Dec 26, 2009 - 12:31:10 AM By Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
PENICK'S UFC 96 PPV REPORT
MARCH 7, 2009
AIRED LIVE ON PAY-PER-VIEW
So Comcast is a terrible cable company and the event is not showing up on the pay-per-view channel at this time in my area, so as soon as I get it up we will be good to go. Until then, my apologies, I will begin coverage as soon as I have it, and the early fights will be covered on the tail end as soon as I can see them!
Alright, after a half hour outage from the cable company, the show has started here, cutting into the very end of Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller. Round by round results will come later this evening, but Maynard defeated Miller by unanimous decision in the first and only bout of the evening thus far. Here we go for the rest of the show!
FIGHT TWO: MATT HAMILL VS. MARK MUNOZ (LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Munoz shot in for a single leg early but Hamill sprawled nicely. Hamill threw a nice leg kick to set up a jab and he used some very nice location landing a bunch of strikes until Munoz came in for a single leg. Hamill overpowered Munoz and got on top. After a short struggle they both stood up. Hamill continues to stalk Munoz and lands some nice shots. Munoz starts landing some nice body punches. Hamill again sets up a jab with a leg kick and while nothing's coming in really fast it's landing effectively. Hamill covers up nicely when Munoz throws some shots and he's responding with solid punches of his own. Nice right hand lands from Hamill. Munoz lands a knee and then an overhand right. Hamill again walks him across the cage with the jabs. Hamill throws a high kick and knocks Munoz out cold! Holy shit. He gets in a couple of shots before the ref can get over there, but holy hell that was a great finish from Hamill. That's a highlight reel knockout for Hamill there. Wow.
WINNER: Matt Hamill via ko at 3:53 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: Hamill was extremely excited as they announced him the victor. He was extremely excited and happy as he thanked the Ohio hometown crowd. He said he's getting better and better everytime he fights and he exclaimed "the Hammer is back!"
STAR RATING: (**+) It was a bit methodical for a while but Hamill was awesome and worked his striking very effectively before delivering a great highlight reel knockout.
-Frank Mir was interviewed by Mike Goldberg cageside to update his injury. He said the knee popped on him in training and he had the knee scoped and he wanted to push the fight out to July 11th, which would be UFC 100.
-Rashad Evans then came in and talked about who his next challenger could be depending on the outcome of tonight's fight.
FIGHT THREE: MATT BROWN VS. PETE SELL (WELTERWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: High kick from Brown starts off the show. Brown lands a superman punch. Brown keeps throwing high kicks and punches and then drops Sell with a right hand. Yvel Lavigne ran in and there was some confusion as they thought he stopped the fight but he let it continue. Brown came in and landed a few knees and then kept laying on the punishment. Sell tried to grab a leg and stay alive. Brown continued rocking Sell and Sell backed up and fell to his back. Brown looked at Lavigne wondering why the fight wasn't stopped and he just dropped a couple of bombs forcing Yves to stop it. That was not needed.
WINNER: Brown via tko at 1:32 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: Brown was wondering why it wasn't stopped earlier as he was interviewed. Sell came up and interrupted to say "why are you stopping it I'm still here fighting."
STAR RATING: (**+) That was a great, great, great performance from Matt Brown. Despite the confusion on the stoppage and the fact that it could have been stopped earlier, that was a coming out party for Matt Brown as a force at 170. That was dominant. Great fight for Brown.
PRELIM FIGHT A: KENDALL GROVE vs. JASON DAY
ROUND ONE: Day is pressing the action early throwing shots and kicks but Grove withstands it. Grove tried to grab the Muy Thai clinch but Day unleashed a ton of shots on him and forced him to release it. Grove gets a big right hand through that drops Day and he follows it up with elbows to the head to finish it off. He needed that. Great finish from Grove.
WINNER: Grove via tko at 1:32 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: Grove said he was very happy, he thought he was going to lose his job. He said, "I guess not." He said he was working a lot with his hands coming in. To all his fans, he said, "I'm f***ing back."
STAR RATING: (**) Well Grove gets to keep his job. That was a much needed performance, but Day had him in trouble a bit early and was landing some nice shots. That was a great right hand that got through, though, and a huge needed finish for Grove.
FIGHT FOUR: GABRIEL GONZAGA VS. SHANE CARWIN (HEAVYWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Carwin comes in early with a couple of punches pushing Gonzaga back. Gonzaga gets in a big right hand that seems to rock Carwin. Gonzaga gets Carwin to the cage and takes him down. As he tries to pass Carwin gets back to his feet. Gonzaga lands a right hand and then Carwin throws a punch out of nowhere that drops Gonzaga. He gets in another two shots and the fight is stopped. Wow, that was one hell of a short fight.
WINNER: Carwin via ko at 1:09 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: Carwin said Gabe caught him a few times early but he was able to get back to it. The replay of the knockout punch showed he was flat footed when throwing it, holy hell is that power.
STAR RATING: (**+) Great fight for only being a minute long. Gonzaga had Carwin hurt early but Carwin showed some great tenacity to survive and then get back to his feet. The flat footed knockout punch was amazing, and Carwin is legit. He's ready to take on the top flight heavyweights in the UFC. Great performance.
PRELIM FIGHT B: TAMDAN MCCRORY VS. RYAN MADIGAN
ROUND ONE: McCrory threw a nice knee but then grabbed a leg and took Madigan down. Madigan tried to hold the closed guard as Tamdan tried to posture up. McCrory passes nicely over to side control. As Tamdan tries to get into a better position he postures up and lands a couple of big shots but then he ends back in Madigan's guard. McCrory gets another beautiful pass into side guard and then the mount. He tries to grab a triangle from the top but loses the mount. He pins an arm and tries to get something going with that but gives up a leg. Madigan can't do anything with it though and McCrory moves to side control and then the mount quickly and he pounds out Madigan for a bit leading to the stoppage.
WINNER: McCrory via tko at 3:35 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: McCrory said he's ready to kill. He drops a few expletives as he talks about everything that went wrong in training including not getting to pick his music. He wanted Thunder Horse from Metalocalypse.
STAR RATING: (**) That was some dominating ground fighting from McCrory. Madigan was just out of his element and not on the same level as McCrory.
MAIN EVENT FIGHT FIVE: KEITH JARDINE VS. QUINTON JACKSON
-Rashad Evans joins the commentary team for the main event. He says there will never be a fight between him and Jardine, as being teammates and friends they don't want to get in there against each other.
ROUND ONE: Jackson came right after Jardine and they clinched. They wrestled against the cage. Jardine threw a punch. Yves Lavigne separated them. Jardine comes in and lands a shot. He comes in again and throws a leg kick. Jardine throws a high kick. Another leg kick lands from Jardine as Rampage lands a jab. Jardine came in to grab a leg but Rampage tossed him off. Jardine came in again and grabbed a single leg. They again stall a bit on the cage. Jardine backs away. Jardine lands a left jab and gets another punch in. Jardine lands another leg kick. Rampagae throws a nice right and pushes Jardine back. Rampage catches a kick from Jardine and throws a bunch of shots. Jardine gets out. Rampage lands a nice right and follows with a bunch more shots again. Nice sequence from Jackson including a kick that landed. Jardine lands a knee and then Rampage pushes forward with a few shots as the round ends.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Jardine. Very very close round but Jardine pressed the pace early and landed more early on, and despite Rampage's late surge Jardine was in charge for the round.
ROUND TWO: Jackson lands a few nice counter punches and then a leg kick to begin. Jardine lands a good body shot. Jardine stumbled with a leg kick and Jackson barely missed a big right hand. Jardine threw a high kick that was blocked. Another leg kick landed by Jardine. Jardine gets a nice leg kick jab combo in. He comes in and does it again. Jackson gets a right hand in. Jackson gets in a few shots that barely miss but then he catches Jardine and drops him down. Jardine recovers but Jackson lands some more punishment on the ground before Jardine gets back to his feet. Jackson grabs a takedown as Jardine comes in. Jardine is able to get back to his feet. Jardine is standing with his hands at his sides. Jardine threw a kick that landed low. They restar it quickly. Jardine pushes forward on Rampage and starts throwing a ton of shots. Rampage survives and throws a few shots of his own to get out of it. Jardine lands another body shot. Jackson gets in another right hand and a left following that.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Rampage. The knock down and take down took it for him there. Much better round than the first.
ROUND THREE: Jardine comes in with a kick and rampage starts swinging. Nothing lands solid there. Rampage lands a nice jab. Jackson throws a body kick and Jardine lands a jab. Jackson with another left hand and then he ducks under a punch and takes Jardine down. Jardine fights back up to his feet again. Jardine is cut open. Jackson barely misses an uppercut, which has kind of been the story of the fight. Rampage gets a short flurry in. He lands a nice right to the head. Jardine gets in a very nice right hand. Jardine lands a body kick. Jackson with a shot of his own. Big left from Jackson. Leg kick from Jardine. Jackson lands a big left but Jardine again recovers quickly. Jardine shot in but got stuffed and he put Jardine up against the cage. Lavigne separates themagain. Jackson lands a big left and then a right and another big shot. They trade with Rampage landing a ton of shots with :30 left but Jardine stays standing. Jardine throws a high kick with :10 left. Jackson drops Jardine with a shot with only seconds left but there's not enough time to get a stoppage.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Rampage. Lots of big shots, another takedown, and a finish where he knocked Jardine down gave Rampage the fight. He definitely took a safe play to this fight tonight but he did enough in my opinion to solidify his title shot.
WINNER: Jackson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
POST FIGHT: Jackson said there was a lot of pressure coming into this fight and he didn't expect Jardine to be that tough. Jackson said he didn't stick to his gameplan from the beginning. He said he felt he needed these three rounds as the last one only went a round. He said he won't call him "Sardine" anymore. Rampage screamed that he wants his belt back. Rashad came in and they got face to face with Rashad saying he's going to knock him out. They held the microphone up during their exchange. This is beautiful. Rampage grabbed the mic and said you're going to see some "black on black crime." The Ohio crowd booed Rashad pretty heavily.
STAR RATING: (**) That was a very even fight that just didn't get too exciting. Jardine showed an ability to take punishment in the fight and Rampage did what he needed to do to hold his spot as the number one contender.
PRELIM FIGHT C: BRANDON VERA VS. MIKE PATT
ROUND ONE: Vera started off highly aggressive with a few leg kicks and a couple of punches. He pounces in and out on Patt here. Another big leg kick from Vera. Nice big right hand from Vera. Vera threw a high kick that was blocked. Another big leg kick from Vera with a few shots attached. Nice one two shot from Vera. Big left hand lands from Vera. Vera with another punch and high kick. He's laying on the punishment right now. Patt throws a leg kick of his own. Vera comes back with another kick. Inside leg kick from Vera lands. Patt's taking a ton of punishment here. Vera landed another leg kick that really hurt Patt. He let him get up. Another leg kick lands from Vera. Left hand from Vera. Patt lands a high kick to the head. Vera gets in a nice body shot. Inside leg kick form Vera again. Nice right and left combo from Vera. Vera landed a nice left hand. Vera with another left hand. Round ends.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Vera. Close to a 10-8 but Vera never really had Patt near finished there. He hurt him a lot though.
ROUND TWO: Vera comes right out as the aggressor again. More of the same from the last round. Vera keeps throwing the leg kicks and takes Patt down. Patt is badly hurt in the knee. Vera gives him the option to stand again, he does and gets dropped with another nasty leg kick that takes Patt down and forces the stoppage. Too bad for Patt, but the best performance from Vera in a long, long time.
WINNER: Vera via tko at 1:27 of the second round.
POST FIGHT: Vera said he was taking for granted that he could take the guys at 205 without training hard, but now he's back to work and he's back. He thanked all of his training partners.
STAR RATING: (**) Dominating performance with those leg kicks. Awesome to see Vera get back to it in this fight and look very very good.
PRELIM FIGHT D: TIM BOETSCH VS. JASON BRILZ
ROUND ONE: Boetsch comes out firing and lands a big flurry right off the bat. Brilz takes it and Boetsch backs off. Brilz grabs Boetsch and lands some shots in a little dirty boxing action. Brilz catches a kick and takes Boetsch down. Boetsch kicks Brilz off and gets back to his feet. They clinch on the cage. Brilz comes in with some nice shots of his own. After that initial onslaught he's been the aggressor now. boetsch gets a nice right hand in. Brilz lands a couple of nice jabs. The pace has slowed considerably from the start of the fight. Boetsch gets a nice body shot in and another to follow. They trade shots as the round closes.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Brilz. He stole that round after Boetsch had him early. He had a nice takedown and landed a bunch of shots while pushing the action himself.
ROUND TWO: Brilz throws a decent right. Boetsch gets in another punch. Brilz grabs Boetsch and takes him down nicely. Brilz passes to side control. Brilz holds control on the ground and gets right back to the side as Boetsch tries to turn out of it. Nice short elbow from Brilz. Brilz with some more elbows to the head. Nice knee to the body from Brilz. Brilz tried to grab a guillotine but isn't able to, but still holds control. Boetsch gets back up to his feet but Brilz takes his back. He throws a ton of knees to the legs, head and body of Boetsch from the back. Big knee lands to the midsection by Brilz.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Brilz. Great round for Brilz there. He got the takedown and dominated throughout. He didn't really do much other than control him, though.
ROUND THREE: Brilz again came in to the clinch and tried to get Boetsch down again. Boetsch fights it off and stays on his feet. Brilz again shot in to the clinch. Boetsch gets in a knee in the clinch. Boetsch lands a nice knee to the head and body as Brilz came in for a shot. Brilz again got to Boetsch's back an took him down. Boetsch rolls to half guard. Brilz gets to side control but Boetsch gets back to his feet. Brilz again grabs a single leg and takes Boetsch down. Brilz moves to full mount. Boetsch is cut here. Brilz throws some lackluster shots to finish off the round.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Brilz. Another dominating round, although it was mostly ground domination with no intention of really finishing it anywhere.
WINNER: Brilz via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
STAR RATING: (*+) Not much to the fight, as Brilz just dominated on the ground without doing much there, but it was impressive for him nonetheless.
Alright ladies and gentlemen, that's another event under our belts, and we've got a replacement main event for UFC 98 it seems in Rampage/Rashad. This was a much better event than I think anyone could have expected, with nine fights airing on the show and a very good under card. The main event wasn't really what was expected, but it was still a decent fight and set up the replacement bout at UFC 98 with the Frank Mir injury. I definitely enjoyed the show much more than I thought I would coming in. Shane Carwin is a legit threat in the heavyweight division, as his knockout of Gonzaga with a flatfooted right hand is a testament to his power. Great showing from him there. Thank you again, ladies and gentlemen for sticking with us tonight and stick around for the fall out from this event as well as all the big stories and commentary throughout the week here on MMATorch.com.
[Rampage Jackson art credit Cory Gould (c) MMATorch]
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I honestly didn't find it to be all that exciting except for a few bursts
in the second and third rounds. There were a lot of spots where there were
a ton of shots thrown but nothing landing, and I never once thought the
fight was close to ending. Add to that my disdain for this fight
headlining the show as it was and it just didn't do much for me. If
anything it was a **+ at best, but was just very much an average fight to
me. I might think differently upon rewatching it, but it wasn't up there
for me with everything else on the card as well as on recent cards.
baseballfreak
08 Mar 2009, 01:43
Good news is we are past 96 and don't have to watch machida/rashad. I am
looking forward to rampage/rashad after that awesome pro-wrestling style
moment after the fight.
Boles
08 Mar 2009, 03:14
If you can edit your own post, fix the scoring for the Brilz match.
cegawn
08 Mar 2009, 03:14
I thought the main event deserved a better rating. It was a very
entertaining, competitive fight. But to each their own. The Rampage vs
Evans fight is more exciting to me than Mir vs Lesnar. Ufc did a great job
in replacing the 98 main event.
Jamie Penick
08 Mar 2009, 10:47
Boles, thanks for catching that, I just made the fix.
Chris, you're absolutely correct on the UFC doing a great job with that
replacement fight. It still gives the event a big "Main Event" Title
fight, and now UFC 100 is poised to be even bigger. I'm curious to see
whether or not they toss Penn/Florian on that one or if they hold off and
add that to 101, either way we'll have a ton of title fights within a three
month span.
Nick C.
08 Mar 2009, 22:06
I agree with Jamie on Rampage vs. Jardine. On a technical level, it was an
average fight. However, perhaps even more than that, there was no reason
for the bout to take place, no story behind it. Basically, Jackson scored
a decision over a guy he was expected to beat in a main event that seemed
thrown together...no title at stake, no grudge to settle, and even if
Jardine won, he's gone on record saying he wouldn't fight Evans. So what
was the point? Rampage vs. Lyoto would have made more sense in cementing
the number one LHW contender slot. To me, every great fight has a story
behind it and the fact that this one didn't knocks it down a peg in terms
of excitement.
