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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief It's time for another live event on Spike TV, and tonight we've got a great fund raiser to cover in Fight Night 16: Fight for the Troops and the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. Stay tuned throughout the night for my on-going coverage of the event, and we'll have fall out coverage as well in the coming days. It's Fight Night 16, coming up now!
-Key quote in the opening video from Yoshida, "I'm looking to end the fight by choking his neck or breaking his arm."
-Really cool shot of the crowd and the camo "UFC" shirts. The video for what exactly this fundraiser is for is very well done. As Arnold Fisher put it, "My Uncle Zach said, you don't just take from this country, you have to give back." Very true.
-Rogan and Goldberg run down the card.
[Commercial Break]
-Jack Black is the first of what I'm sure will be many people asking us to give what we can to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.
FIGHT ONE: MATT WIMAN VS. JIM MILLER (Lightweight)
PRE FIGHT: Wiman says he's looking to end this fight in spectacular fashion. Miller says after this fight people will know who he is.
[Commercial Break]
-Everlast is the next "celebrity" with a quick plea for donations. Haven't seen anything from him in years.
ROUND ONE: Wiman slips early as Miller works his southpaw jab early. He lands a couple of short punches in there as well. Wiman pushes forward delivering a few shots of his own. Wiman pushed Miller to the cage and took him down, but Miller caught him in a guillotine. It looked to be in really deep, and Wiman grabbed at Miller's shorts with ref Mario Yamasaki yelling at him and forcing his hand of the shorts and he popped out of the guillotine. Miller started with some ground and pound from Wiman's guard. He's working nicely and doing damage. After Miller stepped up to come down with a shot, Wiman maneuvered out and ended up in Miller's guard. Miller landed a couple of nice up kicks as Wiman stepped back. Right after Miller got up Wiman landed a nice shot. Miller landed a hard body shot that nearly dropped Wiman. He then ate a leg kick to the body and Miller pounced. He almost locked in a guillotine choke, but they got back to their feet. they exchanged back and forth a little bit before the round came to an end.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-8 Miller. Miller almost had the submission a couple of times and did more damage in stand up. Wiman landed a few shots, but that round was all Miller, all the time. Great round though.
[Commercial Break]
ROUND TWO: They come out firing to start the round and Miller tries for a takedown but they get up again. Miller landed some more hard body shots. Wiman came in with a couple of shots but Miller hurt him with a combination of his own. Miller pushed Wiman to the cage and followed him side to side doing a ton of punishment with shot after shot landing. He then decided to just take him down and he ended up in Wiman's guard. Miller started dropping hammerfists from Wiman's guard. Wiman tried to kick Miller off but Miller dropped another shot on him. Wiman again kicked Miller off and ate another shot as Miller came back in. Miller hasn't been able to pass here, but he's landing a ton of shots. Another push off with Miller dropping down again.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Miller. Wiman's keeping himself in the fight with a solid guard, but he's getting his ass kicked in the process. Miller is damned impressive in this fight considering he took the fight on such short notice.
[Commercial Break]
ROUND THREE: Wiman came out swinging and landed quite a few shots until Miller took him down. They got back to the feet and Miller landed a few nice shots on the feet. Miller took Wiman down yet again. Miller again can't pass but he's doing a good job of posturing up and landing shots. Miller finally passes to side control by pushing Wiman's legs aside. Miller can't pass to a mount and stands back up, but after a shot he takes Wiman down again. Wiman got himself back up and got a takedown of his own, but Miller maneuvered himself to get Wiman's back. Miller tries to move around to the mount but Wiman again does a good job holding him off. Miller steps down and drops on Wiman again.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Miller. Another dominating round by Miller, although Wiman did a great job throughout the fight of defending from his back and not allowing Miller to improve his position. Give him credit for even surviving to get to a third round.
[Commercial Break]
-Charlie Sheen's our next celeb video. 1 in 5 soldiers coming back from duty are suffering from TBI, and many are going on without a diagnosis.
WINNER: Miller via unanimous decision. No question on that. One judge had it scored as I had with a 30-26, and the other two scored it 30-27.
POST FIGHT: Miller used his post fight interview to ask people at home to donate. He talked up the troops. He said he tried to gas Wiman out as much as he could with the choke in the first round. He said he knew on short notice his arms would gas out quicker there.
STAR RATING: (***-) Hell of a fight to start the night off. Miller was extremely impressive on short notice, but the fight slowed a bit in the third round as both fighters ran out of gas.
-We get a video package on Nathan Toews, a soldier who was hit with an rpg in active duty and is suffering and living with the effects from TBI.
FIGHT TWO: TIM CREDEUR VS. NATE LOUGHRAN (MIDDLEWEIGHT)
PRE FIGHT: Credeur's a veteran of the U.S. Military. Loughran says when it's all said and done, he's hoping the crowd will appreciate his style and effort.
[Commercial Break]
-Ron Livingston's the next celebrity sighting.
ROUND ONE: Credeur hits a one two combo after an early grazed low blow landed on him. He landed a nice body kick as well before throwing some more combos. Loughran tries some straight kicks and pulls Credeur into the clinch. Credeur has him up against the cage, however, and Credeur lands a couple of knees in that position. Credeur with a head kick that's partially blocked. Credeur with a nice straight kick of his own. Credeur with a nice left hand lands on the chin. Loughran's eating a ton of shots from Credeur here. Leg kick from Loughran. Another hard right hand from Credeur. Loughran gets in a nice counter punch after another shot. Loughran lands a body kick. Nice hard overhand right from Credeur. Good leg kick from Credeur as well. Another right from Credeur. They trade body kicks. Credeur with another combo. His striking is a bit wild but he's landing a ton of shots. Loughran tries to run Credeur down but can't land a shot. Credeur lands another overhand right and then another shot. He gets Loughran up against the cage again and throws him down, landing one more shot before the round ended.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Credeur. He landed a ton of punches in that round. Loughran's eating them and coming forward, but he's still absorbing the punishment nonetheless. Good round for Credeur.
[Commercial Break]
ROUND TWO: Loughran comes out with a couple of body kicks and tries to shoot on Credeur. Credeur ends up in Loughran's guard. Loughran's trying to pull rubber guard but Credeur's just popping loose and getting back to action. Credeur passes to half guard. Loughran gets back the full guard. Loughran's been cut on his left eyebrow. The action stalls and they're stood back up. Loughran gets in a nice punch and body kick. Credeur lands a nice one two combo. Credeur with another nice hard right. Credeur lands another shot. They exchange body kicks. Credeur presses and lands some more shots. Loughran's breathing really heavy and Credeur is teeing off on him. Loughran basically falls to the ground as the round ends. He's got zero gas left.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Credeur. Another good round for Credeur, although it slowed considerably. He started teeing off on Loughran at the end of the round, and it should only be a matter of time in the third the way Loughran was breathing.
[Commercial Break]
Loughran can't come out for round three and the fight is stopped.
[Commercial Break]
-Chris O'Donnell's our next celebrity.
WINNER: Credeur via tko at at 5:00 of round two.
POST FIGHT: Credeur said he came to the UFC to fight against top competition. He said he sacrificed much of his life for his freedom and he's glad to give back to the people that are doing the same.
STAR RATING: (**) Great performance from Tim Credeur. He punished Loughran so much through two rounds that Loughran verbally submitted rather than come out for a third. It was a very exciting first round and then a last minute of the second round for Credeur.
-The next troop video is on Robert Kizzell III. These are unbelievably sad videos tonight, but it's all the reality of what's going on for those fighting overseas.
FIGHT THREE: STEVE CANTWELL VS. RAZAK AL-HASSAN (LIGHTHEAVYWEIGHT)
PRE FIGHT: The last WEC Light Heavyweight Champ Cantwell makes his debut tonight against another debuting fighter. Al-Hassan has a 7-0 record coming in to the fight tonight.
[Commercial Break]
-Hell yeah to a Samuel L. Jackson sighting! He's the next celeb asking for donations here.
ROUND ONE: Razak presses forward on Cantwell immediately. There's nothing going early, and then they trade body kicks. Cantwell lands a couple of body shots in combination before Al-Hassan comes in to clinch. They separate. Cantwell lands a shot, Razak comes back with a couple shots of his own and a knee. Cantwell lands a right hand. Body kick from Razak. Good back and forth here. Nice leg kick from Cantwell. Cantwell counters a shot with a nice left. Nice high kisk from Cantwell connects and then he gets a takedown on Razak. He steps up and throws a shot down onto Hassan. Cantwell passes nicely to side control. Cantwell moves nicely to the mount. Cantwell locks in an armbar. Hassan doesn't want to tap, and so Cantwell pushes it into the worst looking angle an arm can ever be in and the fight is stopped. Al-Hassan looks completely dazed. That was one of the sickest arm bars ever.
[Commercial Break]
-James Gandolfini's the next celebrity spokesman here.
WINNER: Cantwell via armbar tko at 4:04 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: They showed that replay and Oh. My. God. How in the hell Al-Hassan did not tap there, I just have no words for how unbelievable brutal that armbar was. He destroyed Al-Hassan's arm.
STAR RATING: (***+) Hell of a debut for the last WEC Light Heavyweight Champ. That was the single most brutal and disturbing visual I've seen in MMA. That was worse than watching Tim Sylvia's arm break in half with the armbar. Picture an arm bent at the elbow at a 90 degree angle. Now picture it at that angle, but pushed the opposite direction an elbow's supposed to bend at. Yeah, that happened.
-Angel Quilez is our next soldier video. Give what you can for this cause if you're sitting and watching right now, it's worth whatever you can spare.
-Craig Ferguson is the next celebrity short plea for the fund.
[Commercial Break]
-A video package now on Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin visiting a center for veterans. Really cool for the two of them to go and do that. They described more on what that particular facility does, and how the new facility will be similar, but it will focus mainly on the TBI.
[Commercial Break]
-Robert Patrick is the next short video plea.
FIGHT FOUR: MIKE SWICK VS. JOHNATHAN GOULET (WELTERWEIGHT)
PRE FIGHT: Goulet says he's more aggresive and he'll prove it. He says it's time for him to prove he's no joke. And he said it's time for him to kick Swick's ass. Swick says he's going out there to get a dominant, exciting win and to finish.
[Commercial Break]
-Rob Lowe is the next celebrity video.
ROUND ONE: Swick stalks Goulet down a bit, but Goulet throws the first shot. Swick drops Goulet with a right and Goulet tries to grab a single leg, but Swick pounces and hits Goulet wiht an absolute barrage that knocks Goulet out cold. That's the "Quick" Swick of old.
[Commercial Break]
-Mick Foley of the WWE is our next celebrity asking us all for donations.
-We get a quick video from many UFC fighters asking for donations as well.
WINNER: Swick via ko at :33 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: Swick said he's back in shape and he also asks for donations while talking up the military.
STAR RATING: (**-) Hard to give such a quick fight much more than that, but the extremely quick and dominating knockout for Swick was highly impressive, and was a return to form for the man who gained his nickname with fights like that in the middleweight division.
-Jeremy Trackemoritz is the next soldier video. It's so terribly sad to see and hear the effects of his injury on his speech and reading ability. These men and women go through so much that most of us can't come close to fathoming.
[Commercial Break]
PRELIM FIGHT A: BEN SAUNDERS VS. BRANDON WOLFF (WELTERWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Sanders lands a low kick early and Wolff is given a bit to recover. Saunders is apologetic about it. Saunders with a high kick, and then a bunch of high knees in the Muay Thai clinch. He rocks Wolff with it and then goes back to the knees against the cage. Wolff is trying to cover up but when he gets out he takes another high kick and another string of knees. This is relentless on knees from Saunders. Saunders continues with knees, finally dropping Wolff and ending the fight. Wow.
[Commercial Break]
WINNER: Saunders via tko at 1:49 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: Saunders said he watched the Silva vs. Franklin fight and brought that here tonight. He said he heard Wolff's reaction from the first knees and continued it. He said he would be auctioning off his fight gear from the night and giving all the proceeds to the Fallen Heroes Fund. Very cool. The welt on Wolff's forehead was ridiculous.
STAR RATING: (***-) Holy hell were those knees relentless. That was a great performance from Saunders, as he just absolutely decimated Brandon Wolff there.
[Commercial Break]
MAIN EVENT FIGHT FIVE: JOSH KOSCHEK VS. YOSHIYUKI YOSHIDA (WELTERWEIGHT)
PRE FIGHT: Yoshida says he's going to bring his Judo to the fight and win it with his Judo. Yoshida said he's prepared many counters to what he's seen on video of Koschek. Kos says he's going to run him over.
[Commercial Break]
-Hey everyone, it's Joey Tribia... I mean, Matt LeBlanc with his plea for donations.
ROUND ONE: Yoshida connects first on a straight kick as they take their time and feel each other out here. Koscheck comes in with a right. High kick from Yoshida is blocked. Koschek lands a couple of quick right hands to Yoshida. Very tentative to start here. Koscheck comes in with an overhand right that doesn't land. Yoshida pushed in and Koscheck caught him with that right. Yoshida lands a body kick. Koscheck rocks Yoshida with a gigantic right hand that stuns him, and he follows with one more that knocks Yoshida out cold. Wow. By far the best highlight win in Koscheck's career. Another great knockout tonight.
[Commercial Break]
-We get a montage of celebs with 50 Cent, Laura Prepon, Tapout, Shane Victorino, and Everlast again.
WINNER: Koscheck via ko at 2:15 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: Koschek said if that wasn't worth five bucks from the UFC fans he doesn't know else he could have done. Amen to that. He thanked the fans and pimped his new clothing line as well.
STAR RATING: (***) We've got some highlights coming out of this show tonight, good lord. Great performance from Koscheck after fighting just over a month ago. That was a devastating knockout to go along with the other decisive finishes on this card tonight. That was just a massive knockout from Koscheck to send the troops home happy.
PRELIM FIGHT B: STEVE BRUNO VS. JOHNNY REES
ROUND ONE: Rees gets a clinch and throws some hard knees early in the round here. He moves Bruno against the cage and takes him down. Rees passes to half guard and Bruno gets himself back up. Rees lands a body kick, but it's caught by Bruno and he's taken down. Rees lands an upkick but Bruno drops a hammer fist onto him. Bruno takes side control and then takes Rees's back. Rees pulls off a nice roll and gets back to his back and pulls Bruno into half guard. Rees gets back to his feet but Bruno picks him up and drops him. He takes his back and they both get back to their feet with Bruno on Rees's back. The ref pulls them apart and Rees comes in with a flurry to the clinch on the cage following the separation. Rees lands a couple of knees in the clinch here.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Bruno. Bruno snuck it out with a couple of takedowns and body control. Rogan's pissed at this ref that keeps telling the fighters to "come on, do something." Good, close round there.
ROUND TWO: Bruno pushes Rees to the cage and clinch's early. Bruno gets the back standing again. Rees goes for a kimura but lets it go. They get it back to the feet and they get to the cage again. They exchange knees in the clinch. The ref separates them once again. They exchange shots with Rees landing a couple more shots than Bruno. Rees goes for a jumping knee in the clinch. Rees attempts to take Bruno down but he's unsuccessful. He lands a couple of shots and knees before Bruno takes him down. Bruno once again takes Rees's back and sinks in the rear naked choke standing. Rees fights it off briefly but then gets dropped to the ground where Bruno locks it in tighter for the submission.
[Commercial Break]
WINNER: Bruno via rear naked choke at 3:44 of the second round.
POST FIGHT: Bruno said this is by far the most important day of his life. He said he's glad he could do that in front of his military brothers and sisters. He said it meant a lot to beat Rees with his own move. He gave a quick story about being downed in Iraq and having the army save his life.
-Rogan and Goldberg ran down the fights from tonight to close out the show. That's another event in the books, ladies and gentlemen. If you haven't had a chance yet tonight, please call 1-800-340-HERO or visit fightforthetroops.com to donate to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.
-Stay tuned for post show coverage in the coming days, including audio and text reviews from staff and then we'll back with live coverage once again on Saturday night for the Ultimate Finale for season 8 of the Ultimate Fighter. Thanks again for sticking with us tonight here at MMATorch.com!
STAR RATING: (**) Good battle of positioning between the two, with a nice submission victory from Bruno.
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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