UFC 101 "Declaration" 8/8/09 Re-Cap

UFC 101: Declaration
8/8/09
Wachovia Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The main interest in this show in the top 2 fights. We have Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn taking on challenger Kenny Florian and we have Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva taking on former Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin. We should also see Ricardo Almeida/Kendall Grove and Kurt Pellegrino/Josh Neer as well as TUF Champion Amir Sadollah in his first post TUF fight against Johny Hendricks.

Lightweight Fight- Josh Neer (25-7-1) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (19-4)

Neer is coming off a big win at UFC Fight Night 17 over Mac Danzig.

R1- Pellegrino started the fight off with a good slam. Neer briefly locked in an arm bar but Pellegrino slammed his way out of it. Pellegrino is staying on top of Neer but both guys are active. Pellegrino takes round one 10-9.

R2- Both guys landed some stand up in the first minute of the fight. Pellegrino fought hard and got a take down. Neer keeps going for submissions from the bottom but eventually Pellegrino passed his guard and mounted him. Pellegrino then took Neer’s back with less than a minute left in the round. Pellegrino is up 20-18 after two rounds.

R3- Pellegrino caught a Neer kick and got a quick take down early in this round. Neer opened up Pellegrino with a strike from the bottom. Neer looks like he’s got a bloody nose or mouth. Neer landed some nice elbows at the end of the round. Pellegrino is going to win this fight based on the first two rounds.

Judges score cards say: 30-27 on all score cards. This was Pellegrino’s first UFC Main Card victory.

Winner: Kurt Pellegrino by Decision (Unanimous)

Tito Ortiz and Georges St-Pierre are in the crowd. GSP gets a good reaction, Tito got a mixed reaction.

Middleweight Fight- Ricardo Almeida (10-3) vs. Kendall Grove (12-5)

Almeida comes out to some Social Distortion. Almeida is coming off a win over Matt Horwich at UFC Fight Night 18. Kendall Grove is coming off of a UFC 96 TKO of Jason Day. Grove has a 6” height and 5” reach advantage.

R1- Almeida worked for a long time and finally got a take down with about a minute and a half left in the round. Kendall was able to get back to his feet but then got slammed back down with 15 seconds left in the round. Almeida took this round 10-9.

R2- Almeida almost immediately got a take down to start this round. Kendall locked in an arm bar and came close but could not finish Almeida. Almeida gets some good Ground and Pound but Kendall was able to get back to his feet. Almeida finished the round with another take down. Almeida is up 20-18 after two rounds.

R3- Almeida hit a good right hand, drove Kendall into the cage and then got a brief take down. Almeida tried to pull guard into an arm bar but Kendall landed on top and got some brief Ground and Pound before he gave up the position. Almeida is tired but he was still able to get a take down about half way through the round. Kendall was able to get back to his feet with 30 seconds left in the round but Almeida clinched him up and this one is going to go to Almeida by decision.

Judges score cards say: 30-27 on all score cards.

Winner: Ricardo Almeida by Decision (Unanimous)

Chuck Liddell is in the house.

Welterweight Fight- Amir Sadollah (2-0) vs. Johny Hendricks (5-0)

Hendricks is a 4-time All-American wrestler and a 2-time National Champion out of Oklahoma State. Hendricks comes out to “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones. Amir has a 6” reach advantage. One weird stat is that Amir comes into the fight at 3.5 lbs under the weight limit which is something that you don’t see very often. Hopefully he didn’t over cut as this is his first fight at Welterweight (he fought at Middleweight during TUF).

R1- Amir is throwing lots of kicks and strikes early but Hendricks catches him with some strikes and Amir goes down and Mirgliatta stops the fight early. Bad stoppage. The ref actually stopped the fight as Amir was trying to get back to his feet. This isn’t the first time that Mirgliatta has done this. UFC needs to look at keeping him away from the Main Card.

Winner: Johny Hendricks by TKO (Mirgilatta) R1 0:29

Lightweight Fight- Aaron Riley (27-11-1) vs. Shane Nelson (13-3)

Greg Jackson is in Aaron Riley’s corner. Yoda! This is a re-match from a previous fight where the ref made a horrible early stoppage and Shane Nelson was awarded a cheap win due to referee error. This is the re-match so Shane is looking to prove that he deserved to win the last fight and Riley is looking to prove that it was indeed an early stoppage and he would have won the fight if it had not been stopped.

R1- Riley is trying to take it to Nelson early and has landed some good strikes. Close first round. I’ve got it going to Riley.

R2- Riley hit a good head kick about half way through the round that didn’t knock Nelson down but did daze him and allowed Riley to get a take down. Riley takes this round as well and is up 20-18 going into the third round.

R3- There was a fight in the crowd during this fight but they didn’t show it. While that fight was going on Riley was on top of Shane and controlling the action. Riley gets his revenge in this fight as he took each round of this fight.

“If he doesn’t win this decision I’m going to burn my headset and run naked through the crowd”- Joe Rogan

Judges score cards say: 30-27 on all score cards.

Winner: Aaron Riley by Decision (Unanimous)

Light Heavyweight Fight: Anderson Silva (24-4) vs. Forrest Griffin (16-5)

Silva is coming off of two lack luster fights in which his opponents really didn’t look to engage in combat with him. Silva is looking to make up for it in this fight. Forrest has not fought since he lost his Light Heavyweight Championship to Rashad Evans back in December. I read somewhere that Roy Jones Jr was going to be at this fight to scout Anderson Silva as I’ve heard they have some sort of agreement to fight after Anderson’s UFC contract is over. Forrest gets a huge reaction when he comes out for the fight. Silva is 9-0 in the UFC. Forrest got another huge reaction when he was announced. Silver got a little bit of boos when he was announced.

R1- Anderson grabbed a Forrest leg kick early and just tossed Forrest back wards. Anderson rushed in at about the two minute mark and landed a big right hand that knocked Forrest to the mat. Forrest gets back up and throws some strikes. Anderson looks pumped as he’s telling Forrest to bring it. Anderson puts his hands down and ducks Forrest’s shots and just levels him with a straight level that knocks Forrest to the mat. That was an unreal sequence that looked like it was out of a movie. Anderson gets some Ground and Pound but then let’s Forrest up. Anderson again puts his hands down and ducks Forrest’s shots and this time hits Forrest with a straight right hand. This was just a dominate performance by Anderson. WOW. Anderson Silva just ate Forrest Griffin.

Winner: Anderson Silva by TKO (Strikes) R1 3:23

UFC Lightweight Championship: B.J. Penn © (13-5-1) vs. Kenny Florian (13-3)

According to the UFC stats Penn has never been knocked down and lands 61% of his total strikes (3rd best in UFC History). Florian has also never been knocked down and lands 52% of his strikes (versus the UFC average of 35%). Penn is coming off of a well documented loss to GSP at Welterweight. Florian is coming off of an impressive victory over Joe Stevenson on UFC 91. KenFlo has a 4” reach advantage in the fight.

R1- Florian got tripped up early but he was able to get back to his feet and clinch with BJ. They clinched in the center and both hit some body shots. BJ landed a big strike near the end of the round that wobbled Florian and then BJ followed up with a couple of knees. BJ takes round one 10-9 in what was a fairly even round until the last 15 seconds.

R2- Not a lot of action in this round. BJ landed a couple of strikes around the one minute mark. Really close round with neither guy really doing much damage. I’ve got BJ up 20-18 with the second round being closer than the first.

R3- Kenny pressed BJ up against the cage for the first half of the round. Kenny controlled this round without doing a lot of damage. BJ was able to get in a couple of shots on the fence near the end of the round. Another close round. I’ve got Florian taking this one so that makes the fight Penn 29 Florian 28.

R4- BJ landed a couple of strikes to open the round. BJ got a take down about a minute into the round. BJ has trouble passing Kenny’s guard but still lands a couple of nice shots. BJ was able to mount and Kenny gave up his back. BJ nailed Kenny with some kicks to the side which opened up the Rear Naked and BJ grabbed the Rear Naked Choke for the win. Really great move by BJ Penn for the victory and successful title defense.

Winner and still champion: BJ Penn by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R4 3:54

Lightweight Fight- George Sotiropoulos vs. George Roop

This was a pre-show fight featuring TUF 6 vs. TUF 8.

R1- Roop went for a kick and got taken down by Sotiropoulos. Sotiropoulos quickly mounted Roop but Roop got back to his feet. Sotiropoulos hit a good combination that stunned Roop. Sotiropoulos was able to get Roop down on the mat again and once again quickly passed his guard. Sotiropoulos is controlling this fight early much like I thought he would.

R2- Sotiropoulos got Roop down on the mat early in this round. Sotiropoulos got the kimura and tapped out Roop. Good showing for Sotiropoulos.

Winner: George Sotiropoulos by Submission (Kimura) R2 1:59

WEC 42 "Torres vs. Bowles" 8/9/09 Re-Cap

WEC 42 “Torres vs. Bowles”
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas, NV

Todd Harris is joined by Frank Mir for commentary. Craig Hummer is the in-ring interviewer. The Main Event tonight is for the WEC Bantamweight Championship as one of the top P4P fighters in the world, Miguel Torres, defends his belt against Brian Bowles.

Featherweight Fight- Leonard Garcia (16-4) vs. Jameel Massouh (21-5)

Massouh is coming off a decision loss to Raphael Assuncao at WEC 40. Garcia is coming off of a first round submission loss to the Featherweight Champion, Mike Brown. Both guys are looking to get back to their winning ways tonight.

R1- Garcia is the more aggressive fighter early and lands a huge right hand at the two minute mark that floors Massouh. Garcia pauses and gives Jameel time to recover and then umps on top for some Ground and Pound. Back to their feet and Garcia lands some knees. Jameel comes back and gets a take down. Massouh did a good job of regaining his exposure and getting in some offense at the end of the round but Garcia hit the big shot of the round and popped right up at the end of the round after Massouh had been on top for about a minute. Garcia 10-9 after one round.

R2- Massouh went for a take down and Garcia grabbed a guillotine on the way down but couldn’t hold it. Massouh controls the first half of the round without doing any substantial damage. Massouh gets Garcia in a choke and Garcia gets to his feet and looked like he was going out but Massouh let go of the move and tried to take Garcia’s back and Garcia got loose. Garcia looks real wobbly right now. Garcia looked finished in the final minute of this round but Massouh just didn’t show the killer instinct and let Garcia live to fight another round. This is tied up 19-19 after two rounds. The winner of round three wins the fight.

R3- Garcia is once again being more aggressive in the first half of this round but neither guy has done enough to claim this round. Garcia hit a glancing spinning back kick. Garcia is throwing bombs as he’s looking for the knockout punch but isn’t connecting. Garcia is going to take this final round just based on effort. Massouh really had Garcia reeling after that choke but after that point he really lost his aggressiveness and never threatening Garcia. I’ve got Garcia winning this fight 29-28. Not a real impressive showing by Garcia but he showed a lot of heart in hanging on after barely surviving the choke and coming back to win the third and final round.

Judges score cards say: 29-28 Garcia, 29-28 Massouh and 29-28 Garcia.

Winner: Leonard Garcia by Decision (Split)

Bantamweight Fight- Takeya Mizugaki (11-3-2) vs. Jeff Curran (31-11-1)

Mizugaki is coming off of a great fight against Champion Miguel Torres in which Torres won by Decision. Mizugaki is the first fighter in WEC to take Torres to a decision. Jeff Curran is coming off a decision loss to Joseph Benavidez.

R1- Curran caught a Mizugaki kick and clinched him against the cage. Curran spent the better half of the round trying to take Mizugaki down with Mizugaki stuffing him the entire time. With two minutes left in the round Mizugaki got a take down and took Curran’s guard. Curran is active in his guard but he ate some decent shots from Mizugaki. Curran was able to go for an arm bar and get out of the guard. Curran took Mizugaki down but again ended up in Mizugaki’s guard. Good first round that I gave to Mizugaki due to the two take downs, take down defense and landing more strikes.

R2- Both guys are landing shots early in the round. Mizugaki got a take down half way through the round. Mizugaki landed some strikes from this position. Curran grabbed a guillotine but it was pretty much just for position and he was not in danger of finishing the fight. Mizugaki is up 20-18 after two rounds.

R3- Mizugaki got a take down to start the round. Curran fought an active round from the bottom. Curran landed a nice sweep into a triangle choke with 40 seconds left in the fight. Curran rolled him over and tried to put more pressure on Mizugaki but Mizugaki held on. Curran took this round but I’ve got Mizugaki holding on for the 29-28 win. Good fight and a great attempt at the end of the fight by Curran to try and steal the fight.

Judges score cards: 29-28 Mizugaki, 29-28 Curran and 29-28 Mizugaki

Winner: Takeya Mizugaki by Decision (Split)

Kind of interesting that we’ve had 2 fights and 2 split decisions so far.

WEC 43 will see Donald Cerrone fight Ben Henderson for the Interim Lightweight Championship. Both guys are cage side with Craig Hummer and they hype up their fight.

The TapouT guys are in the house for the fights tonight. So is Featherweight Champion Mike Thomas Brown.

Lightweight Fight- Ricardo Lamas (6-0) vs. Danny Castillo (7-1)

At WEC 39 Lamas beat Bart Palaszewski by unanimous decision. The only time I’ve seen Castillo fight was at WEC 34 where he lost by Submission to Donald Cerrone in thirty seconds of the first round. Castillo has a 2 inch reach advantage. Castillo is coming off a win on the under card of WEC 39.

R1- This has started out as a stand up fight between two wrestlers. This was a close and even first round. Lamas did a better job landing leg kicks and that might just give him round one.

R2- This round continues with both fighters on their feet. Castillo caught Lamas with a big right hand and Lamas went down and Castillo jumped on top and landed some Ground and Pound and the ref stopped the fight. This was a really close fight up until this point but that shot by Castillo was a big straight right hand to the chink and Lamas went down.

Winner: Danny Castillo by TKO (strikes) R2 4:15

Bantamweight Fight- Joseph Benavidez (10-0) vs. Dominick Cruz (13-1)

Cruz has dropped down in weight for this fight. Cruz’s only loss has come to Urijah Faber and is on a 3 fight win streak. Cruz has a 4” height and 3” reach advantage. At WEC 40 Benavidez defeated Jeff Curran by Decision.

R1- Benavidez landed a couple of strikes and then got tripped up when Cruz grabbed his leg on a kick. Benavidez is lightning quick and he hit a couple of shots on Cruz but Cruz was able to get a take down. Benavidez grabbed a guillotine and couldn’t clamp it in but used it to get back to his feet and separate himself from Cruz. Cruz got Benavidez to the ground again but couldn’t hold him down. Cruz got yet another take down but Benavidez scrambled and Cruz could not get in any offense. Good, close first round. Cruz got 3 take downs but didn’t do any damage when he had them. Benavidez was the aggressor and hit better strikes so I’ve got him taking the round 10-9.

R2- Both guys start out quick. Benavidez chases Cruz down with a flurry but Cruz caught Benavidez coming in a second time and then Cruz landed a flurry on Benavidez and Benavidez grabbed a guillotine and used it to stop the onslaught. Benavidez missed with a kick and went to the ground and Cruz came after him with some strikes and then landed a take down. Once again Cruz could not take advantage of his take down and they returned to their feet. Cruz ended the round with another take down. Cruz took this round so I’ve got the fight 19-19. Really fun fight so far.

R3- Cruz got a take down with three minutes left in the fight but once again gets nothing from it. Both guys are throwing shots but neither has distanced themselves in this round as we are coming down to the last 60 seconds. Cruz got a take down and Benavidez popped immediately back up. Cruz landed some shots and got a take down and hit some Ground and Pound. Cruz ended the fight on top of Benavidez. Really good fight and Cruz finished strong. Cruz will take this fight 29-28. Really good effort by both guys.

Judges score cards say: 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 in favor of Cruz

Winner: Dominick Cruz by Decision (Unanimous)

WEC Bantamweight Championship: Miguel Torres (c) (36-1) vs. Brian Bowles (7-0)

Torres is on a 17 fight win streak and has defended his belt 3 times. Torres is coming off of a successful title defense at WEC 40 over Takeya Mizugaki. Bowles is coming off of a win at WEC 37 against Will Ribeiro by submission in third round. Torres has a 2” height and 5.5” reach advantage.

R1- Bowles rocked Torres at about the one minute mark with a right hand but Torres punched his way out of trouble. Bowles got a take down at the two minute mark. Torres was able to hit some up kicks and was able to get back to his feet at the two minute mark. Torres hit a big right hand and followed it up with a flurry of punches but Bowles was able to counter and get Torres down and land a big punch on Torres and he landed several punches and ended the fight. Big time upset! Great fight by Brian Bowles as he took a good shot from Torres and was able to find a right hand threw Torres’ flurry and then finished it on the ground. Big time win for Bowles.

Winner and new champion: Brian Bowles by KO 3:57