KELLER'S UFC 109 LIVE BLOG
FEBRUARY 6, 2010
LAS VEGAS, NEV. - MANDALAY BAY
LIVE ON SPIKE TV / PAY-PER-VIEW
SPIKE TV PRELIMS
-Frank Trigg went from cut to getting co-top undercard billing for this show, although more to due to process of elimination with card changes than anything.
-The ice incident with the corner after the first round of Melvin Guillard and Ronys Torres was a UFC first. Joe Rogan was hard on those cornermen, but they sure did a lousy job trying to clean it up. It was as if that ice was radioactive the way they were rushing to get that cleaned up, but not wanting to touch it for more than a second. Gotta love the crowd booing, which made them even more nervous. That's a SportsCenter moment.
-Guillard-Torres was an okay fight. I agree with Jamie's two-star-plus rating in terms of excitement level and technique on display for all three rounds. I agree with the judges' decision. It might have been a fight that was decided in the last 10 seconds before the time limit. Guillard looked good, but not the type of win that makes him a money draw for UFC. But since he believes he's on pace for at title shot in 2011, he isn't rushing his expectations.
-Mac Danzig-Justin Buckhholz: Danzig secured that second round in the final seconds of the round. Nice ground exchanges by both. It was great to hear Joe Rogan explain the ridiculous rationale behind the downward elbow strikes being banned because the sanctioning body had seen people breaking bricks with their elbows. When Goldberg said it was all about fighter safety, Rogan shot back that it's a stupid rule that's about ignorance, not safety. While covering for the Torch the attempts (many successful) in various states to ban MMA, the level of ignorance among critics in the media, boxing, and politics - with Sen. John McCain leading the charge of ignorant stupidity - was infuriating. Anytime that history of MMA is brought up, it makes me thankful that cooler heads prevailed, although as Rogan pointed out, a few stupid rules might have survived. Ignorance isn't gone, based on what Jackie Chan just said about not liking MMA for some of the dumbest reasons imaginable... Nice finish for Danzig, and a nice showing overall. Two-star-plus fight. I'm a little higher on it than Jamie, who was at two-stars, because there were some nice submission attempts and exciting finishes to rounds two and three... Good to see Danzig representing vegans well... And his daughter's name, Nova, is really cool too...
PAY-PER-VIEW
-Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan did their best to hype the strengths of the Mark Coleman vs. Randy Couture fight and hit all the right points: They're two legends who haven't crossed paths but built Hall of Fame careers; Coleman paved the way for Couture in certain ways; they old but not washed up and training hard and taking this seriously...
-Frank Trigg-Matt Serra: Well, Trigg's next career begins at 7:17 p.m. PT on Feb. 6, 2010 because his UFC fighting career ended... Our "Prediction Specialist" Wesley Walker called this pretty much exactly right, making up for picking Buchholz and Torres in the prelims for upsets... I give it a two-star rating. A nice KO is usually worth a two-star rating even if there's nothing else to the fight...
-Celebrity Sighting: Holly Madison, prompting Goldberg to call the crowd "star-studded." More evidence, please.
-Dan Miller-Demian Maia: No surprise that the ref turned out to be Steve Mazzagatti who missed the low blow to Miller in the first round. I would not want to be an MMA referee, though. Talk about pressure. I got nervous scoring/ref'ing sparring fights in karate class, so I'd crumble under the pressure of refeerring UFC fight... Boring first two rounds. Rogan said it turned into "an amateur kick-boxing fight." That's insulting to amateur kick-boxing fights... Where is Mauro Ranallo when you need him to throw out some cliches about this "being a cure for insomnia" or "as exciting as watching paint try" or something like that... It's a fight where you're glad there are time limits because otherwise it might have gone past the Super Bowl kick-off... Right call with Maia getting the win unanimously from the judges. Maia apologized for not finishing the fight, but he said he wears his heart on his shoulder (I think that's what he said) and fights for the fans. "I love everybody here," he said. The crowd wasn't very forgiving. It wasn't technically bad, but it was two people standing who just don't specialize in standing and it came across as sparring 85 percent of the time. It had some decent moments, but overall felt tentative... I give it a one-star-plus rating...
-Chuck Liddell shown in the crowd. Goldberg says he's in the midst of filming The Ultimate Fighter with Tito Ortiz as the other coach.
-Prelim Phil Davis vs. Brian Stann then aired: Davis's cornerman told him "fights over" after the second round. I get that he was up two rounds in scoring, but it still sounds like a dangerous strategy going into the third...
-Mike Swick-Paulo Thiago: The crowd definitely getting restless after this first round because it resembled the Miller-Maia match a little too much. Swick took Thaigo down late in the crowd, a smart strategy from the standpoint of scoring the fight... Can you score a round 8-8 in a 10-point-must-system? Okay, it wasn't that bad, but it was tentative and neither came close to finishing it... Swick seemed more hyped up at the start of the second round, trying to goad Thiago into making a mistake in being aggressive since he likes to counter... What a finish! Swick scored his best shot of the right, and Thiago countered and then seemed to put knock him out with some invisible chloroform rag. Credit to ref Herb Dean for being all over that and stopping the fight as soon as he did, realizing that despite being under Thiago, that he was out that quickly... Three-stars for that with a great KO/submission combo finish.
-A commercial airs for the WEC PPV. They show highlights of Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber. Fans are used to seeing WEC free. Will they pay? They show them sitting in the crowd. Rogan puts Aldo over as one of the top two or three P4P fighters in the world...
-Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen: Rogan calls Sonnen one of the best interviews in MMA. He looks like the result of Matt Hughes and Stephan Bonner merging into one person... Very nice choice of entrance music by Marquardt... Great first round for Sonnen. Star-making dominance on the ground, smothering Marquardt from start to finish. They unfortunately went to Sonnen's corner instead of Marquardt's between rounds. I don't get that choice at all... More of the same in the second, with Rogan saying Marquardt has to learn to fight off of his back. He said to compete with Sonnen on your back, you can't just be good on your back, you have to be great off your back. Mid-way into the round, Sonnen bleeds heavily all over Marquardt, who scores with some back elbows, getting a rise out of the crowd. Rogan said that when Marquardt said before the fight he thought whatever Sonnen does well he does better, he was wrong when it came to wrestling. That is an accurate statement...
Twelve seconds into the third, Sonnen had Marquardt on his back again. Marquardt seemed tired and weary physically and mentally after this. He was as surprised as anyone at how this was going. "This is a beatdown!" says Rogan mid-way into the third. At 3:15 Marquardt locked on a strong guillotine, and it appeared he might have him, but after 15 seconds Sonnen slipped out. Marquardt rolled him over and ended up on top with a minute to go. Sonnen, who made a crack about being a Republican and not wanting a man lying on him, got a taste of Marquardt's cup right on his face. Marquardt looked like the better fighter in the final couple minutes. He showed respect toward Sonnen after the horn sounded, acknowledging basically that he was schooled for 2.5 rounds...
Could a judge decide that Sonnen controlled Marquardt, but didn't do damage or come close to winning or even try to win, and give Marquardt one of those first two rounds as a result? After all, Marquardt bloodied him with elbows and locked on a guillotine and went for submissions multiple times... Nope. Unanimous 30-27 from all three. I'd give that third round to Marquardt because it's not just duration of controlling a round (3 minutes to 2), but how close you come to winning or at least doing damage and trying to win... Marquardt said he didn't utilize a gameplan well and said he thought he should have won that fight. He said he wanted to use more footwork, but ended up trying to slug with him and got taken down each time. He said he still believes he's the man to win the Middleweight Title. "It's a step back, but I'll be back," he said. He added, "Next time, hopefully it's five rounds." He might have won a five round fight... Everyone waiting to take a shot when Goldberg said "class" regarding a fight, take a shot now. He didn't say "class act," which he used to say about even jerks acting like jerks, but he said regarding Marquardt, "He's full of class"... Three-star-plus fight...
-They showed Rashad Evans shadow-boxing at ringside.
-Couture-Coleman: Couture came out to the best entrance song ever, Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold" (Disclaimer: My list of Best Entrance Songs Ever is about 10 deep.) Kevin Von Erich came out to Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold" in World Class Championship Wrestling back in the early 1980s, and only his brother Kerry Von Erich's "Tom Sawyer" entrance song rivaled it at the time. Rogan determined that Couture is planning to submit Coleman based on his choice of song. "Man I'm pumped for this!" exclaimed Rogan, definitely earning his paycheck. Highest total age of any UFC fight ever at 91 (46 for Couture, 45 for Coleman). Speaking of pro wrestling, was that Santino Marella standing behind Couture during ring intros screen-left?... Couture almost made my first round TKO win for Couture prediction come true. He outboxed Coleman early, rattled him multiple times against the fence, and definitely won the round. Coleman earned Couture's respect, though, with a couple punches mid-round... Rogan: "This is the best Randy has ever looked striking." He took Coleman down, mounted him, pounded him, and then got his back. He applied a choke and knocked out Coleman... That was a dominant win, probably earning him title shot consideration... Rogan notes how appropriate his intro music was... Couture afterward said it feels good to be so active with three fights in seven months...
QUOTEBOOK
Joe Rogan: "That was the story of 2009 in the UFC. So many injuries, so may great fights canceled or postponed."
Mike Goldberg in response: "Joe Silva aged about ten years in 2009."
Joe Rogan: "Get back in there, you're not done. There's ice all over the floor. There's a hundred pieces of ice still all over the floor... Those cornermen, somebody needs to kick their ass... I still a couple of pieces. I don't want anyone to fall and hit their head. This is ridiculous."
Mike Goldberg in response: "We need a Zamboni."
Joe Rogan: "Danzig has publicly stated that if he loses to Justin Bockholz he doesn't belong in UFC. That's a pretty bold statement, but probably correct."
Joe Rogan: "It's ridiculous. It's not about safety, it's about ignorance. That's a dumb rule. It's not even the most powerful elbow."
Mac Danzig: "I do my best not to ever underestimate anybody, but I don't think I gave him enough credit. This division is so deep. These other guys, no offense to the heavyweights, they don't understand what it's like to fight in this division. Even the guys toward the bottom of the rankings in the UFC are world class."
Joe Rogan: "This is a huge, huge fight for Frank Trigg. So huge he grew out his hair. When's the last time you saw Frank Trigg with hair?"
Mike Goldberg in response: "I don't know if it was was a great decision."
Joe Rogan: "It is a long road to get from being great as a grappler to being great as a striker. They are so completely different. It's like going from football to baseball."
Mike Goldberg in response: "It didn't work out for Bo Jackson."
Joe Rogan: "It's all heating up in 2010, bitches."
Joe Rogan: "So much of this game is about putting your mind into that perfect place. Not too relaxed, not too tense. That performance zone."
Joe Rogan on Nate Marquardt: "This guy is one of the most well-rounded fighters in all of mixed martial arts. He's excellent at everything. He's one of the best fighters in all of the divisions."
Chael Sonnen: "I believe I can beat any man God ever made."
Mike Goldberg on Couture vs. Coleman: "Maybe they were supposed to meet in 1997, but they're here meeting in 2010."
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