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By: Alex Williams, MMATorch Contributor I watched the show, but I am going to borrow the full results listing from MMAJunkie.com, with my thoughts following:
* Gegard Mousasi def. Ronaldo "Jacare" de Souza via KO (upkick) -- Round 1, 2:15*
* Alistair Overeem vs. Mirko Filipovic ruled a no-contest (Filipovic hit with knee to groin) -- Round 1
* Shinya Aoki def. Todd Moore via submission (neck crank) -- Round 1, 1:10
* Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza def. Zelg Galesic via submission (arm-bar) -- Round 1, 1:27+
* Andrews Nakahara def. Dong Sik Yoon via TKO (strikes) -- Round 2, 0:30#
* - Middleweight GP finale
+ - Middleweight GP semifinal fight
# - Middleweight GP reserve bout
***
My thoughts: Not a show to go out of your way to catch the replay of on HDNet, but the finish of Mousasi/Jacare was shocking. The only other times I can remember upkicks resulting in knock outs in fights between major league talent were Renzo Gracie vs Oleg Takatarov (circa 1996) and Murilo Bustamante vs Jerry Bohlander (circa 1997). Mousasi put together quite a tournament run. Sure, the victory over Manhoef was expected once that fight hit the ground, but the Jacare win was a surprise, as was his victory over Denis Kang (particularly since he finished Kang, a skilled jiu-jitsu artist, with a triangle choke).
In the time before the Overeem/Cro Cop fight ended via inadvertent groin strikes, Overeem was winning pretty handily. If it was not already clear from his UFC loses, Cro Cop is a much different fighter now than he was even two years ago when he won the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix.
Finally, I would be remiss not to mention the upset loss of one of my sentimental favorites, Dong Sik Yoon. Andrews Nakahara, a karate champion whose only previous MMA bout was a loss to Kazushi Sakuraba, appears to be a quick study. His ground game looked to be coming along and while his striking was a little wild, it was also very powerful.
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(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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