UFC 85 "Bedlam" Re-Cap/Thoughts

UFC 85: "Bedlam"
O2 Arena, London, England

Heavyweight Fight- Fabrico Werdum (10-3-1) vs. Brandon Vera (8-1)

The Heavyweight division is far and away UFC's weakest division right now so the winner of this match is gonna rise to right near the top of the division. This looks like it has the potential to be a good fight.

R1- A lot of clinching early. Werdum gets in a shot or two. Werdum again comes at Vera and hits a couple of shots and then they clinch. Vera hits a knee or two. Werdum takes him down. Werdum getting in some offense in Vera's guard. Vera kicks him off and then fights off another take down. Vera caught Werdum with a left hook but Werdum avoided further damage and they clinch against the cage. Werdum gets another take down. Werdum gets in the mount position and Vera is just covering up and the ref stops it. Brandon Vera disputes the stoppage as he was taking some shots but he popped right back up after the finish. Joe Rogan says the finish was pre-mature. I have to agree that this was a bad stoppage. Werdum may have gone on and won in about 15 or 20 seconds but the stoppage looked pre-mature as Vera just popped right back up at the finish.

Winner: Fabrico Werdum by TKO R1 4:40

Post-Match Vera basically says "there was only 15 seconds left in the round. Let me take my ass whipping and let's go to Round 2".

Just a quick note that the ref here, Dan Miragliotta, is also the guy who didn't stop the Kimbo fight when James Thompson had Kimbo and was just destroying him up against the cage and then on the other end stopped the Thompson/Kimbo fight when Thompson was ahead on the card but took a couple of shots and had his ear busted open. Stopping a fight is a tough call but it's odd that the same game had had two controversial stoppages within what I think is 8 days.

Guy Ritchie is in the house.

Middleweight Fight- Nate Marquardt (29-7-2) vs. Thales Leites (12-1)

I've never seen Leites fight before. Marquardt has only one loss in the UFC and it was to Anderson Silva. Leites has a 4" reach advantage.

R1- Leites gets a couple of shots in near the cage about a minute in. Leites gets in a shot on the cage and then Nate comes after him and Leites just sticks Nate with a shot and he slumps to the mat. Leites all over Nate trying to finish him. Leites has a mount on Nate but Nate works him back to half guard. Nate gets up and looks to be recovered. Leites hits him with a jab. Nate hits a shot and then they clinch against the cage. Nate with a combo on Leites and Leites looks like he's hurt but he survives. Pretty even round with Nate finishing strong but Leites got the big shot and take down and he wins the round 10-9. Still anybody's fight.

R2- Nate comes out almost immediately with a right hand but then has to retreat quickly as Leites comes after him. Nate hits a nice combo and then rushes Leites and takes him down and nails him with an ILLEGAL knee to the face when Leites was down. Herb Dean calls for the doctor. Doctor says he's okay and Dean is going to give the fighter time to recover. Herb Dean takes a point away from Nate and they restart. Nate takes Leites down and Dean warns him about shots to the back of the head. Nate is trying to make up that point. Leites is busted open. Nate hitting some elbows. Nate dominating at this point. Joe Rogan says he thinks Leites nose is broken. Nate slips and gets mounted late in the round and the bell rings with Leites on top. Nate dominated this round but also lost a point due to the illegal knee. I've got the fight Leites 19 Nate 18 so far.

R3- They exchange so decent shots early in the round and Nate takes Leites down. Leites gets a submission attempt and Nate slips out. Ref stops the fight again and takes another point away from Nate, this time for a shot to the back of the head. With two points being taken away Nate has to finish in this fight or he will lose. Rogan says he thinks the shot was to the side of the head and it was a mistake. They re-start and Nate hits a knee. Both guys are really tired with about 30 seconds left. Nate has dominated this fight since the illegal knee. Nate picks up Leites and basically pile drives him right near the end of the fight. Nate wins the final two rounds but since he lost a point in both of them then they are scored 9-9.

I've got this one Leites 28 Nate 27 with the 2 points deducted from Nate. Judges score the fight 28-27 Leites, 28-27 Nate, and 28-27 Leites.

Winner: Thales Leites by Decision (Split)

Interesting how both of the first fights have been controversial due to referee decisions.

Chuck Liddell is at the show.

Light Heavyweight Fight- Jason Lambert (23-7) vs. Luiz Cane (8-1-1)

This is from the pre-show.

R1- Cane landed some shots when they clinched and then when Lambert was coming at him Cane nailed him. Lambert slumped down when Cane caught him again. Lambert trying to stay in this fight but seems to be getting overwhelmed and he gets caught again and it's called. Lambert just left himself open too much when he was going for strikes and paid the price.

Winner: Luiz Cane by TKO (Strikes) R1

Welterweight Fight- Marcus Davis (19-4) vs. Mike Swick (11-2)

I've been really impressed with what I've seen from Marcus Davis. Davis is on an 11 fight win streak. Swick has a large 7" reach advantage. Davis is former pro boxer turned MMA fighter. Fans are solidly behind Davis in this fight.

R1- Swick trying some kicks early and misses a knee. Davis connecting on more stuff early but nothing really damaging. They tie up and Davis gets a take down but can't control it and then Swick takes Davis down. Swick is getting in some good shots and has Davis pinned against the cage. Swick with some elbows. Davis is busted open, announcers think it's mostly old scar tissue. Swick wins this round as he took Davis down and Davis could not get back to his feet. Swick 10 Davis 9.

R2- Swick went for a kick and got popped with a right hand. Swick retaliates with akick and then hits a knee and floors Davis and is now down on top fo Davis in his guard. Swick looks surprisingly good tonight. They get back to their feet. Davis hits some combos up against the cage. Davis hitting some uppercuts and shots while they clinch and they are exchanging knees. Davis takes Swick down. Davis gets up but Swick takes him right down and has side control but not enough time to do anything with it. Swick control the beginning of this round, Davis the middle and Swick the end. Davis showed some life this round but I think Swick took this round although Davis may have done more damage so he could have gotten the nod in this round.

R3- They are exchanging shots throughout the first minute. Yamasaki deducts a point from Mike Swick for holding the fence- he had previously been warned. This could be huge if Davis were to win this round. Swick sees this and gets real aggressive and takes Davis down and is hitting him with shots. Davis is busted open. I think Swick takes this round as well. After the point deducted I've got Swick 29-27. Swick was really impressive here and Davis just never got going. Judges score the contest 29-27.

Winner: Mike Swick by Decision (Unanimous)

Middleweight Fight- Michael Bisping (16-1) vs. Jason Day (17-5)

This is announced as the "Co-Main Event". Bisping gets a big reaction, of course he's from England.

R1- Bisping gets Day to the ground about a minute in and a half in and lands some really good shots. Day is holding his head. Bisping continues to get some shots in on Day. Day gets back to his feet but gets taken down again. Bisping has his back and is hitting him with lots of punches. The ref finally steps in and stops the fight (Miragliotta's got to be real gun shy by now but this was a perfect stoppage). Bisping was very impressive in this fight and just dominated.

Winner: Michael Bisping by TKO (strikes)

Catchweight Fight- Matt Hughes (43-6) vs. Thiago Alves (20-4)

Alves did not make weight so they are fighting this as a "catchweight" fight. Hughes has a 3" reach advantage. Alves is only 24 years old.

R1- Thiago denies Hughes an early take down. Hughes goes for another one but it gets stuffed. Hughes pulls guard on Thiago. Thiago lands a couple of nice punches and then they stand up. Thiago hits a knee but Hughes is able to take Thiago down. Matt not really doing any damage to Thiago and Thiago gets up to his feet. Thiago takes Hughes down after a sprawl and Thiago lands some nice punches. Hughes controlled a lot of the middle portion of this round but Thiago did more damage. Alves 10 Hughes 9.

R2- Thiago hits a knee early and he's on top on the mat. Hughes is busted open. Alves hits Hughes with a flying knee and Hughes is a bloody mess and slumps to the mat. Herb Dean steps in to stop this fight and it's over. Alves looked really impressive here. When Hughes ate that knee Hughes felt right on his knee.

Winner: Thiago Alves by TKO (Knee Strike) R2 1:02

Post-match Matt Hughes says he's got at least one fight left in him and that's with Matt Serra.


Some more prelim fights:

Lightweight Fight- Matt Wiman vs. Thiago Tavares

R1- Wiman charges at Tavares throwing punches but Tavares grabs him in a guillotine and then grabs him in a triangle type move and then hits Wiman with a couple of upkicks. Wiman does a roll through into a leg lock but Tavares escapes. Tavares now with a heel hook but Wiman escapes. Really good fight so far and only two minutes in. Tavares on top and hitting some punches. Wiman catches him in a triangle but Tavares escapes and throws some punches. Good fight so far.

R2- Both guys come out swining in the second round and Tavares pops Wiman right in the face but Wiman takes it and comes back. Really good stuff early in this round. Wiman connects with a good punch. Tavares gets in a kick but then gets taken down. Wiman takes his back. Wiman peppers Tavares with some shots on the cage and Tavares just slumps to the mat and this one is over. Really good fight, great finish by Wiman.

Winner: Matt Wiman KO R2 1:57

Middleweight Fight- Jorge Rivera (15-6) vs. Martin Kampmann (12-1)

R1- Kampmann gets Rivera down and is in his guard about a minute in. Kampmann picks him up and slams him down on his back. Rivera went for an armbar but missed. Kampmann attempts to take the back of Rivera. Kampmann now with a guillotine and Rivera submits. Good showing by Kampmann as he dominated this one.

Winner: Martin Kampmann by Submission (Guillotine) R1 2:44

Overall Thoughts:
This was a good show that started out with 2 controversial finishes. Michael Bisping and Mike Swick really impressed me with their showings tonight. Thiago Alves looked great but he didn't make weight so he has that looming over him. The UFC doesn't seem to care too much though as he was one of the fighters that was awarded a bonus for his performance.