Ultimate Finale 12/5/09 Re-Cap (Spike TV)

Ultimate Finale
The Pearl at the Palms
Las Vegas, Nevada
12/5/09

Heavyweight Fight- Marcus Jones (4-2) vs. Matt Mitrione (0-0)

R1- Jones got a quick take down in the first 15 seconds but Mitrione got to his feet at the one minute mark. Mitrione landed some knees in the clinch. Jones was able to grab a guillotine and pull guard but he couldn’t get the submission. Jones got another take down with one minute left in the fight but Mitrione got to his feet quickly. Both guys swung wildly but Jones got another take down. Jones 10-9.

R2- Mitrione caught Jones coming in and knocked him out for the win.

Winner: Matt Mitrione by KO R2 0:10

Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Dixie Carter are at the show. Wow, now that’s a trio that I have no interest in seeing as partners in pro wrestling.

Lightweight Fight- Frankie Edgar (10-1) vs. Matt Veach (11-0)

Edgar is coming off of a big win at UFC 98 over Sean Sherk.

R1- Veach got a couple early take downs stuffed and then Edgar partially hit a head kick but Veach grabbed him and took him down. Edgar popped back up and Veach slammed him back to the canvas. Edgar gave up his back and got back to his feet and Veach again slammed him back to the mat. Veach seemed to tire a little at the end of the round and Edgar was able to get the better of the stand up. I’ve got Veach 10-9 on the strength of his slams.

R2- Edgar hit a big time right hand and knocked Veach down. Edgar jumped on top and landed some good shots on Veach. Veach gave up his back and Edgar clamped on the Rear Naked Choke and Veach tapped out. Really good performance by Edgar in weathering the early take downs in round one and then winning the stand up game later in the fight.

Winner: Frankie Edgar by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 2:22

Joe Rogan interviews Hulk Hogan ringside.

Lightweight Fight- Mark Bocek (7-2) vs. Joe Brammer (8-0)

Bocek has a 5” reach advantage in this fight. This is Brammer’s UFC debut.

R1- Bocek got the first take down and on the second take down he took Brammer’s back and got him in a body triangle. Bocek ended up getting a standing Rear Naked Choke and Brammer tapped out. Good showing by Bocek.

Winner: Mark Bocek by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 3:36

215 lb Catchweight Fight- Kimbo Slice (3-1) vs. Houston Alexander (9-4)

Kimbo has a 2” height, 5” reach and 4lb weight advantage.

R1- Kimbo takes the center of the cage and Houston circles him for the first minute with no punches thrown. Very little action in the first half of round one as Houston has landed a few leg kicks and Kimbo has thrown one strike. Finally they engaged and both guys threw some strikes but nothing significant landed. Really tough first round to score as neither guy was aggressive and neither guy landed anything worth taking note of.

R2- More of the same at the beginning of this round as Houston circles Kimbo and hits an occasional leg kick. Kimbo landed a good jab at the two minute mark of the round. Kimbo got a take down and took full mount but Houston got out of it. Houston slipped on a leg kick and Kimbo was able to land a couple of shots. Kimbo landed a good body shot. Kimbo hit an awesome side suplex on Houston and landed some strikes. Kimbo tried a guillotine but Kimbo easily slipped out and then again took top position. Houston gave up his back and Kimbo tried weakly for a Rear Naked. Kimbo then flipped him over and landed a good short elbow. I don’t know who won the first round but Kimbo easily took the second round.

R3- Both guys came out swinging to start the third round. Houston looks tired. Kimbo landed a good right hand. Houston hit a leg kick and Kimbo fell down and it looked like his leg might have given out on him. Houston followed in with some shots but Kimbo grabbed a leg and got a take down. Good recovery by Kimbo. Kimbo is landing some shots but Houston did a good job on defense and the ref stood the fight up with one minute remaining. Houston landed a couple of strikes in the last ten seconds but this one goes to a draw. Not the fight anyone thought we would see and other than the second round this was a pretty ugly fight. This is gonna be a really tough fight to score. As an overall fight Kimbo definitely won but breaking it down into round-by-round scoring it will be interesting to see what the judges decide.

Judges score cards say: 29-28, 29-28, 30-27

Winner: Kimbo Slice by Decision (Unanimous)

Tito Ortiz is in attendance at the show. And UFC is going to announce the coaches for the next TUF. Hmmmmm……

Joe Rogan interviews BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez at the same time via satellite.

Light Heavyweight Fight- Matt Hamill (8-2) vs. Jon Jones (9-0)

Jones has a 3” height and 8.5” reach advantage.

R1- They stood up for the first two minutes and then Jones escaped a Hamill take down. Jones is hitting some strikes but nothing damaging so far although Hamill’s ribs are a little red. Jones landed a really nice trip and ended up on top of Hamill and then starting hitting some big Ground and Pound. Jones is throwing some big time elbows as Hamill is trying to cover up. Jones gets a point taken from him for a down ward elbow and then the fight is stopped. Not sure if this will be a DQ or a victory for Jones but Rogan/Goldberg seem like they are assuming victory for Jones and not talking about DQ. Jones was dominating Hamill once he got him down on the mat.

Winner: Matt Hamill by DQ (Intentional Elbows) R1

Heavyweight Fight- James McSweeney vs. Darrill Schoonover

R1- The video is messed up so we are pretty much just getting PBP from Rogan/Goldberg. After a minute we get video and McSweeney pulls guard on a guillotine but Schoonover pops his head out and takes McSweeney’s guard. McSweeney flips Schoonover over and moves to mount. They stand back up and Schoonover lands a good knee but couldn’t follow up before the round ended.

R2- McSweeney got Schoonover down with a looping right hand and didn’t fully hit. McSweeney followed him down to the mat and took his guard. McSweeney definitely took this round.

R3- McSweeney got a good slam and again took top position. McSweeney landed a couple of good strikes about half way through the round and this one is over. McSweeney looked a lot better in this fight than he did in any of his TUF fights.

Winner: James McSweeney by TKO (Strikes) R3 3:20

Dana White announces the coaches for Season 11 of TUF. They are Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. Dana says that TUF 11 will be Middleweight Fighters.

TUF 10 Heavyweight Final- Roy Nelson (14-4) vs. Brendan Schaub (5-0)

Roy Nelson comes out to Weird Al Yankovic’s song “I’m Fat”. Schaub has a 4” height and 5” reach advantage. Nelson has a 23 lb weight advantage.

R1- Schaub is using his jab effectively early and avoids a take down but then got clinched and taken down by Nelson. Schaub got held down for a while but did a good job of getting to his feet without taking any damage. Schaub is landing some decent strikes. Nelson hit a big right hand behind Schaub’s ear and this one is over.

Winner: Roy Nelson by KO R1 3:45

UFC Fight Night 17 2/7/09 Re-Cap

UFC Fight Night 17
February 7th, 2009
USF Sun Dome - Tampa, FL

No major drawing cards on the show tonight but the last time UFC ran a show similar to this (Fight for the Troops) they had a really good show. On paper we’ve got some interesting fights in Lauzon/Stephens, Neer/Danzig, Johnson/Fioravanti and Pellegrino/Emerson.

Welterweight Fight- Anthony Johnson (6-2) vs. Luigi Fioravanti (13-4)

Anthony Johnson is coming off of a big Third Round KO of Kevin Burns in their re-match at the Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale. Fioravanti is the home town guy in this fight as he’s from Florida. Johnson is a JUCO wrestler and a feared striker. This is a big fight for both guys. Johnson has a big 8” reach advantage and a 6” height advantage. Cung Le is in Anthony Johnson’s corner for the fight as Johnson has been training with Le and Strikeforce Lightweight Champ Josh Thomson. Fioravanti has won 3 of his last 4 fights with the loss coming at the hands of Diego Sanchez.

R1- Johnson scored mostly in this round with leg kicks and then caught Luigi towards the end of the round with a punch and then laid it on and got the Ground and Pound victory. Very impressive victory by Johnson as it took Diego Sanchez 3 rounds to get a TKO win over Luigi.

I’m looking forward to Johnson stepping up in competition for his next fight in the Welterweight Division. Post-fight Johnson says he’s disappointed with his performance so that’s a good sign that this guy is going to work really hard to continue to improve.

Winner: Anthony Johnson by TKO (Strikes) R3 4:39

Lightweight Fight- Josh Neer (24-7-1) vs. Mac Danzig (19-5-1)

Danzig is coming off of a September loss to Clay Guida in which he was really controlled by Guida’s wrestling. Neer fought on the same show and lost a split decision to Nate Diaz. Both guys are in a need to win situation as they don’t want to start racking up multiple losses in a row. Danzig won TUF Season 6 in 2007. Neer has a 3” height advantage and a 2” reach advantage.

R1- Danzig got caught early when he went for a head kick but weathered the storm. Danzig hit a good combo about a minute in a half in to even the fight back out. Danzig caught Neer coming in with a minute and half left and then took his guard. Neer grabbed a triangle but Danzig spun out and survived. Neer unloaded in the corner. Neer showboated towards the end of the round. Neer ended the round on an upswing. Very good and very close first round. Neer controlled early, Danzig took the middle part of the round with a knock down and Neer came on strong at the end. Danzig also opened up a cut on Neer’s face.

R2- Danzig got a take down stuffed and Neer unloaded with some good elbows. Neer tried to take his back but slipped off and Danzig took guard. Neer got another triangle with a minute and a half left in the round and Danzig had to tap.

Really good fight and a good showing by both guys as it was very competitive.

Winner: Josh Neer by Submission (Arm Triangle) R2 3:36

Heavyweight Fight- Cain Velasquez (4-0) vs. Denis Stojnic (12-1)

Velasquez is an up and coming Heavyweight prospect and this is Stojnic’s first fight in the UFC. Cain has a 2” height and 3” reach advantage. Stojnic is from Amsterdam and his nickname is “Denis the Menace.”

R1- Velasquez just dominated this round. Stojnic showed a good chin but wasn’t able to get in any offense. Velasquez 10-8. Velasquez showed really good technique throughout the fight and did a good job mixing in strikes, kicks and knees.

R2- Velasquez took Stojnic down and Ground and Pound him over and over. The ref stopped the fight a little early but there was no question that Velasquez was just dominating this fight. Good showing by Velasquez, the only thing that was missing was a dominant finish.

Winner: Cain Velasquez by TKO (Strikes) R2 2:34

Lightweight Fight- Matt Grice vs. Matt Veach

This is a pre-show fight. Veach took this fight on short notice and has Matt Hughes and Robbie Lawler in his corner.

R1- Veach really pushed the pace early and got a take down. Grice caught Veach in an Anaconda Choke but Veach quickly got out of it. Grice caught Veach with an uppercut and then got on top of him with some Ground and Pound and tried to finish. Grice looked like he punched himself out when he was going for the finish. Grice went for a guillotine and Veach took his guard. Veach was looking very tired and taking some shots and he landed a good shot on Grice and took him down and got the finish. Looked like an early ref stoppage but it was a really good fight.

Winner: Matt Veach by TKO R1 4:34

Lightweight Fight- Joe Lauzon (16-4) vs. Jeremy Stephens (16-3)

Stephens is coming off of a win at UFC 91 over Rafael Dos Anjos. Lauzon’s last fight was a win over Kyle Bradley. Previous to that he had won 6 straight fights before losing to Top Contender Kenny Florian. Hermes Franca was originally supposed to fight Lauzon. Stephens trains with Franca. Lauzon was on Season 5 of the Ultimate Fighter and was BJ Penn’s team.

R1- Lauzon did a good job early in the round in working his strategy and keeping Stephens close to him and on the mat. Stephens came on late in the round with some Ground and Pound and a big slam. Close first round, very competitive.

R2- Lauzon again controlled the first part of this round and got some light Ground and Pound. At about one and a half minutes left in the round Stephens flipped it over and opened up a cut on Lauzon. Lauzon reverses but he’s bleeding pretty good. Lauzon caught Stephens in an arm bar and got a tap out as the round was ending. Really good job by Lauzon quickly getting a finish after he started to lose blood as the fight could have been ended if the round ended depending on where the cut was.

Winner: Joe Lauzon by Submission (Arm Bar) R2 4:43

Middleweight Fight- Dan Miller vs. Jake Rosholt

This is our second pre-show fight.

R1- Rosholt got a quick take down but got reversed. Miller caught Rosholt in a guillotine and he got caught and tapped. His corner was yelling for him to watch for it but apparently he didn’t hear them.

Winner: Dan Miller by Submission (Guillotine Choke) R1 1:03


Overall, I was very satisfied with this show. Anthony Johnson and Cain Velasquez both looked really good. Grice/Veach and Lauzon/Stephens were both good fights and I thought Danzig/Neer was a really good fight. Danzig/Neer is probably the best fight I’ve seen so far this year although it’s only February.