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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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!

We’ve gone through the undercard of UFC79 so now it’s time to see what the main card holds for us. We have the two obvious fights in Liddell v. Silva and Hughes v. GSP but there are others fighting on Saturday that have put themselves on the line for us.

This figures to be a great group of various battles. Where they start and how they end will be as unique as the men stepping into the octagon. OK, let’s cut the deck and deal out some of these aces!

• Soa Palelei vs. Eddie Sanchez will most likely be a short bout as Palelei hasn’t fought a live match in over three years. Sanchez has mixed it up with the likes of Cro Cop and Colin Robinson this year. The interesting thing about this match is the size of the two fighters: 265 lbs. At this weight, look for someone’s (sorry Soa!) eyes to roll to the back of their head at the end of the match.
• Rich Clementi vs. Melvin Guillard will most likely be the most tension filled one of the night. Each of these guys hate every one of the 155 lbs. of the other. This will be a classic standup (Melvin) vs submission (Rich) fight. Someone’s going to get decked and I’m thinking Guillard will be the one to go down.
• Lyoto Machida vs. Rameau Sokoudjou is a match featuring a wildman(Sokoudjou) against a veteran(Machida). Sokoudjou has become one the most exciting 205 pounders in the UFC in a very short time. Machida has fought at this level for a long time and will pull out the stops to confuse Sokoudjou. Having seen Sokoudjou in action makes me think he will come out on top for this one.
• Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva… OMFG!! This is the match that everyone is paying $40 on PPV for. What more can be said about this matchup other than, “Shut up and fight!” Liddell the standup/ground and pounder will have as much as he can take in Silva. I am a Chuck fan. I have Chuck teeshirts. Chuck is on my Tivo favorites… wait for it… wait for it… BUT I somehow think this will end badly for him. Silva has a pedigree a step above Liddell. I’m crossing my fingers for the Iceman but the AxeMurderer has so much game that he may end Chuck’s reign in the UFC at the top.
• Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre is one heck of a substitution for Hughes vs. Serra. They have both fought each other and they both have wins against each other. The winner faces Matt Serra for the Welterweight Title. This is just the “Interim” title fight. I have mixed feelings about this fight as the real bout was supposed to be Serra vs. Hughes. If Hughes lays an egg, the title shot will go to GSP. If GSP wins the title, TUF fans get the shaft. Any way, this is a premium match up and to predict this one is a toss up. I’ll go with Hughes. Somehow I think he will submit GSP and preserve his title shot. As a Newbie and a TUF fan I’m really hoping for this!