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by Shawn Ennis, MMATorch Senior Columnist RECOMMENDATION: Honestly it’s hard for me to recommend a card with no title fight, but this one delivered with some really good fights. I don’t know that it’s newsworthy enough to not wait for the DVD, but the fights were really entertaining.
I had to work today, so I’m late getting to the coverage. It’s time to fire up the DVR and get this thing moving. No funny business today, people. Just the fights. I’ll be fast-forwarding through all the hype and the promos to get to the action, and I’ll leave the peripherals to my well-deserving colleagues. With that said, let’s get to the first fight.
FIRST FIGHT: BRANDON “THE TRUTH” VERA vs. FABRICIO WERDUM (Heavyweight)
Round One: Vera starts out with a leg kick, then ducks a haymaker from Werdum. Rogan and Goldberg talk up how Werdum is suddenly aggressive since he’s started training at ChuteBox. We’ll see. They clinch against the fence, and Vera lands an elbow. They separate and Werdum lands a left hook. Werdum’s standup does look better than it has been, but it’s not something to go crazy about just yet. They clinch again, and Vera lands an inside knee. Weerdum pushes off and grabs a nice takedown. He lands in half guard and looks to pass, but Vera brings him into full guard. Hanner fists and elbows to the body by Werdum. He certainly is more aggressive. Vera pushes Werdum off and stands up immediately. He grabs Werdum’s neck and looks for a knee, but Werdum grabs the leg and brings him down. Vera lands on top, however, and stands up. Werdum beckons him from the patented “Werdum butt-scoot”, but Vera resists. Werdum stands, and Vera lands a right hand that stuns Werdum. They clinch and are separated after a minute. Vera brushes off a high kick and is pushed against the fence. Werdum gets a nice trip takedown and lands in the guard. Vera pushes him away again, but Werdum comes back into half guard, then transitions quickly into mount. Werdum begins raining down punches, and the ref stops the fight. The stoppage was probably a bit premature, but some of the shots were getting through and Vera wasn’t doing much to get out of trouble. There’s certainly justification for the stoppage even if it does seem a bit premature. Vera is upset about it.
RESULT: Werdum by TKO at 4:40 of Round 1.
STAR RATING: (**) Not a bad fight, all things considered. I was ready for a plodding three round decision, but there was some good activity and back and forth action. Werdum was winning the round, but the stoppage didn’t need to happen – especially with 20 seconds left in the round.
RAMIFICATIONS: Vera takes a tumble down the rankings, but it helps his case that the stoppage was controversial. Werdum will probably get a title shot now, and it’s kind of hard to argue against it with the state of the heavyweight division at the moment. Vera is a popular fighter and will be back on the main card again…probably sooner rather than later.
SECOND FIGHT: NATE “THE GREAT” MARQUARDT vs. THALES LEITES (Middleweight)
It makes me laugh how Goldberg is trying to pull positives out of Leites’s fight with Martin Kampmann. The only positive you can bring out of that fight for Leites is that we found out that he can take a heck of a beating and keep coming. Kampmann absolutely wrecked Leites in that fight. But anyway.
Round One: Leites comes in with a leaping punch after a feeling out period. There’s lots of feinting here. Marquardt reaches in wit a combo. They engage again and Leites lands a nice right hand. Left hand is blocked by Marquardt. He looks to graba aThai clinch but is thwarted. Nice straight left by Marquardt, but then he walks directly into a nasty right hand that floors him. Herb Dean almost stops the fight, but wisely doesn’t. Leites follows Marquardt down and gets the mount. Marquardt looks to escape and almost gets Leites off, but Leites retains position. Marquardt then gradually works Leites into half guard. Marquardt suddenly is able to escape really nicely and get back to the feet. Leites lands a knee on the way up. They circle for a bit with Leites cutting off the Octagon. Marquardt lands a nice body shot, then grabs a bodylock and pushes Leites against the fence. They trade knees in the clinch. They separate and Marquardt continues to look for body punches. Good strategy by Marquardt. Leites misses a spinning back kick. Marquardt ducks a shot from Leites and nails him with an uppercut. Leites is stunned but is able to weather for the rest of the round. Leites takes the round, but Marquardt was hardly out of it.
Round Two: Body shot-head shot by Marquardt and he lands both. They clinch against the fence. They battle for position against the fence inside the clinch, and Marquardt lands a nice punching combination. He pushes Leites to the ground and lands a huge knee to the face of Leites as he looks to regain his feet. The replay shows clearly that Leites had his knee on the ground, and the knee was illegal. Herb Dean stops the fight temporarily and has the doctor come in and make sure that Leites is okay to continue. Leites is insistent that he wants to fight. Herb Dean tells him to take the five minutes, and takes a point away from Marquardt. Marquardt will have to stop the fight at this point. Marquardt takes Leites down and lands some big shots. He postures up and lands some more nasty shots to the head of Leites, and Leites is busted open. Marquardt continues to land shots as the position allows. Marquardt is relentless with the ground and pound. Leites lands an upkick, and Marquardt dives in with a shot to Leites’s chin. Marquardt works into position and lands hammerfists. He lands another shot to the chin. I don’t know if it’s possible to knock this guy out with fists. The action stalls and Dean stands them up. Leites looks to have a broken nose, and he’s coughing with blood in his throat. Marquardt shoots in for a takedown but almost gets mounted in the process. Leites is unable to capitalize with the time left, and the round ends. Arguable 9-8 round for Marquardt. Dean says he’s concerned about Leites’s breathing, but Leites says he’s okay.
Round Three: Marquardt leads with a right to the body. He lands another, and a knee to the body. Leites attempts a flying knee, but he’s caught in the air and taken down. Leites grabs a triangle, but Marquardt escapes beautifully. Herb Dean stops the fight briefly and takes a point for an elbow to the back of the head. The replay shows that it’s a bad call, but it stands. Marquardt lands a big right hand. Leites answers in kind. They circle briefly and Marquardt gets a trip takedown. Leites looks for rubber guard, but Marquardt moves out of it. Marquardt lands some fists to the head of Leites, Leites throws some elbows to the top of Marquardt’s head. Dean warns for hitting in the back of the head. Marquardt lands a nasty elbow, and Leites looks for a kimura. He’s unable to crank it, and the Brazilian is spent. Leites looks to push the action back to the feet, and Marquardt essentially pile drives Leites into the mat. To have that kind of strength at this point is uncanny. The round ends, and it goes to Marquardt. Unless he took another 9-8 round, I’ve got this one at a draw. I think regardless that there should be a rematch. This was an excellent fight, and it’d be nice to see how Leites would do not having taken a huge knee in the middle of the second round.
RESULT: Leites by split decision (28-27, 27-28, 28-27).
STAR RATING: (****-) That was a great fight, but unfortunately the points taken away cost Marquardt dearly. I don’t think there’s any way around a rematch here.
RAMIFICATIONS: Leites takes what could have been a two rounds-to-one drubbing and gets a win. Marquardt has got to feel insanely deflated, as even with only one point taken away he would have won a majority decision. I don’t know how either of these guys does anything before they fight each other again.
THIRD FIGHT (Prelim): JASON “THE PUNISHER” LAMBERT vs. LUIZ “BANHA” CANE (Light Heavyweight)
Round One: Lamber whiffs a leg kick and paws a jab out there. Cane definitely has the reach advantage as he peppers the closing-in Lambert. Lambert clinches, but is pushed around the cage. Cane lands some shots inside the clinch. They separate, and Lambert chases. He eats some shots for his troube, and Cane puts him down. Lambert looks for a double-leg, but is stuffed. He stands, and Cane puts him down again. Lambert looks to take Cane down again and cannot. The sequence repeats itself, and Cane knocks Lambert down once more with punches, causing Herb Dean to stop the fight. Lambert shows he’s done by trying to take down Herb Dean.
RESULT: Cane by TKO at 2:07 of Round 1.
STAR RATING: (**+) Lambert had no answer for Cane’s reach, as he wandered directly into hard shot after hard shot. He left himself completely open to punishment and got himself knocked out.
RAMIFICATIONS: I think Lambert’s got a home in the UFC, and he’ll probably get a fight he can win next time. Cane shows that the hype is deserved as the light heavyweight division gets another big nasty striker. I’m eager to see what they do with him next time.
FOURTH FIGHT: MIKE “QUICK” SWICK vs. MARCUS “THE IRISH HAND GRENADE” DAVIS (Welterweight)
I’ve got Davis all the way here. I know I already said that, but I’m just re-emphasizing. This should be good stuff. Swick looks sufficiently menacing as Davis enters.
Round One: Davis misses a left hand, and Swick whiffs a high kick. Right hand blocked by Swick. Davis lands an inside leg kick and blocks a high kick. Swick misses a high knee, and Davis grabs the clinch. Inside knee by Davis. Davis gets a really nice takedown, but Swick stands back up. Davis grabs a guillotine but can’t hold onto it. Swick moves into Davis’s half guard. Swick looks to pass and Davis is able to get him back into full guard. Swick lands a left hand. Swick moses Davis against the fence, and Davis tries to push himself up using the cage. Swick lands some looping punches to the side of the head, but nothing too damaging. Swick postures up and looks to land some downward blows. Davis regains full guard. Short elbows by Swick. Davis lands some punches from the bottom and almost sweeps Swick, but Swick recovers. The round ends, and Swick will take it.
Round Two: Body kick lands for Swick, and Davis lands a left hand. Swick lands a head kick, and Davis doesn’t budge. Davis shoots for a takedown and is thwarted. Swick gets back into Davis’s guard. Davis looks to keep him close, and Swick lands some shots to the body. Swick looks to pass. Side control for Swick. Swick looks for the mount, but Davis pulls him into half guard. Davis looks for a kimura from the bottom, but he’s a in a tough position for it. Swick lands some elbows to the leg of Davis. They push each other up and land a few strikes apiece on the way. Davis charges in again, and they clinch. Davis lands a right hand, and Swick lands s a knee to the face. Inside knee by Davis, and he uses uppercuts from the inside. Knees to the face by Swick. Davis lands an uppercut and takes Swick down. He’s in Swick’s guard, and Swick grabs a triangle. Davis powers out and they stand briefly until Swick gets a big trip takedown at the end of the round that will solidify that round for him.
Round Three: Head kick misses for Swick. Swick lands a knee to the head. Davis looks for a left hand but can’t find it. They engage briefly and Davis is looking for the knockout. Swick is keeping his distance. Davis gets the clinch and eats a knee. They separate and the sequence repeats itself. They clinch, and Swick lands another knee to the head. They exchange punches to the head. Swick looks to clinch and pushes Davis against the fence. Swick lands knees in the clinch. Davis takes Swick down, but he stands back up immediately. Davis looks for a trip takedown and Swick grabs the fence. Yamasaki takes a point, as he had warned Swick before about holding the fence. Swick gets a takedown and hits Davis with elbows and shoulder strikes. He starts throwing windmill punches from the top; head down and arms flailing. Davis is bleeding badly. The crowd grows restless and starts singing. Gotta love the UK crowd. They were doing the wave earlier. Swick keeps throwing sloppy ground punches, and they look like they’re swimming together. Swick takes round three.
RESULT: Swick by unanimous decision.
STAR RATING: (**) I was pretty disappointed by this one, and not because I was dead wrong about the outcome. Swick did enough to win, and it wasn’t a hesitant performance, but it was just sloppy. It seemed like Swick was afraid of Davis, and despite the blood from Davis, he wasn’t really hurt at any point. Maybe there were finer points that I’ll catch on repeat viewings, but I just didn’t think this was that great.
RAMFICATIONS: Swick confirms that welterweight is the place for him, as he tore through the red-hot Marcus Davis. It’ll be interesting to see what he can do against someone who has an answer for his reach. Davis isn’t going anywhere, but the clock is ticking on how much longer he can be a contender. He’s not exactly the youngest fighter in the division.
FIFTH FIGHT: MICHAEL “THE COUNT” BISPING vs. JASON “DOOMS” DAY (Middleweight)
Round One: Day lands a leg kick to start out, and Bisping misses an elbow. Bisping catches a kick and lands a right. Leg kick by Day. They exchange right hands. Bisping catches a kick and attempts to sweep the leg, but is unable to take Day down. They clinch. Inside knee by Bisping. Bisping gets the trip and brings Day down. He looks to throw the legs asid and land shots. He does so twice. Bisping lands more downward punches. Day attempts a single leg and is beaten back. Bisping passes easily into side control. Day escapes and gets to the feet, and Bisping lands a couple of shots. Day comes in and Bisping takes him down hard into side control again. He tries to mount and ends up in half guard. Bisping transitions into mount,a nd Day attempts to escape. He almost gives up his back, and Bisping lands punches to the side of the head from behind. Bisping continues to punish Day, with Day turtling up, and Dan Miragliotta stops the fight.
RESULT: Bisping by TKO at 3:42 of Round 1.
STAR RATING: (**+) Nice performance by Bisping, and the enthusiastic crowd helps the atmosphere.
RAMIFICATIONS: Bisping looks at home in the middleweight division. He obliterated Day, who was very impressive against Alan Belcher. I think the true Jason Day showed up in this fight, as he’s not been overly impressive in other recent outings. We’ll most likely get to see him again, however, so time will tell. As for Bisping, I’d expect a pretty big fight in his next outing or the one after. Probably not with Rich Franklin or Dan Henderson, but a just a notch below.
SIXTH FIGHT: MATT HUGHES vs. THIAGO ALVES (Catchweight – 174 lbs.)
In case you haven’t heard, Thiago Alves failed to make weight for this fight, which we’ll talk more about on the audio roundtable. But for now, I’m still picking Alves here.
Round One: Alves has a huge size advantage here. Hughes shoots immediately and Alves sprawls. Hughes feints. Alves stuffs another takedown, but Hughes drives him into the cage and pulls guard. Interesting move by Hughes. Alves lans a thunderous left hand from the guard and stands back up. Alves throws a knee and Hughes catches it, taking Thiago down. Hughes is in the half guard. Hughes is bleeding from the shot he took earlier. Alves tries to pull Hughes into full guard, and he uses butterfly. Hughes moves into half guard as Alves tries to push back to the feet. Goldberg will not shutup about Hughes’s submission prowess. He’s not going to submit Alves. Elbows to the thigh by Hughes, and he looks to move into side control. Alves keeps him in half guard, then uses butterfly guard again. Hughes tries to pass to the side again, and Alves gets half guard. Alves is able to work out, but Hughes keeps hold of a leg as Alves stands. Alves spins out of the takedown attempt, then ends up back on the ground in Hughes’s guard. Alves throws more nasty strikes from the guard as the round ends. That round goes to Alves, as he was able to do way more with his 30 seconds in the guard than Hughes was able to do with the rest of the round.
Round Two: Hughes looks for a takedown and takes a big knee. Hughes sits back and lets Alves into his guard. Alves tries to get into side control, but Hughes grabs a leg and tries to muscle Alves down, but Alves spins out, backs up, and lands a flying knee that puts Hughes out. This one is over, and Alves made it look easy.
RESULT: Alves by KO at 1:02 of Round 2.
STAR RATING: (***-) All the offense belonged to Alves in that fight.
RAMIFICATIONS: Huge win for Alves, but I can’t help but think that the victory is marred a bit by Alves’s failure to make weight. Again, more on that during the roundtable. Hughes is pretty much done as a contender at this point, but he’s still got the one fight left with Matt Serra before I think he’ll hang ‘em up. Hughes confirms he wants Serra in the post-fight interview.
SEVENTH FIGHT (Prelim): MATT WIMAN vs. THIAGO TAVARES (Lightweight)
Round One: Tavares throws a big right hand to start. Body kick by Wiman. Wiman wanders in with a punching combination, and Tavares catches him in a guillotine. They go to the ground and Wiman gets out. Tavares grabs an omoplata but does not finish it. Tavares nails Wiman with an upkick, but Wiman weathers. Tavares takes Wiman’s back on the feet, and Wiman rolls into a heel hook attempt. Very cool. Tavares is now on top and looks to land some punches. Tavares grabs a leg and leans back for his own heel hook attempt. Wiman escapes, and Tavares is in the guard. Punches by Tavares. Wiman lands some little punches from the bottom, and Tavares answers. Tavares postures up and almost gets caught in an omoplata by Wiman, but he escapes. Back into the guard for Tavares. Wiman lands some elbows and hammerfists, and Tavares throws punches. Wiman pushes Tavares off and stands up. Tavares grabs a single and pushes him against the fence. Wiman rolls into guard again and tries to land elbows from the bottom. Hammerfists from Tavares. More elbows from the bottom by Wiman, and the round ends. I have absolutely no clue who won that round. If I had to go one way or the other, I’d go with Tavares. Chuck Liddell is in Wiman’s corner and gets plenty of camera time despite not saying anything.
Round Two: Wiman comes out swinging as he goes directly after Tavares. Knee by Wiman, and Tavares lands a huge right hand to the chin. Wiman doesn’t flinch and comes back after Tavares. Wiman lands a right hand and throws a head kick. Wiman lands another right, and they exchange knees to the body from inside the clinch. Head kick by Tavares, and Wiman catches it, pushing Tavares to the ground. Wiman follows him and Tavares traps his leg. Wiman moves to take Tavares’s back and Tavares spins. Wiman tries to get a triangle from a crazy top-side angle, and Tavares gets back into Wiman’s guard. They stand, and Wiman lands a Superman punch. Knee by Wiman, and Wiman lands a right hand that puts Tavares out. Unbelievable. Was this really Matt Wiman? I am stunned right now.
RESULTS: Wiman by KO at 1:57 of Round 2.
STAR RATING: (***+) That was a great two rounds. It helps that Wiman hung with Tavares the whole time. It’s not like he got lucky and caught Tavares. That whole fight was competitive, and Wiman deserved the win.
RAMIFICATIONS: The lightweight division has a new big name. Tavares was on the fast track to bigger fights, and Wiman derailed that train. That’s the first time Tavres has been stopped. I’d love to see Wiman fight Clay Guida next. As for Tavares, he’s still an excellent fighter, and he’ll be back on another card sooner rather than later. It can’t be understated how big that win is for Wiman.
EIGHTH FIGHT (Prelim): JORGE “EL CONQUISTADOR” RIVERA vs. MARTIN “THE HITMAN” KAMPMANN (Middleweight)
Round One: Rivera throws a leg kick and a body kick. They exchange right hands. Rivera throws and they clinch. Kampmann gets the trip takedown into Rivera’s guard. Elbow by Kampmann, and he misses another. Rivera looks to neutralize Kampmann, and looks for an armbar as Kampmann backs out. Kampmann lands a downward punch and Rivera spins. Kampmann takes his back and rolls. He gets the hooks in and spins into an arm triangle in half guard. He lets it go and grabs a guillotine. Kampmann pulls guard with the choke, rolls into the mount and finishes Rivera. Nicely done by Kampmann.
RESULT: Kampmann by submission at 2:44 of round one.
STAR RATING: (**) Short, but a joy to watch. Kampmann was extremely smooth in tapping Rivera.
RAMIFICATIONS: Kampmann is back. I was really looking forward to him fighting Franklin last year, so maybe that’s a fight we can see again. I don’t know if the timing is right because Franklin doesn’t have a lot to gain by beating him, but it’d still be cool. Maybe a fight with Bisping would be a good eliminator fight.
Well, that’s about it for the fights tonight, but my jaw just hit the floor as they showed the submission of the night. Roan Carneiro got tapped by Kevin Burns. I have nothing to add to that. Unbelievable.
Stay tuned to MMATorch later on tonight as you’ll get Penick’s and Keller’s take on the event, along with the audio and text roundtables tomorrow. It’s been a pleasure to cover the event tonight, so I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
If you’d like to contact me, Shawn Ennis, shoot me an email at ennistorch@gmail.com.
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