie takes round one with his stand up and is up 10-9.
R2- Junie got a take down and an arm bar and finished Kaplan pretty quickly in Round Two. Junie looked good in this fight.
Winner: Junie Browning by Submission (Arm Bar) R2 1:32
Light Heavyweight Fight- Eliot Marshall vs. Jules Bruchez
R1- Marshall just imposed his will on Jules in this fight and dominated.
Winner: Eliot Marshall by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 1:27
Middleweight Fight- Jason MacDonald (22-10) vs. Wilson Gouveia (11-5)
MacDonald has a 4 inch reach advantage and a 2 inch height advantage. Gouveia failed to make weight in this fight as he came in 3 pounds over the acceptable threshold. MacDonald chose to take the fight anyway.
R1- Gouveia caught MacDonald coming in early and then hit a ton of elbows, cut MacDonald and finished him.
Winner: Wilson Gouveia by Submission (Strikes) R1 2:18
Welterweight Fight- Kevin Burns (8-1) vs. Anthony Johnson (5-2)
This is a re-match from early this year from a fight that Burns continually poked Johnson in the eye and finally finished him off with a big eye poke and was given the victory. It was one of the worst decision's I've ever seen in MMA. This is the re-match and a chance for Johnson to get his win back. The win was not overturned on the early fight basically because Vegas had already paid out the bets for the Burns win by the time the appeal was heard. AJ trains with Cung Le and Josh Thomson and has a 3 inch height and 4 inch reach advantage in this fight. AJ is a former JUCO wrestler and Burns is a jiu jitsu fighter and taekwondo black belt.
R1- This was a close first round with the stand up being pretty even. AJ got 2 take downs and Burns had 1 submission attempt. AJ took this round 10-9.
R2- AJ got a take down in this round and controlled the action. AJ 20-18.
R3- AJ hit a HUGE big left kick for the KO. Wow! They had just talked about him training with Cung Le and then he Cung Le'd Burns.
Winner: Anthony Johnson by KO (High Kick) R3 0:28
Forrest Griffin and Frank Mir are interviewed and they talk about UFC 92 and the Spike TV Video Game Awards.
Light Heavyweight TUF 8 Finale: Ryan Bader (8-0) vs. Vinny Magalhaes (3-2)
Bader is a two-time All American College wrestler and beat Kingsbury, Lawlor and Eliot Marshall (who won impressively earlier) to get to the finals. Bader is training with CB Dollaway. We'll see if CB can teach him how to avoid an arm bar. Vinny is a 4 time Jiu Jitsu World Champion and a Jiu Jitsu Black Belt. He beat Lance Evans (Rashad's brother), Bruchez (who got destroyed earlier) and Krzysztof Soszynski (who I thought would make the finals) in order to get to the finals. Forrest Griffin has been training with Vinny lately.
R1- Pretty even fight in the first couple of minutes. Bader hit a big right hand shot that put Vinny down. The shot was partially deflected but it put Vinny down and then Bader jumped on top with hammer fists and Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight.
Winner and TUF 8 Light Heavyweight Winner: Ryan Bader by KO R1 2:18
Light Heavyweight Fight- Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Shane Primm
Dan Henderson is in Krzysztof's corner.
R1- Good first round. Krzysztof controlled as he was the superior striker in the round but Primm did a good job trying take downs and staying close to Krzysztof to avoid a lot of striking opportunities. 10-9 Krzysztof after one round.
R2- Krzysztof got a kimura half way through the round and tapped him out.
Winner: Krzysztof Soszynski by Submission (Kimura) R2 3:27
Lightweight TUF 8 Finale: Phillipe Nover (6-0-1) vs. Efrain Escudero (11-0)
Nover was a relative unknown coming into this season of TUF but has developed into the favorite to win the fight. He defeated Joe Duarte, Kaplan and George Roop to make the finals. Nover has just recently received his jiu jitsu black belt. He is a nurse from Brooklyn. Efrain defeated Pariente, Shane Nelson and Junie Browning to make the finals. He is a former high school and JUCO wrestler and is described as a "free style" fighter.
R1- Escudero got a good shot in on Phillipe early as he was getting up from a take down. Efrain got Phillipe's back and then later got in some good Ground and Pound. Really good first round that was controlled by Efrain to the tune of 10-9. Nover had a couple of near submission attempts.
R2- Efrain controlled this round with his wrestling and goes up 20-18. The round ended with a bang as Nover came at Efrain and hit a kick but Efrain absorbed it and slammed Phillipe to the mat.
R3- Nover's stand up looked better at the beginning of this round but he still got taken down. Nover worked his way into an Omaplata attempt in this round and nearly got it locked in. Phillipe stole this round by working that submission attempt for about two minutes at the end of the round. Efrain wins the fight 29-28 on my score card.
Judges all score the fight 29-28 in favor of Efrain.
Winner and TUF 8 Lightweight Winner: Efrain Escudero by Decision (Unanimous)
Saturday, December 13, 2008
UFC: Fight For The Troops 12/10/08 Re-Cap
UFC Fight for the Troops 12/10/08
On paper this looked like a show that could be easily skipped. But when it played out it was one of the most exciting nights of UFC fights this year. A fantastic knockout from Josh Koscheck, a dominate performance from Ben Saunders, a nasty submission from Steve Cantwell and another great performance from Mike Swick. A big night for TUF alums as not only Saunders, Swick and Koscheck got big wins but Tim Credeur looked really good.
Lightweight Fight- Jim Miller (12-1) vs. Matt Wiman (10-3)
Wiman came in on a 4 fight win streak and Miller came in on a 7 fight win streak. Miller took the fight on one week notice. Wiman had a 2 inch height advantage but Miller had a 4 inch reach advantage.
R1- Good first round with Miller winning it 10-9. Miller got an early guillotine and almost got the submission victory early.
R2- Miller took this round as well and is now up 20-18. He is really controlling the fight through two rounds.
R3- Wiman started out this round strong but Miller got a quick take down and ultimately won the fight 30-27 in my book.
The judges scored the fight: 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 in favor of Miller
Winner: Jim Miller by Decision (Unanimous)
They show celebrity testimonials when they come back from commercial to solicit donations to the troops. Some of the celebs included Charlie Sheen, Jack Black, Chris O'Donnell, Samuel L Jackson, Mick Foley, 50 Cent, Laura Prepon and James Gandolfini.
Middleweight Fight- Tim Credeur (11-4) vs. Nate Loughran (9-0)
Nate is a jiu jitsu fighter who trains with David Terrell. Rich Clementi is in Tim's corner. Tim has been training a lot at Xtreme Couture since TUF.
R1- Credeur's striking is superior in Round One and he takes the first round 10-9.
R2- Nate gets his eye busted open early in the second round. Tim controls on the ground early and in the stand up game late. This round was all Tim.
The fight was stopped after two rounds. Tim dominated Nate in this fight and looked one thousand times better than he did during any of his TUF fights.
Winner: Tim Credeur by TKO (verbal submission between rounds) R2
Light Heavyweight- Steve Cantwell (6-1) vs. Razak Al-Hassan (7-0)
Razak comes into the fight undefeated and has a huge five and a half inch reach advantage. Cantwell was last seen on WEC as their Light Heavyweight Champion but they disbanded the division so now he is in UFC.
R1- This was a good fight with pretty even stand up to start. Cantwell got an arm bar and Razak would not tap and Cantwell just destroyed Razak's arm and the ref stopped the fight. What a sick move and a great debut for Cantwell. Cantwell took much joy in his snapping his opponent's arm during the post-match interview.
Winner: Steve Cantwell by TKO (ref stoppage) R1 4:04
Welterweight Fight- Mike Swick (12-2) vs. Jonathan Goulet (22-4)
Swick has a three and a half inch reach advantage in this fight.
R1- Swick got a quick take down and just pounded Goulet on his knees until the ref stopped the fight. Wow! Swick looked awesome here.
Winner: Mike Swick by TKO (Strikes) R1 0:33
Welterweight Fight- Ben Saunders vs. Brandon Wolfe
This was from the pre-show. Thanks to Mike Swick for his quick finish, so we get another fight.
R1- Saunders hits big knees in the Muy Thai clinch. Saunders just with a barrage of knees and kicks and this one is over fairly quickly. Another awesome performance by a TUF alum.
Winner: Ben Saunders by TKO (Strikes) R1 1:49
Welterweight: Josh Koscheck (13-3) vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (10-2)
Yoshida has a 3 fight win streak and is a judo black belt. Koscheck has a three inch reach advantage. Koscheck just fought 45 days ago in a loss to Thiago Alves. I really disliked Koscheck when he was on TUF. Not only did he come off as an arrogant prick but he was also a very boring fighter. Koscheck has really changed my mind this year with his performances against Dustin Hazlett and Chris Lytle and stepping up to fight Thiago Alves on short notice and continuing to stay booked for this fight. It's hard not to like him based on what he has done this year.
R1- About two minutes into the fight Koscheck hit Yoshi with a punch that hurt him. Yoshi was stunned and could not defend and Koscheck just leveled him with a huge KO to win the fight. Great KO for Koscheck.
Winner: Josh Koscheck by KO R1 2:15
Welterweight Fight- Steve Bruno vs. Johnny Rees
This pre-show fight is brought to you by Josh Koscheck's quick KO in the Main Event.
R1- Very even first round that got some boos from the crowd.
R2- Bruno took Rees back several times and finally clamped in a Rear Naked and got the submission victory.
Winner: Steve Bruno by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 3:44
On paper this looked like a show that could be easily skipped. But when it played out it was one of the most exciting nights of UFC fights this year. A fantastic knockout from Josh Koscheck, a dominate performance from Ben Saunders, a nasty submission from Steve Cantwell and another great performance from Mike Swick. A big night for TUF alums as not only Saunders, Swick and Koscheck got big wins but Tim Credeur looked really good.
Lightweight Fight- Jim Miller (12-1) vs. Matt Wiman (10-3)
Wiman came in on a 4 fight win streak and Miller came in on a 7 fight win streak. Miller took the fight on one week notice. Wiman had a 2 inch height advantage but Miller had a 4 inch reach advantage.
R1- Good first round with Miller winning it 10-9. Miller got an early guillotine and almost got the submission victory early.
R2- Miller took this round as well and is now up 20-18. He is really controlling the fight through two rounds.
R3- Wiman started out this round strong but Miller got a quick take down and ultimately won the fight 30-27 in my book.
The judges scored the fight: 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 in favor of Miller
Winner: Jim Miller by Decision (Unanimous)
They show celebrity testimonials when they come back from commercial to solicit donations to the troops. Some of the celebs included Charlie Sheen, Jack Black, Chris O'Donnell, Samuel L Jackson, Mick Foley, 50 Cent, Laura Prepon and James Gandolfini.
Middleweight Fight- Tim Credeur (11-4) vs. Nate Loughran (9-0)
Nate is a jiu jitsu fighter who trains with David Terrell. Rich Clementi is in Tim's corner. Tim has been training a lot at Xtreme Couture since TUF.
R1- Credeur's striking is superior in Round One and he takes the first round 10-9.
R2- Nate gets his eye busted open early in the second round. Tim controls on the ground early and in the stand up game late. This round was all Tim.
The fight was stopped after two rounds. Tim dominated Nate in this fight and looked one thousand times better than he did during any of his TUF fights.
Winner: Tim Credeur by TKO (verbal submission between rounds) R2
Light Heavyweight- Steve Cantwell (6-1) vs. Razak Al-Hassan (7-0)
Razak comes into the fight undefeated and has a huge five and a half inch reach advantage. Cantwell was last seen on WEC as their Light Heavyweight Champion but they disbanded the division so now he is in UFC.
R1- This was a good fight with pretty even stand up to start. Cantwell got an arm bar and Razak would not tap and Cantwell just destroyed Razak's arm and the ref stopped the fight. What a sick move and a great debut for Cantwell. Cantwell took much joy in his snapping his opponent's arm during the post-match interview.
Winner: Steve Cantwell by TKO (ref stoppage) R1 4:04
Welterweight Fight- Mike Swick (12-2) vs. Jonathan Goulet (22-4)
Swick has a three and a half inch reach advantage in this fight.
R1- Swick got a quick take down and just pounded Goulet on his knees until the ref stopped the fight. Wow! Swick looked awesome here.
Winner: Mike Swick by TKO (Strikes) R1 0:33
Welterweight Fight- Ben Saunders vs. Brandon Wolfe
This was from the pre-show. Thanks to Mike Swick for his quick finish, so we get another fight.
R1- Saunders hits big knees in the Muy Thai clinch. Saunders just with a barrage of knees and kicks and this one is over fairly quickly. Another awesome performance by a TUF alum.
Winner: Ben Saunders by TKO (Strikes) R1 1:49
Welterweight: Josh Koscheck (13-3) vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (10-2)
Yoshida has a 3 fight win streak and is a judo black belt. Koscheck has a three inch reach advantage. Koscheck just fought 45 days ago in a loss to Thiago Alves. I really disliked Koscheck when he was on TUF. Not only did he come off as an arrogant prick but he was also a very boring fighter. Koscheck has really changed my mind this year with his performances against Dustin Hazlett and Chris Lytle and stepping up to fight Thiago Alves on short notice and continuing to stay booked for this fight. It's hard not to like him based on what he has done this year.
R1- About two minutes into the fight Koscheck hit Yoshi with a punch that hurt him. Yoshi was stunned and could not defend and Koscheck just leveled him with a huge KO to win the fight. Great KO for Koscheck.
Winner: Josh Koscheck by KO R1 2:15
Welterweight Fight- Steve Bruno vs. Johnny Rees
This pre-show fight is brought to you by Josh Koscheck's quick KO in the Main Event.
R1- Very even first round that got some boos from the crowd.
R2- Bruno took Rees back several times and finally clamped in a Rear Naked and got the submission victory.
Winner: Steve Bruno by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 3:44
Thursday, December 04, 2008
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Episode 12 Re-Cap
The Ultimate Fighter 8- Episode 12 Re-Cap
Team Noguiera vs. Team Mir
The fights on today’s show are:
Light Heavyweight Fight- Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Vinny Magalhaes
Lightweight Fight- Efrain Escudero vs. Junie Browning
Vinny and Krzysztof are not only team members with Team Mir but also with Team Quest. I think this should be a very good fight with probably the Top 2 Light Heavyweights in the house.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Vinny Magalhaes
R1- Vinny pulls guard about one minute into the fight and is delivering elbows and strikes to the top of Krzysztof’s head. Vinny has Krzysztof in a rubber guard type move but Krzysztof gets out of it. Krzysztof hits several leg kicks. Vinny comes forward but slips a couple of times and then pulls guard again on Krzysztof and goes for the arm bar and Krzysztof taps. Really strong finish for Vinny and I think he’s the favorite to take down a much more inexperienced Bader in the finals.
Winner: Vinny Magalhaes by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
The next segment is all about Junie Browning’s pity party. He’s saying that he doesn’t want to fight and that he hasn’t had any good training since he’s been in the house. Back at the house Junie over reacts and throws something at Shane Primm when some guys are having a conversation outside. What a hot head. Dana comes into the house later on to talk to Junie. Dana talks to Junie and then talks to the other fighters. Dana basically tells the guys to keep Junie in the house so that they can beat him off the show. They agree with Dana.
Lightweight Fight- Efrain Escudero vs. Junie Browning
R1- Junie starts off with an advantage in the stand up game so Efrain takes him down. The rest of the round was pretty even but I think Efrain got more quality strikes in. This round could have gone either way. I give a slight edge to Efrain.
R2- Junie went for a take down early but was denied. Junie definitely played the aggressor in the opening part of this round. Efrain got a take down about two minutes into the round. Efrain caught Junie in a submission that didn’t look that dangerous and Junie tapped. Junie immediately left the ring and went back to the dressing room.
Winner: Efrain Escudero by Submission (Choke)
“There was a part of me that enjoyed seeing Junie get choked out”- Frank Mir
“Justice was served”- Dana White
Big Nog and Frank Mir had a side bet and it ended in Frank Mir getting his head shaved.
So the finals are:
Light Heavyweight Fight: Vinny Magalhaes vs. Ryan Bader
Lightweight Fight: Phillipe Nover vs. Efrain Escudero
The finals will be held on December 13th live on Spike TV.
Light Heavyweight Rankings:
1. Vinny Magalhaes
2. Ryan Bader
Lightweight Rankings:
1. Phillipe Nover
2. Efrain Escudero
Eliminations:
Tom Lawlor (ranked #2 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Two)
Shane Nelson (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Two)
Shane Primm (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Eliot Marshall (Round Two)
Roli Delgado (ranked #7 LW) eliminated by Junie Browning (Round Two)
Jules Brunchez (ranked #3 LH) eliminated by Vinny Magalhaes (Round Two)
Dave Kaplan (ranked #1 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Two)
Kyle Kingsbury (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Krzysztof Soszynski (Round Two)
John Polakowski (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by George Roop (Round Two)
Eliot Marshall (ranked #4 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Three)
George Roop (ranked #4 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Three)
Junie Browning (ranked #3 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Three)
Team Noguiera vs. Team Mir
The fights on today’s show are:
Light Heavyweight Fight- Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Vinny Magalhaes
Lightweight Fight- Efrain Escudero vs. Junie Browning
Vinny and Krzysztof are not only team members with Team Mir but also with Team Quest. I think this should be a very good fight with probably the Top 2 Light Heavyweights in the house.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Vinny Magalhaes
R1- Vinny pulls guard about one minute into the fight and is delivering elbows and strikes to the top of Krzysztof’s head. Vinny has Krzysztof in a rubber guard type move but Krzysztof gets out of it. Krzysztof hits several leg kicks. Vinny comes forward but slips a couple of times and then pulls guard again on Krzysztof and goes for the arm bar and Krzysztof taps. Really strong finish for Vinny and I think he’s the favorite to take down a much more inexperienced Bader in the finals.
Winner: Vinny Magalhaes by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
The next segment is all about Junie Browning’s pity party. He’s saying that he doesn’t want to fight and that he hasn’t had any good training since he’s been in the house. Back at the house Junie over reacts and throws something at Shane Primm when some guys are having a conversation outside. What a hot head. Dana comes into the house later on to talk to Junie. Dana talks to Junie and then talks to the other fighters. Dana basically tells the guys to keep Junie in the house so that they can beat him off the show. They agree with Dana.
Lightweight Fight- Efrain Escudero vs. Junie Browning
R1- Junie starts off with an advantage in the stand up game so Efrain takes him down. The rest of the round was pretty even but I think Efrain got more quality strikes in. This round could have gone either way. I give a slight edge to Efrain.
R2- Junie went for a take down early but was denied. Junie definitely played the aggressor in the opening part of this round. Efrain got a take down about two minutes into the round. Efrain caught Junie in a submission that didn’t look that dangerous and Junie tapped. Junie immediately left the ring and went back to the dressing room.
Winner: Efrain Escudero by Submission (Choke)
“There was a part of me that enjoyed seeing Junie get choked out”- Frank Mir
“Justice was served”- Dana White
Big Nog and Frank Mir had a side bet and it ended in Frank Mir getting his head shaved.
So the finals are:
Light Heavyweight Fight: Vinny Magalhaes vs. Ryan Bader
Lightweight Fight: Phillipe Nover vs. Efrain Escudero
The finals will be held on December 13th live on Spike TV.
Light Heavyweight Rankings:
1. Vinny Magalhaes
2. Ryan Bader
Lightweight Rankings:
1. Phillipe Nover
2. Efrain Escudero
Eliminations:
Tom Lawlor (ranked #2 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Two)
Shane Nelson (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Two)
Shane Primm (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Eliot Marshall (Round Two)
Roli Delgado (ranked #7 LW) eliminated by Junie Browning (Round Two)
Jules Brunchez (ranked #3 LH) eliminated by Vinny Magalhaes (Round Two)
Dave Kaplan (ranked #1 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Two)
Kyle Kingsbury (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Krzysztof Soszynski (Round Two)
John Polakowski (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by George Roop (Round Two)
Eliot Marshall (ranked #4 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Three)
George Roop (ranked #4 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Three)
Junie Browning (ranked #3 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Three)
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Episode 11 Re-Cap
The Ultimate Fighter 8- Episode 11 Re-Cap
Team Noguiera vs. Team Mir
The fights on today’s show are:
Light Heavyweight Fight- Ryan Bader vs. Eliot Marshall
Lightweight Fight- Phillipe Nover vs. George Roop
Light Heavyweight Fight- Ryan Bader vs. Eliot Marshall
They are focusing on Marshall’s jiu jitsu as his chance to upset Bader. Marshall has a 4 inch reach advantage in this fight. The winner will move on to fight in the finals. I like Bader in this fight.
R1- Pretty even first half to the first round. Bader catches one of Eliot’s kicks and takes him down right in front of Big Nog in the corner. Bader pinned Marshall up against the fence and delivered some decent shots on him. Bader takes round 1 10-9 due to the take down.
R2- Bader catches another Marshall kick and get an early take down. Bader stays on top of Marshall for the majority of the round and they are stood up at the one and a half minute mark. Bader almost immediately takes down Marshall again. So far Bader is just showing that he is a superior wrestler to Marshall and Marshall hasn’t done much on his back to show his jiu jitsu skills that he and Mir were talking up. Bader is up 20-18 after two rounds.
R3- Marshall goes in and gets taken down by Bader almost immediately. Bader is just dominating this fight from a wrestling perspective. He’s not doing much damage once he gets him down but he’s controlling him. Very reminiscent of Josh Koscheck from season one. He would dominate guys on the ground but couldn’t finish them. The ref stands up the fight right after Bader lands an elbow. About five seconds after they are on their feet Bader gets another take down. Marshall goes for a kimura but Bader slams him and then hits him with a forearm. The ref stands them up again with one minute left in the fight. Marshall goes for a high kick and Bader ducks it and gets yet another take down. Bader takes this fight 30-27. He just dominated Marshall from a wrestling perspective and Marshall juts didn’t show any of his jiu jitsu and got in very little offense.
Judges score the fight 30-27 in favor of Bader.
Winner: Ryan Bader by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Fight- Phillipe Nover vs. George Roop
I think Phillipe has to be the favorite in this fight. Roop has a 4 inch height advantage but the reach is even.
R1- Nover immediately gets two shots in on Roop and gets a take down. Roop pushes off the cage to reverse positions. Nover fights hard for a kimura and gets it and Roop taps. Really impressive showing by Nover. He really made a statement to me that he is the #1 lightweight on the show and he is the guy to beat.
Winner: Phillipe Nover by Submission (Kimura) R1
Light Heavyweight Rankings:
1. Krzysztof Soszynski
2. Ryan Bader
3. Vinny Magalhaes
Lightweight Rankings:
1. Phillipe Nover
2. Efrain Escudero
3. Junie Browning
Eliminations:
Tom Lawlor (ranked #2 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Two)
Shane Nelson (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Two)
Shane Primm (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Eliot Marshall (Round Two)
Roli Delgado (ranked #7 LW) eliminated by Junie Browning (Round Two)
Jules Brunchez (ranked #3 LH) eliminated by Vinny Magalhaes (Round Two)
Dave Kaplan (ranked #1 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Two)
Kyle Kingsbury (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Krzysztof Soszynski (Round Two)
John Polakowski (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by George Roop (Round Two)
Eliot Marshall (ranked #4 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Three)
George Roop (ranked #4 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Three)
Team Noguiera vs. Team Mir
The fights on today’s show are:
Light Heavyweight Fight- Ryan Bader vs. Eliot Marshall
Lightweight Fight- Phillipe Nover vs. George Roop
Light Heavyweight Fight- Ryan Bader vs. Eliot Marshall
They are focusing on Marshall’s jiu jitsu as his chance to upset Bader. Marshall has a 4 inch reach advantage in this fight. The winner will move on to fight in the finals. I like Bader in this fight.
R1- Pretty even first half to the first round. Bader catches one of Eliot’s kicks and takes him down right in front of Big Nog in the corner. Bader pinned Marshall up against the fence and delivered some decent shots on him. Bader takes round 1 10-9 due to the take down.
R2- Bader catches another Marshall kick and get an early take down. Bader stays on top of Marshall for the majority of the round and they are stood up at the one and a half minute mark. Bader almost immediately takes down Marshall again. So far Bader is just showing that he is a superior wrestler to Marshall and Marshall hasn’t done much on his back to show his jiu jitsu skills that he and Mir were talking up. Bader is up 20-18 after two rounds.
R3- Marshall goes in and gets taken down by Bader almost immediately. Bader is just dominating this fight from a wrestling perspective. He’s not doing much damage once he gets him down but he’s controlling him. Very reminiscent of Josh Koscheck from season one. He would dominate guys on the ground but couldn’t finish them. The ref stands up the fight right after Bader lands an elbow. About five seconds after they are on their feet Bader gets another take down. Marshall goes for a kimura but Bader slams him and then hits him with a forearm. The ref stands them up again with one minute left in the fight. Marshall goes for a high kick and Bader ducks it and gets yet another take down. Bader takes this fight 30-27. He just dominated Marshall from a wrestling perspective and Marshall juts didn’t show any of his jiu jitsu and got in very little offense.
Judges score the fight 30-27 in favor of Bader.
Winner: Ryan Bader by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Fight- Phillipe Nover vs. George Roop
I think Phillipe has to be the favorite in this fight. Roop has a 4 inch height advantage but the reach is even.
R1- Nover immediately gets two shots in on Roop and gets a take down. Roop pushes off the cage to reverse positions. Nover fights hard for a kimura and gets it and Roop taps. Really impressive showing by Nover. He really made a statement to me that he is the #1 lightweight on the show and he is the guy to beat.
Winner: Phillipe Nover by Submission (Kimura) R1
Light Heavyweight Rankings:
1. Krzysztof Soszynski
2. Ryan Bader
3. Vinny Magalhaes
Lightweight Rankings:
1. Phillipe Nover
2. Efrain Escudero
3. Junie Browning
Eliminations:
Tom Lawlor (ranked #2 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Two)
Shane Nelson (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Two)
Shane Primm (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Eliot Marshall (Round Two)
Roli Delgado (ranked #7 LW) eliminated by Junie Browning (Round Two)
Jules Brunchez (ranked #3 LH) eliminated by Vinny Magalhaes (Round Two)
Dave Kaplan (ranked #1 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Two)
Kyle Kingsbury (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Krzysztof Soszynski (Round Two)
John Polakowski (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by George Roop (Round Two)
Eliot Marshall (ranked #4 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Three)
George Roop (ranked #4 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Three)
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
WEC 37: Torres vs. Tapia 12/3/08 Re-Cap
WEC 37: Torres vs. Tapia 12/3/08
Bantamweight Fight- Joseph Benavidez (8-0) vs. Danny Martinez (12-2)
Benavidez was last seen in DREAM in July and got a submission victory in Round One against Junya “Kodo” Kudo. This is the WEC debut for both fighters. Kim Winslow is the ref (just thought I’d point that out as I’ve never seen a woman ref for a MMA fight before- not that there is anything wrong with that!). Benavidez trains with former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber.
R1- Benavidez connects with some early strikes. Martinez came in and Benavidez hit him with some nice shots before Martinez was able to lock him up. Martinez is looking good early with quick strikes and combinations. Benavidez hit a good roundhouse to the body that looked like it hurt Martinez. Martinez backs Benavidez up against the cage and gets a take down but Benavidez gives up his back and gets to his feet and Martinez has him in a clinch but Benavidez gets out of it. Martinez went for a take down but Benavidez took him down with a Judo Throw and finished the round in a dominant position. Benavidez definitely looked like the better fighter in round one as he took it 10-9.
R2- Benavidez seems to be the quicker fighter and is looking more for his offense. Benavidez is getting in quick strikes on Martinez whenever Martinez comes in for strikes. Benavidez hit a knee but Martinez shrugged it off. Benavidez getting more aggressive as the round is coming down to the one minute mark. Martinez went for a take down and got it but Benavidez got back to his feet with no damage. Benavidez takes this round so he’s up 20-18.
R3- Benavidez using a lot of leg kicks to keep Martinez at bay early in this round despite Martinez being more aggressive than in the first two rounds. Benavidez hit a flying knee and then a nice kick to Martinez but Martinez is staying on his feet. Benavidez is looking good. The only thing he seems to be lacking is knockout power. Martinez got in some offense under the one minute mark. This round was closer but I’ve still got Benavidez winning it and taking the fight 30-27. Very impressive showing for Benavidez. He showed that he was a very versatile fighter and looks to only lack knockout power. Martinez showed heart and a good chin but ultimately was not a match for Benavidez.
All judges score the fight 30-27.
Winner: Joseph Benavidez by Decision (Unanimous)
WEC 38 will take place on January 25th and will have a re-match of Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver as well as a Light Heavyweight title fight between Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone. It will be live on Versus.
They interview Jamie Varner and Urijah Faber at ringside between fights.
The TapouT crew is in the house. So are Chuck Liddell, Carlos Condit and Stephan Bonnar.
Bantamweight Fight- Brian Bowles (6-0) vs. Will Ribeiro (9-1)
Riberio was an Olympic Boxer for Brazil but also has good Muy Thai and Jiu Jitsu. Bowles fights out of Athens, Ga and is more of a wrestler with good submissions. Bowles has heavy hands and good conditioning. This is hyped as a contender’s match with both guys looking towards a title shot down the road, possibly against the winner of Torres/Tapia. Riberio is coming off of a split decision against Chase Beebe.
R1- Bowles charges in for the first action of the fight and lands a good combination. Ribeiro clinches him to stop the onslaught. Ribeiro hit a good spinning side kick. Bowles regroups and hits some strikes. Pretty even fight so far. Ribeiro goes for a take down but Bowles grabs a guillotine and rolls him over. He gives up the hold and takes Ribeiro’s back. Bowles takes Ribeiro’s guard. Bowles takes this round due to the take down reversal and submission attempt at the end of the round. Bowles is up 10-9 after one round.
R2- Ribeiro hits a kick but Bowles grabbed it. Ribeiro ends up on top but gets hit with an up kick. Ribeiro briefly gets guard but then lets Bowles up. Bowles shot in and got a take down. Bowles has him in half guard but isn’t getting in much damage. The ref stands them up with half a minute left in the round. Both guys throw some punches and then Bowles gets another take down. Close round but Bowles got two take downs. Bowles is up 20-18 so far through two rounds.
R3- Bowles hit a good counter punch after Ribeiro hit a kick. Ribeiro went for a take down but Bowles again landed a guillotine and Ribeiro tapped out. Nice finish by Bowles. Bowles looked really good in this fight.
Winner: Brian Bowles by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R3 1:11
Featherweight Fight- Akitoshi Tamura (12-6-2) vs. Wagnney Fabiano (10-1)
Tamura is from Osaka, Japan and is a very well rounded fighter. Fabiano comes out to the theme to Rocky! He is a BJJ Black Belt. This is the WEC debut for both Tamura and Fabiano.
R1- Fabiano quickly goes for a take down and gets it. Fabiano tries to pass but Tamura is doing a good job denying him. Fabiano passes guard into the mount. Fabiano lands a couple of light elbows and Tamura puts him back in half guard. Fabiano gets a couple elbows towards the end of the round. This was a very technical ground battle. Fabiano takes the round 10-9 but didn’t inflict much damage on Tamura.
R2- Tamura lands a knee to open up the round and then Fabiano hits some strikes and then gets a take down about 20 seconds into the round. Tamura puts Fabiano into the rubber guard but Fabiano fights through and takes half guard. Fabiano hits decent some strikes and lands a good elbow. Mazzagatti stands them up with one and a quarter minutes left. Fabiano gets another take down with about a minute left in the round and has side guard. Fabiano got in some strikes and went for an arm bar but the bell rang. Fabiano took this round and is up 20-18. This has been a very technical fight so far with not a lot of action.
R3- Tamura pulls guard and had a guillotine. Fabiano uses his legs to walk up the cage and relieve some of the pressure from the hold and ended up in side control. Fabiano moves into a mount position and then takes side control on the other side of Tamura. Fabiano has opened up a cut on Tamura’s forehead. Fabiano gets an arm choke and gets a submission victory with about 20 seconds left in the fight.
Not a very exciting fight but Fabiano’s BJJ was very impressive. As Frank Mir said, Fabiano is definitely going to need to open up his arsenal and be “more exciting” if he wants to move up the ladder. Fabiano did show great BJJ and control of his opponent.
Winner: Wagnney Fabiano by Submission (Arm Choke) R3 4:48
WEC Bantamweight Championship: Miguel Torres © (34-1) vs. Manny Tapia (10-0-1)
Tapia is very durable, has heavy hands and is well versed in submissions. Both guys come out to Mariachi music. Torres is a BJJ Black Belt who can finish from any position. Torres has a large 9 inch reach advantage and a 4 inch height advantage.
R1- Torres catches Tapia off balance early with a jab. Torres hits a lightning quick kick on Tapia. They go back and forth during the middle of the round with Tapia gaining more confidence. Torres goes for a rolling front kick (see: Jushin Thunder Liger) but misses. Tapia gets a flurry in at the end of the round. Close first round but I’ve got to give it to the champ as he seemed to hit on more strikes and effectively used his jab throughout the round.
R2- Both guys land some shots early in the round. Torres charges and connects with a spinning back fist. Torres connects with a big right hand about half way through the round and Tapia goes down. Torres jumps on top and Tapia takes a defensive posture. Tapia gets back to his feet. Torres lands a lightning quick left and then a right and jumps on to of Tapia and looks to finish and he does finish. That was a great flurry by Torres to win this fight. Torres looked really good in this fight.
Winner and still champion: Miguel Torres by TKO (strikes) R2 3:04
Another good show from WEC. Torres looked fantastic as the defending champ. I’m interested to see more Wagnney Fabiano and see if he can mix it up with some of the better Featherweights in WEC. Bowles had a great showing and Benavides looked really good as well.
Bantamweight Fight- Joseph Benavidez (8-0) vs. Danny Martinez (12-2)
Benavidez was last seen in DREAM in July and got a submission victory in Round One against Junya “Kodo” Kudo. This is the WEC debut for both fighters. Kim Winslow is the ref (just thought I’d point that out as I’ve never seen a woman ref for a MMA fight before- not that there is anything wrong with that!). Benavidez trains with former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber.
R1- Benavidez connects with some early strikes. Martinez came in and Benavidez hit him with some nice shots before Martinez was able to lock him up. Martinez is looking good early with quick strikes and combinations. Benavidez hit a good roundhouse to the body that looked like it hurt Martinez. Martinez backs Benavidez up against the cage and gets a take down but Benavidez gives up his back and gets to his feet and Martinez has him in a clinch but Benavidez gets out of it. Martinez went for a take down but Benavidez took him down with a Judo Throw and finished the round in a dominant position. Benavidez definitely looked like the better fighter in round one as he took it 10-9.
R2- Benavidez seems to be the quicker fighter and is looking more for his offense. Benavidez is getting in quick strikes on Martinez whenever Martinez comes in for strikes. Benavidez hit a knee but Martinez shrugged it off. Benavidez getting more aggressive as the round is coming down to the one minute mark. Martinez went for a take down and got it but Benavidez got back to his feet with no damage. Benavidez takes this round so he’s up 20-18.
R3- Benavidez using a lot of leg kicks to keep Martinez at bay early in this round despite Martinez being more aggressive than in the first two rounds. Benavidez hit a flying knee and then a nice kick to Martinez but Martinez is staying on his feet. Benavidez is looking good. The only thing he seems to be lacking is knockout power. Martinez got in some offense under the one minute mark. This round was closer but I’ve still got Benavidez winning it and taking the fight 30-27. Very impressive showing for Benavidez. He showed that he was a very versatile fighter and looks to only lack knockout power. Martinez showed heart and a good chin but ultimately was not a match for Benavidez.
All judges score the fight 30-27.
Winner: Joseph Benavidez by Decision (Unanimous)
WEC 38 will take place on January 25th and will have a re-match of Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver as well as a Light Heavyweight title fight between Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone. It will be live on Versus.
They interview Jamie Varner and Urijah Faber at ringside between fights.
The TapouT crew is in the house. So are Chuck Liddell, Carlos Condit and Stephan Bonnar.
Bantamweight Fight- Brian Bowles (6-0) vs. Will Ribeiro (9-1)
Riberio was an Olympic Boxer for Brazil but also has good Muy Thai and Jiu Jitsu. Bowles fights out of Athens, Ga and is more of a wrestler with good submissions. Bowles has heavy hands and good conditioning. This is hyped as a contender’s match with both guys looking towards a title shot down the road, possibly against the winner of Torres/Tapia. Riberio is coming off of a split decision against Chase Beebe.
R1- Bowles charges in for the first action of the fight and lands a good combination. Ribeiro clinches him to stop the onslaught. Ribeiro hit a good spinning side kick. Bowles regroups and hits some strikes. Pretty even fight so far. Ribeiro goes for a take down but Bowles grabs a guillotine and rolls him over. He gives up the hold and takes Ribeiro’s back. Bowles takes Ribeiro’s guard. Bowles takes this round due to the take down reversal and submission attempt at the end of the round. Bowles is up 10-9 after one round.
R2- Ribeiro hits a kick but Bowles grabbed it. Ribeiro ends up on top but gets hit with an up kick. Ribeiro briefly gets guard but then lets Bowles up. Bowles shot in and got a take down. Bowles has him in half guard but isn’t getting in much damage. The ref stands them up with half a minute left in the round. Both guys throw some punches and then Bowles gets another take down. Close round but Bowles got two take downs. Bowles is up 20-18 so far through two rounds.
R3- Bowles hit a good counter punch after Ribeiro hit a kick. Ribeiro went for a take down but Bowles again landed a guillotine and Ribeiro tapped out. Nice finish by Bowles. Bowles looked really good in this fight.
Winner: Brian Bowles by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R3 1:11
Featherweight Fight- Akitoshi Tamura (12-6-2) vs. Wagnney Fabiano (10-1)
Tamura is from Osaka, Japan and is a very well rounded fighter. Fabiano comes out to the theme to Rocky! He is a BJJ Black Belt. This is the WEC debut for both Tamura and Fabiano.
R1- Fabiano quickly goes for a take down and gets it. Fabiano tries to pass but Tamura is doing a good job denying him. Fabiano passes guard into the mount. Fabiano lands a couple of light elbows and Tamura puts him back in half guard. Fabiano gets a couple elbows towards the end of the round. This was a very technical ground battle. Fabiano takes the round 10-9 but didn’t inflict much damage on Tamura.
R2- Tamura lands a knee to open up the round and then Fabiano hits some strikes and then gets a take down about 20 seconds into the round. Tamura puts Fabiano into the rubber guard but Fabiano fights through and takes half guard. Fabiano hits decent some strikes and lands a good elbow. Mazzagatti stands them up with one and a quarter minutes left. Fabiano gets another take down with about a minute left in the round and has side guard. Fabiano got in some strikes and went for an arm bar but the bell rang. Fabiano took this round and is up 20-18. This has been a very technical fight so far with not a lot of action.
R3- Tamura pulls guard and had a guillotine. Fabiano uses his legs to walk up the cage and relieve some of the pressure from the hold and ended up in side control. Fabiano moves into a mount position and then takes side control on the other side of Tamura. Fabiano has opened up a cut on Tamura’s forehead. Fabiano gets an arm choke and gets a submission victory with about 20 seconds left in the fight.
Not a very exciting fight but Fabiano’s BJJ was very impressive. As Frank Mir said, Fabiano is definitely going to need to open up his arsenal and be “more exciting” if he wants to move up the ladder. Fabiano did show great BJJ and control of his opponent.
Winner: Wagnney Fabiano by Submission (Arm Choke) R3 4:48
WEC Bantamweight Championship: Miguel Torres © (34-1) vs. Manny Tapia (10-0-1)
Tapia is very durable, has heavy hands and is well versed in submissions. Both guys come out to Mariachi music. Torres is a BJJ Black Belt who can finish from any position. Torres has a large 9 inch reach advantage and a 4 inch height advantage.
R1- Torres catches Tapia off balance early with a jab. Torres hits a lightning quick kick on Tapia. They go back and forth during the middle of the round with Tapia gaining more confidence. Torres goes for a rolling front kick (see: Jushin Thunder Liger) but misses. Tapia gets a flurry in at the end of the round. Close first round but I’ve got to give it to the champ as he seemed to hit on more strikes and effectively used his jab throughout the round.
R2- Both guys land some shots early in the round. Torres charges and connects with a spinning back fist. Torres connects with a big right hand about half way through the round and Tapia goes down. Torres jumps on top and Tapia takes a defensive posture. Tapia gets back to his feet. Torres lands a lightning quick left and then a right and jumps on to of Tapia and looks to finish and he does finish. That was a great flurry by Torres to win this fight. Torres looked really good in this fight.
Winner and still champion: Miguel Torres by TKO (strikes) R2 3:04
Another good show from WEC. Torres looked fantastic as the defending champ. I’m interested to see more Wagnney Fabiano and see if he can mix it up with some of the better Featherweights in WEC. Bowles had a great showing and Benavides looked really good as well.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Retro Re-Cap: The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale 11/5/05
UFC: Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale 11/5/05
Heavyweight Fight- Keith Jardine vs. Kerry Schall
R1- Jardine just kind of picks his spots early and lands some good shots. Schall looks to be heavy. This is jus pretty much a straight stand up fight. Jardine wins the round and bloodies Schall’s nose.
R2- Not a very exciting fight so far through a round and a half. Jardine just picked apart Schall with leg kicks until he finally chopped him down like a tree and fight was ended.
Winner: Keith Jardine by TKO (leg kicks) R2 3:28
Welterweight Fight- Marcus Davis vs. Melvin Guillard
This should be a fun fight.
R1- Guillard charges about a minute in and hits several good punches and then takes Davis down. Melvin got in a couple of good shots and then grabbed a guillotine on Marcus. Davis pops his head out after about a minute and is now in Davis’s guard. Melvin gets another take down with about 30 seconds left in the round and gets side control. Melvin takes round one 10 to 9.
R2- Melvin got another take down (that’s three so far) about one minute into the round. Melvin opened up a big cut on Marcus and the ref stops the ref to check the cut. Melvin caught him with an elbow above the eye and the doctor stops the fight.
Winner: Melvin Guillard by Ref Stoppage (Cut) R2 2:55
Welterweight Fight- Josh Burkman vs. Sam Morgan
R1- Burkman gets a quick take down and immediately beats Morgan. Wow. Burkman took him down and then just nailed him with a couple of shots that knocked Morgan out. It looked like when Burkman drove him into the mat the impact might have knocked Morgan out.
Winner: Josh Burkman by TKO (strikes) R1 0:21
Welterweight Fight- Kenny Florian vs. Kit Cope
Kit Cope is a Muy Thai fighter.
R1- Florian immediately clinches with him. Good action early as they clinch and battle. Florian caught a right hand going in for a take down but managed to clinch with Cope. Florian struggled but finally got a take down. Florian mounted but was quickly moved by Cope to full guard. Cope got to his feet but got taken down again. Florian took a mount and got lots of punches in. Florian then grabbed an arm bar but the bell rang before Cope would give up. Cope tapped but it was after the bell.
R2- Florian gets a quick take down and takes Cope’s back and quickly put on Rear Naked Choke and Cope tapped out again. Florian looked great in this fight.
Winner: Kenny Florian by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 0:37
TUF Welterweight Finals Fight- Joe Stevenson vs. Luke Cuomo
Cuomo has a 5 inch height advantage and 4 inch reach advantage. When asked if the fighters have any questions Stevenson says “Luke I am your father.”
R1- Stevenson gets this fight to the ground within the first 30 seconds. Stevenson grabs an arm triangle but Luke gets out of it and moves Joe to full guard and then escaped back to his feet. Joe gets another take down half way through the round. Joe takes side control and lands some good elbows. Joe gets a bunch of elbows in on Luke and the fight was in danger of being stopped but Luke lasted until the bell range. Stevenson easily took round one.
R2- Luke hit a good clean right hand to start the round but Stevenson quickly recovered and good the take down. Stevenson went for an arm bar but Luke escaped. The exchanged some shots standing and then Luke got a take down but Joe grabbed Luke’s leg and moved to the top position. Joe hits some good elbows from the top. This was a close round and goes to Stevenson so he’s up 20-18. Good fight so far.
R3- Luke got in a punch to start the round and then Joe went for a take down but Luke reversed it on him. Luke’s conditioning is helping him out in this part of the fight. Luke got some shots in on Stevenson. Stevenson got up and quickly took down Luke. Luke went for a triangle but couldn’t get it. Joe went for a leg lock but abandoned it. They briefly got separated and Joe got in a slam to take Luke back down. This was a real good fight. I think Luke took round 3 but I’ve got Joe 29-28 for the fight.
Judges score the fight: 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28 in favor of Stevenson
TUF 2 Welterweight Winner: Joe Stevenson by Decision (Unanimous)
TUF Heavyweight Finals Fight- Rashad Evans vs. Brad Imes
Imes has a huge 8 inch height advantage and a huge 6 inch reach advantage. Look for Rashad to take him to the mat quickly.
R1- Brad hit a couple of jabs early and then grabbed a Muy Thai clinch and tried some knees. Rashad answered with a good right and Imes again grabbed a clinch. Brad got a take down a little over a minute into the fight but couldn’t do anything with it. Brad hit a good elbow and then a left hand. Rashad came back with 3 punches but Brad keeps coming at Rashad. Rashad hit two big right hands and Brad tried to clinch but Rashad kept firing and knocked Brad down. Rashad jumped on top to try and finish but Brad hung in there. Rashad passed the guard but Brad rolled over to his knees and got to his feet. Brad is cut from those punches. This was a good first round. Brad was winning until Rashad hit that series of punches that knocked Brad down and almost finished him. Rashad 10-9 after one round.
R2- Even start to the round. Rashad starts to get the distance on his jab. Brad comes up with some good shots and tied to finish Rashad but Rashad weathered the storm and never left his feet. Brad got Rashad up against the fence and swung at him a bunch of times but Rashad showed good head movement and ducked the onslaught. Rashad got off the fence and hit some jabs. Both guys are really winded with about a minute and a half to go in the round. Rashad stuck Brad with two right hands. Rashad hit another right but Brad came back at the end of the round with some shots. Really good round. I think Brad took this round but it was close. I’ve got 19-19 after two rounds. Good fight so far.
R3- Rashad connects with some shots early in the round. Rashad caught Brad leaning in and nailed him with a left hand that staggered and then dropped Brad. Rashad jumps on top for the finish but Brad tries to wrap him up. Brad gets to his feet and tries to get some shots in on Rashad. Brad clinches and then gets a take down and gets half guard. Rashad got back to his feet after some elbows. 90 seconds left in the round. Both guys are really tired. They swing at the end but both guys are too tired to do any damage. Really close round and really close fight. I’ve got Rashad with a close victory 29-28. Good fight.
Judges score the fight- 29-28 Rashad, 29-28 Imes and 29-28 Rashad.
TUF 2 Heavyweight Winner: Rashad Evans by Decision (Split)
Welterweight Fight- Diego Sanchez vs. Nick Diaz
They meet heads during the meeting at the beginning of the fight and John McCarthy pushes Diaz back to his corner. Looks like a lot of bad blood is brewing between these two guys.
R1- Diego quickly takes Nick’s back. Diaz spins around and Diego is in his guard but Diaz is very active. Diego lands some pretty decent shots but Diaz remains pretty active which is making him hard to hit. Nick reverses and gets Diego in side control but Diego quickly reverses back. Diego is surprisingly controlling Diaz on the ground. Diego looked really good in this round. Sanchez 10-9 in the first round.
R2- Diaz slips really early but luckily it doesn’t hurt him. Diego gets a quick take down within the first 30 seconds of the round. Diego picks Nick up and slams him down and then gets some shots in on Nick. Diego moved Nick up against the cage and got some good Ground and Pound in on him. Diaz reversed a mount and got in Diego’s guard but Diego got out of it before the end of the round. Diaz has a cut near his eye. Diego got another take down at the end of the round. Sanchez is up 20-18 after two rounds.
R3- Diaz starts out the round with a left hand and a jab. Nick is doing a good job at the start of the round avoiding take downs and hitting jabs but Diego gets a take down within the first minute of the round. Diego is bleeding and it’s dripping onto Diaz as Diego is in his guard. They got back to their feet but Diego quickly took Nick’s back. Diaz looks like he’s bleeding now. There is a good amount of blood flowing and it’s tough to see exactly who it is coming from. Diaz gets a take down with about two and a half minutes left. Both guys look to be cut badly. Diaz is on top but Diego grabs an arm bar. Diaz frees himself from the move. Diego slips out and they roll around a little bit and Diego ends up in Nick’s guard. This was a close round, probably went to Diaz. I’ve got Sanchez winning 29-28. Really good fight.
Judges score the fight 30-27 in favor of Sanchez.
Winner: Diego Sanchez by Decision (Unanimous)
This was a very enjoyable show with some good fights- Sanchez/Diaz, Imes/Evans, Stevenson/Cuomo and it also had some good performances from Florian, Jardine and Guillard.
Heavyweight Fight- Keith Jardine vs. Kerry Schall
R1- Jardine just kind of picks his spots early and lands some good shots. Schall looks to be heavy. This is jus pretty much a straight stand up fight. Jardine wins the round and bloodies Schall’s nose.
R2- Not a very exciting fight so far through a round and a half. Jardine just picked apart Schall with leg kicks until he finally chopped him down like a tree and fight was ended.
Winner: Keith Jardine by TKO (leg kicks) R2 3:28
Welterweight Fight- Marcus Davis vs. Melvin Guillard
This should be a fun fight.
R1- Guillard charges about a minute in and hits several good punches and then takes Davis down. Melvin got in a couple of good shots and then grabbed a guillotine on Marcus. Davis pops his head out after about a minute and is now in Davis’s guard. Melvin gets another take down with about 30 seconds left in the round and gets side control. Melvin takes round one 10 to 9.
R2- Melvin got another take down (that’s three so far) about one minute into the round. Melvin opened up a big cut on Marcus and the ref stops the ref to check the cut. Melvin caught him with an elbow above the eye and the doctor stops the fight.
Winner: Melvin Guillard by Ref Stoppage (Cut) R2 2:55
Welterweight Fight- Josh Burkman vs. Sam Morgan
R1- Burkman gets a quick take down and immediately beats Morgan. Wow. Burkman took him down and then just nailed him with a couple of shots that knocked Morgan out. It looked like when Burkman drove him into the mat the impact might have knocked Morgan out.
Winner: Josh Burkman by TKO (strikes) R1 0:21
Welterweight Fight- Kenny Florian vs. Kit Cope
Kit Cope is a Muy Thai fighter.
R1- Florian immediately clinches with him. Good action early as they clinch and battle. Florian caught a right hand going in for a take down but managed to clinch with Cope. Florian struggled but finally got a take down. Florian mounted but was quickly moved by Cope to full guard. Cope got to his feet but got taken down again. Florian took a mount and got lots of punches in. Florian then grabbed an arm bar but the bell rang before Cope would give up. Cope tapped but it was after the bell.
R2- Florian gets a quick take down and takes Cope’s back and quickly put on Rear Naked Choke and Cope tapped out again. Florian looked great in this fight.
Winner: Kenny Florian by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 0:37
TUF Welterweight Finals Fight- Joe Stevenson vs. Luke Cuomo
Cuomo has a 5 inch height advantage and 4 inch reach advantage. When asked if the fighters have any questions Stevenson says “Luke I am your father.”
R1- Stevenson gets this fight to the ground within the first 30 seconds. Stevenson grabs an arm triangle but Luke gets out of it and moves Joe to full guard and then escaped back to his feet. Joe gets another take down half way through the round. Joe takes side control and lands some good elbows. Joe gets a bunch of elbows in on Luke and the fight was in danger of being stopped but Luke lasted until the bell range. Stevenson easily took round one.
R2- Luke hit a good clean right hand to start the round but Stevenson quickly recovered and good the take down. Stevenson went for an arm bar but Luke escaped. The exchanged some shots standing and then Luke got a take down but Joe grabbed Luke’s leg and moved to the top position. Joe hits some good elbows from the top. This was a close round and goes to Stevenson so he’s up 20-18. Good fight so far.
R3- Luke got in a punch to start the round and then Joe went for a take down but Luke reversed it on him. Luke’s conditioning is helping him out in this part of the fight. Luke got some shots in on Stevenson. Stevenson got up and quickly took down Luke. Luke went for a triangle but couldn’t get it. Joe went for a leg lock but abandoned it. They briefly got separated and Joe got in a slam to take Luke back down. This was a real good fight. I think Luke took round 3 but I’ve got Joe 29-28 for the fight.
Judges score the fight: 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28 in favor of Stevenson
TUF 2 Welterweight Winner: Joe Stevenson by Decision (Unanimous)
TUF Heavyweight Finals Fight- Rashad Evans vs. Brad Imes
Imes has a huge 8 inch height advantage and a huge 6 inch reach advantage. Look for Rashad to take him to the mat quickly.
R1- Brad hit a couple of jabs early and then grabbed a Muy Thai clinch and tried some knees. Rashad answered with a good right and Imes again grabbed a clinch. Brad got a take down a little over a minute into the fight but couldn’t do anything with it. Brad hit a good elbow and then a left hand. Rashad came back with 3 punches but Brad keeps coming at Rashad. Rashad hit two big right hands and Brad tried to clinch but Rashad kept firing and knocked Brad down. Rashad jumped on top to try and finish but Brad hung in there. Rashad passed the guard but Brad rolled over to his knees and got to his feet. Brad is cut from those punches. This was a good first round. Brad was winning until Rashad hit that series of punches that knocked Brad down and almost finished him. Rashad 10-9 after one round.
R2- Even start to the round. Rashad starts to get the distance on his jab. Brad comes up with some good shots and tied to finish Rashad but Rashad weathered the storm and never left his feet. Brad got Rashad up against the fence and swung at him a bunch of times but Rashad showed good head movement and ducked the onslaught. Rashad got off the fence and hit some jabs. Both guys are really winded with about a minute and a half to go in the round. Rashad stuck Brad with two right hands. Rashad hit another right but Brad came back at the end of the round with some shots. Really good round. I think Brad took this round but it was close. I’ve got 19-19 after two rounds. Good fight so far.
R3- Rashad connects with some shots early in the round. Rashad caught Brad leaning in and nailed him with a left hand that staggered and then dropped Brad. Rashad jumps on top for the finish but Brad tries to wrap him up. Brad gets to his feet and tries to get some shots in on Rashad. Brad clinches and then gets a take down and gets half guard. Rashad got back to his feet after some elbows. 90 seconds left in the round. Both guys are really tired. They swing at the end but both guys are too tired to do any damage. Really close round and really close fight. I’ve got Rashad with a close victory 29-28. Good fight.
Judges score the fight- 29-28 Rashad, 29-28 Imes and 29-28 Rashad.
TUF 2 Heavyweight Winner: Rashad Evans by Decision (Split)
Welterweight Fight- Diego Sanchez vs. Nick Diaz
They meet heads during the meeting at the beginning of the fight and John McCarthy pushes Diaz back to his corner. Looks like a lot of bad blood is brewing between these two guys.
R1- Diego quickly takes Nick’s back. Diaz spins around and Diego is in his guard but Diaz is very active. Diego lands some pretty decent shots but Diaz remains pretty active which is making him hard to hit. Nick reverses and gets Diego in side control but Diego quickly reverses back. Diego is surprisingly controlling Diaz on the ground. Diego looked really good in this round. Sanchez 10-9 in the first round.
R2- Diaz slips really early but luckily it doesn’t hurt him. Diego gets a quick take down within the first 30 seconds of the round. Diego picks Nick up and slams him down and then gets some shots in on Nick. Diego moved Nick up against the cage and got some good Ground and Pound in on him. Diaz reversed a mount and got in Diego’s guard but Diego got out of it before the end of the round. Diaz has a cut near his eye. Diego got another take down at the end of the round. Sanchez is up 20-18 after two rounds.
R3- Diaz starts out the round with a left hand and a jab. Nick is doing a good job at the start of the round avoiding take downs and hitting jabs but Diego gets a take down within the first minute of the round. Diego is bleeding and it’s dripping onto Diaz as Diego is in his guard. They got back to their feet but Diego quickly took Nick’s back. Diaz looks like he’s bleeding now. There is a good amount of blood flowing and it’s tough to see exactly who it is coming from. Diaz gets a take down with about two and a half minutes left. Both guys look to be cut badly. Diaz is on top but Diego grabs an arm bar. Diaz frees himself from the move. Diego slips out and they roll around a little bit and Diego ends up in Nick’s guard. This was a close round, probably went to Diaz. I’ve got Sanchez winning 29-28. Really good fight.
Judges score the fight 30-27 in favor of Sanchez.
Winner: Diego Sanchez by Decision (Unanimous)
This was a very enjoyable show with some good fights- Sanchez/Diaz, Imes/Evans, Stevenson/Cuomo and it also had some good performances from Florian, Jardine and Guillard.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
UFC Wired 11/30/08 Re-Cap
UFC Wired 11/30/08
Lightweight Fight- Melvin Guillard (37-6-3) vs. Rick Davis (3-0-1)- UFC 60- 5/27/06
Davis’s nickname is “The Flying Squirrel.” This is Davis’s first UFC fight. Melvin was on season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter. Davis is 13 years older than Guillard. This was Guillard’s first fight as a lightweight- dropping down from welterweight.
R1- Davis seems like a pretty unorthodox fighter. Guillard grabs an early clinch and lands some knees. Guillard is showing some good quick hands so far and connected on one good shot and then landed some knees. Guillard then hit a highlight reel right hand that knocked Davis right out. Tremendous punch. Guillard looked real good in this fight.
Winner: Melvin Guillard by KO R1 1:37
Welterweight Fight- Karo Parisyan (22-3) vs. Nick Thompson (22-8)- UFC 59- 4/15/06
Thompson has a 2 inch height advantage and a 3 inch reach advantage. Parisyan’s first two losses were to Sean Sherk, Thompson’s training partner.
R1- Karo immediately went for a knockout punch but missed so instead he took Thompson down to the mat. Karo mainly stayed in guard and half guard trying to look for an opening. He briefly got caught in a leg lock but quickly got out. Karo hit some strikes and then got turned over by Thompson. They went back to their feet and Karo got another take down. Karo is basically taking this fight where he wants to in terms of controlling the cage. Karo took side control and then moved to the mount position. Karo drew blood with some good strikes and Karo took his back and kept delivering shots and the ref stopped the fight when Thompson tapped out.
Winner: Karo Parisyan by TKO (strikes) R1 4:44
Middleweight Fight- Chris Leben (16-2) vs. Jason MacDonald (18-7)- UFC 66- 12/30/06
The Crippler versus The Athlete. MacDonald is a jiu jitsu fighter and Leben is a stand up fighter. MacDonald has a 4 inch height advantage and 4 and a half inch reach advantage.
R1- Leben immediately caught MacDonald’s leg kick and it almost seems like MacDonald pulls guard. Leben gets back to his feet and hits a couple of shots but MacDonald definitely wants to keep this on the ground. They clinched against the cage but the ref broke them up and re-started. MacDonald keeps going for the take down but isn’t getting it so far. MacDonald clinches Leben against the cage again but Leben escapes. Leben gets in a couple of shots with about a minute left in the round. Both guys exchange shots and then MacDonald goes for another take down. This was a tough round to score. MacDonald controlled more of the round but never really got in any offense. Leben 10-9.
R2- Leben catches a MacDonald kick and takes him down. Almost a repeat of the beginning of the first round. Leben moves to side control but can’t accomplish anything and they stand back up and MacDonald clinches Leben against the cage but it’s broken up again. They exchanged shots and then MacDonald finally got a take down and quickly moved to half guard. MacDonald went for a guillotine and Leben passed out in the move. Nice finish by MacDonald. He had to struggle to get the position that he wanted but when he finally got it he finished the fight.
Winner: Jason MacDonald by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R2 4:03
Lightweight Fight- Spencer Fisher (18-2) vs. Matt Wiman (6-2)- UFC 60- 5/27/06
This is Matt Wiman’s UFC debut. His nickname is “Handsome.”
R1- Wiman worked hard and finally got a take down after working for it for about a minute. Wiman got some punches and then clamped in a guillotine on Spencer. Wiman lost it and took full mount and Spencer quickly gave up his back. Wiman went for a Rear Naked Choke but Spencer blocked. Spencer spun out and got back to his feet. Both guys hit some punches and then Fisher hit a knee and took Wiman’s guard. Fisher ended up opening a good cut on Wiman’s forehead at the end of the round and then gave him a nice push after the bell rung. I’ve got Wiman 10-9 but Spencer did a good job recovering and coming back at the end of this round and setting himself up for round two.
R2- The exchanged a couple of strikes to open the round. Wiman went for a take down but Fisher got it instead and landed a couple of shots. Fisher stands up and hits some knees and punches and then hits a flying knee to take out Wiman. Great finish by Fisher. Good fight.
Winner: Spencer Fisher by KO (Flying Knee Strike) R2 1:43
Lightweight Fight- Melvin Guillard (37-6-3) vs. Rick Davis (3-0-1)- UFC 60- 5/27/06
Davis’s nickname is “The Flying Squirrel.” This is Davis’s first UFC fight. Melvin was on season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter. Davis is 13 years older than Guillard. This was Guillard’s first fight as a lightweight- dropping down from welterweight.
R1- Davis seems like a pretty unorthodox fighter. Guillard grabs an early clinch and lands some knees. Guillard is showing some good quick hands so far and connected on one good shot and then landed some knees. Guillard then hit a highlight reel right hand that knocked Davis right out. Tremendous punch. Guillard looked real good in this fight.
Winner: Melvin Guillard by KO R1 1:37
Welterweight Fight- Karo Parisyan (22-3) vs. Nick Thompson (22-8)- UFC 59- 4/15/06
Thompson has a 2 inch height advantage and a 3 inch reach advantage. Parisyan’s first two losses were to Sean Sherk, Thompson’s training partner.
R1- Karo immediately went for a knockout punch but missed so instead he took Thompson down to the mat. Karo mainly stayed in guard and half guard trying to look for an opening. He briefly got caught in a leg lock but quickly got out. Karo hit some strikes and then got turned over by Thompson. They went back to their feet and Karo got another take down. Karo is basically taking this fight where he wants to in terms of controlling the cage. Karo took side control and then moved to the mount position. Karo drew blood with some good strikes and Karo took his back and kept delivering shots and the ref stopped the fight when Thompson tapped out.
Winner: Karo Parisyan by TKO (strikes) R1 4:44
Middleweight Fight- Chris Leben (16-2) vs. Jason MacDonald (18-7)- UFC 66- 12/30/06
The Crippler versus The Athlete. MacDonald is a jiu jitsu fighter and Leben is a stand up fighter. MacDonald has a 4 inch height advantage and 4 and a half inch reach advantage.
R1- Leben immediately caught MacDonald’s leg kick and it almost seems like MacDonald pulls guard. Leben gets back to his feet and hits a couple of shots but MacDonald definitely wants to keep this on the ground. They clinched against the cage but the ref broke them up and re-started. MacDonald keeps going for the take down but isn’t getting it so far. MacDonald clinches Leben against the cage again but Leben escapes. Leben gets in a couple of shots with about a minute left in the round. Both guys exchange shots and then MacDonald goes for another take down. This was a tough round to score. MacDonald controlled more of the round but never really got in any offense. Leben 10-9.
R2- Leben catches a MacDonald kick and takes him down. Almost a repeat of the beginning of the first round. Leben moves to side control but can’t accomplish anything and they stand back up and MacDonald clinches Leben against the cage but it’s broken up again. They exchanged shots and then MacDonald finally got a take down and quickly moved to half guard. MacDonald went for a guillotine and Leben passed out in the move. Nice finish by MacDonald. He had to struggle to get the position that he wanted but when he finally got it he finished the fight.
Winner: Jason MacDonald by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R2 4:03
Lightweight Fight- Spencer Fisher (18-2) vs. Matt Wiman (6-2)- UFC 60- 5/27/06
This is Matt Wiman’s UFC debut. His nickname is “Handsome.”
R1- Wiman worked hard and finally got a take down after working for it for about a minute. Wiman got some punches and then clamped in a guillotine on Spencer. Wiman lost it and took full mount and Spencer quickly gave up his back. Wiman went for a Rear Naked Choke but Spencer blocked. Spencer spun out and got back to his feet. Both guys hit some punches and then Fisher hit a knee and took Wiman’s guard. Fisher ended up opening a good cut on Wiman’s forehead at the end of the round and then gave him a nice push after the bell rung. I’ve got Wiman 10-9 but Spencer did a good job recovering and coming back at the end of this round and setting himself up for round two.
R2- The exchanged a couple of strikes to open the round. Wiman went for a take down but Fisher got it instead and landed a couple of shots. Fisher stands up and hits some knees and punches and then hits a flying knee to take out Wiman. Great finish by Fisher. Good fight.
Winner: Spencer Fisher by KO (Flying Knee Strike) R2 1:43
Strikeforce on NBC 11/30 Show Re-Cap
Strikeforce on NBC 11/30 Show Re-Cap
This weeks show features a compilation of the 10 best knockouts of the season.
10. Cung Le vs Mike Altman- This was Cung Le’s MMA debut. Le hit a spinning back kick to knock Altman up against the cage and then popped him in the chin with a right hook for the KO. Cung Le did a back flip after the win.
9. Frank Shamrock vs Cesar Gracie- This was just 21 seconds into the fight and Frank nailed him with a right and then hit some Ground and Pound and the ref stopped it as Gracie’s corner threw in the white towel.
8. Luke Stewart vs Bryson Kamaka- Stewart hit a couple of knees. One to the chest and one to the forehead and this one was over. This one only lasted 19 seconds.
7. Joe Riggs vs. Eugene Jackson- Riggs hit some Ground and Pound on Jackson and then postured up and nailed Jackson with several punches from the half guard position and Jacksons lights went out.
6. Kazuo Misaki vs. Joe Riggs- Riggs got a shot that floored Misaki and Misaki answered and knocked Riggs down and then got a Ground and Pound victory. Not really a good “knockout.”
5. Duane Ludwig vs. Tony Fryklund- Ludwig just nailed Fryklund with some Ground and Pound and then when they stood up he delivered a tough left hand that knocked him out.
4. Terry Martin vs. Cory Devela- Devela was winning this fight but walked in to a Martin left that floored him and then Martin hit him with a right on the ground to finish him off.
3. Paul Buentello vs. Tank Abbott- Buentello hit him with a big right hand and Tank fell over like a tree being chopped.
2. Paul Buentello vs. Carter Williams- Buentello hit several uppercuts coming out to start a round and this one was over.
1. Cung Le vs. Brian Warren- Le hit several punches and Warren stumbled and then Le knocked him out with a good right hand. The funny thing is that this was about 30 seconds after Warren mocking Cung Le.
This weeks show features a compilation of the 10 best knockouts of the season.
10. Cung Le vs Mike Altman- This was Cung Le’s MMA debut. Le hit a spinning back kick to knock Altman up against the cage and then popped him in the chin with a right hook for the KO. Cung Le did a back flip after the win.
9. Frank Shamrock vs Cesar Gracie- This was just 21 seconds into the fight and Frank nailed him with a right and then hit some Ground and Pound and the ref stopped it as Gracie’s corner threw in the white towel.
8. Luke Stewart vs Bryson Kamaka- Stewart hit a couple of knees. One to the chest and one to the forehead and this one was over. This one only lasted 19 seconds.
7. Joe Riggs vs. Eugene Jackson- Riggs hit some Ground and Pound on Jackson and then postured up and nailed Jackson with several punches from the half guard position and Jacksons lights went out.
6. Kazuo Misaki vs. Joe Riggs- Riggs got a shot that floored Misaki and Misaki answered and knocked Riggs down and then got a Ground and Pound victory. Not really a good “knockout.”
5. Duane Ludwig vs. Tony Fryklund- Ludwig just nailed Fryklund with some Ground and Pound and then when they stood up he delivered a tough left hand that knocked him out.
4. Terry Martin vs. Cory Devela- Devela was winning this fight but walked in to a Martin left that floored him and then Martin hit him with a right on the ground to finish him off.
3. Paul Buentello vs. Tank Abbott- Buentello hit him with a big right hand and Tank fell over like a tree being chopped.
2. Paul Buentello vs. Carter Williams- Buentello hit several uppercuts coming out to start a round and this one was over.
1. Cung Le vs. Brian Warren- Le hit several punches and Warren stumbled and then Le knocked him out with a good right hand. The funny thing is that this was about 30 seconds after Warren mocking Cung Le.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Strikeforce on NBC 11/9 Show Re-Cap
Strikeforce on NBC 11/9 Show Re-Cap
Strikeforce has been back with some new shows recently and this show will focus on Frank Shamrock.
Frank Shamrock vs. Cesar Gracie
This is Cesar Gracie’s first MMA fight and he is 40 years old.
R1- Frank lands a big right about 30 seconds into the fight then gets some Ground and Pound and this one is over. You can see a white towel flying from Gracie’s corner as Frank is on top of him.
Winner: Frank Shamrock by TKO (strikes) R1
Strikeforce Middleweight Fight- Frank Shamrock © vs. Phil Baroni
This is actually one of the first fights that I saw when I started to get into MMA.
R1- Shamrock landed a big combo around one minute into the fight and Baroni went down. Mazzagatti takes a point away from Shamrock after a punch to the back of the head on the mat. Baroni came back and got some Ground and Pound but looked like he really gassed. Frank got him up against the cage and looked like he was kind of toying with Baroni. Baroni gets a take down with about 30 seconds left and rests the round out. Shamrock 10-9.
R2- Baroni comes out and gets in a couple of shots. The first half of the round was pretty even. Sharmrock lands a couple of shots against the cage and Baroni tries to dive in to stop the onslaught but Frank stuffs him and goes for a choke. Frank gets the choke in and Baroni doesn’t tap out but goes limp and the ref stops the fight.
Winner and still champ: Frank Shamrock by TKO (Rear Naked Choke) R2
Strikeforce has been back with some new shows recently and this show will focus on Frank Shamrock.
Frank Shamrock vs. Cesar Gracie
This is Cesar Gracie’s first MMA fight and he is 40 years old.
R1- Frank lands a big right about 30 seconds into the fight then gets some Ground and Pound and this one is over. You can see a white towel flying from Gracie’s corner as Frank is on top of him.
Winner: Frank Shamrock by TKO (strikes) R1
Strikeforce Middleweight Fight- Frank Shamrock © vs. Phil Baroni
This is actually one of the first fights that I saw when I started to get into MMA.
R1- Shamrock landed a big combo around one minute into the fight and Baroni went down. Mazzagatti takes a point away from Shamrock after a punch to the back of the head on the mat. Baroni came back and got some Ground and Pound but looked like he really gassed. Frank got him up against the cage and looked like he was kind of toying with Baroni. Baroni gets a take down with about 30 seconds left and rests the round out. Shamrock 10-9.
R2- Baroni comes out and gets in a couple of shots. The first half of the round was pretty even. Sharmrock lands a couple of shots against the cage and Baroni tries to dive in to stop the onslaught but Frank stuffs him and goes for a choke. Frank gets the choke in and Baroni doesn’t tap out but goes limp and the ref stops the fight.
Winner and still champ: Frank Shamrock by TKO (Rear Naked Choke) R2
Strikeforce "Destruction" 11/21/08 Re-Cap
Strikeforce "Destruction" Re-Cap
This show is from San Jose. The main fights will be a Strikeforce Light Heavyweight fight where Bobby Southworth defends against Renato "Babalu" Sobral and then Scott Smith fights Terry Martin in the Main Event. Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten are the announcers as usual. Jimmy Lennon Jr is the ring announcer.
Middleweight Fight- Nik Theotikos (5-1) vs. Luke Rockhold (2-1)
5 of Nik's first 6 fights have ended in the first round. He is 2-0 in Strikeforce fights. Luke comes out to a Metallica song. He's from San Jose. Luke has never been past the first round in a fight. Looks like this one will be a quick one.
R1- Nik quickly grabs Luke in a guillotine and seems to have it in really tight. Luke gets out and is in Nik's guard. Rockholt gets in a lot of strikes while in Nik's guard. Rockholt takes Nik's guard and wins via Rear Naked Choke. Good win by Luke as he had to escape an early submission and then dominated after that point.
Winner: Luke Rockhold by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1
Gina Carano is interviewed after the fight.
Welterweight Fight- Joe Riggs (28-10) vs. Luke Stewart (6-1)
Riggs is 10-10 since losing to Matt Hughes. Riggs is a 3-1 favorite in this fight. Big John McCarthy is the ref for this fight (he had previously retired but has now returned).
R1- Stewart gets a quick take down but they quickly stood back up. Stewart is controlling the pace of the fight and got Riggs back on the mat at the three minute mark of the round. Not a lot of damage done in the first round but it goes to Stewart as he controlled the fight. Stewart landed 10 strikes in round one to Riggs one strike and Stewart got 2 take downs to zero of Riggs. Stewart has a bunch of hotties in the crowd cheering for him.
R2- Riggs takes Stewart's guard early in the round and is laying in some punches. Riggs is landing some good shots now and Stewart dives at Riggs legs to try and hold on but McCarthy stops the fight.
Winner: Joe Riggs by TKO (strikes) R2 2:05
Woman's Fight- Kim Couture (0-1) vs. Lina Kvokov (0-1)
This is Couture's second professional fight. Both of these women are 0-1 so basically the only reason this fight is on the show tonight is due to Kim's last name. Randy and Gina Carano are both in Kim's corner for the fight.
R1- They come out throwing punches. Kvokov with horrible defense. Kim is pulling her hair and punching her and Kvokov is basically just in this fight to be a punching bag. They have a split screen on Randy for the first minute of the fight. The ref stops the fight a couple of minutes into it. Kvokov just didn't look like she belonged in the ring or wanted to be there.
"The first thing you should do is keep your eye on your opponent. That way you can see the punches coming."- Bas Rutten
Winner: Kim Couture by TKO (strikes) R1 1:44
Josh Thomson was originally going to fight but he injured his toe. So Duane Ludwig is stepping in to take his place.
Lightweight Fight- Duane Ludwig (17-8) vs. Yves Edwards (34-14-1)
Edwards was last seen getting demolished at the hands of KJ Noons. Ludwig defeated Sammy Morgan in his last fight. Josh Thomson joins Bas and Kenny to help announce the fight. Mike Brown (WEC Featherweight Champ) is in the corner of Edwards for the fight.
R1- Yves gets a quick take down. Yves looks like he's bleeding even though he hasn't been hit with a punch yet. Not a lot of action but Yves basically stays on top of Ludwig for the entire first round. Yves 10-9 in round one.
R2- Edwards got a take down but Ludwig got right up. Yves got another take down about one and a half minutes into the round. Ludwig gets back to his feet and slams Edwards to the mat but Edwards gets back up and takes Ludwig down again.
R3- Ludwig fought off Yves and got a take down about a minute and a half into the round. I've got it 20-18 Yves so Ludwig needs to finish. Not a very exciting fight, kind of disappointing. I've got Yves 29-28 for the decision win.
The judges score cards say: 29-28 in favor of Duane Ludwig for all judges. surprising. Duane did out strike Yves. I'm just very surprised that it was "unanimous".
Winner: Duane Ludwig by Decision (Unanimous)
Light Heavyweight Title Fight- Bobby Southworth (c) (9-5) vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral (30-7)
Southworth's strategy in every fight I've ever seen him in is to simply grab his opponent and lean on them for 5 rounds. Babalu has won 13 of his last 15 fights.
R1- Southworth gets a quick take down and lays on Babalu. Babalu gets up and they clinch against the cage. Three and a half minutes gone in the fight and little to no action so far. Babalu hits an elbow and Southworth's nose is busted open. McCarthy pauses the fight to take a look at the cut. The announcers are surprised that the fight is continuing. Southworth pushes Babalu to the ground and jumps on top as the bell rings to end the fight.I think you have to give this round to Babalu due to damage inflicted on Southworth.
During the intermission they stop the fight due to the cut (it was actually over his eye) and give Babalu the TKO victory.
Winner and new champion: Babalu Sobral TKO (cut) R1 5:00
Middleweight Fight- Terry Martin (18-5) vs. Scott Smith (13-5)
Cung Le joins Bas and Kenny to call the fight.
R1- Scott Smith hit a big shot early in the round and Terry Martin got KO'd. Quick work by Scott Smith. That was a big time KO. Smith hit him on the temple as he leaned in and Martin just fell where he was standing.
Winner: Scott Smith by KO R1 0:24
This show is from San Jose. The main fights will be a Strikeforce Light Heavyweight fight where Bobby Southworth defends against Renato "Babalu" Sobral and then Scott Smith fights Terry Martin in the Main Event. Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten are the announcers as usual. Jimmy Lennon Jr is the ring announcer.
Middleweight Fight- Nik Theotikos (5-1) vs. Luke Rockhold (2-1)
5 of Nik's first 6 fights have ended in the first round. He is 2-0 in Strikeforce fights. Luke comes out to a Metallica song. He's from San Jose. Luke has never been past the first round in a fight. Looks like this one will be a quick one.
R1- Nik quickly grabs Luke in a guillotine and seems to have it in really tight. Luke gets out and is in Nik's guard. Rockholt gets in a lot of strikes while in Nik's guard. Rockholt takes Nik's guard and wins via Rear Naked Choke. Good win by Luke as he had to escape an early submission and then dominated after that point.
Winner: Luke Rockhold by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1
Gina Carano is interviewed after the fight.
Welterweight Fight- Joe Riggs (28-10) vs. Luke Stewart (6-1)
Riggs is 10-10 since losing to Matt Hughes. Riggs is a 3-1 favorite in this fight. Big John McCarthy is the ref for this fight (he had previously retired but has now returned).
R1- Stewart gets a quick take down but they quickly stood back up. Stewart is controlling the pace of the fight and got Riggs back on the mat at the three minute mark of the round. Not a lot of damage done in the first round but it goes to Stewart as he controlled the fight. Stewart landed 10 strikes in round one to Riggs one strike and Stewart got 2 take downs to zero of Riggs. Stewart has a bunch of hotties in the crowd cheering for him.
R2- Riggs takes Stewart's guard early in the round and is laying in some punches. Riggs is landing some good shots now and Stewart dives at Riggs legs to try and hold on but McCarthy stops the fight.
Winner: Joe Riggs by TKO (strikes) R2 2:05
Woman's Fight- Kim Couture (0-1) vs. Lina Kvokov (0-1)
This is Couture's second professional fight. Both of these women are 0-1 so basically the only reason this fight is on the show tonight is due to Kim's last name. Randy and Gina Carano are both in Kim's corner for the fight.
R1- They come out throwing punches. Kvokov with horrible defense. Kim is pulling her hair and punching her and Kvokov is basically just in this fight to be a punching bag. They have a split screen on Randy for the first minute of the fight. The ref stops the fight a couple of minutes into it. Kvokov just didn't look like she belonged in the ring or wanted to be there.
"The first thing you should do is keep your eye on your opponent. That way you can see the punches coming."- Bas Rutten
Winner: Kim Couture by TKO (strikes) R1 1:44
Josh Thomson was originally going to fight but he injured his toe. So Duane Ludwig is stepping in to take his place.
Lightweight Fight- Duane Ludwig (17-8) vs. Yves Edwards (34-14-1)
Edwards was last seen getting demolished at the hands of KJ Noons. Ludwig defeated Sammy Morgan in his last fight. Josh Thomson joins Bas and Kenny to help announce the fight. Mike Brown (WEC Featherweight Champ) is in the corner of Edwards for the fight.
R1- Yves gets a quick take down. Yves looks like he's bleeding even though he hasn't been hit with a punch yet. Not a lot of action but Yves basically stays on top of Ludwig for the entire first round. Yves 10-9 in round one.
R2- Edwards got a take down but Ludwig got right up. Yves got another take down about one and a half minutes into the round. Ludwig gets back to his feet and slams Edwards to the mat but Edwards gets back up and takes Ludwig down again.
R3- Ludwig fought off Yves and got a take down about a minute and a half into the round. I've got it 20-18 Yves so Ludwig needs to finish. Not a very exciting fight, kind of disappointing. I've got Yves 29-28 for the decision win.
The judges score cards say: 29-28 in favor of Duane Ludwig for all judges. surprising. Duane did out strike Yves. I'm just very surprised that it was "unanimous".
Winner: Duane Ludwig by Decision (Unanimous)
Light Heavyweight Title Fight- Bobby Southworth (c) (9-5) vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral (30-7)
Southworth's strategy in every fight I've ever seen him in is to simply grab his opponent and lean on them for 5 rounds. Babalu has won 13 of his last 15 fights.
R1- Southworth gets a quick take down and lays on Babalu. Babalu gets up and they clinch against the cage. Three and a half minutes gone in the fight and little to no action so far. Babalu hits an elbow and Southworth's nose is busted open. McCarthy pauses the fight to take a look at the cut. The announcers are surprised that the fight is continuing. Southworth pushes Babalu to the ground and jumps on top as the bell rings to end the fight.I think you have to give this round to Babalu due to damage inflicted on Southworth.
During the intermission they stop the fight due to the cut (it was actually over his eye) and give Babalu the TKO victory.
Winner and new champion: Babalu Sobral TKO (cut) R1 5:00
Middleweight Fight- Terry Martin (18-5) vs. Scott Smith (13-5)
Cung Le joins Bas and Kenny to call the fight.
R1- Scott Smith hit a big shot early in the round and Terry Martin got KO'd. Quick work by Scott Smith. That was a big time KO. Smith hit him on the temple as he leaned in and Martin just fell where he was standing.
Winner: Scott Smith by KO R1 0:24
WEC 36: "Faber vs Brown" 11/5/08
WEC 36: Faber vs. Brown- 11/5/08
This looks like a real good show with Faber/Brown, Filho/Sonnen, Garcia/Pulver and Rosholt and Cerrone on the show. Paulo Filho failed to make weight so this will not be a title fight. Kind of a weird situation where the champ didn’t make weight.
Middleweight Fight- Jake Rosholt (4-0) vs. Nissen Osterneck (5-0)
Rosholt was one of the fighters showcased on the last season of Tapout and he looked very impressive in his fight on that show if my memory serves correct. This is the WEC debut of both fighters and they are both undefeated so far in their professional careers.
R1- Nissen charges early and hit some punches but Jake recovers and slams Nissen to the mat and takes side control. Rosholt threw some punches but then almost got caught in an arm bar and Nissen got back to his feet and delivered some more punches to Rosholt. Nissen is landing some good punches and shots. Rosholt got another take down and again landed some good punches. Rosholt hit a bunch of punches towards the end of the round but Nissen held on as Rosholt attempted a choke at the end of the round. Very good first round. Rosholt owned the fight when it was on the ground and Nissen controlled when it was on the feet. Rosholt 10-9 in my book as he controlled more of the round.
R2- Rosholt went for a take down early but Nissen grabbed a kimura and took the advantage. Jake escaped and took half guard. They got back to their feet and Nissen hit a bunch of good solid shots. Then he went for a spinning back fist and missed and Rosholt took him down and mounted him. Great chin by Rosholt. Rosholt finished him as Nissen just burnt himself out and then Rosholt took advantage.
Really good fight and good showing by Rosholt as he controlled when on the ground and took a bunch of shots. Rosholt showed a really good shin and good conditioning. Rosholt needs a lot of work on his stand up- specifically his defense.
Winner: Jake Rosholt by TKO (Strikes) R2 3:48
Hermes Franca, Miguel Torres, Jamie Varner and Carlos Conduit are all at the show tonight in attendance.
Featherweight Fight- Leonard Garcia (15-3) vs. Jens Pulver (22-9-1)
On paper this looks like the most exciting fight of the night. Jens gets a good response from the fans.
R1- Jens hits a couple of shots early. Garcia answers about a minute into the round and rocks Pulver against the cage. Jens is down and Garcia is nailing him and Garcia gets a quick victory. Very impressive showing for Garcia and it looks like he steps right up in line to face the winner of Faber/Brown.
Winner: Leonard Garcia by TKO (Strikes) R1 1:12
Middleweight Fight- David Avellan (2-0) vs. Aaron Simpson (3-0)
Both of these guys are undefeated.
R1- Aaron Simpson just levels Avellan with a fantastic right hand and knocked Avellan out right at the beginning of the fight. That was a highlight reel knockout.
Winner: Aaron Simpson by KO R1 0:18
NON-TITLE- Middleweight Fight- Paulo Filho (16-0) vs. Chael Sonnen (22-9-1)
Filho is one of the top ranked Middleweight fighters in the world being ranked as high as #2 behind Anderson Silva in some of the rankings. Filho did not make weight. Sonnen gets a good response from the fans. Filho gets a round of boos upon his introduction.
R1- Filho grabs a single leg and fights hard for a take down but Sonnen does a good job of denying. Filho slips going for a punch but stays on his back seeing if Sonnen wants to come down and fight him on the ground. Filho pretty much spends the whole round on his back trying to catch Sonnen with a submission. Round One is slow paced and Sonnen is up 10-9.
R2- Filho missed on a single leg and Sonnen got a take down about one minute into the round but then quickly gave up his position. Sonnen gave Filho a good leg kick when he tried to shoot. Sonnen got a slam in when Filho tried to pull guard. Filho started to get in some offense towards the end of the round but right now it’s Sonnen 20-18.
R3- This is Sonnen’s fight to lose. Sonnen using the jab to keep Filho away. Filho looking like he doesn’t even want to be in the cage tonight. What a boring fight. Filho is just doing and trying to do nothing.
Sonnen is going to win this dud of a fight 30-27. Filho definitely didn’t live up to his hype. Not really looking forward to the re-match for the title either.
All three judges score the fight 30-27
Winner: Chael Sonnen by Decision (Unanimous)
WEC Featherweight Title Fight- Urijah Faber (21-1) © vs. Mike Brown (19-4)
Brown is from Florida so he gets a good reaction from the crowd.
R1- Faber lands some punches early. Brown muscled Faber against the cage and tried for a take down but Faber caught him in a clinch and delivered a big knee. Faber hit a jab and then Brown took Faber down and Faber popped right back up. Faber went for an elbow but got caught with a good clean punch from Brown and knocked down. Brown is just nailing Faber on the ground and this one is in danger of being stopped and the ref stops the fight. Wow. Really good, short fight. Would like to see a re-match as Faber got caught in a weird position and would be very interested to see if Brown can do it again.
Winner and new WEC Featherweight Champion: Mike Brown by TKO (strikes) R1 2:23
Overall, this was a pretty decent show that had only 1 stinker. Leonard Garcia and Mike Brown came up as the biggest winners tonight. They might face each other down the road very shortly.
This looks like a real good show with Faber/Brown, Filho/Sonnen, Garcia/Pulver and Rosholt and Cerrone on the show. Paulo Filho failed to make weight so this will not be a title fight. Kind of a weird situation where the champ didn’t make weight.
Middleweight Fight- Jake Rosholt (4-0) vs. Nissen Osterneck (5-0)
Rosholt was one of the fighters showcased on the last season of Tapout and he looked very impressive in his fight on that show if my memory serves correct. This is the WEC debut of both fighters and they are both undefeated so far in their professional careers.
R1- Nissen charges early and hit some punches but Jake recovers and slams Nissen to the mat and takes side control. Rosholt threw some punches but then almost got caught in an arm bar and Nissen got back to his feet and delivered some more punches to Rosholt. Nissen is landing some good punches and shots. Rosholt got another take down and again landed some good punches. Rosholt hit a bunch of punches towards the end of the round but Nissen held on as Rosholt attempted a choke at the end of the round. Very good first round. Rosholt owned the fight when it was on the ground and Nissen controlled when it was on the feet. Rosholt 10-9 in my book as he controlled more of the round.
R2- Rosholt went for a take down early but Nissen grabbed a kimura and took the advantage. Jake escaped and took half guard. They got back to their feet and Nissen hit a bunch of good solid shots. Then he went for a spinning back fist and missed and Rosholt took him down and mounted him. Great chin by Rosholt. Rosholt finished him as Nissen just burnt himself out and then Rosholt took advantage.
Really good fight and good showing by Rosholt as he controlled when on the ground and took a bunch of shots. Rosholt showed a really good shin and good conditioning. Rosholt needs a lot of work on his stand up- specifically his defense.
Winner: Jake Rosholt by TKO (Strikes) R2 3:48
Hermes Franca, Miguel Torres, Jamie Varner and Carlos Conduit are all at the show tonight in attendance.
Featherweight Fight- Leonard Garcia (15-3) vs. Jens Pulver (22-9-1)
On paper this looks like the most exciting fight of the night. Jens gets a good response from the fans.
R1- Jens hits a couple of shots early. Garcia answers about a minute into the round and rocks Pulver against the cage. Jens is down and Garcia is nailing him and Garcia gets a quick victory. Very impressive showing for Garcia and it looks like he steps right up in line to face the winner of Faber/Brown.
Winner: Leonard Garcia by TKO (Strikes) R1 1:12
Middleweight Fight- David Avellan (2-0) vs. Aaron Simpson (3-0)
Both of these guys are undefeated.
R1- Aaron Simpson just levels Avellan with a fantastic right hand and knocked Avellan out right at the beginning of the fight. That was a highlight reel knockout.
Winner: Aaron Simpson by KO R1 0:18
NON-TITLE- Middleweight Fight- Paulo Filho (16-0) vs. Chael Sonnen (22-9-1)
Filho is one of the top ranked Middleweight fighters in the world being ranked as high as #2 behind Anderson Silva in some of the rankings. Filho did not make weight. Sonnen gets a good response from the fans. Filho gets a round of boos upon his introduction.
R1- Filho grabs a single leg and fights hard for a take down but Sonnen does a good job of denying. Filho slips going for a punch but stays on his back seeing if Sonnen wants to come down and fight him on the ground. Filho pretty much spends the whole round on his back trying to catch Sonnen with a submission. Round One is slow paced and Sonnen is up 10-9.
R2- Filho missed on a single leg and Sonnen got a take down about one minute into the round but then quickly gave up his position. Sonnen gave Filho a good leg kick when he tried to shoot. Sonnen got a slam in when Filho tried to pull guard. Filho started to get in some offense towards the end of the round but right now it’s Sonnen 20-18.
R3- This is Sonnen’s fight to lose. Sonnen using the jab to keep Filho away. Filho looking like he doesn’t even want to be in the cage tonight. What a boring fight. Filho is just doing and trying to do nothing.
Sonnen is going to win this dud of a fight 30-27. Filho definitely didn’t live up to his hype. Not really looking forward to the re-match for the title either.
All three judges score the fight 30-27
Winner: Chael Sonnen by Decision (Unanimous)
WEC Featherweight Title Fight- Urijah Faber (21-1) © vs. Mike Brown (19-4)
Brown is from Florida so he gets a good reaction from the crowd.
R1- Faber lands some punches early. Brown muscled Faber against the cage and tried for a take down but Faber caught him in a clinch and delivered a big knee. Faber hit a jab and then Brown took Faber down and Faber popped right back up. Faber went for an elbow but got caught with a good clean punch from Brown and knocked down. Brown is just nailing Faber on the ground and this one is in danger of being stopped and the ref stops the fight. Wow. Really good, short fight. Would like to see a re-match as Faber got caught in a weird position and would be very interested to see if Brown can do it again.
Winner and new WEC Featherweight Champion: Mike Brown by TKO (strikes) R1 2:23
Overall, this was a pretty decent show that had only 1 stinker. Leonard Garcia and Mike Brown came up as the biggest winners tonight. They might face each other down the road very shortly.
WEC 35 8/3/08 Re-Cap
WEC: 8/3/08
Three title fights tonight. Let’s see if this show can live up to the “Faber vs. Pulver” card from June.
Bantamweight Fight- Damacio Page (10-3) vs. Brian Bowles (5-0)
Page was one of the TapouT fighters from the TV show last year if my memory serves me correctly. Bowles is from Georgia, so he’s a hometown boy for me.
R1- Both guys come out ready to fight. Page misses a flying kick and Bowles jumps on top. Mistake by Page and Bowles is in his full guard. Bowles grabs a guillotine against the cage. Page slips out of it and flips Bowles over in one motion and is now in Bowles guard and hits a couple of elbows. Page lets him up after not being able to improve his position. Both guys swinging and Page sticks his tongue out at Bowles after Bowles hits him with a combination. Bowles shoots in but Page stuffs him and picks him up but Bowles clamps on a guillotine while being elevated by Page. Page can’t get him off and taps to the guillotine. Quick and unexpected finish by Bowles. Very solid opening fight as it was only one round but was a good, exciting fight.
Winner: Brian Bowles by Submission (Guillotine)
Rashad Evans, Miguel Torres, Cain Velasquez, and Urijah Faber are all shown in attendance for the event.
Lightweight Title Fight- Jamie Varner (14-2) © vs. Marcus Hicks (8-0)
R1- They clinch early and Varner went for a knee and Hicks took him down but Varner quickly got back to his feet. Hicks powered him back to the ground and then hooked in a guillotine but Varner got out of it. Hicks slams Varner but Varner again quickly got up. Hicks is controlling the fight early. Varner went for a high kick and Hicks blocked it and shook is head no. Varner then hit a mid kick and got in what looked to be some nice knees but Hicks held on. Varner gets in a couple of shots and Hicks looks a bit wobbled. Varner is getting nailed with shots now and leaving himself open. Varner is laying it on him but Hicks is somehow keeping his composure and defending himself and trying to get back to his feet. Varner with more knees. Varner looks like he’s punching himself out. He might have made a mistake by not actually jumping on top of Hicks and instead letting him get back to his feet. But just as I type that Varner nails Hicks with a straight punch and the ref calls it. Hicks was controlling but got caught with those two knees and after that it was all Varner. Hicks has a really good chin.
Winner and still champion: Jamie Varner by TKO (strikes)
So far so good as we’ve had two solid (if short) under card fights.
Welterweight Fight- Brock Larson (24-2) vs. Carlo Prater (23-6-1)
R1- Both guys start out tentative. Larson is jabbing about 5 feet away from Prater. Prater misses a kick. They stand off and Larson jumps at Prater and nails a big left hand and jumps on Prater and is throwing punches down on him and Mazzagatti stops the fight. Huge explosion from Larson and a big finish.
Winner: Brock Larson by TKO (strikes) R1
Next up they interview Urijah Faber at ringside. They talk about the Jens Pulver fight and the upcoming Mike Brown fight.
Light Heavyweight Title Fight- Brian Stann (6-0) © vs. Steve Cantwell (5-1)
Cantwell’s only loss came at the hands of Brian Stann.
R1- Decent start to the fight as both guys seem to want to keep the fight standing. First big strike is dealt by Cantwell at about a minute in a half as he dives in and gets some shots and a knee in on Stann and they throw down and Cantwell seems to be hitting on more shots. Cantwell goes in for a take down but Stann stuffs him and they clinch against the cage basically resting from their flurry. Cantwell comes in with a Superman punch which leads to both guys throwing down against the cage and then they clinch again. Cantwell has looked really good so far. Cantwell slips and lands on his back and Stann gets in between his legs and is landing some good punches on Cantwell. Cantwell gets back to his feet and they clinch. Good, exciting first round. Cantwell really controlled the round with the exception of slipping and Stann getting in some good punches at the end of the round. Cantwell 10-9 after one round.
R2- Stann hits a low kick early in the round and we will take a short break. Cantwell hits a good combo up against the cage and Stann clinches him. Cantwell has Stann up against the cage again and hits a flurry of good strikes. Stann looks real tired. Cantwell hits some more strikes and Stann staggers back against the cage. Stann somehow staying on his feet and finally gets taken out by a right hand.
Another good fight. So far we are 4 for 4 on entertaining fights on the show.
Winner and new champion: Steve Cantwell by TKO (strikes) R2 4:01
Featherweight Fight- Micah Miller (11-1) vs. Josh Grispi (11-1)
R1- Grispi hits a leg kick early as Miller was going for a punch and it takes Miller down off his feet. Grispi going after a lot of kicks early and hitting a good number of them. Grispi hits Miller with a big right hand and then jumps on him and hits some shots and Herb Dean stops the fight. Micah Miller jumps up pretty quickly kind of like the Werdum/Vera fight finish. Dean stopped the fight early but Miller was in a lot of trouble.
Winner: Josh Grispi by TKO (strikes) R1 0:50
Welterweight Title Fight- Carlos Condit (22-4) © vs. Hiromitsu Miura (9-4)
Condit comes out to Rage Against The Machine.
R1- Pretty even fight in the first couple of minutes. Condit gets Miura in the clinch but Miura gets a nice judo throw and is immediately in side control but Condit quickly gets up. Miura gets a nice trip but again Condit gets back up. So Miura with some real nifty take downs but other than surprising Condit it hasn’t really done much in terms of damage. Condit pops Miura with a big right hand. Condit hits a body kick and then faked a kick and hit a punch that looked like it missed but I guess it connected because Miura went straight to the ground and Condit jumped on top. Condit is hitting some elbows and punches on Miura. Condit is smothering Miura and grabs an arm bar but Miura gets out and then hits Condit with a judo throw. This was a good first round and could have gone either way depending on how the judges score the fight. Do they score it for Miura based on his take downs or for Condit based on the fact that he did more damage in round one. I go for damage so I’ve got Condit up 10-9 in a close round one.
R2- Condit hits a few strikes early and then basically throws Miura down. Condit jumps on top in full guard. Miura hits an up kick but Condit gets back to the ground and is in half guard now. Condit gets full mount and is hitting some elbows and punches. Miura gives up his back and Condit goes for an arm bar. Miura gets out and gets into Condit full guard with about a minute and a half left in the round. Miura basically rests and the ref stands them back up. Miura goes for a throw but misses and Condit takes his back. Miura is able to get him back to full guard as the round ends with Condit at advantage. Condit really controlled this round. I’ve got Condit 20-18 through two rounds.
R3- Miura comes after Condit in this round with a little more vigor but Condit takes his back and then gets a guillotine choke in. Condit releases the choke and now has full mount. Condit hitting with some punches and elbows. Miura flips Condit over and gets in some shots. Miura is landing some really good punches while in full mount. Miura is unloading on Condit but Condit takes the punishment and rises to his feet. Condit hits a big knee and both guys are really throwing right now. Condit hits a right hand and takes Miura down. Condit in full mount and laying in some punches and elbows. Miura gives up his back and Condit is trying for a Rear Naked Choke but he runs out of time. Really great round. Condit controlled early, Miura then had Condit in danger and then Condit saved the round by coming back and owning the last minute and a half or so of the fight. Condit is up 30-27 in my book. Rounds 1 and 3 have been close but I’ve got Condit taking them.
R4- Miura hits a big right hand and then lands another on Condit early in the round. Miura gets a take down but Condit reverses it and has taken some good shots from Miura and is now on top. Miura flips him over again. Miura hits some punches and Condit rolls through and goes after a knee bar but Miura slips out and is back in Condit’s guard. Both guys are winded at this point and the ref stands them up. Both guys are a little slow to their feet. Both guys are really throwing at each other almost like they are trying to end it in one punch. Condit sweeps Miura down and mounts him but isn’t doing much damage as he’s mostly resting. Miura flips him over again. Miura hits some punches in on Condit and is really laying it in on him. Condit barely holds on and locks him up. Miura lets Condit get up and as he’s getting up barely misses a punch and Condit lands a nice knee in retaliation. Condit is landing some punches and the ref stops the fight. Kind of a weird finish as Condit didn’t really have a dominate position to finish the fight but Miura was on his stomach and not really defending after getting rocked by that knee. Miura was winning this round before eating that big knee. He made a huge mistake in missing that one big punch as Condit was getting up and Condit made him pay.
Really great fight. Definitely a low end FOTY candidate.
Winner and still champion: Carlos Condit by TKO (strikes) R4 4:43
Really good show with a great Main Event to cap off the night. Another really good performance for
Three title fights tonight. Let’s see if this show can live up to the “Faber vs. Pulver” card from June.
Bantamweight Fight- Damacio Page (10-3) vs. Brian Bowles (5-0)
Page was one of the TapouT fighters from the TV show last year if my memory serves me correctly. Bowles is from Georgia, so he’s a hometown boy for me.
R1- Both guys come out ready to fight. Page misses a flying kick and Bowles jumps on top. Mistake by Page and Bowles is in his full guard. Bowles grabs a guillotine against the cage. Page slips out of it and flips Bowles over in one motion and is now in Bowles guard and hits a couple of elbows. Page lets him up after not being able to improve his position. Both guys swinging and Page sticks his tongue out at Bowles after Bowles hits him with a combination. Bowles shoots in but Page stuffs him and picks him up but Bowles clamps on a guillotine while being elevated by Page. Page can’t get him off and taps to the guillotine. Quick and unexpected finish by Bowles. Very solid opening fight as it was only one round but was a good, exciting fight.
Winner: Brian Bowles by Submission (Guillotine)
Rashad Evans, Miguel Torres, Cain Velasquez, and Urijah Faber are all shown in attendance for the event.
Lightweight Title Fight- Jamie Varner (14-2) © vs. Marcus Hicks (8-0)
R1- They clinch early and Varner went for a knee and Hicks took him down but Varner quickly got back to his feet. Hicks powered him back to the ground and then hooked in a guillotine but Varner got out of it. Hicks slams Varner but Varner again quickly got up. Hicks is controlling the fight early. Varner went for a high kick and Hicks blocked it and shook is head no. Varner then hit a mid kick and got in what looked to be some nice knees but Hicks held on. Varner gets in a couple of shots and Hicks looks a bit wobbled. Varner is getting nailed with shots now and leaving himself open. Varner is laying it on him but Hicks is somehow keeping his composure and defending himself and trying to get back to his feet. Varner with more knees. Varner looks like he’s punching himself out. He might have made a mistake by not actually jumping on top of Hicks and instead letting him get back to his feet. But just as I type that Varner nails Hicks with a straight punch and the ref calls it. Hicks was controlling but got caught with those two knees and after that it was all Varner. Hicks has a really good chin.
Winner and still champion: Jamie Varner by TKO (strikes)
So far so good as we’ve had two solid (if short) under card fights.
Welterweight Fight- Brock Larson (24-2) vs. Carlo Prater (23-6-1)
R1- Both guys start out tentative. Larson is jabbing about 5 feet away from Prater. Prater misses a kick. They stand off and Larson jumps at Prater and nails a big left hand and jumps on Prater and is throwing punches down on him and Mazzagatti stops the fight. Huge explosion from Larson and a big finish.
Winner: Brock Larson by TKO (strikes) R1
Next up they interview Urijah Faber at ringside. They talk about the Jens Pulver fight and the upcoming Mike Brown fight.
Light Heavyweight Title Fight- Brian Stann (6-0) © vs. Steve Cantwell (5-1)
Cantwell’s only loss came at the hands of Brian Stann.
R1- Decent start to the fight as both guys seem to want to keep the fight standing. First big strike is dealt by Cantwell at about a minute in a half as he dives in and gets some shots and a knee in on Stann and they throw down and Cantwell seems to be hitting on more shots. Cantwell goes in for a take down but Stann stuffs him and they clinch against the cage basically resting from their flurry. Cantwell comes in with a Superman punch which leads to both guys throwing down against the cage and then they clinch again. Cantwell has looked really good so far. Cantwell slips and lands on his back and Stann gets in between his legs and is landing some good punches on Cantwell. Cantwell gets back to his feet and they clinch. Good, exciting first round. Cantwell really controlled the round with the exception of slipping and Stann getting in some good punches at the end of the round. Cantwell 10-9 after one round.
R2- Stann hits a low kick early in the round and we will take a short break. Cantwell hits a good combo up against the cage and Stann clinches him. Cantwell has Stann up against the cage again and hits a flurry of good strikes. Stann looks real tired. Cantwell hits some more strikes and Stann staggers back against the cage. Stann somehow staying on his feet and finally gets taken out by a right hand.
Another good fight. So far we are 4 for 4 on entertaining fights on the show.
Winner and new champion: Steve Cantwell by TKO (strikes) R2 4:01
Featherweight Fight- Micah Miller (11-1) vs. Josh Grispi (11-1)
R1- Grispi hits a leg kick early as Miller was going for a punch and it takes Miller down off his feet. Grispi going after a lot of kicks early and hitting a good number of them. Grispi hits Miller with a big right hand and then jumps on him and hits some shots and Herb Dean stops the fight. Micah Miller jumps up pretty quickly kind of like the Werdum/Vera fight finish. Dean stopped the fight early but Miller was in a lot of trouble.
Winner: Josh Grispi by TKO (strikes) R1 0:50
Welterweight Title Fight- Carlos Condit (22-4) © vs. Hiromitsu Miura (9-4)
Condit comes out to Rage Against The Machine.
R1- Pretty even fight in the first couple of minutes. Condit gets Miura in the clinch but Miura gets a nice judo throw and is immediately in side control but Condit quickly gets up. Miura gets a nice trip but again Condit gets back up. So Miura with some real nifty take downs but other than surprising Condit it hasn’t really done much in terms of damage. Condit pops Miura with a big right hand. Condit hits a body kick and then faked a kick and hit a punch that looked like it missed but I guess it connected because Miura went straight to the ground and Condit jumped on top. Condit is hitting some elbows and punches on Miura. Condit is smothering Miura and grabs an arm bar but Miura gets out and then hits Condit with a judo throw. This was a good first round and could have gone either way depending on how the judges score the fight. Do they score it for Miura based on his take downs or for Condit based on the fact that he did more damage in round one. I go for damage so I’ve got Condit up 10-9 in a close round one.
R2- Condit hits a few strikes early and then basically throws Miura down. Condit jumps on top in full guard. Miura hits an up kick but Condit gets back to the ground and is in half guard now. Condit gets full mount and is hitting some elbows and punches. Miura gives up his back and Condit goes for an arm bar. Miura gets out and gets into Condit full guard with about a minute and a half left in the round. Miura basically rests and the ref stands them back up. Miura goes for a throw but misses and Condit takes his back. Miura is able to get him back to full guard as the round ends with Condit at advantage. Condit really controlled this round. I’ve got Condit 20-18 through two rounds.
R3- Miura comes after Condit in this round with a little more vigor but Condit takes his back and then gets a guillotine choke in. Condit releases the choke and now has full mount. Condit hitting with some punches and elbows. Miura flips Condit over and gets in some shots. Miura is landing some really good punches while in full mount. Miura is unloading on Condit but Condit takes the punishment and rises to his feet. Condit hits a big knee and both guys are really throwing right now. Condit hits a right hand and takes Miura down. Condit in full mount and laying in some punches and elbows. Miura gives up his back and Condit is trying for a Rear Naked Choke but he runs out of time. Really great round. Condit controlled early, Miura then had Condit in danger and then Condit saved the round by coming back and owning the last minute and a half or so of the fight. Condit is up 30-27 in my book. Rounds 1 and 3 have been close but I’ve got Condit taking them.
R4- Miura hits a big right hand and then lands another on Condit early in the round. Miura gets a take down but Condit reverses it and has taken some good shots from Miura and is now on top. Miura flips him over again. Miura hits some punches and Condit rolls through and goes after a knee bar but Miura slips out and is back in Condit’s guard. Both guys are winded at this point and the ref stands them up. Both guys are a little slow to their feet. Both guys are really throwing at each other almost like they are trying to end it in one punch. Condit sweeps Miura down and mounts him but isn’t doing much damage as he’s mostly resting. Miura flips him over again. Miura hits some punches in on Condit and is really laying it in on him. Condit barely holds on and locks him up. Miura lets Condit get up and as he’s getting up barely misses a punch and Condit lands a nice knee in retaliation. Condit is landing some punches and the ref stops the fight. Kind of a weird finish as Condit didn’t really have a dominate position to finish the fight but Miura was on his stomach and not really defending after getting rocked by that knee. Miura was winning this round before eating that big knee. He made a huge mistake in missing that one big punch as Condit was getting up and Condit made him pay.
Really great fight. Definitely a low end FOTY candidate.
Winner and still champion: Carlos Condit by TKO (strikes) R4 4:43
Really good show with a great Main Event to cap off the night. Another really good performance for
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Episode 10 Re-Cap
The Ultimate Fighter 8- Episode 10 Re-Cap
Team Noguiera vs. Team Mir
This is the show that will have John Polakowski versus George Roop, which is the last of the Lightweight Fights of the second round.
Roop injures his hand during training. Part of the show focuses in on Roop trying to overcome his injury and get his hand healed.
Polakowski is upset because someone messed with his Lucky Charms! It’s on now!!!!! No one messes with his Lucky Charms!
Big Nog shows up to the house the day before the fight and jokes around with the guys.
Lightweight Fight- George Roop vs. John Polakowski
R1- Roop has a big reach advantage and is throw a bunch of high kicks early. Roop gets a take down about a minute and a half into the round and gets some elbows landed. Roop takes John’s back but John turns over and takes Roop’s guard. Good first round that was pretty even. I think Roop took this 10-9 but John came back to get back in the round at the end.
R2- John pushes the pace at the beginning of the round as Roop looks a little tired. Roop got a take down about two minutes into the round. Roop busted John open with an elbow and then tried to take his back again. I’ve got Roop taking this round as well so I’ve got him up 20-18 on my score card.
Winner: George Roop by Decision (Unanimous)
Post-fight back at the house some of the guys throw eggs down at Team Mir at the pool and Junie goes off.
Semi-Final fight selections are up next and they bring the fighters in and ask them who they want to fight.
Here are the selections:
Ryan Bader vs. Eliot Marshall
Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Vinny Magalhaes
Phillipe Nover vs. George Roop
Efrain Escudero vs. Junie Browning
I think well get Bader and Nover definitely winning their fights and then the other two fights should be really solid.
Light Heavyweight Rankings:
1. Krzysztof Soszynski
2. Ryan Bader
3. Vinny Magalhaes
4. Eliot Marshall
Lightweight Rankings:
1. Phillipe Nover
2. Efrain Escudero
3. Junie Browning
4. George Roop
Eliminations:
Tom Lawlor (ranked #2 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Two)
Shane Nelson (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Two)
Shane Primm (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Eliot Marshall (Round Two)
Roli Delgado (ranked #7 LW) eliminated by Junie Browning (Round Two)
Jules Brunchez (ranked #3 LH) eliminated by Vinny Magalhaes (Round Two)
Dave Kaplan (ranked #1 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Two)
Kyle Kingsbury (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Krzysztof Soszynski (Round Two)
John Polakowski (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by George Roop (Round Two)
Team Noguiera vs. Team Mir
This is the show that will have John Polakowski versus George Roop, which is the last of the Lightweight Fights of the second round.
Roop injures his hand during training. Part of the show focuses in on Roop trying to overcome his injury and get his hand healed.
Polakowski is upset because someone messed with his Lucky Charms! It’s on now!!!!! No one messes with his Lucky Charms!
Big Nog shows up to the house the day before the fight and jokes around with the guys.
Lightweight Fight- George Roop vs. John Polakowski
R1- Roop has a big reach advantage and is throw a bunch of high kicks early. Roop gets a take down about a minute and a half into the round and gets some elbows landed. Roop takes John’s back but John turns over and takes Roop’s guard. Good first round that was pretty even. I think Roop took this 10-9 but John came back to get back in the round at the end.
R2- John pushes the pace at the beginning of the round as Roop looks a little tired. Roop got a take down about two minutes into the round. Roop busted John open with an elbow and then tried to take his back again. I’ve got Roop taking this round as well so I’ve got him up 20-18 on my score card.
Winner: George Roop by Decision (Unanimous)
Post-fight back at the house some of the guys throw eggs down at Team Mir at the pool and Junie goes off.
Semi-Final fight selections are up next and they bring the fighters in and ask them who they want to fight.
Here are the selections:
Ryan Bader vs. Eliot Marshall
Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Vinny Magalhaes
Phillipe Nover vs. George Roop
Efrain Escudero vs. Junie Browning
I think well get Bader and Nover definitely winning their fights and then the other two fights should be really solid.
Light Heavyweight Rankings:
1. Krzysztof Soszynski
2. Ryan Bader
3. Vinny Magalhaes
4. Eliot Marshall
Lightweight Rankings:
1. Phillipe Nover
2. Efrain Escudero
3. Junie Browning
4. George Roop
Eliminations:
Tom Lawlor (ranked #2 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Two)
Shane Nelson (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Two)
Shane Primm (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Eliot Marshall (Round Two)
Roli Delgado (ranked #7 LW) eliminated by Junie Browning (Round Two)
Jules Brunchez (ranked #3 LH) eliminated by Vinny Magalhaes (Round Two)
Dave Kaplan (ranked #1 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Two)
Kyle Kingsbury (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Krzysztof Soszynski (Round Two)
John Polakowski (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by George Roop (Round Two)
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Episode 9 Re-Cap
The Ultimate Fighter 8- Episode 9 Re-Cap
Team Noguiera vs. Team Mir
Krzysztof Soszynski faces Kyle Kingsbury this week in the last Light Heavyweight fight before the semi-finals. Krzysztof has an injured hand and this is the focal point of the first segment of the show. Dave Kaplan gets drunk and eggs someone on to hit him and he gets knocked out.
The guys decide to get Krzysztof back and prank him since he pranks the fighters each week when they fight. Krzysztof can’t help himself and pranks the team back.
Dan Henderson comes to help Mir train his guys. Henderson says he came down due to Krzysztof.
This week is the Coach’s Challenge. The sport they are playing is soccer. Big Nog wins. Mir is just awful at soccer.
Mir says that Krzysztof is the best striker in the house and is head and shoulders above everybody else in this aspect.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Kyle Kingsbury
R1- Kyle gets an early warning for throwing low knees. Krzysztof lands some decent punches. Kyle got a take down about two and a half minutes into the round after a long clinch- this might have actually been Krzysztof pulling guard. Krzysztof went for the arm bar and finishes the fight. Krzysztof looking pretty good and didn’t really take any damage from Kingsbury during the fight.
Winner: Krzysztof Soszynski by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
Looks like we’ve got George Roop versus John Polakowski in the last lightweight fight of the second round next week.
Light Heavyweight Rankings:
1. Krzysztof Soszynski
2. Ryan Bader
3. Vinny Magalhaes
4. Eliot Marshall
Lightweight Rankings:
1. Phillipe Nover
2. Efrain Escudero
3. Junie Browning
4. George Roop
5. John Polakowski
Eliminations:
Tom Lawlor (ranked #2 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Two)
Shane Nelson (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Two)
Shane Primm (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Eliot Marshall (Round Two)
Roli Delgado (ranked #7 LW) eliminated by Junie Browning (Round Two)
Jules Brunchez (ranked #3 LH) eliminated by Vinny Magalhaes (Round Two)
Dave Kaplan (ranked #1 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Two)
Kyle Kingsbury (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Krzysztof Soszynski (Round Two)
Team Noguiera vs. Team Mir
Krzysztof Soszynski faces Kyle Kingsbury this week in the last Light Heavyweight fight before the semi-finals. Krzysztof has an injured hand and this is the focal point of the first segment of the show. Dave Kaplan gets drunk and eggs someone on to hit him and he gets knocked out.
The guys decide to get Krzysztof back and prank him since he pranks the fighters each week when they fight. Krzysztof can’t help himself and pranks the team back.
Dan Henderson comes to help Mir train his guys. Henderson says he came down due to Krzysztof.
This week is the Coach’s Challenge. The sport they are playing is soccer. Big Nog wins. Mir is just awful at soccer.
Mir says that Krzysztof is the best striker in the house and is head and shoulders above everybody else in this aspect.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Kyle Kingsbury
R1- Kyle gets an early warning for throwing low knees. Krzysztof lands some decent punches. Kyle got a take down about two and a half minutes into the round after a long clinch- this might have actually been Krzysztof pulling guard. Krzysztof went for the arm bar and finishes the fight. Krzysztof looking pretty good and didn’t really take any damage from Kingsbury during the fight.
Winner: Krzysztof Soszynski by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
Looks like we’ve got George Roop versus John Polakowski in the last lightweight fight of the second round next week.
Light Heavyweight Rankings:
1. Krzysztof Soszynski
2. Ryan Bader
3. Vinny Magalhaes
4. Eliot Marshall
Lightweight Rankings:
1. Phillipe Nover
2. Efrain Escudero
3. Junie Browning
4. George Roop
5. John Polakowski
Eliminations:
Tom Lawlor (ranked #2 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Two)
Shane Nelson (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Two)
Shane Primm (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Eliot Marshall (Round Two)
Roli Delgado (ranked #7 LW) eliminated by Junie Browning (Round Two)
Jules Brunchez (ranked #3 LH) eliminated by Vinny Magalhaes (Round Two)
Dave Kaplan (ranked #1 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Two)
Kyle Kingsbury (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Krzysztof Soszynski (Round Two)
The Ultimate Fighter 8 Episode 8 Re-Cap
The Ultimate Fighter 8- Episode 8 Re-Cap
Team Noguiera vs. Team Mir
Team Nog had been eating Tom Lawlor’s fruit tray every day (I thought he was eliminated). So Lawler decides to get back at them by pissing in his own fruit tray.
Light Heavyweight fight is selected by Frank Mir and he choices Dave Kaplan to take on Phillip Nover. Should be a good fight as I have these guys as the top 2 based on my limited exposure to them.
Team Nog comes home and starts snacking on the pee filled fruit platter and they are eating it! Wow.
“The fruit tasted completely normal. In fact, it may have tasted better than normal”- Kyle Kingsbury
Dave Kaplan was a division 1 wrestler and has a background in Tai Boxing.
Now, somebody is eating Phillipe Nover’s sushi and they plan to add a very special surprise to Nover’s sushi and whoever is eating it. They add some sperm to the sushi. Wow, this is getting rough. Dave Kaplan eats it! Kaplan tells them that they will have his fecal matter on them within 3 days.
Junie gets pissed off during practice and is upset because no one wants to train with him.
Lightweight Fight- Dave Kaplan vs. Phillipe Nover
Nover has a huge 8” reach advantage in this fight. He also has a 3” height advantage.
R1- Nover lands some really good shots early and Kaplan crumples to the ground and Nover jumps on top but Kaplan defends well. Phillipe hits some shots and then rolls over to a Rear Naked Choke and destroys Kaplan in short order. Very impressive victory for Nover and he just became the odds on favorite to win the Lightweight Division of this seasons Ultimate Fighter. Dana White compares Nover to GSP.
Winner: Phillipe Nover by Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
Krzysztof Soszynski faces Kyle Kingsbury next week in the last Light Heavyweight fight before the semi-finals.
Light Heavyweight Rankings:
1. Krzysztof Soszynski
2. Ryan Bader
3. Vinny Magalhaes
4. Eliot Marshall
5. Kyle Kingsbury
Lightweight Rankings:
1. Phillipe Nover
2. Efrain Escudero
3. Junie Browning
4. George Roop
5. John Polakowski
Eliminations:
Tom Lawlor (ranked #2 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Two)
Shane Nelson (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Two)
Shane Primm (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Eliot Marshall (Round Two)
Roli Delgado (ranked #7 LW) eliminated by Junie Browning (Round Two)
Jules Brunchez (ranked #3 LH) eliminated by Vinny Magalhaes (Round Two)
Dave Kaplan (ranked #1 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Two)
Team Noguiera vs. Team Mir
Team Nog had been eating Tom Lawlor’s fruit tray every day (I thought he was eliminated). So Lawler decides to get back at them by pissing in his own fruit tray.
Light Heavyweight fight is selected by Frank Mir and he choices Dave Kaplan to take on Phillip Nover. Should be a good fight as I have these guys as the top 2 based on my limited exposure to them.
Team Nog comes home and starts snacking on the pee filled fruit platter and they are eating it! Wow.
“The fruit tasted completely normal. In fact, it may have tasted better than normal”- Kyle Kingsbury
Dave Kaplan was a division 1 wrestler and has a background in Tai Boxing.
Now, somebody is eating Phillipe Nover’s sushi and they plan to add a very special surprise to Nover’s sushi and whoever is eating it. They add some sperm to the sushi. Wow, this is getting rough. Dave Kaplan eats it! Kaplan tells them that they will have his fecal matter on them within 3 days.
Junie gets pissed off during practice and is upset because no one wants to train with him.
Lightweight Fight- Dave Kaplan vs. Phillipe Nover
Nover has a huge 8” reach advantage in this fight. He also has a 3” height advantage.
R1- Nover lands some really good shots early and Kaplan crumples to the ground and Nover jumps on top but Kaplan defends well. Phillipe hits some shots and then rolls over to a Rear Naked Choke and destroys Kaplan in short order. Very impressive victory for Nover and he just became the odds on favorite to win the Lightweight Division of this seasons Ultimate Fighter. Dana White compares Nover to GSP.
Winner: Phillipe Nover by Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
Krzysztof Soszynski faces Kyle Kingsbury next week in the last Light Heavyweight fight before the semi-finals.
Light Heavyweight Rankings:
1. Krzysztof Soszynski
2. Ryan Bader
3. Vinny Magalhaes
4. Eliot Marshall
5. Kyle Kingsbury
Lightweight Rankings:
1. Phillipe Nover
2. Efrain Escudero
3. Junie Browning
4. George Roop
5. John Polakowski
Eliminations:
Tom Lawlor (ranked #2 LH) eliminated by Ryan Bader (Round Two)
Shane Nelson (ranked #5 LW) eliminated by Efrain Escudero (Round Two)
Shane Primm (ranked #5 LH) eliminated by Eliot Marshall (Round Two)
Roli Delgado (ranked #7 LW) eliminated by Junie Browning (Round Two)
Jules Brunchez (ranked #3 LH) eliminated by Vinny Magalhaes (Round Two)
Dave Kaplan (ranked #1 LW) eliminated by Phillipe Nover (Round Two)
Monday, November 17, 2008
UFC 91 "Couture vs Lesnar" Re-Cap
UFC 91: Couture vs Lesnar
Kenny Florian vs Joe Stevenson and Brock Lesnar versus Randy Couture headline this show. These are two fights that I am really looking forward to watching.
Middleweight Fight- Nate Quarry (16-2) vs. Demian Maia (9-0)
Maia is a jiu-jitsu fighter. Maia's last fight was a victory over Jason MacDonald by submission in the third round back at UFC 87. Nate Quarry was last seen humbling and chasing Khalib Starnes at UFC 83. This should be a good fight. If Maia wins this then he could really step up towards the top of the UFC Middleweights. Quarry gets a good pop from the crowd.
R1- Maia immediately went to the mat and tried to pull guard and then got on top of Quarry. Maia takes Quarry's back about one minutes into the fight. He has him in a triangle and is looking for a choke. Maia clamped it on and Quarry tapped. Dominate performance by Maia.
Winner: Demian Maia by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 2:13
Heavyweight Fight- Gabriel Gonzaga (9-3) vs. Josh Hendricks (18-4)
This is the debut of Hendricks. He's been training with Randy Couture for a couple of weeks helping Couture prepare for Lesnar. Gonzaga has a 20 lb weight advantage and a 2 inch reach advantage.
R1- They start off with some dirty boxing. Gonzaga hits with some knees and then just pops Hendricks with a big punch and Hendricks hits the mat like a ton of bricks. Gonzaga hits him with another punch and the ref doesn't step in so Gonzaga hits him again and the fight is stopped. Gonzaga looked great in this fight.
Winner: Gabriel Gonzaga by TKO (Strikes) R1 1:01
GSP is at the fight tonight, as is BJ Penn.
Welterweight Fight- Matt Brown vs. Ryan Thomas
They jump right into this fight so it looks like it's a pre-show fight. Matt Brown took this fight on short notice.
R1- Matt Brown goes right after him and hit a couple of shots. Thomas recovered and got a take down and took side control fairly quickly. Thomas landing a lot of punches. Brown gets back to his feet. Matt Brown grabs an arm bar and then tries to move it to a triangle but Thomas slides to side control again. Brown grabbed a guillotine but couldn't finish and then went for a triangle right at the buzzer. Good first round. Thomas got in more punches but Brown got more near submission attempts.
R2- Brown clamped in an arm bar attempt early in the round and eventually turned Thomas over and got him to tap. Good fight and good showing by Brown.
Winner: Matt Brown by Submission (Arm Bar) R2 0:57
Tamdan McCrory (11-1) vs. Dustin Hazelett (13-4)
McCrory beat Luke Cuomo at UFC 87 by unanimous decision. Hazlett fell to Josh Koshcheck at UFC 82 and a victory against Josh Burkman. Hazelett comes out to some CCR. McCrory has a 3 inch height advantage.
R1- McCrory swings for the fences early and hit with some shots. Hazelett pushed McCrory down with a front kick and then missed a flying knee. Hazelett pushes forward and hits some nice strikes. McCrory comes back with some strikes of his own. They go to the ground and Hazelett ties McCrory up like a pretzel and eventually get the tap. Good fight.
Winner: Dustin Hazelett by Submission (Arm Bar) R1 3:59
Anderson Silva is at the show.
Lightweight Fight- Jeremy Stephens vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
This is another pre-show fight.
R1- Dos Anjos took Stephens down in this round and controlled the majority of the round. He got a near submission towards the end of the round but Stephens held on.
R2- Stephens looked better in the second round. Dos Anjos has had opportunities to finish the fight but he just hasn't been able to get it done yet.
R3- Jeremy Stephens just explodes at the beginning of this round and destroys Dos Anjos. He just nailed him with an uppercut that rocked Dos Anjos. After that shot it was just a couple of shots on the ground and this one was over. Great punch.
Winner: Jeremy Stephens by KO R3 0:39
Wanderlei Silva is in the house tonight. Lots of big guns here to watch Couture/Lesnar.
Joe Rogan interviews 50 Cent during the break. 50 Cent seems to think that Brock is going to win the fight tonight.
Lightweight Fight- Kenny Florian (12-3) vs. Joe Stevenson (34-8)
This is potential fight of the night. But then again I thought that with Florian/Huerta and that one was pretty much a stinker. Stevenson just got his BJJ black belt. Florian has a 3 inch height advantage and a 4 inch reach advantage.
R1- Florian gets some strikes in early but Stevenson stalks him down against the cage. Stevenson went for a slam but Florian grabbed onto the cage to avoid the slam but still got taken down. Florian quickly sprawled back up to avoid damage. Florian got a take down and took half guard. Florian mounted and began to ground and pound on Stevenson and then Stevenson turned over and Florian took his back. Stevenson went to stand up and Florian got a Rear Naked Choke and tapped him out. Fantastic finish by Florian. Good fight.
Winner: Kenny Florian by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 4:03
Post-fight Florian says he wants BJ's belt.
UFC Heavyweight Title Fight- Randy Couture © (16-8) vs. Brock Lesnar (2-1)
Brock comes out to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. Lesnar has a huge 45 pound weight advantage and a 6 inch reach advantage. Lesnar has a 81 inch reach. Lesnar is the heel in this fight as he got a round of boos when he was introduced. Couture got a heroes welcome. Big "Randy" chant by the crowd right before the round starts.
R1- They clinched almost immediately. Crowd chants "Randy". Not much in the first minute and a half. Brock landed some knees and Randy got in a good punch when they clinch was broken. Lesnar dove in and went for a take down. Brock finishes the take down with a slam and Randy grabs half guard but Brock slips out and Randy slips out the back also and reverses position and tries to take Brocks back but Brock dumped him back on the ground and took half guard again. Lesnar lands some good punches in half guard. Couture gets back to his feet with about 45 seconds left in the round. Good first round. Brock controlled most of the action so I'll give him the round 10-9. Couture hung in there and kept away from getting a lot of damage.
R2- Lesnar stuck Randy with an elbow about 15 seconds into the round and he looked a little stunned. Brock rushed in but Randy clinched him against the cage. Brock hit a knee and Randy responded with a punch cutting Brock under the eye. Brock caught Randy with a knee as they broke clinch and then hit him with a couple of punches and he went down and Lesnar just nailed Randy with hammer punches and then the ref stopped the fight. Great finish by Lesnar. Ref probably could have let the fight go on a little longer but it's tough to call something like that.
Winner and new champion: Brock Lesnar R2 3:07
Lightweight Fight- Jorge Gurgel vs. Aaron Riley
Another undercard fight
R1- Good even first round. Gurgel started to come on towards the end of the round. Gurgel didn't try to take down Riley at all.
R2- Riley definitely took this round as he dominated until about the last 30 seconds when Gurgel took Riley down.
R3- Riley opened up about a minute into this round with a great combo that almost finished Gurgel. Good fight. Aaron Riley is going to win this one via decision.
Judges score cards say: 29-28 in favor of Aaron Riley on all 3 judges score cards.
Winner: Aaron Riley by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Fight- Alvin Robinson vs. Mark Bocek
Under card fight.
R1- Bocek gets a take down early into the fight. Robinson reversed the position after about a minute and a half and then Bocek took the advantage right back. Bocek lands some good elbows from the half guard position. Bocek clamped on a submission at the end of the round but Robinson lasted. Bocek takes this round 10-9.
R2- Bocek gets a quick take down and gets side control. Bocek got a guillotine in on Robinson. Bocek then took his back and looked for a Rear Naked Choke. Robinson fought back and got on top of Bockek with about 30 seconds left but Bocek moved him back over onto his back. Bocek up 20-18 so far and has dominated on the ground.
R3- Bocek slammed Robinson without 30 seconds of the round starting. Bocek got in some good Ground and Pound about half way through the round and then got a Rear Naked Choke and tapped out Robinson. Great showing by Bocek.
Winner: Mark Bocek by Rear Naked Choke R3 3:16
Just a great show from UFC. Definitely the best show UFC has put on this year. Brock/Randy was a good fight. Florian/Stevenson delivered a good one round fight. Maia and Gonzaga looked great in victory. Jeremy Stephens got a highlight reel knockout. Brown/Thomas, Hazelett/McCrory, Bocek/Robinson and Riley/Gurgel were all decent to good fights. Not a bad fight on the show and we got 4 under card fights.
Kenny Florian vs Joe Stevenson and Brock Lesnar versus Randy Couture headline this show. These are two fights that I am really looking forward to watching.
Middleweight Fight- Nate Quarry (16-2) vs. Demian Maia (9-0)
Maia is a jiu-jitsu fighter. Maia's last fight was a victory over Jason MacDonald by submission in the third round back at UFC 87. Nate Quarry was last seen humbling and chasing Khalib Starnes at UFC 83. This should be a good fight. If Maia wins this then he could really step up towards the top of the UFC Middleweights. Quarry gets a good pop from the crowd.
R1- Maia immediately went to the mat and tried to pull guard and then got on top of Quarry. Maia takes Quarry's back about one minutes into the fight. He has him in a triangle and is looking for a choke. Maia clamped it on and Quarry tapped. Dominate performance by Maia.
Winner: Demian Maia by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 2:13
Heavyweight Fight- Gabriel Gonzaga (9-3) vs. Josh Hendricks (18-4)
This is the debut of Hendricks. He's been training with Randy Couture for a couple of weeks helping Couture prepare for Lesnar. Gonzaga has a 20 lb weight advantage and a 2 inch reach advantage.
R1- They start off with some dirty boxing. Gonzaga hits with some knees and then just pops Hendricks with a big punch and Hendricks hits the mat like a ton of bricks. Gonzaga hits him with another punch and the ref doesn't step in so Gonzaga hits him again and the fight is stopped. Gonzaga looked great in this fight.
Winner: Gabriel Gonzaga by TKO (Strikes) R1 1:01
GSP is at the fight tonight, as is BJ Penn.
Welterweight Fight- Matt Brown vs. Ryan Thomas
They jump right into this fight so it looks like it's a pre-show fight. Matt Brown took this fight on short notice.
R1- Matt Brown goes right after him and hit a couple of shots. Thomas recovered and got a take down and took side control fairly quickly. Thomas landing a lot of punches. Brown gets back to his feet. Matt Brown grabs an arm bar and then tries to move it to a triangle but Thomas slides to side control again. Brown grabbed a guillotine but couldn't finish and then went for a triangle right at the buzzer. Good first round. Thomas got in more punches but Brown got more near submission attempts.
R2- Brown clamped in an arm bar attempt early in the round and eventually turned Thomas over and got him to tap. Good fight and good showing by Brown.
Winner: Matt Brown by Submission (Arm Bar) R2 0:57
Tamdan McCrory (11-1) vs. Dustin Hazelett (13-4)
McCrory beat Luke Cuomo at UFC 87 by unanimous decision. Hazlett fell to Josh Koshcheck at UFC 82 and a victory against Josh Burkman. Hazelett comes out to some CCR. McCrory has a 3 inch height advantage.
R1- McCrory swings for the fences early and hit with some shots. Hazelett pushed McCrory down with a front kick and then missed a flying knee. Hazelett pushes forward and hits some nice strikes. McCrory comes back with some strikes of his own. They go to the ground and Hazelett ties McCrory up like a pretzel and eventually get the tap. Good fight.
Winner: Dustin Hazelett by Submission (Arm Bar) R1 3:59
Anderson Silva is at the show.
Lightweight Fight- Jeremy Stephens vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
This is another pre-show fight.
R1- Dos Anjos took Stephens down in this round and controlled the majority of the round. He got a near submission towards the end of the round but Stephens held on.
R2- Stephens looked better in the second round. Dos Anjos has had opportunities to finish the fight but he just hasn't been able to get it done yet.
R3- Jeremy Stephens just explodes at the beginning of this round and destroys Dos Anjos. He just nailed him with an uppercut that rocked Dos Anjos. After that shot it was just a couple of shots on the ground and this one was over. Great punch.
Winner: Jeremy Stephens by KO R3 0:39
Wanderlei Silva is in the house tonight. Lots of big guns here to watch Couture/Lesnar.
Joe Rogan interviews 50 Cent during the break. 50 Cent seems to think that Brock is going to win the fight tonight.
Lightweight Fight- Kenny Florian (12-3) vs. Joe Stevenson (34-8)
This is potential fight of the night. But then again I thought that with Florian/Huerta and that one was pretty much a stinker. Stevenson just got his BJJ black belt. Florian has a 3 inch height advantage and a 4 inch reach advantage.
R1- Florian gets some strikes in early but Stevenson stalks him down against the cage. Stevenson went for a slam but Florian grabbed onto the cage to avoid the slam but still got taken down. Florian quickly sprawled back up to avoid damage. Florian got a take down and took half guard. Florian mounted and began to ground and pound on Stevenson and then Stevenson turned over and Florian took his back. Stevenson went to stand up and Florian got a Rear Naked Choke and tapped him out. Fantastic finish by Florian. Good fight.
Winner: Kenny Florian by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 4:03
Post-fight Florian says he wants BJ's belt.
UFC Heavyweight Title Fight- Randy Couture © (16-8) vs. Brock Lesnar (2-1)
Brock comes out to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. Lesnar has a huge 45 pound weight advantage and a 6 inch reach advantage. Lesnar has a 81 inch reach. Lesnar is the heel in this fight as he got a round of boos when he was introduced. Couture got a heroes welcome. Big "Randy" chant by the crowd right before the round starts.
R1- They clinched almost immediately. Crowd chants "Randy". Not much in the first minute and a half. Brock landed some knees and Randy got in a good punch when they clinch was broken. Lesnar dove in and went for a take down. Brock finishes the take down with a slam and Randy grabs half guard but Brock slips out and Randy slips out the back also and reverses position and tries to take Brocks back but Brock dumped him back on the ground and took half guard again. Lesnar lands some good punches in half guard. Couture gets back to his feet with about 45 seconds left in the round. Good first round. Brock controlled most of the action so I'll give him the round 10-9. Couture hung in there and kept away from getting a lot of damage.
R2- Lesnar stuck Randy with an elbow about 15 seconds into the round and he looked a little stunned. Brock rushed in but Randy clinched him against the cage. Brock hit a knee and Randy responded with a punch cutting Brock under the eye. Brock caught Randy with a knee as they broke clinch and then hit him with a couple of punches and he went down and Lesnar just nailed Randy with hammer punches and then the ref stopped the fight. Great finish by Lesnar. Ref probably could have let the fight go on a little longer but it's tough to call something like that.
Winner and new champion: Brock Lesnar R2 3:07
Lightweight Fight- Jorge Gurgel vs. Aaron Riley
Another undercard fight
R1- Good even first round. Gurgel started to come on towards the end of the round. Gurgel didn't try to take down Riley at all.
R2- Riley definitely took this round as he dominated until about the last 30 seconds when Gurgel took Riley down.
R3- Riley opened up about a minute into this round with a great combo that almost finished Gurgel. Good fight. Aaron Riley is going to win this one via decision.
Judges score cards say: 29-28 in favor of Aaron Riley on all 3 judges score cards.
Winner: Aaron Riley by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Fight- Alvin Robinson vs. Mark Bocek
Under card fight.
R1- Bocek gets a take down early into the fight. Robinson reversed the position after about a minute and a half and then Bocek took the advantage right back. Bocek lands some good elbows from the half guard position. Bocek clamped on a submission at the end of the round but Robinson lasted. Bocek takes this round 10-9.
R2- Bocek gets a quick take down and gets side control. Bocek got a guillotine in on Robinson. Bocek then took his back and looked for a Rear Naked Choke. Robinson fought back and got on top of Bockek with about 30 seconds left but Bocek moved him back over onto his back. Bocek up 20-18 so far and has dominated on the ground.
R3- Bocek slammed Robinson without 30 seconds of the round starting. Bocek got in some good Ground and Pound about half way through the round and then got a Rear Naked Choke and tapped out Robinson. Great showing by Bocek.
Winner: Mark Bocek by Rear Naked Choke R3 3:16
Just a great show from UFC. Definitely the best show UFC has put on this year. Brock/Randy was a good fight. Florian/Stevenson delivered a good one round fight. Maia and Gonzaga looked great in victory. Jeremy Stephens got a highlight reel knockout. Brown/Thomas, Hazelett/McCrory, Bocek/Robinson and Riley/Gurgel were all decent to good fights. Not a bad fight on the show and we got 4 under card fights.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
UFC 88 "Breakthrough" Re-Cap
UFC 88 "Breakthrough"
Welterweight Fight- Dong Hyun Kim (10-0-1) vs. Matt Brown (10-6)
Matt Brown comes out to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band. Dong Hyun Kim counters with "Higher Ground" by the Chilli Peppers.
R1- They clinched early and Kim took him down and then took his back but Brown stood him up. Kim grabbed a choke while on Brown's back as brown was standing but Brown broke it up. Kim controlled early but the middle portion of the match is even and then with about a minute left in the round Brown got a choke in on Kim that looks kind of like a head lock but Kim takes Brown's back again. Good first round that was close but I give to Kim due to him having control of Brown and his back for at least half the round.
R2- They stand up early in the round and Brown gets some good knees in on Kim. Brown is controlling early and is getting in some decent shots on Kim. Kim hits on up kick but Brown retaliates with some Ground & Pound. Brown really controlled this round and was in a dominate position at the end of the round, could have maybe finished him but he wasn't aggressive enough. Right now Kim looks real tired. I've got the fight 19-19 right now with Brown with the momentum.
R3- Matt Brown forgot his mouth piece to start the round so they stop the fight for a minute after he eats a punch. Kim gets a take down about a minute into the round and gets side control rather quickly but Brown gets out of the position without any damage. Brown gets some shots in as they clinched. Kim going for judo throws but Brown doing a good job stopping them. Kim gets another take down with 2 minutes left and is in Brown's guard. Kim hits some elbows and cuts Brown. Kim wins this round rather handily so i've got him taking Round 1 and 3 and Brown taking Round 3. Really close fight. I give it to Kim but not by much. Kim 29 Brown 28.
Judges score cards are 29-28 Kim, 29-28 Brown, and 29-28 Kim. Split Decision win for Kim. That's pretty much how I had it. Crowd doesn't really like the result.
Winner: Dong Hyun Kim by Decision (Split)
UFC fighter Yoshiyuki Yoshida is shown in the crowd. He was supposed to fight Karo Parisyan tonight but Karo pulled out due to injury.
Middleweight Fight- Martin Kampmann (13-1) vs. Nate Marquardt (29-8-2)
Kampmann is undefeated in the UFC and Marquardt is coming off a controversial loss in which he lost 2 points due to an illegal move and a questional punch to the back of his opponents head. Marquardt comes out to the theme that UFC uses at the beginning of it's PPVs and Kampmann comes out to what sounds like an Eminem song. Kampmann is the first Condomdepot.com fighter of the evening.
R1- They stand up early and Kampmann got in a good close punch. Nate rebounded with a nice kick to the head that sent Kampmann reeling. Nate hit a knee and was throwing a nuch of punches. Nate is all over him and has him in the corner and Kampmann sits down in the corner and the ref stops the fight. Fantastic showing by Marquardt as he was just all over Kampmann after he hit that kick.
Winner: Nate Marquardt by TKO (strikes) R1 1:22
Urijah Faber is at the show tonight. I think he actually attends every single MMA event no matter what company it's for (DREAM, UFC, WEC, etc).
They announce that Faber's fight is being rescheduled due to the hurricanes and will now be on Nov 5th. NO!
Miguel Torres is also with Faber at the fight.
Middleweight Fight- Dan Henderson (22-7) vs. Rousimarr Palhares (17-1)
Henderson is 10 years older than Palhares, about 5 inches taller and has a 3 inch reach advantage. Henderson gets the largest reaction of the evening so far. Palhares is our second condomdepot.com fighter of the evening. Matt Lindland is in Henderson's corner.
Big Boi from Outkast (they are from Atlanta) is shown in the crowd. He is sitting next to Rampage Jackson.
R1- They start out very carefully. No touching for the first 30 seconds. Rousimarr goes for a take down and Henderson nails him with a shot. Back to their feet. Henderson stops a take down and then another and then another and another. Henderson gets some good shots in as they mixed it up. They mix it up again and Palhares gets in a couple of shots and throws some wild kicks. Henderson connecting with some jabs. Palhares finally got a take down with 30 seconds left. Palhares can't get anything and then the bell rings. He looked like he was in position to get a knee bar but didn't have enough time. Henderson takes Round 1 but Palhares started to come on at the end of the round. Good, entertaining first round once it got started.
R2- Palhares picked up Henderson and slammed him down about one minute into the round and is in Henderson's guard. Palhares goes for a leg lock and gets it but Henderson gets out of the move. Palhares goes for a take down but gets caught by Henderson and Henderson locks him up and then they stand back up. Henderson with some strikes. Another take down stuffed by Henderson and he takes Palhares guard. The ref stands them up due to inactivity. This was a really close round. Palhares controlled the opening stanza and then Henderson the last half. I think Palhares was more dominant in his portion of the fight and almost finished Henderson with that leg lock so I think he takes the round. 19-19 so far with one round left.
R3- Henderson stuffs an early take down. Not a whole lot of action in this round. Henderson has connected on a couple of strikes. Two minutes left in the round. Palhares went for a take down but it was stuffed and Henderson got in a shot or two. Henderson went for a punch and looked like a slipped and Palhares almost caught him in a leg lock but Henderson slipped out. Henderson gets a good strike and then stuffs a take down. Henderson ends the fight with three or four good strikes. Not a good final round but Henderson will win this 29-28. Good first two rounds but a very unurgent third round. Not a very impressive victory for Henderson but still a victory.
Judges score cards: 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 in favor of Henderson.
Winner: Dan Henderson by Decision (Unanimous)
Randy Couture is at the event and Joe Rogan interviews him about the Brock Lesnar fight.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Tim Boetsch (7-2) vs. Michael Patt (15-2)
R1- Boetch hits a big right hand about 2 minutes into the round and then Ground and Pounds until the ref stops the fight.
Winner: Tim Boetsch by TKO (strikes) R1 2:03
Light Heavyweight Fight- Rich Franklin (25-3) vs. Matt Hamill (6-1)
Matt Hamill comes out to the Skynard's "Simple Man." Hamill gets a good response from the crowd. Franklin gets a good pop.
R1- They stand up at the beginning of the fight. Franklin getting more strikes in but Hamill got in a nice right hand. Franklin is hitting leg kicks. Hamill gets a take down with about a minute left in the round and Franklin goes for an arm bar but Hamill breaks free and they are back to their feet. Both guys are cut open. Franklin hits a big knee. Close first round. I think Franklin took this one 10-9 as he was more agressive during the round and landed more shots. Hamill got a take down but didn't get much offense in during the take down and Franklin got a submission attempt (although he never really locked it in) which led to him getting out of the hold pretty quickly).
R2- Franlin landed a good combination in the first minute and is landing some leg kicks. The ref is checking the cut on Franklin but the fight continues, he's not bleeding but the announcers seem to think that he lost a chunk of skin near his eye. Franklin landed a nice kick to Hamill and then follows it up with a kick to the family jewels which causes a stop in the action. Nice slow mo instant reply of the crotch kick and the groan by the crowd. Franklin landing more leg kicks. Franklin gets a good kick to the midsection. Franklin really controlled this fight and is up 2 rounds to nothing. Franklin 20 Hamill 18.
R3- Franklin hits a kick to the midsection and hits a couple of punches and this ones over. Good showing for Rich Franklin.
Winner: Rich Franklin by TKO (strikes) R3 0:39
Light Heavyweight Fight- Chuck Liddell (21-5) vs. Rashad Evans (16-0-1)
Evans gets some heel heat from the crowd, probably more because they are pro-Liddell than anti-Evans.
R1- They just kind of dance around each other for the first 30 seconds. Liddell got in a shot or two in the first minute or so. Evans then got one and Liddell answers. Not much action in the first two minutes. One of the more lackluster opening rounds I think I've ever seen. If I had to pick someone to give this round with it would be Liddell but he didn't do anything to deserve it. Liddell 10 Evans 9.
R2- They mix it up a little on the cage with Liddell attacking and Evans countering. Evans hitting some combos now. Evans drills Liddell with a right hand and Liddell drops like a sack of potatoes. Nice punch. Evans really had not shown much at all until that one punch but what a punch it was.
On the replay Chuck got caught with a slow looping hook and Rashad just came over the top and hit him with a quick overhand right that just rocked Liddell. This was a case of Liddell underestimating Liddell and leaving himself open and Rashad capitalizing on the mistake. Although it didn't make for a good first round Rashad did a good job not giving into Liddell and making Liddell be the aggressor in the first two rounds instead of the counter puncher.
Winner: Rashad Evans by KO R2 1:51
Rampage and Forrest are shown. Forrest gets a good pop. I think Rashad winning opens things up for a Rampage rematch quicker than he would have gotten one if Liddell won the fight.
Middleweight Fight- Jason MacDonald vs. Jason Lambert
R1- Lambert pulled guard early and took a guillotine. MacDonald popped out after about a minute and a half in the move. MacDonald controlled for the rest of the round until the last 15 seconds as Lambert grabbed another tight guillotine but MacDonald rode it out.
R2- They mix it up right at the beginning of the round and MacDonald takes Lambert down. MacDonald takes Lambert's back and gets the tap via Rear Naked Choke.
Winner: Jason MacDonald by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 1:27
This was a decent show with a bunch of decent fights and then a great KO in the Main Event. The most interesting thing coming out of tonight was not the fights but where these fighters like Evans, Liddell, Franklin, Henderson, Marquardt go from here
Welterweight Fight- Dong Hyun Kim (10-0-1) vs. Matt Brown (10-6)
Matt Brown comes out to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band. Dong Hyun Kim counters with "Higher Ground" by the Chilli Peppers.
R1- They clinched early and Kim took him down and then took his back but Brown stood him up. Kim grabbed a choke while on Brown's back as brown was standing but Brown broke it up. Kim controlled early but the middle portion of the match is even and then with about a minute left in the round Brown got a choke in on Kim that looks kind of like a head lock but Kim takes Brown's back again. Good first round that was close but I give to Kim due to him having control of Brown and his back for at least half the round.
R2- They stand up early in the round and Brown gets some good knees in on Kim. Brown is controlling early and is getting in some decent shots on Kim. Kim hits on up kick but Brown retaliates with some Ground & Pound. Brown really controlled this round and was in a dominate position at the end of the round, could have maybe finished him but he wasn't aggressive enough. Right now Kim looks real tired. I've got the fight 19-19 right now with Brown with the momentum.
R3- Matt Brown forgot his mouth piece to start the round so they stop the fight for a minute after he eats a punch. Kim gets a take down about a minute into the round and gets side control rather quickly but Brown gets out of the position without any damage. Brown gets some shots in as they clinched. Kim going for judo throws but Brown doing a good job stopping them. Kim gets another take down with 2 minutes left and is in Brown's guard. Kim hits some elbows and cuts Brown. Kim wins this round rather handily so i've got him taking Round 1 and 3 and Brown taking Round 3. Really close fight. I give it to Kim but not by much. Kim 29 Brown 28.
Judges score cards are 29-28 Kim, 29-28 Brown, and 29-28 Kim. Split Decision win for Kim. That's pretty much how I had it. Crowd doesn't really like the result.
Winner: Dong Hyun Kim by Decision (Split)
UFC fighter Yoshiyuki Yoshida is shown in the crowd. He was supposed to fight Karo Parisyan tonight but Karo pulled out due to injury.
Middleweight Fight- Martin Kampmann (13-1) vs. Nate Marquardt (29-8-2)
Kampmann is undefeated in the UFC and Marquardt is coming off a controversial loss in which he lost 2 points due to an illegal move and a questional punch to the back of his opponents head. Marquardt comes out to the theme that UFC uses at the beginning of it's PPVs and Kampmann comes out to what sounds like an Eminem song. Kampmann is the first Condomdepot.com fighter of the evening.
R1- They stand up early and Kampmann got in a good close punch. Nate rebounded with a nice kick to the head that sent Kampmann reeling. Nate hit a knee and was throwing a nuch of punches. Nate is all over him and has him in the corner and Kampmann sits down in the corner and the ref stops the fight. Fantastic showing by Marquardt as he was just all over Kampmann after he hit that kick.
Winner: Nate Marquardt by TKO (strikes) R1 1:22
Urijah Faber is at the show tonight. I think he actually attends every single MMA event no matter what company it's for (DREAM, UFC, WEC, etc).
They announce that Faber's fight is being rescheduled due to the hurricanes and will now be on Nov 5th. NO!
Miguel Torres is also with Faber at the fight.
Middleweight Fight- Dan Henderson (22-7) vs. Rousimarr Palhares (17-1)
Henderson is 10 years older than Palhares, about 5 inches taller and has a 3 inch reach advantage. Henderson gets the largest reaction of the evening so far. Palhares is our second condomdepot.com fighter of the evening. Matt Lindland is in Henderson's corner.
Big Boi from Outkast (they are from Atlanta) is shown in the crowd. He is sitting next to Rampage Jackson.
R1- They start out very carefully. No touching for the first 30 seconds. Rousimarr goes for a take down and Henderson nails him with a shot. Back to their feet. Henderson stops a take down and then another and then another and another. Henderson gets some good shots in as they mixed it up. They mix it up again and Palhares gets in a couple of shots and throws some wild kicks. Henderson connecting with some jabs. Palhares finally got a take down with 30 seconds left. Palhares can't get anything and then the bell rings. He looked like he was in position to get a knee bar but didn't have enough time. Henderson takes Round 1 but Palhares started to come on at the end of the round. Good, entertaining first round once it got started.
R2- Palhares picked up Henderson and slammed him down about one minute into the round and is in Henderson's guard. Palhares goes for a leg lock and gets it but Henderson gets out of the move. Palhares goes for a take down but gets caught by Henderson and Henderson locks him up and then they stand back up. Henderson with some strikes. Another take down stuffed by Henderson and he takes Palhares guard. The ref stands them up due to inactivity. This was a really close round. Palhares controlled the opening stanza and then Henderson the last half. I think Palhares was more dominant in his portion of the fight and almost finished Henderson with that leg lock so I think he takes the round. 19-19 so far with one round left.
R3- Henderson stuffs an early take down. Not a whole lot of action in this round. Henderson has connected on a couple of strikes. Two minutes left in the round. Palhares went for a take down but it was stuffed and Henderson got in a shot or two. Henderson went for a punch and looked like a slipped and Palhares almost caught him in a leg lock but Henderson slipped out. Henderson gets a good strike and then stuffs a take down. Henderson ends the fight with three or four good strikes. Not a good final round but Henderson will win this 29-28. Good first two rounds but a very unurgent third round. Not a very impressive victory for Henderson but still a victory.
Judges score cards: 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 in favor of Henderson.
Winner: Dan Henderson by Decision (Unanimous)
Randy Couture is at the event and Joe Rogan interviews him about the Brock Lesnar fight.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Tim Boetsch (7-2) vs. Michael Patt (15-2)
R1- Boetch hits a big right hand about 2 minutes into the round and then Ground and Pounds until the ref stops the fight.
Winner: Tim Boetsch by TKO (strikes) R1 2:03
Light Heavyweight Fight- Rich Franklin (25-3) vs. Matt Hamill (6-1)
Matt Hamill comes out to the Skynard's "Simple Man." Hamill gets a good response from the crowd. Franklin gets a good pop.
R1- They stand up at the beginning of the fight. Franklin getting more strikes in but Hamill got in a nice right hand. Franklin is hitting leg kicks. Hamill gets a take down with about a minute left in the round and Franklin goes for an arm bar but Hamill breaks free and they are back to their feet. Both guys are cut open. Franklin hits a big knee. Close first round. I think Franklin took this one 10-9 as he was more agressive during the round and landed more shots. Hamill got a take down but didn't get much offense in during the take down and Franklin got a submission attempt (although he never really locked it in) which led to him getting out of the hold pretty quickly).
R2- Franlin landed a good combination in the first minute and is landing some leg kicks. The ref is checking the cut on Franklin but the fight continues, he's not bleeding but the announcers seem to think that he lost a chunk of skin near his eye. Franklin landed a nice kick to Hamill and then follows it up with a kick to the family jewels which causes a stop in the action. Nice slow mo instant reply of the crotch kick and the groan by the crowd. Franklin landing more leg kicks. Franklin gets a good kick to the midsection. Franklin really controlled this fight and is up 2 rounds to nothing. Franklin 20 Hamill 18.
R3- Franklin hits a kick to the midsection and hits a couple of punches and this ones over. Good showing for Rich Franklin.
Winner: Rich Franklin by TKO (strikes) R3 0:39
Light Heavyweight Fight- Chuck Liddell (21-5) vs. Rashad Evans (16-0-1)
Evans gets some heel heat from the crowd, probably more because they are pro-Liddell than anti-Evans.
R1- They just kind of dance around each other for the first 30 seconds. Liddell got in a shot or two in the first minute or so. Evans then got one and Liddell answers. Not much action in the first two minutes. One of the more lackluster opening rounds I think I've ever seen. If I had to pick someone to give this round with it would be Liddell but he didn't do anything to deserve it. Liddell 10 Evans 9.
R2- They mix it up a little on the cage with Liddell attacking and Evans countering. Evans hitting some combos now. Evans drills Liddell with a right hand and Liddell drops like a sack of potatoes. Nice punch. Evans really had not shown much at all until that one punch but what a punch it was.
On the replay Chuck got caught with a slow looping hook and Rashad just came over the top and hit him with a quick overhand right that just rocked Liddell. This was a case of Liddell underestimating Liddell and leaving himself open and Rashad capitalizing on the mistake. Although it didn't make for a good first round Rashad did a good job not giving into Liddell and making Liddell be the aggressor in the first two rounds instead of the counter puncher.
Winner: Rashad Evans by KO R2 1:51
Rampage and Forrest are shown. Forrest gets a good pop. I think Rashad winning opens things up for a Rampage rematch quicker than he would have gotten one if Liddell won the fight.
Middleweight Fight- Jason MacDonald vs. Jason Lambert
R1- Lambert pulled guard early and took a guillotine. MacDonald popped out after about a minute and a half in the move. MacDonald controlled for the rest of the round until the last 15 seconds as Lambert grabbed another tight guillotine but MacDonald rode it out.
R2- They mix it up right at the beginning of the round and MacDonald takes Lambert down. MacDonald takes Lambert's back and gets the tap via Rear Naked Choke.
Winner: Jason MacDonald by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 1:27
This was a decent show with a bunch of decent fights and then a great KO in the Main Event. The most interesting thing coming out of tonight was not the fights but where these fighters like Evans, Liddell, Franklin, Henderson, Marquardt go from here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
