Mixed Martial B0nes

It’s been a long weekend and a Charger loss in the AFC title game has thrown us SanDiegans for a loop. UFC80 Rapid Fire brought us some great fights. Maybe next time we’ll spring for the PPV in order to catch the new blood in the Octagon. Here’s how it finished:

Kendall Grove vs. Jorge Rivera This really didn’t take too long to figure out. I thought the TUF champion Grove was going to put the hurt on Rivera but Jorge beat Kendall to the punch in the first round. Next time don’t turn your back Kendall!

Jason Lambert vs. Wilson Gouveia This was a fight for the submission fans of MMA. Both Lambert and Gouveia traded submissions and chokes. Lambert was handing out a bit more punishment in this round but Wilson was keeping him in check. It looked like we were in for a long night at the start of the second round as they started their grappling work in the stand up game. Then Wilson decided “Forget that noise!” and decked Jason about thirty seconds into round two. Not all MMA fights end on the ground apparently.

Marcus Davis vs. Jess Liaudin This was a pretty short match. All of it was standup and it featured kicking and punching. When you can land clean and solid kicks and punches, there’s no need to shoot to the ground game. Davis KO’d Liaudin a minute into the first round without too much trouble.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum The momentum shifted in this fight from Gabe to Fab. The first round was all about Gonzaga putting Werdum to the ground by leg sweeps and shooting, then a little pound action. Near the end of the round, Werdum figured out what was up and started dishing out some submissions of his own. At the start of the second, Gonzaga stuck with his game plan of kicking while Werdum mixed it up with a bunch of punches and terrific knees to the face. Ouch. A few of those put Gabe into LaLa land and the ref stopped the beating late in round two.

BJ Penn vs. Joe Stevenson The title fight of the night and, arguably, the best. BJ really put the hurt on Joe early on. He rattled him with punches and then worked his ground game. Joe managed to strike back and punched out of a few clenches but then BJ elbowed his head and opened up a geyser of blood. In the second round, Stevenson knew he was going to have to come out aggressive to beat Penn. He swung wildly and landed a few good shots but BJ’s counters were much better. The match had to be stopped for a bit so the doctors could check out the bloody mess that was Joe’s head. They probably should have done Joe a favor and stopped it as it was all BJ after that. He landed a punch that put Joe down on the ground. Another punch made Joe turn his back to BJ and that’s just Sleepy-Time-Bye-Bye for most Penn opponents. Rear naked choke by BJ wins him the title and a shiny new belt. Tip for future BJ opponents: NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON BJ!

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!