McFedries-Radev - (McFedries by KO at 0:33 of rd.
1: **-) Radev didn’t seem to have
much interest in blocking any shots, and it cost him quickly. It seemed to me like the referee, Jorge
Alonso, was way out of position. Radev was carried out on a stretcher, so hopefully he's okay.
Johnson-Reiner – (Johnson by KO at 0:13 or rd.
1: *+) Johnson made an emphatic statement, knocking
out a guy who went three rounds with Josh Burkman. He could really be a guy to watch out
for. He showed some power.
So in the first 40 minutes, we’ve seen 46 seconds of
fighting.
Fitch-Carneiro – (Fitch by submission at 1:07 of rd. 2: ***)
Great fight, and a great performance by Fitch. He lost the first round, but defended
submissions extremely well. Then in the
second round, Fitch knew he had to keep it on the feet, and he imposed his will. Fitch has got to get a closer look for some
high profile fights after this win.
Tavares-Black – (Tavares by submission at 2:49 of rd. 2: **+)
Really impressive grappling by both guys. Tavares slapped on a triangle out of
absolutely nowhere. Black put up a good
fight, but was just outclassed here by Tavares.
Black would be well-suited to either move back to 170 lbs, or get some
weight cutting tips from Sean Sherk. He
did not look comfortable at 155.
After this fight, instead of showing another fight, or even
highlights of some prelims, we get commercials and a RECAP, of all things. If you want to get people to tune in for the
whole show next time, just talk about how great everything has been so
far. If people think they can see the
best parts of the first hour without watching it, why should they watch? The main event doesn’t start for about 20
minutes after the previous fight. Isn’t
this the same parent company of the WEC, who showed six fights in two hours
with no downtime? I don’t understand how
the pacing is so much better on the lower-tier show. If you want people to tune out for a while,
go ahead and do a bunch of stalling between fights. Works every time.
Fisher-Stout – (Fisher by unanimous decision: ****)
Great main event to top off a very solid night of free fights. It’s obvious after that fight why Sam Stout
has never been knocked out. That guy has
a chin made of granite. Spencer Fisher
looked fantastic in picking apart the dangerous Canadian, and to both fighters’
credit, they continued swinging for the fences with ten seconds left in the
third round, when the decision was not in doubt. I think Fisher also showed a very solid
gameplan here, as he didn’t waste a lot of energy trying to take Stout down
once it was apparent that Stout had excellent takedown defense. Since Fisher was obviously winning the fight
on the feet, he was smart not to bother with the takedowns.
Aside from my one-paragraph gripe, this show was
excellent. Everyone that won his fight
on this card took one big step forward in their respective divisions. Even though Chad Reiner was largely unproven,
Anthony Johnson made a huge impact, seeing as how he was a late
replacement. Jon Fitch put on a great
show on the main card, so hopefully his days of being relegated to the prelims
are over. As for Fisher, he rebounds
after a loss to the freight train by the name of Hermes Franca, and his never
having been in a boring fight in the UFC certainly works to his advantage as
well.
Stay tuned to MMATorch.com for a UFC 72 preview coming up on
Friday, and a post-show roundtable on Saturday.
To
email me, Shawn Ennis, shoot me a message at ennistorch@sbcglobal.net or visit my
zone at the forums.
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP