Mixed Martial B0nes

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!

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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!