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From MMATorch.com Keller's Take
JANUARY 2, 2009 LAS VEGAS, NEV. AT THE MGM GRAND AIRED LIVE ON PAY-PER-VIEW Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan as usual introduced the show. 1 -- JUNIOR DOS SANTOS vs. GILBERT YVEL Good choice to put this on first. Fun short fight. Good stoppage. Maybe with Yvel track record, another second or two would have been fine and eliminated doubt, but it really did seem like a pragmatic stoppage to save Yvel from inevitably taking more shots from that vulnerable position. Santos is now right there in the top tier deserving a title shot after Frank Mir or Shane Carwin. (**+) [Note: Our star rating system is shorthand for giving fans considering ordering a replay a very quick way of seeing whether there are some great fights on the show. It's also a shorthand way of saying "great fight" (****-) or "all-time classic" (****+) or "average" (**) or "eh, not much happened" (*). The ratings are based strictly on entertainment value and technique, with acknowledgment that for fighters they're goal is to win however they can without regard for whether it's considered "entertaining."] Ad airs for UFC 109. I'm more excited about the UFC 109 undercard than Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman. What's to be gained from this at this stage in their respective careers? Whoever wins will be beating someone who could easily be written off as well past their prime. I get the "SuperFight" or "Legends" aspect of it, but I just don't see it as a main event. But Couture, at his age, can probably fight anyone and get main event status. I understand it, but I'm just not putting it high on my list of upcoming matches. I'd rather Coleman and Couture test themselves against up-and-coming younger fighters in semi-main events. 2 -- JIM MILLER vs. DUANE LUDWIG Ludwig took the fight on short notice. Not sure if that's his excuse for the quick loss or not. Rogan told Miller afterward he was impressed he knocked Ludwig down with his fists instead of a taketown. Miller said he's working on his skills every day. Then he acknowledged the injuries that plagued this card and defended the fighters, including Ludwig, who stepped into fighters on short notice. Classy. Not sure UFC is interested in acknowledging that this was a card scraped together with anyone who wasn't injured and remotely ready to fight, though. Nice submission by Miller and his surprising stand-up moves this into that two-star range for me, even tough it was very short. (**-) Goldberg plugs upcoming events including next weekend's WEC show and the next two UFC PPVs plus UFC's website. Whenever I hear this busy schedule of upcoming events, it brings me back to my heart sinking at the end of every UFC PPV in the mid-to-late '90s when they'd announce that the next UFC PPV was two or three months away. It was always such a long, hard wait. Sometimes it's tough to keep up on everything from UFC, WEC, and Strikeforce, but I'll take that in a second over the sparse schedule of the 1990s. They replayed the impressive win by Cole Miller in the live Spike TV prelim show over Dan Lauzon. Cole's post-match comments aimed at Dana White at ringside was memorable, shouting to him that he told him he was going to kick Lauzon's ass. Not sure about Cole saying he's willing to die for the fans. I mean, I feel prety safe saying we wouldn't die to entertain you. [Note: MMATorch is now on Facebook. Sign up as we're trying to get to 1,000 friends by the end of tonight, just 30 hours after establishing the Facebook page. We're over 700 right now. We're at http://www.facebook.com/mmatorch We've got a vintage MMATorch photo album up with all of our original art, some of my photos from over the last ten years at UFC events, and some vintage looks at our logos and looks over the last 15+ years covering MMA. Plus, of course, we have ongoing discussions going on regarding tonight's show.] Takanori Gomi (31-5), the former Pride lightweight champion, was shown at ringside. Rogan called it an "excellent, excellent acquisition." He said he's one of the top fighters of Japan the last five years. He looked forward to some great match-ups for him at 155. Rogan said B.J. Penn did beat him once, but Gomi is a high-level 155 pounder for UFC. 3 -- JOE LAUZON vs. SAM STOUT Stout's escape from the first round armbar was a real highlight. The second round showed Stout unable to finish Lauzon, but Lauzon seeming to lose his spirit and confidence a bit, despite sticking to his gameplan. How often does a fighter lift his opponent by the arms to help him get up at the end of a round, as Stout did after round two? Stout's corner told him after two rounds that Lauzon would try to knock him out. Lauzon came out aggressively, but it didn't look like either had the knockout power needed to prevent this going the distance, unless Stout landed a kick. Good drama with two minutes left in the third as Lauzon looked to have a chance to choke out Stout, but Stout escaped. Stout looked like he was definitely the fresher fighter in superior cardio condition. He attacked in the closing seconds with a flurry. They hugged at the end. Rogan said it was a great fight and noted the crowd was on their feet. I was a little surprised by the 30-26 score from one of the judges. Not sure which round Stout dominated enough to get a 10-8 round. Lauzon had Stout down for potential submisions in rounds one and three, which would seem to rule out a two-point round win. It's not like Lauzon barely escaped the second, even though he clearly lost the round. After a gracious post-fight interview by Stout, including a shout-out to Canada and a subsequent apology to U.S. fans saying he wasn't forgetting about them, Stout sought out Lauzon for a hug and congrats for a good fight. (***) PRELIM REPLAY: JACOB VOLKMAN vs. MARTIN KAMPMANN Nice win for Kampmann. Impressive performance including another tapout tonight. He just seemed a solid level higher than Volkmann, impressively knocking Volkmann down twice with counter punches stopping Volkmann's apparent momentum. Kampmann said he was hit too many times for his taste. Good four minute fight. (**+) 4 -- PAUL DALEY vs. DUSTIN HAZLETT Loud "USA" chant early. Tentative opening minute other than Hazlett flipping into Daley in the opening two seconds. Daley fired some high roundhouse kicks that didn't land, but some leg kicks that did. Hazlett's corner screamed "hands up" repeatedly and loudly and constantly early in the round. Then came a scary left hook that took Hazlett down and three follow-ups that removed all doubt. Even more impressive is that Hazlett landed the same left hook a split second earlier as Daley was throwing his hook, and it didn't soften Daley's power. Not a lot to the first that didn't quite get to the half-way point of the first round, but the finish was decisive and what a lot of people watch MMA to see. Daley said Hazlett is a good guy and he wasn't surprised he decided to stand with him at the start. Daley apologized for his antics after the fight, which was simulating firing a machine gun at Hazlett when he was being tended to by his cornermen and medics. He said it was the adrenaline of the moment. (**) PRELIM -- MARK MUNOZ vs. RYAN JENSEN Munoz looked good. Not sure why the ref let that go so long at the end. There was nothing Jensen was going to do at that point facedown cowering and trying to tapout while also protecting himself. He took a dozen shots mostly to the hands covering his head, but also to the ribs, as the ref, Mario Yamazaki, observed from a distance. (**) 5 -- RASHAD EVANS vs. THIAGO SILVA Evans looks really good in the first round, with two takedowns, but nothing close to a knockout. Silva seemed more tired after one. More of the same in the second. Two minutes into the third, a frustrated Silva raised his arms to rile up the crowd and maybe energize himself in the final stretch of a somewhat listlist overall main event with the ref telling them to "get working" a few times. It was a counter to Rashad seemingly backing off a bit since he figured he was ahead two rounds already and had no need to engage. Silva began taunting him by seemingly mocking his head bobbing he had been doing all fight. The head games by Silva (literally and figuratively) worked as he rocked Rashad at 2:30. Huge pop from the crowd and Rogan. If you tuned in at this point, you'd think Silva dominated the fight. Rashad looked at the clock with 1:47 left. Silva taunted Rashad, put his hands on his hips, and both men seemed to take a breather. With one minute left, it was time for Silva to try to finish Rashad. Rashad shot in, but Silva remained on his feet. He took a deep breath while pressed against the fence. He tried to slip out, but Rashad held on and the horn sounded. Looked like Rashad won pretty clearly 29-28. There was no 10-8 round there. And the judges agreed. Unlike the third round disgrace that was Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin, at least Silva made it interesting and they fought to the end as best they could. Rashad admitted he got lazy in the third and paid a price. The crowd booed him after he issued a challenge to Rampage Jackson. I don't know about that fight. I wanted to go higher with the star rating, but it really was lackluster except for that 30 seconds or so late in the third. Just not the adrenaline rush we're used to with UFC main events either during intros or the fight itself. (**+) PRELIM: MIKE PYLE vs. JAKE ELLENBERGER The bright side of some short fights is we got a lot of prelim rights. Rogan made his case in this one for a struggle on the ground being worthy of playing itself out rather than fighters being stood up. He's made that case before. There was enough going on to justify not standing them up, but it wasn't a dynamic round until a barrage at the end by Ellenberger who was face down kneeling on the mat as the horn sounded. Pyle told his corner he might have a broken rib. Ellenberger finished Pyle quickly after blocking a takedown attempt and then throwing lightning fast punches leading to the ref stepping in at 0:22. Nice finish. (*+) Goldberg and Rogan reviewed the happenings on the show. Some fight finishes with title contender ramifications, but this was a show that could have used more shots of celebrities, A-brand fighters watching (just Randy Couture was shown among the top UFC names), and big news from Dana White. It really felt like a B-show, which is what was expected. It's not a show you have to go out of your way to see right away at full price, but it wasn't a total dog as there were some good submissions and stoppages. No four-star fights, though. Flat start to the year, but not the disaster this line-up could have been. QUOTEBOOK Dustin Hazlett after hearing Paul Daley's interview: "Was I supposed to be talking about myself in the third person for this whole interview?" Cole Miller after his win over Dan Lauzon: "Dana, what did I tell ya'? I told you I was gonna whoop his ass!" Cole Miller: "I don't come in here and promise to win every fight. But I promise to fight every fight. And I'll never be in a boring one. I'm not afraid to take risks, I'm not afraid to lose, I'm not afraid to die, and I'll gladly do all three for the fans of UFC." Joe Rogan: "Junior Dos Santos is for real, folks." I want to thank Wayne for stepping up and everybody else who stepped up on short notice because we had a lot of injuries. I want to thank all the fans for showing up tonight. There are a lot of crap talkers saying things about this card. We are here to fight. Thanks to everyone at home for buying this." Rashad Evans: "I hear there's an actor who came back into the fight scene in UFC. Rampage, I know you're watching, so come back and let's get it on." © Copyright by MMATorch.com |
