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1 -- ROY "BIG COUNTRY" NELSON vs. JUNIOR DOS SANTOS
ROUND ONE: Just an amazing first round. It really looked like Shane Carwin vs. Brock Lesnar in terms of a theme early where it was amazing the shots absorbed by one fighter. Dos Santos was smart not to punch himself out like Carwin.
ROUND TWO: Both guys slowed down, but still just amazing to see Nelson not only survive, but be convincing in that you felt he could KO Santos at anytime if Santos let his guard down for a second.
ROUND THREE Rogan made a great point which is that this fight is a lesson for him in what some guys can take in terms of punches to the head. Then again, Nelson is looking like he's something really special in terms of a tough chin. Rogan made another good point, whichi s what Nelson might have bee able to do here if he got on a diet and serious strength and conditioning program. He might not have that level of discipline in him, but it's not ust genetics that gives him that body despite being the type of shape to last three rounds and still be giving big swings in the closing seconds. THat was a hug of respect between two warriors afterward.
WINNER: Dos Santos via 30-26, 30-27, 30-27. Both guys looked just exhausted during the announcement. Dos Santos even stuck his tongue out.
STAR RATING (***+): Certain Dos Santos's respect for Nelson's punching power kept him from going for the kill after that first round, and by the third, he knew he won two rounds and he didn't want to blow it. Nelson, but the third, was less likely to land that single KO punch, but Dos Santos still clearly feared it.
POST-FIGHT: Dos Santos said Nelson must have trained very hard. He said regarding facing the winner of Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez, he he thinks Lesnar and Velasquez are tougher than Nelson. He said it in a respectful manner, and it's hardly an insult to Nelson.
RAMIFICATIONS: Dos Santos will be a better challenger for the heavyweight title because of this fight. He absolutely knows what a three round war is like now, and he'll need great conditioning to go five against either Lesnar or Velasquez. Nelson has turned himself into a drawing card with that fight and a bigger payday next time. Since he didn't get knocked out or submitted, he has every reason now to train harder to get in better shape, and maybe a Shane Carwin fight could be next. Given his chin, his endurance, and his underrated ground skills, that'd be a fight Carwin would need to take seriously.
CELEBRITY WATCH: M.C. Hammer. Or should I say "Former Celebrity Watch"?
INTERVIEW: Rogan's interview with Randy Couture was refreshing. Randy Couture said James Toney's trash-talking is something he doesn't he even plug into. When he ran down the list of athletes from other sports entering MMA, he left of pro wrestling. Of course, it's not a true sport, and they were around from the beginning (Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn), but with Brock Lesnar, Bobby Lashley, and now Dave Batista, there is movement there. When asked if nine month is enough time to learn how to stop him shooting in, Couture said "probably not, but who knows" and said that's why they're going to fight. He said Toney is a great athlete, so who knows.
2 -- RICARDO ALMEIDA vs. MATT HUGHES
ROUND ONE: Hughes began tentative and looked small. By 90 seconds in he seemed to have a comfort level. He was good at closing the distance on Almeida punches. He pelted Almeida at 3:00 sharp and moved in and choked him out. Rogan raved about the strength it took to choke Almeida in that position as he did it just from the front headlock. Almeida, not surprisingly, didn't tap out, either out of pride or because he culdn't believe he wouldn't be able to escape from that position.
WINNER: Hughes at 3:15 via tapout.
STAR RATING (**+):
POST-FIGHT: Hughes said he learned that move back in his early wrestling days. "I'm happy to beat a good Brazilian with an old wrestling move." He looked elated for numerous reasons. Rogan noted it's his first victory as a Hall of Famer. He said "that darn Dana putting him in the Hall of Fame put pressure on my shoulders." He said he felt pressure not to lose. He said he's going to take the fall off, go hunting, and talk to Dana about what's next. I'm not sure I've ever seen Hughes happier.
RAMIFICATIONS: It seems like he should be 46, not 36. Could another title match be in his future. How about a B.J. Penn fight in a rubber match at some point in the future (depending on what Penn does later in the month, among other things)? Not sure of the weight class, but it'd be a legendary super fight that might draw and has a great back story.
FIGHTER SPOTTED: James Toney was shown at ringside.
3 -- CLAY GUIDA vs. RAFAEL DOS ANJOS
PRE-FIGHT: Rogan and Goldberg both talked up what a great guy Clay is, always smiling and always friendly and always positive and always energetic. Goldberg said he's perhaps the most popular fighter in UFC. Rogan said he got the biggest ovation during weigh-ins.
ROUND ONE: Hopefully the pace of this is matched by the main eventers. The Goldberg plugs for things in the midst of fights is getting overbearing and unnecessary. There's plenty of time between fights for those five second plugs, and it really is distracting - and on a pay show, a big insulting to the viewer and disrespectful to the fighters. Another really good first round. Dos Anjos's inside leg kicks looked like they were going to add up. He also scored a takedown late in the round. Early Guida landed a nice high roundkick to the head, but otherwise just high-energy strikefest which Dos Anjos won.
ROUND TWO: Greg Jackson told Guida to nost stand still in front of Dos Anjos because that's when he's landing. Guida added a lot more side movement in his dancing early in the round. The crowd loudly chanted "Let's go Guida!" early in the round. Rogan said Guida should consider shooting in since he's losing the strikefest. At 3:00 Guida shot in and got Dos Anjos down. He ended up in Dos Anjos's guard. Guida held that position the rest of the round to give the judges something to think about. He played to them by raising his hand when the horn sounded. Guida said he had to burp. His corner told him to burp. He waved his cornerman away with his hand to clear space for him to do it without toppling him over. That was funny and disturbing at once. The burp timed out at about three seconds. Neither Rogan nor Goldberg acknowledged it. It could have been worse.
ROUND THREE: At 1:00 Guida took Dos Anjos down after a spirited first minute. Dos Anjos tapped out without any warning. Rogan said he had a problem with his jaw between rounds, and he went right to it after tapping out. A doctor looks at it in his corner. On replay, it was lear Guida clamped down on his jaw with his shoulder and under normal circumstances that wouldn't cause a tapout. It appeared to be a broken jaw.
WINNER: Guida via tapout at 1:51 of round three.
STAR RATING (***-): A bit of a letdown of a finish in that it came out of nowhere and seemed a bit of a fluke. But Guida earned it if he broke his jaw earlier, so nothing is taken away from Guida. They replayed a right hand to the jaw in the first round that Guida landed in a round everyone assumed he lost, but in reality it set the stage for his win. That explains why Dos Anjos was so tentative in the third round.
INTERVIEW: Guida set a record for thanking people and plugging websites and sponsors, but he was so likable it was hard to not smile.
FIGHTER SPOTTED: Randy Couture was shown at ringside.
PLUG: A commercial aired for UFC 118.
INTERVIEW: Rogan interviewed James Toney, who said he's losing sleep because he can't wait to get his hands on Couture. He said it's not true that MMA fighters are better than boxers no matter what Dana White says. He said he hasn't quit boxing as he's doing both. Rogan said as a boxing fan he's very excited to see the fight. "I'm the best. I have to fight the best," Toney said. He said it's a battle between two legends and predicted an early lights out knockout. Couture is going to shoot in and have Toney on his back within two seconds (not a tenth of a second longer) of the horn and then pound him out within 20 seconds. That's my prediction.
A -- STEFAN STRUVE vs. CHRISTIAN MORECRAFT -- Bonus Prelim Fight
ROUND ONE: What an incredible game of survival that Struve had to pay that entire first round. If you were rooting for him, it's about as stressful a round as you'll see as he seemed to be on the verge of losing via stoppage, knockout, and submission multiple times. Amazing he survived. He had a big cut on his lower lip that doctors looked closely at after the first round, not exactly giving him a chance to get coached or rest mentally or physically. The cut doctor said, "If you've got a good surgeon, it'll be all right."
ROUND TWO: Goldberg said Struve may be on borrowed time. Then came the comeback to rival Lesnar's as he took a punch of blows in the opening seconds but tagged Morecraft, knocked him backward, and pounded away at him as Morecraft's leg arm was stuck awkwardly behind his back. A replay from a better angle showed three blows flush to Morecraft's jaw in a row, folowed by the referee Herb Dean letting it go a while with a nine more punches before the stoppage. I'm surprised Dean let it go that long. It seems like three or four punches more than you'd expect a ref to allow given hard hard Morecraft went down and how awkward his position was with his left arm trapped under him to make him even more defenseless.
WINNER: Struve via TKO at 0:22 in round two. Struve's happiness with that win rivaled Matt Hughes earlier.
STAR RATING (***+): Great comeback for an amazing KO after a stressful dramatic first round. This is stacking up as one of the better UFC card with two potentially fascinating if not great fights yet to go.
INTERVIEW: Strive said he's comeback before and did it again.
4 -- THIAGO ALVES vs. JON FITCH -- Middleweight Contender's Battle
PRE-FIGHT: Rogan noted that Alves failed to make weight by a half pound and declined to try to lose it. He gave up 20 percent of his purse - 10 percent to Fitch and 10 percent to the state. He said trying to lose that much weight and not having anything left to give with 20 percent on the line indicates he may be weakened from that. Rogan said he has failed to cut weight once before and was caught using illegal diarrhetics, so 170 may not be his right weight division. Talk about being conflicted. Fitch wants a rematch against GSP, but his teammate Josh Koschek has title shot first. Rogan noted that Fitch wins ugly and "it's beautiful to watch" (some would disagree with that) and called him "the ultimate grinder." Boring staredown. They both looked like they were waiting in a long line to go to the bathroom with very full bladders.
ROUND ONE: At 45 seconds Fitch shot in and after a few seconds of resistance slammed him to the mat. He had his back against the fence. Alves stood, but Fitch powered him back to the ground. Alves stood again, but Fitch immediately threw him down. Just as Rogan said that was the last place Alves wanted to be after struggling to cut weight, Alves reversed position and ended up on top in full guard. At 3:20 Alves stood up and let Fitch stand. No surprise since he was completely neutralized even though he was on top. He needed that 1;20 to try to win the round on points. At 4:25 Alves stuffed Fitch as he shot in. Fitch took Alves down late in the round after a struggle against the fence.
ROUND TWO: Rogan praised Fitch's application of wrestling within the context of MMA. Rogan said Fitch has "no natural talent" and has achieved what he's achieved through intelligence, hard work, and discipline. Many people wish they had as "little natural talent" as Fitch. Rogan said Alves doesn't look healthy and that weight cut has a lot to do with it. He said you don't give up 20 percent to skip losing an extra half pound if you're on death's door. At 4:20 Alves showed signs of life and escaped back to a standing position. FItch went for a high head kick. Alves made some big swings, but didn't connect.
ROUND THREE: Alves came out with a spring in his step early in the round. Fitch looked comfortable, though. Alves sprawled out of a takedown attempt at 1:15. He was giving himself a shot at a win here rather than just being smothered for the third and final round. At 1:50 Fitch got Alves from behind and the crowd knew what that meant and booed a little. At 3:00 he had Alves's back with a body triangle. Alves rolled on top with 45 seconds left, but Fitch had him wrapped so tight he couldn't do anything. They ended the fight on their feet for about three seconds.
WINNER: Fitch via 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.
STAR RATING (**): What you expect with a Fitch win. He does what he has to do to win and it's not going to set buyrate records despite his 22-1 record in the last seven years. It's a good thing not everyone fights like Fitch or MMA wouldn't have exploded like it has, but he's part of the diversity of MMA styles that makes the sport overall so fascinating and unpredictable.
5 -- ANDERSON SILVA vs. CHAEL SONNEN -- Middleweight Title match
PRE-FIGHT: Goldberg said he's the best trash-talking challenger in UFC history. Rogan said "the dude is awesome" and he's "a fantastic wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter." Rogan said the trash-talking got so out of hand and cartoonish it almost lost it's effectiveness. Steven Segal was in Silva's corner. Sonen had enough and waved him into the ring. Silva bowed to all four sides of the arena. In the staredown, Sonnen looked down and Silva stared at him.
OVERVIEW: No sense in a round by round breakdown here as Jamie Penick has that covered in his main MMATorch report (Which you can find right here). Sonnen dominated on his feet and on the ground for over four-and-a-half rounds. It was shocking, dramatic, and exhilarating. My heart rate was at 90 throughout this fight but it felt like 150. In the middle of the final round, it was clearly Sonnen was increasingly tiring, yet still staying aggressive. With Silva, he was biding his time and looking for a submission from underneath, his only chance at a win given Sonnen's ability to take him down at will throughout the fight. And in the end, jiu jistu beat wrestling.
In the post-fight interview, Silva ended by saying "jiu jitsu!" That probably hurt Sonnen as much as any punch he's ever absorbed. It was an example of jiu jitsu being a grind-it-out style and someone as accomplished in it as Silva is never ever ever out of it. He wasn't able to pound out Silva, who never seemed groggy or on the verge of tapping, despite being smothered and dominated virtually every second of that fight other than a few even flurries at the start of the rounds.
Sonnen's massive deep cut to the upper left eyelid he suffered in the fourth round was a factor in the fifth. He seemed to be concerned about getting hit there with Silva's crazy elbows from underneath, and Silva sensed that. That might have thrown Sonnen of his game just a bit as he was able to effectively defend against Silva's submission attempts for the prior 22-plus minutes.
STAR RATING (*****): That's as good as it gets in sports. That was as exciting a 30 minutes as I've experienced as a sports fan since the my hometown Vikings appeared on the verge of beating the Saints to advance to the Super Bowl. Had I been as invested in Sonnen beating Silva as I was in the Vikings beating the Saints, the letdown would have been similar. I truly never felt Silva was out of it. He just didn't look defeated and was constantly looking for a submission from underneath. I'm not sure what Sonnen could have done differently, though, because he was at risk if he stayed standing and there's no position on the mat where Silva isn't looking for a submission.
Just an amazing example of the many ways MMA is the most dramatic sporting contest in existence. All of the factors at play from the history of each fighter, the pre-fight talk, the ramifications of either winning, the drama of the different styles clashing and playing out for nearly 25 minutes, and one style winning the way it's designed to win against another's weakness (a jiu jitsu submission from underneath beating a wrestler who can control from the top but lacks that lifetime of practicing finishing techniques). This shows why Royce Gracie fought so hard against rounds and time limits as MMA began to get regulated and turn more into a sport rather than a no holds barred timeless fight to the finish. Silva loses that fight if it's a three-rounder. He obviously was on his way to losing by points in five. But he might not have ever lost even if it went 25 rounds and time and odds would be on his side if he survived since eventually he might have scored that submission.
POST-FIGHT: Silva, unfortunately, decided to give an excuse for his performance. He won. He didn't need to say anything, but he said he hurt his ribs a week or so ago and a doctor advised him to back out. In losing, it always comes off as lame to take a victory away from an opponent like that, but when you win, it's really bad form to take away a near-win or strong performance from your opponent that way. Either people don't believe you and think you're a liar or they do believe you and conclude you're a sore winner because you didn't win quick enough. Sonnen didn't have much to say other than he got the Silver, not the Gold, no excuses. He said he is in MMA to be the best and if he can't, he will move on to something else, which he said before the fight also. Rogan asked if he wanted a rematch. Sonnen didn't even ask for that, although he stopped short of committing to walking away. If they have a rematch, that might be one of the most anticipated fights ever (although we can say that a lot about UFC fights).
RAMIFICATIONS: Silva should thank Sonnen for that fight because it's the type of fight that erased all doubt that Silva is a warrior and keeps his composure under pressure. No one can ever say Silva didn't ever have a great fight as champion, nor that he never fought an opponent who "brought it." There must be a rematch, Sonnen and Silva deserve big paydays for that rematch. There was going to be a rematch either way, but man had Sonnen won on points and held on that last two minutes, a lot of people might have wondered whether Silva would have an answer for Sonnen's dominance. Sonnen must work on submission defense, of course, and Silva must work on takedown defense. Either way, the two fighters now know each other well and have a lot of footage to study, so the second fight could end up being different, although really I think it might be pretty close to the same - unless Silva was seriously slowed by a legit rib injury, in which case perhaps he would have a big advantage in a rematch. Fascinating. Can I fast-forward life to the rematch?
QUOTEBOOK
Joe Rogan on Dos Santos punching Big Country in the gut: "It's like punching somebody wearing twenty sweaters."
Joe Rogan: "If Big Country wins, fat guys all over the world are going to go crazy."
Junior Dos Santos: "This guy is tough, man. Incredible. My thoughts about him is he trained a lot to be here, but I trained so much to be here. This victory make me happy."
Matt Hughes: "For me it's just a fight, but for Ricardo it might be a revenge fight."
Randy Couture: "Realistically, probably not, but that's the question. He's a great athlete and he's certainly going to be an explosive striker early in the fight. I have to be on my toes there, set him up, be patient, and find a way to put him on his back."
Joe Rogan after Hughes's win: "Matt Hughes is not done in this game, ladies in gentleman, make no mistake about it. That is incredible. I've never seen anybody do that before."
Clay Guida to his cornerman after round two: "I have to burp."
His corner in response: "Burp, please!"
Clay Guida on what joining Greg Jackson's camp has meant to his fight game: "It yook me a while to realize I am my greatest distraction. Champs are born, they're trained."
Joe Rogan: "If you haven't seen 'Steven Segal Lawman,' you are denying yourself some of the most awesome unintentional comedy that has ever been put on television."
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