Mixed Martial B0nes

WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver sneaked up on me so fast I didn’t know what hit me. Kind of like the way all of the fighters in this league operate. This was one heck of an action packed event. The main fight between Jens Pulver and Uriah Faber was great in its own right but there were a couple of other fights that deserve some props. Here’s how the last of the Troubles (they come in threes, remember?) went.

Kenneth Alexander vs. Rob McCullough This was one of the slowest moving fights. They mostly did the stick and move, stick and move deal. Good for boxing but not so good for MMA. We want action and blood. If these guys expect to get bigger paychecks, they’d better review the tape and study how *not* to fight in the WEC. Oh yeah, Razer Rob won the match on a split decision. Next time don’t leave it to the judges Alexander.

Chuck Grigsby Vs. Mark Munoz Now we’re talking. These guys went straight to grappling and grinding after a bit of the stick and move. The difference here though was the action. Munoz just dominated his much more experienced opponent. At nearly the end of the 1st, Munoz rained punch after punch and that was that. Mark wins out over Grigsby.

Donald Cerrone Vs. Danny Castillo This match was decided pretty quickly. That being said, the match still was plenty good. The action moved from the stand up to ground and pound. Of course, Castillo didn’t appreciate the action as he was submitted by armlock early in the first. Sorry Danny, maybe you don’t offer up your arm for your opponent next time. Or, if you work it out right, you can get an XBox360 like one of the Ultimate Fighter 7’s losers did!

Yoshiro Maeda Vs. Miguel Angel Torres This was easily the best match of the night. I know that Pulver and Faber was the headliner but these two really laid it out on the line. Their match was pretty cleanly fought i.e. not so many shots to the gonads as in a LOT of these fights! They moved from solid standup action complete with plenty of kicking to the head and sharp, sharp jabs square in each of their noses. When they got tired of beating the hell out of each other, it was ground game time. At one point they were both locking in a foot/leg bar? Since I’m still a newbie I don’t know the move’s name. Nevertheless, it looked like it hurt! The match was like a Rocky movie because both fighters were giving each other the business, talking and gesturing to each other. Finally, Torres popped Maeda in the face a few times… like ten! The ref saw that Yoshiro had had enough and stopped it. Torres retained the belt and Maeda showed a heckofa lot of heart. The rematch should be already in the works unless the WEC is as stupid as the UFC with the way they schedule fights. Let’s hope we see these two in action again.

Uriah Faber Vs. Jens Pulver This headlining match of the night turned out to be the longest drawn out fight as well. Luckily, it was Little Evil and California kid for 25 minutes instead of some shlubs that couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag… that’s to *you* Kalib Starns! Still, this is the case where the two fighters showed almost too much respect for each other. They were about as evenly matched as you can get and if not for a few mistakes on Pulver, it would have finished with Lil Evil on top. They did a lot of standup sticking and moving but not much in the way of brawling. You have to respect the punching and elbowing power of Uriah though. Standing up right next to him is a recipe for disaster. Of course, getting in his guard or letting him ground and pound you isn’t much of a better alternative. That Jens could make it through all 25 minutes of this fight shows that he is for real win or lose. I worry for Jens’ next opponent. He won’t give Little Evil nearly the amount of fight that Uriah Faber did. With this win, Uriah needs to find an even bigger fish to fight. He may not find it at this weight class. What would happen to him at 155? He could try his luck in the crowded division in the UFC. I think the fighters there had better prepare for the California Kid. He looks ready to jump out of the little pond and into the huge ocean that is the lightweight division in the UFC.

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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!

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!