Sunday, May 25, 2008
Sport Crack’s UFC 84: Ill Will Recap
Even though some of UFC 84’s most hyped matches didn’t quite play out how we may have wanted, it was still a great ticket. Besides, any UFC even is a good event, that much is common knowledge. UFC 84 saw knockouts, submissions, ground technicians and a main event that lived up to all that preceded it.
Warning: Spoilers follow. If you’ve taped it and still haven’t seen it, and somehow got this far -- well, I warned you.
Christian ‘The Hungarian Nightmare’ Wellisch (8-3-0) vs. Shane Carwin (8-0-0)
This fight would finish second for quickest fights to end for the evening. Up and comer Shane Carwin clocked The Hungarian Nightmare, sending him reeling -- without missing a step, Carwin would go on to pound Wellisch until the referee stopped the fight at 0:44 in the 1st round.
Victor: Carwin by 1st round KO
John ‘War Machine’ Copenhaver (5-1-0) vs. Yoshiyuki ‘Zenko’ Yoshida (9-2-0)
In yet another match that failed to get past the minute mark, Yoshiyuki Yoshida maneuvered his way into locking in a lethal anaconda choke on Copenhaver. The referee would stop the fight at 0:56 after it was discovered that Copenhaver had actually been put to sleep. Score one for Zenko.
Victor: Yoshida by 1st round submission (anaconda choke)
Ivan Salaverry (12-6-0) vs. Rousimar ‘Toquinho’ Palhares (7-1-0)
This fight went to the ground in a hurry and Palhares had Salaverry in a potential rear naked choke for what seemed like forever. After appearing to finally escape, Palhares dragged Salaverry back down and as smooth as silk, maneuvered his way around to Salaverry’s arm and locked in the arm bar. It was the submission specialist at his finest. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it -- you need to go and find video of it. It was a beautiful thing to watch.
Victor: Palhares by 1st round submission (arm bar)
Tito ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ Ortiz (15-5-1) vs. Ryoto ‘Lyoto’ Machida (12-0-0)
I hadn’t seen much of Machida up until this fight, but after watching him it’s easy to see why he’s undefeated. He has a unique style all his own, quickly and skillfully dodging incoming attacks.
He had Ortiz exasperated at multiple points in the match, but showed at the end of the first round that although he flees for much of his fights, he is lethal when he sees an opening to attack. It was basically cat and mouse the entire time, with Ortiz stalking Machida the entire fight and failing to land any meaningful strikes on him. He had opportunities in the second and third round, but failed to capitalize on them and Machida would stylistically dominate his way into his 13th victory.
Victor: Machida wins by unanimous decision
Wanderlei ‘The Axe Murderer’ Silva (31-8-1) vs. Keith ‘The Dean of Mean’ Jardine (13-3-1)
Even though this would turn out to be the quickest fight of the evening, it was the one I was most looking forward to and it did not fail to live up to my expectations. Although I thought they would go toe to toe for a bit longer, it was common knowledge that this fight was going to be strictly striking.
Unfortunately for Jardine, Silva got the early advantage with a stunning right and in typical Axe Murderer fashion, he finished it off in a hurry. Although many of Silva’s knockouts have been brutal and bloody, it was great to see him attempt to go over multiple times to make sure Jardine was okay. The guy is a class act and shot up my list of favorite fighters by his actions last night.
Victor: Silva by 1st round KO
BJ ‘The Prodigy’ Penn (12-4-1) vs. Sean ‘The Muscle Shark’ Sherk (32-2-1)
The much awaited main event did not fail to live up expectations, surprisingly remaining upright for the entire fight. Penn and Sherk would trade jabs, hooks and strikes for three straight rounds, leading many to wonder why Sherk wasn’t trying to take it to the ground where he had a better chance of winning. After the fight, Sherk would say he thought he was doing fine on his feet and so no reason to change his strategy. While Sherk did land many blows, Penn seemed just a step ahead of him, keeping him at bay with a stiff jab.
In a controversial ending, a flying knee by Penn followed by multiple strikes led Penn to just stand up and claim Sherk “was done”. After much confusion, and a continuing Penn celebration, it was announced that Penn had won by TKO. The referee had stopped the fight. It was also interesting to note that Sherk stopped using his right hand for much of the end of the fight and may have injured it, although he said nothing of it during his post fight interview. After all the bad blood that had brewed, Penn and Sherk hugged and Penn told Sherk he could come and train with him anytime.
Fifteen straight minutes of kicking the shit out of each other and they both showed class and respect at the end, hugging multiple times. One of the many reasons I love the MMA.
Other fight results:
Dong Hyun Kim defeated Jason Tan by KO in the 3rd round
Rich Clementi defeated Terry Etim by unanimous decision
Rameau Sokoudjou defeated Kazuhiro Nakamura by TKO in the 1st round
Thiago Silva defeated Antonio Mendes by submission in the 1st round
Goran Reljic defeated Wilson Gouveia by KO in the 2nd round
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Sport Crack UFC 83 Recap
If you happened to DVR this or plan to watch it somehow illegally online, do not read any farther. Because you’ll find out who wins. There, you’ve been warned.
Mark Bocek vs. Mac Danzig
Mac Danzig, the Season 6 winner of the Ultimate Fighter made an impressive lightweight debut with a 3rd round win by submission. Bocek’s face was literally covered in blood at one point and even though he lost, he showed how solid of a chin he has -- taking three thunderous knees to the jaw and failing to be knocked out. In the end, Bocek was just too beaten up and Danzig slipped in a rear naked choke for the submission victory.
Charles McCarthy vs. Michael Bisping
After defending a flurry of blows from Bisping early, McCarthy got cocky and stuck out his tongue and shook his head at Bisping. Bisping didn’t take too kindly, effectively going to town on McCarthy for the remainder of the round and scoring a first round TKO.
In the first ever 30-24 scorecard (yes, seriously), Quarry easily cruised to a unanimous decision after failing to knock out Kalib Starnes. Starnes spent much of the fight backpedaling, evoking boo’s from the crowd to the surprise of many (he was supposed to be a home-country favorite). From the looks of it, Starnes just might have injured himself early -- because there is no other reason for him to have been retreating so much.
Travis Lutter vs. Rich Franklin
In my most anticipated fight of the evening, Franklin narrowly escaped having his arm broken, skillfully rolling out of it and continuing on to a 2nd round TKO. After the fight, Franklin took a couple of verbal jabs at Lutter, claiming it’s common knowledge that his conditioning isn’t very good. This was probably due to Lutter’s pre fight comments about his doubts that Franklin’s knee surgery was real and he was making excuses. Apparently not.
Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Pierre
In the rematch of the shocking first fight (Serra knocked out St. Pierre in the first round), St. Pierre looked to be in a different league than Serra for much of the fight. Following several cracking knees to the ribs, the referee stopped the fight with 15 seconds to go in the 2nd round, effectively allowing St. Pierre to win back the belt he felt he so wrongly lost.
Other under card results:
Jason MacDonald defeats Joe Doerksen by TKO in the 2nd round.
Jason Day defeats Alan Belcher by TKO in the 1st round.
Demian Maia defeats Ed Herman by submission in the 2nd round by triangle choke.
Rich Clementi awarded split decision win over Sam Stout.
Cain Velasquez defeats Brad Morris by TKO in the 1st round.
Jonathan Goulet defeats Kuniyoshi Hironaka by TKO in the 2nd round.
Final thoughts: It appears that many of the experts were correct and Serra never really stood a chance against G.S.P. in the rematch. He landed some blows, yes, but St. Pierre seemingly had a counter for everything that Serra threw at him. And those knees looked brutal.
Charles McCarthy looked like a clown. If your going to mock somebody blatantly, at least don't get your ass kicked in the same round.
Rich Franklin looked great and his knee surgery appears to have gone well. His escape from Lutter's arm bar is perhaps the best MMA move I have seen thus far in 2008. Look for it on YouTube tomorrow.
I'm liking Mac Danzig more and more each time I see him fight. I'm getting the feeling we might just see the blossoming of a new UFC star.
