HEIWA DREAM.11 Featherweight Grand Prix 2009 Final Round (10/5/09) – Yokohama Arena
Michael Schiavello and Guy Mezger are the announcers for the show. Tonight we will see the Semi-Finals and Finals of the Featherweight Grand Prix, Joachim Hansen will defend against Shinya Aoki and the Super Hulk Tournament continues!
Featherweight Grand Prix Reserve Fight- Daiki Hata (5-3) vs. Kazuyuki Miyata (7-7)
Miyata comes out to Bon Jovi. Hata beat semi-finalist Hideo Tokoro by Unanimous Decision in the first round of the Featherweight Grand Prix but could not continue to the next round due to injury. Now he is better so he gets a spot in the reserve match. Michael Schiavello is in lust with Miyata’s body and has dubbed him “Sexy Miyata”.
R1- Miyata quickly takes Hata’s back and controlled him for a couple of minutes but couldn’t deliver any damage and the ref calls for a stand up with 6:30 left in the first round and delivers a yellow card to Hata. Miyata got a double leg take down with about 4 minutes left in the round. Miyata is able to take mount position with about 45 seconds left in the round and lands some Ground and Pound. Miyata is really controlling this fight so far but in DREAM the fight is judged on an overall basis and not by round.
R2- Miyata got a quick take down in the first half minute of the final round. Hata got up but Miyata slammed him back down with 3 minutes left in the round. Hata got back up and hit a couple of leg kicks and then Miyata went to take him down and Hata grabbed a guillotine choke and tried hard for the submission but Miyata hung in there and slipped out. Miyata got another take down in the final minute of the fight. Miyata controlled this fight for almost all of the fight but Hata came closer to finishing the fight. I’ve got Miyata taking this one.
Winner: Kazuyuki Miyata by Decision (Unanimous)
Featherweight Grand Prix Semi-Final Fight- Hideo Tokoro (22-16-1) vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (11-6-1)
Tokoro has reached the semi-finals by beating Abel Cullum via Rear Naked Choke in the second round. In the first round Tokoro actually lost to Daiki Hata by Unanimous Decision but Hata was injured so Tokoro took his place in the 2nd round. Takaya has advanced to the semi-finals by beating Jong Won-Kim by 2nd round TKO and by defeating Yoshiro Maeda by TKO in the second round. Takaya likes to “smack people in the face.”
R1- Takaya landed a couple of strikes at the two and a half minute mark of the fight. Tokoro tried a jumping high kick but missed and Takaya gave him a nice strike for his troubles but let him back up. Tokoro went for a take down but got stuffed and ate some kicks to his legs. Takaya is really controlling this fight and caught Tokoro with a combo but Tokoro clinched and pulled guard. Tokoro tried a knee and then hit a good right hand that buckled Takaya’s legs. Tokoro hit another strike and tried to pull guard on a triangle but Tokoro took his guard. Takaya wakes up and delivers some great Ground and Pound shots and it looked like the ref stopped the fight right after the bell but I think he was just calling for the end of the round. Takaya was dangerously close to finishing the fight. Really good first round.
R2- Takaya got Tokoro down and quickly finished him with some Ground and Pound. Looks like Takaya really hurt Tokoro at the end of the last round and just finished it here at the beginning of this round. Really good fight.
Winner: Hiroyuki Takaya by TKO (Punches) R2
Featherweight Grand Prix Semi-Final Fight- Bibiano Fernandes (5-3) vs. Joe Warren (2-0)
Fernandes is a 5-time world jiu jitsu champion. Fernandes advance to this point by defeating Masakazu Imanari and Takafumi Otsuka by decision. Joe Warren is a decorated wrestler who has defeated tournament favorite Kid Yamamoto and Chase Beebe in this tournament (these were his first two MMA fights).
R1- They clinched early and Warren almost got a take down but couldn’t hold it and then got a slam and landed in Bibiano’s guard. Bibiano locked in an arm bar and Joe Warren tapped Bibiano’s leg and submitted.
Post-fight Warren looks confused like he didn’t tap and the Bibiano comes at Warren and points at him (possibly flipping him the bird) and then takes off out of the ring and on the ramp again points at him. Really strange happenings after this fight finished. Looks like Bibiano has to be the favorite for the finals due to the time of this fight versus the time of the other semi-final.
Winner: Bibiano Fernandes by Submission (Arm Bar) R1
Super Hulk Tournament Semi-Final- Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Hong-Man Choi
Minowa beat Bob Sapp in the first round to advance and Hong-Man Choi defeated Jose Canseco. Yes, that Jose Canseco. Choi is 7’2” and 355 lbs. Minowa is 5’9” and 201 lbs.
R1- Minowa looks like he’s half the size of Choi. Minowa tried for a take down and got stuffed and Choi was briefly on top but then stood up. Minowa landed an over hand right but Choi answered with a knee. Minowa went for a take down and fought and got it with about 6 minutes left in the round. Minowa is landing some knees to Choi’s side but really isn’t doing much and the ref stands them up at 3 minutes left in the round and gives Choi a yellow card. Choi got top position on Minowa and landed some strikes but then stood back up. Not a real exciting round. Both guys look pretty tired.
R2-Minowa went for a take down and didn’t initially get it but he twisted around and got on top and tried for a leg lock and he got it and tapped out Choi. Good showing by Minowa just because of the huge size dis-advantage that he had.
Winner: Ikuhisa Minowa by Submission (leg lock) R2
Super Hulk Tournament Semi-Final- Bob Sapp vs. Sokoudjou
Bob Sapp lost in the first round to Minowa but is filling in for Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion Gegard Mousasi. Mousasi was pretty vocal in saying that he didn’t want to fight Sokoudjou because he thought he was on the gas. Sokoudjou beat Jan Nortje in the first round to advance.
R1- Sapp missed a wild right hand and got taken down. Sokoudjou put his knee on Sapp’s stomach and landed some Ground and Pound and eventually the ref stopped the fight.
Winner: Sokoudjou by TKO (Punches) R1
Lightweight Fight- Tatsuya Kawajiri (24-5-2) vs. Melchor Barracuda (2-3)
Kawajiri last fought at DREAM 9 where he beat JZ Calvacante by Unanimous Decision.
R1- Barracuda swung wildly to start but was clinched by Kawajiri. Kawajiri got him to the ground and took his guard. Kawajiri was able to move to the mount position. Kawajiri landed some good Ground and Pound and Barracuda’s corner stepped in and the ref stopped the fight. Very one-sided fight as was expected in this one. Kawajiri should be in line to face the winner of Hansen/Aoki.
Winner: Tatsuya Kawajiri by TKO (Punches) R1
Middleweight Fight- Kazushi Sakuraba (24-12-1) vs. Rubin Williams
Is a pro boxer who is 29-8-1 as a boxer with 16 knockouts but has lost his last 6 fights as a boxer. He’s been training in MMA for one year. This fight was added to the show late to spur attendance due to the drawing power of Sakuraba. Sakuraba was last seen losing to Kiyoshi Tamura and Melvin Manhoef so he’s on a 2 fight losing streak coming into this fight.
R1- Sakuraba starts out with some leg kicks and you can tell Williams doesn’t like them. Sakuraba shoots in and Williams tries to clinch him on the ground to minimize damage. Sakuraba lands some strikes and tries to set up for an arm bar or a kimura. Williams taps out to a kimura. Sakuraba made quick work of Williams.
Winner: Kazushi Sakuraba by Submission (Kimura) R1
DREAM Lightweight Title Fight- Joachim Hansen © (19-7-1) vs. Shinya Aoki (21-4)
Joachim Hansen actually lost to Eddie Alvarez in the 2nd round of the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix but came back as a replacement for Alvarez when Alvarez won his semi-final fight but then could not continue to the finals due to an injury. Hansen won his reserve fight so he moved on to the finals and defeated Shinya Aoki by TKO (Strikes) in the first round in a pretty short fight. Since then Hansen has not fought but Aoki has gone on to fight a bunch of fights. At DREAM 6 Aoki beat Todd Moore by Rear Naked Choke in the first round, at the DREAM/K-1 Show he beat Eddie Alvarez for the WAMMA Lightweight Championship by Heel Hook Submission, at DREAM 7 he beat David Gardner by Rear Naked Choke Submission, at DREAM 8 he lost a Welterweight fight to Hayato Sakari by first round TKO (punches) in 27 seconds and at DREAM 10 he defeated Vitor Ribeiro by Unanimous Decision. Aoki is a consensus Top 5 Lightweight. He’s ranked by most as the #2 Lightweight fighter in the world behind BJ Penn.
R1- Hansen went for a big uppercut but missed and Aoki clinched him and got him to the ground. Hansen got back to his feet momentarily but Aoki wrestled him back down. Hansen kicked Aoki with two upkicks. One while he was standing and one while he had one knee on the ground. The ref calls for time. The announcers are saying that this is legal but that Aoki may have been hit with a shot to the groin. All the attention in the corner is being paid to Aoki’s eye and his vision and not his groin. Hansen’s corner is wondering what is going on. If this is for a groin kick then Aoki is milking this for everything it’s worth because he was about to get finished after those upkicks that badly damaged him. They re-start the fight with Aoki on top of Hansen. Hansen has an active guard and is landing some strikes on Aoki but nothing damaging. Hansen went for an arm bar and almost had it but Aoki countered nicely with some kicks and then a leg lock. Hansen countered back with some good elbows to the thigh area of Aoki. Aoki tried to lock on a reverse body triangle but Hansen escaped and got to his feet and briefly took Aoki’s back and then landed some strikes. Aoki got a double leg take down with about a minute forty left. Aoki is really not doing much while on top in this fight. This was a close round. Aoki spent most of the round on top but Hansen has come closer to finishing the fight. I’m not sure how they will score the upkicks that caused the stoppage.
R2- Hansen hit a couple strikes but then got clinched and taken down. Aoki is not doing anything on top so the fight is being stood up and the ref gives both fighters a yellow card. Hansen came close to hitting a kick or knee to the head but Aoki got a take down. The ref moved the fighters to the center of the ring and Aoki quickly took mount position. Aoki goes for an arm bar with 45 seconds left as Hansen is blocking the move and checking with his corner to see how much time is left. Hansen rolled the wrong way and got caught with about 3 seconds left in the round and he tapped out. Wow, talk about a huge mistake by Hansen. All he had to do was hold on for about 3 seconds in the position that he was in instead of rolling over.
Winner and new champion: Shinya Aoki by Submission (Arm Bar) R2
Featherweight Grand Prix Finals: Bibiano Fernandes (6-3)vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (12-6-1)
R1- Takaya landed an early strike and then went for a knee and got taken down. Fernandes went for a quick arm bar but came up empty and Takaya got on top. Fernandes quickly went for a leg lock but Takaya got out and quickly got back to his feet. Fernandes got a take down after he landed a strike. Fernandes stood them back up and jumped on Takaya’s back to try and get a Rear Naked Choke. The ref breaks the fighters and they re-start. Takaya landed a good right hand. Both guys are standing and landing some strikes as Fernandes continues to look for the take down. Fernandes got a take down with about two and a half minutes left in the round. Takaya put his back against the ropes and used the ropes to get back to his feet and then freed himself from Fernandes. Takaya swung with some good punches but Fernandes was able to push him off but he did sustain a cut near his eye during that exchange. Really good first round. Takaya looked like he hurt Fernandes at the end of the round.
R2- Fernandes countered a Takaya strike and knocked Takaya down. Takaya quickly got back up but Fernandez quickly got a take down. Fernandes quickly landed some punches and took Takaya’s back and Takaya stood up and moved Fernandes back to the corner and the referee broke the hold. Both guys throw some leather but neither is able to land anything solid. Takaya has some blood coming from his mouth and his left eye is swelling. Takaya landed some nice punches but Fernandes hung in there. Both guys are just swinging for the fences to try to win this fight. Awesome fight. This one is a toss up. I would probably have to give the fight to Fernandes because he came closer to finishing the fight and also scored a knock down in the second round. Really close round and one of the fights of the year.
Judges score the fight: Fernandes, Takaya and Fernandes
Winner and new champion: Bibiano Fernandes by Decision (Split)
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Thursday, October 08, 2009
TUF 10: Heavyweights Episode Four Re-Cap
TUF 10: Heavyweights Episode Four
Last week we saw Roy Nelson beat Kimbo Slice and Team Rashad is now up 3 fights to 0. Roy said something to Rampage after the fight and Rampage pushed him but Roy kept walking.
Marcus Jones is bent over in the middle of the hall wet with sweat. Kimbo thinks he just came out of the shower but Jones says that he didn’t.
Team Rashad has begged Demico Rogers and Scott Junk as the top guys on Team Rampage and are plotting who to match them up against. Looks like they will set up Justin Wren against Scott Junk, Brendan Schaub against Demico, Matt Mitrione against Marcus Jones. They want to set it up so they have the top 4 guys at the finals. Wren says that he doesn’t want to fight Junk because they are best friends. The coaches told the guys not to say anything and Matt Mitrione spilled the beans to Team Rampage.
“I need a win like fish need water”- Rampage Jackson
Fight Announcement: Rashad picks Brendan Schaub vs. Demico Rogers.
Brendan Schaub (4-0) vs. Demico Rogers (4-0)
Before the fight they show Rashad’s coaches warming up Schaub and then they show Rampage’s guys just sitting around because Rampage and his coaches went out to get some food. Both guys are 6’4” with Demico having a 3” reach advantage.
R1- Demico went for a bad looking take down and Schaub easily blocked it. Both guys throw some leather and Demico got a take down. Demico was able to land some punches before Schaub pushed him out of the guard but then Demico was able to jump back into the guard. Demico passed the guard to side control and landed some elbows but Schaub slipped out and took Demico’s guard with 2 minutes left in the round. Schaub was able to catch Demico in a choke and Demico tapped. Demico was lying on his stomach and Rampage told him to get on his knees and then Schaub tapped him out.
Winner: Brendan Schaub by Submission (Choke) R1
Demico was just sitting by himself in the ring after the fight and Rashad came up and gave him some encouragement. Team Rashad is up 4-0 and Team Rampage is not looking like they are going to rebound anytime soon.
“We kickin’ Rampage’s ass”- Rashad Evans
Fighters Remaining
Team Rashad #1: James McSweeney
Team Rashad #2: Brendan Schaub
Team Rampage #2: Abe Wagner
Team Rashad #3: Justin Wren
Team Rashad #4: Jon Madsen
Team Rampage #4: Wes Sims
Team Rashad #5: Roy Nelson
Team Rampage #5: Scott Junk
Team Rashad #6: Darrill Schoonover
Team Rashad #7: Matt Mitrione
Team Rampage #7: Marcus Jones
Team Rashad #8: Mike Wessel
Team Rampage #8: Zak Jensen
Eliminated:
Abe Wagner defeated by Jon Madsen- Episode One
Wes Shivers defeated by James McSweeney- Episode Two
Kimbo Slice defeated by Roy Nelson- Episode Three
Demico Rogers defeated by Brendan Schaub- Episode Four
Last week we saw Roy Nelson beat Kimbo Slice and Team Rashad is now up 3 fights to 0. Roy said something to Rampage after the fight and Rampage pushed him but Roy kept walking.
Marcus Jones is bent over in the middle of the hall wet with sweat. Kimbo thinks he just came out of the shower but Jones says that he didn’t.
Team Rashad has begged Demico Rogers and Scott Junk as the top guys on Team Rampage and are plotting who to match them up against. Looks like they will set up Justin Wren against Scott Junk, Brendan Schaub against Demico, Matt Mitrione against Marcus Jones. They want to set it up so they have the top 4 guys at the finals. Wren says that he doesn’t want to fight Junk because they are best friends. The coaches told the guys not to say anything and Matt Mitrione spilled the beans to Team Rampage.
“I need a win like fish need water”- Rampage Jackson
Fight Announcement: Rashad picks Brendan Schaub vs. Demico Rogers.
Brendan Schaub (4-0) vs. Demico Rogers (4-0)
Before the fight they show Rashad’s coaches warming up Schaub and then they show Rampage’s guys just sitting around because Rampage and his coaches went out to get some food. Both guys are 6’4” with Demico having a 3” reach advantage.
R1- Demico went for a bad looking take down and Schaub easily blocked it. Both guys throw some leather and Demico got a take down. Demico was able to land some punches before Schaub pushed him out of the guard but then Demico was able to jump back into the guard. Demico passed the guard to side control and landed some elbows but Schaub slipped out and took Demico’s guard with 2 minutes left in the round. Schaub was able to catch Demico in a choke and Demico tapped. Demico was lying on his stomach and Rampage told him to get on his knees and then Schaub tapped him out.
Winner: Brendan Schaub by Submission (Choke) R1
Demico was just sitting by himself in the ring after the fight and Rashad came up and gave him some encouragement. Team Rashad is up 4-0 and Team Rampage is not looking like they are going to rebound anytime soon.
“We kickin’ Rampage’s ass”- Rashad Evans
Fighters Remaining
Team Rashad #1: James McSweeney
Team Rashad #2: Brendan Schaub
Team Rampage #2: Abe Wagner
Team Rashad #3: Justin Wren
Team Rashad #4: Jon Madsen
Team Rampage #4: Wes Sims
Team Rashad #5: Roy Nelson
Team Rampage #5: Scott Junk
Team Rashad #6: Darrill Schoonover
Team Rashad #7: Matt Mitrione
Team Rampage #7: Marcus Jones
Team Rashad #8: Mike Wessel
Team Rampage #8: Zak Jensen
Eliminated:
Abe Wagner defeated by Jon Madsen- Episode One
Wes Shivers defeated by James McSweeney- Episode Two
Kimbo Slice defeated by Roy Nelson- Episode Three
Demico Rogers defeated by Brendan Schaub- Episode Four
Monday, October 05, 2009
MFC 22 "Payoff" 10/2/09 Re-Cap (HDNet)
Maximum Fighting Championship: Payoff
River Cree Casino
Enoch, Albert
October 2, 2009
Michael Schiavello and Guy Mezger are the announcers for this show. This is MFC 22 and we have a bunch of recognizable names on this card. This show is being broadcast live on HDNet. Jason Gregor is the backstage interviewer and he is joined backstage by Jason MacDonald and they discuss his Main Event fight tonight with Travis Lutter.
Lightweight Fight- Pete Spratt (19-13) vs. Nathan Gunn (7-0)
Spratt is a Muy Thai fighter and Gunn is a freestyle fighter.
R1- Gunn gets Spratt down immediately and controls the early part of the round. Spratt got back to his feet but then got taken right back down. Spratt got to his feet again but Gunn again took him down. Gunn is controlling but hasn’t done anything to hurt Spratt yet. Gunn took this round 10-9 and took Spratt down at will even though he didn’t inflict any damage.
R2- Spratt hit a big right hand to start off the round and followed it up with a kick and then a knee. Spratt was all over Gunn at the beginning of the round. Gunn instinctively clinched Spratt and was able to survive the onslaught. Gunn got a take down after he recovered some in the clinch and continued to recover after the take down. Spratt used the ropes to get out of a bad position and got a warning from the ref. Spratt went for a high kick but it was blocked. Out of nowhere Spratt loaded up a big right handed uppercut and knocked out Gunn. Gunn fell straight forward and Spratt knew he had the knockout and just walked away. Great finish by Spratt.
Winner: Pete Spratt by KO R2 4:19
Jason Gregor interviews MFC Lightweight Champion Antonio McKee. He will be fighting Carlo Prater tonight but the belt is not on the line as Prater did not make weight.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Marvin Eastman (16-10) vs. Ryan Jimmo (10-1)
Eastman is a wrestler and Muy Thai fighter and a former UFC fighter and holds a victory over Rampage Jackson. Eastman is coming off a loss to Ricardo Arona. Jimmo is a karate specialist from Edmonton. Jimmo has a 5” height advantage and has not been defeated since his pro debut.
R1- Not a lot of action early on as Eastman is the aggressor as he is kind of stalking Jimmo but Jimmo is picking his shots and throwing more strikes. Eastman clinched Jimmo but Jimmo gets the better of the clinch by landing knees. Jimmo takes the first round 10-9. Jimmo out struck Eastman 27 to 9 in the first round.
R2- They clinched early in the round and then Eastman finally got a take down about half way through the round. Not a very good round from a fans stand point but I have Eastman taking it and tying up the fight 19-19 going into the final round.
R3- Jimmo wins the early part of the fight by landing strikes in the clinch. Eastman got a take down with three minutes left in the round. Ref stands the fight up with 40 seconds and they clinched again. This one is a virtual toss-up. It will be interesting to see how this fight is scored. Eastman probably got the final round by getting the take down and controlling for a good majority of the round. I’m going to guess Eastman by Split Decision. Jimmo landed 65 strikes to Eastman’s 46. Jimmo has some pretty big swelling going on in the corner of his eye.
Judges score cards say: 29-28 Jimmo, 29-28 Eastman, 29-28 Jimmo
Winner: Ryan Jimmo by Decision (Split)
Jason Gregor is backstage with Travis Lutter and they talk about his Main Event fight tonight.
Light Heavyweight Fight- David Heath (12-5) vs. Mike Nickels (7-2)
Both of these guys have fought for UFC. The only fight I saw of Nickels was his 2007 loss to Stephan Bonnar. Nickels has a 2” reach and 5” height advantage.
R1- Heath lands a couple of jabs early and you can already see the redness on the cheek of Nickels. Both guys are landing some decent strikes about mid-way through the round as they had a good exchange. Heath has opened up a cut on Nickels face. Heath took this first round as he landed better shots on Nickels and did more damage.
R2- Nickels opens up the round with a good punch and then clinches Heath and lands some elbows. Nickels is really pouring it on and Heath is just throwing wild punches to try and survive. Heath is hurt but he gets a minute to recover because his mouthpiece came out. Both guys are slugging it out. Nickels seems to be running out of gas a bit as he had some wide open punches on Death but didn’t have enough to put Heath out. Heath losses his mouthpiece again and Nickels punches him in the face as Heath looked down at it. The ref warns Heath that if it comes out again he will lose a point. This was a really good round, Nickels won this due to his performance in the first half of the round. Heath came back towards the end but couldn’t steal the round. It’s a 19-19 fight going into the final round.
So far Nickels has landed 90 punches to Heath’s 69 through 2 rounds.
R3- Heath losses his mouth piece again and he loses a point. Nickels lands several good punches about half way through the round that really has Heath rocked. Nickels went for a take down but got stuffed but then Heath got thrown down in the corner and Nickels jumped on him and took his back and tried to get a Rear Naked Choke and got the tap out. Both guys lost a lot of steam in the second round but this was still a fun fight.
Winner: Mike Nickels by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R3 4:02
Welterweight Fight- Luigi Fioravanti (15-5) vs. John Alessio (25-13)
Both of these guys have fought in the UFC. Luigi is a Kickboxer/BBJ fighter who trains with ATT. Alessio is a kickboxer/jiu jitsu specialist who trains at Xtreme Couture. The last I saw Luigi he lost to Anthony Johnson by TKO back in February in the UFC. John Alessio was in the DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix this year but lost in the first round to Andre Galvao by submission in the first round.
R1- Pretty even fight through the first round. Almost looked straight up even, it was very close. Luigi landed 12 strikes in round one and Alessio landed 11. That’s a 10-10 round if it’s allowed to be scored that way.
R2- Luigi seems to be pushing the action a little more at the beginning of this round. This was another really close round. Luigi pressed the action but Alessio also hit a couple of nice punches towards the end of the round. This is about an even of a fight as you could have after two rounds. After two rounds Luigi has landed 36 strikes and Alessio has landed 27 so that means that Luigi out struck Alessio by 8 punches in the second round.
R3- Alessio shoots in for a quick take down but Luigi clinches and doesn’t go down. Alessio hit a SHOCKING knockout punch out of nowhere at the 3:30 mark of the round and this one is over. That one came out of nowhere. What a finish!
Winner: John Alessio by KO R3 1:34
Catch weight Fight (158 lbs) Antonio McKee (25-3-2) vs. Carlo Prater (24-6)
Prater says he’s extremely focused and trained hard for the fight but he didn’t make weight so I’m confused. McKee is a wrestling specialist. This was going to be a title fight for McKee’s title but Prater did not make weight. McKee has gone 11-0-1 since a decision loss to Karo Parisyan in 2003. McKee has a 4” reach advantage.
R1- McKee got a quick take down within the first 30 seconds of the fight. McKee has landed some good strikes and has busted Prater open. At the mid-way point of the round HDNet puts up a graphic that shows McKee has landed 17 strikes to 0 for Prater. This was pretty much a 10-8 round because I don’t think Prater even landed a strike.
R2- McKee shot in at the one minute mark and got another take down. McKee is landing some punches but nothing that is putting the fight in jeopardy. The ref stops the fight to have Prater’s eye checked out. The ref tries to start the fight back on their feet but McKee reminds him he had Prater on the ground so the ref puts McKee back in Prater’s guard. The ref stands the fight back up with one minute left in the round. McKee gets another take down about 15 seconds after the stand up but Prater grabs a choke on the way down but could not lock it in. McKee takes this round 10-9 and is up 20-17 going into the third and final round.
R3- Prater keeps from getting taken down in this round and is able to land some punches to McKee’s side and back but McKee fought through and got a brief take down and then got a slam to get Prater down in the last thirty seconds of the fight. Not a very exciting third round but McKee definitely wins this fight.
Judges score cards say: 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28 in favor of McKee
Winner: Antonio McKee by Decision (Unanimous)
Middleweight Fight- Travis Lutter (9-5) vs. Jason MacDonald (21-12)
Both guys are BJJ fighters and are former UFC fighters. MacDonald is from Calgary and gets a good ovation from the crowd on his entrance. MacDonald is only 3-5 in his last 8 fighters. His best wins have come against Chris Leben and Ed Herman. Out of his 21 wins he has won 17 of them by submission. MacDonald has a large 3” height and 6” reach advantage.
R1- Lutter got a take down with a minute and a half gone from the round. Lutter worked and got the mount at the mid-way point of the round. MacDonald tried to slip out but Lutter took MacDonald’s back. Lutter almost got a Rear Naked Choke but MacDonald was able to maneuver out of the submission and survive the round. Lutter up 10-9 after one round.
R2- Lutter got a take down within the first minute of the round and quickly took side control. Lutter is strictly trying to pass guard and is not looking to strike. Lutter is finally able to get the mount with about 1:45 left in the second round. McDonald gave up his back to get out of the mount and Lutter took his back but was not able to do anything with it as the round ended. Lutter has really controlled this fight and is up 20-18. While Lutter has dominated he hasn’t inflicted any damage on MacDonald so far in the fight.
R3- MacDonald is able to turn the tables on Lutter and get a takedown within the first minute of the round. MacDonald is able to hit some short elbows. MacDonald clearly won this round but didn’t win it decisively enough to make it 10-8. Lutter will win this fight 29-28.
Judges score the fight: 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28 in favor of Lutter
Winner: Travis Lutter by Decision (Unanimous)
River Cree Casino
Enoch, Albert
October 2, 2009
Michael Schiavello and Guy Mezger are the announcers for this show. This is MFC 22 and we have a bunch of recognizable names on this card. This show is being broadcast live on HDNet. Jason Gregor is the backstage interviewer and he is joined backstage by Jason MacDonald and they discuss his Main Event fight tonight with Travis Lutter.
Lightweight Fight- Pete Spratt (19-13) vs. Nathan Gunn (7-0)
Spratt is a Muy Thai fighter and Gunn is a freestyle fighter.
R1- Gunn gets Spratt down immediately and controls the early part of the round. Spratt got back to his feet but then got taken right back down. Spratt got to his feet again but Gunn again took him down. Gunn is controlling but hasn’t done anything to hurt Spratt yet. Gunn took this round 10-9 and took Spratt down at will even though he didn’t inflict any damage.
R2- Spratt hit a big right hand to start off the round and followed it up with a kick and then a knee. Spratt was all over Gunn at the beginning of the round. Gunn instinctively clinched Spratt and was able to survive the onslaught. Gunn got a take down after he recovered some in the clinch and continued to recover after the take down. Spratt used the ropes to get out of a bad position and got a warning from the ref. Spratt went for a high kick but it was blocked. Out of nowhere Spratt loaded up a big right handed uppercut and knocked out Gunn. Gunn fell straight forward and Spratt knew he had the knockout and just walked away. Great finish by Spratt.
Winner: Pete Spratt by KO R2 4:19
Jason Gregor interviews MFC Lightweight Champion Antonio McKee. He will be fighting Carlo Prater tonight but the belt is not on the line as Prater did not make weight.
Light Heavyweight Fight- Marvin Eastman (16-10) vs. Ryan Jimmo (10-1)
Eastman is a wrestler and Muy Thai fighter and a former UFC fighter and holds a victory over Rampage Jackson. Eastman is coming off a loss to Ricardo Arona. Jimmo is a karate specialist from Edmonton. Jimmo has a 5” height advantage and has not been defeated since his pro debut.
R1- Not a lot of action early on as Eastman is the aggressor as he is kind of stalking Jimmo but Jimmo is picking his shots and throwing more strikes. Eastman clinched Jimmo but Jimmo gets the better of the clinch by landing knees. Jimmo takes the first round 10-9. Jimmo out struck Eastman 27 to 9 in the first round.
R2- They clinched early in the round and then Eastman finally got a take down about half way through the round. Not a very good round from a fans stand point but I have Eastman taking it and tying up the fight 19-19 going into the final round.
R3- Jimmo wins the early part of the fight by landing strikes in the clinch. Eastman got a take down with three minutes left in the round. Ref stands the fight up with 40 seconds and they clinched again. This one is a virtual toss-up. It will be interesting to see how this fight is scored. Eastman probably got the final round by getting the take down and controlling for a good majority of the round. I’m going to guess Eastman by Split Decision. Jimmo landed 65 strikes to Eastman’s 46. Jimmo has some pretty big swelling going on in the corner of his eye.
Judges score cards say: 29-28 Jimmo, 29-28 Eastman, 29-28 Jimmo
Winner: Ryan Jimmo by Decision (Split)
Jason Gregor is backstage with Travis Lutter and they talk about his Main Event fight tonight.
Light Heavyweight Fight- David Heath (12-5) vs. Mike Nickels (7-2)
Both of these guys have fought for UFC. The only fight I saw of Nickels was his 2007 loss to Stephan Bonnar. Nickels has a 2” reach and 5” height advantage.
R1- Heath lands a couple of jabs early and you can already see the redness on the cheek of Nickels. Both guys are landing some decent strikes about mid-way through the round as they had a good exchange. Heath has opened up a cut on Nickels face. Heath took this first round as he landed better shots on Nickels and did more damage.
R2- Nickels opens up the round with a good punch and then clinches Heath and lands some elbows. Nickels is really pouring it on and Heath is just throwing wild punches to try and survive. Heath is hurt but he gets a minute to recover because his mouthpiece came out. Both guys are slugging it out. Nickels seems to be running out of gas a bit as he had some wide open punches on Death but didn’t have enough to put Heath out. Heath losses his mouthpiece again and Nickels punches him in the face as Heath looked down at it. The ref warns Heath that if it comes out again he will lose a point. This was a really good round, Nickels won this due to his performance in the first half of the round. Heath came back towards the end but couldn’t steal the round. It’s a 19-19 fight going into the final round.
So far Nickels has landed 90 punches to Heath’s 69 through 2 rounds.
R3- Heath losses his mouth piece again and he loses a point. Nickels lands several good punches about half way through the round that really has Heath rocked. Nickels went for a take down but got stuffed but then Heath got thrown down in the corner and Nickels jumped on him and took his back and tried to get a Rear Naked Choke and got the tap out. Both guys lost a lot of steam in the second round but this was still a fun fight.
Winner: Mike Nickels by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R3 4:02
Welterweight Fight- Luigi Fioravanti (15-5) vs. John Alessio (25-13)
Both of these guys have fought in the UFC. Luigi is a Kickboxer/BBJ fighter who trains with ATT. Alessio is a kickboxer/jiu jitsu specialist who trains at Xtreme Couture. The last I saw Luigi he lost to Anthony Johnson by TKO back in February in the UFC. John Alessio was in the DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix this year but lost in the first round to Andre Galvao by submission in the first round.
R1- Pretty even fight through the first round. Almost looked straight up even, it was very close. Luigi landed 12 strikes in round one and Alessio landed 11. That’s a 10-10 round if it’s allowed to be scored that way.
R2- Luigi seems to be pushing the action a little more at the beginning of this round. This was another really close round. Luigi pressed the action but Alessio also hit a couple of nice punches towards the end of the round. This is about an even of a fight as you could have after two rounds. After two rounds Luigi has landed 36 strikes and Alessio has landed 27 so that means that Luigi out struck Alessio by 8 punches in the second round.
R3- Alessio shoots in for a quick take down but Luigi clinches and doesn’t go down. Alessio hit a SHOCKING knockout punch out of nowhere at the 3:30 mark of the round and this one is over. That one came out of nowhere. What a finish!
Winner: John Alessio by KO R3 1:34
Catch weight Fight (158 lbs) Antonio McKee (25-3-2) vs. Carlo Prater (24-6)
Prater says he’s extremely focused and trained hard for the fight but he didn’t make weight so I’m confused. McKee is a wrestling specialist. This was going to be a title fight for McKee’s title but Prater did not make weight. McKee has gone 11-0-1 since a decision loss to Karo Parisyan in 2003. McKee has a 4” reach advantage.
R1- McKee got a quick take down within the first 30 seconds of the fight. McKee has landed some good strikes and has busted Prater open. At the mid-way point of the round HDNet puts up a graphic that shows McKee has landed 17 strikes to 0 for Prater. This was pretty much a 10-8 round because I don’t think Prater even landed a strike.
R2- McKee shot in at the one minute mark and got another take down. McKee is landing some punches but nothing that is putting the fight in jeopardy. The ref stops the fight to have Prater’s eye checked out. The ref tries to start the fight back on their feet but McKee reminds him he had Prater on the ground so the ref puts McKee back in Prater’s guard. The ref stands the fight back up with one minute left in the round. McKee gets another take down about 15 seconds after the stand up but Prater grabs a choke on the way down but could not lock it in. McKee takes this round 10-9 and is up 20-17 going into the third and final round.
R3- Prater keeps from getting taken down in this round and is able to land some punches to McKee’s side and back but McKee fought through and got a brief take down and then got a slam to get Prater down in the last thirty seconds of the fight. Not a very exciting third round but McKee definitely wins this fight.
Judges score cards say: 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28 in favor of McKee
Winner: Antonio McKee by Decision (Unanimous)
Middleweight Fight- Travis Lutter (9-5) vs. Jason MacDonald (21-12)
Both guys are BJJ fighters and are former UFC fighters. MacDonald is from Calgary and gets a good ovation from the crowd on his entrance. MacDonald is only 3-5 in his last 8 fighters. His best wins have come against Chris Leben and Ed Herman. Out of his 21 wins he has won 17 of them by submission. MacDonald has a large 3” height and 6” reach advantage.
R1- Lutter got a take down with a minute and a half gone from the round. Lutter worked and got the mount at the mid-way point of the round. MacDonald tried to slip out but Lutter took MacDonald’s back. Lutter almost got a Rear Naked Choke but MacDonald was able to maneuver out of the submission and survive the round. Lutter up 10-9 after one round.
R2- Lutter got a take down within the first minute of the round and quickly took side control. Lutter is strictly trying to pass guard and is not looking to strike. Lutter is finally able to get the mount with about 1:45 left in the second round. McDonald gave up his back to get out of the mount and Lutter took his back but was not able to do anything with it as the round ended. Lutter has really controlled this fight and is up 20-18. While Lutter has dominated he hasn’t inflicted any damage on MacDonald so far in the fight.
R3- MacDonald is able to turn the tables on Lutter and get a takedown within the first minute of the round. MacDonald is able to hit some short elbows. MacDonald clearly won this round but didn’t win it decisively enough to make it 10-8. Lutter will win this fight 29-28.
Judges score the fight: 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28 in favor of Lutter
Winner: Travis Lutter by Decision (Unanimous)
Thursday, October 01, 2009
TUF 10 Heavyweights Episode Three Re-Cap
TUF 10: Heavyweights Episode Three
“The Enemy”
In the first two weeks we’ve seen Team Rashad take the first two fights and Rashad has picked Roy Nelson to take on Kimbo Slice on tonight’s show. This will most likely be the highest rating in the history of TUF (which was already previously set this season).
The guys are sitting around a table talking about how this fight could have been the Main Event of a big card with Kimbo netting around $500K and Roy getting around $100K. Rashad thinks Roy has enough experience to step into the cage with Kimbo whereas some of the other guys may not have.
Keith Jardine (from TUF season 2 and a current UFC fighter) drops by Team Rashad’s training session. Jardine and Rashad currently train together at Greg Jackson’s camp. Rashad and Rampage predictably get into a war of words and James McSweeney and Rampage get into a small back and forth as well.
Team Rampage is mostly working with Kimbo on take down defense and getting up off his back when he’s on the ground.
“That’s a big belly. Biggest belly I’ve ever seen. I wonder if his feet get wet when he takes a shower. I bet he hasn’t seen his little friend in years.”- Rampage on Roy Nelson (when discussing Kimbo’s ability to get up if Roy was on top of him in his guard)
During training Marcus Jones seems to be having some trouble with one of his knees. Marcus wants to fight next and Rampage tells him to get his knee better first. Marcus likes flowers, comic books and dungeons & dragons.
Heavyweight Fight- Roy Nelson (13-4) vs. Kimbo Slice (3-1)
Kimbo has a 2” height and 3” reach advantage. Roy has the obvious advantage in weight and experience.
R1- Both guys are a little tentative early not wanting to step in too aggressively and make a big mistake. Kimbo lands the first meaningful punches of the fight and starts to really swing at Roy on the fence and Roy clinches him. Kimbo did a good job of avoiding the take down for a while but then Roy pulled him from the cage and swept his leg and got him down and quickly mounted Kimbo with about a minute and a half left in the round. Roy moved from mount to side control and landed some punches. Roy got him in a crucifix position and Roy landed a bunch of punches but Kimbo got saved by the bell and fairly quickly got to his feet. Round One is scored in favor of Roy Nelson.
R2- Kimbo swings to start the round and connected with some shots but Roy was able to get a take down. Roy again took side control and went for the crucifix again. Roy was able to land some punches in the crucifix position and Kimbo was unable to get out of that position and the ref stopped the fight.
Dana White was critical of the stoppage and said that Roy’s punches were not hard enough to warrant stopping the fight. Dana says that Kimbo did step up and that he needs to use the rest of his time on the show to learn and he will becoming a better fighter. Dana also says that Kimbo could fight again if there is an injury or someone has to leave.
Winner: Roy Nelson by TKO (Punches) R2
Fighters Remaining
Team Rashad #1: James McSweeney
Team Rashad #2: Brandon Schaub
Team Rampage #2: Abe Wagner
Team Rashad #3: Justin Wren
Team Rampage #3: Demico Rogers
Team Rashad #4: Jon Madsen
Team Rampage #4: Wes Sims
Team Rashad #5: Roy Nelson
Team Rampage #5: Scott Junk
Team Rashad #6: Darrill Schoonover
Team Rashad #7: Matt Mitrione
Team Rampage #7: Marcus Jones
Team Rashad #8: Mike Wessel
Team Rampage #8: Zak Jensen
Eliminated:
Abe Wagner defeated by Jon Madsen- Episode One
Wes Shivers defeated by James McSweeney- Episode Two
Kimbo Slice defeated by Roy Nelson- Episode Three
“The Enemy”
In the first two weeks we’ve seen Team Rashad take the first two fights and Rashad has picked Roy Nelson to take on Kimbo Slice on tonight’s show. This will most likely be the highest rating in the history of TUF (which was already previously set this season).
The guys are sitting around a table talking about how this fight could have been the Main Event of a big card with Kimbo netting around $500K and Roy getting around $100K. Rashad thinks Roy has enough experience to step into the cage with Kimbo whereas some of the other guys may not have.
Keith Jardine (from TUF season 2 and a current UFC fighter) drops by Team Rashad’s training session. Jardine and Rashad currently train together at Greg Jackson’s camp. Rashad and Rampage predictably get into a war of words and James McSweeney and Rampage get into a small back and forth as well.
Team Rampage is mostly working with Kimbo on take down defense and getting up off his back when he’s on the ground.
“That’s a big belly. Biggest belly I’ve ever seen. I wonder if his feet get wet when he takes a shower. I bet he hasn’t seen his little friend in years.”- Rampage on Roy Nelson (when discussing Kimbo’s ability to get up if Roy was on top of him in his guard)
During training Marcus Jones seems to be having some trouble with one of his knees. Marcus wants to fight next and Rampage tells him to get his knee better first. Marcus likes flowers, comic books and dungeons & dragons.
Heavyweight Fight- Roy Nelson (13-4) vs. Kimbo Slice (3-1)
Kimbo has a 2” height and 3” reach advantage. Roy has the obvious advantage in weight and experience.
R1- Both guys are a little tentative early not wanting to step in too aggressively and make a big mistake. Kimbo lands the first meaningful punches of the fight and starts to really swing at Roy on the fence and Roy clinches him. Kimbo did a good job of avoiding the take down for a while but then Roy pulled him from the cage and swept his leg and got him down and quickly mounted Kimbo with about a minute and a half left in the round. Roy moved from mount to side control and landed some punches. Roy got him in a crucifix position and Roy landed a bunch of punches but Kimbo got saved by the bell and fairly quickly got to his feet. Round One is scored in favor of Roy Nelson.
R2- Kimbo swings to start the round and connected with some shots but Roy was able to get a take down. Roy again took side control and went for the crucifix again. Roy was able to land some punches in the crucifix position and Kimbo was unable to get out of that position and the ref stopped the fight.
Dana White was critical of the stoppage and said that Roy’s punches were not hard enough to warrant stopping the fight. Dana says that Kimbo did step up and that he needs to use the rest of his time on the show to learn and he will becoming a better fighter. Dana also says that Kimbo could fight again if there is an injury or someone has to leave.
Winner: Roy Nelson by TKO (Punches) R2
Fighters Remaining
Team Rashad #1: James McSweeney
Team Rashad #2: Brandon Schaub
Team Rampage #2: Abe Wagner
Team Rashad #3: Justin Wren
Team Rampage #3: Demico Rogers
Team Rashad #4: Jon Madsen
Team Rampage #4: Wes Sims
Team Rashad #5: Roy Nelson
Team Rampage #5: Scott Junk
Team Rashad #6: Darrill Schoonover
Team Rashad #7: Matt Mitrione
Team Rampage #7: Marcus Jones
Team Rashad #8: Mike Wessel
Team Rampage #8: Zak Jensen
Eliminated:
Abe Wagner defeated by Jon Madsen- Episode One
Wes Shivers defeated by James McSweeney- Episode Two
Kimbo Slice defeated by Roy Nelson- Episode Three
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Strikeforce Challengers Series 9/25/09 Re-Cap
Strikeforce Challengers Series
Tulsa, Oklahoma
September 25, 2009
This is the third Strikeforce Challengers Series event on Showtime. Mauro Ranallo, Stephen Quadros and Pat Miletich are the announcers for tonight’s event. Jimmy Lennon Jr is the ring announcer.
Heavyweight Fight- Daniel Cormier (0-0) vs. Gary Frazier (0-0)
This is the MMA debut for both fighters. Cormier was an Olympic wrestler and Frazier has a background in football and track. Frazier is listed as a boxer/wrestler. Cormier is training under Bob Cook at the American Kickboxing Academy (Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Cain Velasquez, Josh Thomson). Muhammed Lawal is in Cormier’s corner and is one of the reasons that Cormier got his start in MMA. Frazier has a 5.5” reach and 3” height advantage.
R1- Cormier took the center of the cage and Frazier seems to be content to back off and try to look for an opening but not really any action in the first minute of the fight. Cormier landed the first strikes of the fight and then stuffed a take down attempt. Frazier runs away from Cormier then tries to dive at him but Cormier jumps on top of him and hits him with some Ground and Pound as Frazier is turtled up. Cormier was able to switch position and took side control and landed some punches. Frazier gets back up and runs away from Cormier and then throws some strikes that back off Cormier. Good round for Cormier as he easily took this round. It was a borderline 10-8 round.
R2- Cormier tried for a single leg and Frazier avoided it by grabbing onto the cage on three separated instances. He should have had a point deducted because he clearly did it twice more after he was warned and was able to avoid a take down due to an illegal activity. Cormier landed some strikes about half way through the round. Frazier went for a knee but missed and slipped and Cormier jumped on top and landed some hammer fists. Cormier passed guard to the mount and landed some more Ground and Pound. Frazier gave up his back and Cormier landed some punches on his ears and the ref stepped in and stopped the fight.
Good debut by Cormier. Frazier was clearly out of his league in this fight.
Winner: Daniel Cormer by TKO (Strikes) R2 3:39
Catchweight Fight- Thomas Longacre (5-0) vs. Travis Calanoc (4-0)
Colanoc is from Tulsa and is listed as a boxer/jiu jitsu fighter. Longacre is from Tyler, Texas and is listed as a kickboxer. Longacre is the XFL (whatever that is) Featherweight Champion. Longacre has a 3.5” reach advantage in this fight. Longacre is listed at 148 lbs and Calanoc is listed at 146.5 so not sure if both guys missed weight for this fight or what.
R1- Longacre landed a combo in the first minute that knocked Calanoc back to the cage but couldn’t tell if it was a punch or a slip to avoid a punch. Longacre is throwing a lot of strikes and has taken the center of the cage. Longacre looked really good early but he went for a head kick and Calanoc blocked it and landed a knee and then a punch that hurt Longacre. Longacre was able to clinch so that he had some time to recover. Calanoc was able to trip Longacre and tried to pull guard with a guillotine but he slipped right off and Longacre sat down in his guard but he couldn’t hold the position. Really good first round with some twists and turns. Longacre looked really good early but Calanoc came closer to stopping the fight. This round could have gone either way.
R2- Longacre takes the center of the octagon like he did in the first half of last round. Fairly even round with Longacre being more aggressive and looking more confident. Longacre landed a really good combo at the four minute mark. Calanoc pulled guard and grabbed a guillotine but he couldn’t hold it and Longacre quickly got back to his feet. Longacre took this round.
R3- Longacre got a take down about a minute into the fight and quickly took side control but he gave up the position. Longacre is again winning the stand up battle in this round. Calanoc tries to pull guard with a guillotine choke but Longacre quickly slips out and ends in Calanoc’s guard. Calanoc went for an arm bar but Longacre avoided it and got back to his feet. Both guys throw in the last ten seconds trying to land the punch that ends the fight. Longacre is going to win this round and will win the fight. Good fight.
Judges score cards say: All three judges score the fight 30-27
Winner: Thomas Longacre by Decision (Unanimous)
Welterweight Fight- Tyron Woodley (3-0) vs. Zack Light (6-8)
Woodley is a two-time All-American wrestler from Missouri and Zack Light is also a college wrestler. Zack Light is also the wrestling coach at the Wolfslair (Michael Bisping, Rampage Jackson, Cheick Kongo, Paul Kelly) in the UK. All 3 of Woodley’s wins have come by submission and he trains with American Top Team (Denis Kang, JZ Calvancante, Jorge Santiago, Thiago Silva, Mike Brown, Luis Cane).
R1- Woodley has some quick strikes. Woodley got a slam on Light about one and a half minutes into the fight. Woodley was able to get mount and land some strikes and then clamped in an arm triangle. Woodley couldn’t finish Light and went back to full mount. Good round by Woodley, he looked solid.
R2- Light came in for a punch and Woodley caught him with a knee. Then Woodley landed a right hand that floored Light. Light quickly got up but Woodley got a fast take down. Woodley again went for the arm triangle but gave it up in favor of the full mount and some Ground and Pound. Woodley again went for the arm triangle. The fighters went back to their feet with two minutes left in the round and Woodley got another take down and mounted. Light pushed off the cage and Woodley clamped in an arm bar and Light tapped. Great counter by Woodley. Woodley looked really good, can’t wait to see him fight again.
Winner: Tyron Woodley by Submission (Arm Bar) R2 3:38
Heavyweight Fight- Ray Sefo (1-0) vs. Kevin Jordan (11-7)
Jordan played football at Memphis and is listed as a boxer/jiu jitsu fighter. Sefo is a 6-time World Champion Kickboxer. Sefo has the highest knockout ratio in K-1. Sefo has not fought in MMA since 2005. Jordan has a 3.5” height and 3” reach advantage. Sefo has been training at Xtreme Couture. Shawn Thompkins is in Sefo’s corner for the fight.
R1- Sefo lands a couple of kicks and Jordan goes for a take down but Sefo rolls over on top. Sefo tried to pass and he got reversed and Jordan took side control. Jordan went for a key lock but Sefo held on to his arm and avoid the submission. Jordan transitioned to full mount and lands some punches. Sefo is able to survive the round but Jordan definitely takes round one.
R2- Jordan went for a take down right off the bat and got stuffed. Jordan looked like he hurt his leg or his knee and didn’t get up. Sefo seized the opportunity and jumped down on Jordan and then Jordan pushed him off but couldn’t stand up and tapped out. Well that was a freak injury. Sefo was lucky to get out of here with a win. He definitely needs to work on his ground game if he wants to continue in MMA.
Winner: Ray Sefo by TKO (Knee Injury) R2 0:24
Middleweight Fight- Tim Kennedy (10-2) vs. Zak Cummings (10-0)
Kennedy is 1-0 in Strikeforce while Cummings is making his Strikeforce debut. Kennedy beat Nick Thompson in his last fight for Strikeforce. Zak Cummings is listed as a jiu jitsu fighter. Kennedy is listed as a kickboxer. Kennedy is a Green Beret trained in Special Forces.
R1- Kennedy went for a take down and landed it within the first 30 seconds of the fight. Cummings gave up his back and Kennedy landed some strikes and Cummings moved back to his back. Kennedy is landed some good strikes on Cummings. Kennedy is just all over Cummings. Kennedy took this round 10-8. Cummings has a good size mouse on his eye and looks like he has a cut right above his right eye.
R2- Kennedy went for a choke about two minutes into the round but couldn’t lock it in. Cummings went for a take down but Kennedy sprawled out and clamped on a north/south choke and Cummings tapped out. Great fight for Kennedy.
Winner: Tim Kennedy by Submission (North/South Choke) R2 2:43
Tulsa, Oklahoma
September 25, 2009
This is the third Strikeforce Challengers Series event on Showtime. Mauro Ranallo, Stephen Quadros and Pat Miletich are the announcers for tonight’s event. Jimmy Lennon Jr is the ring announcer.
Heavyweight Fight- Daniel Cormier (0-0) vs. Gary Frazier (0-0)
This is the MMA debut for both fighters. Cormier was an Olympic wrestler and Frazier has a background in football and track. Frazier is listed as a boxer/wrestler. Cormier is training under Bob Cook at the American Kickboxing Academy (Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Cain Velasquez, Josh Thomson). Muhammed Lawal is in Cormier’s corner and is one of the reasons that Cormier got his start in MMA. Frazier has a 5.5” reach and 3” height advantage.
R1- Cormier took the center of the cage and Frazier seems to be content to back off and try to look for an opening but not really any action in the first minute of the fight. Cormier landed the first strikes of the fight and then stuffed a take down attempt. Frazier runs away from Cormier then tries to dive at him but Cormier jumps on top of him and hits him with some Ground and Pound as Frazier is turtled up. Cormier was able to switch position and took side control and landed some punches. Frazier gets back up and runs away from Cormier and then throws some strikes that back off Cormier. Good round for Cormier as he easily took this round. It was a borderline 10-8 round.
R2- Cormier tried for a single leg and Frazier avoided it by grabbing onto the cage on three separated instances. He should have had a point deducted because he clearly did it twice more after he was warned and was able to avoid a take down due to an illegal activity. Cormier landed some strikes about half way through the round. Frazier went for a knee but missed and slipped and Cormier jumped on top and landed some hammer fists. Cormier passed guard to the mount and landed some more Ground and Pound. Frazier gave up his back and Cormier landed some punches on his ears and the ref stepped in and stopped the fight.
Good debut by Cormier. Frazier was clearly out of his league in this fight.
Winner: Daniel Cormer by TKO (Strikes) R2 3:39
Catchweight Fight- Thomas Longacre (5-0) vs. Travis Calanoc (4-0)
Colanoc is from Tulsa and is listed as a boxer/jiu jitsu fighter. Longacre is from Tyler, Texas and is listed as a kickboxer. Longacre is the XFL (whatever that is) Featherweight Champion. Longacre has a 3.5” reach advantage in this fight. Longacre is listed at 148 lbs and Calanoc is listed at 146.5 so not sure if both guys missed weight for this fight or what.
R1- Longacre landed a combo in the first minute that knocked Calanoc back to the cage but couldn’t tell if it was a punch or a slip to avoid a punch. Longacre is throwing a lot of strikes and has taken the center of the cage. Longacre looked really good early but he went for a head kick and Calanoc blocked it and landed a knee and then a punch that hurt Longacre. Longacre was able to clinch so that he had some time to recover. Calanoc was able to trip Longacre and tried to pull guard with a guillotine but he slipped right off and Longacre sat down in his guard but he couldn’t hold the position. Really good first round with some twists and turns. Longacre looked really good early but Calanoc came closer to stopping the fight. This round could have gone either way.
R2- Longacre takes the center of the octagon like he did in the first half of last round. Fairly even round with Longacre being more aggressive and looking more confident. Longacre landed a really good combo at the four minute mark. Calanoc pulled guard and grabbed a guillotine but he couldn’t hold it and Longacre quickly got back to his feet. Longacre took this round.
R3- Longacre got a take down about a minute into the fight and quickly took side control but he gave up the position. Longacre is again winning the stand up battle in this round. Calanoc tries to pull guard with a guillotine choke but Longacre quickly slips out and ends in Calanoc’s guard. Calanoc went for an arm bar but Longacre avoided it and got back to his feet. Both guys throw in the last ten seconds trying to land the punch that ends the fight. Longacre is going to win this round and will win the fight. Good fight.
Judges score cards say: All three judges score the fight 30-27
Winner: Thomas Longacre by Decision (Unanimous)
Welterweight Fight- Tyron Woodley (3-0) vs. Zack Light (6-8)
Woodley is a two-time All-American wrestler from Missouri and Zack Light is also a college wrestler. Zack Light is also the wrestling coach at the Wolfslair (Michael Bisping, Rampage Jackson, Cheick Kongo, Paul Kelly) in the UK. All 3 of Woodley’s wins have come by submission and he trains with American Top Team (Denis Kang, JZ Calvancante, Jorge Santiago, Thiago Silva, Mike Brown, Luis Cane).
R1- Woodley has some quick strikes. Woodley got a slam on Light about one and a half minutes into the fight. Woodley was able to get mount and land some strikes and then clamped in an arm triangle. Woodley couldn’t finish Light and went back to full mount. Good round by Woodley, he looked solid.
R2- Light came in for a punch and Woodley caught him with a knee. Then Woodley landed a right hand that floored Light. Light quickly got up but Woodley got a fast take down. Woodley again went for the arm triangle but gave it up in favor of the full mount and some Ground and Pound. Woodley again went for the arm triangle. The fighters went back to their feet with two minutes left in the round and Woodley got another take down and mounted. Light pushed off the cage and Woodley clamped in an arm bar and Light tapped. Great counter by Woodley. Woodley looked really good, can’t wait to see him fight again.
Winner: Tyron Woodley by Submission (Arm Bar) R2 3:38
Heavyweight Fight- Ray Sefo (1-0) vs. Kevin Jordan (11-7)
Jordan played football at Memphis and is listed as a boxer/jiu jitsu fighter. Sefo is a 6-time World Champion Kickboxer. Sefo has the highest knockout ratio in K-1. Sefo has not fought in MMA since 2005. Jordan has a 3.5” height and 3” reach advantage. Sefo has been training at Xtreme Couture. Shawn Thompkins is in Sefo’s corner for the fight.
R1- Sefo lands a couple of kicks and Jordan goes for a take down but Sefo rolls over on top. Sefo tried to pass and he got reversed and Jordan took side control. Jordan went for a key lock but Sefo held on to his arm and avoid the submission. Jordan transitioned to full mount and lands some punches. Sefo is able to survive the round but Jordan definitely takes round one.
R2- Jordan went for a take down right off the bat and got stuffed. Jordan looked like he hurt his leg or his knee and didn’t get up. Sefo seized the opportunity and jumped down on Jordan and then Jordan pushed him off but couldn’t stand up and tapped out. Well that was a freak injury. Sefo was lucky to get out of here with a win. He definitely needs to work on his ground game if he wants to continue in MMA.
Winner: Ray Sefo by TKO (Knee Injury) R2 0:24
Middleweight Fight- Tim Kennedy (10-2) vs. Zak Cummings (10-0)
Kennedy is 1-0 in Strikeforce while Cummings is making his Strikeforce debut. Kennedy beat Nick Thompson in his last fight for Strikeforce. Zak Cummings is listed as a jiu jitsu fighter. Kennedy is listed as a kickboxer. Kennedy is a Green Beret trained in Special Forces.
R1- Kennedy went for a take down and landed it within the first 30 seconds of the fight. Cummings gave up his back and Kennedy landed some strikes and Cummings moved back to his back. Kennedy is landed some good strikes on Cummings. Kennedy is just all over Cummings. Kennedy took this round 10-8. Cummings has a good size mouse on his eye and looks like he has a cut right above his right eye.
R2- Kennedy went for a choke about two minutes into the round but couldn’t lock it in. Cummings went for a take down but Kennedy sprawled out and clamped on a north/south choke and Cummings tapped out. Great fight for Kennedy.
Winner: Tim Kennedy by Submission (North/South Choke) R2 2:43
UFC 103 "Franklin vs. Belfort" Re-Cap
UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort
9/19/09
Dallas, Texas
American Airlines Center
Vitor Belfort makes his return tonight against Rich Franklin in a 195 pound catch weight fight. Junior dos Santos will fight Mirko Cro Cop in an important fight in the Heavyweight Division. Josh Koscheck greats Frank Trigg in his return to the Octagon and top Welterweight contender Martin Kampmann will be in action.
Lightweight Fight- Tyson Griffin (13-2) vs. Hermes Franca (20-7)
Tyson Griffin is coming off of a Unanimous Decision win over Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night 18. Hermes Franca comes out to the same music Chipper Jones does when he comes to bat (Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne). Franca came in over weight at 159 lbs. Griffin agreed to go ahead with the fight. Tyson Griffin comes out to the theme from Rocky, but it has nowhere near the impact of when Matt Serra used it in his fight against Matt Hughes (although Serra would go on to lose a close decision). Tyson Griffin has had “Fight of the Night” in 5 of his 8 UFC fights, that’s a pretty impressive statistic.
R1- Griffin is landing some strikes early. Griffin got Franca off his feet but he popped right back up. Franca really hasn’t brought any offense in this first round. Griffin wins this round with a comfortable 10-9 but Franca doesn’t look like he’s been hurt. Not sure why he didn’t make weight but he looks lethargic.
R2- Hermes comes out firing wildly to start the second round. Franca grabbed Griffin’s leg on a kick but Griffin was able to strike his way out. Just as I was thinking that Franca looked slow tonight Griffin popped him with a straight right hand. Franca hit the floor and Griffin jumped on top. Griffin landed a bunch of punches and Hermes hung in there for a while but Griffin ended up over powering him for the TKO victory. Good win by Griffin tonight as he came ready to fight and I’m not sure Hermes did.
Winner: Tyson Griffin by TKO (Punches) R1 3:26
Jon Fitch is in attendance at the fights tonight.
UFC 104 is Lyoto Machida defending the UFC Light Heavyweight Title against Shogun Rua on October 24th in Los Angeles. Ben Rothwell will also take on undefeated Cain Velasquez on the under card.
Welterweight Fight- Josh Koscheck (14-4) vs. Frank Trigg (19-6)
Koscheck is in need of a win after falling to Paulo Thiago in an upset and is only 1-2 in his last 3 fights. This is Trigg’s first fight since his return to the UFC. Trigg is fighting out of Xtreme Couture. Trigg comes out to LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out”. Koscheck counters with “Higher Ground” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Koscheck has had some time off since his last loss as he has been nursing a broken foot.
R1- Trigg landed a good right early but Josh absorbed the blow nicely. Koscheck caught Trigg with a looping right hand that looked like it may have caught him behind the ear and it knocked Trigg forward. Trigg then stood up and leaned on the cage and Koscheck blasted him with a right hand. Koscheck then started wailing on Trigg against the cage and the ref stopped the fight. Nice showing by Koscheck. Trigg was upset about the stoppage but he looked like he was getting tagged.
Winner: Josh Koscheck by TKO (strikes) R1 1:25
Post-Fight Koscheck says he would like to fight Matt Hughes.
Tito Ortiz is in the crowd.
Welterweight Fight- Martin Kampmann (15-2) vs. Paul Daley (21-8-2)
This fight was originally Kampmann versus Mike Swick but Swick got injured and Daley is filling in. Kampmann won a war at UFC Fight Night 18 in a close decision win versus Carlos Condit. If Kampmann wins he is the most likely next contender to the thrown of GSP. Kampmann is 2-0 in the Welterweight Division. The last time I saw Paul Daley fight was on an Elite XC CBS Show where he tapped out to Jake Shields. Kampmann has a 3” height advantage while Daley has a 4” reach advantage.
R1- Both guys are swinging a lot early and it looked like Daley connected on a couple of his. Kampmann went for a take down but was denied. Daley is looking pretty good so far. Kampmann presses Daley up against the cage and landed a nice knee. Daley landed a nice left and it staggered Kampmann. Daley got Kampmann up against the cage and landed some shots. Kampmann didn’t go down but Yves Lavigne stopped the fight as Kampmann looked like he was out on his feet. Very impressive showing by Daley. Kampmann really needed to get the fight to the ground and he never did. I guess Daley saved Kampmann from a worse beating at the hands of GSP. Looking at the re-play Rogan says that Lavigne should have probably let the fight go for another punch or two but it was a close call.
Winner: Paul Daley by TKO (Strikes) R1 2:31
Mike Swick is in the crowd. The door is open for him now in the Welterweight Division with Kampmann’s loss.
Lightweight Fight- Robert Emerson vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
R1- This fight starts off pretty even in the first round. Dos Anjos went for several take downs but Emerson was able to keep the fight standing until the very send of the round. Dos Anjos took this round 10-9 but it was close.
R2- Dos Anjos is landing some good leg kicks. Emerson is starting to land some punches. Dos Anjos got a take down about half way through the round but Emerson got right up. Dos Anjos continues to land kicks and Emerson is limping from the shots. Dos Anjos is up 20-18 after two rounds.
R3- Dos Anjos landed a good leg kick to start the round and then got a take down. Good fight by Dos Anjos as I’ve got him taking the fight 30-27.
Judges score cards say: 30-27 on all three score cards.
Winner: Rafael Dos Anjos by Decision (Unanimous)
Heavyweight Fight- Mirko Cro Cop (25-6-2) vs. Junior dos Santos (8-1)
dos Santos UFC debut was an upset of Fabricio Werdum that knocked Werdum out of the UFC. I’ve got dos Santos as a Top 10 Heavyweight right now and Cro Cop on the outside looking in. I’m confident in saying that the winner of this fight is a tried and true Top 10 Heavyweight and would be a win away from a potential shot at the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Now I’m doubting myself as to the theme song that Tyson Griffin came out to because dos Santos is coming out to one of the Rocky themes. dos Santos is a Jiu Jitsu purple belt, with good chins that has most of his wins by KO- at least that’s what the UFC graphic tells me. Cro Cop comes out to some Duran Duran. My sister loved that band back in the 80s. I wonder if Cro Cop was a Wild Boy like Simon LeBon when he was younger? dos Santos has a 10 lb and 4” reach advantage on Cro Cop. Cro Cop got the best ovation of the night so far when he was introduced.
R1- dos Santos quickly charged at Cro Cop but Cro Cop clinched him against the cage to avoid damage. Cro Cop threw a high kick but it was blocked. dos Santos landed some punches up against the cage but Cro Cop was able to get out of trouble. dos Santos ran Cro Cop down but Cro Cop clinched him again. dos Santos has sustained a couple of cuts over his eyes. dos Santos takes the first round 10-9 as he was much more aggressive but Cro Cop is definitely still in this fight. I think the longer this fight goes on the more it swings to Cro Cop.
R2- Cro Cop swings a high kick but it’s avoided. dos Santos went in with a flurry and both guys landed strikes during the exchange. Cro Cop missed with another head kick. dos Santos is landing some strikes. Cro Cop nailed dos Santos with a low blow. dos Santos landed a couple of good shots and opened up a cut over Cro Cop’s eye. I’ve got dos Santos up 20-18 after two rounds. This is dos Santos’s first fight that’s been over one round so I think Cro Cop still has a shot at this he just has to finish the fight if he wants to win.
R3- Cro Cop opened up the round more aggressive and landed a solid right hand. dos Santos landed some knees. Cro Cop slipped and dos Santos swung with a left and it might have grazed Cro Cop because he looked a little wobbly after the punch and dos Santos followed with a knee. dos Santos then hit another knee and a punch. dos Santos starting to take over this fight. dos Santos with a big knee and then a left and Cro Cop is in big trouble with three minutes left in the round. dos Santos is hitting knees at will. Cro Cops says he can’t see as his face and eyes are all red and this fight is over. Kind of an anti-climatic finish but a great win for dos Santos over a respected veteran. On the re-play dos Santos hit Cro Cop with a big punch to his eye and that was when Cro Cop verbally submitted.
dos Santos is probably one fight away from a title shot. He’s got victories know over Cro Cop and Fabricio Werdum and both of those guys are legit heavyweights.
Winner: Junior dos Santos by Submission (Verbal) R3 2:00
Catch weight Fight (195 lbs)- Rich Franklin (27-4) vs. Vitor Belfort (18-8)
Franklin is coming off of a close win over Wanderlei Silva in the Main Event of UFC 99. I actually had Wanderlei taking the fight by decision but what do I know as the decision was unanimous in favor of Franklin. Prior to that fight Franklin lost a split decision to Dan Henderson. Franklin is Main Eventing his 3rd event in a row which is very impressive for a guy without a belt. The last two fights of Belfort’s that I saw were both for Affliction. The first was a TKO over Terry Martin and the second was a quick destruction of Matt Lindland back in January. Franklin has landed the 2nd most strikes in UFC history behind GSP. Franklin also succeeds in 71% of his takedown attempts. Belfort won his first 3 UFC fights in under 3 minutes. He has also out struck his opponents 62-23 in his last 4 fights. Belfort has been training at Xtreme Couture and has Shawn Thompkins in his corner for the fight. This is Belfort’s first fight since 2005 when he lost a split decision to Tito Ortiz.
R1- Long feeling out process to start out the fight. So far two minutes gone and not much action. Franklin is trying to push the action but is being very cautious and Vitor is content to counter punch to start. Vitor hit Franklin with a big left uppercut after a right jab and Franklin hit the floor. Belfort jumped on top but the ref stopped the fight and Franklin was not quick to get back to his feet. Vitor made Franklin look really bad in that fight. I’m guessing Dana White is salivating over making a Belfort versus Anderson Silva fight.
Looking at the re-play Vitor actually missed with the big left uppercut and it looked like he hit Franklin on the top of the head with a punch afterwards. He really didn’t look like he connected solidly he just hit Franklin in the right spot.
Winner: Vitor Belfort by KO R1 3:02
Lightweight Fight- Nik Lentz vs. Rafaello Oliveira
Lentz is a training partner of Sean Sherk and this is his UFC debut.
R1- Oliveira went for a take down and Lentz tried for a guillotine but could not lock it in. Lentz quickly got back to his feet. Oliveira landed a goof right hand and then rushed in but Lentz grabbed a guillotine. Oliveira slammed him and Lentz lost the submission on the ground. Both guys threw some leather and then Oliveira got a big slam to take down Lentz. They went back to their feet and Lentz landed some good shots and hurt Oliveira but he survived. Lentz got a take down right at the end of the round. Good first round and Lentz may have stole the round with his performance in the last minute.
R2- Lentz grabbed another guillotine but let hit go. Oliveira spent the second part of the round on top of Lentz. Not a lot of action in this round as Oliveira has really tired since the first round. Looks like we could have a 19-19 fight going into the third round.
R3- Oliveira starts out this round much like he ended the last round by taking the top position. Lentz got a take down about half way through the round. Lentz stays on top and lands some Ground and Pound and rides this one out in top position. I’ve got Lentz as the 29-28 winner in this fight.
Judges score cards say: 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 for Nick Lentz
Winner: Nick Lentz by Decision (Unanimous)
9/19/09
Dallas, Texas
American Airlines Center
Vitor Belfort makes his return tonight against Rich Franklin in a 195 pound catch weight fight. Junior dos Santos will fight Mirko Cro Cop in an important fight in the Heavyweight Division. Josh Koscheck greats Frank Trigg in his return to the Octagon and top Welterweight contender Martin Kampmann will be in action.
Lightweight Fight- Tyson Griffin (13-2) vs. Hermes Franca (20-7)
Tyson Griffin is coming off of a Unanimous Decision win over Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night 18. Hermes Franca comes out to the same music Chipper Jones does when he comes to bat (Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne). Franca came in over weight at 159 lbs. Griffin agreed to go ahead with the fight. Tyson Griffin comes out to the theme from Rocky, but it has nowhere near the impact of when Matt Serra used it in his fight against Matt Hughes (although Serra would go on to lose a close decision). Tyson Griffin has had “Fight of the Night” in 5 of his 8 UFC fights, that’s a pretty impressive statistic.
R1- Griffin is landing some strikes early. Griffin got Franca off his feet but he popped right back up. Franca really hasn’t brought any offense in this first round. Griffin wins this round with a comfortable 10-9 but Franca doesn’t look like he’s been hurt. Not sure why he didn’t make weight but he looks lethargic.
R2- Hermes comes out firing wildly to start the second round. Franca grabbed Griffin’s leg on a kick but Griffin was able to strike his way out. Just as I was thinking that Franca looked slow tonight Griffin popped him with a straight right hand. Franca hit the floor and Griffin jumped on top. Griffin landed a bunch of punches and Hermes hung in there for a while but Griffin ended up over powering him for the TKO victory. Good win by Griffin tonight as he came ready to fight and I’m not sure Hermes did.
Winner: Tyson Griffin by TKO (Punches) R1 3:26
Jon Fitch is in attendance at the fights tonight.
UFC 104 is Lyoto Machida defending the UFC Light Heavyweight Title against Shogun Rua on October 24th in Los Angeles. Ben Rothwell will also take on undefeated Cain Velasquez on the under card.
Welterweight Fight- Josh Koscheck (14-4) vs. Frank Trigg (19-6)
Koscheck is in need of a win after falling to Paulo Thiago in an upset and is only 1-2 in his last 3 fights. This is Trigg’s first fight since his return to the UFC. Trigg is fighting out of Xtreme Couture. Trigg comes out to LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out”. Koscheck counters with “Higher Ground” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Koscheck has had some time off since his last loss as he has been nursing a broken foot.
R1- Trigg landed a good right early but Josh absorbed the blow nicely. Koscheck caught Trigg with a looping right hand that looked like it may have caught him behind the ear and it knocked Trigg forward. Trigg then stood up and leaned on the cage and Koscheck blasted him with a right hand. Koscheck then started wailing on Trigg against the cage and the ref stopped the fight. Nice showing by Koscheck. Trigg was upset about the stoppage but he looked like he was getting tagged.
Winner: Josh Koscheck by TKO (strikes) R1 1:25
Post-Fight Koscheck says he would like to fight Matt Hughes.
Tito Ortiz is in the crowd.
Welterweight Fight- Martin Kampmann (15-2) vs. Paul Daley (21-8-2)
This fight was originally Kampmann versus Mike Swick but Swick got injured and Daley is filling in. Kampmann won a war at UFC Fight Night 18 in a close decision win versus Carlos Condit. If Kampmann wins he is the most likely next contender to the thrown of GSP. Kampmann is 2-0 in the Welterweight Division. The last time I saw Paul Daley fight was on an Elite XC CBS Show where he tapped out to Jake Shields. Kampmann has a 3” height advantage while Daley has a 4” reach advantage.
R1- Both guys are swinging a lot early and it looked like Daley connected on a couple of his. Kampmann went for a take down but was denied. Daley is looking pretty good so far. Kampmann presses Daley up against the cage and landed a nice knee. Daley landed a nice left and it staggered Kampmann. Daley got Kampmann up against the cage and landed some shots. Kampmann didn’t go down but Yves Lavigne stopped the fight as Kampmann looked like he was out on his feet. Very impressive showing by Daley. Kampmann really needed to get the fight to the ground and he never did. I guess Daley saved Kampmann from a worse beating at the hands of GSP. Looking at the re-play Rogan says that Lavigne should have probably let the fight go for another punch or two but it was a close call.
Winner: Paul Daley by TKO (Strikes) R1 2:31
Mike Swick is in the crowd. The door is open for him now in the Welterweight Division with Kampmann’s loss.
Lightweight Fight- Robert Emerson vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
R1- This fight starts off pretty even in the first round. Dos Anjos went for several take downs but Emerson was able to keep the fight standing until the very send of the round. Dos Anjos took this round 10-9 but it was close.
R2- Dos Anjos is landing some good leg kicks. Emerson is starting to land some punches. Dos Anjos got a take down about half way through the round but Emerson got right up. Dos Anjos continues to land kicks and Emerson is limping from the shots. Dos Anjos is up 20-18 after two rounds.
R3- Dos Anjos landed a good leg kick to start the round and then got a take down. Good fight by Dos Anjos as I’ve got him taking the fight 30-27.
Judges score cards say: 30-27 on all three score cards.
Winner: Rafael Dos Anjos by Decision (Unanimous)
Heavyweight Fight- Mirko Cro Cop (25-6-2) vs. Junior dos Santos (8-1)
dos Santos UFC debut was an upset of Fabricio Werdum that knocked Werdum out of the UFC. I’ve got dos Santos as a Top 10 Heavyweight right now and Cro Cop on the outside looking in. I’m confident in saying that the winner of this fight is a tried and true Top 10 Heavyweight and would be a win away from a potential shot at the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Now I’m doubting myself as to the theme song that Tyson Griffin came out to because dos Santos is coming out to one of the Rocky themes. dos Santos is a Jiu Jitsu purple belt, with good chins that has most of his wins by KO- at least that’s what the UFC graphic tells me. Cro Cop comes out to some Duran Duran. My sister loved that band back in the 80s. I wonder if Cro Cop was a Wild Boy like Simon LeBon when he was younger? dos Santos has a 10 lb and 4” reach advantage on Cro Cop. Cro Cop got the best ovation of the night so far when he was introduced.
R1- dos Santos quickly charged at Cro Cop but Cro Cop clinched him against the cage to avoid damage. Cro Cop threw a high kick but it was blocked. dos Santos landed some punches up against the cage but Cro Cop was able to get out of trouble. dos Santos ran Cro Cop down but Cro Cop clinched him again. dos Santos has sustained a couple of cuts over his eyes. dos Santos takes the first round 10-9 as he was much more aggressive but Cro Cop is definitely still in this fight. I think the longer this fight goes on the more it swings to Cro Cop.
R2- Cro Cop swings a high kick but it’s avoided. dos Santos went in with a flurry and both guys landed strikes during the exchange. Cro Cop missed with another head kick. dos Santos is landing some strikes. Cro Cop nailed dos Santos with a low blow. dos Santos landed a couple of good shots and opened up a cut over Cro Cop’s eye. I’ve got dos Santos up 20-18 after two rounds. This is dos Santos’s first fight that’s been over one round so I think Cro Cop still has a shot at this he just has to finish the fight if he wants to win.
R3- Cro Cop opened up the round more aggressive and landed a solid right hand. dos Santos landed some knees. Cro Cop slipped and dos Santos swung with a left and it might have grazed Cro Cop because he looked a little wobbly after the punch and dos Santos followed with a knee. dos Santos then hit another knee and a punch. dos Santos starting to take over this fight. dos Santos with a big knee and then a left and Cro Cop is in big trouble with three minutes left in the round. dos Santos is hitting knees at will. Cro Cops says he can’t see as his face and eyes are all red and this fight is over. Kind of an anti-climatic finish but a great win for dos Santos over a respected veteran. On the re-play dos Santos hit Cro Cop with a big punch to his eye and that was when Cro Cop verbally submitted.
dos Santos is probably one fight away from a title shot. He’s got victories know over Cro Cop and Fabricio Werdum and both of those guys are legit heavyweights.
Winner: Junior dos Santos by Submission (Verbal) R3 2:00
Catch weight Fight (195 lbs)- Rich Franklin (27-4) vs. Vitor Belfort (18-8)
Franklin is coming off of a close win over Wanderlei Silva in the Main Event of UFC 99. I actually had Wanderlei taking the fight by decision but what do I know as the decision was unanimous in favor of Franklin. Prior to that fight Franklin lost a split decision to Dan Henderson. Franklin is Main Eventing his 3rd event in a row which is very impressive for a guy without a belt. The last two fights of Belfort’s that I saw were both for Affliction. The first was a TKO over Terry Martin and the second was a quick destruction of Matt Lindland back in January. Franklin has landed the 2nd most strikes in UFC history behind GSP. Franklin also succeeds in 71% of his takedown attempts. Belfort won his first 3 UFC fights in under 3 minutes. He has also out struck his opponents 62-23 in his last 4 fights. Belfort has been training at Xtreme Couture and has Shawn Thompkins in his corner for the fight. This is Belfort’s first fight since 2005 when he lost a split decision to Tito Ortiz.
R1- Long feeling out process to start out the fight. So far two minutes gone and not much action. Franklin is trying to push the action but is being very cautious and Vitor is content to counter punch to start. Vitor hit Franklin with a big left uppercut after a right jab and Franklin hit the floor. Belfort jumped on top but the ref stopped the fight and Franklin was not quick to get back to his feet. Vitor made Franklin look really bad in that fight. I’m guessing Dana White is salivating over making a Belfort versus Anderson Silva fight.
Looking at the re-play Vitor actually missed with the big left uppercut and it looked like he hit Franklin on the top of the head with a punch afterwards. He really didn’t look like he connected solidly he just hit Franklin in the right spot.
Winner: Vitor Belfort by KO R1 3:02
Lightweight Fight- Nik Lentz vs. Rafaello Oliveira
Lentz is a training partner of Sean Sherk and this is his UFC debut.
R1- Oliveira went for a take down and Lentz tried for a guillotine but could not lock it in. Lentz quickly got back to his feet. Oliveira landed a goof right hand and then rushed in but Lentz grabbed a guillotine. Oliveira slammed him and Lentz lost the submission on the ground. Both guys threw some leather and then Oliveira got a big slam to take down Lentz. They went back to their feet and Lentz landed some good shots and hurt Oliveira but he survived. Lentz got a take down right at the end of the round. Good first round and Lentz may have stole the round with his performance in the last minute.
R2- Lentz grabbed another guillotine but let hit go. Oliveira spent the second part of the round on top of Lentz. Not a lot of action in this round as Oliveira has really tired since the first round. Looks like we could have a 19-19 fight going into the third round.
R3- Oliveira starts out this round much like he ended the last round by taking the top position. Lentz got a take down about half way through the round. Lentz stays on top and lands some Ground and Pound and rides this one out in top position. I’ve got Lentz as the 29-28 winner in this fight.
Judges score cards say: 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 for Nick Lentz
Winner: Nick Lentz by Decision (Unanimous)
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
TUF 10: Heavyweights Episode Two Re-Cap
TUF 10: Heavyweights Episode Two
“All About Survival”
In week one we saw Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson jawing at each other, Kimbo Slice introduced, a bloody first match in which Jon Madsen was easily victorious and we saw what looks to be a much better team drafted by Rashad.
At the start of the show Rampage brings in a specialist and they show Kimbo working on his ground game during the Team Rampage training session. In the Team Rashad training session Roy Nelson was being a little bit of a pain by not following his coaching and Rashad and one of his coaches have some conversations with Roy.
At the fight announcements Rampage asks Roy Nelson what his name is. Rampage picks James McSweeney versus Wes Shivers. Rampage says he wants to get Rashad’s first pick out. Rashad says he feels his guy is going to walk all over Rampage’s guy.
Team Rashad runs 5 minutes late in their training and Rampage and Rashad have a little back and forth with one another.
Wes Shivers (2-0) vs. James McSweeney (3-3)
Shivers is the bigger fighter as he has a 3” height and 6.5” reach advantage. McSweeney was Rashad’s first round pick and trains with Rashad at Greg Jackson’s camp.
R1- Shivers does not touch gloves to start. Shivers lands some strikes early as McSweeney retreats. Shivers clinches and sweeps McSweeney to the ground. Shivers went for a kimura but could not clamp it in and McSweeney got to his feet. McSwinney lands some kicks and then Shivers kicks him in the balls. Shivers lands some strikes and McSwinney is trying anything he can to fight back. Shivers looks like he’s running out of gas towards the end of the round. Wes took this first round as the only thing that McSwinney really had going for him was the fact that Wes got tired. McSwinney landed some leg kicks but that was really his only offense. Still anybody’s fight since Wes Shivers seems to have hit the wall.
R2- McSwinney went for a head kick and missed and Shivers briefly took him down but couldn’t hold him. McSwinney is starting to land more strikes but Shivers grabs a leg kick and takes him down. Shivers moves to the mount position and lands some Ground and Pound. McSwinney gives up his back and Shivers tries for a Rear Naked but can’t clamp it in and McSwinney flipped him over and took his guard but then quickly got back to his feet. Shivers is really tired and I think McSwinney is right behind him. McSwinney really hasn’t landed anything substantial this round. Just as I say that McSwinney lands a punch and then a kick and then pulls guard on a guillotine which is probably enough to take this round. Shivers pulls out of the guillotine as the round ends. Close round, I think McSwinney might have stolen this round with the punch/kick combo. Both guys are totally exhausted.
The ref says they have a decision. There is no way McSwinney took the first round so I’m thinking that Shivers is going to be the winner. He must have eeked out that second round.
Judges score cards say: 19-19, 20-18, 20-18 in favor of McSwinney. Wow, I don’t know how McSwinney won that first round.
Winner: James McSwinney by Decision (Majority)
Fight Announcement: The ball is now in Rashad’s court and he is up 2-0. Rashad picks Roy Nelson against Kimbo Slice. Wow. Dana says Roy has better all-around skills than Kimbo but that Kimbo is explosive and has the ability to knock Roy out. Dana says this is the true test for Kimbo Slice.
Fighters Remaining
Team Rashad #1: James McSweeney
Team Rampage #1: Kimbo Slice
Team Rashad #2: Brandon Schaub
Team Rampage #2: Abe Wagner
Team Rashad #3: Justin Wren
Team Rampage #3: Demico Rogers
Team Rashad #4: Jon Madsen
Team Rampage #4: Wes Sims
Team Rashad #5: Roy Nelson
Team Rampage #5: Scott Junk
Team Rashad #6: Darrill Schoonover
Team Rashad #7: Matt Mitrione
Team Rampage #7: Marcus Jones
Team Rashad #8: Mike Wessel
Team Rampage #8: Zak Jensen
Eliminated:
Abe Wagner defeated by Jon Madsen- Episode One
Wes Shivers defeated by James McSweeney- Episode Two
“All About Survival”
In week one we saw Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson jawing at each other, Kimbo Slice introduced, a bloody first match in which Jon Madsen was easily victorious and we saw what looks to be a much better team drafted by Rashad.
At the start of the show Rampage brings in a specialist and they show Kimbo working on his ground game during the Team Rampage training session. In the Team Rashad training session Roy Nelson was being a little bit of a pain by not following his coaching and Rashad and one of his coaches have some conversations with Roy.
At the fight announcements Rampage asks Roy Nelson what his name is. Rampage picks James McSweeney versus Wes Shivers. Rampage says he wants to get Rashad’s first pick out. Rashad says he feels his guy is going to walk all over Rampage’s guy.
Team Rashad runs 5 minutes late in their training and Rampage and Rashad have a little back and forth with one another.
Wes Shivers (2-0) vs. James McSweeney (3-3)
Shivers is the bigger fighter as he has a 3” height and 6.5” reach advantage. McSweeney was Rashad’s first round pick and trains with Rashad at Greg Jackson’s camp.
R1- Shivers does not touch gloves to start. Shivers lands some strikes early as McSweeney retreats. Shivers clinches and sweeps McSweeney to the ground. Shivers went for a kimura but could not clamp it in and McSweeney got to his feet. McSwinney lands some kicks and then Shivers kicks him in the balls. Shivers lands some strikes and McSwinney is trying anything he can to fight back. Shivers looks like he’s running out of gas towards the end of the round. Wes took this first round as the only thing that McSwinney really had going for him was the fact that Wes got tired. McSwinney landed some leg kicks but that was really his only offense. Still anybody’s fight since Wes Shivers seems to have hit the wall.
R2- McSwinney went for a head kick and missed and Shivers briefly took him down but couldn’t hold him. McSwinney is starting to land more strikes but Shivers grabs a leg kick and takes him down. Shivers moves to the mount position and lands some Ground and Pound. McSwinney gives up his back and Shivers tries for a Rear Naked but can’t clamp it in and McSwinney flipped him over and took his guard but then quickly got back to his feet. Shivers is really tired and I think McSwinney is right behind him. McSwinney really hasn’t landed anything substantial this round. Just as I say that McSwinney lands a punch and then a kick and then pulls guard on a guillotine which is probably enough to take this round. Shivers pulls out of the guillotine as the round ends. Close round, I think McSwinney might have stolen this round with the punch/kick combo. Both guys are totally exhausted.
The ref says they have a decision. There is no way McSwinney took the first round so I’m thinking that Shivers is going to be the winner. He must have eeked out that second round.
Judges score cards say: 19-19, 20-18, 20-18 in favor of McSwinney. Wow, I don’t know how McSwinney won that first round.
Winner: James McSwinney by Decision (Majority)
Fight Announcement: The ball is now in Rashad’s court and he is up 2-0. Rashad picks Roy Nelson against Kimbo Slice. Wow. Dana says Roy has better all-around skills than Kimbo but that Kimbo is explosive and has the ability to knock Roy out. Dana says this is the true test for Kimbo Slice.
Fighters Remaining
Team Rashad #1: James McSweeney
Team Rampage #1: Kimbo Slice
Team Rashad #2: Brandon Schaub
Team Rampage #2: Abe Wagner
Team Rashad #3: Justin Wren
Team Rampage #3: Demico Rogers
Team Rashad #4: Jon Madsen
Team Rampage #4: Wes Sims
Team Rashad #5: Roy Nelson
Team Rampage #5: Scott Junk
Team Rashad #6: Darrill Schoonover
Team Rashad #7: Matt Mitrione
Team Rampage #7: Marcus Jones
Team Rashad #8: Mike Wessel
Team Rampage #8: Zak Jensen
Eliminated:
Abe Wagner defeated by Jon Madsen- Episode One
Wes Shivers defeated by James McSweeney- Episode Two
Sunday, September 20, 2009
UFC 103: Preliminaries on Spike TV Re-Cap
UFC 103: Preliminaries
9/19/09
Dallas, Texas
American Airlines Center
These fights are on being brought to us on Spike TV before the UFC 103 PPV.
Middleweight Fight- Drew McFedries (8-5) vs. Tomasz Drwal (16-2)
Drwal fought at the TUF 9 Finale and got a first round Ground and Pound TKO of Mike Ciesnolevicz. McFedries fought last on UFC 98 and beat Xavier Foupa- Pokam in 37 seconds. Don’t blink this one could end quickly. Drwal has a 4” reach advantage. McFedries has to be the most exciting 8-5 fighter on the planet, which is why he’s still employed by the UFC. In his two previous fights in the UFC Drwal fought at Light Heavyweight.
R1- And there are some technical difficulties early in the first fight so we miss the first 45-50 seconds of the fight. If the fight goes this long McFedries usually comes up on the short end. McFedries had a couple of cuts on his face early into the fight. Drwal gets a take down about two minutes into the fight but McFedries got back to his feet and Drwal landed some nice knees. Both guys stood toe to toe and exchanged punches. Drwal hit a good right hand and McFedries looks to be tiring. Drwal gets McFedries down again and is landing some Ground and Pound and he mounts McFedries but there is only 10 seconds left in the round and McFedries will make it to the second round. Drwal is up 10-9 after round one. Both guys have cuts on their face.
R2- Drwal landed a nice punch right out of the gate and pushed forward and clinched McFedries and took him down. Drwal moved quickly to side control and then mounted and clamped on a choke and got the win. Nice showing by Tomasz Drwal.
Winner: Tomasz Drwal by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 1:03
Welterweight Fight- Rick Story vs. Brian Foster
Story last fought at UFC 99 and lost a unanimous decision to John Hathaway (I had it scored 29-28).
R1- Both guys are just swinging for the fences in the opening minute. Just throwing wild punches. Foster hit him with a big gut punch and then hit him with a judo throw and clamped in a guillotine but Story popped his head out. Story ended up in Foster’s guard and passed his guard and then took his back. Story’s nose is busted open and he’s bleeding a lot but he’s keeping top position. Foster got back to his feet and both guys started swinging for the fences again. Good first round that went to Story due to his control of the round.
R2- They come out and go after each other again and Story gets a take down. Story grabbed an arm triangle and Foster tapped out. Nice finish by Story. Rogan says it’s the first time he’s seen a guy finished from an arm triangle while inside the guard which shows the strength of Story.
Winner: Rick Story by Submission (Arm Triangle) R2 1:09
Joe Rogan interviews Rich Franklin backstage. Franklin says he’s tired because he hasn’t taken his pre-fight nap yet. Franklin says he’s worked a little with Robbie Lawler because he has a similar style to Belfort.
Lightweight Fight- Efrain Escudero (12-0) vs. Cole Miller (15-3)
Escudero was the TUF 9 winner and this is his first fight since winning TUF. Miller has recent wins over Jorge Gurgel and Junie Browning. Miller is a Jiu Jitsu Black Belt and Efrain has a strong wrestling background. Miller has a 4” height and 2” reach advantage. Based on those stats Escudero should have a strength advantage. Joe says that Escudero struggled to make weight yesterday at the weigh-ins.
R1- Both guys being very tentative early in the fight. Escudero got a sweep of Miller on a kick but let him back up. Miller is started to get more confident and is pushing the action and landing some strikes and really looks like he has more than a 2” reach advantage. Escudero finally caught Miller and slammed him hard to the mat but Miller got back to his feet. Escudero is starting to push the action now and he just leveled Miller with a big right hand that floored him. Escudero jumped on top and hit three punches on the floor and that’s it. Really impressive finish by Escudero.
Winner: Efrain Escudero by TKO (Punches) R1 3:36
Lightweight Fight- Jim Miller vs. Steve Lopez
Jim Miller is coming off of a big decision win over Mac Danzig at UFC 100. Miller’s only losses have come to Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar, both of which I have ranked in the World Top 10 Lightweights.
R1- They open up by both throwing strikes. Miller hit a good right that briefly floored Lopez. Miller landed some good leg kicks. Miller landed a really good left and then jumped all over Lopez but Lopez grabbed the guard and survived the onslaught. Lopez got back to his feet but Miller grabbed a front guillotine choke. Lopez slipped out and Miller pounded him with some Ground and Pound and then took Lopez’s back and then Lopez got him back to full guard. Miller took that round 10-9 and is in control of the fight.
R2- Lopez hurt his shoulder in the second round and you could see the bone popped out of place and he had to verbally submit.
Winner: Jim Miller by TKO R2 0:48
Joe Rogan interviews Vitor Belfort backstage and they talk about the fight tonight. Joe tries to bait him into talking about a possible Anderson Silva fight in the future but Vitor says he’s just taking it one fight at a time right now.
Joe is now with Dana White backstage and hype up the fights tonight to close out the show.
9/19/09
Dallas, Texas
American Airlines Center
These fights are on being brought to us on Spike TV before the UFC 103 PPV.
Middleweight Fight- Drew McFedries (8-5) vs. Tomasz Drwal (16-2)
Drwal fought at the TUF 9 Finale and got a first round Ground and Pound TKO of Mike Ciesnolevicz. McFedries fought last on UFC 98 and beat Xavier Foupa- Pokam in 37 seconds. Don’t blink this one could end quickly. Drwal has a 4” reach advantage. McFedries has to be the most exciting 8-5 fighter on the planet, which is why he’s still employed by the UFC. In his two previous fights in the UFC Drwal fought at Light Heavyweight.
R1- And there are some technical difficulties early in the first fight so we miss the first 45-50 seconds of the fight. If the fight goes this long McFedries usually comes up on the short end. McFedries had a couple of cuts on his face early into the fight. Drwal gets a take down about two minutes into the fight but McFedries got back to his feet and Drwal landed some nice knees. Both guys stood toe to toe and exchanged punches. Drwal hit a good right hand and McFedries looks to be tiring. Drwal gets McFedries down again and is landing some Ground and Pound and he mounts McFedries but there is only 10 seconds left in the round and McFedries will make it to the second round. Drwal is up 10-9 after round one. Both guys have cuts on their face.
R2- Drwal landed a nice punch right out of the gate and pushed forward and clinched McFedries and took him down. Drwal moved quickly to side control and then mounted and clamped on a choke and got the win. Nice showing by Tomasz Drwal.
Winner: Tomasz Drwal by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 1:03
Welterweight Fight- Rick Story vs. Brian Foster
Story last fought at UFC 99 and lost a unanimous decision to John Hathaway (I had it scored 29-28).
R1- Both guys are just swinging for the fences in the opening minute. Just throwing wild punches. Foster hit him with a big gut punch and then hit him with a judo throw and clamped in a guillotine but Story popped his head out. Story ended up in Foster’s guard and passed his guard and then took his back. Story’s nose is busted open and he’s bleeding a lot but he’s keeping top position. Foster got back to his feet and both guys started swinging for the fences again. Good first round that went to Story due to his control of the round.
R2- They come out and go after each other again and Story gets a take down. Story grabbed an arm triangle and Foster tapped out. Nice finish by Story. Rogan says it’s the first time he’s seen a guy finished from an arm triangle while inside the guard which shows the strength of Story.
Winner: Rick Story by Submission (Arm Triangle) R2 1:09
Joe Rogan interviews Rich Franklin backstage. Franklin says he’s tired because he hasn’t taken his pre-fight nap yet. Franklin says he’s worked a little with Robbie Lawler because he has a similar style to Belfort.
Lightweight Fight- Efrain Escudero (12-0) vs. Cole Miller (15-3)
Escudero was the TUF 9 winner and this is his first fight since winning TUF. Miller has recent wins over Jorge Gurgel and Junie Browning. Miller is a Jiu Jitsu Black Belt and Efrain has a strong wrestling background. Miller has a 4” height and 2” reach advantage. Based on those stats Escudero should have a strength advantage. Joe says that Escudero struggled to make weight yesterday at the weigh-ins.
R1- Both guys being very tentative early in the fight. Escudero got a sweep of Miller on a kick but let him back up. Miller is started to get more confident and is pushing the action and landing some strikes and really looks like he has more than a 2” reach advantage. Escudero finally caught Miller and slammed him hard to the mat but Miller got back to his feet. Escudero is starting to push the action now and he just leveled Miller with a big right hand that floored him. Escudero jumped on top and hit three punches on the floor and that’s it. Really impressive finish by Escudero.
Winner: Efrain Escudero by TKO (Punches) R1 3:36
Lightweight Fight- Jim Miller vs. Steve Lopez
Jim Miller is coming off of a big decision win over Mac Danzig at UFC 100. Miller’s only losses have come to Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar, both of which I have ranked in the World Top 10 Lightweights.
R1- They open up by both throwing strikes. Miller hit a good right that briefly floored Lopez. Miller landed some good leg kicks. Miller landed a really good left and then jumped all over Lopez but Lopez grabbed the guard and survived the onslaught. Lopez got back to his feet but Miller grabbed a front guillotine choke. Lopez slipped out and Miller pounded him with some Ground and Pound and then took Lopez’s back and then Lopez got him back to full guard. Miller took that round 10-9 and is in control of the fight.
R2- Lopez hurt his shoulder in the second round and you could see the bone popped out of place and he had to verbally submit.
Winner: Jim Miller by TKO R2 0:48
Joe Rogan interviews Vitor Belfort backstage and they talk about the fight tonight. Joe tries to bait him into talking about a possible Anderson Silva fight in the future but Vitor says he’s just taking it one fight at a time right now.
Joe is now with Dana White backstage and hype up the fights tonight to close out the show.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
TUF 10: Heavyweights Episode 1 Re-Cap
TUF 10: Heavyweights Episode One
“Size Does Matter”
This season features Heavyweights. The coaches are Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans. We have a couple of high profile fighters in Kimbo Slice and Roy Nelson. They start off with Rampage and Rashad sitting on a bench and talking trash to each other. Dana comes in and tells Rampage and Rashad not to get into a fight as they have 5 minutes. Dana rounds the guys up and tells them that 15 guys are there and they have 1 more guy coming in. Dana says he knows for a fact that this next guy is a fighter but says the question is if he is a Mixed Martial Artist. Rampage says “Who is it Tank Abbott?” And in walks Kimbo Slice. Rampage says “he’s on my team”. A couple of guys react negatively to him when he comes in but not openly towards him. Brendan Schaub compares it to a sheep entering the room with a bunch of wolves.
“When the fighters started walking in I was like damn. These guys are big as hell.”- Rampage Jackson
“I think there’s gonna be millions of fans that tune in to this show to see me eat some crow and want Kimbo to prove me wrong. So here we go, we’re gonna find out”- Dana White
Dana tells the guys that they are going to get their gear on and divide up into teams and train for two hours and then they will pick teams after the coaches evaluate them and then they will move into the house tonight. Rampage adds “And I’ve got Kimbo Slice.”
“As soon as he seen Kimbo, he’s said Kimbo’s on my team. And I’m thinking cool…..Nothing against Kimbo, but I’m thinking there are probably a few other fighters that are more well rounded then Kimbo.”- Rashad Evans
Rashad Evans has Greg Jackson helping him out to do evaluations. Yoda! Now that’s a HUGE advantage. Rashad has two training partners on this edition of TUF, Brendan Schaub and James McSweeney. Tiki Ghosn is one of Rampage’s assistant coaches. A couple of the football players talk about how this training camp is harder than the NFL’s training camps.
Dana flips a coin for the right to choose who picks first. Dana says that the winner of the coin flip can choose to pick the first fighter or the first two fights. Then, the team has to win both fights in order to keep control of choosing the fights. Rashad wins and decides to pick the first fighter.
Draft Picks:
Team Rashad #1: James McSweeney
Team Rampage #1: Kimbo Slice
Team Rashad #2: Brandon Schaub
Team Rampage #2: Abe Wagner
Team Rashad #3: Justin Wren
Team Rampage #3: Demico Rogers
Team Rashad #4: Jon Madsen
Team Rampage #4: Wes Sims
Team Rashad #5: Roy Nelson
Team Rampage #5: Scott Junk
Team Rashad #6: Darrill Schoonover
Team Rampage #6: Wes Shivers
Team Rashad #7: Matt Mitrione
Team Rampage #7: Marcus Jones
Team Rashad #8: Mike Wessel
Team Rampage #8: Zak Jensen
“My team is bigger. And size does matter.”- Rampage
Rampage gets to pick the first two fights. The first fight Rampage chooses is Jon Madsen from Team Rashad against Abe Wagner. Rashad says Madsen is his number one wrestler. Madsen is a college wrestler who has worked with Robbie Lawler and Matt Hughes. He’s an undersized Heavyweight compared to a lot of the guys on this show. Rampage says that Abe has good stand up and good jiu jitsu.
“Abe is the toughest computer geek I’ve ever met” – Wes Sims
Abe Wagner (6-1) vs. Jon Madsen (1-0)
Wagner has a 4” height and 5” reach advantage.
R1- Madsen gets a quick take down and got some Ground and Pound and was able to maintain top position and opened up Abe with some strikes. Abe lost a ton of blood and was laying in a pool of his blood by the end of the round. Abe got beaten up but he got up pretty quickly after the round was over and went right back to his corner. That was a 10-8 round in favor of Madsen on my score card.
R2- Madsen pulled a really poor sportsmanship move at the beginning of this round as he faked going for a touch of the gloves and instead went for an immediate take down on Abe. The ref stands them up after a minute due to inactivity. Madsen quickly takes down Abe again and gets him pinned against the cage. Madsen looks really tired as he is in great position but isn’t doing anything and the ref stands them up again half way through the round. Madsen gets yet another take down. Madsen controlled this fight and was dominate in the first round but didn’t show the ability to finish or have the proper stamina needed that will hurt him in the next round.
Judges score cards say: 20-16, 20-17 and 20-17
Winner: Jon Madsen by Decision (Unanimous)
Eliminated:
Abe Wagner defeated by Jon Madsen- Episode One
“Size Does Matter”
This season features Heavyweights. The coaches are Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans. We have a couple of high profile fighters in Kimbo Slice and Roy Nelson. They start off with Rampage and Rashad sitting on a bench and talking trash to each other. Dana comes in and tells Rampage and Rashad not to get into a fight as they have 5 minutes. Dana rounds the guys up and tells them that 15 guys are there and they have 1 more guy coming in. Dana says he knows for a fact that this next guy is a fighter but says the question is if he is a Mixed Martial Artist. Rampage says “Who is it Tank Abbott?” And in walks Kimbo Slice. Rampage says “he’s on my team”. A couple of guys react negatively to him when he comes in but not openly towards him. Brendan Schaub compares it to a sheep entering the room with a bunch of wolves.
“When the fighters started walking in I was like damn. These guys are big as hell.”- Rampage Jackson
“I think there’s gonna be millions of fans that tune in to this show to see me eat some crow and want Kimbo to prove me wrong. So here we go, we’re gonna find out”- Dana White
Dana tells the guys that they are going to get their gear on and divide up into teams and train for two hours and then they will pick teams after the coaches evaluate them and then they will move into the house tonight. Rampage adds “And I’ve got Kimbo Slice.”
“As soon as he seen Kimbo, he’s said Kimbo’s on my team. And I’m thinking cool…..Nothing against Kimbo, but I’m thinking there are probably a few other fighters that are more well rounded then Kimbo.”- Rashad Evans
Rashad Evans has Greg Jackson helping him out to do evaluations. Yoda! Now that’s a HUGE advantage. Rashad has two training partners on this edition of TUF, Brendan Schaub and James McSweeney. Tiki Ghosn is one of Rampage’s assistant coaches. A couple of the football players talk about how this training camp is harder than the NFL’s training camps.
Dana flips a coin for the right to choose who picks first. Dana says that the winner of the coin flip can choose to pick the first fighter or the first two fights. Then, the team has to win both fights in order to keep control of choosing the fights. Rashad wins and decides to pick the first fighter.
Draft Picks:
Team Rashad #1: James McSweeney
Team Rampage #1: Kimbo Slice
Team Rashad #2: Brandon Schaub
Team Rampage #2: Abe Wagner
Team Rashad #3: Justin Wren
Team Rampage #3: Demico Rogers
Team Rashad #4: Jon Madsen
Team Rampage #4: Wes Sims
Team Rashad #5: Roy Nelson
Team Rampage #5: Scott Junk
Team Rashad #6: Darrill Schoonover
Team Rampage #6: Wes Shivers
Team Rashad #7: Matt Mitrione
Team Rampage #7: Marcus Jones
Team Rashad #8: Mike Wessel
Team Rampage #8: Zak Jensen
“My team is bigger. And size does matter.”- Rampage
Rampage gets to pick the first two fights. The first fight Rampage chooses is Jon Madsen from Team Rashad against Abe Wagner. Rashad says Madsen is his number one wrestler. Madsen is a college wrestler who has worked with Robbie Lawler and Matt Hughes. He’s an undersized Heavyweight compared to a lot of the guys on this show. Rampage says that Abe has good stand up and good jiu jitsu.
“Abe is the toughest computer geek I’ve ever met” – Wes Sims
Abe Wagner (6-1) vs. Jon Madsen (1-0)
Wagner has a 4” height and 5” reach advantage.
R1- Madsen gets a quick take down and got some Ground and Pound and was able to maintain top position and opened up Abe with some strikes. Abe lost a ton of blood and was laying in a pool of his blood by the end of the round. Abe got beaten up but he got up pretty quickly after the round was over and went right back to his corner. That was a 10-8 round in favor of Madsen on my score card.
R2- Madsen pulled a really poor sportsmanship move at the beginning of this round as he faked going for a touch of the gloves and instead went for an immediate take down on Abe. The ref stands them up after a minute due to inactivity. Madsen quickly takes down Abe again and gets him pinned against the cage. Madsen looks really tired as he is in great position but isn’t doing anything and the ref stands them up again half way through the round. Madsen gets yet another take down. Madsen controlled this fight and was dominate in the first round but didn’t show the ability to finish or have the proper stamina needed that will hurt him in the next round.
Judges score cards say: 20-16, 20-17 and 20-17
Winner: Jon Madsen by Decision (Unanimous)
Eliminated:
Abe Wagner defeated by Jon Madsen- Episode One
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
UFC Fight Night 19 (9/16/09) Re-Cap
UFC Fight Night 19
Tulsa, OK (Cox Convention Center)
9/16/09
No Joe Rogan tonight so Kenny Florian will be replacing him on Color Commentary. Gray Maynard will take a big step tonight towards a Lightweight Title Fight if he can beat Roger Huerta. This is a risky fight for the UFC as Huerta plans on going Hollywood after the fight. Former WEC Champion Carlos Condit tries to get his first UFC win after a razor think loss to Martin Kampmann in his debut. TUF fighters fight it out tonight as Nate Diaz/Melvin Guillard and Nate Quarry/Tim Credeur collide. Hopefully Steve Cantwell/Brian Stann will make the main show and/or we can see Brock Larson/Mike Pierce. Phillipe Nover was pulled from his undercard fight with Sam Stout tonight when he suffered a seizure.
Middleweight Fight- Nate Quarry (17-3) vs. Tim Credeur (13-4)
Credeur is coming off a second round guillotine submission of Nick Catone at Fight Night 18. Credeur is 3-0 in the UFC and has really improved since his TUF days. Credeur has a 3” height and 2.5” reach advantage. Quarry has to be the favorite coming into this fight. Quarry’s only losses in the UFC have come to Rich Franklin and Demain Maia.
R1- Credeur is out striking Quarry early but doesn’t seem to be hurting him. Credeur caught Quarry with a solid left hand at the 1:20 mark and Quarry went down. Credeur jumped on top and grabbed a Rear Naked Choke with over a minute left in the round but Quarry rolled over and survived. Really great action. Credeur closed the round with some strikes and has bloodied Quarry’s nose. Impressive first round for Credeur as he’s up 10-9.
R2- Credeur opens up the round with strikes and has Quarry on the run early but he got popped by Quarry. Both guys go toe to toe swinging for the fences and Credeur went down. Credeur definitely doesn’t want to get into a shot for shot against Quarry. Quarry lands on top of Credeur and takes his guard. Quarry has done a good job of weathering the storm so far and turned the tide quickly in this round to tie it up 19-19 going into the third and final round.
R3- Credeur opens up this round landing some good strikes but Quarry unloaded on Credeur with a huge right hand. The punch looked so violent that Herb Dean rushed in and almost stopped the fight but Credeur was able to survive the strike. Quarry took Credeur’s guard. They get back to their feet but Credeur looks like he’s still really feeling the effects of that one punch. Credeur is taking some big shots and finally goes down with Quarry following him and taking his guard. Quarry takes this round and will take the fight 29-28. Good fight, Credeur showed a lot of heart but Quarry was just too big and too strong for him. Quarry finished the fight with a big mouse under his right eye.
Judges score cards say: 29-28, 29-27 and 29-28 in favor of Quarry
Winner: Nate Quarry by Decision (Unanimous)
Welterweight Fight- Carlos Condit (23-5) vs. Jake Ellenberger (21-4)
This is Jake Ellenberger’s debut in the UFC as he is filling in for the injured Chris Lytle. Condit is a former WEC Welterweight Champion who lost in his debut to Martin Kampmann in a very close split decision. Condit has a 2” height and 3” reach advantage.
R1- Ellenberger grabbed a Condit kick early and punched him and took him down. Condit does a really good job in his guard and got back to his feet without taking any damage. Ellenberger again counters a kick with a punch and just drills Condit up against the cage and Condit goes down. Ellenberger jumps on top and Condit is in deep trouble. Ellenberger went for a choke but Condit was able to escape and get back to his feet. Condit hit Ellenberger with a big knee to the chin. Ellenberger absorbed two more knees and then fired a Hail Mary punch and looked like he grazed Condit right in the temple and Condit just crumpled. I thought for sure that was the end of the fight as Ellenberger jumped on top and reigned punches to the back of Condit’s head but Condit took Ellenberger down and took half guard. There is still two minutes left in this fight and so far it has been CRAZY. Condit was able to move to mount but Ellenberger kicked him off. Ellenberger grabbed a guillotine but Condit rolled out and ended up with Ellenberger in his guard. Condit has a very active guard and is hitting some elbows. Condit went for a triangle but Ellenberger slipped out quickly before it was even close and they stood back up. Ellenberger landed a head kick but it looked like it was just a glancing blow. Holy Crap, what a first round. Ellenberger is no joke and I can’t believe that Condit survived that first round. Condit clearly has to get this fight on the ground if he wants to win. You have to give that first round to Ellenberger 10-9.
R2- Ellenberger is swinging for the fences early but missed two big haymakers. Ellenberger got a double leg take down. Condit landed some elbows. Ellenberger is getting very little offense in despite being in an advantageous position. Condit got a kimura but could not submit Ellenberger because Ellenberger was holding onto the fence. Condit did however roll over Ellenberger and took mount. Condit was able to get in some shots but was moved to half guard. Condit re-mounts and tries to take Ellenberger’s back but he slips and Ellenberger takes his guard. Condit once again is active from his guard and Ellenberger is not really trying to improve his position. Back to their feet with 15 seconds left. Condit landed a couple of strikes before the land ended. Ellenberger got a take down and laid on top of Condit for a while but really didn’t get in any offense in this round. Condit had a near submission and was able to mount and score points from his guard. I think that’s enough as Condit controlled the striking and landed many more shots in this round than did Ellenberger. It will be interesting to see how judges score this round and I think many will give it to Ellenberger just for kind of laying on Condit and getting the take down. I’ve got it Condit 10-9 and that evens up the fight 19-19 on my score card.
R3- Condit threw a leg kick early but it was mostly deflected. Ellenberger got an early take down. Condit again worked strikes from the guard position. Ellenberger landed a big elbow but shortly thereafter Condit was able to slide out of his grasp and they stood back up with three and a half minutes remaining in the fight. Ellenberger threw a kick but it landed on Condit’s arm. Condit got a take down and Ellenberger grabbed a guillotine but Condit easily slipped out and moved to half guard. Condit controlled from the top and landed some good strikes. Condit went to take Ellenberger’s back and landed some more good strikes. Ellenberger spins out as Condit went for a submission and took Condit’s guard. Condit kicked him off and they stood back up. Ellenberger went for a single leg but Condit. The ref keeps warning Condit for striking to the back of Ellenberger’s head but I haven’t seen it as Carlos is not hitting him directly to the back of his head. Condit stuffed the take down and took Ellenberger’s back and flattened him out and continued to land strikes. I’ve got Condit taking this round 10-9 which gives him the fight 29-28 in a really good fight. I don’t know how Condit survived the first round but he really weathered that storm and wore out Ellenberger. It will be interesting to see how judges score this fight.
Judges score cards say: 29-28 Condit, 29-28 Ellenberger and 29-28 Condit
So that’s 2 split decisions in his first two fights for Condit in the UFC. Ellenberger looked very game in the first round.
Winner: Carlos Condit by Decision (Split)
Mike Goldberg interviews Rich Franklin via Satellite.
Gray Maynard (8-0) vs. Roger Huerta (22-2-1)
Huerta is coming off of a lackluster loss to Kenny Florian by decision (30-27) back at UFC 87. Gray Maynard is coming off an impressive win over Jim Miller at UFC 96. Maynard is undefeated and is quickly moving up the Lightweight ladder. With another impressive win or two he could find himself as the #1 Contender to B.J. Penn. Huerta could be taking off to Hollywood after this fight so it will be interesting to see how prepared he is for this fight.
R1- Maynard came in at early and landed some good strikes. Huerta came in and Maynard landed a good counter punch that knocked Huerta off center. Maynard looks really quick so far early in this fight. Huerta got Maynard up against the fence and was able to land several strikes. Maynard was able to retreat and when Huerta came in again Maynard was able to pop him with a jab. Maynard went for a single leg but Huerta was able to sprawl out of the take down. Good first round that was pretty even. Huerta had the one flurry but overall Maynard landed more strikes and controlled more of the round. Maynard 10-9 after one round. Florian gave this round to Huerta.
R2- Maynard countered a Huerta kick with a good right hand and Huerta ducked and moved and slid in the Octagon to gain his balance and avoid Maynard. Maynard hit a good right that knocked Huerta off-balance and then Maynard landed another left but it appeared to just be a glancing blow. Huerta charged at Maynard and threw like 7 or 8 shots but Maynard ducked all of them and then Maynard landed a jab that took Huerta briefly off his feet as he lost his balance. Maynard is far from dominating this fight but he’s doing enough to win the rounds. I’ve got Maynard up 20-18 on my score card.
R3- Maynard landed a couple of strikes early. Maynard rushed in and took Huerta down. Huerta got back to his feet briefly but Maynard pulled him back down. Maynard’s nose is bleeding from a shot earlier in the fight. Maynard has a funky looking kimura locked in on Huerta and Maynard eventually let it go as Huerta was not going to tap and was able to twist out of the move. Huerta was briefly on top but then Maynard was able to grind him back down. Maynard takes this round and I’ve got him winning 30-27 on my score card. It was a close fight but I had Maynard winning all of the rounds. The only one that really seemed debatable was the first round. Maynard needs another quality win and then he could be a contender for the Lightweight Title.
Judges score cards say: 29-28 Huerta, 30-27 Maynard and 30-27 Maynard.
29-28 Huerta? What was Chris Lee smoking?
Winner: Gray Maynard by Decision (Split)
Lightweight Fight- Nate Diaz (10-4) vs. Melvin Guillard (41-8-3)
In his last fight Melvin won a Split Decision over Gleison Tibau at the Ultimate Fight 9 Finale. I actually had the fight scored in favor of Tibau 29-28. On the same show Nate lost a close fight to Joe Stevenson by 29-28 decision on all score cards. Diaz has a 5” reach and 3” height advantage.
R1- Diaz threw a loopy right hand and Guillard stuck him with a quick right that knocked him down but Guillard let him back up. Diaz locked him up and got a take down but Guillard got back to his feet and hit Diaz with a judo throw and then let Diaz back to his feet. Diaz again got Guillard down but Guillard again quickly got to his feet without taking any damage. Diaz has some blood coming from near his eye. Fairly close round but Diaz really didn’t do anything to hurt Guillard and Guillard opened up a cut on Diaz and knocked him down early in the round. I’ve got Guillard taking a close round 10 to 9.
R2- Guillard went for another judo throw and was able to get Diaz down on the mat but he let Diaz back to his feet. Diaz is starting to land some strikes. Guillard fakes being hurt but then gets caught by Diaz as Diaz pulled guard and locked in a choke and Guillard submitted. What a huge mistake by Guillard and Diaz capitalized beautifully.
Winner: Nate Diaz by Guillotine Choke R2 2:13
Really good night of fights.
Tulsa, OK (Cox Convention Center)
9/16/09
No Joe Rogan tonight so Kenny Florian will be replacing him on Color Commentary. Gray Maynard will take a big step tonight towards a Lightweight Title Fight if he can beat Roger Huerta. This is a risky fight for the UFC as Huerta plans on going Hollywood after the fight. Former WEC Champion Carlos Condit tries to get his first UFC win after a razor think loss to Martin Kampmann in his debut. TUF fighters fight it out tonight as Nate Diaz/Melvin Guillard and Nate Quarry/Tim Credeur collide. Hopefully Steve Cantwell/Brian Stann will make the main show and/or we can see Brock Larson/Mike Pierce. Phillipe Nover was pulled from his undercard fight with Sam Stout tonight when he suffered a seizure.
Middleweight Fight- Nate Quarry (17-3) vs. Tim Credeur (13-4)
Credeur is coming off a second round guillotine submission of Nick Catone at Fight Night 18. Credeur is 3-0 in the UFC and has really improved since his TUF days. Credeur has a 3” height and 2.5” reach advantage. Quarry has to be the favorite coming into this fight. Quarry’s only losses in the UFC have come to Rich Franklin and Demain Maia.
R1- Credeur is out striking Quarry early but doesn’t seem to be hurting him. Credeur caught Quarry with a solid left hand at the 1:20 mark and Quarry went down. Credeur jumped on top and grabbed a Rear Naked Choke with over a minute left in the round but Quarry rolled over and survived. Really great action. Credeur closed the round with some strikes and has bloodied Quarry’s nose. Impressive first round for Credeur as he’s up 10-9.
R2- Credeur opens up the round with strikes and has Quarry on the run early but he got popped by Quarry. Both guys go toe to toe swinging for the fences and Credeur went down. Credeur definitely doesn’t want to get into a shot for shot against Quarry. Quarry lands on top of Credeur and takes his guard. Quarry has done a good job of weathering the storm so far and turned the tide quickly in this round to tie it up 19-19 going into the third and final round.
R3- Credeur opens up this round landing some good strikes but Quarry unloaded on Credeur with a huge right hand. The punch looked so violent that Herb Dean rushed in and almost stopped the fight but Credeur was able to survive the strike. Quarry took Credeur’s guard. They get back to their feet but Credeur looks like he’s still really feeling the effects of that one punch. Credeur is taking some big shots and finally goes down with Quarry following him and taking his guard. Quarry takes this round and will take the fight 29-28. Good fight, Credeur showed a lot of heart but Quarry was just too big and too strong for him. Quarry finished the fight with a big mouse under his right eye.
Judges score cards say: 29-28, 29-27 and 29-28 in favor of Quarry
Winner: Nate Quarry by Decision (Unanimous)
Welterweight Fight- Carlos Condit (23-5) vs. Jake Ellenberger (21-4)
This is Jake Ellenberger’s debut in the UFC as he is filling in for the injured Chris Lytle. Condit is a former WEC Welterweight Champion who lost in his debut to Martin Kampmann in a very close split decision. Condit has a 2” height and 3” reach advantage.
R1- Ellenberger grabbed a Condit kick early and punched him and took him down. Condit does a really good job in his guard and got back to his feet without taking any damage. Ellenberger again counters a kick with a punch and just drills Condit up against the cage and Condit goes down. Ellenberger jumps on top and Condit is in deep trouble. Ellenberger went for a choke but Condit was able to escape and get back to his feet. Condit hit Ellenberger with a big knee to the chin. Ellenberger absorbed two more knees and then fired a Hail Mary punch and looked like he grazed Condit right in the temple and Condit just crumpled. I thought for sure that was the end of the fight as Ellenberger jumped on top and reigned punches to the back of Condit’s head but Condit took Ellenberger down and took half guard. There is still two minutes left in this fight and so far it has been CRAZY. Condit was able to move to mount but Ellenberger kicked him off. Ellenberger grabbed a guillotine but Condit rolled out and ended up with Ellenberger in his guard. Condit has a very active guard and is hitting some elbows. Condit went for a triangle but Ellenberger slipped out quickly before it was even close and they stood back up. Ellenberger landed a head kick but it looked like it was just a glancing blow. Holy Crap, what a first round. Ellenberger is no joke and I can’t believe that Condit survived that first round. Condit clearly has to get this fight on the ground if he wants to win. You have to give that first round to Ellenberger 10-9.
R2- Ellenberger is swinging for the fences early but missed two big haymakers. Ellenberger got a double leg take down. Condit landed some elbows. Ellenberger is getting very little offense in despite being in an advantageous position. Condit got a kimura but could not submit Ellenberger because Ellenberger was holding onto the fence. Condit did however roll over Ellenberger and took mount. Condit was able to get in some shots but was moved to half guard. Condit re-mounts and tries to take Ellenberger’s back but he slips and Ellenberger takes his guard. Condit once again is active from his guard and Ellenberger is not really trying to improve his position. Back to their feet with 15 seconds left. Condit landed a couple of strikes before the land ended. Ellenberger got a take down and laid on top of Condit for a while but really didn’t get in any offense in this round. Condit had a near submission and was able to mount and score points from his guard. I think that’s enough as Condit controlled the striking and landed many more shots in this round than did Ellenberger. It will be interesting to see how judges score this round and I think many will give it to Ellenberger just for kind of laying on Condit and getting the take down. I’ve got it Condit 10-9 and that evens up the fight 19-19 on my score card.
R3- Condit threw a leg kick early but it was mostly deflected. Ellenberger got an early take down. Condit again worked strikes from the guard position. Ellenberger landed a big elbow but shortly thereafter Condit was able to slide out of his grasp and they stood back up with three and a half minutes remaining in the fight. Ellenberger threw a kick but it landed on Condit’s arm. Condit got a take down and Ellenberger grabbed a guillotine but Condit easily slipped out and moved to half guard. Condit controlled from the top and landed some good strikes. Condit went to take Ellenberger’s back and landed some more good strikes. Ellenberger spins out as Condit went for a submission and took Condit’s guard. Condit kicked him off and they stood back up. Ellenberger went for a single leg but Condit. The ref keeps warning Condit for striking to the back of Ellenberger’s head but I haven’t seen it as Carlos is not hitting him directly to the back of his head. Condit stuffed the take down and took Ellenberger’s back and flattened him out and continued to land strikes. I’ve got Condit taking this round 10-9 which gives him the fight 29-28 in a really good fight. I don’t know how Condit survived the first round but he really weathered that storm and wore out Ellenberger. It will be interesting to see how judges score this fight.
Judges score cards say: 29-28 Condit, 29-28 Ellenberger and 29-28 Condit
So that’s 2 split decisions in his first two fights for Condit in the UFC. Ellenberger looked very game in the first round.
Winner: Carlos Condit by Decision (Split)
Mike Goldberg interviews Rich Franklin via Satellite.
Gray Maynard (8-0) vs. Roger Huerta (22-2-1)
Huerta is coming off of a lackluster loss to Kenny Florian by decision (30-27) back at UFC 87. Gray Maynard is coming off an impressive win over Jim Miller at UFC 96. Maynard is undefeated and is quickly moving up the Lightweight ladder. With another impressive win or two he could find himself as the #1 Contender to B.J. Penn. Huerta could be taking off to Hollywood after this fight so it will be interesting to see how prepared he is for this fight.
R1- Maynard came in at early and landed some good strikes. Huerta came in and Maynard landed a good counter punch that knocked Huerta off center. Maynard looks really quick so far early in this fight. Huerta got Maynard up against the fence and was able to land several strikes. Maynard was able to retreat and when Huerta came in again Maynard was able to pop him with a jab. Maynard went for a single leg but Huerta was able to sprawl out of the take down. Good first round that was pretty even. Huerta had the one flurry but overall Maynard landed more strikes and controlled more of the round. Maynard 10-9 after one round. Florian gave this round to Huerta.
R2- Maynard countered a Huerta kick with a good right hand and Huerta ducked and moved and slid in the Octagon to gain his balance and avoid Maynard. Maynard hit a good right that knocked Huerta off-balance and then Maynard landed another left but it appeared to just be a glancing blow. Huerta charged at Maynard and threw like 7 or 8 shots but Maynard ducked all of them and then Maynard landed a jab that took Huerta briefly off his feet as he lost his balance. Maynard is far from dominating this fight but he’s doing enough to win the rounds. I’ve got Maynard up 20-18 on my score card.
R3- Maynard landed a couple of strikes early. Maynard rushed in and took Huerta down. Huerta got back to his feet briefly but Maynard pulled him back down. Maynard’s nose is bleeding from a shot earlier in the fight. Maynard has a funky looking kimura locked in on Huerta and Maynard eventually let it go as Huerta was not going to tap and was able to twist out of the move. Huerta was briefly on top but then Maynard was able to grind him back down. Maynard takes this round and I’ve got him winning 30-27 on my score card. It was a close fight but I had Maynard winning all of the rounds. The only one that really seemed debatable was the first round. Maynard needs another quality win and then he could be a contender for the Lightweight Title.
Judges score cards say: 29-28 Huerta, 30-27 Maynard and 30-27 Maynard.
29-28 Huerta? What was Chris Lee smoking?
Winner: Gray Maynard by Decision (Split)
Lightweight Fight- Nate Diaz (10-4) vs. Melvin Guillard (41-8-3)
In his last fight Melvin won a Split Decision over Gleison Tibau at the Ultimate Fight 9 Finale. I actually had the fight scored in favor of Tibau 29-28. On the same show Nate lost a close fight to Joe Stevenson by 29-28 decision on all score cards. Diaz has a 5” reach and 3” height advantage.
R1- Diaz threw a loopy right hand and Guillard stuck him with a quick right that knocked him down but Guillard let him back up. Diaz locked him up and got a take down but Guillard got back to his feet and hit Diaz with a judo throw and then let Diaz back to his feet. Diaz again got Guillard down but Guillard again quickly got to his feet without taking any damage. Diaz has some blood coming from near his eye. Fairly close round but Diaz really didn’t do anything to hurt Guillard and Guillard opened up a cut on Diaz and knocked him down early in the round. I’ve got Guillard taking a close round 10 to 9.
R2- Guillard went for another judo throw and was able to get Diaz down on the mat but he let Diaz back to his feet. Diaz is starting to land some strikes. Guillard fakes being hurt but then gets caught by Diaz as Diaz pulled guard and locked in a choke and Guillard submitted. What a huge mistake by Guillard and Diaz capitalized beautifully.
Winner: Nate Diaz by Guillotine Choke R2 2:13
Really good night of fights.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
UFC 102: Couture vs. Noguiera Re-Cap
UFC 102: Couture vs. Noguiera
8/30/09
Rose Garden Arena
Portland, Or
Light Heavyweight Fight- Brandon Vera (10-3) vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (19-9-1)
Krzysztof has looked very good since leaving his season of TUF. He beat Andre Gusmao in the first round of his last fight at UFC 98 and before that he defeated Brian Stann at UFC 97. Vera handled Mike Patt at UFC 96 in his last fight but lost a close fight previous to that to Keith Jardine in which both guys looked awful and neither deserved to win. Vera has a slight height and reach advantage.
R1- Vera hit some counter strikes early that backed Krzysztof off early. Lots of clinching in the first round as both guys struggled to get position on the other guy. Krzysztof got stuffed at the end of the round and Vera landed a couple of elbows. Close round that I give to Vera 10-9.
R2- Krzysztof had a tough time in this round catching up to Vera. Vera once again did a good job of countering Krzysztof’s attacks. Krzysztof’s only real offense was clinching and leaning on Vera. Krzysztof got a take down at the one minute mark but could hold it or do anything with it. Neither guy really did anything to win this round but Vera hit more strikes. I’ve got Vera up 20-18.
R3- Krzysztof clinched Vera and Vera nearly got a kimura but couldn’t lock it in. Vera landed some good knees in the clinch and then took down Krzysztof and landed some shots before Krzysztof got back to his feet. Krzysztof got really tired at the end of the round. Vera is going to take this fight 30-27 in my book. Not an exciting fight but Vera continues to improve at Light Heavyweight. Krzysztof was just outmatched in this fight.
Judges score cards say: 30-27 on all three score cards. Post-fight Vera wore an Affliction T-shirt. It’s been a while since one of those has been in the Octagon.
Winner: Brandon Vera by Decision (Unanimous)
Rashad Evans is in attendance and he gets a round of boos from the crowd.
Middleweight Fight- Demian Maia (11-0) vs. Nate Marquardt (31-8-2)
This fight is for a shot at Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. Marquardt has been impressive lately in his fight at UFC 88 with Martin Kampmann and his victory over Wilson Gouveia. Maia is undefeated and has recently submitted Nate Quarry and Jason MacDonald. Both of these guys are easily Top 10 Middleweights in the World Rankings and borderline Top 5 guys right now. The winner of this fight is a Top 5 World Middleweight. Maia is a BJJ Black Belt who has been working on his striking with Wanderlei Silva and Marquardt is part of Greg Jackson’s training camp.
R1- Maia came in with a kick and Marquardt just blasted him with a big time right hand and Maia hit the mat like a ton of bricks. Maia was not out but the ref stopped the fight. I’m not crazy about the stoppage. Marquardt would have probably finished the fight but he didn’t jump right on Maia and I think that influenced the decision. Either way that was a great punch by Marquardt.
Looks like Marquardt has earned his re-match with Anderson Silva and honestly that match can happen ASAP as neither Marquardt nor Anderson Silva got hurt in the slightest in their fights.
Winner: Nate Marquardt by KO R1 0:21
Middleweight Fight- Chris Leben (18-5) vs. Jake Rosholt (5-1)
Chris Leben’s last fight was a loss to Michael Bisping at UFC 89. After that fight Leben served a suspension for failing a drug test. Rosholt got submitted quickly by Dan Miller in his last fight. This fight is in Leben’s hometown. Rosholt has a 2” height and 4” reach advantage.
R1- Not much action in the first couple of minutes. Rosholt jumped in and Leben got a take down that almost looked like Rosholt pulled guard. Leben gave up his position to try and get a good shot but he didn’t and both fighters got back to their feet. Rosholt got a take down with a minute left in the round and landed some strikes. Leben took some wild shots at the end of the round and landed some. Leben looked like he got hurt by some of those Rosholt strikes. I give the first round to Rosholt as he did more damage but it was close.
R2- Rosholt went for a kick but Leben countered with a left hand and it dropped Rosholt as he was caught in the air and Leben jumped on top. The ref stood the fight back up due to lack of action by Leben. Leben had a leg kick blocked but landed a good punch and then clinched Rosholt up against the cage. Rosholt broke free and landed a punch and got a take down. Leben looks really tired right now. Rosholt landed some good strikes towards the end of the round but let Leben up. I’ve got Leben taking this round although it was very close so it’s 19-19 going into the final round.
R3- Rosholt got an early take down in the first 30 seconds of the round. Rosholt got an arm triangle and it looked like Leben was going to tap but he ended up passing out in the submission. Good showing by Rosholt. Leben had a tough time with his conditioning in this fight.
Winner: Jake Rosholt by Submission (Arm Triangle) R3 1:30
Heavyweight Fight- Tim Hague (10-1) vs. Todd Duffee (5-0)
This is a pre-show fight. The Heavyweight Division in UFC is all of the sudden pretty stacked. The winner of this fight will move up the ladder.
R1- Todd Duffee almost immediately knocked Hague down and then just destroyed him on the mat for a very quick finish. He hit a big left hand right off that bat when Hague left his chin wide open.
7 seconds is officially the fastest knockout in UFC history and Duffee got it in his UFC debut.
Winner: Todd Duffee by TKO (Punches) R1 0:07
UFC 103 is advertised. Rich Franklin vs Vitor Belfort. Mirko Crop Cop vs Junior dos Santos and Martin Kampmann vs. Mike Swick. September 19th!
Light Heavyweight Fight- Keith Jardine (14-6-1) vs. Thiago Silva (13-1)
Both of these fighters are coming off losses to two of the top Light Heavyweight fighters in the world. Jardine lost to Rampage Jackson and Silva got mauled by Lyoto Machida. Both fighters are borderline Top 10 World Light Heavyweights. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the Co-Main Event of the evening.
R1- Jardine hit a body kick but Silva took him down to the mat about 30 seconds into the fight but Jardine got back to his feet without taking any damage. Jardine came in with a flurry but Silva stuck Jardine with a punch and he went down. Silva landed some big shots on Jardine while he was on the mat and the ref jumped in and stopped the fight. Good stoppage as Jardine went limp after Silva hit two shots on the ground.
Winner: Thiago Silva by TKO (Strikes) R1 1:35
Middleweight Fight- Ed Herman vs. Aaron Simpson
This is our second re-show fight. Mike Goldberg drops the interesting trivia that Aaron Simpson and his wife competed together on American Gladiators.
R1- Both guys throw leather early into the fight. Simpson shot in and got a take down. Herman quickly got back to his feet but Simpson slammed him back down. Herman is trying some weird type of soccer style bicycle kick while Simpson is standing hovering above him. Herman hit a couple of up kicks and backed Simpson off. Herman got to his feet and hit a knee but Simpson tossed him to the mat. Very entertaining fight so far. Simpson hit a good combo and then hit a punch that floored Herman. Simpson jumped on top but Herman did a good job of defending. Herman got up but Simpson took him back down and got some Ground and Pound. Good first round that Simpson took 10-9. Herman limps back to his corner as it looks like his knee is hurt.
R2- Herman came out and tried a kick but Simpson grabbed it and took him down and Herman hurt his leg again and the ref stopped the fight. Herman showed a lot of heart in this fight and Simpson looks like he’s going to be a good fighter in the Middleweight division.
Winner: Aaron Simpson by TKO (Ref Stoppage) R2 0:17
Heavyweight Fight- Antonio Minotauro Nogueira (31-5-1) vs. Randy Couture (16-9)
The UFC tells us that Nogueira’s average fight length is 12:18, he lands 75% of strikes thrown when standing up and he leads Pride & UFC in Submission Attempts. The fans have this fight pegged at 77% in favor of Couture. Rogan says Big Nog had a meniscus tear and a bad staph infection going into the Frank Mir fight where he was hospitalized five weeks before the fight. Couture, fighting in his home town, gets a huge reaction at introductions.
Brock Lesnar is at this show for the fight and he gets some boos when he is shown.
R1- Both guys throw some leather early and Big Nog tries to pull guard but Randy avoids it. Big Nog hurt Randy about 2 minutes into the fight and followed him to the ground. Big Nog locked in a choke and Randy somehow was able to get out of the move and get back to his fight. Both guys exchange some leather a couple of times and pop the crowd. Both guys just slug it out at about the one minute mark left in the round with both guys landing good shots. Really good first round that I’ve got Big Nog taking 10-9.
R2- Big Nog hit some good strikes early and tried to pull guard on a guillotine but Randy slipped out and took Big Nog’s guard. Randy controlled but Big Nog flipped him over and mounted Randy. Big Nog went for an arm triangle and punched Randy to try to get a better position with the submission but Randy got free. Randy got back to his feet with one minute left in the round. Both guys throw leather with Randy backing down first. Randy rocked Big Nog with a big left hand but Big Nog took it and stayed on his feet. Randy hit him with a follow-up left jab but Big Nog absorbed it. Another good round. I’ve got Big Nog up 20-18 after two rounds.
R3- Randy started out the round with a good combo. Big Nog came next with a combo of his own and then dropped Randy and got on top and hit some hammer punches with Randy fighting through and hanging on. Big Nog passed guard and took side control. Randy was able to flip Big Nog over. Goldberg says Lesnar is next to them shouting instructions at Couture. Randy lands some elbows from the top. Big Nog reversed Randy right at the end of the fight. Really good fight. I’ve got Big Nog taking all three rounds and redeeming himself after the Frank Mir fight.
Judges score cards say: 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 in favor of Big Nog.
Winner: Antonio Minotauro Nogueira by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Fight- Evan Dunham vs. Marcus Aurelio
This is our third pre-show fight. Aurelio took this fight on short notice.
R1- Dunham got in a punch at the half way point of round one that knocked down Aurelio and Dunham followed him to the ground and got some good Ground and Pound but could not finish the fight. They went back to their feet and Dunham continued to win the round. Dunham took this round 10-9 and was really in control from the mid-point to the end of the round.
Dunham is an Xtreme Couture fighter and they show Shawn Thompkins giving him advice in the corner during the rest between rounds.
R2- Aurelio tries several times to get Dunham in the first minute and finally got him down after about a minute was gone from the round. Dunham was able to get back to his feet without taking much damage but Aurelio looks a lot more confident in this round. This was a fairly even round that will go to Aurelio due to the take down so it’s 19-19 going into the third and final round.
R3- Aurelio got a take down right off the bat in the final round. Aurelio got an Anaconda Choke submission attempt but Dunham was able to slip out. Dunham got a take down but did nothing with it as Aurelio quickly got back to his feet. The final minute of this fight sees Dunham trying to make this into a slugfest and Aurelio trying to take Dunham down. Really close round as they go toe to toe at the end of the round but I’ve got it for Aurelio due to the take down and submission attempt. So I’ve got Aurelio winning 29-28 in a very close fight.
Judges score cards say: 29-28 Aurelio, 29-28 Dunham, 30-27 Dunham
30-27? Really?
Winner: Evan Dunham by Decision (Split)
8/30/09
Rose Garden Arena
Portland, Or
Light Heavyweight Fight- Brandon Vera (10-3) vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (19-9-1)
Krzysztof has looked very good since leaving his season of TUF. He beat Andre Gusmao in the first round of his last fight at UFC 98 and before that he defeated Brian Stann at UFC 97. Vera handled Mike Patt at UFC 96 in his last fight but lost a close fight previous to that to Keith Jardine in which both guys looked awful and neither deserved to win. Vera has a slight height and reach advantage.
R1- Vera hit some counter strikes early that backed Krzysztof off early. Lots of clinching in the first round as both guys struggled to get position on the other guy. Krzysztof got stuffed at the end of the round and Vera landed a couple of elbows. Close round that I give to Vera 10-9.
R2- Krzysztof had a tough time in this round catching up to Vera. Vera once again did a good job of countering Krzysztof’s attacks. Krzysztof’s only real offense was clinching and leaning on Vera. Krzysztof got a take down at the one minute mark but could hold it or do anything with it. Neither guy really did anything to win this round but Vera hit more strikes. I’ve got Vera up 20-18.
R3- Krzysztof clinched Vera and Vera nearly got a kimura but couldn’t lock it in. Vera landed some good knees in the clinch and then took down Krzysztof and landed some shots before Krzysztof got back to his feet. Krzysztof got really tired at the end of the round. Vera is going to take this fight 30-27 in my book. Not an exciting fight but Vera continues to improve at Light Heavyweight. Krzysztof was just outmatched in this fight.
Judges score cards say: 30-27 on all three score cards. Post-fight Vera wore an Affliction T-shirt. It’s been a while since one of those has been in the Octagon.
Winner: Brandon Vera by Decision (Unanimous)
Rashad Evans is in attendance and he gets a round of boos from the crowd.
Middleweight Fight- Demian Maia (11-0) vs. Nate Marquardt (31-8-2)
This fight is for a shot at Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. Marquardt has been impressive lately in his fight at UFC 88 with Martin Kampmann and his victory over Wilson Gouveia. Maia is undefeated and has recently submitted Nate Quarry and Jason MacDonald. Both of these guys are easily Top 10 Middleweights in the World Rankings and borderline Top 5 guys right now. The winner of this fight is a Top 5 World Middleweight. Maia is a BJJ Black Belt who has been working on his striking with Wanderlei Silva and Marquardt is part of Greg Jackson’s training camp.
R1- Maia came in with a kick and Marquardt just blasted him with a big time right hand and Maia hit the mat like a ton of bricks. Maia was not out but the ref stopped the fight. I’m not crazy about the stoppage. Marquardt would have probably finished the fight but he didn’t jump right on Maia and I think that influenced the decision. Either way that was a great punch by Marquardt.
Looks like Marquardt has earned his re-match with Anderson Silva and honestly that match can happen ASAP as neither Marquardt nor Anderson Silva got hurt in the slightest in their fights.
Winner: Nate Marquardt by KO R1 0:21
Middleweight Fight- Chris Leben (18-5) vs. Jake Rosholt (5-1)
Chris Leben’s last fight was a loss to Michael Bisping at UFC 89. After that fight Leben served a suspension for failing a drug test. Rosholt got submitted quickly by Dan Miller in his last fight. This fight is in Leben’s hometown. Rosholt has a 2” height and 4” reach advantage.
R1- Not much action in the first couple of minutes. Rosholt jumped in and Leben got a take down that almost looked like Rosholt pulled guard. Leben gave up his position to try and get a good shot but he didn’t and both fighters got back to their feet. Rosholt got a take down with a minute left in the round and landed some strikes. Leben took some wild shots at the end of the round and landed some. Leben looked like he got hurt by some of those Rosholt strikes. I give the first round to Rosholt as he did more damage but it was close.
R2- Rosholt went for a kick but Leben countered with a left hand and it dropped Rosholt as he was caught in the air and Leben jumped on top. The ref stood the fight back up due to lack of action by Leben. Leben had a leg kick blocked but landed a good punch and then clinched Rosholt up against the cage. Rosholt broke free and landed a punch and got a take down. Leben looks really tired right now. Rosholt landed some good strikes towards the end of the round but let Leben up. I’ve got Leben taking this round although it was very close so it’s 19-19 going into the final round.
R3- Rosholt got an early take down in the first 30 seconds of the round. Rosholt got an arm triangle and it looked like Leben was going to tap but he ended up passing out in the submission. Good showing by Rosholt. Leben had a tough time with his conditioning in this fight.
Winner: Jake Rosholt by Submission (Arm Triangle) R3 1:30
Heavyweight Fight- Tim Hague (10-1) vs. Todd Duffee (5-0)
This is a pre-show fight. The Heavyweight Division in UFC is all of the sudden pretty stacked. The winner of this fight will move up the ladder.
R1- Todd Duffee almost immediately knocked Hague down and then just destroyed him on the mat for a very quick finish. He hit a big left hand right off that bat when Hague left his chin wide open.
7 seconds is officially the fastest knockout in UFC history and Duffee got it in his UFC debut.
Winner: Todd Duffee by TKO (Punches) R1 0:07
UFC 103 is advertised. Rich Franklin vs Vitor Belfort. Mirko Crop Cop vs Junior dos Santos and Martin Kampmann vs. Mike Swick. September 19th!
Light Heavyweight Fight- Keith Jardine (14-6-1) vs. Thiago Silva (13-1)
Both of these fighters are coming off losses to two of the top Light Heavyweight fighters in the world. Jardine lost to Rampage Jackson and Silva got mauled by Lyoto Machida. Both fighters are borderline Top 10 World Light Heavyweights. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the Co-Main Event of the evening.
R1- Jardine hit a body kick but Silva took him down to the mat about 30 seconds into the fight but Jardine got back to his feet without taking any damage. Jardine came in with a flurry but Silva stuck Jardine with a punch and he went down. Silva landed some big shots on Jardine while he was on the mat and the ref jumped in and stopped the fight. Good stoppage as Jardine went limp after Silva hit two shots on the ground.
Winner: Thiago Silva by TKO (Strikes) R1 1:35
Middleweight Fight- Ed Herman vs. Aaron Simpson
This is our second re-show fight. Mike Goldberg drops the interesting trivia that Aaron Simpson and his wife competed together on American Gladiators.
R1- Both guys throw leather early into the fight. Simpson shot in and got a take down. Herman quickly got back to his feet but Simpson slammed him back down. Herman is trying some weird type of soccer style bicycle kick while Simpson is standing hovering above him. Herman hit a couple of up kicks and backed Simpson off. Herman got to his feet and hit a knee but Simpson tossed him to the mat. Very entertaining fight so far. Simpson hit a good combo and then hit a punch that floored Herman. Simpson jumped on top but Herman did a good job of defending. Herman got up but Simpson took him back down and got some Ground and Pound. Good first round that Simpson took 10-9. Herman limps back to his corner as it looks like his knee is hurt.
R2- Herman came out and tried a kick but Simpson grabbed it and took him down and Herman hurt his leg again and the ref stopped the fight. Herman showed a lot of heart in this fight and Simpson looks like he’s going to be a good fighter in the Middleweight division.
Winner: Aaron Simpson by TKO (Ref Stoppage) R2 0:17
Heavyweight Fight- Antonio Minotauro Nogueira (31-5-1) vs. Randy Couture (16-9)
The UFC tells us that Nogueira’s average fight length is 12:18, he lands 75% of strikes thrown when standing up and he leads Pride & UFC in Submission Attempts. The fans have this fight pegged at 77% in favor of Couture. Rogan says Big Nog had a meniscus tear and a bad staph infection going into the Frank Mir fight where he was hospitalized five weeks before the fight. Couture, fighting in his home town, gets a huge reaction at introductions.
Brock Lesnar is at this show for the fight and he gets some boos when he is shown.
R1- Both guys throw some leather early and Big Nog tries to pull guard but Randy avoids it. Big Nog hurt Randy about 2 minutes into the fight and followed him to the ground. Big Nog locked in a choke and Randy somehow was able to get out of the move and get back to his fight. Both guys exchange some leather a couple of times and pop the crowd. Both guys just slug it out at about the one minute mark left in the round with both guys landing good shots. Really good first round that I’ve got Big Nog taking 10-9.
R2- Big Nog hit some good strikes early and tried to pull guard on a guillotine but Randy slipped out and took Big Nog’s guard. Randy controlled but Big Nog flipped him over and mounted Randy. Big Nog went for an arm triangle and punched Randy to try to get a better position with the submission but Randy got free. Randy got back to his feet with one minute left in the round. Both guys throw leather with Randy backing down first. Randy rocked Big Nog with a big left hand but Big Nog took it and stayed on his feet. Randy hit him with a follow-up left jab but Big Nog absorbed it. Another good round. I’ve got Big Nog up 20-18 after two rounds.
R3- Randy started out the round with a good combo. Big Nog came next with a combo of his own and then dropped Randy and got on top and hit some hammer punches with Randy fighting through and hanging on. Big Nog passed guard and took side control. Randy was able to flip Big Nog over. Goldberg says Lesnar is next to them shouting instructions at Couture. Randy lands some elbows from the top. Big Nog reversed Randy right at the end of the fight. Really good fight. I’ve got Big Nog taking all three rounds and redeeming himself after the Frank Mir fight.
Judges score cards say: 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 in favor of Big Nog.
Winner: Antonio Minotauro Nogueira by Decision (Unanimous)
Lightweight Fight- Evan Dunham vs. Marcus Aurelio
This is our third pre-show fight. Aurelio took this fight on short notice.
R1- Dunham got in a punch at the half way point of round one that knocked down Aurelio and Dunham followed him to the ground and got some good Ground and Pound but could not finish the fight. They went back to their feet and Dunham continued to win the round. Dunham took this round 10-9 and was really in control from the mid-point to the end of the round.
Dunham is an Xtreme Couture fighter and they show Shawn Thompkins giving him advice in the corner during the rest between rounds.
R2- Aurelio tries several times to get Dunham in the first minute and finally got him down after about a minute was gone from the round. Dunham was able to get back to his feet without taking much damage but Aurelio looks a lot more confident in this round. This was a fairly even round that will go to Aurelio due to the take down so it’s 19-19 going into the third and final round.
R3- Aurelio got a take down right off the bat in the final round. Aurelio got an Anaconda Choke submission attempt but Dunham was able to slip out. Dunham got a take down but did nothing with it as Aurelio quickly got back to his feet. The final minute of this fight sees Dunham trying to make this into a slugfest and Aurelio trying to take Dunham down. Really close round as they go toe to toe at the end of the round but I’ve got it for Aurelio due to the take down and submission attempt. So I’ve got Aurelio winning 29-28 in a very close fight.
Judges score cards say: 29-28 Aurelio, 29-28 Dunham, 30-27 Dunham
30-27? Really?
Winner: Evan Dunham by Decision (Split)
Saturday, August 15, 2009
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
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
Monday, August 10, 2009
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
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
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