MMA for Newbies

We got a taste of some MMA UK style this weekend on Saturday, November 15 at UFC 105. There were many great great fights that ended in some terrific beatdowns. The Bisping fight was easily one of the best.

Now the ultra-hyped Couture vs Vera fight hmmmm if I didn't know better I'd say the fix was in. But hey, what do I know. I've never stepped into the Octagon myself much less sat in judgment of two world class UFC fighters, but I know what I saw from many many angles on SPIKE and that was a Brandon Vera victory. This is the crap that happens when you "leave it to the judges." Takes me back to some of my worst days on the tournament floor. At least it was free!!! Any way, here are your results:

No Wanna See You Undercard Fights:

* Lightweight bout: Paul Kelly vs. Dennis Siver

Siver put the hurt on Kelly via TKO (strikes) at 2:53 of round 2.

* Welterweight bout: Nick Osipczak vs. Matthew Riddle

Osipczak put the hurt on Riddle via TKO (punches) at 3:53 of round 3.

* Lightweight bout: Terry Etim vs. Shannon Gugerty

Etim choked the fight out of Gugerty via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:24 of round 2.

* Welterweight bout: Paul Taylor vs. John Hathaway

Hathaway fooled the judges and beat up Taylor via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).

Main Freebies are Cool Fights:

* Lightweight bout: Andre Winner vs. Rolando Delgado

Winner layed the SMACK down on Delgado via KO (punch) at 3:22 of round 1.

* Light Heavyweight bout: Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jared Hamman

Gustafsson layed the SMACK down on Hamman via KO (punches) at 0:41 of round 1.

* Lightweight bout: Ross Pearson vs. Aaron Riley

Pearson put the hurt on Riley via TKO (doctor stoppage) at 4:34 of round 2.

* Welterweight bout: James Wilks vs. Matt Brown

Brown put the hurt on Wilks via TKO (punches) at 2:26 of round 3.

* Middleweight Bout: Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang

Bisping put the hurt on Kang via TKO (punches) at 4:24 of round 2.

* Welterweight bout: Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy

Hardy fooled the judges and beat up Swick via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

* Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera

Couture fooled the judges and beat up Vera via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

UFC104 came in with a mighty roar but kind of ended with a whimper. A LOT of folks are unhappy that Shogun lost on points to Machida but that's the breaks when you leave your fight results to the judges! UFC104 was a pay per view event but, like UFC103, SPIKE TV aired a couple of the undercard bouts. This is an excellent way to get more viewers to the UFC bandwagon and it also helps those of us that are tired of shoveling out $40 a pop for pay per view. Of course, gas, a pint of suds and some nachos at the local sports bar won't set you back $40 so that may be the way to go for us cheap skates! Here are your UFC 104 results:

No Wanna See You Undercard Fights:

* Light Heavyweight bout: Kyle Kingsbury vs. Razak Al-Hassan

Kingsbury fooled the judges and beat up Al-Hassan via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).

* Middleweight bout: Jorge Rivera vs. Rob Kimmons

Rivera put the hurt on Kimmons via TKO (strikes) at 1:53 of round 1.

Spike TV Too Cheap For PPV Fights:

* Heavyweight bout: Stefan Struve vs. Chase Gormley

Struve choked the fight out of Gormley via submission (triangle choke) at 4:04 of round 1.

* Heavyweight bout: Antoni Hardonk vs. Patrick Barry

Barry put the hurt on Hardonk via TKO (strikes) at 2:30 of round 2.

* Light Heavyweight bout: Ryan Bader vs. Eric Schafer

Bader fooled the judges and beat up Schafer via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-26, 30-27).

Main PPV and/or Drunk at the Pub Fights:

* Welterweight (176 lb) bout: Anthony Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida

Johnson put the hurt on Yoshida via TKO (punches) at 0:41 of round 1.

* Lightweight bout: Joe Stevenson vs. Spencer Fisher

Stevenson smashed up Fisher via Submission (elbows) at 4:03 of round 2.

* Middleweight bout: Yushin Okami vs. Chael Sonnen

Sonnen fooled the judges and beat up Okami via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

* 157lb Catchweight bout: Gleison Tibau vs. Josh Neer

Tibau fooled the judges and beat up Neer via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

* Heavyweight bout: Cain Velasquez vs. Ben Rothwell

Velasquez put the hurt on Rothwell via TKO (punches) at 0:58 of round 2

* Light Heavyweight Championship bout: Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio Rua

Machida fooled the judges and beat up Rua via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) to retain the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship

No Wanna See You Undercard Fights:

* Women's 145 lb bout: Marloes Coenen vs. Roxanne Modafferi

Coenen choked the fight out of Modafferi via submission (armbar) at 1:05 of round 1.

* Catchweight 150 lb bout: Jeff Curran vs. Dustin Neace

Curran choked the fight out of Neace via submission (injury) at 1:39 of round 1.

* Middleweight bout: John Kolosci vs. Shamar Bailey

Bailey fooled the judges and beat up Kolosci via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27).

* Middleweight bout: Louis Taylor vs. Nate Moore

Moore put the hurt on Taylor via submission (strikes) at 3:24 of round 2.

* Welterweight bout: Christian Uflacker vs. Jonatas Novaes

Uflacker fooled the judges and beat up Novaes via unanimous decision (29-26, 30-25, 30-25).

Main Freebies are Cool Fights:

* Heavyweight bout: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brett Rogers

Emelianenko put the hurt on Rogers via TKO (Punches) at 1:48 of round 2.

* Middleweight Championship bout: Jake Shields vs. Jason Miller

Shields fooled the judges and beat up Miller via Unanimous Decision (48-47,49-46,48-47) to become the new Strikeforce Middleweight Champion.

* Light Heavyweight bout: Gegard Mousasi vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou

Mousasi put the hurt on Sokoudjou via TKO (punches) at 3:43 of round 2.

* Heavyweight bout: Fabricio Werdum vs. Antonio Silva

Werdum fooled the judges and beat up Silva via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Finally, here are the results to the beatdowns that occured on September 19th at the UFC 103 event. There were a couple of surprises and some not so much looking at you Frank Trigg! You have a great gig with Jay Glazer! Keep doing that. The pay checks may suck but the work has got to be a lot easier.

Not-So-Main Fights

* Lightweight bout: Rob Emerson vs. Rafael dos Anjos

dos Anjos fooled the judges and beat Emerson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

* Light Heavyweight bout: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Igor Pokrajac

Matyushenko fooled the judges and beat Pokrajac via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

* Light Heavyweight bout: Eliot Marshall vs. Jason Brilz

Marshall fooled the judges and beat Brilz via split decision (28-30, 30-27, 30-27).

* Welterweight bout: Rick Story vs. Brian Foster

Story put the hurt on Foster via submission (arm triangle choke) at 1:09 of round 2.

* Lightweight bout: Rafaello Oliveira vs. Nik Lentz

Lentz fooled the judges and beat Oliveira via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).

* Lightweight bout: Jim Miller vs. Steve Lopez

Miller smacked up Lopez via TKO (injury) at 0:48 of round 2.

* Middleweight bout: Drew McFedries vs. Flag of Poland Tomasz Drwal

Drwal put the hurt on McFedries via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:03 of round 2.

* Lightweight bout: Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller

Escudero smacked up Miller via TKO (punches) at 3:36 of round 1.

Main Fights

* Catchweight (159 lb) bout: Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca

Griffin put a big beatdown on Franca via KO (punches) at 3:26 of round 2.

* Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg

Kosheck smacked up Trigg via TKO (punches) at 1:25 of round 1.

* Welterweight bout: Martin Kampmann vs. Paul Daley

Daley smacked up Kampmann via TKO (punches) at 2:31 of round 1.

* Heavyweight bout: Mirko Filipovic vs. Junior dos Santos

dos Santos put the hurt on Filipovic via submission (punches) at 2:00 of round 3.

* Catchweight (195 lb) bout: Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort

Belfort put a big beatdown on Franklin via KO (punches) at 3:02 of round 1.

I have no idea why, but many of you are here because you want to know about the weird world of WWE or World Wrestling Entertainment. Just yesterday, September 13, 2009 a major Pay Per View event a la UFC happened. WWE:Breaking Point. UFC81 was already named "Breaking Point" and oddly enough, featured a former WWE wrestler in Brock Lesnar. I will see about adding coverage somehow to this site or maybe another so that all the WWE freaks can get their fill. For now, here are the results of last night's big event:

Untelevised Match: Evan Bourne beat up Chavo Guerrero

Match 1: Chris Jericho and The Big Show beat up Montel Vontavious Porter and Mark Henry
Tag Team match for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship

Match 2: Kofi Kingston beat up The Miz
Singles match for the WWE United States Championship

Match 3: The Legacy (Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase) beat up D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels)
Submissions Count Anywhere match

Match 4: Kane beat up The Great Khali (with Ranjin Singh)
Singapore Cane match

Match 5: Christian beat up William Regal
Singles match for the ECW Championship

Match 6: John Cena beat up Randy Orton
"I Quit" match for the WWE Championship.
If anyone tried to help Orton with a spare chair etc%u2026, he would have lost the title.

Match 7: CM Punk beat up The Undertaker
Submission match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Under Card

* Lightweight fight: Marcus Aurelio vs. Evan Dunham

Dunham got the job done on Aurelio with a split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27).

* Middleweight fight: Nick Catone vs. Mark Muñoz

Muñoz beat up on Catone with a split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28).

* Heavyweight fight: Tim Hague vs. Todd Duffee

Duffee absolutely dominated Hague with a KO (punches) at 0:07 of round 1. Duffee sets a brand new record for the UFC's fastest knockout beating the last record of 8 seconds held by Don Frye and James Irvin.[17]

* Heavyweight fight: Justin McCully vs. Mike Russow

Russow beat up McCully with a unanimous decision (29-28, 30-26, 30-27).

* Heavyweight fight: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Chris Tuchscherer

Gonzaga effed up Tuchscherer with a TKO (punches) at 2:27 of round 1.

* Middleweight fight: Ed Herman vs. Aaron Simpson

Simpson wallopped Herman with a TKO (injury) at 0:17 of round 2.

Main card

* Light Heavyweight fight: Brandon Vera vs. Krzysztof Soszynski

Vera beat up on Soszynski with a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

* Middleweight fight: Chris Leben vs. Jake Rosholt

Rosholt choked Leben till he passed out with a submission (arm triangle choke) at 1:20 of round 3.

* Middleweight fight: Nate Marquardt vs. Demian Maia

Marquardt destroyed Maia with a KO (punch) at 0:21 of round 1.

* Light Heavyweight fight: Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva

Silva layed the smack down on Jardine with a TKO (punches) at 1:35 of round 1.

* Heavyweight fight: Randy Couture vs. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira

Nogueira outlasted Couture with a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

Preliminary card

* Welterweight fight: Jesse Lennox vs. Danillo Villefort

Lennox put the hurt on Villefort with a TKO (cut) at 3:37 of round 3

* Lightweight fight: George Sotiropoulos vs. George Roop

Sotiropoulos put the hurt on Roop with a submission (kimura) at 1:59 of round 2.

* Welterweight fight: Matt Riddle vs. Dan Cramer

Riddle put the hurt on Cramer with a unanimous decision (29-27, 30-26, 30-27).

* Middleweight fight: Thales Leites vs. Alessio Sakara

Sakara put the hurt on Leites with a split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28).

* Welterweight fight: Tamdan McCrory vs. John Howard

Howard put the hurt on McCrory with a split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).

Main card

* Lightweight fight: Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pellegrino

Pellegrino put the hurt on Neer with a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

* Middleweight fight: Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida

Almeida put the hurt on Grove with a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

* Welterweight fight: Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks

Hendricks put the hurt on Sadollah with a TKO (strikes) at 0:29 of round 1.

* Welterweight fight: Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley

Riley put the hurt on Nelson with a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

* Light Heavyweight fight: Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin

Silva put the hurt on Griffin with a KO (punch) at 3:23 of round 1.

* Lightweight Championship fight: BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian

Penn put the hurt on Florian with a submission (rear naked choke) at 3:45 of round 4 and keeps the UFC Lightweight Championship.

Under Card Results:

Lightweight bout: Matt Grice vs. Shannon Gugerty
Gugerty won against Grice with a guillotine choke at 2:36 of round 1.

Middleweight bout: C.B. Dollaway vs. Tom Lawlor
Lawlor won against Dollaway with a guillotine choke at 0:55 of round 1.

Welterweight bout: Dong Hyun Kim vs. TJ Grant
Kim won against Grant with a unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26).

Light Heavyweight bout: Jon Jones vs. Jake O'Brien
Jones won against O'Brien with a guillotine choke at 2:43 of round 2.

Lightweight bout: Mac Danzig vs. Jim Miller
Miller won against Danzig with a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Light Heavyweight bout: Mark Coleman vs. Stephan Bonnar
Coleman won against Bonnar with a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Main Card Results:

Middleweight bout: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Alan Belcher
Akiyama won against Belcher with a split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28).

Middleweight bout: Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping
Henderson won against Bisping with a KO at 3:20 of round 2.

Welterweight Championship bout: Georges St-Pierre vs. Thiago Alves
St-Pierre won against Alves with a unanimous decision (50-45, 50-44, 50-45) and stays the UFC Welterweight championship.

Heavyweight Championship unification bout: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir
Lesnar won against Mir with a TKO at 1:48 of round 2 to become the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight champion.

Welterweight bout: Jon Fitch vs. Paulo Thiago
Fitch won against Thiago with a unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

Under Card Results:

* Terry Etim (12-2) defeats Justin Buchholz via Submission (D'arce Choke) - Round 2 @ 2:38
* Dennis Siver (13-6) defeats Dale Hartt via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) - Round 1 @ 3:23
* Paul Taylor (9-4-1) defeats Peter Sobotta by Unanimous Decision
* Paul Kelly (9-1) defeats Rolando Delgado by Unanimous Decision
* Stefan Struve defeats Denis Stojnic via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) - Round 2 @ 2:37
* John Hathaway defeats Rick Story by Unanimous Decision

Main Card Results:

* Rich Franklin defeats Wanderlei Silva by Unanimous Decision
* Cain Velasquez defeats Cheick Kongo by Unanimous Decision
* Mike Swick defeats Ben Saunders by TKO (Strikes) - Round 2 @ 3:47
* Dan Hardy defeats Marcus Davis by Split Decision
* Spencer Fisher defeats Caol Uno by Unanimous Decision
* Mirko Cro Cop defeats Mostapha Al Turk by TKO - Round 1 @ 3:06

Under Card Results:

* Brock Larson defeats Chris Wilson via Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) - Round 1
* Tim Hague defeats Pat Barry via Submission (Guillotine Choke) - Round 1
* Kyle Bradley defeats Phillipe Nover by TKO (Strikes) - Round 1
* Krzysztof Soszynski defeats Andre Gusmao by TKO (Strikes) - Round 1
* Yoshiyuki Yoshida defeats Brandon Wolff via Submission (Guillotine Choke) - Round 1
* David Kaplan defeats George Roop by Unanimous Decision

Main Card Results:

* Lyoto Machida (14-0) defeats "Sugar" Rashad Evans (c) by KO (Punches) - Round 2 @ 3:57 - Machida becomes new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
* Matt Hughes defeats Matt Serra by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
* Drew McFedries defeats Xavier Foupa-Pokam by TKO (Strikes) - Round 1 @ 0:37
* Chael Sonnen defeats Dan Miller by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
* Frank Edgar defeats Sean Sherk by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Under Card Results:

Eliot Marshall defeats Vinicius Magalhaes by unanimous decision

Denis Kang defeats Xavier Foupa-Pokum by unanimous decision

Nate Quarry defeats Jason MacDonald by technical knockout

Ed Herman defeats David Loiseau by unanimous decision

Mark Bocek defeats David Bielkheden by submission

TJ Grant defeats Ryo Chonan by split decision

Sam Stout defeats Matt Wiman by unanimous decision

Main Card Results:

Anderson Silva defeats Thales Leites by unanimous decision

Mauricio Rua defeats Chuck Liddell by K.O. rd: 1

Krzysztof Soszynski defeats Brian Stann by submission rd: 2

Cheick Kongo defeats Antoni Hardonk by K.O. round: 2

Luiz Cane defeats Steve Cantwell by unanimous decision

Under Card Results:

Aaron Riley vs. Shane Nelson
Nelson defeated Riley via TKO (Punches) at 1:44 of round 1.

Brandon Vera vs. Mike Patt
Vera defeated Patt via TKO (Leg Kicks) at 1:27 of round 2.

Tim Boetsch vs. Jason Brilz
Brilz defeated Boetsch via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Kendall Grove vs. Jason Day
Grove defeated Day via TKO (Strikes) at 1:32 of round 1.

Tamdan McCrory vs. Ryan Madigan
McCrory defeated Madigan via submission (Punches) at 3:35 of round 1.

Main Card Results:

Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller
Maynard defeated Miller via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Matt Hamill vs. Mark Munoz
Hamill defeated Munoz via KO (Head Kick) at 3:53 of round 1.

Pete Sell vs. Matt Brown
Brown defeated Sell via TKO (Punches) at 1:32 of round 1.

Shane Carwin vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Carwin defeated Gonzaga via TKO (Punches) at 1:09 of round 1.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Keith "The Dean of Mean" Jardine
Jackson defeated Jardine via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).

Under Card Results:

Junior dos Santos defeats Stefan Struve via TKO (strikes) in Round 1

Evan Dunham defeats Per Eklund via Knockout in Round 1

Mike Ciesnolevicz defeats Neil Grove via submission (Heel Hook) in Round 1

Paul Kelly defeats Troy "Rude Boy" Mandaloniz via Unanimous Decision

Main Card Results:

(155lbs) Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez (21-2) vs. Joe "Daddy" Stevenson (34-9)
Diego Sanchez defeats Joe Stevenson via Unanimous Decision

Dan Hardy (20-6) vs. Rory Markham (16-4)
Dan Hardy defeats Rory Markham via KO in Round 1

Nate Marquardt (27-8-2) vs.Wilson Gouveia (12-5)
Nate Marquardt defeats Wilson Gouveia via TKO (strikes) in Round 3

Demian Maia (9-0) vs. Chael Sonnen (21-9-1)
Demian Maia defeats Chael Sonnen via submission (triangle choke) in round one

Josh Koscheck (12-3) vs. Paulo Thiago (7-0)
Paulo Thiago defeats Josh Koscheck via knockout in round one

This site has pulled what will now be called a "BJ Penn" or "No Mas" for the last few months. I have to rethink what I want to do here. I'll save that for another post. I think I was on the right track in the very beginning with a newbie guide that I wrote. I think I'll explore this further.

Anyway, I won't go over the grim details of UFC94. You can get that anywhere else on the web. Suffice to say, Georges St. Pierre is definitely DA Man! BJ got what he deserved after all that damn talk! You gotta walk that walk if you're going to call out someone like GSP. He just looked listless out there. It was as though he didn't train at all. Throw a punch, kick, knee, grapple, but don't just lay there on your back hoping that GSP will fall into your guard! Georges knows all about you and trained like a mad man for this thing. Anyway, it is definitely back to the shaved-ice and surfing for BJ. Maybe he'll figure out where it all went wrong and put in a better showing. I know he disappointed all of his fans that night.

Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva was probably the match of the night. With one round and a flurry of good standup, Lyoto solidified his place as a contender in the Light Heavy Weight Division. Heck, either one of these guys could have done that! If Thiago managed to stay concious and win, he'd be given a title shot.

Jon Jones vs. Steven Bonner was a great fight as well. Jones really showed his skill and flexibility in this match. We will be seeing more of this guy in the future if anyone has the guts to step into the Octagon with him.

Under Card

Siver defeated Mohr via TKO (strikes) in round 3.

Drwal defeated Serati via KO (punches) in round 1.

Schafer defeated Mendes via TKO (punches) in round 1.

Kampmann defeated Barros via TKO (punches) in round 2.

Hathaway defeated Egan via TKO (elbows) in round 1.

Main card

Davis defeats Lytle via split decision.

Belcher defeated Kang via submission (guillotine choke) in Round 2.

Palhares defeated Horn via unanimous decision.

Rua defeated Coleman via TKO (punches) in round 3.

Henderson defeated Franklin via split decision.

Under Card

Barry defeated Evensen via TKO (leg kick)in Round 1.

Blackburn defeated Chonan via Unanimous Decision.

Hamill defeated Andy via TKO (strikes) in Round 2.

Hardonk defeated Wessel via TKO in Round 2.

Okami defeated Lister via Unanimous Decision.

Main card

Kongo defeated Al Turk via TKO (Strikes) in round 1.

Jackson defeated Silva via KO (Left Hook) in round 1.

Dollaway defeated Massenzio via TKO (Strikes) in round 1.

Mir defeated Nogueira via TKO (Strikes) in round 2.


Evans defeated Griffin via TKO (Strikes) in round 3.

Under Card

Brown won via submission (Armbar) in round 2.

Bocek won via submission (Rear Naked Choke) in round 3.

Stephens won via KO (Punches) in round 3.

Riley won via Decision (Unanimous).

Main card

Maia won via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in round 1.

Gonzaga won via TKO (Punches) in round 1.

Hazelett won via Submission (Armbar) in round 1.

Florian won via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in round 1.


Lesnar won via TKO (Punches) in round 2.

Under Card

Sell defeated Burkman via unanimous decision.

Franca defeated Aurelio via unanimous decision.

Miller defeated Horwich via unanimous decision.

Fisher defeafed Gugerty via submission (triangle choke) in round 3.

Leites defeated McFedries via submission (rear naked choke) in round 1.

Main card

Sherk defeated Griffin via unanimous decision.

Dos Santos defeated Werdum via KO (strikes) in round 1.

Maynard defeated Clementi via unanimous decision.

Alves defeated Koscheck via unanimous decision.


Silva defeated Côté via TKO (injury) in round 3.

Under Card

Hardy defeated Gono via Split Decision.

Carwin defeated Wain by TKO (Punches) in round 1.

Bielkheden defeated Liaudin via Unanimous Decision.

Etim defeated Stout via Unanimous Decision.

Miller defeated Baron by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in round 3.

Eklund defeated Schiavo via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in round 3.

Main card


Bisping defeated Leben via Unanimous Decision.

Jardine defeated Vera via Split Decision.

Cane defeated Sokoudjou by TKO (Punches) in round 2.

Lytle defeated Taylor via Unanimous Decision.

Davis defeated Kelly by Submission (Guillotine Choke) in round 2.

Under Card

MacDonald defeats Lambert by submission due to a rear naked choke in round 2.

Boetsch defeats Patt via TKO in round 1.

Chonan defeats Carneiro via split decision.

Pellegrino defeats Tavares via unanimous decision.

Main card

Kim defeats Brown by split decision.

Marquardt defeats Kampmann by TKO in round 1.

Henderson defeats Palhares by unanimous decision.

Franklin defeats Hamill by TKO in round 3.


Evans defeats Liddell by KO in round 2.

Under Card

Miller defeats Gurgel by submission (Triangle Choke) in round 3.

Guillard defeats Siver by KO (punches) in round 1.

Buchholz defeats Hill by submission (Rear Naked Choke) in round 2.

Gonzaga defeats McCully by submission (americana) in round 1.

Main card

Griffin defeats Aurelio by unanimous decision.

Koscheck defeats Lytle by unanimous decision.

Stevenson defeats Tibau by submission (Guillotine Choke) in round 2.

Côté defeats Almeida by split decision.


Griffin defeats Jackson by unanimous decision.

UFC 85: Bedlam came and went this weekend. Then something disgusting happened: Work!!! I guess you have to do some work in order to pay for the pay per view or the Yahoo or the bar. Day jobs just kill your blogging hours. I know, WAH!. We see that poor refereeing will be the theme of the show. Did Matt deliver on his promise or will he get on that big train to Palooka-ville? We're about to find out.

MATT HUGHES VS. THIAGO ALVES Matt Hughes, arguably a Hall Of Famer in the UFC if there is such a thing is NOT the real deal anymore. He's too slow vs. the younger competition he faced in Thiago Alves. The first round of this fight saw some good ground work by Hughes go wasted because he didn't do anything except lay there for a while. Maybe a few punches here and there but not enough to make a difference. Alves just overpowered Hughes with his legs. Indeed, the second and last round was ended with a kick/punch combination that put Matt *on* the mat! Maybe NOW he can be matched up with his slow "brother" Matt Serra so they can settle TUF6 once and for all!

MICHAEL BISPING VS. JASON DAY I was thinking that a 10 win streak by the hungry Jason Day would seal a victory over Bisping. I was really really wrong. They exchanged a few punches in the short stand up game of this match. Then Bisping took it to the ground and just wailed on Day. There was no more Day after that as the Night that is known as Michael Bisping rained darkness in a ground and pound fury.

FABRICIO WERDUM VS. BRANDON VERA The theme of this UFC event seems to be "controversy." In this match, Werdum did some fine standup while Vera kept going for the takedown. When Wedum was done clobbering Vera he took him to the ground and started with the ground and pound. Vera just was not making progress in the match. At this point the ref took pity on Brandon Vera and stopped it. It was all Fabrico Werdum. Don't believe Vera's protests. He claimed he could have continued. I'm thinking he meant continue on to Sunny San Diego and reflect on a fight that he could have won.

THALES LEITES VS NATHAN MARQUARDT These two guys actually delivered a "war." The first round could have easily been Nathan's last as Leites really landed a great right that took Narquardt out of commission for a while. He actually was able to come back and beat the stuffing out of Leites. From then on, it appeared that Nate was not going to let this fight get away from him. The ref, however, was driving this match and he assigned a penalty to Nathan a couple of times. By the third, we see that Nate is really going to win this battle. Of course, the judges saw it differently. Lesson for the kiddies: Never leave it up to the Judges!

MARCUS DAVIS VS MIKE SWICK I predicted fight of the night for these two. I think I was right. They really got to banging away at each other in some stand up in the first round. As the fight went on there was an awful lot of ground game being displayed. It was surprising to see Swick do a lot of his damage on the ground. He was really dominating the whole fight with only a bit of trouble coming from Davis. The last round featured lots of good solid strikes by both of these guys. Swick got the upper hand, however and he managed to get a takedown on Davis and then just mercilessly punched Davis until the ref said "Stop! Hey, that color red gushing out your face may work in the den!" The Judges saw fit to award the fight to Swick.

This turned out to be a pretty good event. Maybe it didn't have quite the star power that other events, like UFC79 and UFC84 but it featured some very good matches. Hopefully we see more of the same when UFC 86 rolls around!

UFC 85: Bedlam is upon us! I was ready to have a boring no MMA weekend. Maybe catch up on some old war movies or dust off a PS2 game. No such luck. Robo-Matt Hughes commands me to blog away about the next big UFC event. The "fur"ners get another crack at this. The event is being hosted Saturday, June 7th in London. So, we'll be seeing it at a weird hour 10pm EST / 7pm PST. The fight card is almost as creepy as Robo Matt. What are we getting for our PPV pleasure?

MATT HUGHES VS. THIAGO ALVES Matt got handled pretty soundly by GSP the last time he was out there in the Octagon. He is looking to redeem himself and squash any talk of retirement. He says he's still got some fight left in him. I hope he at least has enough to fight Matt Serra! We've been waiting for this fight since TUF6. Thiago has been mouthing off like a crazed lunatic about how he is going to beat the daylights out of Hughes. I know it's par for the course with MMA to trash talk but this may be going a bit overboard. I predict a Hughes comeback win. I don't think this fight will go the distance at all.

MICHAEL BISPING VS. JASON DAY Jason Day took this fight on short notice as Bisping was supposed to face Chris Leben. Leben turned out to be a piece of junk. He had to spend some time in jail for parole violations. So, England's Bisping takes on a hungry Canadian in Jason. Even though I'd take Bisping against Leben, Day comes in with an impressive 10 win streak. It looks like Day will not make Bisping's day on Saturday.

FABRICIO WERDUM VS. BRANDON VERA Fabricio has a recent win in UFC80. He is a tough opponent and will be quite the handful for Brandon Vera. With one more win, Werdum will force the UFC to look at him for an eventual title fight. Vera is in his way. He has some pretty solid jiujitsu skill himself and will look to cement his own title shot in this one. Even though Fabricio has more experience, I'm going to have to side with my fellow San Diegan, Vera. KO in the 2nd. Go PADs!

THALES LEITES VS NATHAN MARQUARDT This is a match between two pretty solid fighters. They both are on unbeaten streaks, but Marquardt has the pedigree. Thales has some serious ground game skill while Nathan is the standup guy. I have a soft spot for the standup game so Nathan FTW as they say on the Interwebs!

MARCUS DAVIS VS MIKE SWICK Marcus the "Irish Hand Grenade" Davis is looking at a pretty short fight. Probably less than a round the way Swick works. Basically, Swick is QUICK! They are both standup specialists but I'd have to give the fight to Davis since he's actually a converted boxer. This may turn out to be the fight of the night the way these guys bang.

So that's it. Get your shrimp on the barbie. Fill up on bangers and mash. Slurp down a few pints and get some MMA "fightage" on. Saturday should prove pretty interesing even without Chuck Liddell fighting. If you believe *that*, I've got a fag(---That's a cigarette you loser!) you can suck on!

I'll admit it. I've only recently started watching UFC matches and The Ultimate Fighter show in the last couple of years. Normally the sight of two sweaty men writhing around on a floor sent me running out of the room. But now, both the matches and the show have been compelling. So, slowly I've begun to understand this thing called MMA or mixed martial arts.

We will be discussing some basic terms used in the course of a UFC match. I'm coming at you with the disclaimer that I am most certainly NOT a MMA practitioner. I have, however, studied a traditional martial art for a number of years. We are strikers and our game is most definitely stand up. That being said, I can apply my training to what you and I are seeing on the screen. If I'm completely wrong about something then give me some feedback. My glass is always empty, ready to be filled. Preferably with beer! So, tape up your hands and check your cup, we're going into the Octagon to settle a score. Here are the terms.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu -- This is the MMA de-facto martial art. It *is* "mixed martial art" but Brazilian jiujitsu, invented and perfected by Carlos and Helio Gracie most typifies the tactics and strategy of most of the action in the ground game of UFC. It helps that the tour de force that was and is the Gracie's helped to turn the UFC from a curiosity to a full-fledged sporting juggernaut.

Ground and Pound -- Take your opponent down to the ground and pound the living daylights out of him with your fists and/or elbows. If that doesn't work, put a submission hold/technique on him. He'll be tapping soon enough.

Submission -- Defeat your opponent using any type of move that involves a hold of some kind or a choke. No punching or kicking here.

Tap Out -- You just said "Uncle!" Game over man. Tap whatever is convenient to tap so that the referee will stop the pain!

Pass Out -- Go off to the land of make believe. A lot of fighters will refuse to tap out and just take it like a man. No tappity tap tap here. Just lay back and dream of your next fight against a chump. Maybe you'll finally earn your 5 G's!

Arm Bar -- There are various ways to hyper-extend the joints in your opponent's arm. Once you have control in one way or another, tap out is pretty much guaranteed.

Circle -- Try to move around your opponent in either a clockwise or counter clockwise circle. If all goes right, you are dictating the action and your opponent is just following your lead, matching you step by step, pivoting around and around. Ring savvy opponents will either try to counter your circle by circling you or just outright going in for some kind of attack. Either way, you should know what's coming since you started the whole circling thing in the first place! This is one of your basic skills in the "stand up" game.

Shoot -- Charge your opponent and lower your body. Put your shoulder into his hip. Think a nice clean NFL tackle. Keep driving your weight into him and either push him down to the ground or while you're there, grab a leg and pull him off balance slamming him to the ground. Now it's pounding or submission time! Of course, you are also putting yourself into harm's way since you could charge right into a knee strike, elbow strike or some kind of a grab/hook/guillitine move. Just be careful and aggressive at the same time. Some guys like to slam their opponents against the walls of the octagon. Go for it, it's legal!

Sprawl -- This is the main defense against the shoot. If you don't want to be the one slammed to the ground first, you're going to spread your arms out and legs back and away from your opponent's grab. Balance yourself on top of your opponent. Almost as though you're diving. All your weight will be on top of the shooter. He'll be going after your hip either pushing you back or picking you up and slamming you down. You are trying to drive your hip over the top of his shoulder. You're going to try to attack from here. Elbows, knees, and under-hooks which we'll cover below.

Guard -- You are on your back and your legs are wrapped around your opponent's waist. Feet are locked together. This seems like a weak position but there are a number of grabs and submissions to be moved into from here. You can also disturb your opponent's balance by rocking your legs from side to side.

Half Guard -- You're still on your back... but you've only got one of your opponent's legs wrapped with your own or in your guard. This will lead to various leg and foot locks. You can also try to get back to the full guard above which is a typical strategy.

Pass the Guard -- You are in someone's guard. Shame on you! Try to get out and get fully on top of your opponent or on their side. You'll then lay some elbow smack down on him or try to get a lock/submission of some sort.

Under Hook -- Bring your arm under your opponent's arm. Clinch and control either his upper body or waist so he can't use that arm on you. Timing is important here because you may find your arm trapped underneath his!

Rear Naked Choke -- The Grand Poobah of finishing moves in the UFC. You are sitting directly behind your opponent and your legs are wrapped around his midsection. One of your arms is wrapped around your opponent's neck. The hand of that arm grabs the bicep of your other arm. The you apply a bit of pressure and it's Tap Out City for your opponent. Or they just pass out if they want to tough it out. Escape from this move is rare but it happens.

That's it. You're now ready to have a seat and understand what the heck is going on during a typical MMA/UFC match. Now... Let's Git It ON!

EliteXC Saturday Night Fights came and went like wildfire on the networks this weekend. Let's just get this out of the way: EliteXC and CBS have a real winner here. This event was an unquestionable success. Never mind what all the UFC/WEC elitists are saying on the radio and the Interwebs... Kimbo brought his show to Network TV and smashed the living daylights out of the ratings. We are going to see more of EliteXC.

I say, bring it on! Sure, there was crap TV and a bunch of crap fights. But, there was some great and compelling action as well. The hardcore UFC audience is having fits right now but EliteXC and CBS have the last laugh because the hardcore freaks *TUNED IN*!!! Sure they hated it! All three excruciating hours of it and when it comes back (and it WILL) they will hate the next three hours of it too. Honestly, what were you going to watch on Saturday night? Hockey??!!? They're battling for the Stanley Cup and didn't get the ratings that this thing did! No, hard core freaks had better hope that with the increased exposure, EliteXC attracts better fighters. So, what the freak (as in SHOW) happened?

Brett "The Grim" Rogers vs. Jon Murphy After waiting for what seemed forever (20 plus minutes of "this is MMA," (they could have just read MY intro), a little bio and trash talking from both the fighters, then a WWE-esque walk to the cage with rappers and ring girls, plus analysis and whatnot from the announcers) we finally get to see the first fight. Every fight after this would enjoy the same treatment. I actually kind of like the ring girls... wait. Fighting. Oh yeah, it was mostly a pretty tame standup game with a wicked right coming from The Grim to knockout Murphy early in the first round. Jon really wasn't looking too good and I think the doctors did him a favor even though a lot of UFC purists thought he could continue. Not much to go on here as far as whether these two are any good. We'll have to see who they get matched up with next.

Joey Villasenor vs. Phil "The New York Badass" Baroni I'm still sorry. Phil's nickname "New York Badass," earned him the beatdown that I predicted. It happened a few minutes into the first like the earlier fight. I must admit, it wasn't *that* much of a beatdown. The ref stopped it as soon as he saw blood gushing from Badass' nose. The doctors swarmed in on him as well and forced him in his seat even when he wanted to stand up to congratulate VIllasenor. So this is another source of hardcore UFCfanboy criticism. I think that since this is playing on Network TV you can't have the same standards of bloodiness that you can on basic cable. They're just protecting their investment folks and it's going to pay dividends sooner or later.

Gina "Conviction" Carano vs. Kaitlin Young *THIS* was the fight everyone was waiting for. It was definitely the most action packed of the night. Forget about the garbage Kaitlin was talking after the fight: She got owned! Convicted! In two rounds, Gina Carano was in total control and Young didn't have a single answer for her. If she went another round with Gina, her face would have fallen off from the punches and kicks. This fight was also full of good submission work as well. It doesn't hurt that Gina is easy on the eyes as well but let's not downplay what she did: She WORKED Kaitlin Young like she was a pathetic American Gladiator trying to beat her at the pugil stick. Good work girls. Let's hope we see more ladies in action. They certainly showed that they could fight in *this* match.

Elite XC Middleweight Champion "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler vs. Scott "Hands of Steel" Smith This could have been the best fight of the night. Both Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith were having a great standup battle trading punches and kicks. Just mercilessly attacking each other. However, Lawler had the upper hand most of the three rounds this went. At the end of both the first two rounds, Smith was in a daze and had to grab on to the cage to keep standing. In the end though, a eye poke ended the match. The judges scored it a no contest but I think Lawler would have eventually destroyed Smith if it continued further. He was just too much for Smith. Of course, the real losers were US in the audience: Robbed of a great MMA fight by twitchy doctors and officials.

Kimbo Slice vs. James "The Colossus" Thompson What can we say? Kimbo Kimbo KIMBO! He wanted to take it to the ground to show what Bas Rutten has been teaching him. So that's exactly what happened. What also happened is that he was exposed for what he is: a poor ground fighter. Even the commentators mentioned that Kimbo didn't know what he was doing once he got caught underneath the Colossus. The first round was actually the best of them. Both fighters did some damage in the standup and ground games. I'd say Thompson had a very very slight edge on the ground with Kimbo taking the standup like he should. The second round looked as though it should have been Thompson's. He really nullified Kimbo's standup and controlled him in ground and pound fashion. Even after the ref stood him and Kimbo up for whatever reason... (fix? That's what EVERYONE is saying...) James got him back down on the ground and crushed Kimbo's head repeatedly with big elbow shots. Why didn't it end in the second? (fix?...) The third saw Slice just destroy the cauliflower ear that the Colossus was sporting. After a few more smashes to James' temple, the ref decided to give Kimbo the victory we knew he was going to get for this debut on national TV.

Well, love it or hate it. EliteXC is here on CBS. We'll be seeing more and more of this. Hopefully the fights and the fighters get better and the fixes not so blatant! Oh, did I type that out loud??!! ;)

WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver sneaked up on me so fast I didn't know what hit me. Kind of like the way all of the fighters in this league operate. This was one heck of an action packed event. The main fight between Jens Pulver and Uriah Faber was great in its own right but there were a couple of other fights that deserve some props. Here's how the last of the Troubles (they come in threes, remember?) went.

Kenneth Alexander vs. Rob McCullough This was one of the slowest moving fights. They mostly did the stick and move, stick and move deal. Good for boxing but not so good for MMA. We want action and blood. If these guys expect to get bigger paychecks, they'd better review the tape and study how *not* to fight in the WEC. Oh yeah, Razer Rob won the match on a split decision. Next time don't leave it to the judges Alexander.

Chuck Grigsby Vs. Mark Munoz Now we're talking. These guys went straight to grappling and grinding after a bit of the stick and move. The difference here though was the action. Munoz just dominated his much more experienced opponent. At nearly the end of the 1st, Munoz rained punch after punch and that was that. Mark wins out over Grigsby.

Donald Cerrone Vs. Danny Castillo This match was decided pretty quickly. That being said, the match still was plenty good. The action moved from the stand up to ground and pound. Of course, Castillo didn't appreciate the action as he was submitted by armlock early in the first. Sorry Danny, maybe you don't offer up your arm for your opponent next time. Or, if you work it out right, you can get an XBox360 like one of the Ultimate Fighter 7's losers did!


Yoshiro Maeda Vs. Miguel Angel Torres This was easily the best match of the night. I know that Pulver and Faber was the headliner but these two really laid it out on the line. Their match was pretty cleanly fought i.e. not so many shots to the gonads as in a LOT of these fights! They moved from solid standup action complete with plenty of kicking to the head and sharp, sharp jabs square in each of their noses. When they got tired of beating the hell out of each other, it was ground game time. At one point they were both locking in a foot/leg bar? Since I'm still a newbie I don't know the move's name. Nevertheless, it looked like it hurt! The match was like a Rocky movie because both fighters were giving each other the business, talking and gesturing to each other. Finally, Torres popped Maeda in the face a few times... like ten! The ref saw that Yoshiro had had enough and stopped it. Torres retained the belt and Maeda showed a heckofa lot of heart. The rematch should be already in the works unless the WEC is as stupid as the UFC with the way they schedule fights. Let's hope we see these two in action again.

Uriah Faber Vs. Jens Pulver This headlining match of the night turned out to be the longest drawn out fight as well. Luckily, it was Little Evil and California kid for 25 minutes instead of some shlubs that couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag... that's to *you* Kalib Starns! Still, this is the case where the two fighters showed almost too much respect for each other. They were about as evenly matched as you can get and if not for a few mistakes on Pulver, it would have finished with Lil Evil on top. They did a lot of standup sticking and moving but not much in the way of brawling. You have to respect the punching and elbowing power of Uriah though. Standing up right next to him is a recipe for disaster. Of course, getting in his guard or letting him ground and pound you isn't much of a better alternative. That Jens could make it through all 25 minutes of this fight shows that he is for real win or lose. I worry for Jens' next opponent. He won't give Little Evil nearly the amount of fight that Uriah Faber did. With this win, Uriah needs to find an even bigger fish to fight. He may not find it at this weight class. What would happen to him at 155? He could try his luck in the crowded division in the UFC. I think the fighters there had better prepare for the California Kid. He looks ready to jump out of the little pond and into the huge ocean that is the lightweight division in the UFC.

Well, it's finally happened. MMA has gone from a 2AM also ran show to full on Network TV Sporting event. The CBS EliteXC Saturday Night Fights are coming tomorrow, uhhhh Saturday Night, May 31st. With it, we are being thrown a freakshow of a fight card. I don't know what to make of it other than the appearance of Kimbo Slice in a ring fighting on an actual TV network. Oh yeah... chick fights!!! "Crush" of the New American Gladiators will be squaring off with another tough female opponent. Here are all the fighters that will be squaring off on TV tomorrow night. I don't know much about them so you may want to check out ELITEXC's page for details and pictures (Especially of Crush / Gina Carano! my new girlfriend... in my mind...) Here's the main event stuff:

Kimbo Slice vs. James "The Colossus" Thompson This will be *THE* fight everyone will be waiting for even though Slice really isn't anything more than a really really tough dude.

Elite XC Middleweight Champion "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler vs. Scott "Hands of Steel" Smith Here's the best actual MMA fight of the night. Lawler has been there done that all over the place. We'll see if that translates to a win.

Joey Villasenor vs. Phil "The New York Badass" Baroni I'm sorry. With a nickname like "New York Badass," Phil is just asking for a beatdown. I just don't know if this Joey character can deliver.

Gina "Conviction" Carano vs. Kaitlin Young Carano has seen plenty of MMA herself with a 12-1 Muay Thai record. Playing "Crush" on American Gladiators gives her some practical training/experience with the pugil stick. Hey, if it's good enough for the Army, it should be good enough for a MMA fighter. It doesn't hurt that she's easy on the eyes. Just watch out and don't get fresh with her because she could turn both of those creepy eyes black!

Brett "The Grim Rogers vs. Jon Murphy Brett is an undefeated fighter and Jon just looks scary. Clay Guida scary! They both tip the scales at 265 pounds so expect to see a bit of banging followed by a wicked KO.

Sorry I don't have much for this. As we get more matches under our belts, EliteXC's fighters and events will get more exposure here. Well... as long as the matches are good and we get more Gina! Oh yes... you will be mine... Cue pugil stick to my cranium. POW!

It is finally over. UFC 84: Ill Will came and went like a shock to the system. Now it is over and done with. Well... for some of these guys, it is definitely over for the rest of the year. A few may be even considering a new career as StarBucks baristas. It's definitely safer than letting your face get beat to a pulp. They can at least watch the matches on their iPhones on Yahoo. So, how did it go? Pretty surprising in many ways!

Thiago Silva Vs. Antonio Mendes This one didn't take too long. It was all Mendes for a while there and it looked as though the UFC newbie was going to get his first win. Of course, Thiago had something to say about that with his fists. He got ground control on Mendes and rained down punches. Ground and pound stopped this fight in the first.

Tito Ortiz Vs. Lyoto Machida Ortiz made a name for himself before this event and was trash talking any and everyone. He made sure to burn every bridge he had in the UFC. I guess he figured a win was guaranteed in this match. The first two rounds of this one went to Machida. Tito did not have any answers for Lyoto. It wasn't until the third that Ortiz figured out what he had to do. He landed a bunch of punches and a few knees. But Machida was able to take Tito down and work some ground game on him. Tito almost gets Machida in a triangle but couldn't lock it in. So, what happens to Tito now? Who knows.

Wilson Gouveia Vs. Goran Reljic I said that "Stranger things have happened!" in my last post. Well, this is one of them. Reljic was supposed to go down in a blaze of newbie glory. The first round was a kicking mans dream come true in the Octagon. I really thought that I'd go this whole year without seeing some solid kicking but both Gouveia and Reljic were kicking like wild. In the second round, Gouveia had enough of Goran and was putting him down with some solid punches and kicks. Somehow Reljic took the upper hand and put the hurt on Wilson. The ref gave Wilson the night off and Goran the win.

Wanderlei Silva Vs. Keith Jardine The "Axe Murderer" and "The Dean of Mean" had barely enough time to say hello before it was all over. Jardine stepped in and threw a big right but then Silva countered and then kept pounding until the ref realized the fight was over 30 seconds and change into the match! Jardine wasn't moving at all and it looked almost like the "Axe Murderer" really axed Keith. Luckily, Jardine eventually woke up. Wanderlei, the PRIDE Champion is back in business for another fight at least. Jardine is dusting off that barista resume.

BJ Penn Vs. Sean Sherk Here was the strange fight. I guess the game plan for Sherk was to keep it standup and try not to fall into one of BJ's many pins and submissions. Unfortunately for him, he and his fight staff didn't count on absolutely solid and deadly standup skills on Penn's part. BJ totally dominated the fight. They traded blow after blow and when Sherk decided that the standup wasn't working, he'd try to get a takedown on BJ. Sorry dude, no dice on that one! It went like this for three rounds. In the last round Sherk was really looking bloodied up. He was still able to fight but really couldn't land anything that counted. BJ just took him apart. It was so bad that at the end of the round, the ref had to call it TKO because Sherk was on a different planet! BJ wins by TKO??!? I predicted rear naked choke. That's like a move invented specifically for Penn. A TKO though... That's something else entirely. Penn's next opponent had better game plan everything because that's what it is going to take to defeat BJ! Add the kitchen sink for good measure.

This first of three troubles really was quite a satisfying event. It's too bad everyone can't be televised because there were some good matches in the undercard as well. This will prepare us for what's to come in the near future. I can't wait!

Nokaut is reporting that Chris Leben, who was scheduled to fight in UFC 85 after Chuck Liddell pulled out due to injury will be going to jail. It's not as though we were all googoo gaga about seeing him fight instead of Chuck. It is an indication that MMA has its share of losers just like the NFL has as of late. After watching a few The Ultimate Fighter episodes it shouldn't surprise me but it does. What a lunkhead..

Speaking of TUF, I'm finding it hard to get into this season. I don't know, maybe it's the weight class but it seems like these guys aren't hungry for the fight. Certainly, if you've watched any of The Iron Ring on BET then you've seen some **hungry** fighters looking for a shot at some MMA money. They recapped the last fight as they always do and the young kid without a car, Matt Riddle, was almost happy that he lost because his opponent, Tim Credeur promised him an XBox360 for his efforts! "Yeah! I totally bitched out and lost but the new UFC Game is coming out on Xbox and now I get to pretend to be in the UFC for real!" When his team-mates gave him some flack ("You don't defend the armbar, you get an Xbox!") for this he seemed miffed. I'm incredulous that he wasn't upset at losing.

The next match between Team Forest's Dante Rivera and Team Rampage's Brandon Sene was pure torture. Thank you for fast-forward! Even Dana remarked that no one is going to say, "Thank God *THESE* guys are in the UFC!" after watching that fight. Dante won the fight but I think he lost the war. Unless he kicks some major aisssh next time, look for him on the long ride back to Palooka-ville. I hope rest of these guys give me a reason to watch the next show. It should be good since someone did the unthinkable and squirted lime juice in another guy's chewing tobacco. I didn't know people were still "chawing?" What is this the 1800's??!? Anyway, them's fightin' words and the shoot-out is a coming this week.

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I was knocked down this week, but luckily it wasn't from a mad "Frenchy" like GSP in UFC83. No, a damn cold left me looking at this match for a while on my DVR. I'm still waiting for the fight between Nate Quarry and Kalib Starnes to begin. Something tells me I might be waiting a looong time for that to happen. Here are my musings on what happened in the main event. They're pretty close to the preview I gave which makes me think I should give up my day job and become a professional gambler. Of course, that would mean being right every single time. I think I prefer my 30% accuracy rate in my Gubment job. Here's the results if you've been under a rock or sneezing and wheezing your head off like me for the last three days!

Matt Serra Vs. Georges St-Pierre It wasn't total annihilation but it was close. Serra was able to get a few hits while he was on his feet. Of course, he wasn't on his feet for most of the match. It was "Frenchy" (To be fair, he's from Montreal and this is Serra's nickname for St-Pierre.) that fought the best this night. For every technique Matt dealt, GSP was able to figure it out and totally dominate. It got really ugly after a while and the knees and elbows just kept flying. The pain ended at nearly the end of the second round. So, there it is. Georges is the champ and Matt's the chump. Well, maybe that's too strong a word for Serra. I'll save that for a later fight. Hopefully, the fight I've been looking for, Matt Serra vs. Matt Hughes can happen: LoserBowl2K8!

Travis Lutter Vs. Rich Franklin Lutter was able to do some good submission work on the ground in the first. He controlled Franklin pretty well until the end of the round. Rich was able to escape and get up. Then the round ended. Second round unfolded very differently. It was all Franklin just pelting Lutter with hit after hit. He then got position on Lutter and did some ground and pound. The ref decided to give Franklin's fists the night off. So, Rich gets the W first in this fight.

Nate Quarry Vs. Kalib Starnes I didn't like the way Kalib looked. It seems that you *can* read a book by its cover! The Quarry/Starnes fight was one of the most agonizing matches to see in this event. Luckily, I could fast forward through the circling and circling and evading and dodging. It's one thing to circle so you can gain position on your opponent to throw a good punch or kick at him, but it's an entirely different thing to just circle to circle. Did Kalib forget that he is a Mixed Martial Artist? You hit and get hit as a MMA'er. That's the breaks. It goes without saying that Starnes lost the match but for this pathetic showing, he lost his career in the UFC! I don't know if it was warranted. But hey, there are plenty more hungry guys out there willing to do some damage aching for a contract. Check out the Iron Ring if you don't believe me.

Charles McCarthy Vs. Michael Bisping McCarthy tried to get some grapple on in this fight and nearly got the arm bar on Bisping. Michael escaped and decided that grappling wasn't going to be the feature of this fight. He just rained punch after punch on McCarthy and got the win before the first round was over.

Mark Bocek Vs. Mac Danzig This was the best fight of the night. I had Big Mac winning this but the first round made me think that I chose the wrong fighter and I should go back to munching on beef. Bocek was pretty much not going to let Danzig do any standup in this round. It didn't seem like a good move even though Bocek has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In the second round, it was the Second Coming of Big Mac. He was rocking Bocek from standup position and for good measure took it to the ground and laid some wood down. In the third round we saw both of these guys do some damage. Bocek grabbed Big Mac for a big take down. He had some control for a bit but Danzig got out of it by punching and then kicking to get to standup. Then after a few more hits, Big Mac lands a knee that busts Mark's head open and bloodies it up so bad that the doctor stopped the fight to look at it. They look at it a bit and give him the go ahead to continue but they probably should have stopped it there. Somehow, after a flurry of jabs, Danzig trips Bocek and takes his back. Then it's the old Rear Naked Choke and tappity tap tap time. The TUF6 winner gets another W and marches towards a belt of his own I think. Go Vegan Boy go Vegan Boy GO!

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So, go to BIGFIGHTGEAR at mmab0nes now to get the good stuff.

A lot of us have been waiting for UFC83 to happen. The Ultimate Fighter 6 promised us a fight between the two coaches. We were really psyched to see Matt Serra face one of the greatest welterweights of all time and finally Matt Serra and Matt Hughes will fight for the Championship... err oh yeah! Make that Matt Serra and Georges St-Pierre. When will *that* fight happen? Who knows. I just hope we don't get robbed out of a Forrest Griffin vs. Rampage fight too. For now, lets see what's going to happen April 19th. Holy smokes! That's tomorrow night. Whip out your credit cards and get your pay per view TV or Yahoo going. Or, if you're feeling really adventurous, make a run for North American Frenchyland in Montreal, Canada where this event is being held.

Matt Serra Vs. Georges St-Pierre figures to be the marquee matchup of the night. Of course, that's what we thought when GSP fought Hughes in UFC79. GSP completely discombobulated Hughes and we were all left wondering if that was the last we'd see of Hughes fighting in the Octagon. Serra missed that fight because of a back injury he received during training. I think we're going to see a replay of that fight except just plug in Serra for Hughes and watch GSP just demolish Serra with an array of ground and pound with an arm bar or rear naked choke for good measure. GSP will be crowned Champ and then we get our long awaited fight between the leftover shells of men that will be Serra and Hughes.

Travis Lutter Vs. Rich Franklin These two are both trying to shake recent losses to the same guy from their memories. Anderson Silva handed them both a big "L" in their fight record. I'm kind of on Franklin's side for this one since he fought more recently than Lutter in UFC77.

Nate Quarry Vs. Kalib Starnes I'm only able to give my thorough Newbie investigation results on this one: I just don't like the way Kalib looks! He's got a freaky wall-eye in his promo photo and "The Rock" just looks the part. Of course, Quarry's a cheap lousy ripoff of the *REAL* Rock but we'll see if we're going to smell what he's cooking!

Charles McCarthy Vs. Michael Bisping We haven't seen McCarthy do anything since 2006. Bisping fought last year in UFC77 but lost. It was his first loss after four consecutive wins. I think he'll get back on track and continue with a win over this event's Couch Warrior.

Mark Bocek Vs. Mac Danzig I think *THIS* will be the fight of the night. Big Mac was unstoppable in TUF6 and I believe he'll be a force to reckon with for years to come. Bocek won the decision in UFC79 but I don't think he has enough meat stuffed in his colon to defeat the Mad Vegan Danzig. As a fellow veggie-freak myself, I'm pulling for Danzig to smack some green upside Bocek's head. BTW, we're still friends right Mark? I may have to buy him a bunch of beers if I ever meet him in person... sheesh!

 

The UFC Fight Night 13 has come and gone. I've been able to watch it, watch it again, and then re-watch it for good measure. I've come away with a few thoughts. The match ups were actually not too bad. There was a really good mix of fighters this time out and very few couch potatoes if you don't count Tim Boetsch who got dropped in the second round of his fight. Our Ultimate Fighter Alumni fare ok although some of them could have done much much better. I'm talking to you Farm Boy! Just don't hurt me or try to find me or... hey, how about I buy you a few beers buddy old pal! We also got to see the debut of the new season of The Ultimate Fighter. Was it everything we hoped and dreamed for?

Joe Lauzon was handled without mercy by Kenny Florian late into the second round of their fight. They were pretty even for a while there. This match easily scores as best of the night. That is, unless of course the un-aired Clay Guida or Manny Gamburyan fights were as action packed as this one. I remember Joe on the Ultimate Fighter 5 and he was one of the short listed guys to win it all. It's funny that he headlines this event while the guys that advanced further than him are second and even no-billed at all.

Tommy (The Farm Boy) Speer was handed an embarassing loss to Anthony Johnson. It wasn't a good sign when we saw Matt Hughes in his corner. Hughes probably handed Speer a Bible and his patented "gameplan" for Johnson. It was obvious that Tommy was going to try to take this one to the ground and then do some pounding or submitting from there. He did so by charging in with his head wide open and just got rocked by punches that kept coming. He ended up in a little ball on the side of the Octagon. He should have abandoned the gameplan when he discovered that his head was hurting a bit. I hope Tommy does better. He certainly was my pick to win last season. Of course, the mad Vegan Big Mac Danzig had something to say about that.

Nate Diaz is the real effing deal. As much as I can't stand the guy and believe that he walked away with a fake win on the Ultimate Fighter 5, he is proving himself to be one of those elite fighters. His match with Kurt Pellegrino really proved that he can't be beat even when he is soundly getting beat. Kurt controlled and layed the beat down on Nate for almost his entire match. Then somehow, he found himself in a triangle complete with double birds for good measure. Manvel the Anvil won his match as well. I will scream at the top of my lungs until it happens: NATE DIAZ VS MANNY GAMBURYAN MUST HAPPEN NOW!!!!

After all this bone crunching goodness, we got to see the new season of The Ultimate Fighter unfold. In a word best used by Forrest Griffin: Garbage. This was just the preliminary fights. 32 guys started shuffling into the gym and none of them had a clue what was going on. "Uh... usually there are only 16 guys on the show but all these other dudes kept walking in the door. We were all like, 'WTF??!'" Hmmmm... you signed up for a show called "The Ultimate Fighter" and you know only 16 guys are on the show? Duh. So we saw some more fights by guys that were really really raw or "garbage." So if they drag this part of the show out more, we're looking at 2 more weeks of this junk. I can't believe I'm jonesing for an upper-decker or a foosball table in the pool right now!

 

 

UFC's Fight Night 13 is upon us tonight (Wednesday, April 2nd 2008). This event features a full stack of fighters from a number of different Ultimate Fighter shows as well as some other UFC guys under contract looking for a brawl. The fights will be aired on the SPIKE network as usual and the whole thing will last about three hours. After that, we will be treated to the next THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER. This fight card really pisses me off. You can see the entire card HERE. It doesn't include a fight I've been waiting for for a LOOOONG time, so like some of the past Ultimate Fighter contestants I'm going to bitch out of doing an entire fight card analysis.

WOW! It seems like an entire world ago when we were finding out what "upper decker" meant and that Big Mac didn't like being in the house and that grown men are always crying about something and... ok I'll stop there. Suffice to say, I like what I saw in the tiny preview of TUF. Especially the part about fighting your way out of the house if you want to wuss out. There's been too much whining and complaining from these guys. I already outlined just a few steps that could improve the show a while ago. I don't think Dana got the call... at least if they get tired of getting drunk and trashing someone's house on the UFC's dime, they can fight their way out to palookaville.

I don't know what to make of this card. The featured bout is Joe Lauzon vs. Kenny Florian. Bringing up almost the absolute rear is Clay Guida vs. Samy Schiavo. Clay was the featured fight in UFC Fight Night 12 with Ray Huerta in a match that you *really* must see again. Oh yeah, we finally get to see Manny Gamburyan and Nate Diaz in the same octagon BUT not in the SAME fight. Also, we probably wont be able to see Manny. Just Nate. I *know* Nate won TUF5, but only because Manny couldn't continue. There has been NO rematch since and here they are together and they still aren't fighting. I've already ranted about this too. UFC83's match with GSPII vs. Serra is a part of that rant about fights we aren't going to see. There are also other good matches like Roman Mitichyan vs. Georgie-boy Sotiropoulos that won't be televised.

I *must* be a complete newbie biiatch not to see the genius that is Ultimate Fighting Championship. The lineup is good and has some great fighters but they could use some shuffling about. Especially if they want to promote this next Ultimate Fighter show. Hell, one of the fighters was Tim Boetsch who they dusted off the couch for UFC 81, another event with a dubious fight card. Well, I'm going to watch this... for the entire 4 hours... but, I'm not going to like it!!!

 

This past week has come over me like a storm and I've been amiss in commenting on the MMA action from WEC and EliteXC that went down. We'll cover just a little bit of each because I have to get my head straight for what will be another packed month of action. There were championships on the line in both the WEC 33 and EliteXC events. We got to see some action from Doug Marshall and Brian Stan on the WEC side. Cung Le and Frank Shamrock were battling on the EliteXC side. Who would stand and who would fall? Let's find out!

Both champs underestimated their opponents. Let us begin with my favorite organization, the WEC. Doug Marshall came out swinging like a mad man and was seemingly doing ok with Stann in the standup game. This was his undoing. Stann was the bigger man with a better reach. At about a minute and a half in the first, Marshall fell like a brick. He might have had a chance in the ground game as Stann is relatively new at this but Marshall hasn't showed a lot of submission work so far. Stann looks like the real deal and it will be difficult to come up with a fighter that can match him. There's probably a few guys in the UFC that are fighting at the crowded light heavyweight division there that might chance it.

Other fights in the WEC 33 event were pretty great as well. Chael Sonnen gave the unbeaten Bryan Baker a clinic in submissions and takedowns. This puts him back into contention for the championship against Paulo Filho. Maybe this time he won't get his arm caught in a weird position at the very last minute? Steve Cantwell took down and submitted Tim "The Wrecking Machine" McKenzie. Rich Crunkilton bloodied up Sergio Gomez something fierce. I thought they would stop the fight but Gomez didn't seem to be affected by all that blood sloshing out the back of his head. Next time keep your hands up Gomez!

 

OK, EliteXC. I'll be covering this more when the Saturday Night Fights come into play on CBS. For now, lets just say that a new King of San Jose was crowned on Saturday, March the 29th. King of San freakin' Jose???!? I guess that makes me the King of South East La Mesa 7-11's Back Alley. Frank Shamrock had no answer for Cung Le's legwork. I wish I could have seen this in person. Finally! A MMA'r that knows how to kick! Cung kept piling on the kicks to Frank and kept him at arms length which is exactly what kicks are great for. Shamrock was able to get inside a few times and lay the wood down on Le, but it was too little too late. He complained in between rounds that his arm was killing him. He was right, there was a fracture and he couldn't continue. Cung is KING! well... of San Jose at least.

Holy Smokes! We'll be getting a bunch more action from both WEC and EliteXC later this month. EliteXC will get major support from CBS TV for its Saturday Night Fights. It also helps that Kimbo (Flippin') Slice will be headlining that card. WEC 34 will feature a title match between Little Evil Jens Pulver and Uriah Faber. Wow. That will be something else. Best part of all? It's all free as in BEER! Let's all pop a frosty beverage and get comfortable for some good old fashioned head smashing!

 

The WEC is putting on a show tomorrow, Wednesday March 26th. These guys don't mess around with hugging each other until someone gets weirded out. No, it will be a lot of fists and elbows cracking skulls and I can't wait. Definitely a great bunch of matches to whet our appetites for UFC 83 and UFC's Fight Night which are right around the corner! Let's just see who is going to kick sand in who's face tomorrow!

Hiromitsu Miura Vs. Blas Avena Hiro is the stand up guy in this one with Blas being the submission specialist. They both have pretty light experience with Hiro having the edge there with a 7-3 record. Blas has a 4-1 record though so he hasn't felt the bad taste of losing as much as Hiro. Even though they chose the dumb nickname of "Last Samurai" for him, I'm going with the standup dude since that's the kind of pain I like to see.

Steve Cantwell Vs. Tim McKenzie Tim the "Wrecking Machine" has been out of the game for a while and Cantwell brings a 4-1 record with him. Not much to say about these two although the Machine hasn't worked recently so a little ring rust may be his undoing. Cantwell actually faced the headliner for this event. Unfortunately he didn't get the best of the marine just a KO. I see Cantwell putting it together and beating McKenzie back to the couch with the rest of us.

Ed Ratcliff Vs. Marcus Hicks This is the "Well, daig nabbit! Someone's gotta lose" special of the night. They both have 6-0 records and that they aren't fighting for a title is a bit bewildering but in their division at 155, there is steep competition. Maybe they need to eat a bit more corn and get in to the big boys room? I'm going to play hometown favorite here and give it to another striker: Ed for the win or FTW for you Interweb Weenies!

Chael Sonnen Vs. Bryan Baker We last saw Chael lose in a weird fight with Paulo Filho. I'm pretty sure he wants another crack at him and will try to put Bryan Baker in his place. He has an extensive record of 21-8-1 and has lots of experience in WEC as well as UFC. Lately his game has been a bit dicey though with two losses in a row. He's not getting a cream puff in Baker here. His record is 6-0 and he'll probably try and duplicate other efforts against Sonnen and submit him. I think Sonnen's experience will help him and get him over the hump in this one.

Doug Marshall Vs. Brian Stann Here is our championship match of the evening. We last saw Doug Marshall totally destroy Ariel Gandulla in something like 50 seconds. He then jumped into the crowd and tried to goad someone into fighting some more. Luckily no one was dumb enough to take him up on his offer. His challenger is Brian Stann, a marine fighting out of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Stann doesn't have nearly the record that Marshall has at 4-0, but Marshall's 7-3 record doesn't have him flying over to Iraq to bash the skulls of terrorists with bullets and whatever else is needed. This should prove to be an interesting match. For some reason, I think the marine is going to smash Marshall and grab the Light Heavyweight belt for himself. How does it go? HooRAH!

The UFC has put on quite a good show in UFC82: Pride of a Champion. UFC82 proved to be its namesake. The two champs, one from the UFC, the other from PRIDE went at it and made it a fight worth shelling out $45 bucks. Since it was on Yahoo and that is international, many of us from around the globe could order it and see it on the "Interweb." My call to action was a bunch of UFC parties at the local Starbucks. Hopefully you fools didn't follow my advice! Starbucks brews their coffee pretty hot and if the patron's over there wanted to fight, they could've ended it pretty quickly with a grande house in your face!

Chris Wilson vs. Jon Fitch This was my trap fight special. It appeared that Fitch had a bit of ring rust in the first as Wilson was coming away with more strikes and techniques. In the second round, Jon woke up and started making a game of it. In the final round, both of them were playing pretty good standup with lots of punches being exchanged. Wilson managed to get a hook into Jon in the final seconds of the round and put a triangle on him but the bell rung before we found out if it worked or not. The judges gave it to Jon preserving his unbeaten streak.

Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner Tanner's been out of the Octagon for about two years but he didn't look like it in this match. They really went at each other exchanging punches and kicks. Okami put Tanner down in the first with a great punch. Luckily for Even, he remembered he was in a fight and got back up again, kicking and kneeing Yushin for payback. In the second round it was more of the same but then they got tied up together in a clinch and a solid knee from Okami put Tanner back on couch duty. There's always a good episode of Star Trek or Seinfeld to watch Tanner! I should know...

Alessio Sakara vs. Chris Leben This fight didn't last for too long. Both Sakara and Leben are standup guys that just love to go for the KO. They both landed some very very HARD hits then Chris managed to smack up Sakara with one that sent him to the ground. It was all over after that. Guess the doctor ordered up some ground and pound because that is what Leben delivered to Alessio's head. The ref saw all he needed to see and stopped it. Score a TKO for the TUF#1 vet Chris Leben!

Heath Herring vs. Cheick Kongo The Heavyweights here put on a clinic in submissions and pounding. Kongo seemed to be doing a great job of putting Heath to the ground and pounding on him. For good measure, he landed quite a few knees that rocked Herring as well. Heath was able to answer a lot of what Kongo gave him and bided his time. In the last round, it looked like Kongo was going to finish Heath for good but all of a sudden Heath got on top of Kongo and started the pain. The judges had their work cut out for them. Herring got the decision on this one but I think Kongo may have gotten robbed. Hard to say when you don't know exactly what to look for in a fight. My Newbie-ness will disappear eventually but, for now, I'll work with what I've got and say: Kongo Got ROBBED.

Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson This is IT. Championship Time! Round one sees both of our fighters not wanting to make stupid mistakes early on. They start doing a bit of standup and this is what I thought Dan's game would be but he puts Silva to the ground and starts working him and working him well with elbows and fists. I guess *this* was the real game. Round two sees the two fighters kicking. This time it's mostly Silva doing the kicking and then *he* takes Dan to the ground. Henderson manages to wrestle out of it pretty quickly and they go back to standup. Henderson then got pummeled by a knee and dropped to the floor. Then it was bubbeeya bubbeeya that's all folks as Silva began to work on getting the Grand Poobah of MMA win techniques: Rear Naked Choke! That's all she wrote for the Dan crew. Uhhh bubbye now!

This was not too shabby of an event. The fight card had some really good matches. It could have used another title match but I guess there's only so many you can spread out over the course of a year. Anyway, I can hardly wait for the UFC Fight Night event coming in April! Three full hours, that's THREE, 3 hours of free televised goodness. Now all the Chai-latte freaks can suck down their drinks in peace again.

 

The UFC has had it's fill of damn "furners" and is bringing its show back to the States where it belongs. UFC 82: Pride of a Champion is coming this Saturday, March the 1st. Finally, we have some fights on the main card that deserve to be there. Especially the poster boys here. Maybe our $45 will be well spent on this one and for those of us brave souls to try this on Yahoo: Head to Starbucks and scare the living daylights out of the peeps downing Chai lattes. Your soy mocha will be that much sweeter! OK, let's see what UFC is dealing us tomorrow:

 

Chris Wilson vs. Jon Fitch This is a "trap" fight if I ever saw it. Jon Fitch hasn't lost a match in FIVE YEARS, 14 straight. Not quite Patriot territory but still pretty respectable. Wilson is debuting in the UFC with this fight. It really looks like another win for Fitch, but you never know. Hence, the trap.

 

Chris Leben vs. Alessio Sakara We last saw Sakara at UFC80:Rapid Fire. He won easily in the first round over James Lee. Leben is part of the OG crew of the Ultimate Fighter. That's TUF#1 for all you non-gangstas! They are both strikers and love to knock or be knocked out. If they both stick to their standup game, this fight will be over before the ring girl can get the card ready for the second round.

 

Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner Tanner is the typical UFC "couch potato" turned main eventer in this match. He hasn't fought since 2006. Ring rust will be a factor for this guy but he does hold a 34-6 record so he's not completely useless. Okami, with his 22-4 record isn't anything to sniff at either. These guys can do both the ground and pound and submission work. It's anyone's guess on this one but I'll go out on a limb and give it to the couch tater. I'm kind of in Evan's same boat as I've been pretty cozy with my couch for the last year too!

 

Heath Herring vs. Cheick Kongo We have some big BIG boys here at the 250 pound mark. They can do more than waddle around the octagon though so be on the lookout for a classic match here. Kongo is the striker while Herring is the ground game specialist. Kongo has won his last four fights including one against the tough Cro Cop. Herring hasn't faired so well lately so he will have to expose Kongo's weak ground game and try to put him to sleep. But that's the trick isn't it? I think Kongo will knock Heath down and out and back to palukaville with a clean KO.

 

Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson Good fights like these don't come to the UFC every month. Silva hasn't lost in two years. He's also the Middleweight Title holder here. No iterim crap. Middleweight Freaking Champ! He has a 20-4 record and has fought some tough dudes. He'll be facing Dan Henderson who has a 22-6 record with most of that coming from PRIDE where he dominated. He lost a close fight to Quentin "Rampage" Jackson the last time he fought. Dan has also mixed it up with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the current interim UFC heavyweight champ. Let's not forget wins over Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Renato Sobral and Murilo Bustamante. We definitely have a fight to lick our chops to! I'll give this one to Henderson. He's fought with some of the greats and he comes into the UFC hungry for wins.

 

UFC 82: Pride of a Champion promises to be a great event. Cheers to all you MMA StarBuckers willing to tough this one out on Yahoo! Leave some soy mocha for me!

 

WEC 32 served up some really fine MMA goodness on VS TV. The three title defenses were the main meat of the event but the other action was tough and exciting in its own right. The guys fighting for belts were hungry and it showed as two out of the three titles changed hands that night. The one that didn't wasn't too much of a surprise as fighting in front of your home town audience will get that adrenaline flowing.

 

For those of us that like it, the matches were largely standup specials. A lot of punches and kicks were served and the fighters hung in there like the champs that they were/are/would be. So, let's get to it and quickly because these tough little guys move fast and will take you down when you least expect it.

 

Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Leonard Garcia This fight ended pretty quickly. Hiroyuki and Leo matched each other kick for kick. Then Garcia said, "eff this" and started flinging right hand punches at Takaya. It was a matter of seconds before one found Hiro's head and sent him to Fantasy Island. He tried to get up to complain about room service to Tattoo but the ref decided he'd had enough and stopped it at 1:31 in the first.

 

Manny Tapia vs. Antonio Banuelos These two guys slugged it out for three full rounds. It was a great display of standup goodness. When either fighter found an opportunity to take it to the ground or submit, it seemed as though they either couldn't follow through or just didn't know how to do it. Maybe it's my newbie eye, but I saw a lot of submissions and rear naked choke opportunities gone to waste in this battle. It still was a helluva fight all the way to the final bell and beyond! The judges couldn't decide who won as both Tapia and Banuelos made some great strikes and a few clinches. So, they threw their hands up and called it a draw... BOOOO!!!! went the crowd. We almost thought that was it but then the judges decided that 2+2 didn't equal BOOOO!!! and recounted the cards. Manny got the decision and kept his unbeaten streak alive.

Lesson for the kiddies (and Antonio) here: DON'T leave it up to the judges!

Miguel Torres vs. Chase Beebe We all knew where this fight was going: Beebe wins easily against Torres. Oh but NO. Again, the standup game was featured in the beginning with a few kicks to soften each other up. Then Torres smacked Beebe upside his head. Chase was startled just enough for Torres to start working his submissions. Chase was able to wrestle free from most of them but it was too much for the Champ and he got caught by a guillotine-like choke out that relieved him of his Championship belt late in the first.

Jamie Varner vs. Rob McCullough Here was another "sure-thing" match. Razor Rob was the easy pick to retain his Championship. It looked that way for the entire three rounds of this match. McCullough fought off Varner's takedowns and did some mean striking in the first round. Varner was just getting started though. The second match saw our Champ hang back for a breather round trying to figure out a way to last to the end. Jamie kept battling by punching repeatedly and landing body and head shots. In the last round, the Champ finally showed some life and knocked Varner's mouthpiece out with a great right punch. Varner called "time" (Which I didn't know you could do in the middle of a fight??!?) so he could get his icky mouthpiece back. I guess the taste of ring dirt didn't agree with Jamie because he roughed up the Champ and sent him eating the canvas twice. It really looked like Rob was going to barely make it out of this one but Varner was the better man.

Carlo Prater vs. Carlos Condit The big featured match of the night was the Condit/Prater title match. Carlos was the hometown boy going after a Brazilian Jui Jitsu expert in Prater. He immediately went after Prater by kicking him low in his legs. Then Carlo fought back and took down Condit. That was his last mistake because then Condit worked his submissions and escapes. Prater managed to get loose from an armbar but then Condit found the guillotine and that was that. Tippity, tappity and score one for the hometown boy and the only Champ to stay at the top that night!

This is what MMA should be when we pay up the ying yang for UFC events. It could be the weight class or maybe the hunger that these guys feel because they are close but not at the top of the MMA food chain. I called them "little guys" at the top of this post but they are just regular Joe size like you and me. As they say in the fight world, "pound for pound" they are some of the toughest individuals to walk the Earth. Hopefully, they will be rewarded for their superior skills!

 

The World Extreme Cagefighting League is putting on another show on VS TV, Wednesday, February 13. If it's anything like the last WEC event, we're in for a heluva treat. Top it all off with the fact that it is free, as in BEER, to watch if you have VS as a cable or satellite television station! There are three title defenses on the main card and a bunch of up and comers on the other cards. Since it is WEC, we're going to be in a smaller octagon and we'll be looking at lighter fighters. That may be a downer for some but I've got to say that these guys do NOT play around and stay in shape and in the fight. No waking guys up from the couch after a three year lay off in these fights. Even the lowly undercards are active not only in their training but their time in the ring as well. Well, as our Governator would say, "ENOUGH TYPE!"

 

Carlo "Neo" Prater vs. Carlos "Natural Born Killer" Condit These guys will be fighting for the Welterweight Championship. They both have similar records. 21-5-1 for Neo and 21-4-0 for NBK. The difference is Conduit is the Champion and he's come home to fight. Will there be blood? For sure and some aiiish kicking to boot. This is a Brazil vs. USA match with Prater being the fighter with BJJ in his veins and Prater merely a good student of the art. I think the homecoming is going to set Carlos on fire and Carlo back to Brazil to eat some barbeque and wonder what went wrong.

 

Jamie Varner vs. Rob "Razor" McCullough Our second Championshop match features a striker in Razor versus a more complete fighter in Verner. Jamie's record is 13-2-1 and his last three fights were won with submissions for the first two and a TKO for his latest. Razor has a well trodden record of 15-3. His records and titles span a number of different arts going from kickboxing to muay thai to K1 and, of course to his current WEC title as a lightweight. This will be a big challenge for Varner as he hasn't faced someone with quite this pedigree. I'll have to go with Razor here.

 

Miguel Torres vs. Chase Beebe The last Championship up for grabs is the Bantamweight Title. Chase, with a record of 13-1-0 is the current champion and he looks to stay that way against the jiu jitsu specialist Torres. Miguel's record of 19-1 includes a recent fight with Jeff Bedard where Torres won by submission. This one is hard to call. I've taken the safe bet above by going with the current champion but in this case, I think a change is in order. I would say that Miguel's experience will carry him through this fight and Beebe will have to give up a shiny belt buckle.

 

Manny Tapia vs. Antonio Banuelos Tapia has been on an unbeaten streak(9-0-1) and plans on continuing to lay the smack down. Tapia beat his last opponent by TKO at 3:17 in the second. Banuelos (15-4) is no slouch himself as he's coming off an decision win. We've already seen one unbeaten record fall. I think another is in order. Sorry Manny.

 

Josh Grispi vs. Mark Hominick Josh is going to fight his first match with WEC competition. He's a young punk kid at age 19 but he brings a record of 10-1. Hominick 15-7 will figure to welcome the young man into the WEC in fitting style: KO in the first.

 

Leonard "Bad Boy" Garcia vs. Hiroyuki Takaya Bad Boy at 14-3 has come to the WEC to fight at his weight class of 145. Takaya with a 9-4-1 record, will try to send him back to eating bon bons and fighting at a heavier class. This may be the fight of the night. I think Hiroyuki will kick the Bad out of Garcia and down him in the third.

 

There are even more matches happening this coming Wednesday. For a freebie, we are really going to be filled to the gills with striking and submitting goodness. I don't know what it is, but Zuffa seems to be doing a better job with this organization than the UFC. Hopefully, WEC doesn't become the burning city of Rome that the UFC is. Dana, put down that fiddle and save the UFC!

I must say. There certainly *was* a fight and it didn't come from the hapless Pats! The UFC 81: Breaking Point fight card was looking pretty bad. Couple that with a price hike to please the HD folks but screw us scum still living in the 20th century and you have an event that a lot of us didn't want to see. What did you miss if you didn't fire up the satellite television before the Super Bowl? Let's find out.

Tyson Griffin vs. Gleison Tibau -- We get started with a great fight that went the distance. They both displayed a desire to slug it out in the stand up game. Griffin's game plan seemed to be strike and kick early and often. Tibau's plan? Take Tyson down and lay some pain on him. The problem with that was that it never really happened for Gleison and so Tyson won the decision based on his great strikes all over his opponent's noggin.

Ricardo Almeida vs. Rob Yundt -- Couch Fighter 2K8. This really wasn't a very big surprise. Yundt came out with all he had but he didn't come out with enough. Almeida remembered his submission training and applied a guillotine choke that sent Rob back to palookaville. I'm being too hard on him I know. Guess when you only have a week to prepare for a major fight against a veteran, it's not going to come out pretty. Better luck next time!

Nate Marquardt vs. Jeremy Horn -- This was the OG battle of the night and the skills that both displayed showed. Nate was giving Horn all he could handle bashing him with punches and elbows but Horn was able to get a couple of really great submissions and arm locks in. Horn almost took Nate out in the second round with a bloody eye but wound up in a guillotine choke that ended the match.

Tim Boetsch vs. David Heath -- They pulled these two from the undercard and made them a main event. It was a great thing for Boetsch. Not so much for Heath. Tim just layed the wood down on David and never ever let up. It ended with Heath getting thrown down on the canvas and Boetsch going to town on his head. Lucky for David, there was a caring referee in the Octagon ready to end the pain!

Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar -- The Freak Show turned out to be very exciting for the short amount of time that it lasted. As expected, Lesnar was just going to use his superior WWE sculpted body as a battering ram and just pummel his opponent until there was nothing left of him. Of course, he didn't count on the savvy veteran Mir's great BJJ skill as Frank managed to keep cool under fire and appy a very uncomfortable looking leg lock to end the fight early in the first. Maybe next time, Brock will try to study more film on MMA and less on the Junk Yard Dog!

Tim Sylvia vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira -- This fight had all the action you'd want in a title fight and more. Tim was in control for most of this match. The fighters exchanged some wicked punches and kicks. The stand up game in this fight clearly belonged to Sylvia. He rained punches on Minotauro in the first and second rounds. Then the final round sees Antonio finally remembering that he is a BJJ expert. They trade more punches but then Nogueira shoots Sylvia and works his way to a guillotine choke. Tappity tappity tap from Tim and it was all over. The Minotauro is the new "Whatever" Champion.

Kyle Bradley vs. Chris Lytle -- This fight was so short that I thought it was a preview. It was all Lytle and *no* Bradley. Kyle was in a happier place(Candyland) once the fight and a new loss set in. He really took a big beating. Bet you he buys the ref a few beers to thank him for saving his face!

Are we really here? Just last month we were a buzz over one of the greatest matches in UFC history with the Liddell/Silva fight in UFC79. We are now at UFC81 looking forward to a former WWE wrestler's debut on the freaking MAIN CARD??!? The UFC has managed to scape together a program the night before the Super Bowl with some questionable choices on the main card. I won't even address the undercard this time because of all the uncertainty. A TUF5 alum in Rob Emerson is fighting there though. Hopefully, he does better than his outing in the Ultimate Fighter Finale, as well as not get caught doing anything illegal. That didn't work out too well for Rob! So, here it is, such as it is, UFC81:Breaking Point's Main Card.

Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia(26-3-0) vs. Antonio "Minotauro" Rodrigo Nogueira(30-4-1) -- This is actually one of the only good matches on the program. We have the classic stand up vs. submission fight with Sylvia vs. Nogueira. This figures to be a great Heavyweight Title, excuse me, Interim Title match. These two have plenty of experience under their respective belts. The Minotauro is a Jiu Jitsu expert having been an instructor before stepping into the Octagon. I'm leaning towards the Minotauro choking out the Maine-iac. I guess it's my West Coast bias since my Chargers aren't playing this week because of the Pats!!

Frank Mir(10-3-0) Vs. Brock Lesnar(1-0-0) -- Can you say, "Freak Show?" That's what this match is. Any way you slice it, this can't be good for the integrity of the UFC can it? Let's say the great conditioning and solid wrestling skills, combined with the unconventional methods of a WWE veteran gets Brock another win. Does this mean that Mir is a bitch and that any kook with a yen for MMA can fight his way into a UFC contract? It certainly seems so. Brock hasn't paid his dues in the MMA world. Mir was born into it as he was the son of a martial arts instructor. He also has a respectable record that includes a championship in the UFC. Brock's star power in the WWE is the ONLY reason this match made the main fight card. I'm hoping our cable televisions don't melt when they name the winner of this fight. I have to side with Frank and hope that his MMA experience is what's cookin' on Saturday!

Jeremy "Gumby" Horn(88-16-5) Vs. Nate "The Great" Marquard(28-7-1) -- These guys are part of the old guard in the UFC world. Between Gumby and Great, they've racked up about 145 fights. Gumby has at least 4 titles(Championships) that he holds to this day plus maybe up to 15 other smaller titles. He has been around and around so tricking him is out of the question. It will take the technique and pedigree of Marquardt to beat Horn. He holds black belts in BJJ and Pancrase. He also has won many Pancrase tournaments over the years. Throw in a few Ring of Fire victories and we've got ourselves a fight. I'm thinking that the years have taken their toll on Gumby and that Nate will win by submission.

Rob "Monster" Yundt(7-0-0) Vs. Ricardo "Big Dog" Almeida(8-2-0) -- They basically pulled both of these fighters off the street for this match. Monster took this fight on a little more than a weeks notice. Almeida has been out of the fight game for about three years so everything will be new for these two. Aren't there other more worthy opponents to put up on a pay per view event? Our satellite televisions won't be abuzz for a weird fight like this. I guess since TUF7 doesn't go on the air until April, the UFC has to bring in new blood this way. I think somehow the Monster will give Ricardo a black and bruised eye and send him back to the couch.

Gleison Tibau(26-3-0) Vs. Tyson Griffin(10-1-0) -- In this Lightweight fight fest, we have Griffin coming off wins over some very good competition. That competition being Clay Guida and Thiago Tavares. We've already seen Clay's fight with Huerta in the Ultimate Fighter Finale last year so we kind of know what Griffin is capable of. Tibau has been on a mini roll as of late by stacking up three wins in a row. They are both very good ground specialists and have the stamina to go the distance. I look to see Tyson submitting Tibau late in the second round.

UFC80 Rapid Fire brought us some great fights. Maybe next time we'll spring for the PPV in order to catch the new blood in the Octagon. Here's how it finished:

Kendall Grove vs. Jorge Rivera -- This really didn't take too long to figure out. I thought the TUF champion Grove was going to put the hurt on Rivera but Jorge beat Kendall to the punch in the first round. Next time don't turn your back Kendall!

Jason Lambert vs. Wilson Gouveia -- This was a fight for the submission fans of MMA. Both Lambert and Gouveia traded submissions and chokes. Lambert was handing out a bit more punishment in this round but Wilson was keeping him in check. It looked like we were in for a long night at the start of the second round as they started their grappling work in the stand up game. Then Wilson decided "Forget that noise!" and decked Jason about thirty seconds into round two. Not all MMA fights end on the ground apparently.

Marcus Davis vs. Jess Liaudin -- This was a pretty short match. All of it was standup and it featured kicking and punching. When you can land clean and solid kicks and punches, there's no need to shoot to the ground game. Davis KO'd Liaudin a minute into the first round without too much trouble.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum -- The momentum shifted in this fight from Gabe to Fab. The first round was all about Gonzaga putting Werdum to the ground by leg sweeps and shooting, then a little pound action. Near the end of the round, Werdum figured out what was up and started dishing out some submissions of his own. At the start of the second, Gonzaga stuck with his game plan of kicking while Werdum mixed it up with a bunch of punches and terrific knees to the face. Ouch. A few of those put Gabe into LaLa land and the ref stopped the beating late in round two.

BJ Penn vs. Joe Stevenson -- The title fight of the night and, arguably, the best. BJ really put the hurt on Joe early on. He rattled him with punches and then worked his ground game. Joe managed to strike back and punched out of a few clenches but then BJ elbowed his head and opened up a geyser of blood. In the second round, Stevenson knew he was going to have to come out aggressive to beat Penn. He swung wildly and landed a few good shots but BJ's counters were much better. The match had to be stopped for a bit so the doctors could check out the bloody mess that was Joe's head. They probably should have done Joe a favor and stopped it as it was all BJ after that. He landed a punch that put Joe down on the ground. Another punch made Joe turn his back to BJ and that's just Sleepy-Time-Bye-Bye for most Penn opponents. Rear naked choke by BJ wins him the title and a shiny new belt. Tip for future BJ opponents: NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON BJ!

UFC 80: Rapid Fire is being held in Newcastle in the UK. For most of us here it is a ho hum card. BJ Penn has some interest for us. TUF experts will note that there are at least two stars from that series doing battle here in Penn and Grove. For us MMA Newbies, let's delve into what actually may be a better show than UFC79:Nemesis. Everyone here has something to prove and no one has been laying on the couch eating bonbons for a year:

**Jorge Rivera vs. Kendall Grove: Grove was the winner of TUF3 and has since compiled a record of 10-4. He's won a lot as of late but didn't so well in his last fight as he was KO'd by Patrick Cote. Rivera's record isn't too shabby at 14-6. He is a knockout specialist and being pitted against the 6 foot 6 inch Grove probably helps in this area. Bigger they are, harder they fall? They are both in need of a win so they'll be desperate to duke it out. Since I'm a TUF fan, I'm pulling for Grove to take down Rivera and put the hurt on him.

**Wilson Gouveia vs. Jason Lambert: Here we have the straight from the Motherland BJJ vs. MMA fight where Gouveia plays the Brazilian this time. Lambert(23-6) has actually fought and won against a Brazilian but he's been out of the Octagon for about 10 months. At least it hasn't been years like in UFC79. Gouveia has a record of 9-4 but even though that doesn't show much experience compared to Lambert, he has three recent wins in the UFC. I'm thinking the rust will lockup Lambert's knees and Wilson KO's him in the 2nd.

**Jess Liaudin vs. Marcus Davis: This match will be the RockEmSockEm Robot fight of the night as they both like to stand up and bring it. Jess is the hometown boy that everyone will be rooting for as Marcus is a damn Yank. Liaudin has a 12-8 record and has won five in a row. Davis has a 18-4 record with ten in a row. This is one of those fights were we as the audience wins no matter who wins in the match. It may be the best standup for your PPV buck. I'm rooting for the USA USA USA and a Marcus Davis win.

**Fabricio Werdum vs. Gabriel Gonzaga: Here we see some heavy hitters on the card. Gonzaga is especially intriguing as he has a win against Cro Cop that brought him to the heavyweight title match against Randy Couture. Randy smashed Gonzaga up in his title defense however. That Gabriel has fought against such great competition doesn't bode well for Fabricio. Fab lost his last bout as well but it wasn't against major guys like Couture and Cro Cop. One thing in his favor is that he hasn't been knocked out yet. I'm saying Gabe will end that streak come fight time!

**Joe Stevenson vs. BJ Penn: This fight features two TUF veterans. Joe was the winner of TUF2 and BJ was the winning coach of TUF5, although his team stunk it up in the show. We know what BJ can do when he's on, but he's been criticized for his weight gains and sloppy training habits. Stevenson has mad ground game and can submit you before you know what happened. We'll see if this happens to BJ. I doubt it. Although Jens Pulver gradually made me a believer in TUF5, his showing against BJ made me Penn's cheerleader. I think BJ submits Stevenson in three without much of a sweat!

UFC80 is upon us and we're expected to get excited about seeing BJ Penn smack up someone else. Before we get to the main event, let's take a look at some of the action that the folks across "the pond" will be seeing up close and personal. At least this UFC event doesn't have so many fighters coming off long breaks from the Octagon. So, here goes:

**Per Eklund vs Sam Stout: Eklund hails from Sweeden and Stout from Canada. For us in the Newbie ranks there's nothing but shrugs from our shoulders. This will be Eklund's first fight in the UFC but he has a MMA record of 14-2-1 which isn't bad. Stout has a few matches in the UFC already but hasn't won for a while. I think the Swede will take out Stout in 2.

**James Lee vs Alessio Sakara: These two 205 pounders are going different directions. Sakara has lost three out of four UFC fights and is ready to call it quits at this level and go down a weight class where the pickings may be easier. Jame Lee is working on an 11 fight unbeaten record in MMA. This will be his first UFC fight. I don't think this will save Sakara who's just asking to say "uncle" in this match. Look for Lee to end it quickly.

**Paul Kelly vs Paul Taylor: This will be an aggressive fight between two punch and kickers. It's almost a shame that this isn't a main carder but not everyone can be on the top. Kelly is the UFC Newbie in this match. Hmm%u2026 I'm seeing a trend in UFC80, "Newbies." At least this is better than UFC79's "Off the Couch-ers." Kelly has been training with a good crew and is well prepared but I think Taylor will pull out the win in this one.

**Antoni Hardonk vs Colin Robinson: This fight features two UFC veterans for a change. Both of them aren't on Pay Per View because they haven't won in a while. Robinson has shown a little more "moxie" in his defeats while Hardonk was handled fairly quick in his last two bouts. They both need to step it and man it UP for this match, otherwise they might get their walking papers to the WCO! Judging by the non-event that happened this last weekend in San Diego, they'd better bring it!

UFC79 was as action packed as we thought it was going to be. We saw some amazing fights and the results were surprising in some of the bouts but most of them finished like we thought they would. There were a large amount of fighters coming off long lay-offs. I don't know if this is typical in the UFC as this is only the second main event I've seen live. You'd think they could scare up a few more seasoned fighters for such a big fight. Luckily, the action didn't suffer much, the guys without the mat time did that.

**Rich Clementi and Melvin Guillard came to show us a war and it was one up until the last few seconds of the first round. There was some standup action as they traded punches at first but then Clementi took it to the ground where he rules. Guillard went bye bye by rear naked choke. No huggy kissy stuff at the end of this one. There will be a rematch to be sure.

**Lyoto Machida vs. Rameau Sokoudjou featured an extremely crafty veteran picking apart the "African Assassin" Soko. It wasn't Soko dominating the standup but Lyoto. The finish to this fight came on the ground at the end of the 2nd round. Soko found himself in an arm triangle and that was all she wrote.

**Soa Palelei and Eddie Sanchez were the big boys of the night. "Big boys" meaning the 265 pounds that these two average. This fight lasted about two rounds too long. There was a lot of stand up game in this one but most of it was coming from Eddie on Soa's face. Palelei has been out of the fight game for three years. Maybe next time they can find someone for Sanchez that will bring a game with them. The ref finally put us out of our misery late in the third round.

**Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva was the fight we've been looking to see for years. Well, maybe not the first minutes. They both didn't want to stink it up by doing something stupid quickly. The first round was a standup fest and it played right into Chuck's game. That Silva didn't try to shoot and bring it to the ground was mysterious. The second round was about as filled with stand up pounding as we'd seen all night. It ended with with both fighters bloodied up with Silva gushing more than Chuck. The last round saw Chuck shoot first of all things. But then he settled down to pounding hell out of Silva. He moved into him with a spinning backfist and unloaded. That was about it for Silva. Chuck just hung back as the round ended than took him down to the ground in the last few seconds. There wasn't a knockout but it was still the best fight of the night.

**Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre was scheduled right after the Liddell/Silva match. I think they were trying to knock out the audience with this decision! GSP took Hughes to the ground and dominated Hughes like crazy never really giving up the top superior position. The second round saw GSP taking Hughes down again. He slammed Hughes a number of times and completely owned him on the ground. At the end of the second it was all over for Hughes and us TUF6 fans by a verbal ("Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!!") tapout due to a vicious arm bar. So, it looks like GSP vs. Serra is a go. WAH! This really was a disappointing showing by Hughes. Will he decide to step down and become a writer? I hope not. I'm a rookie at this, no need to compete against a veteran like Matt just yet! Stay in there and bring it on next time.

**Nate Mohr vs. Manny Gamburyan took Nate down early in the first round of their match. They traded a few punches and elbows but Manny got him by an ankle lock that maybe broke Nate's leg. This gives us TUF fans some love by giving Manny a much deserved win in the UFC octagon. I hope we see a Gamburyan vs. Diaz rematch that proves once and for all that Manny was robbed of his chance at glory in the UFC. Watch for the Anvil in the future. He'll be leaving a bunch of destruction in his wake!

This is it. Shake the nog induced grog that's making your head ache. Forget about mixing it up with the rest of the soccer moms at the malls. The last great battle of 2007 UFC79:Nemesis is about to go down this weekend. Let's see if us newbies can make any sense of it all.

We'll take on the fodder err.. undercards of UFC79:Nemesis first.

* Mark Bocek vs. Doug Evans figures to be an action packed lightweight battle. They are both ground specialists so that figures to be a large part of their games. Look for a ground game leading to pound game. I'll take Evans in the first.

* Roan Carneiro vs. Tony DeSouza fight at 170 lbs. DeSouza hasn't fought a "real" match in a year so it will be an interesting test to see if his training regimen brings a win over Carneiro. I don't see this going very long. Lack of in-game fights may be costly for Tony. Carneiro in two.

* Jordan Radev vs. Dean Lister features another fighter that's been out of the game for a year in Dean. Look for a flurry of punches by Radev to keep Lister off the ground. Lister will be trying to match this but it may end on the ground. I'll go out on a limb and favor the possibly rusty Lister.

* Nate Mohr vs. Manny Gamburyan is somewhat familiar territory for us newbies. Manny was the second place finisher in TUF5 losing to the other Nate, Nate Diaz by shoulder separation. By all rights, Manny would have won and he should be the The Ultimate Fighter. I'm taking Manny easily for this one and hoping he gets a shot at Diaz to prove who is who.

* Luis Cane vs. James Irvin will be a stand up, shoot down, ground and pound fest. Luis comes from the center of the MMA world: Brazil. I'm seeing Irvin wishing he was sipping some Caipirinhas instead of fists and feet on the canvas.

Ok, so for the entire season of The Ultimate Fighter(TUF) this year we have been lead to believe that Serra Vs. Hughes would be our big payoff. What began as a minor dislike for each other was crafted into a full fledged feud. It would be settled, like last year's grudge match between Little Evil Jens Pulver and The Prodigy BJ Penn, in the Octagon.

This Saturday, December 8th at the Palms in Vegas, we will be treated to a number of other good fights in their own right.

The undercard, which most likely for brevity, will be pared down, features some compelling matches:

JRoc vs. Upper-Decker Machine will definitely be interesting once we get to the ground game. Can you say "Lower Decker?" Probably can't show that on SpikeTV.

Roman vs. Dorian will be another one to watch. Roman was willing to step into the Octagon with a bloody stump and if it hadn't been for the cooler heads of the UFC doctors, he would have.

For those of us who's knowledge of UFC extends only as far as TUF, the main event maybe a fight between two strangers. For those of us in the know, The Matador Huerta vs. The Carpenter Guida will be an exciting match. I don't think any amount of hammering from the Carpenter is going to stop El Matador from a victory in this one however.

We have yet to find out who will be in the championship bout but we know, for sure, who will not be fighting: Hughes vs. Serra. They also will not be fighting in the pay-per-view UFC79:Nemesis. No, we get to see Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre compete in something called an "interim welterweight title." It's a great match for die-hard UFC fans. For fair weather newbies that are fans of the TUF6 show, it's an incredible let-down.

Interim Title??!? Aren't they all interim titles? You're the champ until you're not. Serra couldn't fight because of an injury. No problem. (See Roman Mitichyan above.) The "real" fight for the championship will be decided after this match; winner going on to fight a healed up Serra. What if Hughes loses the match? It will then be GSP vs. Serra for the real Interim-Interim Welterweight Championship.

Championship belts in combat sports nowadays are a dime a dozen. Just look at the mess in professional boxing. There is no need to put up a "Championship" bout that means nothing. A match between Serra and Hughes would transcend any meaningful ranking in the UFC. Even if GSP lays waste to Hughes, Hughes should still fight with Serra. The "bottom-line" (read that MONEY) would be fulfilled with this match as well since TUF6 is an extremely high rated show.

Let's just hope that the champion of the show is real this time as well. If we go back to TUF5 Finale, Nate Diaz won because Manny Gamburyan dislocated his shoulder. Not because he was winning the match. Have we seen a rematch? No. This would have been an excellent undercard fight. They each are fighting other matches, Diaz is fighting Alvin Robinson on an upcoming UFC Fight Night 12 on January the 23rd. Manny Gamburyan fights a different "Nate," Nate Mohr at the aforementioned UFC:79. How much better would it have been to see Diaz vs. Gamburyan? A lot better.

Just like Hughes vs. Serra: Give Us the Fight We Were Promised!