Mixed Martial B0nes

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!

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Trouble comes in threes people and this month is NO exception. We’ve got major events from the UFC, WEC and EliteXC all happening within a week of each other. UFC 84 is scheduled for Saturday, May 24th. The UFC as well as UFC 84 has lived up to its name “Ill Will” for sure. What with Tito Ortiz doing battle with Dana White taking up all the news. And, Oh yeah, how about Chris Leben violating his parole by getting a DUI and then turning himself into jail? Luckily he wasn’t scheduled to fight in this one. “Ill” is certainly the operative word here. Let’s see what we’ve got…

Thiago Silva(11-0-0) Vs. Antonio Mendes(14-2-0) Here we have two very very tough customers squaring off in the Octagon. I’ll have to give Silva the edge here as Mendes is debuting in the UFC in this event. They both have impressive records but going from a small pond to the big sea is probably the experience that Mendes will have. Silva in 2.

Tito Ortiz(16-5-1) Vs. Lyoto Machida(12-0-0) Ortiz has had it with the UFC and this will be his last fight in the organization… until both he and Dana figure out that they can make more money being mad at each other together than if they we’re happy and apart. Machida is riding quite a win streak. His last fight in the UFC was a somewhat surprising win in UFC 79:Nemesis over Soko who’s fighting the undercard. I’m thinking the fading Ortiz will find his second wind and choke out Lyoto in the 3rd.

Wilson Gouveia(10-4-0) Vs. Goran Reljic(7-0-0) Here is another newcomer with a stellar record going against a salty UFC veteran. This seems to be the theme of this event. I guess, after Dana’s housecleaning this year, the stable had to be refilled with more fighters. I’m going out on a limb here and will predict a shocker win by Reljic over Gouveia in the 1st. Stranger things have happened!

Wanderlei Silva(31-8-1) Vs. Keith Jardine(13-4-1) It’s the “Axe Murderer” versus “The Dean of Mean.” Wanderlei didn’t have quite the fight he expected in UFC79 versus Chuck Liddell i.e. he lost! His days in the fight game are coming to a close so a few wins here and there would probably help his pocketbook as well as his street cred back in Brazil. He didn’t draw a cupcake in Jardine. He has earned his reputation by putting the hurt on both Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. I thought Wanderlei was going to handle Chuck in UFC79. I was wrong. Well, maybe this time I’ll be right when I say: Silva in 3 by decision.

BJ Penn(13-4-1) Vs. Sean Sherk(35-2-1) This is the main event of the evening and for good reason. BJ, “The Progidy” has proven himself to be one recently in UFC80. Sherk proved himself last in UFC73. Although he also proved to be hopped up on performance enhancing drugs. It was a long battle for him to get reinstated to the UFC. In the mean time BJ has just been piling on the wins and training like a madman. I think Sherk will put up a good fight but then say “night night” once Penn puts a rear naked choke on him and the tappity tappity starts to happen in the 3rd.

This is one big and stacked event. The full fight card really is packed with great fighters and fights. It makes me wonder why on earth some of these fights aren’t on the main card. Oh well, at least if these fights don’t live up to the hype, there will be two more next week to calm our fears or make them worse. Trouble *does* come in threes!

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!