Elite XC Saturday Night Fights on CBS 7/26/08
Tonight we’ve got the Middleweight Title re-match from the first CBS show as Robbie Lawler defends against Scott Smith. Nick Diaz will be in action against Thomas Denny. Jake Shields will also be fighting.
Gus Johnson, Mauro Ranallo and Frank Shamrock will do the announcing. Gus puts over that their first show was the most watched MMA telecast in the history of the sport. Gus definitely brings a high level of professionalism and legitimacy to the broadcast. Who do you want for your announcer- Gus Johnson or Jay Glazer? It should be interesting if Lawler wins and Shamrock interviews him as that is a rumored potential match-up later this year.
Woman’s Bantamweight Fight- Shayna Baszler (11-4) vs. Christiane Cyborg (4-0)
Gina Carano is at ringside for the fight and gets a good reaction when she is shown. Baszler has won 4 fights in a row. Cyborg is the wife of the former Pride Fighter by the same last name. They are fighting at 140 lbs. This is Cyborg’s US debut. Three of her four wins are by KO. All of Baszler’s wins have been by submission. Baszler trains with Josh Barnett. These rounds are only 3 minutes.
R1- Cyborg is very active early with some strikes but Shayna gets a take down and goes for a knee bar and instead takes a toe hold. Cyborg gets out and is on top of Shayna and landing some strikes. Shayna goes for another leg submission. Close first round. Cyborg landing more punches and Baszler attempting three submissions. Really close fight.
A commercial for Pineapple Express is shown. It looks awesome.
R2- They come out fighting with both women throwing and attacking. Cyborg lands some nice punches and seems to be taking over this fight. She lands a nasty knee. Cyborg is just picking Shayna apart. Shayna goes to the floor and Cyborg walks away like the fight is over and then leaps up on the cage and is celebrating. What a huge mistake. Cyborg gives Mazzagatti a look of disbelief. Cyborg comes back and lands some nice shots. Cyborg is just lighting Shayna up against the cage. Cyborg finally gets a KO. Cyborg looked awesome. I’m not sure she has much between the ears but she can fight. Very exciting second round. Cyborg landed 48 punches in the two rounds.
Winner: Chrisiane Cyborg by TKO (strikes) R2 2:48
Karyn Bryant interviews Gina Carano at ringside. Carano says she wants to fight Cyborg. Carano will be fighting on the next CBS show on October 4th.
Welterweight Title Fight- Jake Shields (20-4-1) vs. Nick Thompson (26-9-1)
This fight is for the vacant Elite XC Welterweight Championship. Nick Thompson is a law school graduate and will be taking the BAR exam in 2 days. Mauro puts over the Thompson has given Eddie Alvarez his only loss. Thompson is on a 12 fight win streak, Shields is on a 9 fight win streak. Shields is the hometown fighter in this fight. Thompson is announced as the Bodog Welterweight Title holder.
R1- Shields take the fight down quickly and gets full mount almost immediately. Nick slips out by Shields grabs a guillotine and finishes the fight quickly in impressive fashion. Great showing by Jake Shields.
Winner and new champion: Jake Shields by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R1
Karyn Bryant is at ringside with Kimbo Slice. Kimbo will be on the October show at Ft Lauderdale.
Lightweight Fight- Nick Diaz (17-7) vs. Thomas Denny (26-16)
This is definitely a showcase fight for Nick Diaz as Elite XC is just killing time before his showdown/re-match with KJ Noons. Thomas Denny looks like the MMA version of Jeff Hardy. Diaz is the hometown fighter in this fight. Diaz has a 4” reach advantage and a 4” height advantage.
R1- Denny comes out early and tries to take it to Diaz, who usually likes to start methodically from what I’ve seen. Denny got a take down but no damage. Denny goes for a take down but Diaz has his Denny’s arm. Diaz is going for the arm bar but losses it. Both guys are landing some pretty good shots. Denny is getting in a surprising amount of offense. Diaz starting to get more shots. Diaz is starting to find the range with the jab and Denny is trying to keep Diaz close by clinching him. Diaz hit a good stiff left that knocked Denny backwards and then he goes down and Diaz lands a couple of shots as he gets back to his feet. Diaz is landing more shots and Denny is clinching to try and hold on until round two. Denny almost looks out on his feet but he’s staying on his feet. Fans are on their feet. Really exciting close to the round. Diaz 10-9. Diaz landed 75 punches in the first round.
R2- Diaz landing some nice punches early in the round and Denny is wobbly. Diaz starting to play to the crowd and then peppers Denny. Denny just trying to cover up but this looks like the end for him. Denny finally goes down and Diaz hits a couple of well placed punches and the ref puts an end to this one. Good fight and a fantastic introduction of Nick Diaz to the casual viewers. They just made a very methodical fighter (not that this is a bad thing) seem like one of the most exciting fighters going today. Diaz landed 93 strikes in this fight, 91 punches in 5 minutes and 30 seconds.
Winner: Nick Diaz by TKO (strikes) R2 0:30
Anderson Silva is in the crowd (he cornered Feijao on the Showtime portion of the card earlier) and Gus Johnson and Mauro Rannallo both put him over as the P4P best fighter in the world.
Middleweight Title Fight- Robbie Lawler © (15-4) vs. Scott Smith (15-4)
Lawler has a 4” reach advantage. Lawler was winning the striking game in the last fight but it was pretty even when it was stopped. Both fighters are 15-4 with 1 no contest.
R1- Smith getting some leg kicks early. Lawler blocks a big high kick. They are starting to throw some punches now about 2 minutes into the fight. Lawler hits a roundhouse to the body and then blocks another roundhouse to his head from Smith. Lawler finding the range as he hits three punches in a row and Smith bounces off the fence a little wobbled. Lawler with a left kick and then a right hand and then another left kick and another right. Lawler misses a big leg kick and Smith comes back and pushes forward and hits a nice punch. Smith landing some strikes. Close round. If I had to pick I would go Lawler 10-9. Smith started to come back toward the end of the round to even it up towards the end.
R2- Lawler hits a body kick and then they clinch and Smith gets some nice shots in on Lawler. Lawler now backs Smith up against the cage and hits him with 2 or 3 really hard punches. Lawler is busted open. Lawler hitting Smith with body shots in a clinch. Lawler with some nice dirty boxing shots. Robbie Lawler is cut bad, Mauro comments that they had some plasma land near them. Lawler getting some knees and Smith gets buckled and is down to his knees. Smith gets back up but eats another knee and falls to the ground and Herb Dean stops the fight. Smith really got hurt by the knees to the body.
Good fight but not as exciting as the first one.
Winner: Robbie Lawler by TKO (strikes) R2 2:35
While this show didn’t have the star power of Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano (other than in the audience) I thought that this show featured better fights and was a better effort than the first CBS show. No doubt this will not do as well in the ratings but it was a good night of fights.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Elite XC on Showtime 7/26/08
Elite XC on Showtime 7/26/08
This is the Pre-Show for the CBS “Saturday Night Fight” show tonight. The Showtime show will feature a fight for the vacant Heavyweight Title featuring Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante will also be in action and we should see a competitive fight between Brian Caraway and Wilson Reis.
The announcers are Gus Johnson, Mauro Ranallo and Frank Shamrock. These 3 guys do the CBS broadcast. Normally Stephen Quadros and Bill Goldberg do the Showtime stuff with Mauro but looks like not tonight.
Bantamweight Fight- Wilson Reis (4-0) vs. Brian Caraway (9-2)
Caraway fought and won on the undercard of the Strikeforce “Thomson vs. Melendez” show. Caraway is 9-2 with all wins coming by submission. His discipline is “cowboy karate.” Reis is called “dominating” by Jimmy Lennon Jr during his introduction. This should be a good fight. Reis’s all 4 wins have also come by submission. So my guess is somebody is getting submitted tonight in this fight.R1- Caraway dislocated his knee cap two weeks ago and Gus Johnson points this out as the fight starts. Caraway hits a clean punch to start. The mat has a lot of blood on it- so there must have been a preliminary match that got nasty early. Reis gets an early take down. Reis moves from full guard to side control pretty quickly and effectively. Reis loses side control but postures up and gets some nice punches. Caraway escapes and they are back to their feet. Caraway is landing some shots when they are on their feet. Frank Shamrock does a good job of pointing out what Reis is doing wrong on his feet and why Caraway is able to get the advantage on his feet. Reis goes with his comfort zone and gets another take down of Caraway. Reis gets full mount and lands a nice punch. Caraway gives up his back. Caraway slips out again. Reis gets another take down at the end of the round. This was a good round and definitely the story of two fights- the stand up going to Caraway and Reis dominating on the ground. Reis wins this round 10-9 but it’s still anybody’s fight as Caraway can win if he keeps the fight on their feet.
R2- Reis gets a quick take down as he didn’t want any part of the stand up game. Caraway scrambles to his feet and hits a knee on Reis. Reis is down and Caraway gets some strikes. Reis ties him up and recovers. Reis passes guard and goes to side control. Caraway flips back into the guard. Reis has really good BJJ but Caraway is doing a good job defending it. Fans are booing but to me this is interesting because it’s like a chess match. This is especially funny as they put over the fans in this city as being “educated” fans of MMA. Yeah, right. Caraway scrambles again and gets out of trouble. Reis goes for a take down but Caraway ends up on top. Reis rolls him over and gets on top and lands some punches. Reis hits a nice knee at the end of the round. This was a very tough round to judge. Reis got more take downs and spend more time in control of the fight but Caraway hit that big knee early and was in a position to possibly finish the fight. Reis is probably up 20-18 at this point, but I could see it being 19-19.
R3- Caraway starts off the fight by hitting some strikes on Reis. Reis immediately goes for a take down and gets it. Reis is hitting some elbows but he doesn’t seem to be hitting them very effectively. Reis gets full mount but gets turned over. Caraway going for some strong strikes but doesn’t hit them solidly. They scramble and are back to their feet. Caraway with some strikes but Reis gets another take down and this one will probably win his the fight. Reis went for a strike but overshot and landed on the mat. They are back to their feet and Caraway has 30 seconds to win this fight or lose a decision. Caraway flies at Reis with a knee but Reis takes him down Reis is going to win this fight, probably 30-27.
Good solid opening fight. Not as exciting as the fans wanted but I thought it was a solid fight for the opener. Both guys showed a lot of promise and I’m definitely interested in seeing these guys fight again and in the end that’s what matters. Reis really needs to work on his stand up game. All judges score the fight 30-27 in favor of Reis. Caraway landed more strikes but Reis had 7 take downs in the fight.
Winner: Wilson Reis by Decision (Unanimous)
Gus, Mauro and Frank hype Lawler/Smith II and also Silva/Eilers and Feijao/Galbraith.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Rafael Feijao (6-1) vs. Travis Galbraith (15-5)
Feijao looked awesome in his last fight against Wayne Cole on the undercard of the KJ Noons/Yves Edwards 6/14 fight. Anderson Silva cornered Feijao last time and he is by his side again for this fight. Galbraith is taking this fight on short notice. Galbraith fought on a Pride card in 2006 in the US. Feijao also trains with Noguiera and he is in his corner as well. Galbraith is a Canadian King of the Cage fighter.
R1- Feijao hits a nice leg kick to start. They clinch for a while. Not much happening as Galbraith is trying to keep Feijao tied up. Feijao hits a nice judo throw and lands in half guard but Galbraith gets back to his feet. Feijao gets unclenched and lands a nice right hand and then two knees. Feijao is all over him with more strikes and knees. Galbraith fights back with some strikes showing some heart. Feijao clinches him (a la Anderson Silva) and nails 3 knees and Galbraith crumples. Feijao jumps on top and lands 3 strikes and this fight is over.Once Feijao got separation he was very explosive and looked awesome. Galbraith did a good job tying him up for a while but ultimately Feijao was just too much.
Winner: Rafael Faijao by TKO (strikes) R1 3:00
Karen Bryant interviews Scott Smith back stage.
Heavyweight Title Fight- Antonio Silva (10-1) vs. Justin Eilers (19-6-1)
This fight is for the vacant Elite XC Heavyweight Title. They just picked 2 names out of a hat and we ended up with these two fighters. Eilers has won 10 of his last 11 fights with that loss being to Andrei Arlovski. Eilers is working with a boxing trainer that has trained Evander Holyfield in the past. Silva has a 40 pound weight advantage and a 6” reach advantage. This is the Main Event of the Showtime portion of tonight’s Elite XC show.
R1- They are boxing early. Eilers having a difficult time with Silva’s reach advantage. Silva is connecting on some counter punches. Silva gets a take down on Eilers. Eilers gives up his back, Herb Dean warms him not to hit in the back of the head. Dean takes off a point for hitting the back of the head. Silva opens up with some kicks and then pushes Eilers down and jumps on top but Eilers gets back to his feet. Silva connects on some punches and knees. First round goes to Silva but he got a point deducted so we’ve got a 9-9 first round.
R2- Eilers starts the round with a left hand that Gus Johnson pops huge for and then Silva wakes up and comes after him hitting a counter punch with dislodges Eilers mouthpiece, follows with a big knee and hits some strikes. Eilers is getting destroyed on the cage and Herb Dean stops the fight. Huge explosion in the second round to end this fight only 19 seconds into the round. Silva looked good but not Heavyweight Champion good. I would have much rather seen an 8 or 4 man tournament for the belt. I’m guessing we’ll see Brett Rodgers fighting for the title fairly soon and then Kimbo or Dave Herman after that.
Winner: Antonio Silva by TKO (strikes) R2 0:19
This is the Pre-Show for the CBS “Saturday Night Fight” show tonight. The Showtime show will feature a fight for the vacant Heavyweight Title featuring Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante will also be in action and we should see a competitive fight between Brian Caraway and Wilson Reis.
The announcers are Gus Johnson, Mauro Ranallo and Frank Shamrock. These 3 guys do the CBS broadcast. Normally Stephen Quadros and Bill Goldberg do the Showtime stuff with Mauro but looks like not tonight.
Bantamweight Fight- Wilson Reis (4-0) vs. Brian Caraway (9-2)
Caraway fought and won on the undercard of the Strikeforce “Thomson vs. Melendez” show. Caraway is 9-2 with all wins coming by submission. His discipline is “cowboy karate.” Reis is called “dominating” by Jimmy Lennon Jr during his introduction. This should be a good fight. Reis’s all 4 wins have also come by submission. So my guess is somebody is getting submitted tonight in this fight.R1- Caraway dislocated his knee cap two weeks ago and Gus Johnson points this out as the fight starts. Caraway hits a clean punch to start. The mat has a lot of blood on it- so there must have been a preliminary match that got nasty early. Reis gets an early take down. Reis moves from full guard to side control pretty quickly and effectively. Reis loses side control but postures up and gets some nice punches. Caraway escapes and they are back to their feet. Caraway is landing some shots when they are on their feet. Frank Shamrock does a good job of pointing out what Reis is doing wrong on his feet and why Caraway is able to get the advantage on his feet. Reis goes with his comfort zone and gets another take down of Caraway. Reis gets full mount and lands a nice punch. Caraway gives up his back. Caraway slips out again. Reis gets another take down at the end of the round. This was a good round and definitely the story of two fights- the stand up going to Caraway and Reis dominating on the ground. Reis wins this round 10-9 but it’s still anybody’s fight as Caraway can win if he keeps the fight on their feet.
R2- Reis gets a quick take down as he didn’t want any part of the stand up game. Caraway scrambles to his feet and hits a knee on Reis. Reis is down and Caraway gets some strikes. Reis ties him up and recovers. Reis passes guard and goes to side control. Caraway flips back into the guard. Reis has really good BJJ but Caraway is doing a good job defending it. Fans are booing but to me this is interesting because it’s like a chess match. This is especially funny as they put over the fans in this city as being “educated” fans of MMA. Yeah, right. Caraway scrambles again and gets out of trouble. Reis goes for a take down but Caraway ends up on top. Reis rolls him over and gets on top and lands some punches. Reis hits a nice knee at the end of the round. This was a very tough round to judge. Reis got more take downs and spend more time in control of the fight but Caraway hit that big knee early and was in a position to possibly finish the fight. Reis is probably up 20-18 at this point, but I could see it being 19-19.
R3- Caraway starts off the fight by hitting some strikes on Reis. Reis immediately goes for a take down and gets it. Reis is hitting some elbows but he doesn’t seem to be hitting them very effectively. Reis gets full mount but gets turned over. Caraway going for some strong strikes but doesn’t hit them solidly. They scramble and are back to their feet. Caraway with some strikes but Reis gets another take down and this one will probably win his the fight. Reis went for a strike but overshot and landed on the mat. They are back to their feet and Caraway has 30 seconds to win this fight or lose a decision. Caraway flies at Reis with a knee but Reis takes him down Reis is going to win this fight, probably 30-27.
Good solid opening fight. Not as exciting as the fans wanted but I thought it was a solid fight for the opener. Both guys showed a lot of promise and I’m definitely interested in seeing these guys fight again and in the end that’s what matters. Reis really needs to work on his stand up game. All judges score the fight 30-27 in favor of Reis. Caraway landed more strikes but Reis had 7 take downs in the fight.
Winner: Wilson Reis by Decision (Unanimous)
Gus, Mauro and Frank hype Lawler/Smith II and also Silva/Eilers and Feijao/Galbraith.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Rafael Feijao (6-1) vs. Travis Galbraith (15-5)
Feijao looked awesome in his last fight against Wayne Cole on the undercard of the KJ Noons/Yves Edwards 6/14 fight. Anderson Silva cornered Feijao last time and he is by his side again for this fight. Galbraith is taking this fight on short notice. Galbraith fought on a Pride card in 2006 in the US. Feijao also trains with Noguiera and he is in his corner as well. Galbraith is a Canadian King of the Cage fighter.
R1- Feijao hits a nice leg kick to start. They clinch for a while. Not much happening as Galbraith is trying to keep Feijao tied up. Feijao hits a nice judo throw and lands in half guard but Galbraith gets back to his feet. Feijao gets unclenched and lands a nice right hand and then two knees. Feijao is all over him with more strikes and knees. Galbraith fights back with some strikes showing some heart. Feijao clinches him (a la Anderson Silva) and nails 3 knees and Galbraith crumples. Feijao jumps on top and lands 3 strikes and this fight is over.Once Feijao got separation he was very explosive and looked awesome. Galbraith did a good job tying him up for a while but ultimately Feijao was just too much.
Winner: Rafael Faijao by TKO (strikes) R1 3:00
Karen Bryant interviews Scott Smith back stage.
Heavyweight Title Fight- Antonio Silva (10-1) vs. Justin Eilers (19-6-1)
This fight is for the vacant Elite XC Heavyweight Title. They just picked 2 names out of a hat and we ended up with these two fighters. Eilers has won 10 of his last 11 fights with that loss being to Andrei Arlovski. Eilers is working with a boxing trainer that has trained Evander Holyfield in the past. Silva has a 40 pound weight advantage and a 6” reach advantage. This is the Main Event of the Showtime portion of tonight’s Elite XC show.
R1- They are boxing early. Eilers having a difficult time with Silva’s reach advantage. Silva is connecting on some counter punches. Silva gets a take down on Eilers. Eilers gives up his back, Herb Dean warms him not to hit in the back of the head. Dean takes off a point for hitting the back of the head. Silva opens up with some kicks and then pushes Eilers down and jumps on top but Eilers gets back to his feet. Silva connects on some punches and knees. First round goes to Silva but he got a point deducted so we’ve got a 9-9 first round.
R2- Eilers starts the round with a left hand that Gus Johnson pops huge for and then Silva wakes up and comes after him hitting a counter punch with dislodges Eilers mouthpiece, follows with a big knee and hits some strikes. Eilers is getting destroyed on the cage and Herb Dean stops the fight. Huge explosion in the second round to end this fight only 19 seconds into the round. Silva looked good but not Heavyweight Champion good. I would have much rather seen an 8 or 4 man tournament for the belt. I’m guessing we’ll see Brett Rodgers fighting for the title fairly soon and then Kimbo or Dave Herman after that.
Winner: Antonio Silva by TKO (strikes) R2 0:19
Thursday, July 24, 2008
DREAM.5 7/21/08 Show Re-Cap
DREAM 5 Lightweight Gran Prix Tournament
Kenny Rice(man he looks jet lagged) and Bas Rutten are once again the announcers for this show. I like Bas more the more I listen to him. I think he's an acquired taste.
Lightweight Semifinals and Finals are fighting tonight to decide the championship. We've got Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri and Shinya Aoki vs. Caol Uno with the winners facing off later tonight. They hype these fighters as "4 of the Top 11 fighters in the world." I'm guessing Kenny is just talking about lightweight fighters. This should be a fun little tournament as I like all of these guys except Shinya Aoki (so he will probably win).
Lightweight Fight- Daisuke Nakamura (14-9) vs. Andy Ologun (1-0)
Apparently Nakamura just fought 4 days ago at a different show and won by decision. So he either owes someone money or just loves to fight. This match is scheduled for 2 five minute rounds. All other DREAM fights have been 1 ten minute round and 1 five minute round. Ologun has a background in K-1.
R1- Olagun gets a good kick and it takes Nakamura down but Nakamura grabs a leg and then they get back up. Olagun swings wildly and misses 2 big shots. Nakamura pulls guard and gets an arm bar finishes the fight quickly. Really quick fight and a great move by Nakamura. Very exciting opener with a great finish by Nakamura. Nakamura has now won 2 fights in 4 days and 7 of his last 8 fights.
Winner: Daisuke Nakamura by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
Lightweight Tournament Semi-Final Fight- Shinya Aoki (16-2) vs. Caol Uno (25-10-4)
Aoki is hyped as #3 in the world. Uno is hyped as the sentimental favorite. They say that Aoki is a 3 to 1 favorite. Uno is 8 years older than Aoki and Aoki has a 4" height advantage.My prediction is that Aoki lays on top of Uno for 15 minutes and wins a decision but I'm hoping for an Uno win. Uno comes out to a re-mix of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." This match has a good feel to it, looks like it will be fun. They get a pretty even response from the crowd at introductions. Aoki is once again wearing some hideous looking tights.
R1- Long feeling out process at the beginning as they are both waiting for the other to make a move. I wish DREAM showed the time clock but it was at least a minute before the first shot was landed- Aoki hit a jumping knee on Uno up against the ropes. Aoki takes Uno down to the mat. Uno flips him over and is now in Aoki's guard. The crowd chants for Aoki. Uno hits a punch and the ref moves them to the center of the ring. Uno gets in a shot and Aoki tries to get an arm bar and is now wrapping his legs around Uno's looking for a submission. Aoki has a very active guard. Aoki has him in a heel hook. Uno gets out of it but Aoki takes his back. Aoki is like an octopus in this fight so far. Aoki has him in a body lock but is not doing any damage. Uno turns into Aoki and they take a small break to work on Aoki's gloves. Aoki moves back over and takes Uno's back and goes for a Rear Nake Choke. Aoki doesn't get it but he still has his legs wrapped around Uno's midsection. Uno flips over and Aoki catches him in a triangle but I don't think he's got his arm trapped, it looks like basically a head scissors type move. He does actually have his arm trapped and Uno is trying to hold on. Uno gets to his feet with the move still on and Uno buts his knee on Aoki's face to get out but Aoki holds on and rolls him back over. Aoki grabs his arm and rolls him over and Uno is bucking and trying to kick Aoki's back to get out of the move. Uno somehow escapes the move. Great survival by Uno and he is now in Aoki's guard. Uno postures up and is getting some punches in on Aoki. Aoki gets an up kick. The first round end with Uno landing a punch. Fantastic first round. Great mat work by Aoki and great survival instincts by Uno. The chess match these guys had was just great. Aoki is winning the fight so far as he had Uno in several submissions and it felt like he could have gotten a submission on a few of them.
R2- Uno charges in early and Aoki takes Uno's guard. Uno gives up his back trying to get out of Aoki's clutches. Uno delivering some elbows to the side of Aoki trying to get free. Aoki is just kind of holding onto him at this point. Uno turns over and is now in Aoki's guard. Uno needs a knockout here with about 1 minute left. Aoki grabs him and latches on to try and ride Uno to victory. Second round was nowhere near as exciting as the first round as Aoki knew he was ahead in the fight and simply latched on and rode Uno for the last 5 minutes. Still a top notch fight but I'm a little disappointed with Aoki not really trying to finish the fight. Probably still (mostly based on the 1st round) the second best fight DREAM has had so far (Hansen vs. Alvarez is my #1 for this promotion this year).
Winner and advancing to the Finals: Shinya Aoki by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Tournament Semi-Final Fight- Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-4-2) vs. Eddie Alvarez (14-1)
Eddie Alvarez comes out to a song with the "The Champ is Here" line repeating at the beginning. Alvarez does the Pro Wres jump into the ring over the ropes.
R1- Kawajiri landing some kicks early. Alvarez goes in and Kawajiri jumps on top guarding against a take down. They clinch against the ropes and the ref breaks them up. Alvarez misses a punch and Kawajiri gets a good right. Alvarez hits a good combo as he leads with a kick and then hits some quick punches. Alvarez's right eye is really red. Alvarez with some leg kicks. Alvarez with a big combo and Kawajiri is knocked down. They get back up and they are brawling with lots of dirty boxing. Kawajiri lands a nice punch but then slips and they are clinched again. The round is about half way over. Alvarez has a cut on his right eye and the ref stops the fight to look at it.
Kawajiri gets a big punch and knock Alvarez down. Kawajiri is on top and is trying to end the fight and Alvarez has closed his guard. Kawajiri is trying to pass guard but not having much success. Kawajiri passes into the full mount position but Alvarez is still holding his head down. Alvarez muscles to his feet and these guys are swinging wildly with both guys connecting on some shots. Both guys are just laying into each other. Very exciting fight. Kawajiri hitting some knees in the clinch. Alvarez landing some punches and knocks down Kawajiri. Alvarez thinks the fight is over and doesn't pounce on Kawajiri. Alvarez then jumps down and starts to pound on Kawajiri and the ref stops the fight. Alvarez almost makes a huge mistake but ends up winning. Alvarez has a nasty mouse under his eye.
AWESOME fight.
"It's like a Rocky movie"- Bas Rutten
DREAM has just delivered maybe the best 2 consecutive matches this year. It's right up there with Torres/Maeda and then Pulver/Faber from the last WEC show.
Lightweight "Reserve" Fight- Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill (9-7) vs. Joachim "Hell Boy" Hansen (17-7-1)
Gill lost to Kawajiri in the Lightweight Grand Prix and Hansen lost to Alvarez. The winner of this fight would step into the finals if Alvarez or Aoki could not fight. It's a possibility that Alvarez may not be able to with that big mouse under his eye but Kenny Rice doesn't seem to think that it will come to that as he doesn't even mention it as a possibility.
R1- Hansen immediately moves into Gill and Gill clinches him and hits some good knees but Hansen muscles him down and they sprawl. They ref separates them and they re-start. Gill hitting some leg kicks. Gill tries for a take down but Hansen shows good balance and strength staying on his feet but then eventually goes down. Hansen looks like he is going for an arm bar and he gets it and taps Gill. Shorter fight then it felt like it was going to be but a good fight and exciting while it lasted.
Very strong show so far for DREAM.
Winner: Joachim Hansen by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
They show Urijah Faber on the big screen to hype up a fighter that he is training that is fighting next, Joseph Benavidez.
Joseph Benavidez (7-0) vs. Junya “Kodo” Kudo
Faber is in Joseph's corner.
R1- Joe gets a quick take down and takes Kudo's guard. Back to their feet. Joe hits a big slam and is in position to take Kudo's back. Joe takes full mount and Kudo taps to the guillotine. Impressive showing for the Faber trainee Joseph Benavidez.
Winner: Joseph Benavidez by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R1
Middleweight Fight- Kuniyoshi Hironaka (11-5) vs. Motoki Miyazawa (4-0)
R1- Two minutes in, not much action so far. Motoki pulls guard on Hironka. Hironaka gets in a better position and gets some shots in on Motoki. They stand back up and Hironaka looks to be the better fighter on the feet. Motoki has a cut on his left eye and Motoki's nose is bleeding. Hironaka starts to open up on Motoki and the ref stops the fight to look at Motoki's cut just as Hironaka started to get going. The ref stops the fight.
Winner: Kuniyoshi Hironaka by TKO (Cut) R1
Urijah Faber joins Kenny Rice doing an intermission for an interview and they talk about Joseph Benavidez, Aoki/Alvarez, the Alistair Overeem fight coming up and Faber's upcoming fight with Mike Brown.
141 lb Fight- Hideo Tokoro (21-13-1) vs. Takeshi Yamazaki (14-7-2)
R1- Tokoro hits an early low blow on Yamazaki and they take a break. Yamazaki gets the first take down and Tokoro has a very active guard and goes for some submissions. Tokoro gets a big punch after they stand up and jumps on top and pounds on Yamazaki but Yamazaki recovers. Tokoro hits another low blow and they take another break. Gotta love the slow motion instant replay of the low blows. Ouch. They gave a yellow card to Tokoro. Tokoro hurt Yamazaki with two big punches and then got a nice knee in before they clinched and Yamazaki took Tokoro down. Tokoro tried to grab a knee bar but could not. Tokoro then tried to take Yamazaki's back but couldn't. Tokoro trying to get a triangle on Yamazaki but couldn't get it locked it. Decent fight so far but not quite what they were looking for coming out of intermission. Tokoro is winning the fight so far but did get the yellow card for the low blows.
R2- Not a real exciting second round and they kind of limp to a finish. Yamazaki's face looks really beat up after the fight.
Winner: Hideo Tokoro by Decision (Unanimous)
THEY ANNOUNCE THAT EDDIE ALVAREZ CANNOT FIGHT TONIGHT IN THE FINALS DUE TO THE CUT UNDER HIS EYE AND HE WILL BE REPLACED BY JOACHIM HANSEN.
Middleweight Fight- Yoshihiro Akiyama (10-1) vs. Katsuyori Shibata (2-4)
Shibata runs down to the ring and jumps over the ring ropes. This one should be all Akiyama.
R1- Akiyama is apparently going to fight in his full Gi outfit. Long feeling out process. Early leg kicks by Shibata. Not much action as we are three minutes in and all we've got so far are leg kicks by both guys. Shibata seems to be the aggressor and Akiyama seems content to just wait for Shibata to make a mistake. Akiyama missed a gigantic kick that would have taken Shibata's head off and they clinch but Akiyama ends up with the take down. Akiyama moves into full mount and has a weird choke on Shibata and gets the win in about six and a half minutes.
Winner: Yoshihiro Akiyama by TKO (ref stoppage due to choke) R1
Eddie Alvarez is in the ring and his eye is jacked up. They announce that he will not be fighting in the finals tonight against Shinya Aoki. Alvarez breaks up during his in ring promo and his smoking hot girlfriend is sad at ringside. Alvarez says that he's glad that Hansen is his replacement. Alvarez says that he is officially challenging the winner of the fight and that he will be back to fight for the fans here again and that he loves the fans. They show the replay of Kawajiri going for a punch and ending up nailing Alvarez in his eye with an elbow, which caused the huge bruise on Eddie's eye. Alvarez does a back flip off the ropes into the ring to the pop of the crowd before he leaves. Alvarez is a beast, can't wait to see him take on the winner of Aoki/Hansen.
Heavyweight Fight- Alistair Overeem vs. Mark Hunt
Overeem stepped in at the last moment (about 3 days notice) to take this fight. Hunt has not fought since 2006 (against Fedor). Hunt has victories over Cro Cop and Wanderlei Silva in his career.
R1- Hunt gets a quick take down. Hunt passes Overeem's guard but Overeem tries to get an arm bar in and he has it and Hunt taps out in about 1:15. Great showing by Alistair on 3 days notice as he got taken down but adjusted and finished the fight quickly.
Winner: Alistair Overeem by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
Eddie Alvarez joins the announce crew for the finals of the Lightweight GP.
Lightweight GP Title Final: Joachim "Hell Boy" Hansen (18-7-1) vs. Shinya Aoki (17-2)
I'm not a huge fan of a guy who lost already in the tournament stepping in and getting a fight for the title but I think Hansen is deserving as he put up a hell of a fight against Eddie Alvarez in the Quarterfinals. Either way Alvarez will get his re-match with the champ in a show or two. Alvarez is at ringside with his busted eye and his hot girlfriend. Aoki has some different but equally hideous tights on for this fight- they compare him to a bumble-bee.
R1- Hansen swings and misses immediately and Aoki takes him down. Hansen gets a low blow on Aoki and Aoki sells it like death (can't tell with this guy the way he sold that one shot from JZ when he was losing the fight if it was something that really hurt or not). Hansen again throws a big punch and misses and Aoki pulls guard. Aoki gets Hansen in the rubber guard. Aoki goes for a submission but misses and Hansen lands some good punches to Aoki. Hansen lands another big punch on Aoki and then hits Aoki with some big punches and the ref stops the fight. Great finish by Hansen. Eddie Alvarez comes in the ring post-fight and congratulates the new champion. Good but surprisingly short fight. Aoki cries after the fight.
Post-fight Hansen says that his first defense will be against Eddie Alvarez. Alvarez comes in the ring and congratulates Hansen again.Caol Uno and Kawajiri also come out and they present the fights with trophies and checks.
Winner: Joachim Hansen by TKO (strikes) R1
In a weekend that was hyped as UFC vs Affliction, DREAM put on the best show and the best fight of the weekend. Alvarez/Kawajiri was just an awesome fight and is definitely the best fight in DREAM so far and a legit FOTY candidate. Aoki/Uno was also very good. Good showings on the fight from Nakamura, Overeem, and Benavidez in under card action. Aoki/Hansen was a solid final and I'm definitely looking forward to Alvarez/Hansen II. This was definitely the best DREAM show so far (even though the first half was better than the second half of the show) and it was the best event this past weekend beating out both Affliction and UFC.
Kenny Rice(man he looks jet lagged) and Bas Rutten are once again the announcers for this show. I like Bas more the more I listen to him. I think he's an acquired taste.
Lightweight Semifinals and Finals are fighting tonight to decide the championship. We've got Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri and Shinya Aoki vs. Caol Uno with the winners facing off later tonight. They hype these fighters as "4 of the Top 11 fighters in the world." I'm guessing Kenny is just talking about lightweight fighters. This should be a fun little tournament as I like all of these guys except Shinya Aoki (so he will probably win).
Lightweight Fight- Daisuke Nakamura (14-9) vs. Andy Ologun (1-0)
Apparently Nakamura just fought 4 days ago at a different show and won by decision. So he either owes someone money or just loves to fight. This match is scheduled for 2 five minute rounds. All other DREAM fights have been 1 ten minute round and 1 five minute round. Ologun has a background in K-1.
R1- Olagun gets a good kick and it takes Nakamura down but Nakamura grabs a leg and then they get back up. Olagun swings wildly and misses 2 big shots. Nakamura pulls guard and gets an arm bar finishes the fight quickly. Really quick fight and a great move by Nakamura. Very exciting opener with a great finish by Nakamura. Nakamura has now won 2 fights in 4 days and 7 of his last 8 fights.
Winner: Daisuke Nakamura by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
Lightweight Tournament Semi-Final Fight- Shinya Aoki (16-2) vs. Caol Uno (25-10-4)
Aoki is hyped as #3 in the world. Uno is hyped as the sentimental favorite. They say that Aoki is a 3 to 1 favorite. Uno is 8 years older than Aoki and Aoki has a 4" height advantage.My prediction is that Aoki lays on top of Uno for 15 minutes and wins a decision but I'm hoping for an Uno win. Uno comes out to a re-mix of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." This match has a good feel to it, looks like it will be fun. They get a pretty even response from the crowd at introductions. Aoki is once again wearing some hideous looking tights.
R1- Long feeling out process at the beginning as they are both waiting for the other to make a move. I wish DREAM showed the time clock but it was at least a minute before the first shot was landed- Aoki hit a jumping knee on Uno up against the ropes. Aoki takes Uno down to the mat. Uno flips him over and is now in Aoki's guard. The crowd chants for Aoki. Uno hits a punch and the ref moves them to the center of the ring. Uno gets in a shot and Aoki tries to get an arm bar and is now wrapping his legs around Uno's looking for a submission. Aoki has a very active guard. Aoki has him in a heel hook. Uno gets out of it but Aoki takes his back. Aoki is like an octopus in this fight so far. Aoki has him in a body lock but is not doing any damage. Uno turns into Aoki and they take a small break to work on Aoki's gloves. Aoki moves back over and takes Uno's back and goes for a Rear Nake Choke. Aoki doesn't get it but he still has his legs wrapped around Uno's midsection. Uno flips over and Aoki catches him in a triangle but I don't think he's got his arm trapped, it looks like basically a head scissors type move. He does actually have his arm trapped and Uno is trying to hold on. Uno gets to his feet with the move still on and Uno buts his knee on Aoki's face to get out but Aoki holds on and rolls him back over. Aoki grabs his arm and rolls him over and Uno is bucking and trying to kick Aoki's back to get out of the move. Uno somehow escapes the move. Great survival by Uno and he is now in Aoki's guard. Uno postures up and is getting some punches in on Aoki. Aoki gets an up kick. The first round end with Uno landing a punch. Fantastic first round. Great mat work by Aoki and great survival instincts by Uno. The chess match these guys had was just great. Aoki is winning the fight so far as he had Uno in several submissions and it felt like he could have gotten a submission on a few of them.
R2- Uno charges in early and Aoki takes Uno's guard. Uno gives up his back trying to get out of Aoki's clutches. Uno delivering some elbows to the side of Aoki trying to get free. Aoki is just kind of holding onto him at this point. Uno turns over and is now in Aoki's guard. Uno needs a knockout here with about 1 minute left. Aoki grabs him and latches on to try and ride Uno to victory. Second round was nowhere near as exciting as the first round as Aoki knew he was ahead in the fight and simply latched on and rode Uno for the last 5 minutes. Still a top notch fight but I'm a little disappointed with Aoki not really trying to finish the fight. Probably still (mostly based on the 1st round) the second best fight DREAM has had so far (Hansen vs. Alvarez is my #1 for this promotion this year).
Winner and advancing to the Finals: Shinya Aoki by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Tournament Semi-Final Fight- Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-4-2) vs. Eddie Alvarez (14-1)
Eddie Alvarez comes out to a song with the "The Champ is Here" line repeating at the beginning. Alvarez does the Pro Wres jump into the ring over the ropes.
R1- Kawajiri landing some kicks early. Alvarez goes in and Kawajiri jumps on top guarding against a take down. They clinch against the ropes and the ref breaks them up. Alvarez misses a punch and Kawajiri gets a good right. Alvarez hits a good combo as he leads with a kick and then hits some quick punches. Alvarez's right eye is really red. Alvarez with some leg kicks. Alvarez with a big combo and Kawajiri is knocked down. They get back up and they are brawling with lots of dirty boxing. Kawajiri lands a nice punch but then slips and they are clinched again. The round is about half way over. Alvarez has a cut on his right eye and the ref stops the fight to look at it.
Kawajiri gets a big punch and knock Alvarez down. Kawajiri is on top and is trying to end the fight and Alvarez has closed his guard. Kawajiri is trying to pass guard but not having much success. Kawajiri passes into the full mount position but Alvarez is still holding his head down. Alvarez muscles to his feet and these guys are swinging wildly with both guys connecting on some shots. Both guys are just laying into each other. Very exciting fight. Kawajiri hitting some knees in the clinch. Alvarez landing some punches and knocks down Kawajiri. Alvarez thinks the fight is over and doesn't pounce on Kawajiri. Alvarez then jumps down and starts to pound on Kawajiri and the ref stops the fight. Alvarez almost makes a huge mistake but ends up winning. Alvarez has a nasty mouse under his eye.
AWESOME fight.
"It's like a Rocky movie"- Bas Rutten
DREAM has just delivered maybe the best 2 consecutive matches this year. It's right up there with Torres/Maeda and then Pulver/Faber from the last WEC show.
Lightweight "Reserve" Fight- Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill (9-7) vs. Joachim "Hell Boy" Hansen (17-7-1)
Gill lost to Kawajiri in the Lightweight Grand Prix and Hansen lost to Alvarez. The winner of this fight would step into the finals if Alvarez or Aoki could not fight. It's a possibility that Alvarez may not be able to with that big mouse under his eye but Kenny Rice doesn't seem to think that it will come to that as he doesn't even mention it as a possibility.
R1- Hansen immediately moves into Gill and Gill clinches him and hits some good knees but Hansen muscles him down and they sprawl. They ref separates them and they re-start. Gill hitting some leg kicks. Gill tries for a take down but Hansen shows good balance and strength staying on his feet but then eventually goes down. Hansen looks like he is going for an arm bar and he gets it and taps Gill. Shorter fight then it felt like it was going to be but a good fight and exciting while it lasted.
Very strong show so far for DREAM.
Winner: Joachim Hansen by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
They show Urijah Faber on the big screen to hype up a fighter that he is training that is fighting next, Joseph Benavidez.
Joseph Benavidez (7-0) vs. Junya “Kodo” Kudo
Faber is in Joseph's corner.
R1- Joe gets a quick take down and takes Kudo's guard. Back to their feet. Joe hits a big slam and is in position to take Kudo's back. Joe takes full mount and Kudo taps to the guillotine. Impressive showing for the Faber trainee Joseph Benavidez.
Winner: Joseph Benavidez by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R1
Middleweight Fight- Kuniyoshi Hironaka (11-5) vs. Motoki Miyazawa (4-0)
R1- Two minutes in, not much action so far. Motoki pulls guard on Hironka. Hironaka gets in a better position and gets some shots in on Motoki. They stand back up and Hironaka looks to be the better fighter on the feet. Motoki has a cut on his left eye and Motoki's nose is bleeding. Hironaka starts to open up on Motoki and the ref stops the fight to look at Motoki's cut just as Hironaka started to get going. The ref stops the fight.
Winner: Kuniyoshi Hironaka by TKO (Cut) R1
Urijah Faber joins Kenny Rice doing an intermission for an interview and they talk about Joseph Benavidez, Aoki/Alvarez, the Alistair Overeem fight coming up and Faber's upcoming fight with Mike Brown.
141 lb Fight- Hideo Tokoro (21-13-1) vs. Takeshi Yamazaki (14-7-2)
R1- Tokoro hits an early low blow on Yamazaki and they take a break. Yamazaki gets the first take down and Tokoro has a very active guard and goes for some submissions. Tokoro gets a big punch after they stand up and jumps on top and pounds on Yamazaki but Yamazaki recovers. Tokoro hits another low blow and they take another break. Gotta love the slow motion instant replay of the low blows. Ouch. They gave a yellow card to Tokoro. Tokoro hurt Yamazaki with two big punches and then got a nice knee in before they clinched and Yamazaki took Tokoro down. Tokoro tried to grab a knee bar but could not. Tokoro then tried to take Yamazaki's back but couldn't. Tokoro trying to get a triangle on Yamazaki but couldn't get it locked it. Decent fight so far but not quite what they were looking for coming out of intermission. Tokoro is winning the fight so far but did get the yellow card for the low blows.
R2- Not a real exciting second round and they kind of limp to a finish. Yamazaki's face looks really beat up after the fight.
Winner: Hideo Tokoro by Decision (Unanimous)
THEY ANNOUNCE THAT EDDIE ALVAREZ CANNOT FIGHT TONIGHT IN THE FINALS DUE TO THE CUT UNDER HIS EYE AND HE WILL BE REPLACED BY JOACHIM HANSEN.
Middleweight Fight- Yoshihiro Akiyama (10-1) vs. Katsuyori Shibata (2-4)
Shibata runs down to the ring and jumps over the ring ropes. This one should be all Akiyama.
R1- Akiyama is apparently going to fight in his full Gi outfit. Long feeling out process. Early leg kicks by Shibata. Not much action as we are three minutes in and all we've got so far are leg kicks by both guys. Shibata seems to be the aggressor and Akiyama seems content to just wait for Shibata to make a mistake. Akiyama missed a gigantic kick that would have taken Shibata's head off and they clinch but Akiyama ends up with the take down. Akiyama moves into full mount and has a weird choke on Shibata and gets the win in about six and a half minutes.
Winner: Yoshihiro Akiyama by TKO (ref stoppage due to choke) R1
Eddie Alvarez is in the ring and his eye is jacked up. They announce that he will not be fighting in the finals tonight against Shinya Aoki. Alvarez breaks up during his in ring promo and his smoking hot girlfriend is sad at ringside. Alvarez says that he's glad that Hansen is his replacement. Alvarez says that he is officially challenging the winner of the fight and that he will be back to fight for the fans here again and that he loves the fans. They show the replay of Kawajiri going for a punch and ending up nailing Alvarez in his eye with an elbow, which caused the huge bruise on Eddie's eye. Alvarez does a back flip off the ropes into the ring to the pop of the crowd before he leaves. Alvarez is a beast, can't wait to see him take on the winner of Aoki/Hansen.
Heavyweight Fight- Alistair Overeem vs. Mark Hunt
Overeem stepped in at the last moment (about 3 days notice) to take this fight. Hunt has not fought since 2006 (against Fedor). Hunt has victories over Cro Cop and Wanderlei Silva in his career.
R1- Hunt gets a quick take down. Hunt passes Overeem's guard but Overeem tries to get an arm bar in and he has it and Hunt taps out in about 1:15. Great showing by Alistair on 3 days notice as he got taken down but adjusted and finished the fight quickly.
Winner: Alistair Overeem by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
Eddie Alvarez joins the announce crew for the finals of the Lightweight GP.
Lightweight GP Title Final: Joachim "Hell Boy" Hansen (18-7-1) vs. Shinya Aoki (17-2)
I'm not a huge fan of a guy who lost already in the tournament stepping in and getting a fight for the title but I think Hansen is deserving as he put up a hell of a fight against Eddie Alvarez in the Quarterfinals. Either way Alvarez will get his re-match with the champ in a show or two. Alvarez is at ringside with his busted eye and his hot girlfriend. Aoki has some different but equally hideous tights on for this fight- they compare him to a bumble-bee.
R1- Hansen swings and misses immediately and Aoki takes him down. Hansen gets a low blow on Aoki and Aoki sells it like death (can't tell with this guy the way he sold that one shot from JZ when he was losing the fight if it was something that really hurt or not). Hansen again throws a big punch and misses and Aoki pulls guard. Aoki gets Hansen in the rubber guard. Aoki goes for a submission but misses and Hansen lands some good punches to Aoki. Hansen lands another big punch on Aoki and then hits Aoki with some big punches and the ref stops the fight. Great finish by Hansen. Eddie Alvarez comes in the ring post-fight and congratulates the new champion. Good but surprisingly short fight. Aoki cries after the fight.
Post-fight Hansen says that his first defense will be against Eddie Alvarez. Alvarez comes in the ring and congratulates Hansen again.Caol Uno and Kawajiri also come out and they present the fights with trophies and checks.
Winner: Joachim Hansen by TKO (strikes) R1
In a weekend that was hyped as UFC vs Affliction, DREAM put on the best show and the best fight of the weekend. Alvarez/Kawajiri was just an awesome fight and is definitely the best fight in DREAM so far and a legit FOTY candidate. Aoki/Uno was also very good. Good showings on the fight from Nakamura, Overeem, and Benavidez in under card action. Aoki/Hansen was a solid final and I'm definitely looking forward to Alvarez/Hansen II. This was definitely the best DREAM show so far (even though the first half was better than the second half of the show) and it was the best event this past weekend beating out both Affliction and UFC.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
UFC 86 Unaired Fights
Jackson vs. Griffin Unaired Fights
Lightweight Fight- Justin Buchholz (8-2) vs. Corey Hill (2-0)
Hill was on the Ultimate Fighter 5 show.
R1- Hill is very tall for a lightweight- 6'4". Hill moves forward a lot in the opening stanza of this fight and he's getting in some decent shots on Buchholz. Corey catches him with some nice shots. Hill hits two nice shots and then catches Buchholz leg on a kick and throws him down and jumps on top. Buchholz back on his feet. Hill again pushes forward and gets some shots in on Buchholz. Buchholz starts to come back and then pulls guard. They exchange some good shots as they are back on their feet. Corey gets in some nice knees and Buchholz looked staggered but came back and missed a shot. Corey knocks him down at the end of the round again. Corey won the first round 10-9. Buchholz had a couple of moments but overall Corey controlled.
Urijah Faber is in Buchholz corner and is giving him advice.
R2- Hill landing some strikes early in the round. Buchholz hit him with a head kick and then a punch and now they are throwing on each other and Hill finally muscles Buchholz down. Hill gets another take down and Buchholz accepts it and pulls guard. Buchholz tried a triangle but Hill avoided it and moved to side control. Buchholz rolls out and gets Corey's back and has a choke and Corey taps out. Corey controlled this fight and Buchholz did the right thing at the right time and won the fight. Good fight and great come back by Buchholz.
Winner: Justin Buchholz by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2
Lightweight Fight- Cole Miller (13-3) vs. Jorge Gurgel (15-3)
Miller has a 4" reach advantage.
R1- Good fight so far. Miller lands some good shots about one and a half minutes into the round. Miller has a decided height advantage (but so did Corey in the last fight). Both guys are getting in about an even number of shots, very even so far. Miller gets some shots in against the cage. Miller lands some knees in the clinch. Gurgel gets a combination and Miller falls against the cage but hangs in there. Pretty good first round. Fairly even.
R2- Both guys really open up on one another at the beginning of this round. Miller gets a take down and Gurgel peppers him with elbows. Miller getting some right hands in on Gurgel. Gurgel counters with elbows. Cole Miller passes guard and has Gurgel in a small package. Gurgel switches positions and then they are back to their feet. Gurgel gets some shots in and then takes down Miller. Really close fight so far as both rounds have been very even. Rich Franklin is in Gurgel's corner.
R3- Gurgel looks excited coming out to start the third round. Gurgel landing some good combinations and lands a nice head kick and then takes Miller down. Both guys swinging away with 90 seconds left. Gurgel with a take down with a minute left. Cole Miller gets a triangle with about 30 seconds left and Gurgel taps with 15 seconds left in the fight. Great finish to a really good fight.
Winner: Cole Miller by Submission (Triangle) R3 4:48
Heavyweight Fight- Gabriel Gonzaga (8-3) vs. Justin McCully (8-3-2)
R1- They trade leg kicks early. Gonzaga gets a big leg kick and takes down McCully. Gonzaga jumps on top and passes guard and hits McCully a couple of times. McCully rolls over and pushes Gonzaga back to half guard. Gonzaga gets full mount and hits some shots and then Gonzaga finishes him with an arm submission. Just a dominant performance by Gonzaga.
Winner: Gabriel Gonzaga by Submission (Kimura) R1 1:57
Lightweight Fight- Justin Buchholz (8-2) vs. Corey Hill (2-0)
Hill was on the Ultimate Fighter 5 show.
R1- Hill is very tall for a lightweight- 6'4". Hill moves forward a lot in the opening stanza of this fight and he's getting in some decent shots on Buchholz. Corey catches him with some nice shots. Hill hits two nice shots and then catches Buchholz leg on a kick and throws him down and jumps on top. Buchholz back on his feet. Hill again pushes forward and gets some shots in on Buchholz. Buchholz starts to come back and then pulls guard. They exchange some good shots as they are back on their feet. Corey gets in some nice knees and Buchholz looked staggered but came back and missed a shot. Corey knocks him down at the end of the round again. Corey won the first round 10-9. Buchholz had a couple of moments but overall Corey controlled.
Urijah Faber is in Buchholz corner and is giving him advice.
R2- Hill landing some strikes early in the round. Buchholz hit him with a head kick and then a punch and now they are throwing on each other and Hill finally muscles Buchholz down. Hill gets another take down and Buchholz accepts it and pulls guard. Buchholz tried a triangle but Hill avoided it and moved to side control. Buchholz rolls out and gets Corey's back and has a choke and Corey taps out. Corey controlled this fight and Buchholz did the right thing at the right time and won the fight. Good fight and great come back by Buchholz.
Winner: Justin Buchholz by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2
Lightweight Fight- Cole Miller (13-3) vs. Jorge Gurgel (15-3)
Miller has a 4" reach advantage.
R1- Good fight so far. Miller lands some good shots about one and a half minutes into the round. Miller has a decided height advantage (but so did Corey in the last fight). Both guys are getting in about an even number of shots, very even so far. Miller gets some shots in against the cage. Miller lands some knees in the clinch. Gurgel gets a combination and Miller falls against the cage but hangs in there. Pretty good first round. Fairly even.
R2- Both guys really open up on one another at the beginning of this round. Miller gets a take down and Gurgel peppers him with elbows. Miller getting some right hands in on Gurgel. Gurgel counters with elbows. Cole Miller passes guard and has Gurgel in a small package. Gurgel switches positions and then they are back to their feet. Gurgel gets some shots in and then takes down Miller. Really close fight so far as both rounds have been very even. Rich Franklin is in Gurgel's corner.
R3- Gurgel looks excited coming out to start the third round. Gurgel landing some good combinations and lands a nice head kick and then takes Miller down. Both guys swinging away with 90 seconds left. Gurgel with a take down with a minute left. Cole Miller gets a triangle with about 30 seconds left and Gurgel taps with 15 seconds left in the fight. Great finish to a really good fight.
Winner: Cole Miller by Submission (Triangle) R3 4:48
Heavyweight Fight- Gabriel Gonzaga (8-3) vs. Justin McCully (8-3-2)
R1- They trade leg kicks early. Gonzaga gets a big leg kick and takes down McCully. Gonzaga jumps on top and passes guard and hits McCully a couple of times. McCully rolls over and pushes Gonzaga back to half guard. Gonzaga gets full mount and hits some shots and then Gonzaga finishes him with an arm submission. Just a dominant performance by Gonzaga.
Winner: Gabriel Gonzaga by Submission (Kimura) R1 1:57
Monday, July 21, 2008
Affliction Banned 7/19 PPV Re-Cap
Affliction Banned PPV
Affliction is really throwing money at this PPV as they have Michael Buffer doing the ring announcing and Megadeth starting off the show playing on stage. The music isn't very good but they have the fighters walking through the stage towards the ring and lining up on the stage which is a cool visual.
Jay Glazer and Frank Trigg are the two announcers. As i've previously stated they could have really used a Mauro Ranallo, Mike Goldberg and/or Lon McEachern type guy to anchor the broadcast.
Welterweight Fight- Mike Pyle (16-5-1) vs. JJ Ambrose(9-1)
R1- Pyle gets a take down about a minute into the fight and quickly mounts. Ambrose gives up his back. Pyle is just getting dominated and Pyle taps him quickly. Definitely a mismatch here. Very Elite XC squash feel to this fight to start off the night. Pyle looked good but Ambrose was fighting outside of his talent level. Good fight to put Pyle over for the next show, not so much for Ambrose as he didn't even contend. Decent opener as I'm sure that they didn't want to start out with a fight like Goodridge/Buentello had or have a fight go the distance to begin the first PPV.
Winner: Mike Pyle by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 2:51
Light Heavyweight Fight- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (13-3) vs. Edwin Dewees (35-12)
Frank Trigg says that Dewees is over matched going into this fight. Not much of a way to make me want to see them fight. This Nogueira is the brother of the UFC Heavyweight Champ.
R1- Slow start with Dewees hitting some leg kicks and circling Nog. Nog finally gets a take down (more like Dewees fell into the ropes and Nog took advantage). Nog got some shots in but then let Dewees back up. Nog gets a Muy Thai clinch and gets some shots in and then starts leveling Dewees in the corner and lights him up and lands more shots on him on the ground and Herb Dean stops the fight. Another match that felt like a "showcase" for one fighter and not really a competitive fight. Nothing wrong with that as long as they follow up at some point by giving these guys better fights. The only thing is that Ambrose and Dewees kind of come off as jobbers by not putting up much of a fight.
Winner: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by TKO (strikes) R1 4:06
Middleweight Fight- Fabio Negao (8-3) vs. Matt Lindland (20-5)
R1- Linland pops him about 10 seconds in and Negao folds and then Lindland grabs a guillotine and Negao looks like he is going to tap. Negao finally gets out of the move after about a minute and a half. Lindland hit a double fist shot and then a head butt (which he got a warning for). With one minute left Negao finally gets back to his feet. Both guys looking tired at the end of the round. Lindland is throwing some weak shots at this point. Lindland dominated this round but then really gassed at the end of the round. Lindland 10-9 (almost a 10-8 but Negao actually got in a couple of shots in the last minute after Lindland ran out of breath). Negao didn't show much offense but he survived and Lindland seems to be running out of gas.
R2- Negao gets in some shots here in Round 2. Lindland manages to get a take down about 2 minutes into the round. Lindland controls the rest of the round on the ground but never looked like he was going to finish Negao. Right now i've got Lindland 20-18.
R3- Both guys look really tired in this round. If either guy was in there with a younger in shape fighter that they would probably get finished here pretty quickly. Really sloppy looking fighting in this round as both guys are just dead tired. It's like they are fighting in slow motion. Lindland gets a take down that take Negao out of the ring (they need to do a better job of making sure that the ring is set up to ensure that this doesn't happen).
Lindland looked like a world better in the first 2 minutes and after that this was a very hard fight to watch with two fighters that didn't seem to have the proper conditioning needed. Lindland is going to take this 30-27. Really hard fight to watch. Not really looking forward to seeing these two guys fight anytime soon.
Winner: Matt Lindland by Decision (Unanimous)
"Still one of the top middleweights in the world, your winner Matt Lindland"- Big John McCarthy
Nice job toeing the company line but that fight probably doesn't even get Lindland in the Top 50 Middleweights in the world right now. Maybe once he gets back in ring shape but if he was in there against anyone in the Top 20 he would have been defeated easily at the end of the first round when he started to gas or in the second round.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Renato "Babalu" Sobral (29-7) vs. Mike Whitehead (21-5)
Whitehead is fighting out of Extreme Couture. It seems like at least one fighter from each fight has trained at Extreme Couture so far.
R1- They stand up for the first 4 and a half minutes and it's pretty even but doesn't really hold my attention. Babalu gets a quick take down but Whitehead pops back up.
R2- Whitehead gets a take down with 2 minutes gone in the round but Babalu looked like he wanted to be in the guard. Another decent round that just really didn't catch my attention. Babalu grabs an arm submission but Whitehead again gets out of it.
R3- They have another take down in this round that goes outside of the ring. Affliction really needs to fix this issue as it could end in somebody getting hurt. A minute or so later this happens again and the fight is stopped for a minute. Babalu grabs a guillotine with 2 and a half minutes left but Whitehead escapes and is in Babalu's guard.
Undertaker is shown at ringside.Overall this just wasn't a very exciting fight. Babalu started to get the crowd into it late but overall it fell flat. I've got nothing against a fight being inside a ring instead of a cage but the ring ropes need to be fixed and be sturdier as they really halted a lot of momentum in this fight.
Judges score cards are: 30-27 on all score cards.
Winner: Renato "Babalu" Sobral by Decision (Unanimous)
Donald Trump is shown at ringside sitting next to Tito Ortiz and Jenna Jameson and in front of Steve Austin.
Four fights left. So far this has been a very lackluster PPV. The remaining four fights all have promise though so hopefully they will finish up strong.
Featherweight Fight- Mark Hominick (15-8) vs. Savant Young (9-7)
Homnick is working with Extreme Couture, shocking isn't it?
R1- I think the fact that they are using an over sized ring is actually discouraging action as it gives guys more room to move around and stay away from their opponent. Decent first round but still felt kind of flat to me.
R2- Young gets a take down with two minutes left in the round. Hominick tries to get a triangle but Young slams him. Hominick tries an arm bar and then switches back to try a triangle but can't seem to lock in anything like he wants to. Hominick finally gets his submission as Young taps to the arm bar.
This was a decent fight and probably the best on the show so far, which isn't saying much so far.
Winner: Mark Homnick by Submission (Arm Bar) 4:25
Megadeth plays another song. Fast Forward...
Heavyweight Fight- Josh Barnett (22-5) vs. Pedro Rizzo (16-7)
R1- Decent first round but kind of pedestrian. Seemed like more of a boxing match than a MMA fight.
R2- Out of nowhere Barnett just nails Rizzo and Rizzo falls back on his face knocked out. Nice finish by Barnett.
Winner: Josh Barnett by KO R2 1:44
Heavyweight Fight- Andrei Arlovski (12-5) vs. Ben Rothwell (29-5)
Arlovski gets a good reaction.
R1- Arlovski gets a take down with about 2 and a half minutes left and then attempts a heel hook but Rothwell gets out. Arlovski got some good shots in with about a minute left in the round. Arlvoski takes Round 1 10-9. Best round of the night so far one could argue.
R2- They mix it up pretty good at the beginning of the round and Arlovski goes to town on him but Rothwell hands on and then Arlovski takes him down. Arlovski went for the heel hook again and missed and Rothwell took Arlovski's guard. Rothwell's nose is busted open and he's bleeding all over Arlovski's chest. They stand the fight back up and Arlovski is all over Rothwell and Arlovski nails him with a knee. Great finish in this round by Arlovski to win the round. Arlovski is up 20-18
R3- They start off the round with clinching. Arlovski nails Rothwell with a big right hand and then a short combo and takes out Rothwell.
This was a good fight. Really the first fight on this show that I would classify as more than mediocre. Good showing by Arlovski as he sets himself up for a possible meeting with the winner of Fedor/Sylvia and/or Barnett.
Winner:Andrei Arlovski R3 1:13
Michael Buffer takes time to announce celebrities at ringside such as Michael Strahan, James Toney, Korn, Don Johnson, Bill Goldberg, Rob Schneider, Manny Ramirez (gets boos). While they introduce Donald Trump, Michael Madsen is standing right behind him but gets no love (I guess Buffer feels that Don Johnson is greater than Reservoir Dogs).
Megadeth plays again. Fast Forward...
Wamma Heavyweight Title Fight- Fedor Emelianenko (27-1) vs. Tim Sylvia (24-4)
Sylvia gets a round of boos when he is introduced. Fedor gets a decent round of applause.
R1- Fedor immediately hits Sylvia with about 8 quick punches and Sylvia goes down and then Fedor jumps on him and lands several shots and then Rear Naked Chokes him for the tap out victory. Just total decimation by Fedor. Great showing by Fedor as he definitely cemented his status as the top Heavyweight in the world and arguably the best fighter in the world.
Winner: Fedor Emelianenko by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1
Overall, a very lukewarm start for Affliction. They finished good with the Arlovski fight and the Fedor fight and Barnett put on a good showing but overall it was a very pedestrian night of fighting. It's tough to be too harsh on Affliction since this is their first PPV but I just didn't think this was a PPV quality event. The good news is that they have a lot of talent on the roster that they used like Fedor, Arlovski, Barnett, Babalu and Lil Nog. They definitely need to fix the ring so that fighters don't fall out of it. They also need to get a Play-By-Play Announcer because Jay Glazer just didn't do it for me. He would be decent as a third guy in the booth but he can't anchor the PPV. Trigg was decent enough and would probably be a lot better with someone better to play off of. It was kind of surreal the way they played the entire night around Randy Couture in that he was one of the first guys on the broadcast, his fighters fought all night long and then Fedor said that he would like to fight him during his post-match interview. They even bring Randy Couture to the middle of the ring and ask him he he wants to fight Fedor- to which he says he does.
Affliction is really throwing money at this PPV as they have Michael Buffer doing the ring announcing and Megadeth starting off the show playing on stage. The music isn't very good but they have the fighters walking through the stage towards the ring and lining up on the stage which is a cool visual.
Jay Glazer and Frank Trigg are the two announcers. As i've previously stated they could have really used a Mauro Ranallo, Mike Goldberg and/or Lon McEachern type guy to anchor the broadcast.
Welterweight Fight- Mike Pyle (16-5-1) vs. JJ Ambrose(9-1)
R1- Pyle gets a take down about a minute into the fight and quickly mounts. Ambrose gives up his back. Pyle is just getting dominated and Pyle taps him quickly. Definitely a mismatch here. Very Elite XC squash feel to this fight to start off the night. Pyle looked good but Ambrose was fighting outside of his talent level. Good fight to put Pyle over for the next show, not so much for Ambrose as he didn't even contend. Decent opener as I'm sure that they didn't want to start out with a fight like Goodridge/Buentello had or have a fight go the distance to begin the first PPV.
Winner: Mike Pyle by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 2:51
Light Heavyweight Fight- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (13-3) vs. Edwin Dewees (35-12)
Frank Trigg says that Dewees is over matched going into this fight. Not much of a way to make me want to see them fight. This Nogueira is the brother of the UFC Heavyweight Champ.
R1- Slow start with Dewees hitting some leg kicks and circling Nog. Nog finally gets a take down (more like Dewees fell into the ropes and Nog took advantage). Nog got some shots in but then let Dewees back up. Nog gets a Muy Thai clinch and gets some shots in and then starts leveling Dewees in the corner and lights him up and lands more shots on him on the ground and Herb Dean stops the fight. Another match that felt like a "showcase" for one fighter and not really a competitive fight. Nothing wrong with that as long as they follow up at some point by giving these guys better fights. The only thing is that Ambrose and Dewees kind of come off as jobbers by not putting up much of a fight.
Winner: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by TKO (strikes) R1 4:06
Middleweight Fight- Fabio Negao (8-3) vs. Matt Lindland (20-5)
R1- Linland pops him about 10 seconds in and Negao folds and then Lindland grabs a guillotine and Negao looks like he is going to tap. Negao finally gets out of the move after about a minute and a half. Lindland hit a double fist shot and then a head butt (which he got a warning for). With one minute left Negao finally gets back to his feet. Both guys looking tired at the end of the round. Lindland is throwing some weak shots at this point. Lindland dominated this round but then really gassed at the end of the round. Lindland 10-9 (almost a 10-8 but Negao actually got in a couple of shots in the last minute after Lindland ran out of breath). Negao didn't show much offense but he survived and Lindland seems to be running out of gas.
R2- Negao gets in some shots here in Round 2. Lindland manages to get a take down about 2 minutes into the round. Lindland controls the rest of the round on the ground but never looked like he was going to finish Negao. Right now i've got Lindland 20-18.
R3- Both guys look really tired in this round. If either guy was in there with a younger in shape fighter that they would probably get finished here pretty quickly. Really sloppy looking fighting in this round as both guys are just dead tired. It's like they are fighting in slow motion. Lindland gets a take down that take Negao out of the ring (they need to do a better job of making sure that the ring is set up to ensure that this doesn't happen).
Lindland looked like a world better in the first 2 minutes and after that this was a very hard fight to watch with two fighters that didn't seem to have the proper conditioning needed. Lindland is going to take this 30-27. Really hard fight to watch. Not really looking forward to seeing these two guys fight anytime soon.
Winner: Matt Lindland by Decision (Unanimous)
"Still one of the top middleweights in the world, your winner Matt Lindland"- Big John McCarthy
Nice job toeing the company line but that fight probably doesn't even get Lindland in the Top 50 Middleweights in the world right now. Maybe once he gets back in ring shape but if he was in there against anyone in the Top 20 he would have been defeated easily at the end of the first round when he started to gas or in the second round.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Renato "Babalu" Sobral (29-7) vs. Mike Whitehead (21-5)
Whitehead is fighting out of Extreme Couture. It seems like at least one fighter from each fight has trained at Extreme Couture so far.
R1- They stand up for the first 4 and a half minutes and it's pretty even but doesn't really hold my attention. Babalu gets a quick take down but Whitehead pops back up.
R2- Whitehead gets a take down with 2 minutes gone in the round but Babalu looked like he wanted to be in the guard. Another decent round that just really didn't catch my attention. Babalu grabs an arm submission but Whitehead again gets out of it.
R3- They have another take down in this round that goes outside of the ring. Affliction really needs to fix this issue as it could end in somebody getting hurt. A minute or so later this happens again and the fight is stopped for a minute. Babalu grabs a guillotine with 2 and a half minutes left but Whitehead escapes and is in Babalu's guard.
Undertaker is shown at ringside.Overall this just wasn't a very exciting fight. Babalu started to get the crowd into it late but overall it fell flat. I've got nothing against a fight being inside a ring instead of a cage but the ring ropes need to be fixed and be sturdier as they really halted a lot of momentum in this fight.
Judges score cards are: 30-27 on all score cards.
Winner: Renato "Babalu" Sobral by Decision (Unanimous)
Donald Trump is shown at ringside sitting next to Tito Ortiz and Jenna Jameson and in front of Steve Austin.
Four fights left. So far this has been a very lackluster PPV. The remaining four fights all have promise though so hopefully they will finish up strong.
Featherweight Fight- Mark Hominick (15-8) vs. Savant Young (9-7)
Homnick is working with Extreme Couture, shocking isn't it?
R1- I think the fact that they are using an over sized ring is actually discouraging action as it gives guys more room to move around and stay away from their opponent. Decent first round but still felt kind of flat to me.
R2- Young gets a take down with two minutes left in the round. Hominick tries to get a triangle but Young slams him. Hominick tries an arm bar and then switches back to try a triangle but can't seem to lock in anything like he wants to. Hominick finally gets his submission as Young taps to the arm bar.
This was a decent fight and probably the best on the show so far, which isn't saying much so far.
Winner: Mark Homnick by Submission (Arm Bar) 4:25
Megadeth plays another song. Fast Forward...
Heavyweight Fight- Josh Barnett (22-5) vs. Pedro Rizzo (16-7)
R1- Decent first round but kind of pedestrian. Seemed like more of a boxing match than a MMA fight.
R2- Out of nowhere Barnett just nails Rizzo and Rizzo falls back on his face knocked out. Nice finish by Barnett.
Winner: Josh Barnett by KO R2 1:44
Heavyweight Fight- Andrei Arlovski (12-5) vs. Ben Rothwell (29-5)
Arlovski gets a good reaction.
R1- Arlovski gets a take down with about 2 and a half minutes left and then attempts a heel hook but Rothwell gets out. Arlovski got some good shots in with about a minute left in the round. Arlvoski takes Round 1 10-9. Best round of the night so far one could argue.
R2- They mix it up pretty good at the beginning of the round and Arlovski goes to town on him but Rothwell hands on and then Arlovski takes him down. Arlovski went for the heel hook again and missed and Rothwell took Arlovski's guard. Rothwell's nose is busted open and he's bleeding all over Arlovski's chest. They stand the fight back up and Arlovski is all over Rothwell and Arlovski nails him with a knee. Great finish in this round by Arlovski to win the round. Arlovski is up 20-18
R3- They start off the round with clinching. Arlovski nails Rothwell with a big right hand and then a short combo and takes out Rothwell.
This was a good fight. Really the first fight on this show that I would classify as more than mediocre. Good showing by Arlovski as he sets himself up for a possible meeting with the winner of Fedor/Sylvia and/or Barnett.
Winner:Andrei Arlovski R3 1:13
Michael Buffer takes time to announce celebrities at ringside such as Michael Strahan, James Toney, Korn, Don Johnson, Bill Goldberg, Rob Schneider, Manny Ramirez (gets boos). While they introduce Donald Trump, Michael Madsen is standing right behind him but gets no love (I guess Buffer feels that Don Johnson is greater than Reservoir Dogs).
Megadeth plays again. Fast Forward...
Wamma Heavyweight Title Fight- Fedor Emelianenko (27-1) vs. Tim Sylvia (24-4)
Sylvia gets a round of boos when he is introduced. Fedor gets a decent round of applause.
R1- Fedor immediately hits Sylvia with about 8 quick punches and Sylvia goes down and then Fedor jumps on him and lands several shots and then Rear Naked Chokes him for the tap out victory. Just total decimation by Fedor. Great showing by Fedor as he definitely cemented his status as the top Heavyweight in the world and arguably the best fighter in the world.
Winner: Fedor Emelianenko by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1
Overall, a very lukewarm start for Affliction. They finished good with the Arlovski fight and the Fedor fight and Barnett put on a good showing but overall it was a very pedestrian night of fighting. It's tough to be too harsh on Affliction since this is their first PPV but I just didn't think this was a PPV quality event. The good news is that they have a lot of talent on the roster that they used like Fedor, Arlovski, Barnett, Babalu and Lil Nog. They definitely need to fix the ring so that fighters don't fall out of it. They also need to get a Play-By-Play Announcer because Jay Glazer just didn't do it for me. He would be decent as a third guy in the booth but he can't anchor the PPV. Trigg was decent enough and would probably be a lot better with someone better to play off of. It was kind of surreal the way they played the entire night around Randy Couture in that he was one of the first guys on the broadcast, his fighters fought all night long and then Fedor said that he would like to fight him during his post-match interview. They even bring Randy Couture to the middle of the ring and ask him he he wants to fight Fedor- to which he says he does.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Affliction LIVE! on FSN Re-Cap
They hype that they have 5 of the Top 10 Heavyweights in the world in action tonight and then show their “Consenus Top 10 Heavyweights”
1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
3. Randy Couture
4. Tim Sylvia
5. Josh Barnett
6. Andrei Arlovski
7. Fabricio Werdum
8. Gabriel Gonzaga
9. Ben Rothwell
10. Aleksander Emelianenko
Jay Glazer and Frank Trigg are the announcers and they announce immediately that Aleksander Emelianenko will not be fighting due to not being licensed to fight in the States.
Heavyweight Fight- Gary Goodridge vs. Paul Buentello
They join this fight in Round 2. I’ve only seem 2 Paul Buentello fights and in one of them he got destroyed by Alistair Overeem and tapped out to strikes. Affliction is using a ring (like Pride) instead of a cage like UFC.
R2- Buentello caught Goodridge with a flurry at the end of the round but didn’t finish. Not a real exciting fight so far based on the round that they showed.
R3- Jay Glazer talks about Buentello puking before the round and says that he pukes before every fight (this is the part of MMA that I don’t need to know about). This one kind of limps to a draw.Not a good fight to introduce new fans to Affliction.
Winner: Paul Buentello by Decision (Unanimous)
Middleweight Fight- Vitor Belfort vs. Terry Martin
R1- Randy Couture is in Belfort’s corner. Pretty close fight. The first round was pretty good, definitely better than the first fight and was very even. Seemed almost dead even to me.
R2- Pretty even to start out. Terry Martin gets a take down with about 3 and a half minutes left in the round when he caught a Vitor kick. Vitor gets out without much damage. Vitor hit him with a flying knee at 2 minutes and then knocked him out about 10 seconds later. Nice finish by Vitor. Martin looked decent up until that point and Vitor looked really good.
Winner: Vitor Belfort by KO R2
Next up they have Big John McCarthy interview Vitor. Then they interview Randy Couture.
I’m not a big fan of the Glazer/Trigg tandem so far. I know that they wanted to have Mauro Ranallo but couldn’t due to his Elite XC contract. IMO (even though some people don’t like him) I think Ranallo (or someone like him) would have added a lot to the presentation and announcing. Overall, this wasn’t really a good show from the standpoint that it wouldn’t sell PPVs IMO. Belfort/Martin was a pretty good fight. They heavyweight fight wasn’t very good. Overall, I think that the show tonight will be pretty solid but this FSN portion of the show to me was not a real good intro to Affliction.
1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
3. Randy Couture
4. Tim Sylvia
5. Josh Barnett
6. Andrei Arlovski
7. Fabricio Werdum
8. Gabriel Gonzaga
9. Ben Rothwell
10. Aleksander Emelianenko
Jay Glazer and Frank Trigg are the announcers and they announce immediately that Aleksander Emelianenko will not be fighting due to not being licensed to fight in the States.
Heavyweight Fight- Gary Goodridge vs. Paul Buentello
They join this fight in Round 2. I’ve only seem 2 Paul Buentello fights and in one of them he got destroyed by Alistair Overeem and tapped out to strikes. Affliction is using a ring (like Pride) instead of a cage like UFC.
R2- Buentello caught Goodridge with a flurry at the end of the round but didn’t finish. Not a real exciting fight so far based on the round that they showed.
R3- Jay Glazer talks about Buentello puking before the round and says that he pukes before every fight (this is the part of MMA that I don’t need to know about). This one kind of limps to a draw.Not a good fight to introduce new fans to Affliction.
Winner: Paul Buentello by Decision (Unanimous)
Middleweight Fight- Vitor Belfort vs. Terry Martin
R1- Randy Couture is in Belfort’s corner. Pretty close fight. The first round was pretty good, definitely better than the first fight and was very even. Seemed almost dead even to me.
R2- Pretty even to start out. Terry Martin gets a take down with about 3 and a half minutes left in the round when he caught a Vitor kick. Vitor gets out without much damage. Vitor hit him with a flying knee at 2 minutes and then knocked him out about 10 seconds later. Nice finish by Vitor. Martin looked decent up until that point and Vitor looked really good.
Winner: Vitor Belfort by KO R2
Next up they have Big John McCarthy interview Vitor. Then they interview Randy Couture.
I’m not a big fan of the Glazer/Trigg tandem so far. I know that they wanted to have Mauro Ranallo but couldn’t due to his Elite XC contract. IMO (even though some people don’t like him) I think Ranallo (or someone like him) would have added a lot to the presentation and announcing. Overall, this wasn’t really a good show from the standpoint that it wouldn’t sell PPVs IMO. Belfort/Martin was a pretty good fight. They heavyweight fight wasn’t very good. Overall, I think that the show tonight will be pretty solid but this FSN portion of the show to me was not a real good intro to Affliction.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Pride Bushido Volume 5 Re-Cap/Thoughts
Pride Fighting Championships Bushido Volume 5
October 14, 2004
Mauro Ranallo and Baz Rutten are the hosts/announcers of this show. Pride fights are two rounds. The first round is 10 minutes and the second round is 5 minutes. The fights are judged on the entire fight and not on individual rounds so there is no scoring system. Another big difference between Pride and UFC (besides that this takes place in a ring instead of a cage) is that they allow knees to grounded opponents in Pride.
Yasuhito Namekawa vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
Rua is 2-0 in Pride and Yasuhito is 1-0 in Pride.
R1- Shogun charges right at him and hits him with a knee. They clinch and Shogun is hitting some knees. Shogun gets a take down into the corner. They get back up but Shogun knocks him down and Shogun is hitting some right hands. Shogun is dominating early. Shogun takes his back but Yasuhito flips over and gets in Shogun’s guard. Shogun quickly gets the fight back under control and is now in Yasuhito’s guard. Shogun gets side control. Yasuhito gets up but then is quickly knocked down and Shogun is just picking him apart. Shogun with kicks and punches. Shogun gets full mount and Yasuhito gives up his back. Shogun gives up the position and gets some nice kicks in and then gets back on top and is hitting some strikes. Shogun is just dominating. Shogun in full mount and again takes the back. Yasuhito’s face is a wreck. Shogun nails Yasuhito with two strong kicks to the face and then a punch and the ref finally ends this one.Shogun just looked awesome here and destroyed his opponent.
Winner: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua by TKO (ref stoppage) R1
Henry “Sentoryu” Miller vs. Mal Foki
Mal Foki has a twin brother that is also a fighter and Mauro interviews them backstage. Baz interviews Miller. This is a Heavyweight Fight. Both guys look really thick. Miller is over 300 pounds. This is Mal’s Pride debut, he is 5-2 overall so far. Miller is 0-1 in Pride fights.
R1- They are swinging early and Foki goes down quickly and this one is over. Sentoryu finished Foki quickly. This fight went about 30 seconds. Miller just hit him with a big right hook and then nailed a couple of punches on the ground and the ref stopped the fight as Foki was basically curled up in the fetal position.Sakuraba is shown at ringside after the fight is over.
Winner: Henry “Sentoryu” Miller by TKO (strikes) R1
Luiz “Buscape” Firmino vs. Masakazu Imanari
Buscape is currently working for the DREAM promotion in Japan (he lost to Kawajiri in the second round of their lightweight tournament). He is 1-0 in Pride fights going into this fight. He’s only 22 years old. This is Imanari’s debut in Pride.
R1- Buscape comes in immediately with a flying knee but it’s ducked and they take this one to the ground early. Imanari almost gets an arm bar early. Buscape is controlling the fight early but not doing a lot of damage. He is getting in some strikes. Buscape gets a choke in but Iminari reverses with an arm bar and Buscape releases. The second half of the round had Buscape dominating in terms of ring control but not doing a whole lot of damage. Buscape definitely in control and winning the fight so far.
R2- Iminari looking to get a leg submission on Buscape but is having trouble getting in position. Buscape gets a nice soccer kick to Iminari’s head. Iminari is trying to get low on Buscape and Buscape is hitting some good leg kicks. Not a tremendously entertaining fight but Buscape looked good.
Winner: Luiz “Buscape” Firmino by Decision (Unanimous)
Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Ryuki Ueyama
R1- Minowa controls the first round as he spends the majority of the round on top of Ryuki and in a dominate position. Ryuki gets a reversal with about two minutes left in the round and he gets some shots in on Minowa but Minowa again gains the dominant position at the end of the round.
R2- Ueyama controls this round as he tries for some submissions but has not been able to finish. Overall, this was a very bland but even fight. Minowa controlled the first round and Ueyama the second. So it’s pretty much Minowa controlling 9 minutes to Ueyama about 6. No one really inflicted much damage on their opponents. Decision will probably go to Minowa.
Winner: Ikuhisa Minowa by Decision (Split)
Heavyweight Fight- Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Shamoji Fujii
R1- Long feeling out process. Fujii tries a take down but Igor stuffs it and delivers some knees. Igor gets the first take down of the fight. Fujii gets a red card for basically being Igor’s punching bag (this means Fujii gets docked 10% of his purse) and the ref stands them back up. Igor knocks Fujii down with a couple of punches and finishes him with a soccer kick. Igor looked great in this fight.
Winner: Igor Vovchanchun by TKO (ref stoppage due to strikes)
Carlos Newton vs. Ryo Chonan
R1- Newton gets an immediate take down. Newton gets full mount and gets some Ground and Pound but Chonan rolls him over. Newton grabs an arm bar but Chonan turns out of the move. Chonan settles the fight down and is in Newton’s guard and is getting in some shots as Newton defends. Newton gets to his feet and Newton tries a take down but Chonan ends up on top. This is a pretty good fight so far. Much more active than the last fight. Newton gets an arm bar and Chonon hangs on and then turns into it and escapes. Great survival by Chonan. Newton sustains full mount but Chonan flips him over and postures up and gets some shots in on Newton. Chonan getting in some good shots and gets full mount. Newton pushes him off and Chonan tries for an arm bar but Newton gets out of the move. Chonan looks real good so far hand he’s got the advantage in the fight so far.
R2- They open up this round with some stand up and Chonan has him against the ropes and is laying into him with punches and knees. Chonan looks like he is going to finish this fight and Newton grabs a knee to try and survive. Chonan with more knees. Newton somehow takes Chonan’s back. The fight is stood up after Newton doesn’t do anything with the advantage. Chonon gets some strikes in on the ropes and hits him with a bunch of shots. Newton crumples to the ground and Chonan takes side control. One minute left in the fight. Chonan with a big knee to the head. Chonan with full mount and gets some Ground and Pound in and the fight ends with Chonan on top and pounding on Newton. Chonan clearly won this fight and looked very good in the process.
Winner: Ryo Chonan by Decision (Unanimous)
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Crosley Gracie
Sakurai is 2-1 in Pride and this is Gracie’s debut.
R1- They wage a stand up battle at the beginning of the fight with neither guy being dominant but a slight edge to Mach. They go to the ground and Mach controls early but then Gracie gets on top and does some damage. They stand back up and Gracie gets a take down after some back and forth stand up action. Gracie controls on the ground until the bell rings. Gracie won the first round, it will be interesting to see what happens in the second round.
R2- Gracie gets an immediate take down at the beginning of the round. Gracie quickly mounts and is getting in some punches although Mach is defending well. Mach gives up his back and Gracie goes for an arm bar and gets it and gets the tap. Nice move and good showing for Gracie.
Winner: Crosley Gracie by Submission (arm bar) R2 2:09
Takanori Gomi vs. Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett
This is Bennett’s debut in Pride and Gomi is undefeated in Pride. This is tonight’s Main Event. Bas Rutten says that the fight will not go five minutes with explosive action.
R1- Charles Bennett jumps up on the turnbuckle and sits down for the first 5 seconds of the fight. Both guys swing with some wild shots. Gomi gets a take down and immediately mounts but Bennett escapes. They clinch and Gomi gets another take down. Gomi takes his back but Bennett sprawls out again. They mix it up on their feet. Gomi hits a big shot and then gets a slam take down. Gomi hits a big knee to Bennett’s head. Gomi gets a weird arm bar but releases and Bennett gets a big side suplex on Gomi. They are standing up and Gomi hits some knees and a shot and gets another take down. Gomi mounts again and gets some good shots. Both guys look winded. Gomi gets some Ground and Pound. They reach the five minute mark, so 5 minutes left in the round. Gomi gives up the mount and takes side control and grabs a kimura and it look like Gomi is going to break his arm but Bennett spins out and then finally the ref calls for the bell. Really good fight, definitely the fight of the night. Gomi looked like a champ and Bennett hung in there and had a good showing.
Winner: Takanori Gomi by Ref Stoppage (Kimura) R1
Verdict:
This was a pretty decent show capped off by a good Main Event in Gomi/Bennett. A couple of stand-outs from the show (besides the Main Event) were Shogun Rua, Crosley Gracie and Ryo Chonan.
October 14, 2004
Mauro Ranallo and Baz Rutten are the hosts/announcers of this show. Pride fights are two rounds. The first round is 10 minutes and the second round is 5 minutes. The fights are judged on the entire fight and not on individual rounds so there is no scoring system. Another big difference between Pride and UFC (besides that this takes place in a ring instead of a cage) is that they allow knees to grounded opponents in Pride.
Yasuhito Namekawa vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
Rua is 2-0 in Pride and Yasuhito is 1-0 in Pride.
R1- Shogun charges right at him and hits him with a knee. They clinch and Shogun is hitting some knees. Shogun gets a take down into the corner. They get back up but Shogun knocks him down and Shogun is hitting some right hands. Shogun is dominating early. Shogun takes his back but Yasuhito flips over and gets in Shogun’s guard. Shogun quickly gets the fight back under control and is now in Yasuhito’s guard. Shogun gets side control. Yasuhito gets up but then is quickly knocked down and Shogun is just picking him apart. Shogun with kicks and punches. Shogun gets full mount and Yasuhito gives up his back. Shogun gives up the position and gets some nice kicks in and then gets back on top and is hitting some strikes. Shogun is just dominating. Shogun in full mount and again takes the back. Yasuhito’s face is a wreck. Shogun nails Yasuhito with two strong kicks to the face and then a punch and the ref finally ends this one.Shogun just looked awesome here and destroyed his opponent.
Winner: Mauricio “Shogun” Rua by TKO (ref stoppage) R1
Henry “Sentoryu” Miller vs. Mal Foki
Mal Foki has a twin brother that is also a fighter and Mauro interviews them backstage. Baz interviews Miller. This is a Heavyweight Fight. Both guys look really thick. Miller is over 300 pounds. This is Mal’s Pride debut, he is 5-2 overall so far. Miller is 0-1 in Pride fights.
R1- They are swinging early and Foki goes down quickly and this one is over. Sentoryu finished Foki quickly. This fight went about 30 seconds. Miller just hit him with a big right hook and then nailed a couple of punches on the ground and the ref stopped the fight as Foki was basically curled up in the fetal position.Sakuraba is shown at ringside after the fight is over.
Winner: Henry “Sentoryu” Miller by TKO (strikes) R1
Luiz “Buscape” Firmino vs. Masakazu Imanari
Buscape is currently working for the DREAM promotion in Japan (he lost to Kawajiri in the second round of their lightweight tournament). He is 1-0 in Pride fights going into this fight. He’s only 22 years old. This is Imanari’s debut in Pride.
R1- Buscape comes in immediately with a flying knee but it’s ducked and they take this one to the ground early. Imanari almost gets an arm bar early. Buscape is controlling the fight early but not doing a lot of damage. He is getting in some strikes. Buscape gets a choke in but Iminari reverses with an arm bar and Buscape releases. The second half of the round had Buscape dominating in terms of ring control but not doing a whole lot of damage. Buscape definitely in control and winning the fight so far.
R2- Iminari looking to get a leg submission on Buscape but is having trouble getting in position. Buscape gets a nice soccer kick to Iminari’s head. Iminari is trying to get low on Buscape and Buscape is hitting some good leg kicks. Not a tremendously entertaining fight but Buscape looked good.
Winner: Luiz “Buscape” Firmino by Decision (Unanimous)
Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Ryuki Ueyama
R1- Minowa controls the first round as he spends the majority of the round on top of Ryuki and in a dominate position. Ryuki gets a reversal with about two minutes left in the round and he gets some shots in on Minowa but Minowa again gains the dominant position at the end of the round.
R2- Ueyama controls this round as he tries for some submissions but has not been able to finish. Overall, this was a very bland but even fight. Minowa controlled the first round and Ueyama the second. So it’s pretty much Minowa controlling 9 minutes to Ueyama about 6. No one really inflicted much damage on their opponents. Decision will probably go to Minowa.
Winner: Ikuhisa Minowa by Decision (Split)
Heavyweight Fight- Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Shamoji Fujii
R1- Long feeling out process. Fujii tries a take down but Igor stuffs it and delivers some knees. Igor gets the first take down of the fight. Fujii gets a red card for basically being Igor’s punching bag (this means Fujii gets docked 10% of his purse) and the ref stands them back up. Igor knocks Fujii down with a couple of punches and finishes him with a soccer kick. Igor looked great in this fight.
Winner: Igor Vovchanchun by TKO (ref stoppage due to strikes)
Carlos Newton vs. Ryo Chonan
R1- Newton gets an immediate take down. Newton gets full mount and gets some Ground and Pound but Chonan rolls him over. Newton grabs an arm bar but Chonan turns out of the move. Chonan settles the fight down and is in Newton’s guard and is getting in some shots as Newton defends. Newton gets to his feet and Newton tries a take down but Chonan ends up on top. This is a pretty good fight so far. Much more active than the last fight. Newton gets an arm bar and Chonon hangs on and then turns into it and escapes. Great survival by Chonan. Newton sustains full mount but Chonan flips him over and postures up and gets some shots in on Newton. Chonan getting in some good shots and gets full mount. Newton pushes him off and Chonan tries for an arm bar but Newton gets out of the move. Chonan looks real good so far hand he’s got the advantage in the fight so far.
R2- They open up this round with some stand up and Chonan has him against the ropes and is laying into him with punches and knees. Chonan looks like he is going to finish this fight and Newton grabs a knee to try and survive. Chonan with more knees. Newton somehow takes Chonan’s back. The fight is stood up after Newton doesn’t do anything with the advantage. Chonon gets some strikes in on the ropes and hits him with a bunch of shots. Newton crumples to the ground and Chonan takes side control. One minute left in the fight. Chonan with a big knee to the head. Chonan with full mount and gets some Ground and Pound in and the fight ends with Chonan on top and pounding on Newton. Chonan clearly won this fight and looked very good in the process.
Winner: Ryo Chonan by Decision (Unanimous)
Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Crosley Gracie
Sakurai is 2-1 in Pride and this is Gracie’s debut.
R1- They wage a stand up battle at the beginning of the fight with neither guy being dominant but a slight edge to Mach. They go to the ground and Mach controls early but then Gracie gets on top and does some damage. They stand back up and Gracie gets a take down after some back and forth stand up action. Gracie controls on the ground until the bell rings. Gracie won the first round, it will be interesting to see what happens in the second round.
R2- Gracie gets an immediate take down at the beginning of the round. Gracie quickly mounts and is getting in some punches although Mach is defending well. Mach gives up his back and Gracie goes for an arm bar and gets it and gets the tap. Nice move and good showing for Gracie.
Winner: Crosley Gracie by Submission (arm bar) R2 2:09
Takanori Gomi vs. Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett
This is Bennett’s debut in Pride and Gomi is undefeated in Pride. This is tonight’s Main Event. Bas Rutten says that the fight will not go five minutes with explosive action.
R1- Charles Bennett jumps up on the turnbuckle and sits down for the first 5 seconds of the fight. Both guys swing with some wild shots. Gomi gets a take down and immediately mounts but Bennett escapes. They clinch and Gomi gets another take down. Gomi takes his back but Bennett sprawls out again. They mix it up on their feet. Gomi hits a big shot and then gets a slam take down. Gomi hits a big knee to Bennett’s head. Gomi gets a weird arm bar but releases and Bennett gets a big side suplex on Gomi. They are standing up and Gomi hits some knees and a shot and gets another take down. Gomi mounts again and gets some good shots. Both guys look winded. Gomi gets some Ground and Pound. They reach the five minute mark, so 5 minutes left in the round. Gomi gives up the mount and takes side control and grabs a kimura and it look like Gomi is going to break his arm but Bennett spins out and then finally the ref calls for the bell. Really good fight, definitely the fight of the night. Gomi looked like a champ and Bennett hung in there and had a good showing.
Winner: Takanori Gomi by Ref Stoppage (Kimura) R1
Verdict:
This was a pretty decent show capped off by a good Main Event in Gomi/Bennett. A couple of stand-outs from the show (besides the Main Event) were Shogun Rua, Crosley Gracie and Ryo Chonan.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
UFC Wired 7/13/ Re-Cap
UFC Wired 7/13 Re-Cap
Light Heavyweight Fight- Alessio Sakara (14-4) vs. Drew McFedries (4-1)- UFC 65- 11/18/06
McFedries took this fight on short notice.
R1- McFedries is the aggressor early and is taking lots of swings. They compare him to Robbie Lawler. Sakara hits some knees in the clinch. McFedries lands some nice shots and takes down Sakara briefly. Sakara becomes the aggressor and then they exchange. Sakara knocks out McFedries mouthpiece. Both of these guys are really going at each other. Sakara gets some really nice shots in and seems to be taking over the round. Sakara hits some nice left handed punches. McFedries takes Sakara down but they are quickly back to their feet. Sakara with some more shots and one of them looked like it hurt Drew but he continues to fight back. Sakara went down and the McFedries jumped on top and reigned punches and got the TKO. Good fight.
Winner: Drew McFedries by TKO R1 4:07
Lightweight Fight- Tyson Griffin (8-0) vs. Frankie Edgar (5-0)- UFC 67- 2/3/07
This is Edgar’s UFC debut. Both guys are undefeated coming into this fight.
R1- Edgar gets the first take down but Tyson gets a guillotine but Edgar gets out of it. Tyson picks him up and slams him and they sprawl. The stand up is pretty even in this round. Edgar gets another take down and is in Griffin’s guard. Edgar lands some good shots. Edgar 10-9 in a good first round.
R2- Griffin lands a really nice uppercut early in the round. Edgar gets a take down with about 2 minutes left after Griffin had been winning the round. Back on their feet and Griffin knocks Edgar down with a leg kick and then goes for another but Edgar takes him down. They sprawl and Tyson gets his back but Edgar transitions into a mount. This was a really close round. Edgar finished it really well and Griffin had trouble getting back to his corner and I think that and the take downs ultimately won the round for Edgar. I’ve got Edgar 20-18 in a really close fight so far.
R3- They are pretty even at the stand up at the beginning of the round. Edgar gets some knees and Griffin looks like he complains about a low blow but the ref tells him to fight on. Edgar starts to control the fight and has Griffin in the corner and is hitting him with punches. Edgar gets a take down. Edgar gets some more punches in as they stand up. Edgar gets another take down and is controlling this round. Edgar with more punches as they stand up and then gets another take down. Griffin reverses into a knee bar and Edgar looks like he’s going to hold on for the rest of the fight. Really good fight. Edgar really dominated this round with Griffin almost getting a submission at the end. Really good fight, I’ve got Edgar winning 30-27, but a really close 30-27.
Judges score the fight: 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28 in favor of Edgar.
Winner: Frankie Edgar by Decision (Unanimous)
Welterweight Fight- Jon Fitch (17-2) vs. Luigi Fioravanti (11-1)- UFC 68- 3/3/07
R1- Fitch gets a take down about a minute and a half into the fight. Fitch takes his back but then gets rolled back over and is in Luigi’s guard. Fitch doesn’t really inflict much damage and they get back to their feet. Luigi got some points towards the end of the round with some punches but Fitch took this round 10-9. Not overly exciting, but that’s Jon Fitch. He’s America’s version of Shinya Aoki.
R2- Fitch gets a slam with about one and a half minutes gone in the round- Luigi grabbed onto the top of the cage to prevent being slammed hard. Fitch takes Luigi’s back gets a choke clamped in and gets the tap out victory.
Winner: Jon Fitch by Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
Light Heavyweight Fight- Alessio Sakara (14-4) vs. Drew McFedries (4-1)- UFC 65- 11/18/06
McFedries took this fight on short notice.
R1- McFedries is the aggressor early and is taking lots of swings. They compare him to Robbie Lawler. Sakara hits some knees in the clinch. McFedries lands some nice shots and takes down Sakara briefly. Sakara becomes the aggressor and then they exchange. Sakara knocks out McFedries mouthpiece. Both of these guys are really going at each other. Sakara gets some really nice shots in and seems to be taking over the round. Sakara hits some nice left handed punches. McFedries takes Sakara down but they are quickly back to their feet. Sakara with some more shots and one of them looked like it hurt Drew but he continues to fight back. Sakara went down and the McFedries jumped on top and reigned punches and got the TKO. Good fight.
Winner: Drew McFedries by TKO R1 4:07
Lightweight Fight- Tyson Griffin (8-0) vs. Frankie Edgar (5-0)- UFC 67- 2/3/07
This is Edgar’s UFC debut. Both guys are undefeated coming into this fight.
R1- Edgar gets the first take down but Tyson gets a guillotine but Edgar gets out of it. Tyson picks him up and slams him and they sprawl. The stand up is pretty even in this round. Edgar gets another take down and is in Griffin’s guard. Edgar lands some good shots. Edgar 10-9 in a good first round.
R2- Griffin lands a really nice uppercut early in the round. Edgar gets a take down with about 2 minutes left after Griffin had been winning the round. Back on their feet and Griffin knocks Edgar down with a leg kick and then goes for another but Edgar takes him down. They sprawl and Tyson gets his back but Edgar transitions into a mount. This was a really close round. Edgar finished it really well and Griffin had trouble getting back to his corner and I think that and the take downs ultimately won the round for Edgar. I’ve got Edgar 20-18 in a really close fight so far.
R3- They are pretty even at the stand up at the beginning of the round. Edgar gets some knees and Griffin looks like he complains about a low blow but the ref tells him to fight on. Edgar starts to control the fight and has Griffin in the corner and is hitting him with punches. Edgar gets a take down. Edgar gets some more punches in as they stand up. Edgar gets another take down and is controlling this round. Edgar with more punches as they stand up and then gets another take down. Griffin reverses into a knee bar and Edgar looks like he’s going to hold on for the rest of the fight. Really good fight. Edgar really dominated this round with Griffin almost getting a submission at the end. Really good fight, I’ve got Edgar winning 30-27, but a really close 30-27.
Judges score the fight: 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28 in favor of Edgar.
Winner: Frankie Edgar by Decision (Unanimous)
Welterweight Fight- Jon Fitch (17-2) vs. Luigi Fioravanti (11-1)- UFC 68- 3/3/07
R1- Fitch gets a take down about a minute and a half into the fight. Fitch takes his back but then gets rolled back over and is in Luigi’s guard. Fitch doesn’t really inflict much damage and they get back to their feet. Luigi got some points towards the end of the round with some punches but Fitch took this round 10-9. Not overly exciting, but that’s Jon Fitch. He’s America’s version of Shinya Aoki.
R2- Fitch gets a slam with about one and a half minutes gone in the round- Luigi grabbed onto the top of the cage to prevent being slammed hard. Fitch takes Luigi’s back gets a choke clamped in and gets the tap out victory.
Winner: Jon Fitch by Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
Saturday, July 12, 2008
UFC Unleashed 7/10 Re-Cap
UFC Unleashed 7/10 Re-Cap
Middleweight Fight- Mike Swick (8-1) vs. Steve Vigneault (11-5)- UFC 58- 3/4/06
R1- Swick shows some good quick hands. Steve clinches a lot to try and stop Swick. Swick lands a nice knee two minutes into the round. Steve grabs him but Swick pulls guard with a guillotine and Steve quickly taps. Nice showing from Swick.
Winner: Mike Swick by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R1 2:09
Light Heavyweight Fight- Renato “Babalu” Sobral (25-5) vs. Chael Sonnen (15-6-1)- UFC 55- 10/7/05
R1- Babalu hits a big punch right at the beginning of the fight. Babalu gets a couple of take downs and then gets a standing arm triangle. Babalu with another take down and then lands some shots. Babalu really controlling but Chael reverses a Babalu take down. Chael gets in some shots on Bablu but Babalu grabs a heel hook with 30 seconds left. Babalu takes this round 10-9.
R2- Babalu gets a leg kick that takes Chael off his feet and Babalu jumps on top of him in his guard. Chael kicks him off and then gets in Babalu’s guard. Babalu gets a triangle from the guard position and submits Chael.
Winner: Renato “Babalu” Sobral by Submission (Arm Triangle) R2 1:20
Light Heavyweight Fight- Mike Van Arsdale (10-2) vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral (26-5)- UFC 57- 2/4/06
R1- Lots of clinching early in the fight. Mike gets him down but then Babalu takes Mike’s back and finishes him with a rear naked choke.
Winner: Renato “Babalu” Sobral by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 2:21
Kind of weird to me that UFC puts this episode of UFC Unleashed on with Babalu fighting for Affliction on their PPV next weekend.
Light Heavyweight Championship Fight: Chuck Liddell © (17-3) vs. Randy Couture (14-7)- UFC 57- 2/4/06
They show some celebs ringside for the fight including Charles Barkley, Ken Shamrock, and Michael Clarke Duncan. Couture gets a big reaction from the crowd. Liddell gets an equally big reaction from the fans.
R1- Long feeling out process as Liddell moves around Randy and jabs. Both guys really look for their spots. Randy got a good right hand in on Chuck and then Chuck came at his and they exchanged and then Randy got a take down. Randy tried to get a take down but Chuck held onto the cage to avoid it. Looks like Randy is losing blood. Looks like he got a cut on his nose. This was really close but I give the round to Randy to him getting the take down with the offense being somewhat even. Couture 10-9.
R2- Chuck hit a big left hand out of nowhere and Couture crumpled to the mat and then Chuck finished him really quickly. Randy slipped and then ate a big punch from Chuck and then Chuck just drilled him with a bunch of big punches.
Winner: Chuck Liddell by KO (strikes) R2 1:28
Middleweight Fight- Mike Swick (8-1) vs. Steve Vigneault (11-5)- UFC 58- 3/4/06
R1- Swick shows some good quick hands. Steve clinches a lot to try and stop Swick. Swick lands a nice knee two minutes into the round. Steve grabs him but Swick pulls guard with a guillotine and Steve quickly taps. Nice showing from Swick.
Winner: Mike Swick by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R1 2:09
Light Heavyweight Fight- Renato “Babalu” Sobral (25-5) vs. Chael Sonnen (15-6-1)- UFC 55- 10/7/05
R1- Babalu hits a big punch right at the beginning of the fight. Babalu gets a couple of take downs and then gets a standing arm triangle. Babalu with another take down and then lands some shots. Babalu really controlling but Chael reverses a Babalu take down. Chael gets in some shots on Bablu but Babalu grabs a heel hook with 30 seconds left. Babalu takes this round 10-9.
R2- Babalu gets a leg kick that takes Chael off his feet and Babalu jumps on top of him in his guard. Chael kicks him off and then gets in Babalu’s guard. Babalu gets a triangle from the guard position and submits Chael.
Winner: Renato “Babalu” Sobral by Submission (Arm Triangle) R2 1:20
Light Heavyweight Fight- Mike Van Arsdale (10-2) vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral (26-5)- UFC 57- 2/4/06
R1- Lots of clinching early in the fight. Mike gets him down but then Babalu takes Mike’s back and finishes him with a rear naked choke.
Winner: Renato “Babalu” Sobral by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 2:21
Kind of weird to me that UFC puts this episode of UFC Unleashed on with Babalu fighting for Affliction on their PPV next weekend.
Light Heavyweight Championship Fight: Chuck Liddell © (17-3) vs. Randy Couture (14-7)- UFC 57- 2/4/06
They show some celebs ringside for the fight including Charles Barkley, Ken Shamrock, and Michael Clarke Duncan. Couture gets a big reaction from the crowd. Liddell gets an equally big reaction from the fans.
R1- Long feeling out process as Liddell moves around Randy and jabs. Both guys really look for their spots. Randy got a good right hand in on Chuck and then Chuck came at his and they exchanged and then Randy got a take down. Randy tried to get a take down but Chuck held onto the cage to avoid it. Looks like Randy is losing blood. Looks like he got a cut on his nose. This was really close but I give the round to Randy to him getting the take down with the offense being somewhat even. Couture 10-9.
R2- Chuck hit a big left hand out of nowhere and Couture crumpled to the mat and then Chuck finished him really quickly. Randy slipped and then ate a big punch from Chuck and then Chuck just drilled him with a bunch of big punches.
Winner: Chuck Liddell by KO (strikes) R2 1:28
Monday, July 07, 2008
UFC 86 "Jackson vs Griffin" Re-Cap/Thoughts
UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin
Lightweight Fight- Tyson Griffin (11-1) vs. Marcus Aurelio (16-5)
Griffin comes out to "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor. They put over Griffin as being the only guy to beat WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber. Griffin is definitely the fan favorite in this one. Aurelio has a win over Gomi to his credit.
R1- Long feeling out process. Marcus gets taken down and Tyson hits him with some hammer punches. Marcus is trying to catch Tyson in a submission. Marcus seems content to stay in the guard and go for submissions and eat some of Tyson's punches. In the stand up game Tyson controlled the cage and got in more shots. Round One goes to Griffin 10-9.
Jamie Pressly is in the house, I think she was at the last show. Seems like she could be a pretty big fight fan. Thiago Alves is in Aurelio's corner.
R2- They start out this round completely opposite of last round as they both come out throwing but then slow down a little. Griffin has the classy sponsor of "Condom Depot" on his ass. Griffin gets a slam with 2 minutes left in the round after a long clinch. Marcus is able to reverse it and get a slam of his own and looks to be taking Griffin's back but Griffin rolls over and is on top. Marcus almost gets a triangle but doesn't get it. This was a much closer round than the first one but I've still got Griffin winning this one and have Griffin up 20-18 at this point.
R3- Marcus is really tired in this round and Griffin is hitting a lot more punches this round. Griffin runs in and gets a take down with about a minute and a half left. Marcus almost gets an arm submission a couple of times near the end of the fight. I've got Griffin taking this fight 30-27. He controlled the fight without dominating. All 3 judges score the fight 30-27.
Winner: Tyson Griffin by Decision (Unanimous)
Michael Bisping is at the fight and they show a video segment of him and talk about how good he has looked since he moved down to 185 lbs.
Welterweight Fight- Josh Koshcheck (12-2) vs. Chris Lytle (35-15-4)
We have our second Condom Depot fighter of the night in Chris Lytle. Koscheck gets booed when he comes out. Koscheck has a 5" reach advantage.
R1- Lytle throws a lot at first but doesn't hit much. Koshcheck just kind of sits back and waits and gets a take down with about 2 and a half minutes left in the round. Lytle grabs a guillotine but can't hold it and Koscheck has half guard. Not a lot of action in this round but I've got it Koscheck 10-9 as he controlled the ground for the last half of the fight and when they were stood up Lytle was more aggressive but didn't really land anything substantial.
R2- Koscheck went for a take down and it was stopped but he landed some nice shots. Koscheck goes for another take down and Lytle grabs him in a guillotine just like in Round One. Koscheck gets out of the submission and is in half guard and throws some elbows. Koscheck puts him up against the cage and is getting some nice, hard shots in on Lytle. Lytle is bleeding and continues to take some shots from Koscheck. Koscheck is nailing him and Lytle grabs him to stop the punches. Lots of blood on the canvas near the cage. There is even blood on the camera lens at ringside. Koscheck just laying on him and punching him. Lytle has a pool of blood under his head. He's lost a ton of blood. This was a 10-8 round to Koscheck. I've got it 20-17 after two rounds with Koscheck just absolutely dominating the Second Round.
R3- Koscheck has Lytle's blood in his hair. Koscheck tries to get a take down. Lytle goes for a kimura and then a guillotine but Koscheck spins out and Lytle grabs him again but Koscheck gets out of the move and Koscheck is on top again. Koscheck landing more elbows. Rogan makes the comment of this being bloodier than BJ Penn/Joe Stevenson. Koscheck is hitting Lytle with punches and the ref stand them up. The announcers thought he was going to stop the fight. Just a crazy call by the ref in this position as Koscheck had a dominate position and was being active and punching Lytle. When Lytle stands up he has blood all of his head and arms. Lytle gets some shots in but slips on his own blood and Koscheck clinches him. Koscheck just trying not to make a mistake. Ref separates them again. Both guys just throwing at the end of the round. The fans boo Koscheck at the end of the fight but man he put on a good fight tonight and Lytle just bleed all over the place. This is a fight that needs to be seen just for the blood. Good fight and good showing by Koscheck. I've got Koscheck winning 30-26. Koscheck's hair is basically red with Lytle's blood after the fight. Scorecards at the end of the fight are 30-26, 29-27, 30-28. Some interesting scores there.
Winner: Josh Koscheck by Decision (Unanimous)
Wilmer Valderrama is at the show again, I think he was at the last show also (like Pressly).
Lightweight Fight- Gleison Tibau (27-4) vs. Joe Stevenson (33-8)
Tibau comes out to "Iron Man."
R1- Stevenson catches Tibau with a nice left early but he absorbs it. Stevenson hits a right and Tibau goes down. Stevenson grabs a brief guillotine but Tibau gets out. They sprawl and go back to their feet. Tibau gets a take down but doesn't get anything. Stevenson darts in and gets a take down with two and a half minutes left in the round. Tibau catches him in an arm submission. Stevenson looks worried. Tibau is hitting Stevenson with some punches while he has him in the arm submission. Stevenson just kind of sitting and watching the clock and looking bored and telling the ref to stand them up. Stevenson plays it off like the move didn't hurt but Tibau had him trapped for about half the round. Tibau 10-9 in round one on my score card. Could see it being judged the other way if someone bought into Joe's selling of the move.
BJ Penn is shown and he mugs for the camera and gets a good response. He's got a hottie next to him.
R2- Tibau gets a take down but they quickly stand up. Tibau with another take down and passes guard quickly. Tibau mounts but Stevenson sprawls out without any damage. Tibau gets another take down but Stevenson grabs him in a guillotine and Tibau taps out. Surprising turn of events as I had Tibau winning the first round and this round until Stevenson grabbed that one move. Good job by Stevenson in sticking in there and taking advantage of the move when he got the opportunity.
Winner: Joe Stevenson by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R2 2:57
Red Hot Chili Pepper front man Anthony Kedis is in the house.
Middleweight Fight- Patrick Cote (13-4) vs. Ricardo Almeida (9-2)
This is the Co-Main Event. Almeida comes out to CCR's "Fortunate Son." Cote gets a good reaction from the fans.
WEC Bantamweight Champ Miguel Torres is at the fight. He had a really exciting fight on the last WEC show that featured the Main Event of Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver.
R1- The clinch and Almeida jumps into Cote and grabs him and pulls guard. Cote gets out of it pretty quickly and they stand back up. They clinch for a while and Almeida gets a take down with two minutes left in the round. Almeida gets in a couple of good shots and then gets some Ground and Pound. Almeida really controlling the first round and Cote ends the round on his back. Ameida takes Round One 10-9. Cote has a tear on his glove and they have to tape it so he gets a little longer to recover.
R2- Almeida pulls guard and goes into a rubber guard type move where Cote can't do much. Cote hits a punch and gets out of the hold. Cote is starting to land a couple of shots in the stand up game. Almeida gets a brief guillotine but Cote slips out. Cote lands a right hand right before the buzzer. This was a real close round. Almeida tried to pull guard the entire round and Cote tried to stay on his feet. I think Cote hitting that punch at the end and flooring Almeida might have won him the round. I'll go 19-19 right now but could see Almeida up 20-18.
R3- Cote hits a really nice leg kick about a minute and a half into the round. Cote hits a good combo. Not much action in this round but Cote is starting to bring it. Almeida gets a take down with 30 seconds left in the round. Almeida misses a submission and Cote gets on top and gets in a couple of shots. This fight is really too close to call and I can see it going either way. Either way, neither guy finished so they can't really complain if they get the loss. This was the least exciting fight of the night by a wide margin. I think Almeida probably gets the win in this fight, possibly by split decision. Judges score cards are 29-28 Cote, 29-28 Almeida, and 29-28 Cote.
They kind of billed this as the winner gets a shot at Anderson Silva, but Cote didn't really do anything to deserve a title shot IMO.
Winner: Patrick Cote by Decision (Split)
Light Heavyweight Championship Fight- Rampage Jackson © vs. Forrest Griffin (15-4)
Forrest gets a big reaction and has Mandy Moore on his side. Rampage gets the heel reaction.
R1- Forrest is more active early and is getting some shots in on Rampage. Rampage gets a good shot in on Forrest about two and a half minutes into the fight. Forrest is effectively using some leg kicks. Rampage with a really good combination half way through the round and it wobbles Forrest. Forrest comes right back and takes at Rampage. Forrest using the leg kicks effectively. Forrest comes in and eats a big Rampage uppercut and he goes down with about a minute left in the Round. Rampage jumps on top and Forrest tries to latch onto Rampage. Rampage moves him against the cage. Rampage gets some shots in but Forrest gets to his feet and hits some knees. They exchange on their feet and are swinging for the fences. Really good first round and Rampage looks a little bit like he underestimated Forrest as he walks to his corner. Forrest did a really good job in Round One but I think he ultimately lost the Round due to getting caught with that uppercut. Forrest really got rocked at two different times during the Round even though I thought that he controlled a lot of the fight and did a great job with the leg kicks. I'll go Rampage 10-9 in Round One but Forrest made a great showing and has set himself up well for the rest of the fight.
R2- Forrest opens up with a leg kick and Rampage limps a little bit. Forrest with another leg kick and then another. Forrest hits some knees and takes Rampage down. Forrest has half guard. Forrest hitting some elbows. Forrest passes the guard and gets side control. Forrest working on elbows and punches to the head. Forrest gets to full mount. Big "Forrest" chant from the crowd. Forrest with short elbows. Forrest just dominated this round and ties up the fight and definitely has all the momentum on his side going into Round Three. It will be interesting to see how Rampage's leg is when Round Three starts. That looked like a 10-8 round which makes this 19-18 Forrest.
R3- Rampage with a good combo about 2 minutes into the round. Rampage hits a good counter punch that briefly stuns Forrest. Rampage with another combo. Forrest has hit a couple of kicks this round but not much else. Rampage with a couple of nice punches. Rampage with a body shot. Rampage with another good counter punch as he caught Forrest with a left. They swing for the fences at the end of the round. Good comeback round for Rampage as he takes this round. Forrest lost a lot of momentum this round and didn't try for a take down where he dominated last round. Rampage 28 Forrest 28.
R4- They really go after each other about 30 seconds into the round and Rampage lands a hook and Forrest bails out before he catches another one. Rampage with another good shot and then they clinch and Rampage ends up with the take down and he's on top. Forrest is cut above the right eye. Forrest doing a pretty good job defending and grabs a triangle. Rampage picks him up and goes to slam him off and does. Really good fight. Rampage back in Forrest's guard and Forrest is doing a good job defending. Forrest almost got a submission but Rampage bailed out and as Forrest was trying to get up Rampage caught him with a good shot but didn't knock him down. Rampage hits a couple of nice shots again as they mix it up in the last minute of the round. Forrest almost caught Rampage with a submission but Rampage really out landed Forrest in this round and cut him open. I've got this Rampage 38 Forrest 37 right now. Very close fight. Rampage has barely won three rounds in my book and Forrest dominated the one round that he took. I can see one of the rounds I gave to Rampage possible going to Forrest on some of the score cards. Forrest is controlling the pace of the fight but Rampage is out landing him on punches.
R5- Forrest going back to the leg kicks early in this round. Forrest hits a big leg kick, Rampage came back with a big punch and Forrest returned the favor. Forrest looks to be landing more in this round so far about 3 and a half minutes into the round. This one is going to come down to the wire. Both guys landing some shots in the last 30 seconds and they end the fight in a clinch. Great Fight. I think Forrest took the final round which on my score card puts it even at 47-47. Wow. It will be interesting to see how the judges score this one.
Judges score the fight:
48-46 Forrest
48-46 Forrest
49-46 Forrest
Great Fight. Looks like two of the judges gave one of the close rounds that I scored for Rampage to Forrest (probably had to be Round 1). Not sure about the 49-46 as I didn't see Forrest win 4 of the 5 rounds.
Part of me says that to "be the champ you have to beat the champ" and part of me says that Forrest did control the pace of the fight and should have gotten the win. IMO it was a really even 50/50 fight that definitely needs a re-match. I think Rampage overlooked Forrest, especially when I look back at the 5 minute interview that Rampage did on ESPN news the day before the fight. Kudos to both guys for putting on a great fight, definitely one of the top this year that I have seen.
Winner and new champion: Forrest Griffin
Pre-Show Fight:
Lighweight Fight- Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Silver
R1- Guillard just jumps Silver at the beginning and nails some shots but Silver gets back to his feet. Guillard nails Silver with a ton of punches and this one is over. Great showing for Guillard.
Winner: Melvin Guillard by TKO (punches) R1 0:36
Overall, this was a really good show. Forrest/Rampage is a contender for FOTY, Koscheck/Lytle and Stevenson/Tibau were both good fights as well.
Lightweight Fight- Tyson Griffin (11-1) vs. Marcus Aurelio (16-5)
Griffin comes out to "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor. They put over Griffin as being the only guy to beat WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber. Griffin is definitely the fan favorite in this one. Aurelio has a win over Gomi to his credit.
R1- Long feeling out process. Marcus gets taken down and Tyson hits him with some hammer punches. Marcus is trying to catch Tyson in a submission. Marcus seems content to stay in the guard and go for submissions and eat some of Tyson's punches. In the stand up game Tyson controlled the cage and got in more shots. Round One goes to Griffin 10-9.
Jamie Pressly is in the house, I think she was at the last show. Seems like she could be a pretty big fight fan. Thiago Alves is in Aurelio's corner.
R2- They start out this round completely opposite of last round as they both come out throwing but then slow down a little. Griffin has the classy sponsor of "Condom Depot" on his ass. Griffin gets a slam with 2 minutes left in the round after a long clinch. Marcus is able to reverse it and get a slam of his own and looks to be taking Griffin's back but Griffin rolls over and is on top. Marcus almost gets a triangle but doesn't get it. This was a much closer round than the first one but I've still got Griffin winning this one and have Griffin up 20-18 at this point.
R3- Marcus is really tired in this round and Griffin is hitting a lot more punches this round. Griffin runs in and gets a take down with about a minute and a half left. Marcus almost gets an arm submission a couple of times near the end of the fight. I've got Griffin taking this fight 30-27. He controlled the fight without dominating. All 3 judges score the fight 30-27.
Winner: Tyson Griffin by Decision (Unanimous)
Michael Bisping is at the fight and they show a video segment of him and talk about how good he has looked since he moved down to 185 lbs.
Welterweight Fight- Josh Koshcheck (12-2) vs. Chris Lytle (35-15-4)
We have our second Condom Depot fighter of the night in Chris Lytle. Koscheck gets booed when he comes out. Koscheck has a 5" reach advantage.
R1- Lytle throws a lot at first but doesn't hit much. Koshcheck just kind of sits back and waits and gets a take down with about 2 and a half minutes left in the round. Lytle grabs a guillotine but can't hold it and Koscheck has half guard. Not a lot of action in this round but I've got it Koscheck 10-9 as he controlled the ground for the last half of the fight and when they were stood up Lytle was more aggressive but didn't really land anything substantial.
R2- Koscheck went for a take down and it was stopped but he landed some nice shots. Koscheck goes for another take down and Lytle grabs him in a guillotine just like in Round One. Koscheck gets out of the submission and is in half guard and throws some elbows. Koscheck puts him up against the cage and is getting some nice, hard shots in on Lytle. Lytle is bleeding and continues to take some shots from Koscheck. Koscheck is nailing him and Lytle grabs him to stop the punches. Lots of blood on the canvas near the cage. There is even blood on the camera lens at ringside. Koscheck just laying on him and punching him. Lytle has a pool of blood under his head. He's lost a ton of blood. This was a 10-8 round to Koscheck. I've got it 20-17 after two rounds with Koscheck just absolutely dominating the Second Round.
R3- Koscheck has Lytle's blood in his hair. Koscheck tries to get a take down. Lytle goes for a kimura and then a guillotine but Koscheck spins out and Lytle grabs him again but Koscheck gets out of the move and Koscheck is on top again. Koscheck landing more elbows. Rogan makes the comment of this being bloodier than BJ Penn/Joe Stevenson. Koscheck is hitting Lytle with punches and the ref stand them up. The announcers thought he was going to stop the fight. Just a crazy call by the ref in this position as Koscheck had a dominate position and was being active and punching Lytle. When Lytle stands up he has blood all of his head and arms. Lytle gets some shots in but slips on his own blood and Koscheck clinches him. Koscheck just trying not to make a mistake. Ref separates them again. Both guys just throwing at the end of the round. The fans boo Koscheck at the end of the fight but man he put on a good fight tonight and Lytle just bleed all over the place. This is a fight that needs to be seen just for the blood. Good fight and good showing by Koscheck. I've got Koscheck winning 30-26. Koscheck's hair is basically red with Lytle's blood after the fight. Scorecards at the end of the fight are 30-26, 29-27, 30-28. Some interesting scores there.
Winner: Josh Koscheck by Decision (Unanimous)
Wilmer Valderrama is at the show again, I think he was at the last show also (like Pressly).
Lightweight Fight- Gleison Tibau (27-4) vs. Joe Stevenson (33-8)
Tibau comes out to "Iron Man."
R1- Stevenson catches Tibau with a nice left early but he absorbs it. Stevenson hits a right and Tibau goes down. Stevenson grabs a brief guillotine but Tibau gets out. They sprawl and go back to their feet. Tibau gets a take down but doesn't get anything. Stevenson darts in and gets a take down with two and a half minutes left in the round. Tibau catches him in an arm submission. Stevenson looks worried. Tibau is hitting Stevenson with some punches while he has him in the arm submission. Stevenson just kind of sitting and watching the clock and looking bored and telling the ref to stand them up. Stevenson plays it off like the move didn't hurt but Tibau had him trapped for about half the round. Tibau 10-9 in round one on my score card. Could see it being judged the other way if someone bought into Joe's selling of the move.
BJ Penn is shown and he mugs for the camera and gets a good response. He's got a hottie next to him.
R2- Tibau gets a take down but they quickly stand up. Tibau with another take down and passes guard quickly. Tibau mounts but Stevenson sprawls out without any damage. Tibau gets another take down but Stevenson grabs him in a guillotine and Tibau taps out. Surprising turn of events as I had Tibau winning the first round and this round until Stevenson grabbed that one move. Good job by Stevenson in sticking in there and taking advantage of the move when he got the opportunity.
Winner: Joe Stevenson by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R2 2:57
Red Hot Chili Pepper front man Anthony Kedis is in the house.
Middleweight Fight- Patrick Cote (13-4) vs. Ricardo Almeida (9-2)
This is the Co-Main Event. Almeida comes out to CCR's "Fortunate Son." Cote gets a good reaction from the fans.
WEC Bantamweight Champ Miguel Torres is at the fight. He had a really exciting fight on the last WEC show that featured the Main Event of Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver.
R1- The clinch and Almeida jumps into Cote and grabs him and pulls guard. Cote gets out of it pretty quickly and they stand back up. They clinch for a while and Almeida gets a take down with two minutes left in the round. Almeida gets in a couple of good shots and then gets some Ground and Pound. Almeida really controlling the first round and Cote ends the round on his back. Ameida takes Round One 10-9. Cote has a tear on his glove and they have to tape it so he gets a little longer to recover.
R2- Almeida pulls guard and goes into a rubber guard type move where Cote can't do much. Cote hits a punch and gets out of the hold. Cote is starting to land a couple of shots in the stand up game. Almeida gets a brief guillotine but Cote slips out. Cote lands a right hand right before the buzzer. This was a real close round. Almeida tried to pull guard the entire round and Cote tried to stay on his feet. I think Cote hitting that punch at the end and flooring Almeida might have won him the round. I'll go 19-19 right now but could see Almeida up 20-18.
R3- Cote hits a really nice leg kick about a minute and a half into the round. Cote hits a good combo. Not much action in this round but Cote is starting to bring it. Almeida gets a take down with 30 seconds left in the round. Almeida misses a submission and Cote gets on top and gets in a couple of shots. This fight is really too close to call and I can see it going either way. Either way, neither guy finished so they can't really complain if they get the loss. This was the least exciting fight of the night by a wide margin. I think Almeida probably gets the win in this fight, possibly by split decision. Judges score cards are 29-28 Cote, 29-28 Almeida, and 29-28 Cote.
They kind of billed this as the winner gets a shot at Anderson Silva, but Cote didn't really do anything to deserve a title shot IMO.
Winner: Patrick Cote by Decision (Split)
Light Heavyweight Championship Fight- Rampage Jackson © vs. Forrest Griffin (15-4)
Forrest gets a big reaction and has Mandy Moore on his side. Rampage gets the heel reaction.
R1- Forrest is more active early and is getting some shots in on Rampage. Rampage gets a good shot in on Forrest about two and a half minutes into the fight. Forrest is effectively using some leg kicks. Rampage with a really good combination half way through the round and it wobbles Forrest. Forrest comes right back and takes at Rampage. Forrest using the leg kicks effectively. Forrest comes in and eats a big Rampage uppercut and he goes down with about a minute left in the Round. Rampage jumps on top and Forrest tries to latch onto Rampage. Rampage moves him against the cage. Rampage gets some shots in but Forrest gets to his feet and hits some knees. They exchange on their feet and are swinging for the fences. Really good first round and Rampage looks a little bit like he underestimated Forrest as he walks to his corner. Forrest did a really good job in Round One but I think he ultimately lost the Round due to getting caught with that uppercut. Forrest really got rocked at two different times during the Round even though I thought that he controlled a lot of the fight and did a great job with the leg kicks. I'll go Rampage 10-9 in Round One but Forrest made a great showing and has set himself up well for the rest of the fight.
R2- Forrest opens up with a leg kick and Rampage limps a little bit. Forrest with another leg kick and then another. Forrest hits some knees and takes Rampage down. Forrest has half guard. Forrest hitting some elbows. Forrest passes the guard and gets side control. Forrest working on elbows and punches to the head. Forrest gets to full mount. Big "Forrest" chant from the crowd. Forrest with short elbows. Forrest just dominated this round and ties up the fight and definitely has all the momentum on his side going into Round Three. It will be interesting to see how Rampage's leg is when Round Three starts. That looked like a 10-8 round which makes this 19-18 Forrest.
R3- Rampage with a good combo about 2 minutes into the round. Rampage hits a good counter punch that briefly stuns Forrest. Rampage with another combo. Forrest has hit a couple of kicks this round but not much else. Rampage with a couple of nice punches. Rampage with a body shot. Rampage with another good counter punch as he caught Forrest with a left. They swing for the fences at the end of the round. Good comeback round for Rampage as he takes this round. Forrest lost a lot of momentum this round and didn't try for a take down where he dominated last round. Rampage 28 Forrest 28.
R4- They really go after each other about 30 seconds into the round and Rampage lands a hook and Forrest bails out before he catches another one. Rampage with another good shot and then they clinch and Rampage ends up with the take down and he's on top. Forrest is cut above the right eye. Forrest doing a pretty good job defending and grabs a triangle. Rampage picks him up and goes to slam him off and does. Really good fight. Rampage back in Forrest's guard and Forrest is doing a good job defending. Forrest almost got a submission but Rampage bailed out and as Forrest was trying to get up Rampage caught him with a good shot but didn't knock him down. Rampage hits a couple of nice shots again as they mix it up in the last minute of the round. Forrest almost caught Rampage with a submission but Rampage really out landed Forrest in this round and cut him open. I've got this Rampage 38 Forrest 37 right now. Very close fight. Rampage has barely won three rounds in my book and Forrest dominated the one round that he took. I can see one of the rounds I gave to Rampage possible going to Forrest on some of the score cards. Forrest is controlling the pace of the fight but Rampage is out landing him on punches.
R5- Forrest going back to the leg kicks early in this round. Forrest hits a big leg kick, Rampage came back with a big punch and Forrest returned the favor. Forrest looks to be landing more in this round so far about 3 and a half minutes into the round. This one is going to come down to the wire. Both guys landing some shots in the last 30 seconds and they end the fight in a clinch. Great Fight. I think Forrest took the final round which on my score card puts it even at 47-47. Wow. It will be interesting to see how the judges score this one.
Judges score the fight:
48-46 Forrest
48-46 Forrest
49-46 Forrest
Great Fight. Looks like two of the judges gave one of the close rounds that I scored for Rampage to Forrest (probably had to be Round 1). Not sure about the 49-46 as I didn't see Forrest win 4 of the 5 rounds.
Part of me says that to "be the champ you have to beat the champ" and part of me says that Forrest did control the pace of the fight and should have gotten the win. IMO it was a really even 50/50 fight that definitely needs a re-match. I think Rampage overlooked Forrest, especially when I look back at the 5 minute interview that Rampage did on ESPN news the day before the fight. Kudos to both guys for putting on a great fight, definitely one of the top this year that I have seen.
Winner and new champion: Forrest Griffin
Pre-Show Fight:
Lighweight Fight- Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Silver
R1- Guillard just jumps Silver at the beginning and nails some shots but Silver gets back to his feet. Guillard nails Silver with a ton of punches and this one is over. Great showing for Guillard.
Winner: Melvin Guillard by TKO (punches) R1 0:36
Overall, this was a really good show. Forrest/Rampage is a contender for FOTY, Koscheck/Lytle and Stevenson/Tibau were both good fights as well.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
UFC Wired 7/5 Re-Cap
UFC Wired 7/5 Re-Cap
Light Heavyweight Fight- Stephan Bonnar (12-4) vs. Mike Nichols (5-1)- UFC 73- 7/7/07
R1- Nichols comes out firing in this one and hits a shot right after the bell rings and then takes Bonnar down. Nichols gets mount but Bonner scrambles and Bonnar gets his back and then losses it but has Nichols in a hammer lock. Bonner then takes his back again and gets a choke clamped in and Nichols taps. Nice showing by Bonnar.
Winner: Stephan Bonnar by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1
Lightweight Fight- Frankie Edgar (7-0) vs. Spencer Fisher (21-3)- UFC 78- 11/17/07
Frankie gets a big round of applause for this fight and Spencer gets a mixed reaction. Frankie must be from Jersey.
R1- Frankie shoots in about 30 seconds into the fight and gets a take down slam. Frankie is controlling the fight as he’s spending the majority of the round in Spencer’s guard. They stood back up and Spencer tried a high kick but slipped and Frankie jumps down into his guard again. Edgar dominates round 1 for at least a 10-9 round.
R2- Edgar almost immediately takes Spencer down. They stood back up and Frankie avoided a Fisher punch and took him down again. Spencer gets a cut on his forehead, looks to be above his eye. Frankie took his back briefly towards the end of the round but couldn’t do anything with it. Edgar is winning 20-18 after two rounds.
R3- Round 3 is more of the same as Edgar immediately takes Spencer down again. Frankie gets his back and looks to finish. Spencer got to his feet but got taken down again. This was kind of a boring fight as Edgar just dominated on the ground in this one. Edgar easily wins this fight 30-27. 2 judges had it 30-27 and one judge had it 30-26.
Winner: Frankie Edgar by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Fight- Joe Lauzon (14-3) vs. Jason Reinhardt (18-0)- UFC 78- 11/17/07
R1- Lauzon with a clinch and some knees early. Lauzon gets a take down and quickly gets good position and then takes his back and finishes him. Got to wonder who in the world Reinhardt fought to be 18-0. Lauzon just demolished him.
Winner: Joe Lauzon by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 1:14
Lightweight Fight- Kenny Florian (8-3) vs. Alvin Robinson (9-1)- UFC 73- 7/7/07
R1- Alvin Robinson hits a judo like arm throw. Florian answers with a hip throw and gets a take down. They get stood up and Robinson hit a couple of punches but Florian gets another take down. Florian hits some elbows. Florian get a mount and lands some punches but is forced back into the guard. Florian passes guard and hits some elbows but Robinson gets out. They do some dirty boxing and then Florian gets a double leg take down and gets full mount again. Florian is going to town on Robinson and this one is over.
Winner: Kenny Florian by TKO R1 4:30
Light Heavyweight Fight- Stephan Bonnar (12-4) vs. Mike Nichols (5-1)- UFC 73- 7/7/07
R1- Nichols comes out firing in this one and hits a shot right after the bell rings and then takes Bonnar down. Nichols gets mount but Bonner scrambles and Bonnar gets his back and then losses it but has Nichols in a hammer lock. Bonner then takes his back again and gets a choke clamped in and Nichols taps. Nice showing by Bonnar.
Winner: Stephan Bonnar by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1
Lightweight Fight- Frankie Edgar (7-0) vs. Spencer Fisher (21-3)- UFC 78- 11/17/07
Frankie gets a big round of applause for this fight and Spencer gets a mixed reaction. Frankie must be from Jersey.
R1- Frankie shoots in about 30 seconds into the fight and gets a take down slam. Frankie is controlling the fight as he’s spending the majority of the round in Spencer’s guard. They stood back up and Spencer tried a high kick but slipped and Frankie jumps down into his guard again. Edgar dominates round 1 for at least a 10-9 round.
R2- Edgar almost immediately takes Spencer down. They stood back up and Frankie avoided a Fisher punch and took him down again. Spencer gets a cut on his forehead, looks to be above his eye. Frankie took his back briefly towards the end of the round but couldn’t do anything with it. Edgar is winning 20-18 after two rounds.
R3- Round 3 is more of the same as Edgar immediately takes Spencer down again. Frankie gets his back and looks to finish. Spencer got to his feet but got taken down again. This was kind of a boring fight as Edgar just dominated on the ground in this one. Edgar easily wins this fight 30-27. 2 judges had it 30-27 and one judge had it 30-26.
Winner: Frankie Edgar by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Fight- Joe Lauzon (14-3) vs. Jason Reinhardt (18-0)- UFC 78- 11/17/07
R1- Lauzon with a clinch and some knees early. Lauzon gets a take down and quickly gets good position and then takes his back and finishes him. Got to wonder who in the world Reinhardt fought to be 18-0. Lauzon just demolished him.
Winner: Joe Lauzon by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 1:14
Lightweight Fight- Kenny Florian (8-3) vs. Alvin Robinson (9-1)- UFC 73- 7/7/07
R1- Alvin Robinson hits a judo like arm throw. Florian answers with a hip throw and gets a take down. They get stood up and Robinson hit a couple of punches but Florian gets another take down. Florian hits some elbows. Florian get a mount and lands some punches but is forced back into the guard. Florian passes guard and hits some elbows but Robinson gets out. They do some dirty boxing and then Florian gets a double leg take down and gets full mount again. Florian is going to town on Robinson and this one is over.
Winner: Kenny Florian by TKO R1 4:30
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Strikeforce 6/27 "Melendez vs. Thomson" Show Re-Cap/Thoughts
Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson
From HP Pavillion in San Jose, California
Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten are the announcers for the show. Ron Kruck is also at the show and is their backstage reporter. Jimmy Lennon Jr is the ring announcer (he does the Elite XC shows also).
Featherweight Fight- Bryan Caraway (8-2) vs. Alvin Cacdac (7-3)
Carraway has won six in a row and has won all his fights by submission. Cacdac is from San Jose so he's a hometown guy for this fight.
R1- Caraway immediately gets a take down, passes the guard and then takes Alvin's back. Alvin taps about a minute and a half in. Total dominance by Caraway in the opener.
Winner: Bryan Caraway by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 1:39
Lightweight Fight- Bobby Stack (4-1) vs. Jose Palacios (3-0)
Both of these guys are from California. Palacios trains with Strikeforce Middleweight Champ Cung Le. This is considered an "undercard" fight so it's only 3 minute rounds. I think they are just showing this because the first fight ended so quickly as they went right to this fight after the first fight ended.
R1- Stack is the agressor early with Palacios counter punching and kicking. Palacios seems to be getting in some shots but Stack gets a take down. Close round with Palacios probably taking it with the take down and controlling the cage. Stack landed 17 strikes in Round 1 and Palacios 16. Palacios landed 53% to Stack's 44%.
R2- Palacios starts off with a couple of strikes and then gets taken down again. Stack controls for the majority of the round and just misses an arm bar at the end of the round and then Palacios got on top for the last 20 seconds. I'm thinking it's Stack 20-18 right now.
R3- Stack gets a slam about 30 seconds into the round and has Palacios's back but gives it up and takes full mount. Stack getting in some shots in full mount. Palacios reverses but gets taken down again and Stack is in Palacios's guard. This one ends with Stack on top. I've got Stack 30-27 in this fight as he dominated cage control, got more strikes in and dominated the take downs.
For the fight Stack landed 36 strikes at a percentage of 53% and Palacios landed 27 at a percentage of 39%. Stack had 4 take downs to 0 and both guys had 1 submission attempt. Would have liked to have seen this one go 5 minute rounds instead of 3 minute rounds. Ken Shamrock is in Bobby Stack's corner.
All three judges scored the fight 29-28 in favor of Stack.
Winner: Bobby Stack by Decision (Unanimous)
Joe Riggs was denied his fight license by the California State Athletic Commission. They interview him and he said that he had 2 medications that he had a prescription for that were "banned" substances.
Bantamweight Fight- Anthony Figueroa (4-2) vs. Chris Cariaso (6-1)
Figueroa has been on the Strikeforce NBC show and he won impressively in one round in that fight. Cariaso holds a victory over Figueroa by Unanimous Decision on 6/22/07. Figueroa is from San Jose. Cariaso is from San Fransisco. This one is 5 minute rounds. Figueroa trains with Cung Le.
R1- Cariaso gets a take down about 45 seconds into the fight and hits some good Ground and Pound and is actively trying to improve his position. Cariaso gets full mount. Figueroa gets out of it and gets to his feet but gets taken down in short order. Figueroa gets to his feet and lands a knee. Cariaso wins this round 10-9. Cariaso landed 12 strikes at 63% and Figueroa landed only 2 at 14%.
R2- Cariaso gets another take down early in this round. Cariaso just dominating this round and getting some Ground and Pound and then taking Figueroa's back. Cariaso gets the win with a Rear Naked Choke. Cariaso looked really good in this fight as he just dominated.
Winner: Chris Cariaso by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 4:34
Middleweight Fight- Jeremiah Metcalf (8-4) vs. Raymond Daniels (0-0)
This is announced as a "special attraction." Daniels was 16-0 in kickboxing and 18-0 in the World Combat League and this is his pro MMA debut. Metclaf has won 4 of his last 5 and has won his last 3 fights. This is scheduled for 3 3-minute rounds.
R1- Metcalf shoots in quickly and clinches. Metcalf eventually takes him down but briefly got caught in a guillotine. Metcalf dominates the first round and hits some good Ground and Pound at the end of the round. First round goes to Metcalf.
R2- Metcalf sticks Daniels with a punch right at the beginning of the round and muscles him down again. Metcalf looked like he was going for a triangle choke and spun over and took Daniels back and choked him out. Metcalf just dominate here. Not the debut Daniels was looking for as he didn't even throw a kick.
Winner: Jeremiah Metcalf by Submission (Rear Nake Choke) R2 0:59
Women's Fight (147 lbs)- Elena Maxwell (2-2) vs. Miesha Tate (1-1)
Maxwell was featured in a fight against Gina Carano that was shown on the NBC Strikeforce show and took Gina to the limit but lost by decision in a fight that was scored 29-28 by all three judges (this fight was in 2006). Tate has a loss to Kaitlin Young, who also lost to Gina Carano on the debut Elite XC CBS show. Based on those two fights I'm going to go with Maxwell to win this one. This fight has 3 minute rounds.
R1- Tate gets an early take down. Tate gets full mount. Maxwell flips her over but Tate tries an arm bar (but can't extend it) and Maxwell grabs a head scissors at the same time. Tate finally gets the arm bar but Maxwell survives due to being saved by the bell. Tate wins this round. It looked to me like Maxwell tapped but the ref didn't see it. Oh well.
R2- Tate gets a quick take down to start Round 2. Tate gets full mount again. Tate getting in some Ground and Pound. Maxwell grabs Tate with her legs and puts her in another head scissors. Tate gets out and has side control. Tate takes this round as well and is up 20-18 on my score card. Tate has landed 18 strikes to Maxwell's 3 so far.
R3- Maxwell gets Tate's back with about a minute left. Maxwell takes this round but I give the fight to Tate 29-28. And all of the judges score the fight 29-28 in favor of Tate.
Winner: Miesha Tate by Decision (Unanimous)
Light Heavyweight Title Fight: Bobby Southworth © (8-5) vs. Anthony Ruiz (20-10)
Bobby Southworth is the guy from TUF Season 1 that made the unlikeable Chris Leben into a sympathetic character. This is a re-match from a fight that Southworth lost due to a cut. Ruiz has won his last 6 fights. Cung Le joins the announcers to call this fight.
R1- Southworth gets the first take down. Bobby takes his back about one and a half minutes into the fight. Bobby never really seemed to do much damage and then Ruiz flipped him over and is in Bobby's guard. Bobby stands up the fight and then gets a take down with a little over a minute left in the round. Bobby grabbed an arm bar but didn't extend it and Ruiz got out but Bobby grabbed another submission. Bobby looked pretty good in Round One and i've got him up 10-9 on my scorecard after the first.
R2- Ruiz gets an early take down in Round two but Bobby stands up and then gets a take down of his own. Ruiz rolls him over and gets into Bobby's guard. They are basically trading take downs in this round with either guy seeming to do much damage. This was a close round, could have gone either way. I would give it to Ruiz. So i've got 19-19.
So far through 2 Rounds we've got Southworth with 20 strikes landed and hitting at 50% and we've got Ruiz with 17 strikes landed at 52%. Southworth has 3 take downs and 2 submission attempts and Ruiz is only credited with 1 take down.
R3- Ruiz gets the take down early in Round 3. Bobby answers with another take down. This is a very flat fight. Pretty much just guys taking each other down and not really doing much else. Southworth gets full mount and Ruiz gives up his back and then reverses Bobby. Ruiz grabs a guillotine and pulls guard on Southworth but Southworth gets out and is in Ruiz's guard. Not much action in this round. It probably goes to Southworth. I've got Southworth 29-28. This is any body's fight right now.
R4- They actually do some stand up in this round after some mat work. Southworth grabs a kimura on Ruiz but can't finish him. This round goes to Southworth also. This is a very tedious fight. I've got Southworth 39-37 after 4 rounds.
R5- They start this round doing stand up and Southworth goes in and takes him down and rides him to victory. I've got Southworth 49-46 in this fight. Not a fun fight to watch.
Final Stats were Southworth landing 49 strikes for 44% with 10 take downs and submission attempts. Ruiz finished with 38 strikes landed at 49% and 3 take downs.
The judges scores were 48-47, 49-46 and 50-45 in favor of Southworth. Southworth got a small round of boos at the announcement.
Winner: Bobby Southworth by Decision (Unanimous) and still champion.
Lightweight Special Attraction Fight- Nam Phan (14-4) vs. Billy Evangelista (6-0)
Nam Phan was on one of the Strikeforce NBC's featured in a decision loss to Josh Thomson.
R1- The do some brief stand up and then clinch against the cage. Billy takes him down and has him against the cage and is getting some good Ground and Pound in on Phan. Evangelista is getting in some real good punches on Phan toward the end of this round. He is just dominating this round. This might have even been an 10-8 round if you believe in such a thing. Just a dominate performance from Billy. Evangelista landed 55 strikes in Round 1 to Phan's 7.
R2- They start out Round 2 with some stand up and Phan lands a couple of shots that send Billy falling back into the cage. Billy shoots but Phan stops him and they clinch against the cage. They do some more stand up and Phan knocks out Billy's mouth piece. Billy shoots with 2 minutes left and gets a take down. Phan gets up without sustaining any damage but Billy takes him down again. Billy looks like he's cut on the side of the head. Phan took this round. Billy tried to steal it at the end but didn't do enough damage. This round goes Phan 10-9. Right now it's either 19-19 or 19-18 in favor of Evangelista depending on how the first round was scored. This fight is still any body's to win. In Round 2 Phan landed 31 strikes to Bily's 22.
R3- Phan hits some nice shots to start the round and again backs Billy into the cage. Billy comes off the cage and goes for a take down but Phan defends and they clinch. Phan knocks Billy's mouth piece out again in this round. Billy finally muscles a take down with 2 minutes left. Phan was winning this round until now. The ref stands the fighters up due to inactivity. Phan winning the stand up game again at the end of the round. Phan takes this round 10-9. I've got Billy with round one 10-8 and Phan with round two and three 10-9. I've got it 28-28- a draw. The announcers are saying they think Billy took Round One and Round Three. It looked to me like Phan dominated Round Three. Billy got a take down but didn't do anything with it. Round 3 showed Nam getting 32 strikes to Billy's 23. Overall, Billy landed 100 strikes (over half of these in the first round) and Nam landed 70 strikes (landed 63 in the last two round). Billy controlled the ground with 4 take downs but really didn't do any damage on the ground except for Round One. 78 of Billy's strikes were done on the ground, only 11 of Phan's were.
And the judges scorecard shows a split decision. Phan 29-28, Billy 29-28 and the third judge scores the fight 29-28 in favor of Billy Evangelista. Billy is the hometown guy (he's from Fresno) and the crowd booed when he was announced as the winner. Both announcers felt that Billy won and the decision was just.
Winner: Billy Evangelista by Decision (Split)
Strikeforce Lightweight Title Fight: Gilbert Melendez © (14-1) vs. Josh Thomson (14-2)
These guys trained together for two years. Gilbert refers to himself in the third person during the pre-fight promos. Thomson hasn't lost in 2 years and has won his last 6 fights. His 2 losses are to Yves Edwards and Clay Guida. Melendez's best wins are over Kawajiri and Guida. Five of his last Six fights have been decision and his only lost came on New Years Eve of last year.
R1- Melendez is the aggressor early as he backs Thomson off with jabs. Thomson hits a couple of knees and then gets a take down. Thomson doesn't do much with his take down and Melendez spins out of it and take Thomson's guard. They get to their feet and square off but no one really gets the better. This was a close round, I think Thomson took it as he controlled the majority of the round but didn't dominate. Thomson 10-9. Melendez landed only 8 strikes in the first round (at a clip of 27%) and Thomson landed 15 (at a clip of 83%).
R2- Melendez again starts the round by being the aggressor and jabbing. Both guys landing shots. Lots of action early on in Round Two. Thomson hit a nice front kick and then some knees and kicks. Thomson is winning this round and Gilbert seems to be tiring. Thomson hit a big knee. Thomson with a nice spinning back kick with about a minute left. Thomson really looking good. Thomson gets a take down right at the buzzer. Thomson is definitely winning this fight. He's up 20-18 in my book and is solidly in control. Melendez is going to have to take him down and wear him out in Round 3 to get back in this one. Thomson landed 11 kicks in the round and after two rounds Thomson has hit on 45 strikes (at a clip of 67%) and Melendez has hit on 23 strikes (hitting only 26%). Thomson has 2 take downs to Melendez's 0.
R3- Melendez starts the round by pushing forward again and backing off Thomson with jabs but Thomson does a great job hitting kicks to back off Melendez and then unleashes on him with a combo and Melendez looks to be in trouble. Thomson just all over Melendez as he hit about 6 or 7 strikes in about 10 to 15 seconds on Melendez. Melendez comes back quickly and gets in a punch of two and then attempts a take down but gets stopped. Melendez seems to bet getting stronger as this round goes on but Thomson continues to hit strikes. Melendez hits a couple of combos and the mix it up with about a minute left in the round and Thomson answers with some good strikes. Thomson goes for a take down and finally gets it but doesn't have great position. Thomson almost got his back but Melendez escaped. Really good round. This was the closest round and I think Thomson took it again so I've got him up 30-27 but this round was the closest and Thomson looked visibly winded at the end of the round. In the Third Round Thomson hit 32 strikes to Gilbert's 15. Thomson has landed 35 kicks in the first 3 rounds.
R4- Melendez opens up with a good combo in the corner to start the round. Thomson answers with a big side kick. Thomson doing a good job keeping Melendez at bay with kicks. Thomson hits a big knee with 1:30 left in the round. Thomson shots in for a take down and gets it with one minute left in the round and has side control. Thomson takes Melendez's back but Thomson gets out and they sprawl and again Thomson takes his back. Thomson gets a choke with about 25 seconds left and Melendez breaks it with about 10 seconds left and holds on. Thomson took this round and he is up 40-36. Thomson and Melendez exchange respect at the end of the round. At this point Thomson has landed 107 strikes to 52 for Melendez and has 5 take downs and 1 submission attempt to 0 for Melendez. Melendez needs a knock out or submission in Round 5 to keep his title.
R5- Towards the end of the round both guys open it up and are going at each other with some really good exchanges. The first half of the round was kind of blah but they had a big explosion for about a minut and it ends with a close round. I think Thomson won every round in this fight and takes the fight 50-45. Great showing by Thomson, he did everything but finish Melendez. I thought this was a good fight. Way better than anything else on this show but not at the level of Faber/Pulver from earlier in June.
Thomson landed 131 strikes and around 70 kicks. Melendez only landed 66 strikes and hit at a percentage of 24% (while Thomson hit on 68% of his strikes). Thomson had 6 take downs and 1 submission attempt to 0 for Melendez.
Judges score the fight 50-45 in favor of Thomson.
Winner and new champion: Josh Thomson by Decision (Unanimous)
Overall, this was a pretty decent show with a really good Main Event. The show ended on an good note with the final two fights. A lot of the fights were strictly fought on the ground and that gets tedious after seeing it match after match. I'm more of a fan of a little stand up and a little ground so I enjoyed the last two fights a lot more as all the fights before the final two were almost exclusively fought on the ground. I definitely recommend checking out the Thomson/Melendez fight. The rest of the show is skippable but watch the Main Event.
From HP Pavillion in San Jose, California
Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten are the announcers for the show. Ron Kruck is also at the show and is their backstage reporter. Jimmy Lennon Jr is the ring announcer (he does the Elite XC shows also).
Featherweight Fight- Bryan Caraway (8-2) vs. Alvin Cacdac (7-3)
Carraway has won six in a row and has won all his fights by submission. Cacdac is from San Jose so he's a hometown guy for this fight.
R1- Caraway immediately gets a take down, passes the guard and then takes Alvin's back. Alvin taps about a minute and a half in. Total dominance by Caraway in the opener.
Winner: Bryan Caraway by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 1:39
Lightweight Fight- Bobby Stack (4-1) vs. Jose Palacios (3-0)
Both of these guys are from California. Palacios trains with Strikeforce Middleweight Champ Cung Le. This is considered an "undercard" fight so it's only 3 minute rounds. I think they are just showing this because the first fight ended so quickly as they went right to this fight after the first fight ended.
R1- Stack is the agressor early with Palacios counter punching and kicking. Palacios seems to be getting in some shots but Stack gets a take down. Close round with Palacios probably taking it with the take down and controlling the cage. Stack landed 17 strikes in Round 1 and Palacios 16. Palacios landed 53% to Stack's 44%.
R2- Palacios starts off with a couple of strikes and then gets taken down again. Stack controls for the majority of the round and just misses an arm bar at the end of the round and then Palacios got on top for the last 20 seconds. I'm thinking it's Stack 20-18 right now.
R3- Stack gets a slam about 30 seconds into the round and has Palacios's back but gives it up and takes full mount. Stack getting in some shots in full mount. Palacios reverses but gets taken down again and Stack is in Palacios's guard. This one ends with Stack on top. I've got Stack 30-27 in this fight as he dominated cage control, got more strikes in and dominated the take downs.
For the fight Stack landed 36 strikes at a percentage of 53% and Palacios landed 27 at a percentage of 39%. Stack had 4 take downs to 0 and both guys had 1 submission attempt. Would have liked to have seen this one go 5 minute rounds instead of 3 minute rounds. Ken Shamrock is in Bobby Stack's corner.
All three judges scored the fight 29-28 in favor of Stack.
Winner: Bobby Stack by Decision (Unanimous)
Joe Riggs was denied his fight license by the California State Athletic Commission. They interview him and he said that he had 2 medications that he had a prescription for that were "banned" substances.
Bantamweight Fight- Anthony Figueroa (4-2) vs. Chris Cariaso (6-1)
Figueroa has been on the Strikeforce NBC show and he won impressively in one round in that fight. Cariaso holds a victory over Figueroa by Unanimous Decision on 6/22/07. Figueroa is from San Jose. Cariaso is from San Fransisco. This one is 5 minute rounds. Figueroa trains with Cung Le.
R1- Cariaso gets a take down about 45 seconds into the fight and hits some good Ground and Pound and is actively trying to improve his position. Cariaso gets full mount. Figueroa gets out of it and gets to his feet but gets taken down in short order. Figueroa gets to his feet and lands a knee. Cariaso wins this round 10-9. Cariaso landed 12 strikes at 63% and Figueroa landed only 2 at 14%.
R2- Cariaso gets another take down early in this round. Cariaso just dominating this round and getting some Ground and Pound and then taking Figueroa's back. Cariaso gets the win with a Rear Naked Choke. Cariaso looked really good in this fight as he just dominated.
Winner: Chris Cariaso by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 4:34
Middleweight Fight- Jeremiah Metcalf (8-4) vs. Raymond Daniels (0-0)
This is announced as a "special attraction." Daniels was 16-0 in kickboxing and 18-0 in the World Combat League and this is his pro MMA debut. Metclaf has won 4 of his last 5 and has won his last 3 fights. This is scheduled for 3 3-minute rounds.
R1- Metcalf shoots in quickly and clinches. Metcalf eventually takes him down but briefly got caught in a guillotine. Metcalf dominates the first round and hits some good Ground and Pound at the end of the round. First round goes to Metcalf.
R2- Metcalf sticks Daniels with a punch right at the beginning of the round and muscles him down again. Metcalf looked like he was going for a triangle choke and spun over and took Daniels back and choked him out. Metcalf just dominate here. Not the debut Daniels was looking for as he didn't even throw a kick.
Winner: Jeremiah Metcalf by Submission (Rear Nake Choke) R2 0:59
Women's Fight (147 lbs)- Elena Maxwell (2-2) vs. Miesha Tate (1-1)
Maxwell was featured in a fight against Gina Carano that was shown on the NBC Strikeforce show and took Gina to the limit but lost by decision in a fight that was scored 29-28 by all three judges (this fight was in 2006). Tate has a loss to Kaitlin Young, who also lost to Gina Carano on the debut Elite XC CBS show. Based on those two fights I'm going to go with Maxwell to win this one. This fight has 3 minute rounds.
R1- Tate gets an early take down. Tate gets full mount. Maxwell flips her over but Tate tries an arm bar (but can't extend it) and Maxwell grabs a head scissors at the same time. Tate finally gets the arm bar but Maxwell survives due to being saved by the bell. Tate wins this round. It looked to me like Maxwell tapped but the ref didn't see it. Oh well.
R2- Tate gets a quick take down to start Round 2. Tate gets full mount again. Tate getting in some Ground and Pound. Maxwell grabs Tate with her legs and puts her in another head scissors. Tate gets out and has side control. Tate takes this round as well and is up 20-18 on my score card. Tate has landed 18 strikes to Maxwell's 3 so far.
R3- Maxwell gets Tate's back with about a minute left. Maxwell takes this round but I give the fight to Tate 29-28. And all of the judges score the fight 29-28 in favor of Tate.
Winner: Miesha Tate by Decision (Unanimous)
Light Heavyweight Title Fight: Bobby Southworth © (8-5) vs. Anthony Ruiz (20-10)
Bobby Southworth is the guy from TUF Season 1 that made the unlikeable Chris Leben into a sympathetic character. This is a re-match from a fight that Southworth lost due to a cut. Ruiz has won his last 6 fights. Cung Le joins the announcers to call this fight.
R1- Southworth gets the first take down. Bobby takes his back about one and a half minutes into the fight. Bobby never really seemed to do much damage and then Ruiz flipped him over and is in Bobby's guard. Bobby stands up the fight and then gets a take down with a little over a minute left in the round. Bobby grabbed an arm bar but didn't extend it and Ruiz got out but Bobby grabbed another submission. Bobby looked pretty good in Round One and i've got him up 10-9 on my scorecard after the first.
R2- Ruiz gets an early take down in Round two but Bobby stands up and then gets a take down of his own. Ruiz rolls him over and gets into Bobby's guard. They are basically trading take downs in this round with either guy seeming to do much damage. This was a close round, could have gone either way. I would give it to Ruiz. So i've got 19-19.
So far through 2 Rounds we've got Southworth with 20 strikes landed and hitting at 50% and we've got Ruiz with 17 strikes landed at 52%. Southworth has 3 take downs and 2 submission attempts and Ruiz is only credited with 1 take down.
R3- Ruiz gets the take down early in Round 3. Bobby answers with another take down. This is a very flat fight. Pretty much just guys taking each other down and not really doing much else. Southworth gets full mount and Ruiz gives up his back and then reverses Bobby. Ruiz grabs a guillotine and pulls guard on Southworth but Southworth gets out and is in Ruiz's guard. Not much action in this round. It probably goes to Southworth. I've got Southworth 29-28. This is any body's fight right now.
R4- They actually do some stand up in this round after some mat work. Southworth grabs a kimura on Ruiz but can't finish him. This round goes to Southworth also. This is a very tedious fight. I've got Southworth 39-37 after 4 rounds.
R5- They start this round doing stand up and Southworth goes in and takes him down and rides him to victory. I've got Southworth 49-46 in this fight. Not a fun fight to watch.
Final Stats were Southworth landing 49 strikes for 44% with 10 take downs and submission attempts. Ruiz finished with 38 strikes landed at 49% and 3 take downs.
The judges scores were 48-47, 49-46 and 50-45 in favor of Southworth. Southworth got a small round of boos at the announcement.
Winner: Bobby Southworth by Decision (Unanimous) and still champion.
Lightweight Special Attraction Fight- Nam Phan (14-4) vs. Billy Evangelista (6-0)
Nam Phan was on one of the Strikeforce NBC's featured in a decision loss to Josh Thomson.
R1- The do some brief stand up and then clinch against the cage. Billy takes him down and has him against the cage and is getting some good Ground and Pound in on Phan. Evangelista is getting in some real good punches on Phan toward the end of this round. He is just dominating this round. This might have even been an 10-8 round if you believe in such a thing. Just a dominate performance from Billy. Evangelista landed 55 strikes in Round 1 to Phan's 7.
R2- They start out Round 2 with some stand up and Phan lands a couple of shots that send Billy falling back into the cage. Billy shoots but Phan stops him and they clinch against the cage. They do some more stand up and Phan knocks out Billy's mouth piece. Billy shoots with 2 minutes left and gets a take down. Phan gets up without sustaining any damage but Billy takes him down again. Billy looks like he's cut on the side of the head. Phan took this round. Billy tried to steal it at the end but didn't do enough damage. This round goes Phan 10-9. Right now it's either 19-19 or 19-18 in favor of Evangelista depending on how the first round was scored. This fight is still any body's to win. In Round 2 Phan landed 31 strikes to Bily's 22.
R3- Phan hits some nice shots to start the round and again backs Billy into the cage. Billy comes off the cage and goes for a take down but Phan defends and they clinch. Phan knocks Billy's mouth piece out again in this round. Billy finally muscles a take down with 2 minutes left. Phan was winning this round until now. The ref stands the fighters up due to inactivity. Phan winning the stand up game again at the end of the round. Phan takes this round 10-9. I've got Billy with round one 10-8 and Phan with round two and three 10-9. I've got it 28-28- a draw. The announcers are saying they think Billy took Round One and Round Three. It looked to me like Phan dominated Round Three. Billy got a take down but didn't do anything with it. Round 3 showed Nam getting 32 strikes to Billy's 23. Overall, Billy landed 100 strikes (over half of these in the first round) and Nam landed 70 strikes (landed 63 in the last two round). Billy controlled the ground with 4 take downs but really didn't do any damage on the ground except for Round One. 78 of Billy's strikes were done on the ground, only 11 of Phan's were.
And the judges scorecard shows a split decision. Phan 29-28, Billy 29-28 and the third judge scores the fight 29-28 in favor of Billy Evangelista. Billy is the hometown guy (he's from Fresno) and the crowd booed when he was announced as the winner. Both announcers felt that Billy won and the decision was just.
Winner: Billy Evangelista by Decision (Split)
Strikeforce Lightweight Title Fight: Gilbert Melendez © (14-1) vs. Josh Thomson (14-2)
These guys trained together for two years. Gilbert refers to himself in the third person during the pre-fight promos. Thomson hasn't lost in 2 years and has won his last 6 fights. His 2 losses are to Yves Edwards and Clay Guida. Melendez's best wins are over Kawajiri and Guida. Five of his last Six fights have been decision and his only lost came on New Years Eve of last year.
R1- Melendez is the aggressor early as he backs Thomson off with jabs. Thomson hits a couple of knees and then gets a take down. Thomson doesn't do much with his take down and Melendez spins out of it and take Thomson's guard. They get to their feet and square off but no one really gets the better. This was a close round, I think Thomson took it as he controlled the majority of the round but didn't dominate. Thomson 10-9. Melendez landed only 8 strikes in the first round (at a clip of 27%) and Thomson landed 15 (at a clip of 83%).
R2- Melendez again starts the round by being the aggressor and jabbing. Both guys landing shots. Lots of action early on in Round Two. Thomson hit a nice front kick and then some knees and kicks. Thomson is winning this round and Gilbert seems to be tiring. Thomson hit a big knee. Thomson with a nice spinning back kick with about a minute left. Thomson really looking good. Thomson gets a take down right at the buzzer. Thomson is definitely winning this fight. He's up 20-18 in my book and is solidly in control. Melendez is going to have to take him down and wear him out in Round 3 to get back in this one. Thomson landed 11 kicks in the round and after two rounds Thomson has hit on 45 strikes (at a clip of 67%) and Melendez has hit on 23 strikes (hitting only 26%). Thomson has 2 take downs to Melendez's 0.
R3- Melendez starts the round by pushing forward again and backing off Thomson with jabs but Thomson does a great job hitting kicks to back off Melendez and then unleashes on him with a combo and Melendez looks to be in trouble. Thomson just all over Melendez as he hit about 6 or 7 strikes in about 10 to 15 seconds on Melendez. Melendez comes back quickly and gets in a punch of two and then attempts a take down but gets stopped. Melendez seems to bet getting stronger as this round goes on but Thomson continues to hit strikes. Melendez hits a couple of combos and the mix it up with about a minute left in the round and Thomson answers with some good strikes. Thomson goes for a take down and finally gets it but doesn't have great position. Thomson almost got his back but Melendez escaped. Really good round. This was the closest round and I think Thomson took it again so I've got him up 30-27 but this round was the closest and Thomson looked visibly winded at the end of the round. In the Third Round Thomson hit 32 strikes to Gilbert's 15. Thomson has landed 35 kicks in the first 3 rounds.
R4- Melendez opens up with a good combo in the corner to start the round. Thomson answers with a big side kick. Thomson doing a good job keeping Melendez at bay with kicks. Thomson hits a big knee with 1:30 left in the round. Thomson shots in for a take down and gets it with one minute left in the round and has side control. Thomson takes Melendez's back but Thomson gets out and they sprawl and again Thomson takes his back. Thomson gets a choke with about 25 seconds left and Melendez breaks it with about 10 seconds left and holds on. Thomson took this round and he is up 40-36. Thomson and Melendez exchange respect at the end of the round. At this point Thomson has landed 107 strikes to 52 for Melendez and has 5 take downs and 1 submission attempt to 0 for Melendez. Melendez needs a knock out or submission in Round 5 to keep his title.
R5- Towards the end of the round both guys open it up and are going at each other with some really good exchanges. The first half of the round was kind of blah but they had a big explosion for about a minut and it ends with a close round. I think Thomson won every round in this fight and takes the fight 50-45. Great showing by Thomson, he did everything but finish Melendez. I thought this was a good fight. Way better than anything else on this show but not at the level of Faber/Pulver from earlier in June.
Thomson landed 131 strikes and around 70 kicks. Melendez only landed 66 strikes and hit at a percentage of 24% (while Thomson hit on 68% of his strikes). Thomson had 6 take downs and 1 submission attempt to 0 for Melendez.
Judges score the fight 50-45 in favor of Thomson.
Winner and new champion: Josh Thomson by Decision (Unanimous)
Overall, this was a pretty decent show with a really good Main Event. The show ended on an good note with the final two fights. A lot of the fights were strictly fought on the ground and that gets tedious after seeing it match after match. I'm more of a fan of a little stand up and a little ground so I enjoyed the last two fights a lot more as all the fights before the final two were almost exclusively fought on the ground. I definitely recommend checking out the Thomson/Melendez fight. The rest of the show is skippable but watch the Main Event.
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