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ENNIS: UFC 101 PPV Blow-by-Blow Coverage and Analysis
Aug 8, 2009 - 9:00:41 PM ENNIS: UFC 101 PPV Blow-by-Blow Coverage and Analysis

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UFC 101 PPV REPORT
AUGUST 9, 2009
PHILADELPHIA, PA. AT WACHOVIA CENTER
AIRED LIVE ON PAY-PER-VIEW

Alright, everyone. It's 10:00 Eastern time on Saturday night, and you know what that means. It's time to kick off the big fights. We've got two big ones tonight and a nice-looking undercard, so cue the horrible gladiator montage! Witness the black-and-white hype interviews! Soak in the sepia highlight reel! It's time for the UFC's debut in Philly, emanating live from a venue I'm personally very familiar with, and very covetous of the seats therein on this particular night.

We're kicking it off with hype from Goldberg and Rogan, and they give some camera time to the Octagon girls. And we're leading it off with Neer-Pellegrino.

FIRST FIGHT: JOSH "THE DENTIST" NEER vs. KURT "BATMAN" PELLEGRINO (Lightweight)

ROUND ONE
They exchange with a flurry out of the gate, and Neer lands a head kick. Body shots by Pellegrino, and he shoots in for a takedown, getting a big slam. Pellegrino passes to half guard, and Neer pulls him back in. Pellegrino postures up and lands a downward punch. Neer grabs an arm and looks for an armbar, but Pellegrino pulls it out. Nice elbow from the bottom by Neer. Neer looking for another armbar, and Pellegrino slams his way out. Pellegrino leaves a foot in and almost gets it grabbed, but he pulls it out. Neer looking for another armbar, but Pellegrino pulls out and gets into half guard. Nice elbow by Pellegrino, and Neer pulls him back into guard. Pellegrino postures up again, but he's unable to mount any offense of note. Pellegrino working from the half guard, and he lands some elbows. Round one ends in half guard, and it'll probably go to Pellegrino.

ROUND TWO
Neer starts out with some jabs, and puts together a combination. Leg kick by Neer spins Pellegrino around a bit. They exchange leg kicks, and Pellegrino goes to the body. Nice leg kick by Neer, and Pellegrino lands a combo. Shot by Pellegrino is thwarted, and Pellegrino lands a right hand that stuns Neer briefly. He shoots and works Neer to the ground again. Elbows from the bottom by Neer, and he's looking to pull Pellegrino close in for a triangle. Neer throws his legs up and almost gets a triangle as Pellegrino stands, landing a downward shot. Pellegrino almost passes into half guard, but Neer is able to keep him corralled. More elbows by Neer from the bottom. Neer looking for a standup from the ref, and he almost grabs an armbar again. Neer grabs a triangle again but Pellegrino is able to land hammerfists and get out. Pellegrino looks to pass and take Neer's back, but Neer tries to pull him back in and gets mounted. Neer bucks and Pellegrino takes his back with 42 seconds left. Pellegrino looks for a rear naked choke but he'll run out of time, taking the second round.

ROUND THREE
Neer comes out with jabs again, and Pellegrino lands a body kick. Front kick by Pellegrino, and a leg kick. Neer throws a body kick, it's caught by Pellegrino, and Pellegrino is back on top. Pellegrino looks for half guard and Neer grabs a leg, but Pellegrino takes it out and gets back into full guard. Neer looking for a leg again and working for the omoplata, but Pellegrino escapes easily. Half guard for Pellegrino. Neer looking for wrist control and Pellegrino lands some elbows. Neer lands an elbow from the bottom that cuts Pellegrino. Pellegrino postures up and actually slaps Neer. Pellegrino back in the guard and Neer looks for a triangle. More elbows from the bottom by Neer, and Pellegrino gets into half guard, looking for side control. Elbows by Pellegrino. Neer spins out and takes top position. He lands a couple of punches, but Pellegrino stands and drives for a takedown. Neer gets into a position where he can land a bunch of elbows to the side of the head, and he does so for the remainder of the round. That might have been enough to steal the round, but it doesn't matter at this point.

RESULT: Pellegrino by Unanimous Decision (30-27 x3)

STAR RATING: (***-) Not the action-packed fight that we thought it might be, but certainly an enjoyable technical battle on the ground.

RAMIFICATIONS: Pellegrino gets a much-needed win, but I don't see this as a "loser leaves town" match. Neer will likely show up on an undercard at some point again. He's a tough guy that will have to work on his bottom game, as he should have been able to get out of bad positions against a smaller fighter.

SECOND FIGHT: RICARDO "BIG DOG" ALMEIDA vs. KENDALL "DA SPYDA" GROVE (Middleweight)

They're moving right along tonight – no downtime between fights, which is nice.

ROUND ONE
Almeida shoots right away for a takedown, and Grove is able to stay up. He looks for the thai clinch and lands a knee to the body. Uppercut by Grove, and Almeida looks to take it down again. Clinch by Grove, and they clinch on the fence. They separate, and Almeida looks for leg kicks. He comes in with a big right hand and scores. Takedown attempt by Almeida, and he eats a knee for his trouble. Almeida continues to drive for the takedown, and Grove almost looks for a guillotine, but reconsiders. Grove showing very good takedown defense here, but Almeida is finally able to get Grove down. He stands up in the guard, then lands a leg kick and a downward punch. Not too much going on here, but Almeida passes to side control against the fence with Grove on his knees. Knees to the body by Almeida, and Grove stands. Thai clinch by Grove, and he lands a knee to the head. Almeida changes levels and picks Grove up, walking to the middle of the Octagon and slamming him with a few seconds left. First round is over, and it goes to Almeida.

ROUND TWO
Almeida lands a jab and then shoots in and takes Grove down immediately. Grove grabs an armbar out of nowhere and gets it in tight. Almeida is able to escape and almost leaves his leg in for a leglock, but he's able to get back to guard. Body triangle by Grove, and he lands some elbows from the bottom. Almeida looks to pass to half guard, but opts to stand and land a downward punch. He stands again and gets back down into side control. He lands a few elbows, and Grove pulls him into half guard. Almeida gets side control and lands some nice shots on Grove, but Grove is able to get back to the feet. Grove lands a standing knee, and follows up with an uppercut. Almeida shoots again, and he's able to get the fight back to the ground at the very end of the round. Close round – I'd probably give it to Grove by just a hair by virtue of the armbar and the better strikes landed.

ROUND THREE
Grove comes out swinging, and Almeida lands an inside leg kick. Another leg kick by Almeida, and Grove wings some strikes out there. Nice left hand by Almeida and he shoots successfully again. Grove stands right back up and they clinch against the fence. Knee to the body by Grove. Right hand by Grove as they separate. Left hook lands for Grove, and Almeida is tired. Almeida looks for a flying armbar but can't finish it, and Grove stands back up, inviting Almeida to follow suit. Almeida is gassed, but Grove is not taking advantage. Almeida shoots and Grove thwarts it. Knee lands for Grove, but Almeida shoots and gets it back to the ground. Full guard for Grove, and Almeida lands some elbows. Grove looks for an omoplata but can't get it cinched. Almeida catches a couple of elbows, and Grove grabs a body triangle from the bottom. He looks for a back elbow, then pushes Almeida off and stands up. He looks to land some shots, but he's unable to connect with anything of consequence. Almeida shoots halfheartedly, avoiding damage in the process as the round ends. I'd give that one to Almeida as he got a bunch of takedowns and neither man really got much offense in.

RESULT: Almeida by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)

STAR RATING: (**) Not much to it there – they mostly cancelled each other out for the duration of the fight.

RAMIFICATIONS: Grove takes a pretty significant hit in this one, as he really should have been able to keep Almeida at a distance but he was unable to do anything to stop him. Almeida gains something, but he didn't look all that impressive in grinding out a decision.

THIRD FIGHT: AMIR SADOLLAH vs. JOHNY HENDRICKS (Welterweight)

Man, they are on fire tonight. No post-fight interviews, no hype promos, just rolling through this thing. Maybe they're expecting lots of decisions?

ROUND ONE
Leg kicks by Amir coming out. He lands a nice combination going after Hendricks, and Hendricks lands a big shot that stuns Sadollah. He continues landing uppercuts until Sadollah goes down, then lands some more shots to the side of Sadollah's head until the ref steps in. Possible early stoppage there as Sadollah looked like he wasn't quite out of it yet. Tough to blame the ref there though, as Sadollah's posture didn't exactly inspire confidence.

RESULT: Hendricks by TKO at 0:33 of round one.

STAR RATING: (**+) Takes a hit in the rating due to the controversy and the relative non-decisive finish.

RAMIFICATIONS: Huge win for Hendricks even with the doubtful finish, and he'll probably make the main card again. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see a rematch on a Spike card down the road. Sadollah doesn't take much of a hit due to the doubt over the finish.

FOURTH FIGHT (prelim): "SUGAR" SHANE NELSON vs. AARON RILEY (Lightweight)

I'm wondering if they're moving things along so quickly because there were some prelims they wanted to show. Although this doesn't look like it took place earlier. Maybe there wasn't enough time before the main card for all the fights? Or maybe I'm just delusional. I'll have to look into that later.

ROUND ONE
Left hand lands immediately for Riley, and they clinch briefly before Riley separates with a left hand. Riley lands a shot that hurts Nelson and he follows up, but backs off. Body kick by Riley. Nice right hand by Nelson, and they clinch. Knees to the body by Nelson, and Riley pushes him against the fence, where he lands a couple of elbows. Head kick misses for Riley as they separate. Nice left hand for Nelson, and he lands a combination. Leg kick for Riley is caught by Nelson, but Riley escapes. They paw at each other a bit, and they clinch against the fence. Right hand lands for Nelson, and he skims a head kick off of Riley's dome. Riley grabs a partial Thai clinch and lands some nice knees to the body. Elbow by Riley, and another. More knees to the body and standing elbows for Riley. He misses a head kick as they separate. Riley catches a body kick and lands a head kick of his own. Nelson shoots and is shrugged off. They clinch against the fence as the round winds down, and that one will go to Riley.

ROUND TWO
Head kick falls short for Riley, and Nelson responds with a knee. Riley lands a high kick and they clinch. Elbows by Riley, and a knee to the body. They separate and Riley lands a right. Nelson lands a couple of punches but they don't seem to be having any effect. Knee to the body from the clinch by Riley. They push against the fence, and Riley lands a high kick as they separate. Nelson looks to be a bit sluggish as the fight is wearing on here, and Riley lands another high kick. They clinch again, and Riley is all over Nelson. Nothing too damaging, but he's wearing Nelson down. It's possible that he'll end it with one of those high kicks eventually. Riley gets a trip takedown and is in half guard. Not much going on here as Riley looks to pass. They're keeping it close and not landing too much at this point, and the ref stands them up. High kick again by Riley. Nelson shoots halfheartedly and it's nothing. Riley continues to pour on the pressure, rag-dolling Nelson at the very end of the round. Another on in the books for Riley.

ROUND THREE
Nelson lands a body kick as the round begins, and he looks like he's got some renewed energy, landing a few punches to the head of Riley. He shoots, and Riley thwarts. Left hand by Nelson, and he puts together a nice combination. They clinch, and Riley lands some shots to the body. Riley takes it down to the ground as a fight breaks out in the crowd somewhere. The crowd is making more noise for that fight than the one in the cage. Not much going on here, as Riley works from the guard. He lands some short elbows as Nelson looks to defend. It keeps going like that for the last couple of minutes until the end, and Riley will take the third round as well.

RESULT: Riley by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)

STAR RATING: (**+) A few brief flurries of action, but not a whole lot to write home about.

RAMIFICATIONS: Riley picks up a nice win and gets his vengeance. Nelson, for his part, really probably belongs in the featherweight division as Rogan and Goldberg alluded to constantly throughout the fight. Riley will probably face a strong grappler next; a Gray Maynard type perhaps, but it's tough to say for sure.

Well, after some so-so action up to now, we're getting into the big stuff. Well, after the promo for UFC 102.

FIFTH FIGHT: FORREST GRIFFIN vs. ANDERSON "THE SPIDER" SILVA (Middleweight)

Huge ovation for Griffin as he enters the Octagon, and the reaction for Silva is mixed.

ROUND ONE
They feel each other out for a second, and Griffin misses a head kick. Leg kicks by Griffin, and Silva moves his hands a bit. Silva catches a leg kick and throws Griffin backward. Superman punch by Griffin misses. Head kick blocked by Silva. Griffin paws at Silva a bit, and Silva lands a big right hand that drops Griffin. Griffin comes back with a big combo but it doesn't faze Silva. They're exchangeing now, and Silva is fired up. He's dropping his hands completely and inviting Griffin to come after him. He avoides all punishment and drops Griffin again. He lets Griffin back up, and Griffin comes forward. Silva moves back and paws a straight right hand that knocks Griffin silly. The fight is over, and that was way too easy for Silva. Silva plays to the crowd, pumping them up as Griffin pulls a BJ Penn, exiting the Octagon and jogging to the back.

RESULT: Silva by KO at 3:23 of round one.

STAR RATING: (****) I'm giving that big props for making it look easy against a top five light heavyweight.

RAMIFICATIONS: It's hard to say how much Griffin loses here, as he just got knocked out by the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Silva, though, gets mad props here for an insane knockout against a very good fighter. Dan Henderson cannot be very confident right now. Griffin will probably get a tough fight his next time out, but I would not want to be his opponent. Griffin is going to be a very angry fellow.

Now we get a movie ad, which pisses me off no end every time it happens.

SIXTH FIGHT: BJ "THE PRODIGY" PENN (Champion) vs. KENNY "KEN FLO" FLORIAN (Lightweight Title Fight)

The staredown is intense, and here we go.

ROUND ONE
They come charging out, and Penn blocks a high kick. Penn lands a right hand that puts Florian down, but he pops back up and they clinch on the fence. Elbow inside by Penn, and they separate. Florian comes in and they clinch again. Body shots by Penn, and Florian lands an elbow. Inside knee by Florian, and they separate. Florian wings a head kick. And Penn comes in with a left hook. They're back on the fence jockeying for position, and they exchange knees. Penn lands a few more knees than Florian, and Florian looks in vain for the Thai clinch. High kick by Florina, and he charges in and clinches. Florian looking for the clinch takedown, and it's not happening. Florian backs off and lands a leg kick. He shoots again and Penn defends. Florian backs him against the fence, and Florian lands some shots. Elbow by Florian as they separate. Counter right hook by Penn lands and Florian is wobbled. Penn lands a knee against the fence that hurts Florian, and the round is over. That one goes to Penn.

ROUND TWO
They feel out the distance here, and Florian lands a nice inside leg kick. Penn checks another one and misses a counter hook. Florian charges in and looks for the takedown against the fence, but Penn defends. They separate and circle. Florian comes in and clinches again, and Penn lands a left hand. Florian ducks a punch and charges in for another takedown. They clinch and Penn lands some knees to the head. Penn lands a right hand as they separate. Front kick by Florian. Superman punch misses for Florian and Penn lands a counter to the back of Florian's head, for which he apologizes. Florian ducks another punch and looks for another takedown. Rogan brings up the point again that it's possible that Florian is trying to wear Penn out. Body shots by Florian, and Penn lands a nice uppercut that separates them. Head kick glances for Florian. Leg kick for Florian. Another leg kick and Penn counters with a left hand. Penn is largely countering here, and the round is over. I'd give that one to Florian by a little bit. Very strategic fight so far.

ROUND THREE
Penn is definitely slowing down here, but I don't think his power is anywhere near gone. Florian misses a left hand and catches a one-two for his trouble. High kick whizzes by Penn and Florian rushes in again against the fence. Knees to the body by Florian. Florian switches levels and looks for the takedown, and he lands some body shots in the process. Florian continues to drive Penn against the fence. He backs up and takes an uppercut, but Florian lands an elbow. Left hand misses for Florian and Penn lands a big combination. Leg kick by Florian, and he goes in for a single leg takedown. He backs Penn up against the fence again, and Penn lands a right hand. Penn becomes the aggressor but Florian escapes. Straight left misses for Florian, and he presses Penn against the fence again. Penn hits a switch and gets around to the other side of Florian, landing a flurry in the process. Superman punch lands for Florian, and he catches a shot going in for another as the round ends. That one goes to Penn.

ROUND FOUR
Florian goes in and gets caught, but he moves away without sustaining too much damage. He drives Penn against the fence again. Florian lands a nice right hand as they separate, but Penn lands a combination and grabs an easy takedown. Penn from the half guard. Florian lands some elbows from the bottom, and Penn lands some from the top. Florian's cheek is swollen, and Penn looks for mount as he pounds away from half guard. More elbows by Penn, and he gets the mount. Florian covers up and gives Penn his back. Penn spins back to the mount and lands an elbow, then takes the back again. Kicks to the body by Penn, and he grabs a rear naked choke with lightning speed. He squeezes it tight, and that is all she wrote.

RESULT: Penn by submission at 3:50 of round four.

STAR RATING: (****-) Good fight. Makes you wonder what would have happened had Penn gone for a takedown early in the fight.

RAMIFICATIONS: That is an extremely tough loss for Florian, as he was never out of the fight, but he never really came close to taking it either. Hard to say where he goes from here as far as from a contender standpoint, but needless to say he'll need to string together some really impressive victories to get another shot. He'll also need some luck for the champion not to be BJ Penn.

SEVENTH FIGHT (Prelim): GEORGE SOTIROPOULOS vs. GEORGE ROOP (Lightweight)

ROUND ONE
Roop looks to strike early, but Sotiropoulos will have none of it and takes it to the ground, moving quickly into mount. It looks like Sotiropoulos will finish the fight early, but Roop bucks him off and they stand back up. Roop looks to land a few strikes but can't hit anything of consequence. Sotiropoulos tags Roop a couple of times and Roop is stunned. Sotiropoulos clinches and takes Roop down, then moves into half guard and into side control in short order. He looks for a kimura briefly, then spins into an armbar and directly into a rear naked choke. Back to an armbar and now Roop has escaped the position. Sotiropoulos looks for a triangle briefly but won't finish it and the round ends. First round was a big one for Sotiropoulos.

ROUND TWO
Roop wings a head kick, and looks for leg kicks. Flying knee attempted by Roop, and Sotiropoulos answers in kind. He wanders in and eats some strikes, but he takes Roop down easily and moves into mount without pause. Roop tries to buck Sotiropoulos off, and he's high in the mount. Sotiropoulos gives it up and moves back into side control from guard. He pops back over for a kimura and finishes it this time. Very impressive stuff from Sotiropoulos.

RESULT: Sotiropoulos by submission at 1:59 of round two.

STAR RATING: (***+) Not all that competitive from a back-and-forth standard, but Roop was definitely game, especially for having stepped in on short notice.

RAMIFICATIONS: Roop will surely get another fight, as most do when they are tabbed for a short notice contest. Sotiropoulos could make some noise sooner rather than later. He showed some real skills in this short bout, and I'll be very interested to see whom he fights next and how that goes.

Well, that's a wrap, people. The first four fights were less than stellar, but the last three definitely redeemed the show. BJ Penn moved into the category of "Fighters I Will Never Pick Against," and Anderson Silva reminded everyone why he's the best fighter in the world. Fedor may be the best heavyweight, but Silva, to me, is unquestionably the pound-for-pound king.

Stick with the Torch for post-event coverage this coming week, and remember to check back with us every day for updates. Until next time (which is tomorrow night,) enjoy the fights.