Houston “The Assassin” Alexander Vs. Alessio Sakara
Round one starts and both fighters come out swinging some major leather. Alexander lands a vicious knee that snaps back his opponents head but he catches another knee and takes Alexander to the mat. “The Assassin” works to his feet and drops Sakara with another knee. He pounds away from the top until referee Yves Lavigne stops the bout at 1:01 of the first.

Houston Alexander wins in the first round by Ref Stoppage.

Marcus Davis Vs. Paul Taylor
Davis has really improved with each fight since his appearance on The Ultimate Fighter. With a couple submission wins under his belt and De La Gratti in his corner, it would behoove him to take this fight to the ground.

The first round starts and both come out striking but Taylor is mixing in the kicks. Marcus shoots for a clinch and a single but is unsuccessful. Taylor lands a couple body kicks but Davis answers with a right hook. Taylor gets a MASSIVE head kick in and drops Davis to the canvas. He immediately dives in and tries to finish off Davis but Marcus has recollected his wits and reels Paul in, controlling his posture to stop the full extension on the hits. Taylor stands up briefly with Marcus against the cage and lands a couple hooks in for good measure. Davis rolls to a single takedown and both struggle for a bit. Taylor delivers some upkicks but Davis shrugs them off and tries for mount. Taylor shunts him to side guard and Davis starts raining down huge hooks and elbows and gets the mount he has been trying to get. Davis moves it to a high mount and Taylor immediately bucks him but Davis establishes shoulder control and then sinks an armbar forcing Taylor to tap.

Davis wins in the first round (4:13) by arm bar submission

Mirko Cro Cop Vs. Cheick Kongo
Mirko enters to Duran Duran and looks very assured of himself. Kongo is absolutely ripped and looking quite scary.

Round one starts and Mirko comes out southpaw. Kongo uses the leg kicks but Cro cop is throwing the left overhand.Cro Cop finally lands three kicks repeatedly to the body. Kongo tries a head kick but slips and Cro Cop jumps in for a clinch. Kongo reverses positions to press his opponent against the cage. Cro Cop looks tiny compared to Kongo. Kongo throws some knees to the leg but the ref breaks it up from inactivity. Cro Cop throws a head kick effortlessly, it misses but its so smooth you don’t even notice. Kongo throws a kick but Cro cop catches and throws his opponent down landing in half guard. Cro cop eventually pops his leg out and mounts but Kongo is holding onto the head to control posture. Kongo uses the cage to push off and reverses the position to land on top. Cro Cop goes for an armbar but can’t get it and the round ends.

Round two starts and Kongo lands a hard body kick, repeating two more times. Cro Cop finally answers twice with some of his own kicks and Kongo clinches up. Kongo uses a single to take Cro Cop down and quickly moves to side control. Cro Cop exploes out and gets half guard back but Kongo makes him pay with a nasty elbow to the face. Cro Cop tries for a brief armbar but Kongo powers out. Cro Cop uses the feet on the hips to keep Kongo off. Kongo stands up and delivers an axe kick to the body and then jumps back in guard. Cro Cop power lifts him off with his leg and jumps back up to his legs. Kongo immediately clinches and tries a body lock throw after throwing some short knees. Ref breaks em up and Kongo establishes clinch again and delivers some big knees to the body. Cro Cop is starting to look frustrated as Kongo looks dominant.

Round three begins and Cro Cop must win the round or finish his opponent to get the win. Cro Cop immediately whiffs on a left leg head kick. Kongo answers with a massive right to the head but then immediately bonks Cro Cop in the no-no’s twice before the ref can peel him off. Cro Cop looks tentative and Kongo is landing some nasty body kicks at will. Kongo gets the clinch and stalls the fight. Cro Cop finally lands a body kick off a break-up by the ref.  He then uses an axe kick but Kongo ties his opponent up against the cage. Ref breaks up the clinch yet again. Kongo continues to pick apart the PRIDE veteran with knees and kicks. Kongo then stalls the match with another clinch as the round winds down. The horn sounds and Kongo looks victorious as he appears to have pulled off the upset.

Kongo wins by unanimous decision (29-28)

Matt Hamill Vs. Michael Bisping
These guys really don’t like each other. Bisping is the crowd favorite but if Matt can get him down to the canvas then the whole fight dynamics change. Matt comes out to Bruce Springsteen “Born in the USA” which elicits a lot of boos from the crowd, very ironic since Matt Hammill is totally deaf. Bisping comes out the “London Calling” and appears totally relaxed as the crowd goes wild for “The Count”.

Round one begins with Matt actually landing some bombs. Bisping lands a knee and Hammill answers with a flying knee. Matt finally catches a leg kick and takes Bisping to the ground but allows his opponent to stand back up.  Matt starts to flail with some big overhands and Bisping matches with some clean straight punches. Bisping starts to work the front leg of Hammill. Matt grabs a single and slings Bisping down but allows him to get up again. Matt uses a head lock to land some punishing uppercuts that leaves Bisping bleeding. Matt lands an overhand right that wobbles Bisping and continues to work the headlock, uppercut combo. Both come back to the ring and surprisingly, Matt is winning all the mini-exchanges. Bisping opens up finally finds his range, tagging Matt with lefts and rights. Matt Hammill advances with some HUGE overhand hits and is throwing Bisping around at will. The bell rings and the ref has to jump in because Matt can’t hear it.

Round two starts and both prove each other. Matt seems to turtle when the strikes from Bisping comes. Matt catches a kick and lands in guard. Bisping tries rubber guard but gives up on it. Matt passes to half guard and Bisping gives him his back and then stands up. Matt mysteriously lets his opponent back up. Both continue to probe. Matt pushes Bisping against the cage and then lands a hook as he pushes off. Bisping isn’t looking as confident and Matt shoots in for the takedown and then allows his opponent to get up and gets the headlock / hook position. Bisping is on his bike and not engaging except for some sporadic jabs. The round ends with Matt carrying the round with takedowns and better striking, which is surprising.

The beginning of round three has Bisping down two rounds, according to our scorecard. Bisping finally lands a very effective jab, hook combo. Bisping avoids the takedown attempt and keeps the distance open. Bisping is starting to feel it and landing punches at will. Matt appears tired and can’t get the takedowns like in the first and second round. Matt finally gets a takedown and pins Bisping’s hand behind his back. He gives up side mount and lands in guard. Bisping uses the cage to get back up. Bisping throws a knee and immediately gets a takedown. Matt lays in the guard without much activity. Bisping puts his feet on Matt’s hips and tries to push him off. Bisping rolls and ends up almost getting mounted. Bisping finally gets up and they both throw some nasty punches. Bisping finally lands a kick but when he goes to the well for a second time, Matt just throws him. the bell rings and Mazagati jumps in between to show Matt that the round is over.

Michael Bisping wins by split decision (I don’t agree with it)

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson Vs. Dan Henderson

Round one starts and Quinton comes out swinging. Dan clinches but Quinton pushes him against the cage. Dan reverses and lands some nasty knees to the thigh in a thai manner and even throws an elbow. Quinton throws some leather on the disengage. Dan just walks through the punches and steps behind Quinton and sweeps him to side guard.  Dan continues to work Quinton with the knees and works to establish dominandce.  Dan gets a crucifix but Quinton uses the fence to walk up it with his feet and roll over Dan eventually getting back up. Dan continues to work that knee to the thigh in the clinch. They break from the clinch and start throwing some hooks and uppercuts that stagger both of them.

Both are more measured as they start round two. Quinton gets a nice hook to the body off a missed overhand by Dan. Dan finally gets the greco body lock and takes Quinton down landing in cross body position. Both trade mini shots as Dan holds Quinton down. The action stalls as neither seeks to improve position. Dan works his way towards the top of Quinton’s body and Jackson lunges up and twists back to his feet. Quinton finally gets on top after a failed body lock takedown by Dan. Rampage is in side mount in a crucifix position. Dan works his way back to half guard as Quinton works the body with elbows. The round ends with Quinton in the dominant position.

Quinton probes with the jab as round three starts. Both exchange as Quinton gets the better of the shots. Dan’s mouth is open as he strikes and Quinton gets the takedown, landing in side control. Dan tries for Kimura but can’t pull it out. It does land him in half guard though as he continues to try and isolate that left limb. Dan gets the Kimura finally and forces Quinton to roll landing in half guard. Dan gives up the Kimura but is definitely in the dominant position now. Quinton tries to use the cage to stand up and gets mounted. Dan takes Jackson’s back but Quinton escapes and they both trade as Quinton throws knees and Dan throws uppercuts. They all barely miss but both champions are still throwing hard.

Round four starts and the champion rounds ensue. Quinton lands a right uppercut that rocks Dan and sends him to the canvas. Quinton jumps into the guard and Dan throws an arm bar attempt that fails. Dan goes for the arm bar again and Quinton uses the opportunity to pass. Dan goes for the kimura but doesn’t have the energy to finish the move like he did earlier in the match. Quinton is maintaining top position as Dan works underneath for the single attempt. The ref eventually stands up the action and they both are exhausted. Dan tries to throw a spinning side kick that doesn’t come anywhere near his opponent. Quinton steps in and delivers a 1-2-3 combo. Both stare at each other as the round ends.

The final round starts with both circling and Dan showing more gumption. Quinton tags Dan but Henderson gets the clinch. Both are stalling out and tired. Both separate and start throwing bombs. Quinton is getting the better of the stand up as he lands lefts and rights at will. Dan finally gets a right overhand forcing Quinton to clinch but Dan uses a body lock takedown. Dan is sitting in guard and Quinton eventually gets back up, taking Dan down when he tries for a double. Both get up and Rampage lets his hands go with Dan almost collapsing from exhaustion.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson wins by unanimous decision

Brian Stann and Billington should never have fought. Chuck and Stevenson bothered to show up at the show as well as Kendall Grove who cornered Stann.

Jeff Bedard vs. Miguel Torres (Bantamweight)
Round one starts and Torres immediately closes with a punch but Bedard slips under and takes him down, keeping Torres on his back. Torres utilizes a high guard and even throws on a right shoulder lock in preparation for an armbar. Bedard relaxes into the guard for a split second and Torres siezes the opportunity to tuck in the foot and lock in the triangle, eventually forcing Bedard to tap and ruin his undefeated record.

Miguel Torres wins in the first round by Triangle

Jesse Forbes vs. Bryan Baker (middleweight)
Jesse opens the first round in a southpaw stance and delivers a stiff left knocking Baker down. Baker immediately bounces back up and answers the punch with a flurry of punches. Both stand in the corner throwing leather. Forbes gets stung and shoots in for the double and gets the slam putting him in half guard. Forbes goes for a guillotin but Baker ends up putting his arms through his legs, picking him up, rotating him in the air until he was vertical, and then slamming him in one smooth motion. Baker then rains down GNP but Forbes reverses with a single and ends up getting Baker’s back. Baker uses wrist control (2 on 1) to prevent the RNC and to pull Forbes off his back. Forbes can’t control Baker’s posture and Bryan makes him pay for it. Baker eventually moves to side guard and gets a crucifix, forcing Forbes to give up his back and then Baker finishes out the match throwing haymakers to the ears of Forbes and the ref steps in to stop the bout.

Bryan Baker wins by ref stoppage in the first round

Jeremiah Billington vs. Brian Stann (Light Heavyweight)
Billington just looks outclassed in this match with his short frame and his lower weight (195 vs. 205). Round one starts with Stann coming out and clinching. Stann throws knees early and Billington answers with a nice uppercut that lands flush. Stann doesn’t even flinch and gets 2 good hooks in response to the uppercut and Billington tries for an unsuccessful single. Stann lands some nasty knees and uppercuts in the dirty clinch and both go to ground. Stann then stands over Billington, landing punch after punch and forcing the ref to step in and stop the bout.

Brian Stann wins in the first round due to ref stoppage (strikes)

Ranni Yahya vs. Chase Beebe (Bantamweight belt)
Round one was the most exciting round of the fight. Ranni came out with a mission. He took down Chase immediately and rolled straight into a knee bar that made Chase grimace with pain. Chase weathered through it and eventually slipped out. Ranni then executed a single and ended up on top trying for a guillotine but abandons it for side control. He then goes north-south and tries for a choke but Chase is still too strong. Chase gets up and Ranni jumps guard. Chase then gets Ranni’s back but can’t capitalize. Chase rolls to mount but Ranni wiggles back to guard. He then tries a high guard and armbar but isn’t successful. Ranni goes for an Oma plata that turns into a sweep. Ranni then get’s north-south again and executes a tight Darce choke. The bell rings saving Chase.

Rounds two through five are pretty much the same. Chase stays in dominant position with Ranni constantly struggling to get a submission or off his back. Chase keeps smothering and landing smattering of hits and eventually gets Ranni’s back in the fifth round where he rains in hooks to Ranni’s nose. The match ends with Chase on Ranni’s back.

Chase Beebe wins by decision and retains his belt

Rob McCullough vs. Rich Crunkilton
Round one was extremely short. Rich comes out with a kick but McCullough catches it and throws a right counter. They then flurry in the middle with McCullough beating Rich to the punches. Rob then drops Rich with a straight right. Crunkilton gets back up and rob drops him again and again. After the third time, Herb Dean is forced to step in and stop the match.

Rob McCullough wins by TKO (strikes) in the first round

Carlos Condit was looking to impress in his first title defense Sunday night, and he delivered with an impressive arm bar to submit Brock Larson at 2:21 of the first round.

With the World Extreme Cagefighting® welterweight belt on the line, the two 170-pounders came into the bout amidst contrasting styles, with Larson a powerhouse wrestler hoping to grind out a win over the dynamic champion. But “The Natural Born Killer” has a penchant for slam-bang submissions – often executed off the briefest of openings – and that proved the difference.

“I’ve been doing jiu-jitsu since I was 15 years old. I love arm bars and don’t get to use them a lot. I have about fifty percent of my wins by submission. I knew that I’m a lot stronger coming into this fight than I have been in the past,” said Condit, 23. “In the UFC, the welterweight division is stacked. We won’t get as much exposure because there’s so many of us. I’ve definitely thought about a unification bout. MMA fans debate who’s the best. Now we’ve got the opportunity because everybody’s under Zuffa. We can find out who’s on top.”

After a feeling-out process in the first 30 seconds, where neither man attempted an opening move, Larson shot in for a lower-leg takedown attempt, quickly closing the distance to bring the fight to the mat. But Condit sprawled perfectly, stuffing it, only to be taken down moments later as Larson took him down from a body lock.

However, with Larson’s imposing ability to wear opponents down with pressure and submissions, Condit stayed cool as he was pushed up against the fence, keeping tight with Larson and recovering guard as Larson initially threatened from side control. After eating a couple of short left hands, Condit quickly rotated on his back, swung his left leg across Larson’s face and cranked on the right arm. Larson, caught in the tight submission, couldn’t escape and resisted the submission for several seconds until tapping. 

In the semi-main, Paulo Filho stayed unbeaten in 15 bouts with a first-round stoppage of Joe Doerksen to win the vacant WEC™ 185-lb. title. After stuffing a couple of Filho’s takedown attempts, Doerksen was on his back as Filho kept pressuring to take him down.  Doerksen recovered and escaped back to his feet only to absorb a big flurry by Filho. Stunned, Doerksen absorbed the first string of blows but Filho simply kept firing away en route to a knockout win at 4:07 of the round.

Now holding the WEC belt, Filho felt happy with his performance after years of battling opponents in Japan.

“I wanted to win my fight and put on a performance for the American fans,” he said through an interpreter afterward. “I feel my game is better suited for the cage than a ring.”

Asked if he would consider taking on fellow Chute Boxe teammate Anderson Silva – currently the UFC middleweight champ – Filho said he would if the opportunity presented itself.

“A fight’s a fight,” he said. “If we fight, we can go out afterwards and have a pizza.”

In a hard-fought featherweight battle, Jeff Curran took a close decision of Stephen Ledbetter, winning the third round on all three judges’ cards to take the duke 30-27 and 29-28 (twice). Ledbetter absorbed a huge right hand in the first round but quickly secured a takedown, holding Curran down but being unable to improve position or land too many effective shots.

In the second, Curran began to up the tempo with some quick kicks from standup, only to have Ledbetter respond with takedowns. However, the veteran Curran showed a wily guard and with 25 seconds left in the round, sunk in a triangle choke that had Ledbetter in some trouble. In the final five minutes, Curran controlled Ledbetter with another triangle from the top position, more of a positional advantage than a likely submission, but used to land punches and win the round, and the fight.

With the victory, Curran positions himself for a potential title shot against featherweight champion Urijah Faber down the road.

“I’d be honored to fight Faber. He’s a stud,” said Curran.

In the opening fight of the televised portion of the card, Jamie Varner won by knockout at 4:08 of the first over Sherron Leggett. Using impressive slam takedowns and a high-pressure attack, Varner never let Leggett get untracked, though Leggett showed considerable gameness in fighting through increasingly rough circumstances. Varner used a series of big punches to get the stoppage.

Results from the non-televised undercard

Hiromitsu Miura KO 2 Fernando Gonzalez

In a rousing middleweight scrap, Miura and Gonzalez traded blows and takedowns in a fast-paced tilt. Miura showed superior ground skills in consistently being able to get the better position, eventually finishing with strikes from the mount.

Antonio Banuelos unanimous decision Justin Robbins

In a tactical bout, Banuelos held top position for most of the fight and controlled Robbins en route to a clear-cut decision. Judges’ scores were 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26.

Eric Schambari unanimous decision Logan Clark

In a battle of unbeatens, Schambari ground out a tough victory over Clark by scores of 29-28 on all the judges’ cards. Schambari was often kept on the defensive even in top position by Clark, who used an active guard, trying to set up submissions and striking from the bottom. However, Schambari closed effectively down the stretch, riding out the mount position for the final three minutes of the fight to win the bout.

Steve Cantwell KO 1 Justin McElfresh

Cantwell scored a rousing win, using a fast left hook in the opening round to stun McElfresh, then opening him up with another one for a finishing flurry as his opponent fell down against the cage. The stoppage came 47 seconds into the match in a light-heavyweight fight.

Blas Avena submission 1 Tiki Ghosn

Avena scored an impressive win in the opening round with a rear-naked choke over veteran Ghosn. Scoring a strong takedown off the clinch, Avena quickly transitioned to mount position, sinking the choke for the finisher.

Antonio Rodrigo “Minatauro” Noguiera vs. Heath “Crazy Horse” Herring
Minatauro vs. Crazy Horse was a promising fight where two ex-PRIDE athletes were pitted against each otehr. Both are upper echelon fighters and proved it in this match.

Round one was controlled by Noguiera. He managed a takedown from the very beginning that made Heath tentative the rest of the fight. Big Nog also landed a nice kick that tripped Heath Herring up but failed to capitalize on the mistake. Heath managed to get a nice head kick in right on the button that felled the PRIDE veteran Noguiera but he jumped straight into guard, giving Nog time to recover.

Round two started inexplicably. Big Nog was still visibly woozy but Heath refused to rush in and finish the bout. He stood around and waited for Nog to regain his composure. Once Nog regained his composure, Heath didn’t have a chance. Nog repeatedly took the bigger guy down, gets mount, and then back. The round finishes with Big Nog getting a body lock takedown.

Round two is much of the same. Heath is running away and Noguiera is picking apart Heath’s face. Nog gets Heath’s back and tries for a “jaw breaker” (this is where you use the forearm bone on the jaw instead of under the chin), but he is unsuccessful and Heath is able to spin into guard. The round ends with Noguiera taking whatever he wants because Heath is spent.

Noguiera wins unanimous 29-28 decision

Sean “Muscle Shark” Sherk vs. Hermes Franca
Sean came into this match off a 9 month layoff from a shoulder injury sustained when he beat Kenny Florian for the title belt. Sean is visibly leaner from his layoff, especially in the chest area, but you can tell that he worked on his core while he couldn’t do anything with his shoulder. The match was long with Sean showcasing his strength but also his lack of finishing capabilities. Some would call it boring, but the spectacle of Sean’s strength and his phenomenal wrestling made it worth watching, albeit not five rounds worth.

The whole match can be summed up very shortly. Sean shoots in, gets a single, double, body lock, and either spins Hermes down to the ground or slams him down. Sean then passes guard and either sits in side control, mount, or dominant side back position trying to punch his opponent out. Hermes turtles for much of the match in a fetal position and not much damage is done. Repeat that for five rounds, punctuated by bad sprawls from Hermes resulting in lifts and slams by Sean and you have a very workmanlike defense of a title belt.

Sean Sherk wins by unanimous decision and retains his title belt

Tito “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans
Tito is surprisingly bigger than Rashad Evans. He is a natural 220 and Rashad is a natural 205. Tito is 6’2” and Rashad is only 5’11”.  Both absolutely hate each other and have been jawing since the match was announced.

Round one starts with an immediate bum rush by Tito that take Rashad all the way to the cage and down in Tito’s favorite position. Rashad tries to use the butterfly guard to move tito off his mid-section to no avail as Tito pins him against the chain link. The rest of the round goes the same way. Rashad is either stuck against the cage or tentative and waiting for the shoot in the middle of the octagon. Tito is visibly cheating and grabbing at Rashad’s shorts when they are struggling against the cage and Rashad is trying to circle out. By the end of the round, Rashad has got a handle on Tito’s one trick pony and is pretty much stuffing most of the takedowns.

Round two has Rashad a little more confident. He tries to shoot a couple times but gets stuffed because he isn’t setting up the change of levels with anything else. He does get Tito against the cage a couple times but Tito keeps visibly grabbing the cage to stop the takedowns. After one warning, the Big John docks Tito a point. At the end of the round, Tito gets a tight guillotine off a shoot attempt and Rashad is saved by the bell.

Round three shows Rashad with a lot more confidence. Rashad is stuffing all of Tito’s takedown attempts but he is still not confident with his stand-up game and waiting for Tito to initiate. Towards the end of the round Rashad gets a nice pick-up and slam and applies the GNP that has Tito in trouble. The bell rings and the match is over.

Match ends in a Draw. Tito won first. Rashad won third. 9-9 draw in second.

Anderson “The Spider” Silva vs. Nate Marquardt
This was predicted to be the mismatch of the night.  Nate is a very good fighter but Anderson is better at every area that Nate is good in and ended up being a bad matchup for Nate.

Round one started with Nate coming out very nervous. He was pawing Anderson’s guard constantly. Anderson initiated the action and Nate drops down into a single leg strangle. They both fall down and Anderson is very calm. He gets a lockdown in the half guard and Nat stands up and tries to stuff “The Spider” but can’t seem to do it effectively. Anderson’s long limbs are paying dividends as he uses his feet to stave off Marquardt. The referee eventually stands them back up and Anderson gets a nice straight left. Nate doesn’t want anything to do with the stand up game and goes for another single. Silva reverses and starts raining down beautiful right hands against the side of Nate’s head that puts him out for the count. You could tell the power in the hit as Anderson really stroked it with full extensions.

Anderson Silva wins by KO in the first round

The night had some highlights. It was good to see Minatauro in the Octagon and Anderson is still a force to behold. They are already talking about Evans vs. Ortiz 2 and the post-fight conference was definitely lively as their rivalry was not resolved in the ring. Maybe we can all contribute to the Sean Sherk Jiu-Jitsu fund because he already is a world class wrestler and stand-up fighter. 

Sam Spengler VS. Seth Kleinbeck

Round 1:

Both fighters engage in a clinch with Spengler trying for a takedown. Both fighters exchange shots. Spengler lands a nice punch, but Kleinback answers with a combo. The fighters end up in the north-south position. The round ends with Kleinbeck punching away at Spengler.

Round 2:

The secound round starts and Kleinbeck comes out and lands two kicks, one to the leg, and one to the head. Spengler charges in for the clinch. Kleinbeck accidentally lands a knee to the groin and referee Herb Dean steps in and calls time out. The fight restarts after Spengler is given enough time to recover. Spengler lands a leg kick, but Kleinbeck answers with a stiff shot. Kleinbeck shoots in and takes Spengler down. Kleinbeck begins to nail Spengler with a series of hard shots, and Spengler has no answer. Herb Dean steps in and stops the fight at 2:55.

Winner by TKO Seth Kleinbeck

Chris Cariaso VS. Anthony Figueroa

Round 1:

Cariaso comes out throwing a series of punches and sends Figueroa backing up. Cariaso shoots in and scores the take down, and begins to work from the top. Figueroa manages to scramble back to his feet. The two clinch and exchange knees back and forth. Cariaso scores another takedown, but is unable to do any significant damage before round 1 comes to an end.

Round 2:

Both fighters come out and exchange punches with Figueroa taking the upper hand. Cariaso lands a clean right, and the two exchange again with Figueroa again gaining the upper hand after landing a hard left shot. Figueroa unloads on Cariaso with a series of punches and a kick to end the second round.

Round 3:

Cariaso comes out and nails Figueroa with a lead right. Figueroa charges Cariaso throwing a series of wild punches. Cariaso goes in for the clinch, but is unable to take Figueroa down to the mat. The fight ends with Cariaso landing the cleaner shots for the duration of the third round.

Winner by decision Chris Cariaso

Rex Richards VS. Seraille

Round 1:

Richards comes charging in with a series of punches. The two clinch until referee Steve Mazagatti restarts the fight in the middle. Richards throws another series of punches landing them at will until Seraille falls to the mat and covers up. Mazagatti steps in and calls the fight at just 34 sec in the first round.

Winner by TKO Rex Richards

Jason Von Flue VS. Luke Stewart

Round 1:

Stewart comes out throwing a series of kicks. Von Flue catches a kick and throws a counter punch that misses. Stewart lands an unintentional kick to the groin. Referee steps in and calls for time out allowing Von Flue time to recover. The fight begins again and Stewart shoots in. Von Flue locks in the guillotine, but is unable to secure it tight enough for a choke. Stewart gets back to his feet and scores another takedown on Von Flue. Von Flue gets back up, but is taken down yet again by Stewart who now gains side control. Stewart gets the mount, but Von Flue is able to defend until the end of the round.

Round 2:

Both fighters come out and exchange a flurry of punches. Von Flue is again hit in the groin and time out is called. They begin to trade shots, but niether one of them is doing any significant damage to the other. Stewart gets the takedown again, but Von Flue is able to get back up. Stewart again lands the takedown, but Von Flue defends well against his shots. Stewart gets Von Flue’s back, but is unable to secure the choke before the end of round 2.

Round 3:

Von Flue is now bleeding from the left eye, and Stewart manages to get his back while standing. He sinks in both hooks, but before he can lock in a choke Von Flue turns into him. Stewart unloads with a series of punches from the mount position until referee Herb Dean steps in and calls it at 2:17 of round 3.

Winner by TKO Luke Stewart

Paul Buentello VS. Carter Williams

Round 1:

Buentello comes out throwing wildly and is nailed by Williams. Williams scores the takedown and hits Buentello with two right hands. Buentello gets back to his feet, and the two lock up in the clinch throwing knees up against the fence. Referee Steve Mazaagatti restarts the fight in the middle of the cage. Williams shoots in again, but Buentello is able to sprawl. The two lock up, and Buentello uses some dirty boxing to get in a few shots. Again the ref restarts the fight in the center. Buentello lands a few more knees, and attempts the guillotine but can’t secure it. The two exchange some wild shots and the round ends.

Round 2:

Bunetello nails Williams with a stiff jab followed by three uppercuts, the last which nails Williams directly in his eye. Williams is out followed by the last uppercut to the eye.

Winner by KO Paul Buentello

EliteXC Middleweight Championship Fight: Joey Villasenor VS. Murilo “Ninja” Rua

Round 1:

Villasenor comes out throwing stiff jabs and landing a few. He throws a hard left hook that actually rocks Rua. “Ninja” lands a takedown, but Villasenor manages to reverse it and gains side control on Rua. Villasenor hits Rua with a knee to the body followed by some punches. Rua reaches out for a leg, but Villasenor manages to escape and get back to his feet. “Ninja” lands a hard kick to the body and scores another takedown. Rua gains side control, but Villasenor manages to work back up to his feet. Rua lands a hard right hand and takes Villasenor down yet again. Rua attempts the kimura, but the round ends before he can lock it in.

Round 2:

“Ninja" comes out and lands a hard knee to Villasenor’s midsection. Rua lights up Villasenor with a series of punches. Villasenor throws a punch of his own, but “Ninja” sends him down to the mat with a counter. Rua lands a few more punches on his downed opponent. The referee steps in and stops the fight.

Winner by TKO, and NEW EliteXC Middleweight Champion Murilo “Ninja” Rua

Main Event: Strikeforce Middleweight Championship Fight: Frank Shamrock VS. Phil “The NY Bad Ass” Baroni

Round 1:

Opens up with Baroni charging straight for Shamrock. Baroni unleashes a barrage of punches, and actually takes Frank down to the mat. Baroni stands back up, and both fighters exchange some hard punches. Shamrock taunts Baroni by telling him he’s going to put him to sleep. Shamrock lands a vicious right hand that drops Baroni to the mat, and Frank pounces on him trying to secure a choke. Baroni is visibly hurt. Shamrock lands a blow to the back of Baroni’s head, and referee Steve Mazzagatti calls for a time out, and deducts a point from Shamrock. After Baroni gives the OK to continue the fight, the two meet in the center of the cage. Baroni shoots in and works Shamrock’s guard, but Frank just continues to land shot after shot. Both fighters end up back on their feet, and again Frank rocks Baroni with a brutal knee strike. Baroni goes down and grabs onto Shamrock’s leg. Frank works the body with a series of shots that leave Baroni’s side bright red. After a quick scramble, both fighters get back to their feet once again. Shamrock picks apart Baroni in the stand up, and taunts him before landing a series of jabs and knee strikes. Baroni is out on his feet by this time. With 17 sec remaining Baroni lands another take down, but does nothing offensively. Frank taunts Baroni more as the round comes to an end with a 9-8 score (would have been 10, but Shamrock lost a point).

The crowd is on their feet as the fighters head back to their corners to get cleaned up. Frank flashing the “V for victory” sign to a photographer before the round begins.

Round 2:

Baroni seems to have recovered nicely from the beating during the first round. Phil lands a clean overhand right and follows it up with a series of body shots. Both fighters size each other up before engaging in a brief series of exchanges. Shamrock lands a right, followed immediately by a left and a knee to the body on Baroni. Shamrock seems a bit gassed at this point as Baroni lands several unanswered shots. Baroni rocks Shamrock with a right, but Shamrock quickly recovers with a series of jabs that send Baroni back. At this point Baroni seems completely gassed. Frank lands a left to the head, followed by a knee that sends Baroni into a desperate takedown attempt. Shamrock sprawls, looks for a guillotine, but spins around and takes Baroni’s back. Shamrock sinks in the hooks, and works for the choke. Baroni tries desperately to fight it off, but Shamrock locks it in and chokes Baroni out cold with 44 sec remaining in the second round to win the Strikeforce Middleweight Title.

Winner via rear naked choke, and NEW Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Frank Shamrock

They promised only three fights on TV but since no fight went over two rounds, we got to see seven. Whether this was poor matchmaking is pointless because each fight was entertaining unto itself.

Doug Evans vs. Roger Huerta
The night started with the poster boy of the Latino community and UFC fighter Roger Huerta vs. Doug Evan. Doug is a top-flight wrestler and no push-over himself.

Round one starts with Doug getting the first lick in. Roger manages to grab a kick and throws Doug down but Doug spins out and grabs a body lock from behind Roger. They get back up to their feet after a brief spat on the ground and Doug starts to dominate Roger on the feet in a suprising manner. Roger is looking over-classed and we are all wondering if he has been nothing but hype. Roger uses a head kick and push kick to try and shoot but Doug will have nothing of it. He does pick up Doug but is blocked from a decent slam by a possible guillotine. The round ends with Doug chasing Roger around the cage with some nice strike combos.

Round two starts with Roger finally asserting himself. He has woken up and realized that the UFC is not going to keep feeding him guppies. Roger advances with Doug retreating around the cage for a bit. Doug does get a nice leg kick in but Roger counters nicely with a body kick. Roger then opens up with some nice kick combos that Doug cannot answer. Doug finally advances and gets a single leg trip off one of the exchanges but Roger spins out and tries to get up but Doug takes him back down. After some posturing and maneuvering on the ground, Doug finally over-extends on a triangle and Roger passes to get his back. After Doug wriggles around a bit, Roger flattens him out and starts to apply some major GNP. Eventually the ref is forced to step in and call the fighter due to inactivity.

Roger Huerta wins in the second round by Ref Stoppage

Thales Leites vs. Floyd Sword
Floyd is from Pete Jackson’s camp, which is the same camp that Keith Jardine and Diego Sanchez train in, and this is his first fight in the UFC. You can’t ask for a harder opponent than Thales so you can’t help but feel sorry for him a little bit.

Thales opens up the first round with some nice spin combos that include a spinning back kick which doesn’t land. Sword immediately jumps in and lands a nice combo. Thales tries a knee to the head but Sword grabs it and pushes him against the cage. Thales then reverses position and gets a nice hip throw in and lands perfectly on top. Sword eventually gets up and to his feet and utilizes some nice takedown defense to keep Thales off him. Thales eventually over-balances Sword yet again and gets the delivers the same hip throw we saw earlier.

Floyd is looking way over-matched at this point and it doesn’t get much better. Thales continues to dominate and eventually stacks Sword. He then uses his hands to cover Swords face and distract him so that he could pass and take his back. Thales gets one hook in and purposefully leaves his guard open so that Sword spins and lands in an arm triangle, forcing him to tap out.

Thales wins in the first round due to arm triangle submission.

Gray Maynard vs. Rob Emerson
Rob has changed camps since we last saw him on the show. He used to train with Marc Laimon’s Cobra-Kai and now he trains with X-treme Couture. Gray is looking as strong as ever and is a worthy adversary having made it to the semi-finals in the house.

Round one starts and both come out swingin with Gray landing some nice shots. Emerson gets the takedown on Gray and rolls him trying for an armbar but misses and ends up on his back. Rob then gets back to his feet after a long tim on the bottom. Gray tries for a guillotine and then goes for a suplex which lands him in side mount. Gray persists with some nice GNP that includes some short elbows. rob tries for another armbar but Gray fasses to north-south to block and then side mount on the opposite side. Gray then gets full mount but Rob slips back to half guard. Emerson counters with a heel hook and misses. Gray delivers a dropping body shot right on Rob’s ribs and hurts him bad. Gray comes down in side control and they scramble until the bell. Rob gets up holding his arm at his side.

Gray tags Rob to start round two with a left and then a right hook. Gray then picks up Rob and slams him down hard but catches his own head on the mat. Rob screams in agony and immediately taps clutching his ribs. Gray appears knocked out himself as the officials rush in to aid Rob. The NSAC eventually rules it a no-contest because both fighters were knocked out simultaneously, much to Gray’s chagrine and protest.

No-contest declared due to simultaneous KO

Joe Lauzon vs. Brandon Melendez
Brandon could not make weight for the match and was off by a pound. This is considered the ultimate disgrace in fighting circles but Joe just wants to fight. Brandon is docked 10% of his purse with 5% going to Joe.

Round one begins with Brandon getting a nice hand combo in on Joe. Joe shoots in and gets a single, throws Brandon down, and goes for North-South positioning. Joe then proceeds to lay some massive GNP but eventually ends back in the guard. Joe stacks Brandon, picks him up by one arm, and then slams him down hard. Joe mounts Brandon and forces him to roll and give up his back. They scramble with Joe eventually keeping the back after a position change. Brandon scoots back and forces Joe against the cage event though Joe is on his back. They eventually get back up and Brandon tries to throw a sloppy body kick but Joe catches it and they both go to ground with Joe ending up in the back position yet again. It appears that Brandon is purposefully giving up his back. He unhooks Joe’s feet and spins out of the position. Joe goes for a heel hook and gets it in deep but Brandon just waits the round out.

Round two starts with Joe working the angles and Brandon cutting him off. Brandon throws a trash haymaker but Joe times it, ducks, and shoots in to get a double take down. Joe again passes and gets mount. Brandon rolls and gives up his back. Joe then allows him to spin and sets the triangle as Brandon spins forcing him to tap out.

Joe wins in the second round due to triangle choke.

Manny Gamburyan vs. Nate Diaz
The interviews play the matchup quite well. They again accentuate the tiff that Karo and Nate had during the show. Nate Diaz even said, “Living in the shadow of Nick Diaz? What’s bad about that? Not as bad as living in the shadow of Karo Parisyan.”

Round one starts with Manny shooting in, getting the single, and spinning Nate down. Manny plays the pitbull well and Goldberg managed to use the term often. Manny ends up getting ahold of Nates neck for a guillotine and locks up the head nicely but forgets the full guard. Nate steps out, rolls, and pops out of the hold nicely. Manny keeps up the pressure and applies the GNP nicely. The rest of the round is pretty much the same. Nate tries about every submission he can think of an Manny keeps working in a bullish manner. Nate eventually gets up and tries for a single but Manny gets an anaconda grip when the round ends.

Round two starts with Nat landing some nice combos that cause Manny to shoot in. As Nat goes to sprawl, Manny’s shoulder dislocates from the impact and causing him to immediately tap out on the floor in utter pain. Apparently, it was a reocurring injury from the series that he suffered when fighting Joe for the finals position.

Nate wins by tapout in the second round and is “The Ultimate Fighter” of season 5

Cole Miller vs. Andy Wang
Cole Miller is 6’1” and in the lightweight division and quite a quandary for new fighters because of his height and reach difference. He has a brother in the WEC who is cornering him. This fighter is fast so if you blink you might miss it.

Cole engages first with a combo to start round one and then lunges in with a knee. Andy tries to shoot but gets stuffed from the weak attempt. Both stay up top exchanging although Andy is trying to close the distance. Cole gets a huge left high kick that floors Andy and he immediately jumps into to GNP his downed opponent. After a few seconds and a clean shot from Cole, the referee steps in and stops the match, much to the protest of Andy.

Cole Miller wins 1:10 into the first round by referee stoppage.

B.J. Penn vs. Jens “Lil Evil” Pulver
The opening has them both talking. B.J. Penn has a new strength and conditioning coach and if he is following what the man sets forth, everybody in the 170 lb. division is in trouble. There is something in Jen’s eyes as he is standing there waiting for the fight that already declares him defeated.

Round one starts and they meet in the middle of the ring. B.J. is dominating the stand up and rocks Jens early. He then gets a body lock on Jens and slams him down, lands in half guard and goes to work. Jens stands back up and BJ yet again gets a body lock and a slam. BJ easily mounts Jens from the open half guard. BJ locks down on an armbar but gives it up for the triangle. Jens eventually postures out of the precarious position after eating a couple elbows and lays the smackdown on BJ as he pushes him up against the cage. Jens manages to throw a nasty overhand elbow from guard but BJ manages to get back up. They both work the dirty boxing with BJ winning the hand game which is Jens forte. Jens throws a high kick and throws a couple hooks to end the round

Round two starts and Jens throws a nic left but BJ has him times and shoots in for a single leg takedown. BJ passes off the open half guard and finally gets the mount. After some massive GNP from mount, Jens is forced to roll and give up his back. BJ then uses his legs to trap Jens arm and sinks in his forearm underneath Jens chin forcing the tapout.

BJ Penn chokes out Jens Pulver in the second round via RNC

Not one match shown on TV went three rounds and were highly entertaining. B.J. Penn has finally got his conditioning under control and looks to be a force in the 170 lb. division but everybody is confounded on why he doesn’t stay at 155. Jens is not looking to retire but states that he will be going to the 145 lb. division which probably means he will be transitioning to the WEC. Joe looked absolutely stellar and should have been in the finals. It was an all-around great finale for an above-average season.

Ed Herman vs. Scott Smith

The first fight of the night shown on TV was Ed Herman vs. Scott Smith. Ed Herman and Scott Smith are both TUF alumni. Ed Herman recently won on an Ultimate Fight Night by a sick armbar and Scott had recently won by KO against Pete Sells after Sells had knocked him down with a massive hit to the ribs. Ed talks about standing with Scott but nobody believes him.

Round one starts with Ed proving himself wrong by immediately shooting in for a double leg takedown. Ed then proceeds to throw some short elbows to Scott’s face in a foreshadowing of what is to come later in the match. This forces Scott to roll and Ed then takes Scott’s back. Scott stands back up and they clinch with Ed throwing knees while in the clinch. Ed again shoots in and goes for a double leg but Scott pulls a guillotine which Ed subsequently slips. Ed sits in guard lulling Scott to sleep and then all of a sudden throws an overhead wind-up elbow that lands on Scott’s nose on the bridge and splits it wide open, causing the blood to run into his eye, and forcing the doctor to stop the match briefly and look at the damage. The doctor doesn’t see it as much of a danger and lets the match continue. They continue in the same position and Scott has to roll giving up his back. Ed tries to take his back and misses causing Scott to get top position. Both go for toe folds with Ed breaking off first and diving in to finally get Scott’s back for an attempted Rear Naked Choke. Scott flips the choke and manages to get back into guard and the bell rings to end the round.

Second round starts and Ed yet again jabs and goes straight for a takedown but Scott gets a Guillotine in tight. Ed survives for a little bit in this position then pops out of it after Scott’s arms get tired. Ed continues to utilize the overhead elbows but Scott uses his forearm to block them having learned from his first run-in. Scott eventually has to give up his back trying to stand up and Ed immediately pounces, slips in his forearm, and gets the Rear Naked Choke.

Ed Herman wins by Rear Naked Choke in the second round.

Tyson Griffin vs. Clay Guida
This match ended up being the fight of the night. Both were energetic in the match, utilizing good wrestling skills, yet sloppy JJ skills. Tyson was strong in round one, Clay seemed to take round two and three, but looks can be deceiving sometimes. Goldberg revealed how horrible a wordsmith he was by using “tireless, tireless...” in a sentence.

Round one starts with Tyson hitting first. Clay shoots in and gets a single but Tyson balances well on one foot and stays in an upright position. Tyson then pulls a guillotine so tight that Clay’s face goes red and you can hear him gurgle. Clay toughs it out and eventually slips the choke. A scramble ensues with Tyson landing in back position with a body lock. Clay drops and tries a toe fold reversing positions when Tyson has to respond. They eventually get up and Clay pins Tyson against the cage throwing some nice knees. Tyson then tees off and clay responds with some nice hand combos. Clay then shoots again and Tyson sprawls effectively forcing Clay to stand and trade jabs with him. Tyson then opens up and throws a left-right-head kick combo forcing Clay to shoot. Both exchange blows and a scramble ensues to end the round.

Round two starts with Tyson throwing a nice overhand. Clay responds with a high kick that misses and some hands which land. Clay then gets a single and Tyson blocks with a cross-body grab across the back. Clay gives up the leg and Tyson remains in a top gator roll position.  Tyson breaks the hold by throwing an uppercut that seems to originate at the floor. Both let their hands go with some hits scoring and others not. Guida then throws a head kick and shoots. Tyson demonstrates his flexibility and almost does the splits to escape the single leg. Tyson scrambles and gets Clay’s back with a body lock. He powerlifts Clay into the air and attempts to suplexes him but Clay’s butt lands on top of Tyson’s head. Clay scrambles and gets a knee bar that is in deep but can’t finish it off because of the flexibility of Tyson and the inability of Clay to arch his back enough to hyper-extend the joint. Tyson tries a heel hook to free his leg and Clay scrambles and ends up getting Tyson’s back with both hooks. Tyson tucks his chin and stands up with opponent on his back. Clay can’t seem to slip the arm under the chin and eventually Tyson rolls forward suddenly slamming Clay’s head into the mat. Tyson then starts to slip out back when the bell rings.

Round three begins and Tyson again initiates the action with his hands. Tyson closes the distance and gets a good knee in followed by a great hand combo. Clay is again forced to shoot in for a single. Tyson stuffs and answers but Clay is countering well. Guida shoots after throwing a jab but doesn’t sell it enough and allows Tyson to react and stuff. Clay eventually gets Tyson down but they soon spin. Tyson throws some nice elbows and another scramble happens with Clay ending the sequence with two nice back fists as Tyson holds onto one of his legs. Clay then proceeds to eat Tyson up. No matter how Tyson squirms, Clay lands on top. Clay tries to get mount but can’t quite get it and Tyson pushes him off with his legs and throws some nice upkicks. Clay throw his hips up and over trying to pass and they both scramble but Clay again lands on top continuously using GNP. The round nears the end and Clay is raining down hits on Tyson with no responses from Griffin. The round ends and both fighters come to the center for the decision.

TYSON WINS BY SPLIT DECISION and CLAY IS ROBBED!

Rory Singer vs. Jason MacDonald

This fight looked like a gimme on paper. Jason is super athletic and a great fighter although he lost to Rich Franklin recently. Rory has been surprisingly game in his fights against ex-TUF alumni but has been pulled up short against top athletes like Yushin Okami. Jason is one of those top athletes so the cards appeared stacked against Rory.

Round one starts with a leg kick from Jason to a take down attempt. Jason pushes Rory against the cage and then proceeds to apply foot stomp after foot stomp.Rory flips the position and tries a whizzer but Jason has really good balance.  Jason then gets a single leg but Rory applies the double underhooks to defend the takedown. Rory again reverses the position against the cage and throws some massive ands and a knee. Jason finally gets the takedown. Rory slaps on a high guard which Jason responds to with Shoulder shots. Jason gets in 2 good punches from up on top and Rory applies some good up-kicks forcing Jason to disengage. Jason tries to hit and shoot but misses. Rory gets up and throws some nice knees. Rory takes down Jason and gets mount and then the back with hooks as Jason rolls to avoid the hits. Jason reverses guard but is bleeding from a couple elbows. Jason stays in guard but Rory is using masterful JJ to control the action from bottom. Rory slips in a triangle as Jason tries to stack him for a pass and Jason is saved by the bell.

Round two has Jason kicking and then shooting for a single leg which succeeds. He ends in guard and starts to throw some great body shots to soften up Rory. Jason grabs Rory’s arm and puts it behind his own back in an effort to advance position Rory uses a body triangle instead of a closed guard to maintain control from bottom. Jason starts to drop heavy bombs and a couple of them are getting through. Jason then uses a can-open to pass to half guard and then mount. He continues to throw bombs and Rory turtles but doesn’t attempt to defend himself forcing the referee to step in and stop the match

Jason MacDonald wins by TKO - ref stoppage 2nd round

Forrest Griffin vs. Hector Ramirez
This match was very one-sided and boring from any other angle except as a clinic to see how far Forrest has improved. Forrest Griffin has come a long way since his brawling days and even picked up a new weapon, the kick. Hector Ramirez is relatively new to the UFC, with a loss against James Irving, who isn’t as good as Forrest and therefore should not even stand a chance against the TUF alumni.

Round one starts with Griffin foreshadowing the rest of the fight by throwing masterful kicks against the legs. Hector shoots off a kick and gets the takedown. He can’t pass and Forrest stands back up. The rest of the round has Forrest giving Hector a kicking clinic with kicks raining in from all directions, body, head, both legs, etc.  He also mixes in the hands to keep things fresh. One impressive thing is that he is using angles and disengaging when Hector tries to advance. Repeat this and you have the rest of the round figured out.

Round two is much of the same with Forrest utilizing the double leg kicks effectively. He also mixes in a left cross-right uppercut into the mix to really throw Hector off. Hector never advances and when he does, Forrest backs off not allowing him to get into a rhythm. the leg kicks are starting to take their toll and Hector is slowing down. Hector tries a sorry takedown which doesn’t even come close and Forrest continues to pick him apart until the end of the round.

The third round has Hector’s legs looking like jelly from the repeated blows. Forrest continues to open up the combos and puts on a clinic for all those watching. The soccer chants start up in earnest and the crowd really loves Forrest. The round ends with Forrest hitting Hector so much that he is forced to turtle.

Forrest wins by Unanimous Decision

Rich Franklin vs. Yushin Okami

Rich Franklin is coming off a win against Jason McDonald and Yushin is coming off an impressive win against Mike Swick. Both are strong and they both know it. Rich is an ex-champion and is hungry to climb the ladder again. This match was boooorriiiing except for the third round. It is also one of the only ones on the PPV where the crowd actively booed because of the inactivity.

Round one and two of the main event are the most boring of the night. Both rounds have Rich advancing and Okami disengaging. Every time Yushin tries and advance, which isn’t many, Rich changes levels masterfully with his head and counters by hitting first. Repeat this for two rounds and you get the idea.

Round three starts a little differently. Yushin throws a kick that Rich grabs but he loses his grip and can’t take his opponent down. Rich lands a leg kick of his own, a body shot, and a body kick. Okami gets in range off the kick and finally gets a leg trip which lands him in side guard. Yushin then passes the guard and mounts successfully. Okami starts the GNP and Rich also works to get a butterfly guard back which he is eventually succeeds in doing. Rich escapes and gets a single which allows Okami to get a guillotine. Rich esscapes again and almost gets mount.  Rich tries to stand up and throws punches down at Okami. Yushin tries for a Kimura and gets it in deep. Rich winces with pain as Okami gets half guard and starts to torque the shoulder. Rich eventually rolls and tucks his arm underneath his body. He then reverses his position and escapes the dangerous submission. Rich finishes with GNP and the bell rings.

Rich wins by unanimous decision

The best fight of the night was Tyson Griffin and Clay Guida. The crowd was extremely sparse at the BW3 where I was at and the combination of afternoon time and the pre-buzz of the lacking card must have kept the people home rather than purchasing. Thank goodness the next three cards look better than this one. 

Drew Mcfedries vs. Jordan Radev
Drew is a Miletich Fighting Systems product. He came out looking extremely cut and confident. This was Jordan’s first time in the octagon but he was definitely talking the talk in the pre-fight interviews. Hopefully he can walk the walk.

Round one starts and Drew gets the first punch in. He tees off with a left hook that visibly wobbles Jordan. He then follows that hook with a high head kick that misses but pays dividends in the strategy game because he follows up with a right uppercut and knocks Jordan down. Jordan is still semi-alert and his head is still up but you can tell he is seeing stars. Drew then jumps to the canvas with a crushing overhand that lands right on the chin of the downed fighter that totally knocks Jordan out. He then follows up that shot with two more for effect on the unconscious opponent before the referee could jump in and stop the bout.

Drew McFedries wins by KO in the first round

Chad Reiner vs. Anthony Johnson
Both Chad and Anthony are seen talking smack in the pre-fight interviews. This is Anthony’s introduction into the UFC and Chad has already been in the octagon with a game loss against Josh Burkman. Chad is also a retired Marine (there is never an ex-Marine as pointed out by my Marine friend. Once a Marine, always a Marine).

The first round starts and both come out circling. Chad lands an inside leg kick but Anthony closes in and finds his range landing a hook to Chad’s chin that visibly wobbles his opponent. He then follows up with another uppercut that misses and then hits with another left hook that puts Chad out on the canvas.

Anthony Johnson wins by KO in the first round

Jon Fitch vs. Roan Carneiro
Jon is an up-and-coming star that nobody seems to know about. He has great hand speed and good ground game. Roan Carneiro (pronounced Ho-an) is a Brazilian protege who has a very stellar ground game and is being introduced in the UFC For his first time.

Round one begins with Jon throwing the first effective combo that land flush on Roan’s face. Roan answers with a left hook and Jon counters with an inside leg kick. Jon tries a hand combo and Roan counters with a shoot and takes Jon down with a double leg. Roan passes guard easily and gets north-south position with a head hold. Roan then positions one of his hands on the armpit of Jon with a hand clinch underneath as if to start a guillotine. Roan then rolls and starts a modified arm triangle but somehow Jon pops out and ends up with Roan’s back with body control. Roan gets up easily from this position and both start to swim for position on the cage. Roan goes for a single leg trip but Jon has good balance and staves it off. Jon answers with a knee and forces Roan to block with his arm. Roan finally gets double underhooks and transitions to a body lock and then proceeds to land some great knees. Roan again tries a throw but misses but eventually gets a double leg and whips Jon around for the takedown. Jon utilizes an open guard which gets passed and Roan again ends in a north-south position but can’t use his advantage as the round comes to an end.

Round two starts with Jon throwing another inside leg kick. Roan utilizes an overhand to try and get a shoot which Jon stuff easily. JOn then rocks Roan with a left-right-left hand combo and drops the BJJ expert. Jon then jumps in with some nasty headshots while Roan is trying to collect his whits and Roan rolls to expose his back. Jon grabs a modified RNC without the hooks, uses some headshots to loosen the neck up, then sinks his arm in for the tap.

Jon Fitch wins in the second round by Rear Naked Choke submission

Thiago Tavares vs. Jason Black
This match is Thiago’s second UFC match with his first win in the last UFC Fight Night against Naoyuki Kotani. Jason is another Miletich Fighting Systems product that is debuting in the UFC. His beard is out of control and it reminds me of the 1800’s the way he wears it.

Round one starts and Thiago immediately shoos in off the first exchange and tries to pull guard. Black gets a head lock and almost gets swept but lands in side control. Thiago gets out of the bad position and they both get back up. Thiago tries for another shoot but Jason successfully sprawls out of the attempt. Thiago then executes a brilliant reversal which lands him on Jason’s back. Jason rolls out and Thiago ends in mount. Jason escapes but Thiago ends in side control for a brief period of time. Jason tries for an arm triangle in half guard but cannot finish the submission attempt and Thiago pretty much has his way with him the rest of the round. Thiago is constantly landing in mount and throws two nasty elbows to the eye socket of Jason which causes some major swelling on that eye for the remainder of the fight. Thiago controls Jason for the rest of the round with Jason constantly trying to not get knocked out by the strong GNP that Thiago is landing on Jason’s face. The bell rings with Jason appearing very deflated.

Round two starts with Thiago wanting to work a little bit up-top. He lands a liver kick and Jason is very tight, telegraphing his right cross. Thiago tries for a head kick which is caught by Jason but he manages to shoot in and pucks Jason up bodily and slams him down after walking across the ring. Thiago lands in side control and Jason has to give up his back to try and roll out of the dominant position. Thiago is clearly stronger than Jason but he gamely tries a kimura which forces Thiago to roll onto his back. Thiago’s face is incredibly calm throughout the whole attempt and eventually he slips the arm and lands a leg triangle that forces Jason to tap.

Thiago Tavares wins by Triangle submission in the second round.

Spencer Fisher vs. Sam Stout
Both of these fighters enter the ring to great up-beat music. Their previous bout was exciting to watch but Spencer had taken it on 3 days notice, cut 24 pounds in 3 days, and was extremely tired. Sam won it on a decision but it is amazing that it was even close.

Round one starts with both comig to the middle and they don’t even shake hands. Sam throws a hand combo and Fish counters with a leg kick. Spencer then proceeds to open up a Muy Thai clinic with Sam being the student. Spencer lands some nasty combos to the body and head of Sam over and over again. He mixes up the hooks, crosses, and jabs effectively and plays the high low game keeping Sam guessing on what blow is coming next. Sam tries to counter but Spencer is playing the angles well and gives him no openings. Spencer is constantly throwing a left hook to the ribs of Sam which causes him to shy away. Spencer tries to shoot in but Sam has been working his shoot defense and stuffs it easily with Spencer ending up on the cage in the clinch. Sam throws some great knees before they break and proceed with their hand exchanges again. Spencer’s kicks are also very effective as he mixes those in with his hand combos to continue to keep Sam guessing. Sam tries to engage but Spencer beats him to the punch with some nasty straights. Sam is slightly bleeding but finally lands a nasty left and an elbow that opens up Spencer’s right eye. Both continue the exchange with Sam finally getting momentum near the end of the round but not enough to claim it.

Round two is much the same thing. Sam is throwing nice combos but Spencer keeps beating him to the punch with some very effective counters. Both are scoring but Spencer is totally in control. Spencer mixes in a nice superman punch every once in awhile to keep Sam off balance and forces Sam to counter with leg kicks. Both are circling and throwing at will and both are laser precise. Sam throws a couple rear leg front snaps to Spencer’s mid section to keep to stop his opponents advances. Spencer tries for another takedown but Sam swims out of the clinch and pays for it when Spencer steps back and lands a nasty hand combo. Spencer continues to advance with his precise combinations. His face is more battered than Sam’s but he is definitely controlling the fight.

Round three opens up with Sam utilizing that rear leg front snap a lot more often to try and stop Spencer from wading in. Spencer then uses some leg kicks as an answer but Sam counters with a good 1-2. Sam starts to initiate more with his hands and lands some decent combos while Spencer is turtling slightly. Spencer then takes over with his hand combos and even counters with an elbow once. Sam has no answer it seems for that closing cross. Spencer lands a massive right hook which rocks Sam. He then locks up and throws two precise knees. Sam has become very immobile when throwing his counters and Spencer is just moving in at angles to avoid the counter-punches. Both end the round still throwing hand combinations but Spencer again has dominated the third round. It ends and both come together, hug, and then hold each others hands up in a sign of good sportsmanship. Spencer’s face looks like it went through a meat grinder and Sam doesn’t look much better.

Spencer Fisher wins by unanimous decision

This event happened to be in Las Vegas and all the UFC ref’s were officiating. Frank Mir was color commentary and second fiddle in the telecast. He did a great job providing color since he is well versed in MMA, being a fighter himself, but his monologue skills definitely need work. The production values were decent although not stellar. There was no tunnel for fighter entrances and they ended up using the ballroom doors to stage the walk-ins for the fighters. The fights were good although the match-ups were a bit lop-sided throughout the night. This really couldn’t be contributed to the matchmaker as the card was plagued with injuries causing last minute changes to occur.

Brian Stann vs. Craig Zellner
The first fight of the night shown on TV was the Marquee Light-Heavyweight Brian Stann vs. Craig Zellner. Brian Stann had been hyped all week in the media so he had a lot to live up to at the fight. Brian Stann is a first Lieutenant in the Marines and he is definitely an intimidating character. A lot of veterans seem to be drawn to MMA which is only natural being from an aggressive line of work.

Round 1 begins and Craig shoots in. Brian opens with some massive knees to the mid-section and head that stagger Zellner. Craig tries to shoot again but doesn’t change levels very well and gets clocked by an overhand right forcing him to pull guard. Brian just sits in the guard doing body-body-head and Craig seems to be holding on for dear life. Craig does utilize a high guard and goes for an armbar but Craig just stands up out of the submission attempt. Brian then throws a drag kick that cracks on Craig’s thigh and forces Craig to shoot in desparation. When Brian stuff the shoot, Craig pulls guard yet again. Craig again works his legs up to go for the armbar and Brian just stands up out of the attempt. Stann then throws some punches that land and leave Craig punch drunk. Zellner tries to pull guard in desparation and Brian jumps in with a couple dropping overhands that knocks Craig silly and forces the ref to step in.

Brian Stann wins by ref stoppage first round with five seconds left in the round.

Alex Karalexis vs. Josh Smith
Alex is a former UFC and TUF star and has dropped from welterweight to lightweight to now fight in the WEC. His opponent this evening is quite a bit taller than the shorter Karalexis but Alex has the experience edge.

Round 1 starts with Josh pawing at Alex with a left jab. Frank warns against this against a person who likes right crosses because of the openings it creates and sure enough, Alex throws a right overhand cross that just barely misses. Josh shoots in and tries to get Alex’s back but fails. Alex scrambles and reverses and throws Josh to the mat. Josh then uses the cage to get back up but Alex stays glued to his hip. Both struggle for a bit on the cage with Alex finally breaking away and throwing some hit combos. Josh throws a spinning hammerfist which Alex just barely ducks. Alex then throws an overhand right and then shoots in off the hit. Alex gets the slam and slips to half guard but Josh uses the cage and his long legs to get full guard back. Josh is throwing some nice up-kicks but Alex keeps jumping in and stuff Josh’s legs. Josh does try for an armbar or two but Alex is elusive. The round ends with Josh stuffed in a corner.

Round 2 begins with Alex throwing a nice in-step kick to Josh’s knee and then following it up with a nice liver kick that lands with a thunk. Josh fakes a kick and lands a nasty right hand that staggers Alex and causes his left eye to swell shut. Alex shoots in and gets Josh’s back but Josh avoids the take down by grabbing the fence and the referee warns him. Alex’s eye is swelling so much that his eye is totally shut but he is still bringing the action Josh with nice leg kicks and punches. Josh slips and Alex jumps into his guard. Josh gets a triangle and Alex picks up the bigger fighter and walks him to his corner and then slams him down hard deftly avoiding the triangle upon landing. Alex finally passes the guard and starts to rain down hard shots. Josh uses the cage to get guard back but Alex continues to pummel the taller fighter. Josh then uses his feet and some flexibility to try and pry Alex out of the side mount. Alex worms his way out and barely gets mount before the bell rings to signify the end of the round.

Round 3 opens with Alex throwing kicks and using an overhand to shoot in for the single leg throw. Josh reverses and tries to throw Alex with a body lock. Alex stuffs the attempt and then gets a body throw to achieve mount. Josh again uses his long legs and flexibility to pry Alex out of mount. He then goes for a foot lock but Alex pulls his leg to a safe position. Josh continues to walk up his legs whenever he has pulled guard and Alex dangerously stands up out of the maneuver and then jumps back in to the fray. Alex ends up tapping the butt of his opponent in mocking fashion and even throws an illegal foot stomp to the mid-section and loses a point before the match ends.

Alex wins by Majority decision (2 29-27 and 1 28-28)

Brock Larson vs. Kevin Knabjian (Welterweight)
This fight was so fast that if you blinked, you missed it. Brock had been training hard to fight Carlos Condit for the Welterweight title but Carlos injured his shoulder at the last minute forcing the WEC to find Kevin in short notice.

Round 1’s bell rings and Brock comes out in an orthodox stance. He immediately throws a massive left that slips over Kevin’s guard and connects squarely on his opponents chin, flipping him around, and sending Kevin to the mat. Brock immediately bull charges and performs a football shoulder tackle that knocks his opponent halfway across the ring and onto his back. He then throws some dropping overhands that stun his opponent even more and Kevin curls forward to grab at Brock’s leg in desperation. Brock finishes off the match throwing some massive hooks to Kevin’s face and the referee steps in and waves off the match.

Brock Larson wins by TKO 27 seconds in the first round

Mark Hominick vs. Rani Yahya (featherweight)
Mark is another UFC veteran that is now in the WEC ranks. This featherweight (145) is a classic striker vs. submission specialist fight and promises to be interesting.

The bell rings on the first round and Rani shoots in without any pretext. Mark widens his base and throws some shots to Rani’s head that stun his opponent but doesn’t seem to slow him down. Rani confesses at the end of the bout that he doesn’t remember anything after Mark hits him but his actions were instinctual. Rani continues to press in for the takedown haphazardly and eventually gets the single leg and slings around his opponent. He then jumps onto Mark’s back and sinks the hooks plus slips the forearm underneath the chin at the same time. He then squeezes and forces Mark to tapout or go unconscious.

Rani Yahya wins in the first round by tapout

John Alessio vs. Alex Serduykov
Alex had already lost to John Alessio via RNC in 2006 but wanted to try his luck again. John Alessio is another UFC veteran that has made his way to the WEC after hitting a streak of hard luck. John is wearing an Xtreme Couture hat and Frank has invoked the champions name a couple times. Does the current heavyweight champion have a marketing agreement with Zuffa to promote his new brand?

Round one begins and both are throwing combos in the middle of the ring but Alex is landing more often. John lands a nice left hook and tries for a head kick and a shoot off the combo. Alex takes the bait and locks up with John giving up his neck and allowing Alessio to sink a guillotine and pull guard. The guillotine is deep and forces Alex to tap or go unconscious. Alex is visibly emotional over his defeat.

John Alessio wins in one minute nineteen seconds by way of guillotine choke

Urijah Faber vs. Chance Farrar
Chance has no chance against the current champ but nobody has bothered to tell him that he is the Patsy tonight. Urijah is considered to be one of the top three lightweights of the world and a force to be reckoned plus he is the poster boy for the fledgling MMA organization and with good reason. He has mad skills and a work ethic second to none. Frank Mir seemed to agree with Komikazee and was singing his praises all night.

Round one starts with Urijah landing an overhand right. Both continue to feint but Faber gets sloppy and throws double spinning kick that ends with him splayed on the ground from slipping on a decal. Chance could have pounced by stays patient. They eventually do lock up and Chance gets an Iranian lift and slams down the champion. They both scramble trying to establish dominant position with both utilizing extremely technical wrestling maneuvers. Urijah gets a cross lift and lands a guillotine but gives it up. Chance turns the corner and tries to get Urijah’s back but is unsuccessful. Urijah gets a weird north-south lift and eventually slams down Chance and sits on his opponents head. They struggle some more but Urijah eventually gets a body lock that allows him to secure Chance’s back. He immediately sinks in the hooks and the arm underneath the chin simultaneously for the Rear Naked Choke and Chance has no choice but to tap.

Urijah Faber wins three minutes and fifteen seconds into the first round

Kalib Starnes vs. Chris Leben

The first fight of the night was Chris Leben vs. Kalib Starnes. Chris was coming off a rough submission loss against Jason McDonald. Kalib lost by TKO against the rising start Yushin Okami. Both are TUF alumni with medium skills and the matchup promised to provide an entertaining bout.

Round one opens with both coming out jabbing. Chris throws a high kick that misses and Kalib clinches but Chris defends the attempted takedown well. Chris repeatedly cocks that left hand but telegraphs the shots and allows Kalib to dodge some of the heavy shots. Chris lands a couple straights but slips on one of the decals on the mat and Kalib lunges in to get double underhooks. Kalib’s face looks a little worn from Chris’ heavy hands but he gets the single leg takedown finally. Chris utilizes the high rubber guard effectively unti. the final seconds of the round. Kalib stuffs Chris into a corner, postures up, and unloads a flurry of hits to Chris on the ground that leaves Leben dazed as the bell rings.

Round two has Kalib coming out using his kicks to keep range. He clinches every once in awhile but mostly just throws onsies and two-sies. Chris tries a sloppy spinning hammerfist but whiffs. after lulling Chris to sleep, he comes in with a straight right and rocks Leben and then immediately takes him down before Chris can gather his wits. Kalib stands over the fallen opponent and unloads a flurry of hits. Chris stands up and gets dinged as he gets to his feet. Starnes then clinches and unloads knees on Chris’s body. Kalib is landing leg kicks and straight rights at will because Leben’s left hand continued to dip way low. Chris finally gathers himself and comes forward with a decent combo but Kalib turtles up and withers the small onslaught. Chris uses some nice knees to answer Kalib’s earlier knees and pushes Starnes backwards to finish the round.

Round three begins with Chris throwing a sloppy head kick. Starnes counters with a nasty right. Chris doesn’t look tired at all and Kalib is looking exhausted. Chris throws a mean liver kick that buckles Kalib but Chris doesn’t make him pay and instead allows Kalib to pull guard. Chris gets half guard only to be swept. Kalib seems content to stay in guard and doesn’t work at advancing. Kalib finally tries to stand and then pass to side mount but can’t. The fight finishes.

Kalib Starnes wins by Decision

Keith Jardine vs. Houston Alexander

Keith Jardine is a true light heavyweight contender coming off an electric win against Forrest Griffin. Houston Alexander is a new person in his first UFC bout that is being cast to play the patsie.

Round one starts with Keith coming out mocking Houston in a kind of chimpanzee stance with both hands over his head. Alexander takes offense but Jardine doesn’t give him time to contemplate and advances with a combo that ends with a left hook. Houston slips on a decal and Jardine immediately pounces thinking Houston is injured. Houston disabuses him of the idea and immediately answers with some nasty knees that stagger Keith. He ends his assault by throwing a combo of hooks that drops Keith two different times. Referee is forced to step in and stop the bout. Houston is still mad and woofs over Jardine while he is still down.

Houston Alexander wins in the first round via KO.

Terry Martin vs. Ivan Salaverry

Terry Martin comes in to Michael Jackson and with a recent win against Jorge Rivera, has to feel good about himself. Ivan Suanters to the ring without a care in the world and the match starts.

Ivan comes out with an immediate high kick. He then starts to unload leg kick after leg kick on Terry. Martin counters with an overhand and scores a nice hit. Ivan continues to work kicks. Terry lets his hands go and gets the clinch. Ivan has some good balance and staves off the takedown. Terry finally gets Ivan’s back and Salaverry takes 2 on 1 on Terry’s forearm. Terry picks up Ivan and suplexes him on his head knocking him out. Terry then finishes it off with a hammerfist before the ref can step in and stop the bout.

Terry Martin wins by knockout in the first round.

Karo Parisyan vs. Josh Burkman

Both combatants come out and a giant staredown ensues between Karo and Josh.

Round one starts and Josh lands a left and then kicks which Karo catches but Burkman balances nicely. Burkman then lights up Karo but Parisyan counters nicely with a thrown haymaker. Karo starts to time Josh and hits with a right again and again. Josh finally gets a takedown off a kick that Karo throws. Karo stands back up and gets kicked for his efforts. Karo then clinches and throws Josh like a pinwheel with a nasty Judo throw. Josh gets back up and tries to hit Karo but Parisyan counters and hits back. Josh grabs Karo finally and Karo gets a 2 on 1 in the start of a Kimura if he goes down. The bell rings and both combatants go to their corner.

Round two begins with Karo landing a nasty right and a body shot. Josh locks up and thinks otherwise as Karo maneuvers and starts a Judo throw. Karo is countering everything that Josh is throwing at this point. Josh is tiring and dropping his hands and Karo makes him pay by staggering Josh with an overhand right. Karo continues to pick Josh apart and to time him brilliantly. Josh continues to try and take him but down but Karo is defending successfully. Josh again tries to clinch and Karo answers with a straight right. Josh is visibly exhausted at this point but the round mercifully ends before Karo can capitalize.

Round three starts with Josh in a desperated scramble to finish the bout. He lost the last two rounds and he knows it. Josh jumps in swinging for the fences and Karo counters. Josh finally shoots in off a hit combo and gets a single leg takedown. Karo grabs guard and then successfully sweeks Burkman. Both get up and Karo lets his hands go with a flurry. Karo tries a huge kick and misses. Josh is utterly exhausted and giving all his strength just to defend so he doesn’t get knocked out. The bout ends and Karo knows he won all three round.

Karo wins by Decision and sings horribly.

Din Thomas vs. Jeremy Stephenson

Din Thomas is a TUF Alumni with two consecutive wins in the UFC. Jeremy is a newbie and this is his first fight and you can tell he is nervous.

Round one starts with Din changing levels and taking down Jeremy immediately. Din passes to side control and goes for Kimura. Jeremy gets guard off a scramble but eventually gives up his back. Din goes for a rear naked choke but Jeremy appears calm and successfully defends it with a 2 on 1 hold. Din still tries for a RNC but he loosens his hooks to a body triangle. Jeremy finally sweeps and starts to throw bombs from on top right when the round ends.

Round two starts with Jeremy very confident. He has the momentum from the last round. Jeremy tries for a spinning hammer and misses. Din hits Jeremy who then counters with a right hand twice. Jeremy then telegraphs a kick. Din shoots and gets the takedown but Jeremy immediately sweeps. Din passes one of his legs over Jeremy’s head and goes for an armbar. Jeremy picks up the smaller fighter and slams him down good but this only tightens the armbar down. Din flexes both his core and legs to tighten the armbar down and Jeremy taps before every tendon in his arm snaps.

Din Thomas wins in the second round by submission.

Chuck Liddell vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

The fighters come to the ring over a very long time and a perfectly timed entrance. The tension in the building is palpable, even through the TV screen. Rampage lets forth his usual howl but looks a little tense. Chuck comes to the ring and is incredibly loose. Both compete in a timeless staredown then go to their separate corners to start the fight.

Round one starts and they both come out of their corners on a mission. Chuck is circling and Quinton is cutting off his angles. Both throw very probatory shots but nothing landing. Chuck throws a sloppy body hook and Rampage comes up over the top with a right overhand hook that lands flush on the Iceman’s chin and knocks him to the mat. Rampage immediately jumps in and starts to rain down shots that Chuck is having to defend. Eventually, a really hard overhand leaks through and knocks Chuck senseless again. Chuck’s limbs splay out and Rampage has an unabated path to the head and continues to rain down blows. “Big” John McCarthy immediately jumps in and waves off the fight to protect the fighter. Chuck wakes up with a confused look wondering where those 10 seconds went and wanting to fight but he is done.

RAMPAGE WINS BY K.O. IN THE FIRST ROUND AND IS THE NEW LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION

Conclusions

Dan Henderson got up into the ring afterwards and in as few words as possible, challenged Rampage to a match. Dan Henderson currently has the belt in Middleweight and Light Heavyweight in PRIDE. It was a lame attempt because they are both friends and Dan isn’t a professional wrestler but the intent is obvious. The card was stacked and turned out better than anybody planned. The two upsets really put icing on the cake and made the night even sweeter.

3 of the 4 belts have changed hands in the last year due to upsets. Chuck vs. Rampage was just destiny.

There were five RNC in the evening and it was the submission “du jour”. The amazing thing is that each was different in how it was obtained. The secondary theme was horrible refereeing. They were atrocious and there was no excuse for a couple of the matches going as long as they did. We were literally yelling from the media seats to fire the ref’s as they totally bungled their job.

For a full re-telling of the events as they unfolded, you can read my blogged play-by-play that I did as I sat ringside and watched the action unfold. The purpose of this article is to convey the different impressions of the event that a play-by-play cannot communicate effectively.

When all the bouts first started, there were only about 500-1000 in the stands but by the end of the night, there were around 2000 people on hand. The small Austin Convention Center holds about 3200 so there was plenty of seats left empty. According to an internal source, their marketing plan did not net them what they thought it would and hence the poor showing at pre-sales time.

Some of the MMA celebrities on hand were:

• Mark Coleman - cornering for Wes Simms
• Pete Jackson - cornering for David Loiseau and is Diego Sanchez coach
• Loony - Best Damn Sports Show Period on FSN and was the ring announcer
• Frank Trigg - Had the ring chicks fawning over him by the end of the night
• Ed Fishman - Ex-PRIDE USA rep and all-around nice guy. Broke his wrist playing tennis and still showed up with Frank at the show. He even got a couple ring girls on his arm
• Saul Soliz - Tito’s coach and was there to corner Randy Hauer.

Wes Simms was constantly out and about cavorting with the media. He even sat ringside for the first 3 matches and appeared very confident and nonchalant about the whole event. He was essentially fighting a nobody and had drunk the Kool-Aid. More on that later.

At one point he gave an interview for one of the camera’s and was asked about Herschel Walker getting into MMA. He stated “Stay on the football field, stay out of MY cage, STAY ALIVE!”. Apparently he didn’t get it right the first time and had to re-do the scene a couple times to correct what mistakes he had done previously. Each take caused him to pantomime even more ferocity with hilarious results by the last take.

The first bout was prelim quality. Warren Stewart never had a chance. Daniel Pineda took him to the ground, got mount immediately, and the poor guy couldn’t seem to block the punches that were landing on his head. He had a lot of heart though and you could hear his head thudding solidly on the canvas as Daniel drove his fist into his face. It wasn’t a bounce, it was a solid thud with a sickening driving motion. After the third unabated and unblocked hit, we were literally yelling at the referee to stop the match. The pounding went on for about 4 more hits with Daniel literally looking up at the referee in a pleading manner before he would even step in and wave his hand to call off the match. Even then he didn’t look too sure. If the guy doesn’t know MMA, DON’T PUT HIM IN A POSITION TO ENDANGER A FIGHTER’S LIFE!

The second bout was Tony Lozano vs. Justin Howard and it was over before you could blink. Justin Howard immediately took Tony to the ground and fell into side control, isolated the left arm and threw a keylock on before Tony could say “What?”. It was over that fast. 6 weeks worth of work for 30 seconds in a cage.

The Jarrot Lewis vs. Aaron Flourney match was quite entertaining. Both were rolling around looking for submissions. Jarrot secured a nasty kimura that was in Aaron’s back pocket and up his spine so far that Aaron could have literally waved at his trapped hand. He amazingly gutted it out and eventually twirled and escaped after what seemed like an eternity. Flourney then staggers Lewis and turns the tables causing Jarrot to turtle on the ground in a fetal position. Flourney just stood on top and threw nasty hammerfist that were doing some good damage. The ref again wouldn’t stop the bout even though Jarrot wasn’t defending himself anymore except to turtle.  Flourney then jumped on top and sunk in a RNC to mercifully finish the bout.

The next bout between Edwin Figueroa and Whitney Brown was surprisingly entertaining. I walked in with Edwin Figueroa and mistook him for a corner man. His coach had to explain to me that he was a fighter on the card. He looked way young and was way short so I had my doubts. When the cage was locked, Edwin turned into a different animal. They both came out swinging with Brown gassing first and getting clipped going for a submission. Edwin turned on the juice and secured the RNC in his first professional match.

The next bout I dubbed as one of the fights of the night and it definitely was memorable. Matt Thompson had fought Ben Rothwell in the IFL, standing toe-to-toe with the heavy-handed Heavyweight and survived into the second round so I knew he had a chin. Justin Wren is tenacious and had won his last AOW match so I figured they would be evenly matched. Matt came out and proved me wrong. Justin opened up with a vengeance and took Matt to the ground like his game plan dictated but Matt’s ground-game is undervalued and his face was utterly calm while Justin expended all his energy futilely while trying to break Matt’s guard. After Justin had spent himself, they stood back up and Matt went to town grabbing Justin’s head and delivering repeated uppercuts and knees forcing Justin to turn away and cover his face against the fence.

Again the referee would not stop the bout even though the only thing holding up Justin was the cage. Matt was forced to continue to rain down blow after blow until the bell rang. Justin barely wobbled back to his corner and collapsed in his stool. They then forced him to come back out for a second round and he could barely hold himself upright. Matt literally walked out and pushed him over and Justin couldn’t get up. The referee reluctantly walked over and waved his hand to finish the match.

The next bout was almost Comedic. Chris Bowles came to bang and Randy Hauer came to taunt. The thing about taunting is that you have to be willing to back up the show and Randy wasn’t. Randy would give Chris an evil eye and Chris would put his fist in it. Randy even hurt his knee on a slip while he was fooling around. Chris eventually sealed the deal with the submission “du jour”, RNC in the second round.

The next match was another one earmarked for “Fight of the Night”. Klas Akennson had a long hard fought match against Justin Wren in the first AOW and Damien Stelly won his last bout on AOW1. The two didn’t disappoint and put on quite an entertaining standing and submission clinic. Klas finally overextended on a Kimura try and lost to the submission “du jour”, you guessed it, a RNC. Klas was utterly disappointed and could be seen backstage pacing and condemning himself.

Brandon McDowell vs. Alex “El Toro” Andrade, from the Lion’s Den, looked good on paper but was a total mismatch in the ring. Alex is rounding into top form and from the opening bell he had his way with Brandon. Brandon tried to rush Alex and “El Toro” made him pay with a stiff right and then applied a Guillotine. Both expended energy on the futile hold but Alex eventually got top position and started the GNP in earnest after stuffing his adversary in a corner. He then smoothly transitioned to a heel hook that had Brandon tapping immediately in fear of his knee.

The two main bouts were mismatches on paper but turned out very surprising.

David “The Crow” Loiseau vs. Freddie Espiricueta was definitely set up as a tune-up match for “The Crow”. However, Freddie had something to say about it and gave him all he could handle in the first round. There was something missing in David’s face and nobody on media row could place it. The fire just wasn’t there. Eventually, in the second round, “The Crow” came out of his shell and showed his true colors and put Freddie away for good with a beautiful side mount to an arm triangle.

The next fight was the biggest mismatch of the night with Wes Simms against Chris Guillen. The fight started with Wes taunting Chris because of his size. This pissed off Chris to no end and he immediately rushed in giving Wes a mouth full of leather. Wes never recovered the momentum and tired over the three rounds that Chris took him. The first round was competitive with both working well. The second round was a little slower, and the third round had both combatants totally spent. By the end of the third round, everybody was booing because these two heavyweights were just standing in the middle of the ring, throwing lazy shots that never landed, and leaning against each other. Wes almost fell over trying to prop himself up on his knees a couple of times.

The production qualities of the bouts were impeccable and you can’t blame the promoters for horrible officiating. The TSAC really needs to send their boxing ref’s to MMA school if they are going to continue to have MMA matches here in Texas.

Cheick Kongo (W) vs. Assuerio Silva
The first match of the night was Cheick Kongo versus Assuerio Silva. Kongo is a stand-up fighter and Assuerio Silva is a ground person so on paper, this looked like a mis-match for Kongo who has no ground-game.

Round one starts with Silva opening up some leg kicks but Cheick answers back with his own. Assuerio stands up for a short time and then quickly shoots in and picks up Kongo by one leg and slams him down. Kongo goes for a guillotine but it is real weak and Assuerio moves to half guard. Kongo reverses and gets back up. Kongo at this point is practicing some decent take down but Assuerio still is able to get another single leg and a slam. This time Assuerio lands in side control but can’t do anything with it and Kongo eventually reverses in his clumsy way at the end of the round.

Round two gets incredibly boring with flashes of excellence. Kongo is repeatedly taken down but Assuerio does nothing with the chances. When they do finally stand on their feet, Cheick showcases his stand-up game and literally dismantles Silva. Leg kicks and hand combos are the soup du jour and Silva has no answer on his feet. Eventually the round ends with Joe Rogan remarking that somebody needs to kidnap Cheick and send him to wrestling school because he looks so rickety when taken to the ground.

Round three has Kongo hungry for activity and he opens up with kicks and hands delivered with extreme prejudice. Silva gets another takedown but with no activity after the takedown, the referee stands them back up. Kongo starts to really apply the pressure with his fists and has Assuerio in trouble. Silva goes for a takedown in desperation and ends up on the bottom. Kongo starts to throws elbows from the top and opens up some nasty gashes on Silva’s face. Eventually the bell tolls and the action stops with Kongo declared the winner by unanimous decision.

Kongo wins by unanimous decision.

Terry Etim (W) vs. Matt Grice
The next match had the building roaring as one of the hometown favorites, Terry Etim, entered the octagon to fight an American wrestler, Matt Grice. The first thing that you notice is the huge height difference. Terry Etim is very tall compared to Matt Grice.

Round one starts and Matt rushes in. Terry stuns him with a quick punch and immediately rushes in with a flying knee. Matt is still aware and pays back Terry’s mistake by catching the knee and slamming Etim down. Grice starts to really land some nasty shots with Etim flat on his back and Terry can’t seem to control Matt’s posture. Terry’s face is starting to look the worse for wear but he eventually uses the fence to get up and applies a standing guillotine choke to Matt. There’s no guard applied but the arm is in deep and Grice starts to go out but escapes and goes down to the mat. Terry follows him down and applies another guillotine that puts Grice out cold. At this point, the crowd is going wild for the hometown favorite and the referee steps in to pull Terry off.

Terry wins in the first round by Guillotine choke.

Michael Bisping (W) vs. Elvis Sinosic
The crowd favoritism continues when Michael Bisping enters the arena. The house is literally shaking as the charismatic Bisping enters the house. Bisping is so excited that he almost runs past the referee posted to do the safety inspection.

Round one opens up with Elvis looking very confident. Bisping catches a leg and Elvis inexplicably throws himself to the mat. Bisping immediately jumps in and starts the GNP. Michael lands some great right hands from the guard and it starts to show on Elvis face. Bisping is so excited that he jumps up and then immediately back in lowering the boom on Sinosic’s head yet again. Elvis is bleeding like crazy at this point and yet he still stays on the ground taking the beating. The bell finally rings for the end of the round and Elvis is a mess.

Round two starts and Bisping opens up with some great kicks and hits. Elvis actually catches the crowd favorite with a knee and sends him tumbling, much to the dismay of the crowd. Elvis jumps in on the stunned Bisping and goes for a Kimura that forces Bisping to give up his back. At this point Elvis is breathing hard and doesn’t have the strength to do anything with it. Bisping easily reverses and starts the GNP. The crowd is going crazy at this point and eventually the referee has to stop the bout because of lack of defense.

Bisping wins in the second round due to ref stoppage due to GNP.

Andrei Arlovski (W) vs. Fabricio Werdum
The next bout pitted Andrei Arlovski against Fabricio Werdum. Fabricio is a recent addition to UFC from the PRIDE ranks and is also the trainer of Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filopovic. Andrei is the ex-champion of the UFC heavyweight division and this should have been a decent bout. Too bad it was so boring that we will just give you the brief overview, except for the first round.

Round one starts out nicely with lots of inside and outside leg kicks from Arlovski. Werdum has no answer for these damaging blows throughout the match. Werdum looks confident and clinches with Arlovski but the champion makes him pay. Werdum clinches with Arlovski and throws a nice right and an elbow as he backs off the Andrei. Andrei continues the kicks and even gets a nice uppercut that stuns Werdum. Fabricio gets frustrated and drives Arlovski across the ring with a flurry of straight punches and four of them actually land. Andrei counters nicely and the round ends.

We won’t even differentiate the second and third round. It pretty much had Andrei stalking Fabricio but not staying engaged. When Fabricio would shift his weight forward, Andrei would immediately back pedal and forty-five off. Repeat that ad nauseum and you get the idea for the bout. Andrei eventually wins by majority decision (one judge was so disgusted, he considered it a draw). Andrei then apologizes to the crowd for the boring fight but it was pre-meditated and he stuck to his game plan.

Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filopovic vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (W)
Then the fight of the night shows up with Gabriel Gonzaga versus Mirko Cro-Cop. Joe Rogan has been pumping up Gabriel Gonzaga all night long and talking up the match even though Gabriel is a new-comer to MMA. Randy “The Natural” Couture actually picked Gabriel to win. All of this is moot because we are talking about Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filopovic, the wiley PRIDE veteran and terror of all human kind, right?

The first round starts with Gonzaga throwing the first punch. He circles and feints. Cro-Cop throws a nasty kick but Gabriel catches it rebounding off his rib. He immediately takes down the seasoned vet and starts the GNP in earnest. Even though Cro-Cop is calm, the blows are starting to take their toll. There’s a cut up near his hair line and his hips aren’t moving that much. Herb Dean, the referee jumps in and brings it back to the feet.

They both circle for a little bit and Gonzaga throws a right leg head kick that comes in over the top of the hand and lands flush on the side of Cro-Cop’s head. Cro-Cop goes down like a ton of bricks and his leg gets trapped underneath him. Gabriel follows him down with some nasty hits to the head before Herb Dean can pull him off and un-trap the bent leg.

Gabriel Gonzaga wins in the first round due to KO from a head kick.

I wish I could describe the first bout of Schultz vs. Joe Sampieri but FSN thought that the Stars in the playoffs were more important than my MMA. Needless to say, I have filed a complaint with my Senator. FSN was nice enough to cut in to see the decision and Schultz won over Joe Sampieri by unanimouos decision.

Michael Dolce vs. Delson Heleno
The next match was Michael Dolce vs. Delson Heleno. The last time Dolce fought, the match only lasted 29 seconds so the expectation was for a fast fight. Heleno proved us all wrong. This match was a war. Heleno was a beast on the ground and Dolce was Houdini.

Round one opened up with Dolce swinging for the fences in hopes of ending the match as soon as possible. Heleno disabused him of the thought and immediately wraps up. Dolce defended the takedown by grabbing the rope and was assessed a point deduction by the referee. Heleno finally takes down Dolce and Michael spends the rest of the round defending submissions and trying to get up.

Round two, Dolce comes out gun shy. Heleno is definitely in his head and he doesn’t want to be taken down. Heleno throws a head kick and Dolce blocks it. Delson then shoots in and takes it to the ground. Heleno then passes easily to side control. Heleno then uses the cage to slowly slip to full mount and goes for an americana which Dolce rolls and presents his back to escape. Heleno then throws the leg over the head in an effort to armbar but at this point Dolce is like Houdini and slips the armbar. Heleno keeps his grip and gets another submission but runs out of time and the bell saves Dolce.

Round three is almost a mirror of round two with Heleno securing the takedown after Dolce comes out tentative yet again. Heleno gets impatient about halfway through the last round and resorts to staying on top of Dolce no matter which way he writhes. Heleno keeps up the GNP until the end of the round and the last bell.

Heleno wins by unanimous decision. Although Dolce lost, it was entertaining because you were waiting to see how he was going to get out of the next submission attempt that Heleno was trying.

Gerald Harris vs. Fabio Leopoldo
The next pitted Gerald Harris against Fabio Leopoldo and both Gerald Harris. This is Gerald Harris’ first match in the IFL and you can tell he is excited to be there.

Round one starts and Leopoldo comes out trying to strike. Gerald Harris immediately shoots in and gets the double leg. He then picks up Leopoldo, adjusts his grip in midair to avoid the guillotine, and slams Fabio down hard. They both scramble and Leopoldo gets the triangle but Gerald sticks his hand in and avoids the submission. After struggling for awhile, Gerald stands up and then jumps in and throws some leather against Fabio’s face. Leopoldo responds by kicking straight to the knee while he is on his back. The referee stands them both up and Gerald streaks in and gets an awesome slam! Leopoldo gets a guillotine off the slam but Harris is saved by the bell.

Round two starts and Harris gets the takedown. They scramble and Leopoldo tries for a knee bar but misses. Harris then jumps back into guard and sits there. His corner is screaming at him to just stand up but he is tired. Leopoldo tries to go for a triangle twice but is unsuccessful. Harris is visibly exhausted but he remains elusive to all the submission attempts that Fabio continues to try off his back. They are both eventually stood back up and Harris manages to land a hard body shot to Leopoldo but the bell rings before Leopoldo can respond.

Round three has Harris bulldozing in right after the beginning bell. Leopoldo goes for another armbar off his back and Harris barely slips it due to exhaustion. Harris finally gets side guard and Leopoldo rolls out and up. Fabio then throws a nice uppercut that slightly stuns Harris. Both are tired and running on fumes. Harris then knocks Leopoldo down on the next exchange with a hard left. Leopoldo tries for a triangle and Harris escapes. There is a good flurry at the end of the match with both scrambling before the last bell.

They both come to the center of the ring and Fabio is declared winner by split decision. Harris is incredulous but gracious in his after-fight bout. It really could have gone either way but props to the judges to rate all those submission attempts so highly.

Jamal Patterson vs. Matt Horwich
The next bout figures to be the fight of the night with Jamal Patterson vs. Matt Horwich. There is a big lead up for Jamal in the which we learn that he is a district sales rep during the day and a fighter at night PLUS manages to keep a girlfriend. This is the first rematch in IFL history which is surprising since these teams have to constantly be fighting each other.

Round one starts with Jamal swinging wildly and goes for a guillotine off Matt ducking away. Jamal feels how deep his arm is around Matt’s neck and jumps to guard finishing the choke off. Nobody expected the win so fast but Jamal is incredibly strong. Matt himself is very choked up about the loss.

Jamal Patterson wins by Guillotine choke in the first round and the Pitbull’s win the team match 3-1.

Devin Cole vs. Brian Vettell
Devin Cole and Brian Vettell are next and if the Pitbull’s can take this match, they will be tied for first with the Anaconda’s. Devin has lost his last four matches and broke his nose in the last fight. Vettell is heavier but shorter than Devin Cole.

Round one starts and Devin rushes in and locks up with Vettell. Vettell flips the position and pushes Devin into the corner. Vettell lands a knee to the groin that sends Devin to the mat. Devin is given time to recover and they quickly get back to business. Both swing with roundhouse punches and Vettell pushes Devin into the corner. Brian gets a hook in on the nose of Devin Cole and there is blood everywhere. Vettell then takes down Devin and starts the GNP. Devin looks a little dazed but the bell saves him.

Round two starts and they both rush to the grapple. Devin throws Brian out of the ring and the apron saves Vettell from the ground. Vettell comes back into the ring and Devin lands a nasty Superman punch that causes Brian to bleed over the left eye. Cole then throws down Brian and moves almost effortlessly to side mount. After a couple punches, Cole gets mount and rains down nasty rights straight down the pipe while propped up with his left, knocking out Vettell.

Devin Cole wins in the second round by TKO due to GNP and completes an upset.

A very satisfying night of IFL fights where the Pitbulls advanced their cause for the playoffs and the fighters shone in their respective matches.

Its a little early in the show for libido desperation but apparently these guys are showing symptoms already. A couple women rode by the house on horses and these men were almost howling like wolves when they saw them. They invited the girls around the front and thats where it went all wrong.

The horses were shoed and the driveway acted like glass so when one of the horses set foot on the cement, it immediately splayed out dumping its rider on her rear. Quite funny really in a scary sort of way. The fighters of course acted like a kid that stole candy from the candy store and ran out like little girls with arms linked to help the horse back up. They then were so embarassed by the escapade that they immediately sent them on their way.

The next drama of the night was internal to Team Penn. Ruediger and Wiman don’t like each other. To be honest, not many people like Ruediger in the house. Most consider him a fat, overweight, whiney schmuck but Wiman just happens to voice his opinion to Gabe’s face which doesn’t go over very well with Ruediger. So they go at each other for like 10 minutes and eventually forces B.J. Penn to have to moderate the internal struggle. Penn is a pretty laid back guy and seems to have a really hard time trying to control 2 Type A personalities that happen to have a tiff. Lets just say he doesn’t inspire fear in the two combatants and the feud continues on in spite of the intervention.

After that the guys in the house start up on the shenanigans early. They find a shield and start to throw javelins at it and somebody gets the bright idea that they want to hold the shield while the other guys are throwing javelins at it. Yeah, “Hello, 9-1-1? My friend has a javelin sticking out of his chest… It was an accident, I swear...”. Somebody finally gets an idea and convinces them that they should test it first and uses a rock as a demonstration. The aforementioned fighter holding the shield then gets pegged right in the crotch with a rock and rolls on the ground in agony for several minutes. Classic.

Team Penn then tags the wall with “Suck it, Team Pulver” and when the other team comes home, they go off the hinges. Emerson first goes ape and takes off his shirt wanting to fight in the house and then Manny goes ape for about 5 minutes and says that he wants to go home, etc before they can calm him down. Every other word was a bleeped eff-bomb it seemed. Reminded me of a bunch of Chihuahuas barking at each other.

At the selection time, BJ tried to influence Pulvers to pick another way but Jens didn’t bite and took Noah Thomas vs. Manny Camburyan.

Manny is very strong and the cousin to Karo Parisyan. Even Dana White says that he is a beast. He has been out of fighting for two years due to injuries but TUF 5 is his ticket back in.

Noah Thomas is an ex-marine who attended sniper school and was enlisted for 6 years. It was fuzzy on whether he was an actual sniper but he was deployed at one time and you have to respect a man for that. His brother is currently deployed. Noah has a slight superiority complex which rubs his other Type A personality housemates the wrong way.

After all the build-up, the fight was anti-climatic and didn’t even last past the first round. Manny came out blazing and knocked Noah on his rear and jumps straight on him, manhandling him at will. Eventually he gets a North-South position and pulls out a kimura in short order and sends Noah packing.

This week was Reality-TV heavy and Fight light. Although entertaining, it gets old after awhile. Hopefully the fights get better the later it goes but entertainment is still entertainment.

The first fight of the night was Mishima vs. Kenny Florian. Kenny Florian looked the cleanest of all the fighters that evening. His Muy Thai was sharp and he dismantled Mishima’s front right leg with laser precision kicks.

Mishima was his usual self and threw all sorts of trash at Kenny. His most interesting move was a cartwheel kick that actually landed. He looked very sloppy though and his spinning backfists were way off the mark. Looks can be deceiving and Mishima was effective at times in spite of the sloppiness.

Finally in the third round Kenny got a little sloppy while standing above his opponent and Mishima landed a deep ankle lock and that then turned into an knee bar. The only thing that saved KenFlo was Mishima gave up on it and went to reposition. Eventually Kenny scrambled out of the hold and onto Mishima’s back and sunk in a rear naked choke to end Mishima’s evening. Kenny Florian wins by rear naked choke.

Hardonk vs. McCully was a snooze fest and not really worth recounting. It essentially had McCully continually rushing in and pushing Hardonk against the fence, taking him down and then sitting in the guard throwing body, body, head shots. Repeat that 3 rounds and you pretty much know the fight.McCully wins by unanimous decision

Kurt Pellegrino vs. Nate Moore was like night and day from the Hardonk / McCully fight. Nate took the fight on very short notice because Vander Braga had to drop out due to injury.

The fight opened and Nate Moore came out with some quick hands. Kurt took it in stride and went for the clinch that then resulted in a single leg takedown without the help of the cage. He landed in side mount and never really gave it up. He controlled the rest of the fight, moving at will outside the guard. He smoothly and quickly transitioned to the full mount which didn’t result in much.  Eventually Kurt stood up and Nate lazily left a leg exposed which Kurt quickly took and landed an ankle lock that turned into a knee bar. Nate fought valiantly but was forced to tap out or blow a knee.Kurt Pellegrino wins by tap out.

Now we come to the main event. Komikazee had interviewed Melvin Guillard and man he looked imposing at the gym. You could tell looking at Melvin that he was very antsy for the fight. Joe came into the cage very calmly and the fight started with a little bit of drama before the bell.

Melvin lasted 25 seconds. Yes, a whole 25 seconds. Joe came out of the gate and actually threw with Melvin and suprisingly landed a shot that rocked Melvin a little and allowed Joe into range. Right when it looked like he was going to get on top of his opponent, Melvin used his strength to throw off Joe. Stevenson in the ensuing scramble locked on a guillotine and landed guard and that was all she wrote.Joe Stevenson wins by Guillotine in 25 seconds of the first round.

Brian Russel vs. Tom East
Brian and Russel started off the night with a bang. They rush together after the bell in the first round and Tom gets the takedown and lands on top in half guard. Brian seems to be coping well from underneath by tying up Tom's arms. Tom slips to half guard and starts to throw nasty knees to the liver that we can hear on press row. He then transitions to some nasty hammer fists and continues the GNP forcing Brian to tap out due to strikes. The crowd roars and Tom stands in triumph. You can tell he is the home town boy.
Tom East wins by tap out due to strikes.

Sonny Neilson vs. Armondo Valadez
Round one dings and Armando comes in swinging. Sonny wisely ties him up and pushes him towards the cage. Armando reverses the position and throws Sonny with a hip throw. Sonny goes for the armbar and Armando escapes and they both get back up. Armando gets a single leg trip off the very next clinch. Sonny again goes for a high guard and an arm bar but armondo pulls a houdini and spins into the move to free the arm. The crowd roars at this point and Armondo then stuffs Sonny against the cage and starts to throw huge overhands. Armando then tries a guillotine and gets swept. Sonny then delivers a series of short elbows causing Armondo to turn. Sonny then jumps on Armondo's back and gets hooks and goes for the rear naked choke but Armondo is saved by the bell.

Armando complains about his arm in between rounds but he shrugs it off as the bell rings. Round two starts with Armando throwing haymakers. He is visibly tired but he manages to throw a spinning hammerfist that connects nicely. The crowd roars again but Sonny jumps in and gets the clinch. He pushes Armando against the fence and they trade knees but the worst knee of all is one delivered by Sonny that causes Valadez to immediately drop and grab his side in pain. You could hear the crunch and all the press winced to the sound.
Sonny Neilson wins by KO

Justin Wren vs Justin Howard
Justin Wren walks to the ring and the crowd raises to its feet and roars. You can definitely tell that he is from Dallas and the crowd favorite. Round one starts with Wren jumping out the gates swinging. He secures a clinch and throws a knee that we can hear all the way to press row. Howard answers with a leg kick and a knee to the head. He continues to throw leg kicks to the lead leg and you can tell that they are taking their toll. Wren scores a good overhand but Howards counter punching well. Wren secures another clinch and throws a nasty knee to the face yet again. Both break and continue to circle, having exhausted themselves in this first round.

Round two starts and Wren goes for the shoot but Howard stuff it and counters with a good left-right. Wren pushes Howard to the cage and delivers some more knees. Wren drops and finally scores the double take down. The crowd surges to its feet and roars. Wren passes and gets mount and starts to throw some nasty bombs forcing the referee to step in and call the match. Wren wins by TKO due to referee stoppage.

Anthony Njokuani vs. Kenneth Rosfort
Anthony struts into the ring and the crowd cheers because he is from Dallas also. You can tell by the way he stands that he is a traditional Muy Thai fighter. Round one starts and they both rush to the clinch. Kenneth gets tie up. They both start throwing knees but Anthony swims in and gets a traditional Muy Thai hold with his elbows tucked in tightly. They trade knees for about a minute but Anthony gets the upper hand because his are cleaner and forces Kenneth to break the clinch. Anthony throws a left kick to the head and a right hand that lands flush on Kenneth's chin and makes Rosfort fall face flat on the mat unconscious.
Anthony Njokuani wins by KO first round

Eric Schambari vs Christian Smith
Eric struts into the ring. Christian looks a little nervous and Eric looks focused and just plain scary. The press agent next to me leans over and whispers that he tried to get a match done with Eric vs. his friend and is glad that it didn't go through because Eric is "no joke". Round one starts and Eric stalks Christian. Smith throws a laser left and draws first blood. Eric shoots in and goes for the takedown but misses. Eventually he gets in and gets a single and the takedown. Smith scrambles and Eric only gets half guard. Eric then tries for an arm triangle but is unsuccessful because Christian holds his arm and pushes it way from his neck. Eric eventually gives up the arm triange and Smith scrambles but Eric gets full mount. Smith bucks him but falls back into the arm triangle and eventually the referee is forced to step in.
Eric Schambari wins by arm triangle

Damien Stelly vs. Mike Sheppard
The shortest fight of the night was a bit of a yawner. Round one starts and Damien immediately shoots in and gets side mount. He presses Mike against the pole and isolates the opposite limb applying a key lock and forcing Mike to tap out.
Damien wins by Key Lock

Jason Maxwell vs Yuki Inoue
Round one starts and Yuki starts the fight out with a kick. Jason answers with one of his own. Jason shoots in but Yuki reverses and gets the takedown off a single leg trip. Jason uses the cage to get back up and both start throwing knees. Jason gets a takedown off a hip throw and Yuki shunts to the side going for a kimura. Jason opens up with some elbows but Yuki won't let go of the arm even though it is tuck underneath Jason's leg. Yuki gets up and slams Jason against the fence. Jason secures the take down and falls into guard. Jason then gets back off a scramble but Yuki blocks the hooks with his legs. Both eventually get back up and start to throw. Yuki once again gets the leg trip and Jason tries a guillotine but the bell rings.

Round two starts and both throw down. Yuki at this points starts to dominate the match by repeatedly taking down Jason at will. Jason gets up and manages a hip throw but when he lunges in, Yuki catches his hips with both his feet and lifts him off the ground. They both get up and Jason gets a nice uppercut but over-commits and Yuki once again takes him down. Yuki then dominates the ground game by controlling Jasons every move.

Round three starts with Jason taking down Yuki but they scramble and both get back up. Yuki throws some sloppy punches that sets up a leg trip buy Yuki can't seem to pass guard or really GNP but Jason is doing nothing but defending. The round ends with Jason on his back.
Yukie Inoue wins by split decision

Alex Andrade vs. Klas Akesson
Alex Andrade enters the ring with the crowd cheering wildly. He is yet another Dallas native on home turf. Round one starts with Alex coming out swinging. They lock up and both throw knees with Alex pushing Klas against the fence. Alex sinks a guillotine but can't get it. He tries again and is unsuccessful again. Alex then works some body shots against the cage but they become very inactive and the ref has to break them up and re-start. Alex looks tired but keeps leaning up against Klas after rushing in again. They break and Klas gets a nice straight right before the bell.

Round two starts and Alex once again presses Klas up against the cage. Alex gets a double leg takedown and stuffs Klas in the corner. Alex then lands some nice hammerfists. They both eventually get back up and Alex lands a straight right that knocks Klas out on his feet and causes him to turn away. The ref tries to jump in but Klas turns back in to Alex and meets another left-right combo that knocks him down. The ref jump into the middle as Klas and Alex start to swing on the ground and peels Alex off Klas. Klas gets up protesting to the referee and slams his mouthpiece down in frustration.
Alex wins by KO

Carlos Prater vs. Anthony Lapsley
This fight can be defined as the ground fight of the night. Words really can't descibe the depths of the skill shown but its worth trying. There wasn't much up-top work but each were constantly trying for submissions when in guard instead of settling for defense and utilizing position changes and throws to better their causes.

Round one starts with Anthony throwing punches but Carlos reverses the charge and presses him against the cage. Anthony then scores a loud foot stomp while tied up on the cage. Carlos throws some quick knees and Anthony goes for a single leg. Carlos gets the inside leg trip and falls to side mount. They both eventually get back up and clinch again. Carlos goes for a flying Guillotine and Anthony weathers through the weight on his neck. Anthony reverses and stuffs Carlos with some GNP from on top. Anthony gets thrown off and gets Carlos back. Carlos escapes and is then subsequently mounted. Carlos is now bleeding over the left eye from some viscious GNP that happened while mounted. Carlos rolls away from the hits and gives up his back. Carlos tries to roll back and can't. Anthony gets too nigh and Carlos does a shoulder throw to reverse the position.

Round two has Anthony advancing but Carlos counters successfully. Both go down and Carlos is side mounted. Carlos pushes back to half and goes for an armbar. Anthony opens up with some steller over hands. Carlos twists and goes for a heel hook but can't finish it. Both stand up and struggle against the fence clinched. Carlos gets a double leg take down and gets side mount. Carlos advances to mount and tries for an arm triangle but can't finish it before the bell rings.

Round three has Anthony securing the take down and getting Carlos back. Carlos tries for a heel hook but can't hold and falls back into guard. Anthony goes for an arm bar and misses. Lapsley then inches up his guard and tries for a triangle unsuccessfully. Carlos continues to stuff Anthony in the corner and GNP him. Carlos passes to side mount and forces Anthony to roll away from him. Prater then opens up with some nasty knees to the kidneys that reverberate all the way to press row. Anthony then rolls back because the knees are taking their toll. Anthony is grinning as he reverses his position and ends up on top. He throws some short hammers to finish out the round.
Carlos Prater wins a close decision 29-28

Pedro Rizzo vs. Justin Eilers
Pedro is back to his old self. He constantly stalked Justin all match instead of settling for counters. Both were bloody and beaten by the end and it would have turned my stomach to see five rounds. Thank goodness it was only three.

Round one starts with the two heavyweights circling. Justin is laser precise with his kicks and rights. He bobs in for a body shot and follows with a nasty right that bounces off Pedro's face. Pedro counters with a right that just misses. Both then proceed to trade leather and Justin get caughts with a nasty overhand and goes down to the canvas. Eilers recovers just in time to pull guard. Rizzo then throws some huge elbows from up-top while Justin tries desperately to cover. Rizzo goes to half guard and continues to rain down some nasty punches causing Justin to give up his back and roll to a fetal position. Pedro leans on Justins back and seems content to throw hooks to the side of Justin's head. Eilers comes out of his turtle shell every few seconds to throw some elbows over his shoulder at Pedro and they seem to be connecting with frequency. Both sets of blows are loud. After a little bit, Justin lunges up from his turtle position and reverses away from the cage. Both trade blows while pressed against the cage. Pedro throws a half-hearted foot stomp and the bell rings.

Round two has Justin jumping in and landing a straight that sends sweat and water flying off Pedro's head. Pedro then throws a straight and Justin counters. They then trade back and forth with Pedro stalking Eilers around the ring. Justin eventually lunges in and lands a glancing uppercut that seems to stop at the rafters. Pedro immediately answers with a 1-2 while Justin kicks as a counter. Pedro continues to rain in power shots. Justin starts by getting off first but then flags as Pedro continues to apply some heavy leather. Pedro has blood streaming from the bridge of his nose and a mouse under one of his eyes. Justin is cut over his left eye. Pedro lands a nasty knee that has Eilers in trouble. Pedro then goes to work on the front leg of Justin and throws kick after thunking kick and causes Justin to go backwards. Pedro then fakes to the front leg and goes to the head causing sweat to fly off Justin's face. Eilers is rocked but the bell rings and saves him.

Round three starts with both feeling each other out with 1-2 combos. Both are bleeding from the nose and are torn and beaten. Justin finally uses some leading leg kicks and follows up with another upper cut. Pedro continues to work Justin's front leg and is causing visible swelling. Justin lands a hard 1-2 that pushes Pedro back against the cage. Both trade body shots. Pedro goes for the double leg and rains down massive over hands on Justin. Both eventually get up and trade straight right as the bell rings.
Pedro wins unanimous decision

Guy Metzger did a really good job with the matchmaking and if their fights follow his lead, then the "Art of War" should do good for itself. Plan to see another event in May in Austin, Texas.

A couple notes before we go into the analysis of the different matches. Arlovski wins the “Arm Candy of the Night” award with the stunning brunette beauty that he brought to the fights. His cashmere shirt leaves much to be desired though. The night would not have been complete without the drunk old lady at the bar yelling over and over again at the top of her lungs during the Couture fight, “C’mon OLD MAN!!! C’mon OLD MAN!!!”. Anderson Silva is a class act. After the Rich Franklin fight, he came up and was very gracious, congratulating Rich on the win. They even showed him before the match predicting the win for Rich. Class between competitors like that is what sets this sport apart from other venues like boxing, etc. Anyways, lets return to the matches at hand.

Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. Jason Lambert
The night started out with Babalu and Jason Lambert. Jason is 5’10” and at 205 he appears like a walking fireplug. Sobral on the other hand looks like the prototypical fighter with his 6’1” height and tattooed arms. Both look like they are ready to fight.

Round one begins with Babalu swinging for the fences right from the start, lands some low kicks, and secures a takedown. Renato stays in the drivers seat with some hits from up top and eventually secures Lambert’s back. Jason defends the rear naked choke for a bit and eventually reverses the situation. They then stand after awhile and start to trade shots. Jason Lambert appears to be winning the stand up game by landing a few well placed hooks that land before Renato can land his shots. Renato wins round one by virtue of the initial takedown.

Round two starts with a flurry of combos from Jason Lambert that results in a great takedown. Jason is very active from in the guard and continually works body, body, head. Eventually they get stood up and Renato goes for a lazy knee where his hands drop and Jason immediately throws a nasty left hook that knocks Sobral to the canvas and out. Jason Lambert wins by KO.

Matt Hughes vs. Chris Lytle
Chris comes out looking a little nervous, Matt comes out to his customary country music. The crowd roars as Matt enters the ring and is clearly the crowd favorite.

Round one starts and Chris throws a flurry of combos in a fit of nervous energy. He then attempts to jump guard and throw a guillotine that looks pretty tight but Matt eventually slips out. Matt secures side mount and starts to stifle Chris working for the crucifix but Lytle doesn’t give it to him and uses his arm to cover the side that Matt is working. Chris is very limber and gets a weird leg lock on Matt’s head by working his legs up around Matt’s neck from behind. The round ends with Matt trying for an armbar. Matt wins round one by dominating Chris

Round two has Matt getting a double leg on Chris and taking him to the mat again. Matt continues to dominate from side mount with him eventually securing a full mount against the cage near the end of the round. Chris eventually engineers a slick reversal by leveraging the cage with his feet and flipping over his head with him landing on top for a brief time. Matt clearly dominated the second round.

Round three is much of the same. Matt secures the takedown and gets side mount and then proceeds to hold his opponent down. He tries to isolate the opposite arm a couple times but is unsuccessful. The crowd goes impatient and Matt then goes for knee on belly in an effort to pass and starts to punch Chris on the ground in an effort to loosen him up but is unsuccessful. The round ends with Matt Hughes the obvious winner.

Matt Hughes wins by decision 30-27 x 3.

Rich Franklin vs. Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald
Rich Franklin comes out with a huge pre-existing mouse underneath his eye but looks very collected. Jason comes out his usual self, a little nervous, but very energetic and happy to be in the Octagon.

Round one starts with the strategies becoming very obvious. Rich wants to keep the fight standing and Jason wants to take it to the ground. Every time Rich throws a punch Jason starts to shoot in instead of standing and trading. Jason does secure a single leg but Rich utilizes his balance to keep him up on his feet and eventually escapes. Rich then throws some good connecting hits but Jason doesn’t stay engaged. Rich gets some knees in and eventually throws him against the cage. They go to the ground and Rich employs some GNP from up top. MacDonald gets up and eventually secures a single leg that takes Rich down. Rich reverses but the round ends. Rich wins the first round.

Round two starts with a single leg try by Jason MacDonald. He then goes for a flying triangle but is unsuccessful. Rich lands in side control and utilizes the knees to the kidney to loosen Jason up. Rich then mounts with Jason squirming underneath. Jason is forced by blows to turn away and Rich secures the back. Rich then just lets fly some awesome left right combos to Jason’s head. One particular nasty left leaks through as Jason tried to roll away. The bell rings with Herb Dean stepping in and when Jason gets up and goes to the corner, his coach then throws in the towel.

Rich Franklin wins by TKO due to strikes.

Martin Kampmann vs. Drew McFedries
There is some ambient time to kill due to two short matches to they cut to a preliminary match. It isn’t quite as obvious though because a majority of the Ohio crowd is already in their seats watching the fights (which doesn’t happen in Las Vegas).

Round one begins with Drew throwing bombs. He gets some nasty combos off that rock Martin’s world and forces him to clinch. Martin then performs a hip throw from the clinch and lands in side mount. Drew is in trouble. Martin works the side mount and rotates 180 degrees to the opposite side. Drew doesn’t defend so Martin tucks his head underneath Drew’s arm and immediately hops across McFedries body securing the arm triangle. Martin then applies the pressure by rotating his body out clockwise which forces Drew’s own arm against the side of his head and cuts off all the oxygen to Drew’s brain and renders him unconscious. Martin Kampmann wins by Submission due to an arm triangle.

Tim Silvia vs. Randy Couture
There isn’t much to write about this match. Randy comes out looking supremely confident, Silvia comes out his normal self but refuses to look over at Randy except for once.

Round ones starts with a flurry that has Randy landing a nasty right that knocks Silvia to the ground. Randy immediately pounces and then proceeds to work Tim over. He literally holds him there the whole time working GNP for the whole round. Randy wins the round by domination.

Round two starts and Randy gets a single. Silvia’s base isn’t wide enough and Randy takes him to the ground. Randy again applies the GNP from the guard and half guard and does that all round with very little reply from Silvia.

Round three Randy changes tactics and stands with Silvia, he lands some nasty lefts and rights but refuses to play with Tim’s jabs. He uses constant head movement to throw Tim off and doesn’t allow the jab to land. Tim is afraid to throw any kicks because of the takedowns that Randy has been doing all match. Randy wins the round again. Tim looks overmatched and defeated.

Round four starts and Randy gets a great takedown from a clinch by utilizing an inside leg trip. Tim eventually gets up after eating some shots but Randy immediately goes for a double leg and is successful. He gets side mount. He eventually uses strikes to move to full mount position but Tim gets out. Randy wins the fourth round by totally dominating Tim.

Round five is much of the same. Randy is scoring takedowns at will. The GNP that he has been applying is starting to become evident on Tim’s face and he has a huge subdermal hematoma above his left eye. Tim is weary and gives up full mount to Randy and allows him to rain down blows. Randy wins round five in a dominating fashion yet again.

Randy wins by decision 50-45 x 3 and is the new Heavyweight UFC champion at 43 years old!!!

Last Saturday night should be deemed “The Night of Upsets”. PRIDE had set up a storyline of Gaijin vs. Japanese where they expected all their brightest and greatest to own lots of American and ex-UFC stars. Things didn’t go as planned.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Dan Henderson
This match was a slugfest. It went back and forth with Dan “Hollywood” Henderson actually owning Vandy after the first round. Wanderlei did not look as crisp and was constantly moving backwards as Dan Henderson pushed the pace and controlled the arena. Eventually Dan Henderson landed a spinning hammerfist in the third round that send Silva reeling. This move didn’t finish Vandy off but it was the signal of the end. Shortly thereafter, Dan came in with a straight right and a left hook that knocked the champion out. Dan wins in the third round by KO and is both the 185 and 205 lb. PRIDE champion.

Sokoudjou vs. Antonio Rougerio Nogueira
The upset of the night happened in this match. Sokoudjou is brand new to the sport and actually interviewed with Komikazee first. He was expected to lie down for Nogueira but Sokoudjou did nothing of the sort. He came out with some really strong lower leg kicks that caused Antonio to drop his guard slighly and left the fatal opening. Sokoudjou then pounced right after one of his leg kicks with a left hook that knocked Antonio out cold. Sokoudjou wins in 28 seconds by KO

Gomi vs. Nick Diaz
This fight was billed in Japan as Gomi vs. top UFC star. It was supposed to be the start of his “raid” into the UFC lightweights. Nothing went as planned for the Japanese superstar. Nick Diaz isn’t an upper echelon UFC fighter, but he ain’t a patsy either. Nick came in with a chip on his shoulder and took it to Gomi. The first round was spectacular with punches flying from both sides. Gomi even landed a flush hit on Nick’s chin that fell him to the canvas. Unfortunately, Gomi gassed at the end of the first round and Nick took over from there. In the second round, Nick started to taunt with his upraised hands and was landing shots at will. Gomi was wobbling from exhaustion and throwing haymakers to no avail. Eventually Nick took him down and applied a gogoplata to force the tapout. Nick Diaz wins by submission in the second round.

All three of these fights were spectacular to behold. Whether they helped PRIDE out in the long-run remains to be seen. There were others on the card. For the full reviews, see this great article on Sherdog.

The Tokyo-based Sabres, led by Ken Yasuda and Los Angeles-based Anacondas, coached by Bas Rutten, won their respective season-opening International Fight League matchups today in front of 4,531 at Reliant Arena in Houston. Matt Lindland, coach of the Portland-based Wolfpack submitted Carlos Newton, Toronto-based Dragons' coach in the "Superfight" which followed the team matchups.

The Sabres won, 3-2, over the Scorpions, coached by Don Frye and based in Tucson, while the Anacondas upended the defending IFL World Team Champion Silverbacks, led by Pat Miletich, by the same 3-2 count.

Lindland earned the victory with a second-round submission, taking out Newton with a series of punches to the face, backing Newton into the corner before dropping to the ground for the guillotine choke to finish the match.

The Houston card marked the first event in the Southwest for the IFL (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world's first team-based professional mixed martial arts league, and is part of the full 11-event IFL 2007 schedule, the most comprehensive advance schedule in the history of fight sports.

In the first matchup, Antonio McKee (Long Beach, Calif.) got the Sabres (1-0) off to a good start with a TKO victory over Gabe Rivas (Tucson, Ariz.), when he delivered a kick to Rivas' midsection which sent the Scorpions' (0-1) welterweight crumbling to the mat with a leg injury. The referee immediately stopped the bout and Rivas left under his own power. Light heavyweight Vladimir Matyushenko (Retchisa, Belarus) pushed the Sabres' advantage to 2-0 with a first-round submission victory over Dwayne Compton (Tucson, Ariz.), gaining a side mount and converting the armbar, from which Compton could not escape. Scorpions' heavyweight Chad Griggs (Tucson, Ariz.) pulled his team within 2-1 with a third-round TKO triumph over John Marsh in a hard-hitting bout. Lightweight Savant Young (Pasadena, Calif.) clinched the victory for the Sabres with a hard-fought unanimous decision over Ed West (Tucson, Ariz.) in an entertaining battle. Matt Ver Halen scored a lightweight victory by unanimous decision over scrappy Masaaki Izena (Tokyo) for the final 3-2 margin.

In the highly-anticipated battle between the Anacondas (1-0) and Silverbacks (0-1), heavyweight Ben Rothwell (Kenosha, Wis.) struck first blood for the defending champs, registering a second-round TKO over a game Matt Thompson (Austin, Texas), who served as a replacement for the Anacondas' regular at the spot, Krzysztof Soszynski. In the welterweight bout, Jay Hieron (Las Vegas, Nev.) battled past another alternate, Victor Moreno (Des Moines, Iowa) to even the match with a first-round submission by rear naked choke. Moreno fought in place of Rory Markham, who was out with an eye injury. Anacondas middleweight Benji Radach (Longview, Wash.) took a slugfest from Ryan McGivern (Bettendorf, Iowa), landing a series of punches to finish off the TKO at 2:22 of the second round. The much-hyped lightweight battle between Chris Horodecki (London, Ontario) of the Anacondas and Bart Palaszewski (Wonderlake, Ill.) of the Silverbacks was everything fans expected, with Horodecki taking a split decision to secure the team victory for Rutten's squad. Light heavyweight Mike Ciesnolevicz (Williamstown, Pa.) took a split decision from Alex Schoenauer (Las Vegas, Nev.), completing the scoring.

The IFL next moves to the Gwinnett Center in suburban Atlanta, where the Dragons (Toronto), coached by Newton, take on the Wolfpack (Portland), coached by Lindland, and the Red Bears (Chicago), led by Igor Zinoviev, battle the Pitbulls (New York), led by Renzo Gracie. Popular MMA veterans Robbie Lawler and Eduardo Pamplona will match up in the "Superfight" following the team competition.

The first fight of the night was a total surprise. Although Fisher is technical with his hands, he revealed a fatal flaw that led to his downfall.

Round 1 starts out with both trading punches in flurries. Spencer seems tentative because of the takedown threat from Hermes. They trade shots with Franca ducking and throwing wild haymakers. Spencer keeps dropping his hands slightly after each exchange. Hermes scores takedown after takedown at will but Fisher is defending them well using his feet to keep his opponent off and putting both hands on his ears to protect his head from the over-the-top hits from Franca. They eventually stand and the round ends.

Round 2 has Fisher coming out stronger and crisper. Hermes takes the flurry of blows and scores the takedown with a good outside leg trip. There is a good scramble with Spencer finally getting back up. Fisher looks gassed and keeps slightly dropping his hands after every hit. Hermes at this point appears tired too and can't score a takedown so he resorts to looping hooks aimed at Spencers head. One such punch that originated from his waist actually lands and rocks Fisher's world. Hermes jumps in and finishes him off with a flurry of nasty hits that forces the referee to jump in because Spencer is out on his feet.

Hermes Franca wins in the 2nd round by TKO. It must have been the purple hair he had because Franca looked unstoppable out there. I didn't see Pat Miletich in his corner tonight. His coach was probably in Houston prepping the rest of the Miletich team for their IFL Houston date.

The next fight really isn't worth writing much about.

Herring pretty much spends most of the next fight on his back. He seems bewildered by the size of the octagon that allows Jake to dodge his flurry of hits at will. Jake immediately rushes in after the flurry of punches are finished and scores takedown after takedown. Pretty much repeat ad nauseaum through 3 rounds. By the third round, Heath is totally disgusted by the wrestlers moves and shows it with finger wagging, etc.

Jake O'Brien scores the upset and wins by unanimous decision.

next match shown was Ed Herman vs. Chris Price. Chris is an ex-marine and my respect goes out to him but he was outclassed on this battleground.

Round 1 started out with a scrum. Ed Herman gets the first takedown but Chris tries for a Kimura multiple times from his back that kind of transitions into a straight armbar. Ed successfully defends and answers with some awesome elbows from up top. He forces Chris to roll, takes the back, and then tries to force his hooks in. Ed grabs Chris' right arm in the process and then Chris tries to come out the backdoor. Ed transitions lightning fast to the left arm then rolls Chris over with a cross-face leg and slaps on the armbar forcing Price to tap immediately.

Ed Herman returns to fighting form by defeating Chris Price handily. He didn't even appear cocky and had even changed his hairstyle. Maybe this is the start of his redemption in the UFC.

The last fight of the night is the main event, Rashad Evans vs. Sean Salmon and there were no surprises here other than Rashad's kicking game.

Round one starts with Sean Salmon throwing some half-hearted jumping switch kicks. They look absolutely raunchy and can probably be attributed to nerves. Salmon then starts to throw some wild shots and a couple land on Rashad, suprising the heavily favored fighter. Rashad answers back with lightning hands and sends Sean on the defensive. You can tell that Sean's adrenaline is pumping because he is real skittish and breathing hard threw his mouth halfway through the first round. Sean does score the first takedown though and quickly transitions from half-guard to side control. There is a good left right from Sean as Rashad gets up. Rashad throws a couple body kicks but Sean grabs one of them and throws Rashad to the ground. Rashad does get back up and lands a good right as the bell rings for round one.

Round 2 starts with a great takedown by Rashad Evans. Sean Salmon is leaning slightly forward Rashad launches a nasty head kick that knocks Sean out cold. Rashad then drops a bomb onto the already unconscious fighters head before the referee can jump in and pull off Evans.

Rashad wins by KO by kicks in the second round.

Overall, it was a great night for fights. The quality of talent was top notch. Hopefully Heath Herring can get used to the space of the octagon and become a force in the Heavyweight division. Thank you Zuffa for the free night entertainment.

I am going to start out my review with some random thoughts from the night.

Chris leben came out with his customary bright red hair but he was sporting it in a CURLY MOHAWK style!!! I’m sorry, curly mohawks just don’t work!!! They just don’t. It looked like roadkill on top of his head.

Speaking of roadkill, They flashed Anderson “Spider” Silva on the screen because he was in attendance. He was wearing some spotted fur coat that LOOKED LIKE ROADKILL ALSO!!! I’m sorry Anderson, this isn’t the 80’s, the pimp you beat up out back called and he wants his coat back.

Foreigners and post-fight speeches just don’t go over well when you are listening in a bar atmosphere.

Michael Bisping is from London and has a heavy accent. The sports bar I was at was really, really raucous and my friend turned to me and asked if Bisping was speaking chinese or something. You couldn’t understand a word he said. Same with Arlovski. Plus their head movements away from the mic wasn’t working as they swayed from exhaustion.

Learn to get some directional mic’s on those guys and a translator too.

All the fights went according to UFC plan except for poor Forrest Griffin (The big guy was reduced to tears). I am just going to give my some random thoughts on the matches.

Bisping vs. Schafer

This wasn’t even really close. Schafer had absolutely no stand-up and kept rushing in head-long for a single leg without setting it up with any kind of combo’s. He finally scored a couple take downs but Bisping was really picking him apart and eventually ended up on top pounding him out. It was good to see “The Count” back in action and I hope they put his career on the fast track. I would love to see him go against some of the top Light Heavyweights such as Ortiz, Griffin, or even Jardine.

Arlovski vs. Cruz

This fight was interesting but short. Cruz did not want to stand with the Sambo expert one minute. He immediately went for a takedown to show off his Jiu Jitsu skills.

They both ended up with semi-ankle locks but Arlovski kicked to the head and was warned. How ridiculous is that. THEY WERE BOTH DOWN!!! WHY CAN’T YOU DEFEND AN ANKLELOCK WITH A KICK IF YOU ARE BOTH ON THE GROUND?!?!? Anyways, too many rules IMHO. Not enough ways to keep your opponent honest.

Cruz refused the reset because he wanted to stay down and Arlovski took the break-time to set up an explosive right cross from a sitting to position that eventually landed on Cruz chin. Arlovski immediately pounced and GNP’ed Cruz until the referee called the bout.

Leben vs. MacDonald

Leben was exposed yet again. I called it on my podcast. Jason MacDonald will find your weakness and exploit it. Leben has minimal ground game and when you continually jump into a guys guard like that, you are going to eventually pay.

Chris “The Crippler” Leben controlled the first round. His punches, although not tight and clean, were enough to keep MacDonald honest. He kept jumping into MacDonald’s guard though knowing that Jason was better on the ground. In the second round, MacDonald made him pay and eventually secured a nasty guillotine from the side that strangled Leben enough that he couldn’t even tap out and knocked him totally unconscious.

Forrest vs. Keith

Forrest was looking real good standing up. He was clean and throwing some real good punches. He just got too comfortable and Jardine stepped into the kill zone and opened up a buzzsaw when Forrest was lulled. It all started with an uppercut and then Jardine just went to town knocking Forrest out with a flurry up top and a flurry on the ground when Forrest went down. Forrest was knocked out hardcore and the referee stepped in to call off the dogs.

Poor Forrest went back to his corner and bawled his eyes out. I am not disrespecting him. When you poor everything into a fight for six weeks and invest yourself emotionally, it’s really hard not to get emotional. I can respect that in a fighter. I have high hopes for Forrest and he has improved every time I’ve seen him which that is better than others on the card.

Tony Desouza vs. Thiago Alves

I called this one and I am glad they showed it over the air. Thiago came out with a vengeance. Desouza is way longer than Alves but he could not match the up-top skills Alves brought to the table. Desouza refused to take advantage of his reach by jabbing Alves off him. He kept trying to shoot in for single legs without setting up the takedown with combos. Alves made him pay every time. The bell saved Tony in the first round. It couldn’t do the same in the second round. Desouza charged in yet again and Alves met him with a knee that spelled good night.

Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell

Tito vs. Chuck. What can I say. Tito got two good take downs and even got a look at Chuck’s back but he was exposed. He doesn’t have decent JJ skills so that he could exploit the openings Chuck gives when he tries to get back up. I think the fight was stopped a little bit too early but maybe the UFC is trying to send a message to “turtles” (people who just cover up on the ground a long time and don’t try to fight back) and if that is the case, then I am just fine with that.

The first round went as a feeling out round. Chuck kept Tito at bay and constantly peppered him with hits from range. Tito tried a couple takedowns but couldn’t score one and ended up eating punches because of it. The round ended with Chuck winning.

The second round had Tito scoring a couple takedowns after setting them up with leg kicks and punches. If he could only have worked that front leg more, I think he would have been way more successful. But apparently, he broke something in his foot when Chuck checked the kick. Anyways, he was able to score a couple takedowns with one even landing him on Chuck’s back. He couldn’t capitalize though and the round ended with Ortiz slightly edging out Chuck.

The third and decisive round started with the same cat and mouse game. The failure of Ortiz to secure his takedowns were finally giving Chuck confidence and each time Ortiz failed and fell back, Chuck would rush in and land some dropping punches. Eventually Ortiz got caught in a nasty flurry up top that knocked him to the ground and forced him to turtle too long. The referee stepped in and called the match. Even though it was a little early, the outcome was inevitable.

Great Title fight. Great undercards. Great company. What more can you say? The UFC really upped the ante on entertainment yet again.

GSP was on a mission last night. He wanted the welterweight championship belt and nothing was going to stop him. The MMA world was expecting a competitive match where Hughes and GSP would battle it out as equals in a hard grueling battle to the finish. What they got was a man on a mission, who made Hughes look like an amateur and utterly dominated the match for the short time that it went. Touche GSP.

The first round showed a very tentative Matt Hughes. GSP came out strong with left-rights, leg kicks, and spry movement. He even landed a spinning side kick just like the first match that brought a smile to Matt Hughes' face. What was missing was the aggression from the champ. He didn't aggressively try to shoot or take down and seemed content to get peppered by GSP from the outside. GSP did land two accidental nut shots however in that first round that took the wind out of Matt's sails but GSP remained focus after every restart. Matt was especially tentative after the groin shots when GSP would try to kick for the legs. This time it was GSP in the head of Hughes instead of the other way around.

In the closing minute, Matt finally gets a takedown but GSP reverses and ends up on top and Matt is forced to stand back up. GSP lands a punishing knee in the final seconds and knocks Hughes down but he is saved by the bell.

The second round was even shorter. GSP continued to pepper the champion from the outside, scoring at will and stuffing all of Matt's concerted efforts at takedowns. GSP lands a high kick with his shin to the side of Hughes head at 3:45 left in the round that sends the champ to the mat. GSP immediately pounces and lands a nasty dropping straight and immediately follows it up with some vicious elbows that send Hughes eyes rolling and him flailing in desperation. Big John McCarthy is forced to step in and wave off the dogs.

GSP wins in the second round by TKO. He is the new welterweight champion.

The second card of the fight isn't even worth recounting but I will do it briefly. Silvia fought Monson in the snooze of the night for five rounds with Silvia winning the decision only because he had a 10" reach advantage and Monson never could reach him.

There was only one round, the third round that was worth recounting. After two rounds of standing and staring at each other, Monson finally shot in successfully and scored the takedown. The crowd roared because finally he was past Silvia's guard, in side control, and could actually reach Silvia's head. Silvia showed admirable skills at this point and was able to eventually roll out of side control. Monson then scored a deep guillotine which Silvia gator rolled out of and ended up with Monson in a neck crank. Monson then escaped the neck crank but put the champ, Tim Silvia, almost in a mount position. Tim went for a double armbar but Monson was able to slip out of it due to sweat and rolled Silvia to guard. Tim then went for a leg triangle but wasn't able to tuck the foot successfully and Monson powered out of that attempt.The rest of the match had them standing and staring at each other to a boring finish.

After the match, Tim then called out Brandon Vera in what appeared to be a pre-scripted event. Brandon then came into the ring and posed with Tim. I have some sources and I am going to find out if it was spontaneous or prompted that this happened.

Tim Silvia wins the decision after four inactive rounds and one exciting round.

The surprise of the night was the Drew McFedries / Alessio Sakara fight. Drew took the fight on short notice due to a drop-out and was surprisingly game. The Miletich trained Drew stood up with the Italian boxer and was able to go toe-to-to with the striker.

The first round started with Drew dominating. I don't think Sakara expected Drew to come out and bang. Drew was throwing great combos because he wasn't afraid of a takedown. A couple of his uppercuts were landing and damaging and they jarred the boxer to activity. Alessio shot forward and landed some great body shots followed by damaging left-rights which eventually ended in a straight punch that sent Drew's mouthpiece and spit flying from his mouth.

Drew changed up the fight at this point after getting his mouthpiece replaced (the UFC is being good at this now since Caro Parisyan lost a tooth in a match) and took the action to the ground. He threw the boxer off-balance by taking him down to the ground. Sakara was smart though and immediately popped back up. Drew then went to town with some great combos that sent the boxer to the mat in a delayed leg folding reaction. Drew pounced and Yamasaki had to call an end to the bout.

Drew McFedries wins in the first round by TKO due to strikes at 4:07.

The Joe Stevenson / Mishima bout was surprisingly one sided. Mishima did great and took Joe down with him in top position. The inexplicable action that led to his downfall was him constantly putting his head into a vulnerable guillotine position by Joe's side when Joe was on his back. Joe sunk the guillotine once and Mishima powered out of it. Then Mishima put it back there again and escaped again. The third time was the charm though and Joe locked up full guard this time and forced Mishima to tap out. I guess he wasn't expecting how strong Joe Stevenson was.

Joe Stevenson wins in the first round due to a guillotine choke.

The James Irvin / Hector Ramirez was action packed but painfully sloppy. James Irvin slipped multiple times trying to throw head kicks. Every time he went to kick, his hands dropped to his side and Hector was making him pay with straights. Hector was able to take Irvin down and almost got his back but Irvin powered out and played hurt until Hector closed then tried to go for a back fist and finished with a flurry of punches up until the bell.

The second round started with a flurry of punches yet again but this time James Irvin got the better of Hector and dropped him with a straight right. James started to walk away thinking the fight was over but the referee called him back and he then pounced on Ramirez and ended the bout with a flurry that forced the referee to stop it.

James Irvin wins by TKO in the second round.

The saddest bout shown on the night was the Mir / Vera fight. "The Truth" lived up to his name and quickly made Mir look foolish. I was commenting to a fellow by-stander that Frank Mir looked like a shadow of his former self and the fight bore out my observations.

Frank Mir surprisingly decided to stand and trade with the Muy Thai practicioner and Vera made him pay dearly. Vera tore him apart with straight combo's and some nasty knees that force Mir in desperation to go for a single leg. I saw Frank Mir's eyes as he went for the takedown and they were already rolling. Vera stuffed the attempt easily and continued to pour it on until Frank Mir was forced to go into a fetal position. At this point the referee stepped in and called the bout.

Brandon Vera wins by TKO in the first round due to strikes.

In the other un-televised bouts of the night, Nick Diaz won against Tibau and Josh Shockman recorded his first professional MMA loss against Jake O'Brien.

All in all it was a very entertaining night (except for one painfully long bout) puncuated by an exciting championship turnover where GSP was crowned the new welterweight champion.

I have to admit. I was in the optimal conditions when I watched the matches for the first time. I attended Wizard World and happened to secure free tickets to a viewing party that Spike TV was putting on for their darling program, “The Ultimate Fighter”. Everybody that was there, wanted to be there and were hyped up about the fight. There was a free bar, plenty of cha-chi’s from Spike TV, and great company all around.

I happened to get a seat by two stand up fighters from the IFL, Brad Blackburn and Shane “Battlecat” Johnson. Brad fights for the Seattle Tiger Sharks and Shane is an Ex-Tokyo Sabre that will be fighting for the Arizona Scorpions next year. You can’t find two nicer guys. They were extremely approachable, open, and great with all the fans. I had the opportunity to interview both that morning and they still put up with me at the evening event.

Shane and Brad both ended up playing ping-pong against each other during the matches and alternating off with various other IFL employees and fans that wanted to jump in. I truly was torn between watching these two fighters play ping-pong and watching the fights. It was a weird dilemma to have.

Maurice Smith, the coach of the Seattle Tiger Sharks and a legendary MMA fighter in his own right, was also present and circling among the fans.

I did have a defining moment during the festivities. While we were waiting for the Matt Serra / Chris Lytle fight to begin, I catch Brad Blackburn waving at me from across the table. He’s a quiet guy so I guess he didn’t feel like yelling. I look over at him and he asks me, “So who do you think is going to win?” The question blew me away. Here was a professional fighter and athlete asking MY opinion on which way the match was going to go. I told him my honest opinion in that if Serra got it to the ground, it would be over but if Chris Lytle was able to capitalize on his range then Serra was in trouble. His thoughts were that Chris was good enough to neutralize Serra on the ground and that Chris had way too much range for Serra to overcome. The great thing is that Brad wasn’t being facetious and really valued my opinion. It really made all the time I spend preparing and studying worthwhile.

Anyways, I digress. Every fight that they showed was great. The finale matches went exactly the way I thought they would but there were some great surprises in the prelims.

I think the first surprise of the night was how good the Scott Smith / Pete Sell fight was. Both came out swinging for the fences and in good spirits. It was bewildering to see two fighters try to knock each others blocks off and high five as they were doing it. Neither was pulling punches and they both kept trading jabs and crosses that would fell a lesser opponent. Scott Smith was definitely the crisper fighter and by the end of the first round, Pete Sell had a cut under each eye and swelling was setting in.

The second round was just as wild with each fighter punching and counter-punching. Even though Scott was the cleaner fighter, Pete still wouldn’t take it to the mat. Eventually Pete got in a nasty hook to the ribs of Scott Smith and Scott fell back in pain wincing with his hands covering the place where he got hit. Pete immediately jumped in but he made the fatal mistake of lowering his hands as he arrowed in for the kill. Scott threw one last perfect straight right that started from a kneeling position and ended up on Pete Sell’s chin and knocked Pete out. Scott then stumbled down onto Pete and John McCarthy jumped in and separated the two. Scott fell back in pain to join Pete on the canvas and they both lay there as they were being attended. I heard the doctor say to Scott, “Yeah, we are definitely going to get you a chest x-ray...”. Scott won by TKO.

The Middleweight finalists, Travis Lutter and Patrick Cote, fought a lightning quick match. Before the match, the UFC did a pre-fight interview with Travis and he looked straight at the camera’s and said (paraphrasing), “Patrick, I am going to shoot in and take you down. I will then take an arm or leg and it will be over.” Travis Lutter doesn’t lie and that is what he did. Travis circled for a second, and then shot straight in, backing Cote up to the fence. He was able to get in deep with a double leg grab. Patrick looked bewildered by Travis strength and no matter what he tried, he could not dislodge the BJJ expert that was wrapped around both his legs. Travis then lifted him up and pushed him off to the left and crawled into half-guard. From half guard he was able to secure the back. When Cote tried to go out the back door, he made the fatal mistake of leaving an arm out there which Travis then latched onto and stretched it out for an armbar. Game Over. Travis wins :42 in the first round. I just want to go on the record and state that I called it from the first time I saw Travis fight on the series...

The Serra match was a lot longer but the results were the same. The first round had Serra rushing in to neutralize Chris Lytle’s reach advantage. Just take that sentence and repeat it ad naseum. Even when the referee took the fight back to the feet, Chris was way too tentative and worried about the take down to utilize his jab to maintain his distance. Serra took the match by decision after three rounds of stifling Chris.

There were other great matches but those were the most memorable ones. I wasn’t just biased by the party though (although thank you Spike TV for the good time). I went home and watched them again from my DVR and they still held up to scrutiny. I give the night 4 out of 5 stars.

The episode starts with a recap of the Serra / Carter fight and I still marvel that Shonie got that spinning backfist in. He rocked Serra even though he missed and hit him with the forearm. If he had hit with the fist, it would have been lights out for Serra.

After the highlights from the last show, the program quickly transitions to the house. The fighters have been cooped up way too long and are literally going stir crazy.

Pete Spratt is talking about running through a wall but Mikey Burnett beats him to the punch. He puts on some swimming goggles, gets a football, then proceeds to bludgeon the wall with his body. This would be an impossible wall to run through because it is a wall in the living room that is an external wall but he keeps taking running slams against it.

The first time, he makes a good dent where his legs hit. The second time he hits a stud and bounces off the wall. There is blood on the wall now yet an impression is left where his arms hit. The third time he about knocks himself silly. Every time he gets up, he keeps alluding to football. Fourth down, Mikey is wobbly but takes a HUGE running start and hits the wall hard. You can see insulation now. Mikey claims afterwards that he thinks he broke the plane of the goal line and therefore won. I think the wall won personally because there is no way Mikey could have gone through it

After Mikey's futilistic display of masochism, they then cut to Dana White summing up the matches. He is still banging on Pete Sell taking the harder fight because he is friends with Patrick Cote. Travis is darn good but you have to admire a person who sticks by his principles despite the money involved.

Another example of the stir crazy attitudes of the fighters then ensues. Shonie starts the whole thing off by flicking cards across a room. He's really good at it so others start getting decks of cards and trying to flick them at him. Shonie actually cuts Gideon Ray's nose with a card flick and he gets ticked. So they escalate the action by throwing disposable plates, follow by poker chips, and then food gets involved. The couches are tipped to be used as forts and all hell breaks loose. They even tape a box to Mikey's head to use as his "helmet" and the big items get involved. Water bottles start flying and somebody even gets ice cream and start to sling it. The whole living room is trashed. Chairs are broken, food is everywhere, and the fighters are having a rip roaring time. Who doesn't like to destroy somebody elses property

They don't show any montages for the fighters because those have already been done but they do show Travis training. His whole team "No Love" is living up to it's name. They have stopped training and have left Travis to fend for himself which he does successfully. Delagrotte, a coach, trains him and tries to get Travis to think more about Ground-N-Pound with his Jiu-Jitsu game. The interesting thing is, they don't show much of Pete working out which means that the fight is going the full three rounds.

The fight is next and it ends up being a ground clinic. If you don't like BJJ then this fight wasn't for you.

Round 1 starts of with the two feeling each other out. Travis shoots in as expected and Pete wards him off for a little bit but doesn't watch where he is backing up to and gets pushed against the fence. Travis gets the single leg and pulls him down to the ground and gets guard. Travis then passes guard to half guard, then side mount, and ends up in full mount. He is using the foot pry really successfully throughout the whole match to pass half guard. Sell spins out of the mount but Luter maintains control. Travis then tries for a straight arm bar from the side mount unsuccessfully. Luter then opens up some elbows which cuts Pete right at the eyebrow. Pete has no answer for Luter's ground game. Luter wins the round.

Round 2 starts with Pete on his bicycle desperately trying to keep Travis at distance where he can throw punches. He tries some good uppercuts and a couple straights but eventually gets driven against the cage. Travis grabs the right leg of Sell and drags him to the ground in a half guard. Sell again has no answer for Travis on the ground. He can't get up and he knows just enough Jiu-Jitsu to avoid the submissions that Travis keeps trying. Sell tries to push Travis off him with his feet but is unsuccessful. He then tries butterfly guard but doesn't move his hips enough. Travis gets half-guard again and throws some nice elbows to the head followed by another straight armbar try that is barely unsuccessful. Sell tries some hooks to the head from the bottom but Luter is pressed up against him and too close. Travis gets side mount yet again and starts to rain more elbows. Luter goes for a double armbar and is unsuccessful. Luter wins the round by virtue of being on top. Travis is in his corner really really gassed from doing all the work.

Round 3 starts and Travis immediately drives Sell to the fence and gets a single leg to drag Pete down. Travis gets full mount and starts a GNP session that lasts about a minute and a half. The referee finally stands them up and Travis shoots straight in and gets a good double leg slam on Sell. The GNP continues with body shots and elbows coming in with Travis in full control from side mount the whole time. Travis picks up steam and tries for full mount but can't get it. Sell is helpless against Travis full Jiu-Jitsu attacks and Luter wins the 3rd round.

During the fight recap everybody states the obvious that Luter manhandled Sell from beginning to end. Pete couldn't stuff the take-down, couldn't stop the elbows, and couldn't reverse the dominant ground positions. Randy Couture said it best. "Travis dominated the fight and rode him like a cheap suit."

Travis wins by unanimous decision.

After the fight, Pete Sell cries his heart out. He acknowledges that he is a hypocrite because he made fun of the others that cried after their fight and explains that "everybody loses". Next week it will be Edwin "The Bleeder" Dewees and Patrick Cote's turn to fight it out.

Great episode all around. As a side note, I called Travis Luter getting to the finals at the beginning of the season and here it is coming true. I personally think that he is going to win it all. Mark your calendars because we will find out on Nov. 11th if my prediction is true.

The episode starts with a recount of the previous week's fight of Patrick Cote and Jorge Rivera. I forgot that there was a huge upkick delivered by Patrick to Jorge in the first round and would definitely explain a lot of Jorge's sluggishness. Regardless, Patrick Cote had won.

Matt Hughes showed up unexpectedly while the teams were training. Everybody was quite surprised that he didn't arrive with fanfare like the rest of the champions and they even made him go out of the door so they could toot their horns from him. GSP was a like a deer in the headlights and immediately exited the building. I don't blame him. You are going to have to fight him in the ring in a month for a title and I personally would be a tad uncomfortable.

Serra as usual opens his big mouth and starts bad mouthing Hughes calling him a penis and a stuck-up jock farmboy on their trip back to the house after their training session. I think Serra is one of those types that just says whatever immediately comes into his brain which tends to put people.

The next stage has all the coaches, Dana White, and the two champions (Hughes and Liddell) going into a room to call in the fighters one by one so that they can tell them what their matchup picks are. Serra calls them the "Jedi Council" because there are all these powerful men sitting around this one table discussing the fighters futures.

Pete Sell surprises everybody and asks to fight Travis Luter because he has become good friends with Patrick Cote. Definitely the harder matchup but the coaches seem to listen although they don't agree with his decision. I don't expect them to understand friendship over money but I respect Pete even more for his choice. Matt Serra goes in and requests Shonie's head on a platter. Shonie goes spouting pontifications about how he wants to fight Din Thomas because he "doesn't want to beat up on the peasants".

They then come out and announce the matchups and a surprise. Not only will the fighters be getting a $100,000 prize and a title shot, but they will also be getting a $100,000 year sponsorship contract with Xyience. Quite a score IMHO.

They announce the fights. Here are the matchups:
Pete Sell vs. Travis Luter
Patrick Cote vs. Edwin Dewees
Din Thomas vs. Chris Lytle
Shonie Carter vs. Matt Serra

Matt Hughes then takes all the fighters out for Sushi and while they are waiting for their meals, he then starts to dig at GSP who is on the opposite side of the room from Matt. I personally think it's in jest because he's talking about schedules and how he has put himself on opposite schedules from GSP but GSP doesn't take it very well. Din Thomas then under his breath tells GSP that he hopes GSP kicks Matt's butt. Matt then says "I can hear you, you know...". Quite funny actually to see the look on Din's face.

They then showcase the fight. One thing I noticed, they don't do the retrospective this week because there was A LOT more quality content and no need for fillers.

Round one starts off slow. They each throw punches feeling each other out. After a good combination from Chris with him throwing heavy right hands, Din shoots in and misses with Chris landing in guard. This is where it gets frustrating. Every time they go to the ground, Chris gets guard and then just sits there holding Din down. Granted, Din can't reverse but Chris isn't trying to advance either. This goes the whole match this way. Eventually the referee stands them up and Chris lands another couple of good rights. One thing I noticed is that every time Chris jabs, he immediately drops it rather than returning it to position. Din shoots and misses again with Chris landing in guard. Chris holds him down. Din tries for a half-hearted guillotine but the time expires on the round. Chris wins this round

Round two starts with another good flurry from Chris. This time he is mixing good kick and punch combo's to break Din down. Din clinches then throws a scissor take-down but Chris still gets guard. More of Chris holding down Din and not much action. Chris is throwing some short punches but not much power. He gets a good elbow in and a couple hooks. Referee then stands them back up. Chris continues to dominate up top and even throws some great body shots that seem to take the wind out of Din's sails. Din is fighting back and does get a couple shots off but there seems to be more coming from Chris in response. At this point, they both seem to be gassing and their guards are dropping. Another exchange happens after a clinch and Din comes away bloody from the nose right when the round ends. Chris wins again.

Round three starts with Din getting desperate. He knows he lost the last two rounds and comes out swinging. He takes it to Chris and gets some really good combo's in but Chris weathers the storm and ties him up against the cage. Din gets a single leg and takes it to the ground. Chris tries for a guillotine and then reverses with him landing back in his favorite place, the guard. He then ratchets up the speed of his GNP and gets a little bit looser. Referee stands them back up and Din gets another good flurry in, this time dinging Chris good. They bang up against the cage clinched and Din comes away bloody again. Chris clinches and drives Din to the cage and they are both exhausted. Chris secures a full lower bearhug and slams Din to the ground but he still doesn't advance in the guard. The referee stands them up one more time and Din brings it strong, finally securing a take-down that lands him on top of Chris. Chris rotates out of the brutal straights that Din is throwing in flurries over his legs and tries for a leg lock right when the match ends. Din might have won that last round.

After all that, Chris is announced the winner by unanimous decision.

This was by far the most entertaining episode of the season with everybody feeling the attention and finally a fight of parity to look forward to. Stay tuned next week as the most anticipated fight of the series comes to a head with Matt Serra looking to avenge his loss against Shonie Carter.

In the meantime, there was plenty of drama to be had in the house and it pretty much came from one source, Shonie Carter. Shonie decided that it’s every man for himself and went to train with team No Love instead of his own team. Needless to say, neither team was happy. On top of that, he was dropping eff bombs all over the place about his team, about everybody else, and about life in general. Shonie sure knows how to conduct a class in “How to Make Everybody Hate You”. He wrote the whole curriculum it seems.

Serra, who cornered for him and I feel was the real reason Shonie did so good, finally just threw down the gauntlet and said no more excuses, Shonie was a punk. So the drama was high all around. You can tell that being in the same house with so many disparate personalities is really starting to wear on everybody. I thought it would have been different with professional fighters but seems that they are only Human.

They then went over each of Jorge’s and Patrick’s backgrounds.

I found it extremely interesting to go down memory lane with each of Patrick’s fights. He has three losses in the UFC but each one was always entertaining. His first was to Tito and he went the full distance and even rocked the man. He eventually lost to a decision. He then fought Joe Doerkson and was winning soundly when he fell into an armbar. He then fought Chris Leben and lost to a split decision. Each were competitive in their own right.

Jorge divulged that he had a rough childhood and fighting is his way of venting those angry emotions that he had. He had three losses and two wins in the UFC with his losses coming to Lee Murray, Rich Franklin, and Chris Leben. His two wins were against David Loiseau and Dennis Hallman. Although he doesn’t have many wins in the UFC, he is extremely experienced outside the organization.

After all that build-up, the fight was lack-luster to say the least. The first round was entertaining enough with Patrick trying to throw to the fences and Jorge immediately shooting in for the take down. This surprised me because Jorge is a banger himself. Jorge spent a lot of time holding down Patrick without much offense. Patrick did get one good upkick in that sent Jorge to the canvas which Patrick immediately took advantage of and got on top. The rest of the round Jorge spent trying to recover from the upkick. Patrick definitely won round 1.

The second round Jorge came out very flat. I don’t know if he was winded but he showed no fight really. Patrick took it to him up top then took him to the ground where Jorge just laid on his back defending. His hips weren’t moving, he wasn’t trying to get back up, and he wasn’t even striking much off his back. Needless to say, Patrick took the round and then the whole match.

Next week the quarter finals begin and with all the scrubs gone, it should get really interesting.

Joe Lauzon vs. Jens (lil Evil) Pulver

This was the surprise of the night. After sparring for a little bit in the first round, Joe Lauzon catches Jens with a left hook 46 seconds in and ends Lil Evil’s night.

Reactions

I had Lil Evil winning along with the rest of Vegas. The odds were 7-1 but Joe proved us all wrong and ended the match quickly. I wasn’t able to see this match because right at 9:00 a HUGE storm came over my house and blocked any hope of me getting things from my satellite. I heard about it afterwards though and it shocked me.

Jason Lambert vs. Rashad Evans

Jason and Rashad both enter the arena. Jason doesn’t look as cut as Rashad (not many do) and looks decidedly heavier.

Round 1 begins and Jason pushes the action but Rashad ties him up on the fence. Both throw knees on the fence. Rashad gets a hip throw on Jason Lambert and after a scramble on the ground gets the back of Jason. They scramble some more and Jason is able to get up. Rashad gets a double leg throw off the cage and goes immediately into side control. Jason tries to get back up and Rashad continues to rain down hits from the side. Jason is eventually successful. Rashad immediately pulls a single leg throw and gets side control. Jason tries for a kimura but can’t get it kinked backwards and doesn’t have any kind of body control to finish it off. Both combatants scramble and eventually get back up. Both throw strike back and forth. Although Rashad has controlled the ground, Jason Lambert looks good up top. Jason can’t seem to take down Rashad and is constantly on his back. Rashad wins round 1.

Round 2 has Rashad on top yet again and trying to pass guard.  Rashad is throwing bombs from up top. Rashad still isnt trying to pass guard but is staying active. Rashad gets Lambert’s back off a scramble and starts to rain hooks to the side of Lambert’s head. Both do get back up. Jason is looking flat footed and Rashad is light on his feet. After a couple of exchanges up top, Rashad shoots in and secures a double leg throw and immediately gets side mount and transitions to a mount. Rashad lays down on Jason blocking any hip movement that Jason might use to shirk him. Evans starts to rain down bombs to the head from the mount position and the referee eventually has to step in after 7 straight hits land on Lambert’s face and head. The crowd is on its feet and the roar swells because they can sene the end at this point and the referee belatedly steps in.

Rashad wins the match.

Reactions

I so wanted Jason Lambert to win. He looked very dominant in all his other fights. We did a podcast and I mentioned why I didn’t like Rashad Evans. Rashad then came out and proved all of us wrong. He changed everything about how he usually fought. He was aggressive, stayed in constant contact, and generally out-fought Jason on every level using his athletecism to dominate.

Melvin Guillard vs. Gabe Ruediger

-Melvin is a member of Team Punishment

Round 1 starts and Ruediger closes the gap immediately. Guillard lands a body kick before Ruediger gets the grapple. Guillard fights to double underhooks and then throws Gabe to the mat like he was a kleenex. Guillard then allows Gabe to get up off the mat. Gabe slips and goes to his back after an aborted take down but Melvin wants nothing of that and allows him to get back up. Gabe goes for the take down yet again and Melvin performs a shoulder throw and ends up in Gabe’s guard throwing stiff punches down to Gabe’s head. They get back up and Melvin throws a nasty right hook that stuns Ruediger and sends him down to the mat and shooting for Melvin’s legs which Guillard stuffs easily. The crowd roars as Gabe is sent scrambling. Guillard continues to rain down hooks to the side of Gabe’s head. Melvin ends up in Gabe’s guard and continues his GNP. They both then get up and Guillard throws a nice body kick but gets taken down because of it. They both get up after a brief scramble and remain tied up on the cage. Gabe throws some nice knees with Melvin against the fence and Guillard circles off the fence. They continue to trade up top and eventually get tied up again. Gabe goes for an oma blata and Melvin front rolls right out of it. They both trade up top. Gabe eventually secures a double leg throw on Melvin after tying him up on the fence and then immediately transitions to mount and starts to throw bombs. Melvin gives up his back and Gabe sinks hooks and works to get his forearm underneath the chin. At this point the crowd roars for Gabe because Melvin is in serious trouble. Gabe transitions from hooks to a body triangle. Melvin works the gloves so that the forearm can’t sink in and the bell saves him. Gabe wins the round.

Round 2 has them trading shots up top. Gabe is almost lunging forward when he throws his hits. Melvin throws a nasty hit to the body because Gabe’s hands are way high. Ruediger doesn’t respond much so Melvin throws another one even harder and hits him right on the solo’s button. Gabe immediately crumbles and Melvin moves in for the kill and throws an illegal kick to the head of Gabe but the referee steps in and stops the bout immediately. The crowd is on its feet roaring for Melvin at this point and out of their minds.

Melvin wins by KO. Melvin calls Gabe’s ab’s weak for being knocked down by a solo hit.

Reaction

I called this one. It definitely sounded like another “preparatory” match for Melvin. I didn’t appreciate that Melvin called Gabe weak at the very end after capitulating on his second body shot. I have felt those lunching body punches and they are definite knock-outs if you hit the right spot perfectly. Melvin still needs to work his ground game. Giving up your back is never a good thing and Melvin seems to have that bad habit. If that had been any earlier in the first, it would have been lights out for Melvin.

David Loiseau vs. Mike Swick

Round 1 starts with Mike Swick throwing some good body kicks and even a spinning side kick. David Loiseau looks really flat footed. They keep swapping kicks and eventually David clinches and throws some good elbows while they are on the cage. The action is slower than usual for a Mike Swick fight and the crowd is booing them both. When they separate Mike starts to throw his punches in bunches and David is only covering up. Both are throwing a lot of kicks in the round. Mike Swick lands a spinning side kick and a good roundhouse kick to the body. David eventually starts to throw but is slow. Swick eventually lands some more left right combo’s and gets David down. Loiseau gives up his back on purpose then tries to reverse it so that he would land on top but Mike is expecting these and just stands up. Mike wins the round.

Round 2 starts with Loiseau going backwards. Both are pretty cautious of each other. Swick tries a flying knee but David moves out of the way. David starts chopping Mike’s left knee down with some nasty roundhouse kicks and gets it very red. The Both are taking their time and being very cautious. The crowd is really restless and Swick eventually takes down David with a single leg after trading jabs for awhile. He gets half guard on David and starts to throw hits to the head. Swick tries to pass guard but can’t seem to get past half guard. Mike Swick wins the round because of control but it was an uneventful round that could have gone to anyone.

Round 3 has Loiseau being much more active from the get-go. Both trade kicks and punches. David throws a hook and Mike immediately grabs a single leg and throws David to the ground. Swick goes for a Guillotine and ends up on his back. David Loiseau then tries to reverse it but Swick knows whats coming and immediately stands up. David continues to advance and hits Swick with some nasty nasty elbows while Mike is backed agains the cage turtling. Swick is starting to gas and coast and Loiseau is getting stronger. Loiseau get the double under hook and achieves the take down. Loiseau starts to throw nasty elbows from the guard. This is the last place Swick wants to be and is constantly squirming to avoid the bombs that David is throwing. David traps Mike’s arm with this knee and starts to throw more elbows. Mike moves and is able to get back up but David Loiseau continues to throw straights and clinch. David’s patented elbows start to come in rapid succession and Mike looks totally gassed. Mike breaks the clinch and they go to the middle of the arena. Mike lets go a flurry of punches and ends with a jumping knee. Swick gets a take down in the last 30 seconds and that is where the round ends. The crowd if finally on their feet cheering. Loiseau wins the round.

Mike Swick wins on the judges decision and asks for a Championship shot in his after-fight interview. He also gives a shout-out to the soldiers and his family.

Reactions

Mike is going to have to work on his Cardio and also his mental acumen if he wants a championship shot. It appeared in that match that he didn’t quite have his head on straight going into the ring and got caught up in the moment being too cautious. He did answer our question about whether he can go all three rounds (which was “no"). I thought it was a class act acknowledging the soldier but we all knew Mike was a class act.

B.J. Penn vs. Matt Hughes

Round 1 starts with both trading shots with their hands. Matt takes a couple shots and gets a single leg hold. Penn balances himself perfectly and makes it impossible for Hughes to get a take down. The crowd is roaring at this point. Pen squirms out and they get back to their feet. Both trade shots and Matt gets hit on the mouth and shoots again. Mat gets another single leg hold but can’t capitalize because BJ is so flexible. He almost puts himself in a splits with his front knee tucked in an ackward position to avoid the take down. Matt and B.J. spar up top and B.J. puts a thumb in Matt’s eye inadvertently. The round ends with Matt looking frustrated because he can’t get down B.J. Penn.

Round 2 starts with Matt shooting in. B.J. avoids the take-down for awhile but Matt eventually sweeps him and B.J. ends up in guard. The crowd surges to its feet. B.J. is sooo flexible and has a very tough guard. Penn is using his legs and fet to constantly try and position Hughes. Matt drops some good hits from up top. Penn tries an oma blata with a weird indian cross-style position that cause B.J.’s legs to end up in front of Matt’s face. Penn scoots around and gets Hugh’s back. He gets a body triangle but sets it up too high. Matt continues to fend off Penn’s arms. Penn continues to throw elbows from Matt’s back. Matt tries to throw B.J. off and ends up in a weird triangle with an armbar.  Matt gets saved by the bell but looks exhausted as he gets up. B.J. won this round.

Round 3 has B.J. exhausted. He can’t even raise his arms go get them up and in a defensive position. Matt keeps throwing unanswered shots because Penn is too tired. Matt finds his range and starts to rain down punches to Penn’s face. Matt lands a chopping leg kick and follows up with an uppercut combo. Penn’s mouth is wide open and he has no more bounce. Matt trashes Penn up top and then transitions to the ground. Matt passes to half guard easily. He then covers Penn’s mouth to disrupt his breathing. Matt continues to rain down blows to the body and moves to side mount. Hughes traps B.J’s left arm in between his leg and his other arm in between his head and his shoulder for a clear shot at Penn’s head. Matt Hughes then proceeds to rain down 30, yes I counted, unanswered elbows and hooks to a defenseless B.J.’s head. The referee eventually steps in and calls the fight. Dana White runs into the ring saying, “You are the greatest champion ever” (I keep alternating between kiss-up and Captain Obvious but I can’t decide which).

Reactions

We all called this but I said that B.J. Penn’s cardio was suspect and he proved us all right. B.J. needs to buckle down and get a professional trainer and do those exercises that bore him sometimes. He has incredible flexibility, agility, and submissions and the only thing that is holding him back is himself. he is as good as Matt when it comes to fighting skills. Hughes of course is the man and will always be the man. I expect him to enter that ring with a walker still kicking people’s butts. GSP stepped into the ring afterwards and said he wasn’t that impressed with Hughes performance and pissed Hughes off. GSP is such a nice guy that I think he is just trying to get Matt riled up and sell tickets for when they meet.

Conclusions

All the fights were entertaining but the Penn vs. Hughes fight definitely lived up to the hype and was exciting to watch. Hughes proved once again that he is the best fighter ever to grace the UFC cage and Mike Swick earned a title match through sheer stubborness.

This week, Charles McCarthy was the highlighted whipping boy. They caught the man on camera crying because his buddy Mikey Burnett lost. They even gave him a nickname, “Captain Miserable”. Serra even made him a cape to wear. It was quite a funny scene. The guy is definitely a “glass half empty” kind of person.

There was one surprise this week. They brought in Rich Franklin as a surprise “guest”. This move WAS surprising because he is going to be fighting the winner of the show. I could just see Dana White mentally rubbing his hands with glee as he turned up the mental pressure on these veterans. How would you like to train in front of the guy you are ultimately going to face for a championship shot?

A belated congratulations are in order. Jorge’s significant other (they didn’t specify if it was his wife or not) had a baby girl. I thought it was a real class act for Dana White to break the rules and bring him a video of the event. It takes a lot of dedication to miss an event like that.

Team Mojo eventually picked Charles McCarthy to fight Pete Sell. I thought this a smart move on Team Mojo’s part because it pit opposite fighting styles against each other. Their only alternative was Jorge Rivera who can bang with the best of them and they definitely didn’t want any part of that.

The run-up to the match was pretty boring because these two cats only had three fights in the UFC between themselves. They call Charles McCarthy the human highlight reel because Loiseau delivered the nastiest spinning back kick to the ribs and then followed it up with a jumping knee to the head for the ages. I guess Dana White felt so bad that he wanted to bring back Charles for another shot. I pretty much wrote Charles off as a softy. The way he talked did not scream fighter to me.

Pete Sell on the other hand had all of two matches in the UFC. The first was against Phil “The New York Bad Ass” Baroni. He was a HUGE underdog against Phil yet still managed to win the fight with a guillotine. They brought him back on the first Fight Night Live against Nate McQuarry and he got knocked out in less than thirty seconds. Both Dana and I agree that the referee stopped the match too soon. Pete took a knock to the head that sent him to the mat and then quickly ate a dropping fist but he quickly covered up and started to ground-fight when Dean Herb literally fell on top of the two and smothered them both.

The match that followed, although long, was really quite boring. Charles McCarthy was inept in about every area of his game in comparison to Pete Sell. The first round had Pete coming out strong. Pete threw some bombs to the head and Charles wanted nothing of that. He then shot in but got quickly reversed and spent most of the round curled up in a ball while Pete whaled on him.

The second round had them go to the ground again. Charles got a good reverse in that landed him on top but he didn’t capitalize. He kept trying to shoot the half-guard with a hand pry but didn’t bother to land shots to loosen the guard at all. He also kept trying to go for the Kimura with his opponent flat on the canvas. It wasn’t working yet he kept trying. Charles won that round by default.

The third round had them trading shots up top for the first half. Pete was landing some bombs but Charles got one good combo in that cut Pete over the eye. They then went to the ground where Charles got a decent attempt of an armbar but couldn’t sink it enough to do any damage. The match ended with Pete taking the decision. It really wasn’t as exciting as it sounds.

I am going to start ending my reviews with some quotable quotes that spring up from each weeks episode. This week had a bunch of them.

Jorge kissing Up to Rich Franklin - “I heard I get to fight the middleweight champion. I heard he is a stud.” (*Rich Franklin is sitting right next to him*)

Charles about the shopping list - “Were you the one who wrote ‘Personality’ on my shopping wishlist?” (He is asking Pete Sells when it was Shonie who did it)

Random Shonie Carter - “In my kingdom, let there be blingdom...” (he says this with a fully blinged out hat canted on his head.)

Matt Serra coaching Pete Sell - “YOUR HIPS ARE GLUED TO HIS!!! YOUR HIPS ARE GLUED TO HIS!!!” (Pete’s in the mount position on top of Charles)

Everybody but Serra in the house is fed up with Shonie Carter. He is definitely acting the clown. He has this fascination with empty water bottles and has dug every water bottle out of the garbage he could find and threw them into the pool. So here you have fifty some-odd empty water bottles floating around in this beautiful pool and he doesn’t even bother to take them out. Needless to say, everybody is up in arms with Shonie’s antics.

There was also a coin flip to see if Rich Clemente or Pete Spratt would come back in place of Jeremy. Pete won but he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to come back and fight Serra but in the end he chose to stay. I thought it was kind of funny and I was wondering who got to him and talked some sense into the man...

In the end, team No Love didn’t pick Serra to fight anyways. Instead Mikey Burnett and Din Thomas were picked to scrum. I found it an interesting pick because they were both evenly matched on paper. Mikey has quite a checkered past and originated from “The Lion’s Den” and Din Thomas was an up-and-coming star that just decided to stop fighting one day and now wanted back in. They were both good bangers and both supposedly had a good ground-game. Din was all talk about how Mikey was his idol and that he was going to stand up with him and throw down. I knew that because there was so much filler, the match wouldn’t go too long.

The match started and they both circled trading blows. Mikey threw a looper and missed and Din immediately shot in and then drew guard. He then went for a weak triangle but Mikey shook it off and stood up. Mikey’s defense wasn’t that sophisticated. He wasn’t pushing down the guard and trying to move to a mount position. I knew he was going to be vulnerable to the triangle again.

So they stood and trade for a few flurries. Mikey threw a good leg kick and Din responded with a good right. Eventually Din drew guard again and this time he got the triangle in deep with the leg tucked. Mikey didn’t defend at all and instead tried to slam Din down which only drew the triangle in deeper. Mikey then tapped a couple seconds later.

Moral of the story? You have to be a well-rounded fighter in the new UFC and can’t expect one part of your game to carry you to stardom.

Seems the house is having a case of Staph. It’s a highly infectious disease that is not to be messed around with. It started with two of the fighters and quickly spread throughout the house. They had some nasty rashes to show off throughout the whole show. If Staph gets inside the body, it can even be deadly. I had a friend who got it in their nose and almost died from the infection. They were in a coma and on life support within a couple days and were very lucky to pull through.

Then the bombshell comes. They started to focus on Jeremy Jackson and apparently he had been living out of the trunk of his car for the last little while. He has a problem with women and they keep throwing him out of their apartments and he can’t make enough fighting to support himself.

Right after he explains this to his housemates, he goes and screws up again. Literally. They go to a pool to train and he gives a map of the house location to a lifeguard. He then jumps the wall and ditches the house for a one night fling. In the morning, Dana White comes with Randy Couture and explains to everyone that somebody broke the rules and then throws Jeremy Jackson out of the house.

I don’t understand Jeremy’s thoughts here. He basically gave up a possibility for $100,000 dollars, a title shot, and lots of sponsorship money for a meaningless fling. Neither did any of the other fighters. I thought Mikey Burnett said it best. “That’s an expensive piece of ass. I’ve had a lot of @#$%@ but never one that was that expensive...”.

Scott Smith goes on a farting spree in the house which totally stinks everyone out. Din Thomas said it best, “I don’t know what to say. His ass STINKS!”. Quite juvenile but nice to know that they are normal people.

Team Mojo then announced that Travis Lutter was going to fight Scott Smith. My ears immediately perked up. Travis Lutter is an extremely quiet guy.  You always have to watch out for the quiet ones. Travis Lutter is a black belt in Brazilian Ju Jitsu and extremely competent standing up. Scott Smith is a Banger (likes to box) with a minor in GNP (Ground-n-Pound). Scott claims that Travis can’t take him down, Travis thinks he can and wants to go for the submission. Scott wants the knockout. My money was on Travis immediately.

Round 1 starts. Scott and Travis circle trading pawing jabs. Travis fakes the overhand right and goes for a two legged takedown. Scott stuffs the take down but Travis transitions to a back bearhug with one of Scott’s arms pinned. Travis continues the attempts to sweep and throw him but Scott defends well. Scott eventually slips after an attempted throw and Travis immediately jumps to the back mount with heel hooks sunk. Scott at this point is definitely in trouble and tries to defend against the choke but falls to the mat from Travis’ weight on his back. Travis is in control from up top and starts to throw hooks to the side of his opponents head to get Scott to loosen his handguard. Travis then successfully slips the forearm underneath Scott’s chin and completes the rear naked choke which causes Scott to tap in 4 seconds.

Quite entertaining even though the fight wasn’t long. It’s always fun to watch a professional like Travis Lutter work, even if its only for a minute. Not his fault that Scott couldn’t stuff his takedown.

Episode 3 was long on the filler and short on the fight. The house banter was pretty funny. Seems Shonie Carter is a budding artist. Everything he touches gets spray painted. He was even putting baubles on all the hats and pimpin them out. His shenanigans would be utterly ridiculous if he were putting on airs but I truly think that is the real Shonie Carter, which makes it even funnier.

When it came time to pick the fights, Jeremy Jackson was convinced that team Mojo was going to pick him because he had the least time to prepare for the show. Seems when Nick Diaz bowed out, they picked up Jeremy and he wasn’t prepared. Team Mojo had their own ideas and chose Chris Lytle to fight Pete Spratt instead. It looks like their strategy is to choose all the 1 dimensional fighters and pair them with a diametrically opposed stronger fighter. So Pete Spratt is primarily a banger and Chris is a master when it comes to the ground-game.

They then showed a montage of each fighters career. Both are quite storied and I found this part the most interesting of the episode.

Chris Lytle is a firefighter and a father of four. He has been up and down in the UFC but Dana White calls him a special fighter. He has lost to Robbie Lawler, Joe Riggs, Ben Earwood, and Karo Parisyan but has won against Tiki Ghosn and Jhun.

Pete was a college football player but didn’t get into the NFL. He started training in Martial Arts and he went up from there. He is the oldest fighter on the show and has been fighting for 7 years. Pete went through his up’s and downs but finally won a hard fought match against Robby Lawler in UFC 42 when Lawler was red hot property. He was offered a fight against Hughes for the title. Pete didn’t feel he was ready for Matt (who is???) and refused. Seems Dana didn’t like that and exiled the fighter from the UFC for a couple years (I’m reading in between the lines here but go read the site and they conveniently forgot to mention the amount of time they exiled Pete). He was finally invited back for Ultimate Fight Night 1 but lost against Josh Koscheck.

After all that chatter, I knew the fight wasn’t going the distance. The quality and amount of rounds in the fight is always determined by the amount of filler they put in. More filler, less fight.

They sounded the bell on the first round and Chris Lytle rushed out with a mission. He immediately took down Pete Spratt and then secured the weirdest guillotine I have ever seen. He was positioned beside Pete laying down on his back. He secured the neck and Pete immediately tapped.

Not that entertaining of a fight but the montages were worth the time IMHO.

Well, tonight’s the night UFC fans have been waiting for, for awhile now. The light heavyweight title is on the line as Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell takes on the man who has remained undefeated in his last 10 fights, Renato “Babalu” Sobral.

I for one was excited for this fight because I tend to buy into all of the hype these fights generate. I mean I was amped for the last PPV, and look how boring that one turned out to be. This one had me genuinely excited though because I’ve been watching Sobral dominate the light heavyweight division with his recent undefeated streak.

So “The Ryan” and I took a trip down to National’s Sports Grill & Bar (in Buena Park, awesome place BTW) to watch the fight. When we got there it was shortly after 6, so we both knew we’d have to sit thru the countless promos for this thing. I honestly think I lost count at 6. At one point I just tried to phase out UFC President Dana White saying “Is ‘Babalu’ more focused and determined than Chuck is?"

Anyway, not only was I looking forward to the title fight, but the long awaited rematch of one of the greatest UFC matches in history: Forrest Griffin VS Stephan Bonnar. The first match was an instant classic, and their rematch had all the makings of the same. Here’s my rundown of tonights PPV for those of you who missed it.

Hermes Franca VS Jamie Varner

Round 1: The round opens up with Franca and Varner feeling each other out with a series of punches and kicks. Varner shoots in, but Franca lands a standing guillotine choke. Varner escapes, takes Franca down and lands a big right hand. By the end of the first round Varner had scored two takedowns on Franca.

Round 2: Franca attempts a high kick, but Varner counters with a takedown. Varner winds up in Franca’s full guard where the action slows down until ref. John McCarthy stands them up. Varner shoots in for yet another takedown, but Franca reverses it, goes for the arm bar and Varner drops Franca right on his head.

Round 3: Franca shoots in on Varner this time and misses, but comes back with a devastating knee to the head that rocks Varner. Varner is visibly shaken and runs circles around the ring as Franca stalks him. “Big John” calls a time out to let Varner replace his mouth guard. Varner shoots in and lands another takedown on Franca, but Franca is able to counter with an arm bar for the submission.

Winner by submission at 3:31 in round 3, Hermes Franca

Cheick Kongo VS Christian Wellisch

Round 1: Wellisch shoots in and gets the takedown on Kongo. Wellisch goes for an arm bar attempt, but Kongo escapes and they both end up on their feet. Kongo lands a big knee and follows up with a series of strikes that send Wellisch to the ground. Kongo gets on top for the ground and pound. Ref. Stands them up, and Kongo lands another big knee, followed by some strikes and gets the TKO.

Winner by TKO at 2:51 in round 1, Cheick Kongo

Josh Neer VS Nick Diaz

Round 1: Both men spend a few minutes feeling each other out with a series of small punches. Diaz gets Neer in the clench and goes for some knee shots. Diaz nails Neer with a few solid shots, but Neer fires back with a few big shots of his own.

Round 2: Diaz comes in with a flurry of body shots. Neer goes for the clench, but can’t hold onto it. Diaz lands a big shot to the head that rocks Neer. Neer goes for the high kick, but Diaz shoots in and winds up in Neer’s guard to end the second round.

Round 3: Neer immediately goes for the clench and locks in a standing guillotine on Diaz. Diaz takes Neer to the ground again, and cinches in the kimura for the win.

Winner by submission at 1:42 in round 3, Nick Diaz

Forrest Griffin VS Stephan Bonnar 2

Round 1: Both men start off with a pretty even exchange of punches. Griffin lands a nice shot, and Bonnar stumbles a bit against the cage. Bonnar fires back with a beautiful spinning side kick. Griffin fires back with some solid shots that seem to rock Bonnar a little bit.

Round 2: Griffin presses the action from the center of the octagon. Bonnar lands a nice shot that busts open Griffin underneath his right eye. Bonnar lands a solid shot to the head, and follows up with a series of punches to end the second round.

Round 3: Bonnar opens up the round with a head kick, and attempts a spinning back fist, but Griffin catches him with a straight shot to the face. Both men exchange some heavy shots back and forth and wind up in the clench as the round ends.

Winner by decision Forrest Griffin

UFC Light Heavyweight Championship Match:

Renato Sobral VS Chuck Liddel ©

Round 1: Sobral with an attempted straight kick to Liddell. Sobral lands a good combo that sends Liddell back against the cage. Liddell backs up, and Sobral chases him until Liddell lands a hard right hand, followed by a left uppercut that sends Sobral to the ground. Liddell gets on top and lands a series of hard punches. Sobral tries to defend, but Liddell fires off with some hard shots that finish off Sobral.

Winner by KO at 1:35 in round 1, Chuck Liddell

Overall I thought this was a MUCH better PPV than that snoozefest they put on last month. Griffin VS Bonnar was terrific, and although I was rooting for Sobral to take the title, and for the match to go on just a bit longer, Chuck Liddell once again proved why he is the light heavyweight champion of the World, and now apparently has his sights set on a rematch with Tito Ortiz in December.

Next month UFC 63 comes to us live on PPV from the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim with the rematch we’ve all been waiting to see: UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes VS BJ Penn. Hughes is looking to avenge the loss to Penn several years ago, and honestly my momeny’s on Hughes...the man just can’t be beaten.

So far, the personal interplay has been sub-standard compared to other seasons. Granted, this is just the second episode but it seems like some of the tensions and ackwardness doesn’t exist between all the contestants. My hypothesis is that because they are all professional athletes, they have a common ground to meet upon. I don’t know, but they had to manufacture some tension by banging on Shonie because he wrote in his journal??? Definitely not as good as Leben pee’ing on someone’s bed. Hopefully the “house material” will improve as the season goes on.

Regardless, the fighting remains top-notch. Edwin Dewees and Gideon Ray get to bang in this episode and they definitely delivered when it came to action.

Edwin came out in the first round on a mission. He was constantly taking down Gideon and applying a lot of GNP (Ground-n-Pound). Gideon looked overmatched and frustrated by the time the bell rang.

The second round looked to be headed down the same road until Gideon Ray delivered the nastiest elbow off his back to Edwin’s head. It grazed off the hairline and immediately started to spurt blood. I don’t mean trickle. I mean Edwin gushed a fountain of blood from the mount position down onto the mat. They stopped it a couple of times to wipe Edwin’s eyes but the doctor on site allowed the fight to continue. It was so bloody that Edwin’s hair was bright-red by the end of the round. There was a point in the match where Edwin was holding one hand over the hole in his forehead to staunch the bloodflow and using his other hand to GNP Gideon.

The match continued into a third round and eventually Edwin won out. I was surprised he hadn’t feinted from loss of blood.

They definitely helped confirm the fears of most conservatives that UFC is one of the bloodiest fight venues by allowing the match to continue. Despite the blood, both fighters were crisp and you have to admire a fighter that isn’t afraid to see his own blood.

This season is different from all the rest in that they have brought in a full cast of veterans of the UFC to vie for a title shot at the end. These guys are seasoned professionals whom, for one reason or another, have fallen out of the spotlight and crave a return. They have labeled this season “The Comeback”.

They have also changed things up in the sense that there are no opposing coaches and all the fighters have access to the coaching staff (Mark DellaGrotte, Randy Couture, and Georges St. Pierre, Marc Laimon). I personally feel this is because of the crappy job that Shamrock did last season in preparing his fighters and they didn’t want a reocurrence of that.

Episode 1 has started off totally different than previous seasons in that they showed almost no house-shots. The other three seasons were replete with house-shots and it remains to be seen if they include these fillers as the season wears on. All the content pre-bout was focused around them training. This does not mean that all the pre-fight stuff wasn’t entertaining because they have SHONIE CARTER (Mr. International) to provide all the drama that they need.

Mr. Pimp Daddy himself (Shonie Carter) is an absolute hoot. He actually strolled into the UFC center with the full pimp get-up (bowl hat, grill, glasses, BATH ROBE, and Pimp Cup) and it didn’t stop there. He actually grafittied the UFC diamond-plate symbol at the UFC house (the one shot of the house they did show) AND wore a speedo equipped with an athletic cup for his practice attire. I was absolutely rolling in the aisles.

The thing that I found absolutely amazing is that Matt Serra and Shonie Carter hit it right off. If you don’t know the history there, let me give you a little lesson. Shonie Carter knocked Matt Serra out in UFC 31 with a spinning hammerfist (they say backfist but I saw hammerfist). Yeah, there ain’t a lot there to inspire love between these two.

It was even more amazing when Matt Serra volunteered to CORNER for Shonie when Shonie was chosen to fight against Rich Clementi. They had just shown Shonie gassed after some hard endurance training and wretching all over the floor so I gave him absolutely no chance to win this fight. Matt looked younger and fitter and Shonie looked like a walking sideshow.

(another side note is that the prelims look to be 2 rounds instead of 3.)

Shoney went into that ring and proceeded to prove me wrong.

Round one went to Shonie. They sparred back and forth. I was surprised how spry and crisp Shonie looked as he threw lightning fast round and roundhouse kicks followed by great punches. He caught Rich in the ribs and the head with his kicks multiple times and even made Matt smirk (which is usually a sign that it actually did something and got through). Matt was able to take him down a couple of times but Shonie kept taking away the angles. Shonie got an impressive sweep in but Matt countered with one of his own take-downs. I had Shonie winning it by a hair (mostly because the sweep and the kicks that landed).

Round two showed Rich being a lot more active. He landed some punches and even had some great take-downs. He sunk an armbar in deep but by this time, both were sweaty and Shonie was able to slip out of it. Rich also tried a triangle choke but by this time he was tired and Shonie slipped again and continued raining blows from up-top. The end of the round had them both on the ground locked up with Shonie on top throwing blows. I think I would have given this round to Rich because of all the submission attempts.

The judges thought otherwise and awarded a unanimous decision to Shonie. I have seen this a lot. They don’t smile very kindly upon you pulling guard. You have to usually submit the person to win a bout if you are constantly pulling guard and on bottom, no matter how skillfully you work it.

The episode ended with Rich complaining how slipper Shonie was (duh, he’s almost fully naked and probably sweating from a pre-fight routine) and Shonie telling the camera that Clementi should go back to lightweight’s. Great stuff.

I can honestly say that this first episode has made me want more. After the first episode in all the other seasons, I have just wanted to move on to the semi’s but this season should show some great technical prelims to sink our teeth into.

Matches

Koscheck vs. Goulet

Goulet was overmatched in this fight. Koscheck from the first bell came out charging. He rocked Goulet early in stand-up and then schooled him on the ground. Goulet was constantly giving up his back due to Ground-n-Pound and Koscheck took advantage. Koscheck eventually won by referee stoppage.

Opinions:

This fight really pointed out how much Josh Koscheck had advanced with his skillset. I can remember when he had only started with wrestling and couldn’t strike or advance from guard. If he fulfills his potential, he will be a force to be reckoned with.

Leben vs. Santiago

Fresh off his loss to Anderson Silva, Leben accepted this fight with Santiago. He came out typical Leben style, throwing for the fences. Santiago was constantly tagging him with quick, crisp rights and lefts and Leben was constantly counterstriking and throwing uppercuts when he got in close. Santiago eventually got sloppy and closed his eyes when throwing his right-left combo and Leben threw a haymaker off the strikes to catch Santiago unawares and lay him out. He then pounced on the unconscious fighter and got two solid head hits in before the referee (Herb Dean) could pry him off.

Opinions:

What struck me about the match was how much Leben really hasn’t changed. I mean, he has grown incrementally since his TUF1 days but the more he changes, the more it stays the same.

He does have an iron chin (but not invulnerable as we saw with Anderson Silva). He does have the fighters mentality (which you can’t train and I think is his strongest asset). He is constantly pressing the action.

However, He has some inherent fatal flaws that I think will prohibit him from being among the top elite. He ALWAYS drops his hands, even if it is for a fraction of a second, when he advances; He always charges in directly rather than playing the angles; Most importantly, He is extremely immobile when presented with somebody on the offensive.

Lister vs. Sasaki

This battle was my least favorite. I won’t even bother to review. I will say that Lister won but it was by default and not anything he did definitely. He gassed himself in the second round and the third round was just pathetic.

(Diesel) Riggs vs. Von Fluke

This was my second least favorite match but It is still worth recounting. Von Fluke (I know it’s Von Flue but I stand by my play on words) was overmatched from the beginning. Diesel came out swinging from the first bell and Von Fluke got rung and didn’t want any of that. He took it to the ground after just one up-top flurry and then Diesel started to school him. Riggs secured a triangle effortlessly after a brief scrabble and started to squeeze the life out. Von Fluke then did the most tasteless and disrespectful act of flipping off Diesel as he was about to pass out and then tapped out.

Opinions:

I like Joe. Everybody says that he is an animal in the gym but all I see are a bunch of losses on his record (I have watched a lot of him). He is only 23 but he really needs to buckle down mentally if he wants to prove himself in the arena where it really counts.

Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan

This match was by far the highlight of the night and the perfect end to some really great fighting. These two gladiators went at each other 100% for 3 - 5 minute rounds. It went back and forth through all three rounds with flurries up top, spectacular Judo throws from Karo bringing it to the ground, followed by cat and mouse games on the ground. Diego struck early and applied a cut underneath Karo’s Left eye with a nicely timed uppercut but then Karo was able to close and that’s when the throws started to happen. The hip throws started to come lightning fast and bodies were flying like pinwheels. Karo is an expert Judo person and he applying them left and right. Diego took this in stride and was constantly reversing on the ground but he never could seem to make it stick because Karo would block him from the submissions.

Back and forth this went until Parisyan gassed in the third round and then Diego just took over. They should call him the Terminator. He threw some nasty punches when they were clenched on the fence with one knee landing and visibly knocking one of Karo’s teeth out. You actually saw a white streak fly off camera. They then went to the ground. He kept at it from the guard with his signature body, body, Head shots he throws in all his matches (go back and watch all his matches. Diego throws right and left hooks to the body, followed by a downward elbow to the solo’s then immediately follows all that up with shots to the head, all from the guard).

In the last thirty seconds, Diego just started throwing headshots from an exhausted Parisyan’s guard and Parisyan couldn’t block them anymore. All you saw was the eyes roll. The referee didn’t stop it because there was only 10 seconds left but if it had just gone a little bit more, it would have been lights out. Diego got the unanimous decision.

Opinions:

Diego has done the most with his opportunities IMHO out of all the TUF fighters and is really poised to take the top by storm. He is extremely humble which I love about him yet has a great unique personality to really hang your hat on when it comes to liking him. I would REALLY REALLY like to see him and GSP (George St. Pierre) fight next because I don’t think GSP will wear out like Parisyan did and all three rounds would be epic.

Conclusions

What a great set of matches and in my opinion, the best that UFC has put out yet with their Ultimate Fight Nights. Keep ‘em coming and I will be a UFC fan 4eva.

Last night Spike TV aired the third finale for their "The Ultimate Fighter" series, and fans of the UFC were treated to some amazing fights, previews up the upcoming UFC 61: Bitter Rivals, and the induction of one of the greatest fighters to ever step in the octagon, Randy “The Natural” Couture. I’d like to touch base on everything that happened, but first let’s recap the fights for those people that are either living under a rock, or weren’t home and still don’t know what a DVR is.

Kieth Jardine VS Wilson Gouveia: Light Heavyweight Match
Jardine was opened up early on in the first round, and nearly taken off of his feet by a number of devastating leg blows delivered by Gouveai. Jardine was believed to be a beaten man by round’s end, however “The Dean of Mean” rebounded in with a great secound round that eventually won him the unanimous three-round decision over Gouveai.
Winner by unanimous decision: Keith Jardine
My Thoughts: Personally I thought Jardine was pretty much out of it by the end of the first round. His face was covered in blood, and he looked to be exhausted, and standing on one leg after those countless leg kicks by Gouveai. In the second round he rebounded and landed some nice shots. I’d definitely say the judges scored the bout correctly as Jardine was clearly the victor.

Ed Herman VS Kendall Grove: UFC Middleweight “TUF” Championship Match
Herman didn’t waste anytime in taking Grove to the mat early on in the first round, and opening him up with a hail of punches that had many believing Herman would make short work of Grove. Kendall managed to secure an arm, but Herman quickly countered by delivering some knees that forced Kendall to break the hold. Both men returned to their feet only to see Grove get taken down for a second time before the round’s end. In the second round things looked bad once again for Grove when he was taken down again by Herman, however Kendall managed to secure a triangle on “Short Fuse” who managed to escape once again. The rest of the round went like this—Both fighters went back and forth with their own submission attempts and near misses. Grove once again landed a triangle, and a rear naked choke that nearly had Herman KO’ed. Herman, however landed some beautiful shots on Grove, and locked in his own submissions on “Da Spyder’s” arms that nearly saw him tap as well. By the end of the third round, both Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan believed it would be declared a draw...this was not the case as a strong argument for each fighter’s victory could be made.
Winner by decision: Kendall Grove
My Thoughts: Personally, I think Herman won the fight. He easily took the first round by dropping Kendall and landing some pretty heavy shots. Both men showed a lot of heart by not only attempting submissions, but finding a way to counter their opponents. It was easy to see that Herman was disappointed with the decision, but Dana White awarding him the contract as well was, IMO the right thing to do. Like I said, an argument could be made either way as to who won the fight, and I look forward to seeing what both of these guys can do in the future.

Michael Bisping VS Josh Haynes: UFC Light Heavyweight “TUF” Championship Match
It was pretty clear that most of the crowd was behind Bisping for this fight. Despite being from the UK, it was Bisping’s charisma and level of skill that won over his critics early on in “TUF.” Much to no one’s surprise Hayne’s went into this fight swinging for the fences. Early in the round Bisping nailed Hayne’s with a devastating knee to the head. Bisping backed off seemingly thinking he had just KO’ed Hayes. Ref. John McCarthy deducted a point from “The Count” for kneeing a still downed opponent. Bisping took the first round, but the score was now even at 9-9 after the 1 point deduction.

The second round saw Bisping systematically pick apart Haynes with a flying knee, a sleu of submissions, and some hard shots to the head. To his credit Hayne’s would not back down, and actually landed some of his own shots, that at one point looked like they rocked Bisping for a second. In the final minute of the last round, Bisping was able to stun Hayne’s and just let loose with an array of punches to the head. Hayne’s couldn’t take anymore and literally collapsed to the mat—Ref. John McCarthy stopped the fight at 4:14sec of the second round.
Winner by referee stoppage: Michael “The Count” Bisping
My Thoughts: This one’s a no brainer, Bisping picked Haynes apart, and by the time “Big” John called the match it was apparent that Hayne’s couldn’t take anymore. This fight pretty much went as I expected it to. I will give a lot of credit to Hayne’s for showing an incredible amount of heart during the match and not giving in to the countless submission attempts by Bisping. I look forward to seeing Bisping in the future, because if there’s one word to describe this guy it would have to be “vicious."

Kenny Florian VS Sam Stout: “TUF” Season 3 Finale Main Event
I can sum this one up preatty easily. Fight starts, and almost immediately, Florian gets Stout with the takedown. Florian secured the full mount, worked his magic and then locked in the rear naked choke the instant Stout gave up his back.
Winner by submission: Kenny Florian
My Thoughts: Florian pretty much dismantled Stout, ‘nuff said.

Matt Hammil VS Jesse Forbes: Pre-liminary Match
Hammil pretty much shut down Forbes in 4:47 of the initial round. After landing some heavy shots, Hammil FINALLY displayed some of those much-talked-about wrestling moves and took Forbes down. From there it was pretty much ground and pound until Ref. Yves Lavigne put an end to the beating, after Forbes had no answer for Hammil’s countless shots.
Winner by referee stoppage: Matt “The Hammer” Hammil
My Thoughts: Hammil kicked Forbes’ ass from the very beginning. I was disappointed with Hammil’s first match during “TUF,” but now I’d have to agree that given some time, this guy could be a SERIOUS threat in the UFC.

UFC Hall of Fame Ceremony: Randy “The Natural” Couture
It was nice to see “Captain America” finally get inducted into the hall of fame, but at the same time it was also sad to see one of my favorites officially call an end to his legendary career. I was a bit disappointed with the ceremony as all it was, was Dana White handing him a plaque (an awesome one at that), Joe Rogan interviewing him, and that’s it. It was obvious that Couture was choked up, and a speech would’ve been nice...no such luck. At least the man received the recognition he deserved as one of the greatest fighters to ever step inside the octagon

All-in-all I thought it was a great night for UFC fans. Not only did we crown two new “TUF” champions, but another, well deserving fighter received a contract after an impressive battle. I’m really looking forward to the Shamrock VS Ortiz 2, since it’s apparent these two guys can’t wait to get at eachother again...they can’t even agree on the prizes they get for being the coaches on the show! either way, the PPV should be great, and I can’t wait to see what these new UFC fighters can do.

Mike �??Quick�?� Swick vs.  Joe �??Diesel�?� Riggs:
I was really looking forward to this match. First, Riggs has tons of ring experience. He has fought several times within this year. And has pretty heavy hands and had Billy Rush help him keep his weight on. And I was pretty skeptical whether or not Swick could pull off a win. But in the first round, at 2:19, Mike swick pulled off a great Guillotine (or “Swickotine"). Though, Riggs is very susceptible to submissions. WINNER: Mike “Quick” Swick

Brandon �??the truth�?� Vera vs. Assuerio Silva:
I wasn�??t looking forward to this fight, and with the end result, I wasn�??t surprised why. To me, I�??d like to see to heavyweights just slug it out, and go for the KO. But instead, Vera caught Silva in yet another Guillotine at 2:39 in the first round. WINNER: Brandon “The Truth” Vera

Diego �??the nightmare�?� Sanchez vs. John Alessio:
Now this fight, I was looking forward to. I have been waiting for a while to see Sanchez finally get beat. Don�??t get me wrong, he is a fantastic fighter. But something about him, I just want to see him get knocked out or submitted. To me, this fight was great. Only because Sanchez kept trying to go for the shoot. And Alessio just kept right on rejecting him. Sanchez only got 1 half assed shoot on him. Not only was Alessio playing defense on the shoots, but he was throwing back his own shots. Sanchez did go for a rear naked choke, with Alessio again fought off very well. But in the end, the judges saw things differently than me. As Sanchez defeated Alessio by unanimous decision. Yes Sanchez did try for shoots, and would advance. But as the old saying goes, the best offense is a good defense. WINNER: Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez

Dean Lister vs. Alessio Sakara:
It didn�??t occur to me that the Dean fighting was the Dean who trains with Tito. So when I realized that, I was curious to see what he could offer. And he delivered a solid, good fight. Alessio went for a take down on Lister, but as many make this same mistake, go caught in a triangle choke and was able to finish him off in the first round in 2:20. I think its safe to say that Lister has a bright future ahead of him in the UFC. WINNER: Dean Lister

The main event:
Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie:
All the hype. The butterflies in my stomach. Finally, it was here. The match that so many in MMA and pretty much, everyone around the US was waiting to finally see. A Legend, someone who made this sport what it is today, versus a Legend, and what some see, as the greatest welterweight, or even, greatest fighter, ever. And Matt Hughes proved to the entire world that he is. The match pretty much went the way almost everyone (excluding myself) though it would. Hughes dominated the entire fight, with Gracie getting only a few legs kicks in. Matt Hughes finally went for the take down after about 2 minutes, and began a ground and pound clinic on Gracie. And at one point, Hughes actually got Gracie in an armbar, that everyone thought would make him tap. Then, at about 4:00 into the first round, Hughes got Gracie�??s back, and began to pummel his opponent until ref. John McCarthy finally put a stop to the fight. WINNER: Matt Huges

So there you have it, in one night you have an end to an era, and the beginning of another led by a champion that is truly a living legend in his own right.