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Posts Tagged ‘UFC84’

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!