UFC Fight Night 21 3/31/2010 Re-Cap

UFC Fight Night 21
Bojangles Arena
Charlotte, North Carolina
March 31, 2010

Big fight tonight between the UFC’s #2 Lightweight Fighter Kenny Florian and Japanese legend Takanori Gomi. Gomi’s best days are behind him but if he can beat Florian tonight it will provide a huge boost for the UFC’s Lightweight division as Florian is currently clearly the #1 challenger to BJ Penn but has already lost to him.

Lightweight Fight- Ross Pearson (12-3) vs. Denis Siver (15-6)

You should know, but if you don’t Ross Pearson was the Lightweight winner of TUF 9. Siver is a German kick boxer who has 3 straight wins. Should be fun.

R1- A Pearson strike cut Siver under his eye. Pearson looks good so far and landed a good left that hurt Siver but Siver did a good job shaking off the strike. Pearson unloaded with a left kick to the face. Pearson took Siver’s back with a minute left in the round. Siver is bleeding on the God of War III logo. Pearson briefly took full mount and Siver started to really bleed but Siver got back to his feet and landed some strikes. Great first round with Pearson taking it 10-9.

R2- Siver went for a spinning back kick but Pearson was able to back off and deflect most of the kick. Pearson responded with a flying knee that looked like it partially connected. Siver got a take down with two minutes left in the round but Pearson slipped out when Siver tried to take his back. Siver looks to be running out of steam a bit towards the end of the round. This was a close round but I gave it to Pearson as it looked to me like he landed more strikes. Pearson 20-18.

R3- Pearson hit a good right but left himself open and Siver got a take down but couldn’t do anything with it. Pearson took Siver’s back and took him down and mounted but Siver slipped out without sustaining any damage. Another fairly close round but I’ve got Pearson taking this fight 30-27. Good opening fight.

Judges score cards: 30-27 on all score cards

Winner: Ross Pearson by Decision (Unanimous)

Mike Goldberg interviews BJ Penn via satellite about his upcoming title defense against Frankie Edgar.

Former WWE wrestler Jeff Hardy is in the house for the show tonight.

Middleweight Fight- Nate Quarry (18-3) vs. Jorge Rivera (17-7)

Rivera is on a two fight win streak and Quarry has won 4 of his last 5. These guys should stand up and bang so this should be fun. It will be the anti-Jon Fitch fight. Both of these guys are TUF alum. Quarry won on the inaugural season of TUF and Rivera was on the Comeback season.

R1- Rivera hit a couple of good clean right hands that Quarry absorbed. Rivera’s fist are finding a home on Quarry’s face. Rivera landed a good right that floored Quarry. Quarry got up and answered with an elbow. Rivera had Quarry up against the cage and landed some shots and Quarry dropped down to try and clinch. Quarry’s nose got busted open. Rivera landed some more good shots up against the cage. Quarry to his knees but was fighting hard to stay in the fight. Quarry barely survived the round. Rivera 10-9.

R2- Quarry came out to fight in this round but Rivera landed some solid shows and dropped Quarry and then jumped on top and finished. Another good fight. Quarry just left too many openings and Rivera did a great job capitalizing.

Winner: Jorge Rivera by TKO (Strikes) R2 0:29

Joe Rogan and Dana White shoot the shit about the debut episode of TUF. Dana says there are “great fights this season”. Rogan floats out there that he’s hearing rumors of lots of crazy stuff happening on this season and Dana confirms this but doesn’t give any details.

Lightweight Fight- Caol Uno vs. Gleison Tibau

This is from the pre-show.

R1- Tibau hit a good left early that pushed Uno back to the cage. Tibau blocked a kick and took Uno down and then stood up with Uno and tried to take his back but Uno got separated. Tibau hit a couple of good strikes and Uno went down and Tibau tried to finish but Uno recovered. Tibau landed a big right to the side of Uno’s head from behind. Tibau landed some good strikes and then flattened Uno out and landed strikes to the side of the head and the ref stepped in and stopped the fight. Really good win for Tibau.

Winner: Gleison Tibau by TKO (Strikes) R1

Heavyweight Fight- Roy Nelson (15-4) vs. Stefan Struve (23-3)

Nelson was the Heavyweight winner of TUF 9. Struve has a huge 11″ height advantage (yes that’s not a typo) and a 10″ reach advantage. Nelson has a 15 pound weight advantage. The game plan for Nelson should be to take down Struve and smother him with his belly. Struve is only 22. Nelson comes to the ring to Weird Al’s classic tune “I’m Fat”. While Bruce Buffer is introducing Stefan Struve the lights go out and cut off Buffer in mid intro and the camera cuts to KenFlo in the locker room and they take a break to get the lights turned back on. Nelson is introduced as a “Kung Fu” fighter.

R1- Wow the height difference in this fight is amazing. Nelson landed a big time right hand that rocked Struve, buckled his legs and brought him to the mat. Nelson jumped on top with Ground and Pound and the ref stopped the fight. Big time showing for Nelson. Dana must have told Nelson to finish up quick so they didn’t run over due to the blackout.

“That guy gets his ass into those punches…There is a lot of muscle behind all that fat.”- Joe Rogan

Winner: Roy Nelson by TKO (Strikes) R1 0:39

Lightweight Fight- Kenny Florian (14-4) vs. Takanori Gomi (31-5)

Gomi was 13-1 from 2004-2007 and was the last Pride Lightweight Champion. Gomi is a power puncher with knockout capability. Florian was a finalist from Season 1 of TUF. He has 10 wins in the UFC and is 10-2 since losing to Diego Sanchez at the TUF finale. Florian has won 7 of his last 8 fights and has finished 6 of those fight. The one loss was to BJ Penn. He had a big win over Clay Guida in his last outing. If Gomi can win this then he probably catapults to the top of the contenders list since Gray Maynard seems to be waiting for BJ Penn to lose. Florian has a 2″ height and 4″ reach advantage.

R1- Florian scored with some jabs and then a straight left after about a two minute feeling out process. Florian is finding a home for his jab. Florian really has Gomi back on his heels. Gomi went for a take down but got stuffed. Florian looks really good early. Florian 10-9.

R2- Florian is still working the jab effectively. Gomi is starting to land some strikes in the middle of this round. This was a much closer round. Tough round to score but it probably went to Florian for landing more strikes.

R3- Gomi hit a good left about a minute in but Florian absorbed it and got an immediate take down. Florian landed some strikes to the side. Florian looked like he was going for an arm triangle but instead took mounted and started landing some good punches and Gomi gave up his back. Florian clamped in a Rear Naked Choke and Gomi tapped out. Great showing by Florian on the ground as he just dominated Gomi once the fight went to the ground.

Winner: Kenny Florian by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R3 2:52