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I had a wedding to attend yesterday and was unable to watch this show live, but it's time to fire up the DVR and get this show on the road.
-Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg open the show by discussing Thiago Alves being unable to make weight, and Matt Hughes accepting the fight at a catchweight.
Fight One: Brandon Vera vs. Fabricio Werdum(Heavyweight)
PRE FIGHT: The video package touts these two as being capable of moves not seen at the heavyweight level. Rogan talks up Werdum as a top level heavyweight fighter, as a jiu-jitsu specialist. They break down Vera's training and abilities and Rogan says the only knock on Vera is his body is more suited for a light heavyweight fighter and he isn't the biggest heavyweight.
ROUND ONE: Vera pressed with a come kicks and they clinched up early. The broke away from the cage with Werdum landing a couple of shots as they separated. They trade knees to the body in the clinch, and then Werdum shot down with a nice takedown. Vera did a nice job of getting to guard. Vera kicked up to get out. He landed some nice shots on Werdum as Werdum attempted antoher takedown. Vera rocked Werdum with a shot and then landed an elbow in the clinch. Werdum swept the leg on the cage for a nice take down. He stands up and then passed into mount and started raining down punches and the ref stopped it. Vera was pissed. He looked like he was defending himself and he didn't look like he was getting hurt that much and with 20 seconds left in the round that just seemed far too premature.
WINNER: Werdum via TKO at 4:40 of the first round. The crowd was not happy with the outcome, and I do think it was an early stoppage.
POST FIGHT: Werdum's translator wasn't very good. Apparently Vera was saying something and the ref may have thought he was saying stop. Rogan told the crowd that Werdum didn't have a choice in the stoppage and to not get on him about it. Vera said the ref was asking him if he was ok, and he was saying "I'm ok, I'm ok." He said he wasn't going to quit, "I'm not going to fucking quit, fuck that!" He said with 15 seconds left in the round, let him take the ass whooping. I agree with that in his situation.
STAR RATING: (**-) It was looking like it could get really good if it would have gone longer, but the early stoppage was a downer.
RAMIFICATIONS: Despite the second straight loss, Vera will get back into the scene after this controversial finish. He looked pretty good with striking and looked to have caught Werdum with a few good shots in that round. Give credit to Werdum here, though, as he passed beautifully into that mount to be in the position to stop the fight. Another win in a more marquee match up could lift him into contention soon.
Fight Two: Nate Marquardt vs. Thales Leites (Middleweight)
PRE FIGHT: The pre fight video laid out Leites' recent victories and talked up Marquardt's impressive fight history and the fact that he's not even 30 yet. Marquardt is in search of his 30th victory before his 30th birthday, with his only UFC loss coming to Anderson Silva. That can't even really be considered a blemish on his record. Leites comes into the fight with a four inch reach advantage.
ROUND ONE: Marquardt lands a couple of shots early to the body, and Leites returns the favor with an exchange of his own. Leites drops Marquardt with a shot and knocks him to the ground. Leites gets the full mount. Marquardt has gotten his bearings back a bit and he's defending well. He gets it to half guard but then Leites gets to side control. Marquardt then spun out and got back to his feet. Marquardt with a few hard body shots and then pushes the clinch into the cage. Leites landed a spinning back kick. Marquardt landed a big uppercut and pushed to land some more shots. Marquardt landed a leg kick as the round ended.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Marquardt. He took that shot and defended excellentl on the ground to get back up and he then landed some good shots of his own. I just think he did a bit more with recovering from that shot.
ROUND TWO: Marquardt pushed and and got a takedown on Leites. He landed a knee to the head as Leites was on his way up, but he still had a knee down for the blow to be illegal. Herb Dean is handling this situation very well and giving Leites plenty of time to recover. Leites is looking ok, and they are taking a point from Marquardt for that illegal knee. At the restart, Marquardt rushed quickly and took Leites down. Marquardt landed a bunch of shots and he was warned for a shot to the back of the head. He lands another flurry. Leites was warned against holding on to the glove. Marquardt avoids an upkick and lands a hard shot. Marquardt comes down with more punches after some hammer fists. Dean stands them up with 30 seconds remaining. Marquardt slipped up when going for a takedown and he ended up on his back.
Penick's Scorecard: 9-9 round due to the point being taken away from the illegal knee. The knee was a close call, as Leites was on his way back up, but he definitely still had a knee on the mat so he was still technically down. Dean is just a tremendous ref.
ROUND THREE: Leites got taken down as he attempted a knee. Marquardt nicely defended a triangle. Marquardt landed an elbow to the side of the head and Dean called it a shot to the back of the head and deducted another point from Marquardt. That was unfortunate. Marquardt gets another takedown. Leites attempts to grab a kimura, but gets pounded on with a couple of hammer fists. Marquardt controls more on the ground, but Leites get ot his feet. Marquardt picked him up and dropped him on his head with a piledriver at the horn.
Penick's Scorecard: It's 9-9 again because of the point deduction. I think this is Marquardt's fight, but the first round could have gone either way so it's tough to tell at this moment.
WINNER: Leites via split decision. That second deduction, that was very questionable, cost Marquardt the decision.
POST FIGHT: Leites called Marquardt a tough guy and ran through the action. Marquardt didn't think it was an elbow to the back of the head. Marquardt still thinks he's the best and wants a rematch with Anderson.
STAR RATING: (***+) Very good three round fight, but another unfortunate finish due to a questionable point deduction.
RAMIFICATIONS: Leites gets a huge victory here, and continues his winning ways in the UFC, but he'll need some more high profile, less controversial victories to get to the top tier of the middleweight division. Marquardt's going to have to recover with a big win down the line, but he wasn't hurt much by this loss due to the way it all went down.
Fight Three (Prelim): Luiz Cane vs. Jason Lambert (Light Heavyweight)
ROUND ONE: They exchange shots early. Cane throws some body punches and elbows in the clinch at the cage. Lambert pushed forward with punches and got caught with a left and went down. Lambert is keeping himself in the fight, but he gets knocked down a second time and he continues to throw punches. Cane kept going with exchanges and Cane caught him for a third knockdown and the ref steps in for the stoppage.
WINNER: Cane via TKO at 2:07.
STAR RATING: (**-) Big exchanges with three knockdown punches from Cane made this a really exciting one round fight.
RAMIFICATIONS: This was a big win for Cane over a definite name in the light heavyweight division and it was impressive as well.
Fight Four: Marcus Davis vs. Mike Swick (Welterweight)
PRE FIGHT: Davis talks about London adopting him and it being his hometown that Swick is coming into. Swick said it's dangerous for a guy to come into a fight thinking he can't get knocked out, as he said he's knocked out a bunch of guys who said they don't get knocked out.
ROUND ONE: Swick throws an early high kick. Swick went for a high knee and Davis grabbed the clinch. Davis got the takedown, but Swick rolled out. Davis then attempted to grab a guillotine but just pulled Swick into his guard. Swick almost passes into side control, but Davis pulls it back into guard. Swick is landing a barrage of shots here, both with punches and elbows. He continues throw down punches as the round closes.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Swick. That was all Swick, although Davis did get the first takedown. Davis is going to need to do something in the next two rounds or Swick will continue to pund on him.
ROUND TWO: Davis landed a nice right and Swick responded with a hard kick to the head. Another exchange and then Swick took Davis down again. The crowd is starting to boo the wrestling on the ground. Swick with a nice pass into side control. Davis tries to grab the kimura from the bottom, but Swick held him off for a while. Swick then got out of it and they stood up. Davis pressed the action but Swick got him clinched. Davis throws a few knees and body shots. Swick lands on a couple knees of his own. Davis then tripped up Swick for a takedown. Swick almost clasped on the triangle, but Davis postured up to his feet. Swick caught a kick and took down Davis again.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Swick. Another smart round by Swick. He dominated most of that round again, outside of getting taken down, although he almost got the submission from his back.
ROUND THREE: Swick caught Davis early with a knee. They exchange shots and Swick lands another knee to the body. Davis pushes Swick back again. Swick landed another hard punch to the face. Davis went for the takedown but Swick got himself back up immediately. Swick with some more knees in the clinch. Swick got a point deducted for holding onto the fence. Swick then got another takedown on Davis. Davis' eye is just bloodied up. Swick just keeps throwing lefts and rights as the fight ends.
Penick's Scorecard. 9-9 due to a point deduction. Swick took all three rounds in my opinion and had a good fight.
WINNER: Swick via unanimous decision.
POST FIGHT: Swick said that this fight does solidify him at the 170 lbs weight. He dedicated the fight to his fiancee.
STAR RATING: (**) Good three round fight and a really good showing from Swick.
RAMIFICATIONS: This was a victory that Swick needed to get himself back into being taken seriously. The drop down to welterweight was a good move for him and he fought this fight really smartly. Davis will be back, but he's going to have to pick up a win or two to get himself back up.
Fight Five: Michael Bisbing vs. Jason Day (Middleweight)
PRE FIGHT: Bisping says he's never gotten his ass kicked before, and he later says he can go through most everyone in the middleweight division. Day wants to make a name for himself in this fight.
ROUND ONE: Bisping caught one of Day's legs and landed a hard kick to the other one. Bisping takes Day down and drops down with a whole bunch of hard hard punches. Bisping continues to toss Day's legs aside and rain down shots. Bisping passes to side control. Day rolls out and gets to his feet, eating a few on the way up, but then Bisping takes him down again and into side control. He's got Day's back again and is just throwing shots. Day tried to get up but just couldn't and Bisping threw shots until the ref stepped in to stop it.
WINNER: Bisping via TKO at 3:42 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: Rogan called that the best performance by Bisping
to date. He thinks he's starting to perform better to his ability. He tells Guy Ritchie in the crowd that if he needs another guy for his next gangster movie, he's the guy.
STAR RATING: (**+) Another good one round fight on this show. Dominating performance by Bisping here tonight.
RAMIFICATIONS: Bisping's going to be a force at middleweight, and another couple of wins will put him into title contention at this weight. Day took this fight on short notice, and I think he'll be back soon.
-They showed Eddie Sanchez getting knocked out earlier in the night.
Fight Six (Main Event): Matt Huges vs. Thiago Alves (Catch Weight fight)
PRE FIGHT: They once again brought up Alves's inability to make weight. He will be fined for missing weight, but Hughes and him agreed that they should put on the main event and Hughes decided to take the fight. The hype video sets this up as the young gun against the grizzled vet, and this should definitely be a good fight.
ROUND ONE: Alves defended a shoot attempt early. He again defends a shoot and then Hughes pulls guard at the cage. Alves lands a couple of hard shots onto Hughes. Hughes is cut. Alves lands a knee, but Hughes then takes him down. Alves holds half guard. Hughes keeps Alves down but is unable to pass. Not much is going on here on the ground. Alves finally sprawls up and gets back to his feet. He spins around and then Alves gets top position and lands a few more shots as the round ends.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Alves. He landed some nice shots on the ground and did some damage on Matt Hughes, and Hughes did nothing with his takedowns.
ROUND TWO: Alves landed a hard knee to the face on Hughes as Hughes was shooting. Matt is bleeding quite a bit here. Alves is looking really good on the ground. Matt goes after Alves again and he gets caught with another knee to the face. Alves then lands a few more shots and the fight is stopped. Hughes completely messed up his knee going down there, that was nasty.
WINNER: Alves via TKO at 1:02 of the second round.
POST FIGHT: Alves apologized for not making weight, saying he sprained his ankle 3 days before and couldn't run and stuff. He then told Dana White that he's been a good boy, hasn't asked for opponents, but he wants a title fight. Hughes says he's not sure what's up with the knee, but he said Alves is a good fighter. Hughes said he fought this fight for his kids, and he's not disappointed for himself, he's disappointed for them. Hughes says he's got at least one fight left in him, and Matt Serra better come up with a game plan. He wants that fight before he retires.
STAR RATING:(***) Boring first round, but exciting second round with a big TKO finish by Alves.
RAMIFICATIONS: Well Alves, if he can be counted on to make weight, should be in line for a title shot soon. He's been very impressive thus far in his UFC career, and he continued that on this show with a dominant performance over the future hall of famer Matt Hughes.
Fight Seven (Prelim): Matt Wiman vs. Thiago Tavares()
ROUND ONE: Wiman pressed but got caught in a guillotine and then almost an armbar before getting caught with some upkicks. Another exchange and then Wiman almost caught a knee bar. They exchange punches from the top and the bottom. Wiman almost got a submission himself. Wiman continues to go for some submission attempts for the bottom. Tavares lands some shots from the top. Wiman finally kicks Tavares back and gets back to his feet. Wiman is landing shots from the bottom and doing an excellent job of holding off Tavares from his guard.
ROUND TWO: Wiman is out swinging. Tavares then lands a huge right of his own. Tavares caught Wiman with another shot. Wiman landed a hard right of his own to the face. Wiman caught the leg on a head kick and took down Tavares. Wiman went for a submission but ended up in guard. Wiman popped up and landed a bunch of shots and then smashed Tavares with a huge right hand punch that knocked him out. Wow was that a major right hand.
WINNER: Wiman via KO at 1:57 of the second round.
POST FIGHT: Wiman said he's never been more excited. He says he's had a plateau he felt he couldn't get over, and he just came out and got over it.
STAR RATING:(***) Great fight, and what a knock out. That was just a highly exciting round and a half fight. Wiman could be a force with knockout power like that. Good stuff.
Fight Eight (Prelim): Martin Kampmann vs. Jorge Rivera (Middleweight)
ROUND ONE: Rivera threw some kicks early. Kampmann overpowered Rivera for a takedown. Kampmann postures up and lifts Rivera and drops him down. Kampmann hooks both legs and gets an arm triangle from the side, but Rivera got out of it. Rivera then got caught in a guillotine and had to tap.
WINNER: Kampmann via submission at 2:44 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: Kampmann talked about it being good to be back after being out with injury.
STAR RATING: (**) The chain of submissions from Kampmann was quite impressive and he looked really good.
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