On This Day in MMA History

[Carbomb]

He needs out, anyway - he's just too shot, and with the problems his giantism is doubtless going to cause him (I wonder if he can still get that op that Big Show did?), he doesn't need brain damage, Parkinson's, punched eye, or whatever other horrors can be visited on him from hanging on too long in MMA. He must have made at least some bank, here's hoping he's made enough to get the hell out while he's still got the use of his legs.

[wandshogun09]

Is there any scientific medical evidence that TRT would make you more durable to punches to the dome? Not being a smart arse, I genuinely don't know. But it's one of those things that crops up now and then where people say a fighter can't take shots off the juice or whatever. I mean, surely a clean punch to the jaw, whatever you're on, is probably going to put you out or at least buzz you. PEDs do a lot of things but they can't make your chin and brain tougher surely? 

[jimufctna24]

Sometimes it's hard to believe that Big Foot was considered in some circles as the man to replace Fedor. Before he hit promotions with accessible TV, word was that he was an unstoppable monster. He slowly lost that aura throughout his Elite Xc and Strikeforce days.

He still had his moments though. Werdum was the first man to beat Fedor, but Big Foot was the first fighter to properly do a number on him. Even though most saw that result as being a product of Fedor becoming set in his ways/past his best. The first fight with Hunt was his finest hour in many ways, easily one of the best Heavyweight MMA fights ever. The Overeem upset was another fine moment.

The maulings he received against Cain were hard to watch. The first fight was brutal, and the rematch was a mismatch. In general, he's cut a sad figure since around 2014/2015. Fingers crossed that he surprises us going forward.

[Rey_Piste]

12 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Is there any scientific medical evidence that TRT would make you more durable to punches to the dome? Not being a smart arse, I genuinely don't know. But it's one of those things that crops up now and then where people say a fighter can't take shots off the juice or whatever. I mean, surely a clean punch to the jaw, whatever you're on, is probably going to put you out or at least buzz you. PEDs do a lot of things but they can't make your chin and brain tougher surely? 

It's more that he can't train as hard and then get gassed, dropping his hands then getting clocked. He definitely needs to get out of the fight game before gets seriously injured.

[ColinBollocks]

37 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Is there any scientific medical evidence that TRT would make you more durable to punches to the dome? Not being a smart arse, I genuinely don't know. But it's one of those things that crops up now and then where people say a fighter can't take shots off the juice or whatever. I mean, surely a clean punch to the jaw, whatever you're on, is probably going to put you out or at least buzz you. PEDs do a lot of things but they can't make your chin and brain tougher surely? 

Isn't Bigfoot a unique case, though? His body needs the TRT because, given his condition, his body is fighting against his T levels. Maybe it's some weird coincidence, but before and after TRT Bigfoot is such a different fighter, in all ways.

Also, do you think the reason some of the most famous users & abusers have suddenly become a bit 'chinny' is because they abused their body so much that it's completely buggered their body? That and age, obviously - a lot of fighters became a lot older overnight, it seems.

It's an odd one, because it's not like we're talking about normal T usage. It was abused and now a lot are suffering the consequences. 

[wandshogun09]

I don't know. But I don't really remember anyone known for juicing who's chin has deteriorated off the gas. I mean, Overeem was always chinny, wasn't he? The Bigfoot thing has other factors to consider as you say. Can't really think of anyone else who's a known user who's chin has gone noticably. I'm probably forgetting someone obvious. 

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 15th)

EliteXC: Uprising (September 15th 2007)

This was the second show for EliteXC and it would be originating from Oahu, Hawaii. The event would air on Showtime and it would be headlined by EliteXC Middleweight Champion Murilo Rua defending his title against Robbie Lawler, who was the middleweight champion of the soon-to-be defunct ICON Sport promotion. In a rare move for an MMA show, the untelevised fights occurred after the main card, and wdere streamed live on the Proelite.com website. Mauro Ranallo was the play-by-play announcer and he was joined by Stephen Quadros and Bill Goldberg.

Jake Shields vs. Renato Verissimo saw Verissimo take Shields down quickly from a clinch but he couldn’t keep Shields down for very long. Shields then took Verissimo down in a similar manner and he quickly mounted Verissimo and began working for a submission. Shields couldn’t get it so he settled for just pounding away on Verissimo, who took far too many shots before the referee, Mario Yamasaki, finally stepped in.

Riki Fukuda vs. Joe Villasenor was a solid, entertaining fight that mostly consisted a lot of heavy hitting and a few grappling and submission attempts. It was a pretty even contest, and although Fukuda was the more aggressive of the two, Villasenor got the split-decision victory.

Gina Carano vs. Tonya Evinger was contested under three-minute rounds because, well, whatever the reason was that commissions officially came up with to excuse what was simple sexism. Evinger waistlocked Carano and slammed her to the mat right away. Evinger was all over Carano, maintaining control in half-guard or the mount, but she couldn’t quite get the finish. Evinger continued to go for submissions and she even got a guillotine choke on Carano but Evinger couldn’t hold the submission for long and Carano broke free. Carano managed to sweep Evinger and then drag her back down to the mat when she tried to stand; Carano flattened Evinger out and began working for a rear naked choke which she eventually got and Evinger tapped out just before the round ended. It was a decent fight and it had a ton of heat.

Mike Aina vs. Nick Diaz was a decent fight and a very competitive one. It was mostly boxing and it was a case of Aina delivering the power shots and Diaz using volume, which is what he usually does. Aina was the more aggressive fighter throughout the contest and he knocked Diaz down in the second round as well as bloodied him up. Diaz managed to take Aina down late in the second and even got the mount, but he couldn’t do anything with it before the round ended. The same thing happened in the third round, with Diaz even having the arm of Aina as the rounded ended. Diaz didn’t stop fighting, though, when the round ended and he intentionally cranked the arm of Aina with an armbar, Diaz even smiling about it. I had it 29-28 for Aina; round was one clearly for Aina, round two was close but Aina still did enough to take it, and round three was clear for Diaz. The judges disagree and it goes to Diaz on a split-decision.

Murilo Rua © vs. Robbie Lawler © – for the EliteXC Middleweight Championship was our main event of the evening. The first round was OK; slow in places but it was kept reasonably engaging with both fighters landing some decent shots. Things picked up in the second round as both Rua and Lawler started throwing, turning this into an entertaining if sloppy brawl. And whilst both fighters landed, Lawler was landing the bigger shots and landing them more often. As the second round went on, it was clear that Rua was gassing out; Rua made a desperate attempt at a takedown but was just too exhausted to make it work. In the third round, Rua kept throwing but it was clear he was done and he threw nothing that troubled Lawler, and just past the two-minute mark, Lawler dropped Rua with a great uppercut and followed up with some hammerfists to knock Rua out and Robbie Lawler was the new EliteXC Middleweight Champion.

Numbers

Ratings: The show did a 1.4 rating (231,000 viewers). It did a 0.87 in males 18-34 and 0.81 in males 35-49, and the average age of a viewer was 36.

UFC Fight Night 22: Marquardt vs. Palhares (September 15th 2010)

This card that went through a number of changes and alterations and it all started with the main event, which was originally going to be Alan Belcher vs. Demian Maia. However, Belcher had to withdraw from the fight as a result of emergency eye surgery. A fight between Nate Marquardt and Rousimar Palhares was moved from UFC 118 to be the new main event of this card. Demian Maia was moved to UFC 118 for a fight against Mario Mirada.

Nate Marquardt was coming into this fight off of a unanimous decision loss to Chael Sonnen at UFC 109, a loss which snapped a three-fight win streak, so Marquardt would be looking to get right back to winning ways. Palhares had won three straight, going 4-1 in his UFC run, so a win for Palhares may very well put him in the mix for a title eliminator, especially if he could score a convincing win over Marquardt.

The co-main event was affected by change, too, but not directly. Matt Wiman was to face Mac Danzig at UFC 115, but when Danzig was pulled from the fight due to injury, Efrain Escudero was pulled from his undercard fight against John Gunderson to face Wiman in what was to be the co-main event of this show. But Wiman broke his arm in training and Escudero would face the highly touted prospect Charles Oliveira. Escudero ended up missing weight for the fight, coming in at 159lbs, so his fight with Oliveira was made a catchweight contest.

Rounding out the main card would be a pair of lightweight fights, as Cole Miller took on Ross Pearson, and Jim Miller faced Gleison Tibau.

This show would also serve as a lead in to the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck.

Card Changes

John Gunderson would end up facing Yves Edwards.

Nick Catone was forced out of his fight against Tomasz Drwal when he needed shoulder and back surgery, and Aaron Simpson was forced out of his fight against Branch when he developed a staph infection in the elbow, so Branch and Drawl were matched up against each other.

UFC Fight Night 22 (the preliminary card)

Brian Foster knocked out  Forrest Petz in 1:07. TJ Waldburger beat David Mitchell by unanimous decision in a fight filled with grappling and submissions, so if that’s what you like then you’d love this contest. Rich Attonito beat Rafael Natal by unanimous decision in a fight that had its moments, although they were mostly in the first round when Attonito dropped Natal and almost finished him. David Branch beat Tomasz Drwal by unanimous decision in a rather underwhelming fight. It was so underwhelming that while the arena was darkened as they waited to come back from a break, someone yelled out “no winner, no winner”. Kyle Kingsbury beat Jared Hamman by unanimous decision in what was a really good scrap, a very entertaining fight that is definitely worth checking out. Yves Edwards scored a fairly comfortable unanimous decision win over John Gunderson.

UFC Fight Night 22 (the main card)

Cole Miller vs. Ross Pearson was an entertaining grappler vs. striker fight, and whilst Miller was able to hang with Pearson standing, as the fight went on, Pearson started to dominated and really tag Miller with some good shots. Part way into the second round, though, Miller drilled Pearson with a good straight right that stunned Pearson and wobble him just a little. That was Miller’s cue to press the attack, Miller managing to drop Pearson and then quickly get a rear naked choke, Miller not even needing to secure the back of Pearson to get the tap out. This was a good little fight and Pearson was looking good for the win before Miller landed that straight right hand.

Jim Miller vs. Gleison Tibau was a fight with two entertaining rounds followed by a not-so entertaining third. It was mostly a stand-up battle with Miller getting the better of things and landing some hard blows at times and having Tibau in some trouble. Tibau was occasionally able to get Miller down, but he couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything with his position. The fight went the distance and Miller won by unanimous decision.

Efrain Escudero vs. Charles Oliveira had enough moments to keep you interested but it wasn’t anything special of a fight. The finish, though, was pretty nifty, and it came just past the two-minute mark; as Escudero scrambled up off the mat, Oliveira managed to jump and take the back of Escudero, backpack style. Oliveira then cinched in a rear naked choke as Escudero was stood up and got the tap. It was a nice looking submission that was the standout moment of a fairly unremarkable fight.

Nate Marquardt vs. Rousimar Palhares

They had a great video package leading into this fight, with Palhares talking over black-and-white clips of the early UFCs as he discussed his introduction into MMA, before quickly switching to colour video of Palhares in action.

The fight itself was really boring for the first 2:30, because neither fighter did anything; all Marquardt and Palhares did was circle each other and throw speculative punches and kicks that came nowhere close to landing. Then Palhares shot in for the leg of Marquardt and there was a bit of scramble as Marquardt tried to pull free of Palhares’ grip. Palhares ended up in the mount of Marquardt and grabbed his leg to go for his patented heel hook submission and then came the controversial ending.

Marquardt pulled his leg free from the grip of Palhares, at which point Palhares stopped fighting and gestured to the referee; Marquardt took advantage of this distraction to nail Palhares with a right hand than basically pound him out for the TKO win. It has to be said that the referee, Herb Dean, let Palhares take a bunch of punches he didn’t need to before deciding to stop the fight.

Palhares immediately started complaining to the referee about Marquardt being greased up, which Joe Rogan brings up on commentary as they talk through the finish. Palhares even appears to ask or accuses Marquardt about being greased. Joe Rogan interviews Nate Marquardt; Rogan mentions the claims of Palhares that Marquardt was greased, but Rogan says that Marquardt was checked before the fight and was cleared. Marquardt says he had worked up a good sweat before the fight because he wanted to make it difficult for Palhares to keep a grip.

Regardless, nothing came of Palhares’ claims and the victory stood. It was a good win for Marquardt and just what he needed after the loss to Chael Sonnen.

Numbers and Notes

Attendance: 7,724
Gate: $595,900
Ratings: The show drew a 0.89 rating and 1.15 million viewers. The show opened with a 0.61 quarter, with the following ratings and viewer gains for each fight; Miller vs. Pearson (0.78), Miller vs. Tibau (0.86, gaining 103,000 viewers), Escudero vs. Oliveira (0.97, gaining 142,000 viewers), and Marquardt vs. Palhares (1.22, gaining 323,000 viewers). The peak was 1.6 million viewers, during the main event. The show got a 1.2 rating among men 18-49 and a 1.1 among men 18-34.

Fight of the Night: Jared Hamman vs. Kyle Kingsbury
Knockout of the Night: Brian Foster
Submissions of the Night: Cole Miller and Charles Oliveira

[Carbomb]

I didn't know about the claim that Marquardt greased. It doesn't justify Palhares' subsequent behaviour, but all of a sudden his bad sportsmanship makes a lot of sense. Obviously, the Marquardt result made him paranoid.

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 16th)

UFC Fight Night 19: Diaz vs. Gillard (September 16th 2009)

The UFC would venture to Oklahoma City for their latest Fight Night event. Taking place at the Cox Convention Centre, formerly the Myriad Convention Centre and one of the hotbeds for Mid-South Wrestling in the 80s, UFC Fight Night 19 would be headlined by a clash between two of the UFC’s rising young lightweights. Yet, whilst they were both young, they were both still showing flashes of the kind of form that suggested potential future superstardom

Nate Diaz vs. Melvin Guillard (the build)

Nate Diaz arrived in the UFC by way of the fifth season of TUF. Diaz won all three of his preliminary matches by submission before scoring a fluke victory over Manny Gamburyan in the TUF 5 tournament final; Gamburyan had been dominating Diaz before going for a takedown in the second round and dislocating his shoulder in the process. It was an unfortunate end to the fight and it took a lot of the shine off of Diaz’s tournament win; Diaz was losing the fight until Gamburyan injured himself and it came across like Diaz had backdoored his way into the victory.

Regardless, Diaz had won TUF and he soon erased any lingering doubts over his ability with three straight decisive victories, all three coming by way of submission, with two of them scoring Diaz a Submission of the Night bonus. Diaz would then be involved in his first main event, a Fight Night showdown with Josh Neer. It was a tough fight and Diaz was pushed to the limit; for the first time in his UFC career, Diaz would be forced to go the distance. And whilst Diaz won, it was by the narrowest of margins with Diaz winning on a split-decision.

Diaz then faced defeat for the first time in the UFC with a split-decision loss to Clay Guida at UFC 94. Diaz would fall short again in his next fight, a unanimous decision loss to Joe Stevenson; it was little comfort to Diaz that he earned his third straight Fight of the Night bonus. Diaz needed a win in a big way; winner of TUF or not, too many losses would inevitably result in a fighter being cut. And for that all important win, Diaz would have to face one of the heaviest-handed fighters, not just in the lightweight division but in the whole of the UFC.

Melvin Guillard, like Diaz, had entered the UFC through TUF; Guillard had been a participant on the second season competing in the welterweight tournament. Guillard, though, would be eliminated from the tournament at the first hurdle, losing by unanimous decision to Josh Burkman. Guillard made his official UFC debut competingon the preliminary card of the final to TUF 2, where he earned a stoppage win over Marcus Davis.

Guillard would drop his next fight, a submission loss to Josh Neer, before scoring back-to-back wins over Rick Davis and Gabe Ruediger. The win over Davis featured one of the most violent knockout wins in UFC history, a finish that remains on the highlight reel to this day. Guillard stumbled in more ways than one in his next fight; not only did he lose to Joe Stevenson by submission in just 27-seconds but he also failed the post-fight drug test, Guillard testing positive for cocaine metabolites. Guillard’s next fight was against Rich Clementi at UFC 79; the two had developed a very personal rivalry in the lead-up to their fight, and after Clementi submitted Guillard in the first round, Clementi taunted Guillard during his post-fight interview and Guillard had to be held back from going after Clementi.

Taking a fight outside the UFC, Guillard returned to winning ways with a unanimous decision win over Eric Regan, before finally scoring another victory inside the UFC with a spectacularly brutal 36-second TKO win over Dennis Siver at UFC 86. Guillard would score his second consecutive win, against Gleison Tibau, although it was a close fight with Guillard winning by split-decision. Guillard now had the chance to earn his third straight victory, a first for his time in the UFC, but for Guillard to get that win he would have to face a dangerous submission artist, and as his run in the UFC had shown, Guillard was notoriously susceptible to submissions.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event would be lightweight fight between Roger Huerta and Gray Maynard. In 2007, Huerta had become the first MMA fighter to ever appear on the front cover of Sports Illustrated. Combined with his crazy life story, Huerta had been the UFC’s hope to crack the Latin American market, but it never transpired, and when Huerta began to talk of going into movies he fell out of favour with the UFC. At UFC 87, Huerta had been matched against Kenny Florian, a tough fight and one specifically designed to hand Huerta his first UFC loss. It succeeded, with Florian winning by unanimous decision and giving Huerta his first loss in the UFC and his first loss in 17 fights.

Huerta had one more fight on his contract and in no mind to do him any favours, the UFC matched him against Gray Maynard, a stifling fighter who was known for grinding out win in fights were generally not fan friendly. It seemed rather obvious that the UFC were continuing in their quest to take as much of the shine off of Huerta as they could, and Gray Maynard was just the fighter to do it.

After losing in the tournament portion of TUF 5, Maynard debuted on the live final and in one of the craziest finishes in UFC history, Maynard’s fight with Rob Emerson ended in a no-contest when Maynard knocked himself out slamming Emerson to the mat, with Emerson submitting upon impact due to suffering a rib injury. Perhaps feeling the need to make a statement, Maynard’s next fight would see him score a decisive finish, as he knocked out Joe Veres in just 9-seconds.

Maynard was undefeated in the UFC and he kept that record up with unanimous decision wins over Dennis Siver, Frankie Edgar, Rich Clementi and Jim Miller. And whilst the win over Siver was a fight of the night, Maynard’s wrestling-heavy style meant that his fights were real grinders, not necessarily bad fights but fights that typically lacked the fireworks that get fans excited. It meant that Maynard was the perfect fighter to put against a guy you were trying to cool off; however the fight went, it was unlikely to be exciting.

Carlos Condit would be looking to rebound from a split-decision loss in his UFC debut against Martin Kampmann, as he took on UFC debutant Jake Ellenberger. Prior to the Kampmann loss, Condit had won eight-in-a-row, with Condit also being the final WEC Welterweight Champion. Ellenberger, meanwhile, had won four-in-a-row and was coming off a 48-second knockout win over Marcelo Alfaya in Bellator. And opening up the main card would be one of the most popular fights to come out of the first season of TUF, Nate Quarry, as he took on Tim Credeur.

This event would also serve as a lead-in to the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights on Spike TV.

Card Changes

A fight between Josh Neer and Kurt Pellegrino that had been scheduled for this card was moved to UFC 101. Justin Buchholz replaced the injured Ronys Torres against Jeremy Stephens. Ed Herman replaced James Irvin against Wilson Gouveia but Gouviea was then injured and Herman would face Aaron Simpson. Jay Silva replaced Dan Miller against DB Dollaway. Jake Ellenberger replaced Chris Lytle. Phillipe Nover replaced Kyle Bradley against Sam Stout, but on the night of the fight, Nover suffered a seizure on the locker room and the fight was cancelled.

UFC Fight Night 19 (the preliminary card)

Ryan Jensen scored a disputable first-round submission win overSteve Steinseiss; Jensen had Steinseiss in a guillotine choke and it looked like Steinseiss was out so the referee stopped the fight. Steinseiss wasn’t out and wasn’t happy about the fight being stopped, claiming to have given the referee a thumbs up. However things played out, this was a blown call by the referee. Mike Pierce used a lot of clinching against the fence to secure the unanimous decision win over Brock Larson. Jeremy Stephens TKO’d Justin Buchholz in the first round. The end came after Buchholz took a blistering series of knees and elbows to the face and head; they opened up big cut that caused the referee to pause the action so the cageside doctor could check the cut. Buchholz responded to the pause in the action by throwing a temper tantrum. Buchholz’s mood wasn’t helped when the doctor stopped the fight due to the position and severity of the cut. CB Dollaway survived a few scares early on to grapple his way to a unanimous decision win over Jay Silva. Mike Pyle is known more for his striking than his submission game but Pyle showed that he could be dangerous with submissions, Pyle using a guillotine choke to get a tap out from Chris Wilson. And Brian Stann survived a late surge by Steve Cantwell to earn the unanimous decision victory.

UFC Fight Night 19 (the main card)

Tim Credeur vs. Nate Quarry was a heck of a scrap, a real wild and unrefined brawl with moments where Credeur and Quarry were just walking forward and throwing bombs, looking for the finish. It had some ground work and submission attempts, with Quarry dominating, but for the most part this was a pure brawl and a highly entertaining one at that. Both men got rocked and wobbled, although when Quarry suffered such a fate he managed to come right back with big punches that dropped Creduer. This fight was a really entertaining brawl and one you should try and check out.

Carlos Condit vs. Jake Ellenberger had a first round that was almost on a par with the previous fight but the second and third rounds, whilst good, were not up the first round. Overall, this was very good, very competitive fight, with the advantage going back-and-forth and the momentum changing on a moment’s notice. It was a mixture of striking and grappling and Ellenberger would generally do the better when the fight was on the ground, and things would be more competitive in the stand-up. It was close enough that it went to a split-decision and it was Condit who got the nod, a result that was not too popular with the live fans.

Roger Huerta vs. Gray Maynard had a very competitive fight, almost all stand-up for the first two rounds. Roger had the better footwork and landed more but a lot of that was because he threw more; Huerta was throwing combinations and stringing together punches, whilst Maynard was throwing single punches and the occasional one-two. The first round was close but I felt that Huerta was edging ahead of Maynard. In the second, Maynard was starting to connect a lot more and he had Huerta rocked, albeit briefly, a few times, and it was clear Maynard was hurting Huerta. The third round is when Maynard made a concerted effort to take Huerta down, and did so, with Maynard then getting a nasty looking kimura on Huerta; Maynard bent Huerta’s arm back to a ridiculous degree and the referee was getting ready to stop the fight in anticipation of Huerta tapping but Huerta didn’t tap. Maynard controlled Huerta for the remainder of the round. It went to the judges with Maynard edging the split-decision. The fight was competitive but there just wasn’t any way Huerta won either rounds two or three.

Nate Diaz vs. Melvin Guillard

The pre-fight video package was pretty good and Nate was a lot more sedate and comprehensible than he would later become. The fight itself was OK; it wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t as good or as exciting as some of the earlier fights. Guillard had the best of Diaz for almost the entire fight; he was tagging him and putting Diaz on the back foot. Diaz did manage to execute a nice hiptoss throw, and in the process, it appeared to open up a cut by Diaz’ left eye because he was bleeding from a cut soon after. It was bleeding enough that a portion of Guillard’s trunks were stained bright red. The fight ended in the second round, with Guillard lazily going for a takedown and leaving himself wide open for a modified guillotine choke from Diaz that soon had Guillard tapping.

As a fight, it was fine enough, but Guillard made you want to scream because was winning the fight without too much trouble before practically handing Diaz his neck on a silver platter.

Numbers

Attendance: 9,490
Gate: $557,997
Ratings: The average audience was 2.5 million viewers, with a peak of 2.9 million viewers during the main event.

Fight of the Night: Nate Quarry vs. Tim Credeur
Knockout of the Night: Jeremy Stephens
Submission of the Night: Nate Diaz

The following are the reported payouts to the fighters as reported to the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission;

Nate Diaz: ($48,000 includes $24,000 win bonus) def. Melvin Guillard: ($14,000)
Gray Maynard: ($24,000 includes $12,000 win bonus) def. Roger Huerta: ($21,000)
Carlos Condit: ($48,000 includes $24,000 win bonus) def. Jake Ellenberger: ($10,000)
Nate Quarry: ($60,000 includes $30,000 win bonus) def. Tim Credeur: ($10,000)
Brian Stann: ($22,000 includes $11,000 win bonus) def. Steve Cantwell: ($10,000)
Mike Pyle: ($30,000 includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Chris Wilson: ($17,000)
CB. Dollaway: ($18,000 includes $9,000 win bonus) def. Jay Silva: ($6,000)
Phillipe Nover: ($20,000) vs. Sam Stout: ($24,000)
Jeremy Stephens: ($20,000 includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Justin Bucholtz: ($8,000)
Mike Pierce: ($10,000 includes $5,000 win bonus) def. Brock Larson: ($26,000)
Ryan Jensen: ($8,000 includes $4,000 win bonus) def. Steve Steinbess: ($6,000)

Bellator 29 (September 16th 2010)

This show featured the semi-finals of Bellator’s heavyweight tournament, a tournament that would crown their first heavyweight champion. The participants had a combined record of 55-7, so you would expect some heavy-handed finishes.

Brett Cooper TKO’d Matt Major in the second round of a fight that was rather unremarkable until the finish, coming by way of ground-and-pound.  In the first heavyweight tournament semi-final, Neil Grove need just 45-seconds to TKO Alexey Oleinik, the stoppage coming after a barrage of hammerfists. Cole Konrad grappled and smothered his way to a unanimous decision win over Damien Grabowski, Konrad now set to face Neil Grove in the tournament final.

In some preliminary action that made it to air, Jameel Massouh came in at late notice and submitted Nick Mamalis in 4:27 with a guillotine choke, Ramirezknocked out  Weickhardt in 30-seconds with a nice head kick and we saw the third round of Sasa Perkic‘s unanimous-decision win over Nick Dupee.

Bellator 161: Kongo vs. Johnson (September 16th 2016)

Derek Campos vs. Djamil Chan failed to set the world on fire in their three-round main card opener, with Derek Campos winning by unanimous decision.

Veta Arteaga vs. Anastasia Yankova was a hell of an entertaining scrap, delightfully sloppy in places but that just added to its charm. Arteaga went into this fight as the underdog but you wouldn’t have known it by how the fight played out as she took the fight to Yankova and dominated the fight. This one went the distance and it actually went to a split-decision with Yankova somehow getting the nod. Yeah, that’s one straight up bullshit decision.
 
Sirwan Kakai vs. Joe Warren was Warren’s first fight since Darren Caldwell wiped the floor with him back in March. This was mostly a typical Warren fight with lots of clinching against the fence and takedowns. There was a little stand-up in the second round as well both fighters getting some submissions, especially Warren who trapped Kaka in a pair of rear naked chokes, but neither of them could get the finish. Early in the first, though, Warren stunned Kakai with a knee to the face from the clinch, and this helped set up a front choke that Warren used to get the tap.

Cheick Kongo vs. Tony Johnson had a dire first round, consisting almost entirely of one fighter pressing the other against the fence, although Kongo managed to take Johnson down and deliver some ground-and-pound towards the end of the round. The second round wasn’t much better, with Johnson taking Kongo down early on and spending the majority of the round on the back of Kongo and working for a rear naked choke, with Johnson able to mount Kongo for the final minute. The third round was equally thrilling, with Kongo pressing Johnson against the cage or holding Johnson down and doing nothing with it. Johnson won by majority decision, with scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 28-28.

Cheick Kongo consistently provides boring fights, yet he’s also one of Bellator’s most consistent draws.

Numbers

The average audience was 686,000 viewers. Add the +3 DVR ratings and the average is 758,000 viewers, with a peak of 966,000.

Next time, we talk in-depth about UFC Fight Night 15: Diaz vs. Neer, UFC Fight Night 25: Shields vs. Ellenberger, Bellator 50, and UFC Fight Night 94: Poirier vs. Johnson. We also pass comment on HERO's Middleweight Tournament FINAL 2007, and because nothing of major note happens on September 18th, we’ll be making passing comment on Pancrase 1999 Anniversary Show and WSOF 23: Gaethje vs. Palomino II.

[wandshogun09]

That Fight Night with the back-to-back Quarry vs Credeur and Condit vs Ellenberger fights was brilliant. Absolutely loved both those fights. Quarry vs Credeur is one of the best forgotten fights in MMA history for me. Just craziness from start to finish. It wasn't like either of them were particularly known for having great fights either, it's like they were both possessed that night. Or they'd been sitting watching Frye vs Takayama on a loop all day. 

[Egg Shen]

we need a best forgotten fights thread

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 17th)

UFC Fight Night 15: Diaz vs. Neer (September 17th 2008)

This Fight Night would be the UFC’s debut in Nebraska, taking place at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. It would be headlined by a fight between a TUF tournament winner and a fighter looking to ensure his second proper UFC stint was an improvement on his first.

Nate Diaz vs. Josh Neer (the build)

Nate Diaz, the brother of Nick Diaz, came to the UFC through TUF, competing on the fifth season of the show. Nate won three tournament fights, all by submission to make it to the finals, where Diaz, after being dominated by Manny Gamburyan, scored a fluke victory when Gamburyan dislocated his shoulder when executing a takedown. It wasn’t the most decisive of victories but however it had been achieved Nate Diaz was the winner of TUF 5. Perhaps feeling the need to establish himself properly, Nate’s next first fight after winning TUF saw him score a first-round submission win over Junior Assunção, Nate followed up on that with another first-round submission win, this time over Alvin Robinson by way of a triangle choke.

Nate had to work a little harder for his next victory, his fourth in a row, as this fight went to the second round, but the wait was worth it as Nate defeated Kurt Pellegrino with a triangle choke that Nate secured as he was being slammed down to the mat. Nate added a little panache to the move by flipping a double bird and doing a double bicep pose. Nate Diaz had now won four fights straight, with three submission victories in a row, and for his next fight, Nate would be facing someone who was already familiar with the Diaz family.

Josh Neer’s first stint in the UFC was a one-and-done affair, a first-round submission loss to Drew Fickett on the undercard of the first ever UFC Fight Night. Neer returned to the UFC for a full fledged stint early the next year, scoring a submission win over Melvin Guillard and a unanimous decision win over Joe Stevenson. Neer seemed primed for a serious run in the welterweight division but back-to-back losses to Josh Burkman and Nick Diaz saw Neer’s UFC run come to end.

Outside the UFC, Neer scored four TKO wins in-a-row before being knocked out in less than a minute in the ill-fated IFL. Yet back-to-back wins in his next two fights saw Neer once again rejoin the UFC, and his return fight was a successful one as he defeated Din Thomas by unanimous decision in what was Neer’s debut at lightweight. With three straight victories, Neer was given the opportunity to headlined his first event, the UFC’s first show in Nebraska, and it would give Neer a chance to somewhat avenge his prior loss to Nick Diaz as he would be taking on Nick’s younger brother, Nate.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event was another lightweight fight, this one between Mac Danzig and Clay Guida. Danzig had earned his way into the UFC by winning season six of TUF, Danzig beating Tommy Speer in the tournament final. What made Danzig’s TUF run even more impressive was that all of victories were first-round submission wins. Mac then tapped out Mark Bocek in the third round to put himself in line for one of the lightweight division’s more popular fighters. Clay Guida was known as much for his wild hair as his frenetic fight pace, a pace that few were able to keep up with. Guida was 3-3 in the UFC so far but his style of fighting had made him a winner with the fans; win or lose, the fans knew Guida would put in a shift. And Guida would have to put in a hard shift if he was going to take down and defeat the submission-minded Mac Danzig.

Alan Belcher, 3-3 and coming off a loss that snapped a two-fight win streak would face Ed Herman. Herman’s last fight had also seen a winning run come to an end, Herman having won three-in-a-row before being tapped out by Demian Maia. And opening up the card would be Omaha’s own Houston Alexander as he faced Eric Schafer. Alexander had been red-hot coming off explosive wins over Keith Jardine and Alessio Sakara, but a one-sided loss to Thiago Silva and an eight-second knockout at the hands of James Irvin had curtailed whatever momentum and heat Alexander had, and one more loss could very well see his UFC stint come to an end. Eric Schafer was no walkover, though, coming into the fight with a 10-3-2 record.

This show would also be the lead-in to the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir on Spike TV.

Card Changes

Ryan Jensen replaced an injured Jeremy Horn against Wilson Gouveia.

UFC Fight Night 15 (the preliminary fights)

Dan Miler submitted Rob Kimmons in 1:27 with a rear naked choke, Miller literally jumping on the back of Kimmons to take control of him and began working for the choke. Mike Massenzio needed just 1:28 to submit Drew McFedries with a kimura. Jason Brilz completely dominated Brad Morris en route to a second round TKO victory. Joe Lauzon TKO’d Kyle Bradley in the second round, with Lauzon showing flashes of his future brilliance. Wilson Gouveia survived a first-round domination to tap out Ryan Jensen in 2:04 of the second round. Alessio Sakara dropped his hands to set up the head kick that knocked out Joe Vedepo in just 1:27, with Vedeop doing the delayed reaction fall.

UFC Fight Night 15 (the main card)

Houston Alexander vs. Erik Schafer had the crowd red-hot from the beginning due to Alexander calling Omaha home. For the majority of the first round, the crowd stayed hot as Alexander was lighting Schafer up in the stand-up, landing hard punches, knees from clinches and really making Schafer pay for trying to take him down. But when Schafer finally did take Alexander down, it was game over because Alexander has absolutely nothing on the ground. Schafer effortlessly passed the guard of Alexander and took the mount and began laying into Alexander, going for the TKO win. Alexander was taking a lot of shots and whilst most of them weren’t landing flush, he momentarily gave up his back before Schafer went for the kill with an arm triangle and Alexander submitted at 4:53. It wasn’t a popular result but Alexander is completely one-dimensional and has nothing to offer once the fight hits the ground, which is a shame, because Alexander had the charisma and personality to be a real star.

Alan Belcher vs. Ed Herman was a pretty entertaining fight; nothing mindblowing but still a good competitive contest that was full of plenty of back-and-forth moments. It was mostly stand-up with Belcher doing everything he could to stop Herman from taking down whenever he tried to do so. They touted Belcher’s Thai training throughout this one and his trunks looked like those you see in Muay Thai fighting. It went the distance and all three rounds were fairly close; I thought Herman had done enough to win at least two of three rounds but the judges gave it to Belcher on three scores of 29-28. The result was heavily booed and probably rightfully so.

Mac Danzig vs. Clay Guida wasn’t particular engaging and I was more interested in the fact that the majority of Mike Goldberg’s commentary had been overdubbed, and at times it was clear that it had actually been overdubbed on two separate occasions. It was a typical Clay Guida fight with lots of pace and movement and action, but very little was actually done with that pace and movement and action. The fight went the distance and Guida won by unanimous decision. For some strange reason, Bruce Buffer read the scores in reverse; that is he read them out as 27-30, etc.

Nate Diaz vs. Josh Neer

This is our main event of the evening brought to you by….some sponsor that nobody gives a crap about.

This was a really good fight, fought at a constant pace of action with no slow moments or downtime throughout the entire duration. It was mostly a grappling and submission battle, with the majority of the striking coming from Nate in the form of barrages of punches whose damage comes in their volume rather than in their power. The first round was really close as both Nate and Josh enjoyed the advantage; Josh even got a D’Arce choke on Nate within the first half-minute of the fight. It was tough to separate the two and whilst I gave the round to Nate, and only just, it was definitely a round that could have gone either way.

Rounds two and three were equally competitive, both Nate and Josh pushing each other hard. Both fighters had their moments, including Nate sending Josh flying with a judo-type throw. But Josh was the more aggressive, more the one pushing the pace and the action, and the one dictating the fight. I had the fight 29-28, with the first round too close to call but rounds two and three pretty clearly for Josh, even if they weren’t decisively so.

However, the judges saw it differently as Nate Diaz takes a split-decision win 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29. It was a very competitive fight, and the first round was tight, but rounds two and three were clearly won by Josh, and I can only surmise that some of Nate’s flashier offence was enough to sway the judges.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 7,000
Gate: $675,000
Ratings: The show drew a 1.36 rating and 1.8 million viewers. The show peaked for the Diaz vs. Neer fight, hitting a 1.74 rating and 2.3 million viewers. Alexander vs. Schafer gained 199,000 viewers, Belcher vs. Herman gained 119,000 viewers, Danzig vs. Guida 424,000 viewers, and Diaz vs. Neer gained 318,000 viewers.

Nate Diaz: $40,000 ($20,000 to show, $20,000 to win) def. Josh Neer: $9,000
Clay Guida: $26,000 ($13,000 to show, $13,000 to win) def. Mac Danzig: $15,000
Alan Belcher: $26,000 ($13,000 to show, $13,000 to win) def. Ed Herman: $16,000
Eric Schafer: $12,000 ($6,000 to show, $6,000 to win) def. Houston Alexander: $13,000
Alessio Sakara: $34,000 ($17,000 to show, $17,000 to win) def. Joe Vedepo: $3,000
Wilson Gouveia: $36,000 ($18,000 to show, $18,000 to win) def. Ryan Jensen: $4,000
Joe Lauzon: $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win) def. Kyle Bradley: $4,000
Jason Brilz: $6,000 ($3,000 to show, $3,000 to win) def. Brad Morris: $4,000
Mike Massenzio: $6,000 ($3,000 to show, $3,000 to win) def. Drew McFedries: $16,000
Dan Miller: $10,000 ($5,000 to show, $5,000 to win) def. Rob Kimmons: $5,000

UFC Fight Night 25: Shields vs. Ellenberger (September 17th 2011)

This was the UFC’s seventh event in Louisiana and their first since UFC 37 back in 2002. It would be headlined by a fighter coming off an unsuccessful challenge of the greatest welterweight champion of all time, and he would be facing an opponent who was looking for the chance to mount his own challenge of the divisional kingpin.

Jake Shields vs. Jake Ellenberger (the build)

Jake Shields came into the UFC on a 13-fight win streak, a streak that included wins over Yushin Okami and Carlos Condit on the same night, a submission win over Robbie Lawler, and a victory over Dan Henderson in Shields’ last fight with Strikeforce, as their middleweight champion. Shields’ UFC debut saw him move down to welterweight and get lined up for UFC’s Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, with Shields first fight being against Martin Kampmann in a title eliminator. It wasn’t the best of fights and Shields only just made it past Kampmann, with Shields winning on a split-decision. But it was enough for Shields to get his shot at GSP and the welterweight championship.

The hype for GSP vs. Shields was strong; it included one of the best promotional videos the UFC had ever put together, with much made of Shields incredible six-year undefeated streak and his wins over the likes of Condit, Henderson, Lawler, and Okami. But at UFC 129, Shields, whilst becoming the first fighter in four years to take a round off the champion, would, like many others, fall at the hands of the dominant Georges St. Pierre.

Shields was down but not out and his next fight inside the cage would see him face one of the most dangerous rising contenders in the division, Jake Ellenberger. Yet Shields would also face hardship outside the cage. On August 29th, just 19 days before his fight with Ellenberger, Shields father and manager, Jack Shields, passed away. It was a devastating blow for Shields who was very close to his father. Many people would have withdrawn from a fight scheduled for less than three weeks later and understandably so. But Jake decided to go ahead with the fight, believing it was what his father would have wanted. It was a testament to the mental fortitude of Shields and he would need every bit of fortitude he had, mental or otherwise to make it past ‘The Juggernaut’.

Jake Ellenberger entered the UFC with a 21-4 record and on a four-fight win streak. Ellenberger’s UFC debut saw him face former WEC Welterweight Champion, the last welterweight champion for the WEC, Carlos Condit. It was a close fight, one that went the distance and that many felt Ellenberger had done enough to win. But Condit would take the victory by split-decision. Undeterred, Ellenberger put together another run of four straight victories, with three coming by way of stoppage. It was a run that shot Ellenberger up the rankings and put him in line for a fight against Jake Shields, Shields coming off an unsuccessful challenge for the UFC Welterweight Championship at UFC 129.

It was a big fight, the biggest of Ellenberger’s career so far. A win over a fighter like Shields could put Ellenberger in the mix for a contenders fight, if not a title fight outright. It would be a tough ask for Ellenberger. Prior to the GSP loss, Shields had been unbeaten in six-years. But it was an obstacle that Ellenberger would have to overcome if he wanted to get closer to the title fight that had so far eluded ‘The Juggernaut’.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event of the evening was, from a marketing perspective a weird one, as TUF 11 Tournament Winner Court McGee faced Yang Dongi, a relatively unknown and unheralded competitor, who was 1-1 in the UFC. Whilst it was understandable to put a TUF winner in the co-main event of a Fight Night card, it was rather strange to give him an opponent who was virtually unknown and who would mean very little, if anything in the way of fan interest, thereby giving any potential victory almost no meaning.

Also on the card was another TUF winner, as Jonathan Brookins, who had won TUF 12 as a lightweight, moved back down to featherweight to face Erik Koch, with Koch coming into the fight on a three-fight win streak and whose last two fights had earned him back-to-back Knockout of the Night bonuses. Opening up the main card would be Alan Belcher vs. Jason MacDonald, in what would be Belcher’s first fight in almost 18-months, with Belcher having been sidelined due to injuries and emergency surgery to his eyes.

This event was the last UFC Fight Night to air on Spike TV and the last ‘Fight Night’ until the debut of Fox Sports 1. In addition, the entire preliminary card was streamed on Facebook.

Card Changes

Robbie Peralta replaced Mackens Semerzier against Mike Lullo, Seth Baczynski replaced DaMarques Johnson against Harvison, and Mike Stumpf replaced Daniel Roberts against TJ Waldburger, with all three changes coming about due to injuries.

UFC Fight Night 25 (the preliminary fights)

Justin Edwards dominated the first two rounds but had to survive a tough third round against Jorge Lopez to win by unanimous decision. Robbie Peralta survived a stifling attack from Mike Lullo to take the unanimous decision victory. TJ Waldburger submitted Mike Stumpf with a triangle in a fairly entertaining 3:52. Seth Baczynski dropped Clay Harvison with an uppercut early in the second round before tapping him out with a rear naked choke. Ken Stone quickly muscled Donny Walker to the mat and then choked him out in a totally one-sided fight. Lance Benoist somehow got the unanimous decision win over Matt Riddle, despite being dominated in the second and third rounds. Evan Dunham survived a rough first round to fight his way to a unanimous decision win over Shamar Bailey. In what turned into a battle of submissions, Wanger Rocha submitted Cody McKenzie with a rear naked choke in the second round.

UFC Fight Night 25 (the main card)

Alan Belcher vs. Jason MacDonald saw MacDonald pull guard after an extended period of pressing Belcher against the fence produced no results. Despite Joe Rogan touting MacDonald’s guard, the move did him no favours as he couldn’t get anything in the way of submissions and he also found himself getting pounded on by Belcher. MacDonald couldn’t fully shift Belcher off of him, Belcher moving to side-control and then resuming pounding on Belcher and after Belcher turtled up, he didn’t take many more punches before the referee stepped in to stop the fight at 3:48 of the first round. When the result is announced, we found out that MacDonald had verbally submitted. Belcher was coming back after over a year out of action due to injuries and he looked like he hadn’t lost a step.

Jonathon Brookins vs. Erik Koch wasn’t the most engaging of fights, primarily because Brookins controlled the action and his strategy was to keep Koch pressed against the fence, occasionally working him over but generally just holding him there. There were occasional flurries of action but for the most part the fight was Brookins keeping Koch pressed against the fence. The fight went the distance and Koch got the unanimous decision victory. It was a boring strategy from Brookins but he should have got the nod on this one.

Court McGee vs. Yang Dongi was another boring fight until part way into third round when things kicked up a notch after Yang clipped and dropped McGee with a left hook. McGee was soon getting back up to his feet but Yang looked to press his advantage. They continued to exchange punches as the round went on and McGee bloodied up Yang in the process. McGee began to push forward now but Yang was making a fight of it, although McGee was able to throw Yang down late on, get the mount and trap Yang in a guillotine choke as the round came to an end. There really wasn’t anything to the fight outside of the third round so it could have gone either way. The decision went with Court who got the unanimous decision victory.

Jake Shields vs. Jake Ellenberger

The pre-fight video was pretty good, with Shields talking about getting the phone call informing him that his father had died, and Ellenberger very complementary of Shields’ decision to fight but that he wouldn’t let what happened to Shields stop him from trying to win the fight.

The fight started off innocently enough, with Ellenberger bearhugging Shields and throwing him to the mat, Shields then quickly getting back up. Shields tried to take Ellenberger down but couldn’t get Ellenberger off his feet. A few moments later, Ellenberger grabbed Shields in the Muay-Thai clinch and after kneeing Shields in the chest, brought Shields’ head down and kneed him in the jaw, dropping Shields. Shields had one arm around the leg of Ellenberger as Ellenberger unloaded on Shields with piston-like left hands and it didn’t take too many unanswered punches for the referee to step in and bring a halt to the fight in just 53-seconds.

As Ellenberger celebrates, Shields is trying to take down the referee and it takes a few moments for Shields to realize what’s going on and that the fight is over. It’s Ellenberger’s fifth straight victory, the biggest win of his career, and Ellenberger becomes the first fighter to finish Jake Shields in over 11 years.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 7,112
Gate: $685,000
Ratings: The show drew a 1.2 rating and 1.8 million viewers. The peak was 1.95 million viewers during the Brookins vs. Koch fight. McGee vs. Yang did 1.93 million viewers. The main event did 1.90 million viewers.

Bellator 50 (September 17th 2011)

This show featured the four first-round fights in Bellator’s middleweight tournament, with the winner earning themselves a shot at Bellator’s Middleweight Championship, held at the time by Hector Lombard.

Sam Alvey vs. Vitor Vianna kicked off the middleweight tournament, and they had a pretty mediocre fight that never got going and had no real highlights to speak of. Alvey got the better of the striking while Vianna got the better of the grappling and clinching, although outside of a rear naked choke at the end of the second round, he couldn’t do much with it. It went the distance and Vitor won by split-decision.

Zelg Galesic vs. Alexander Shlemenko was our next tournament fight; it opened with Galesic quickly going for a headlock takedown but he couldn’t execute it properly and Shlemenko easily fended it off. Not long after, Shlemenko clinched with Galesic and pressed him against the fence; a knee to the stomach set up a front guillotine and Galesic struggled for a few moments before tapping out in just 1:55.

Victor O’Donnell vs. Brian Rogers continued the middleweight tournament with another short and scrappy fight. O’Donnell just couldn’t counter the power and strength of Rogers; Rogers dropped O’Donnell with a head kick follow by a punch just under two-minutes in, Rogers following up with ground-and-pound to get the stoppage victory at 1:56. O’Donnell was outraged over the stoppage, vehemently protesting it and kicking up a huge fuss. They showed a replay and it definitely looked like the referee jumped the gun on stopping the fight.

In between fights, Jimmy Smith hosts a video segment where the Bellator ring girls demonstrate the Peruvian Necktie. They then promote next week’s bantamweight tournament quarterfinals. Of note is that Joe Warren, Bellator’s Featherweight Champion, is moving down a weight class to take part in the tournament.

Ailton Barbosa vs. Ryan Keenan was a ‘feature fight’, thrown on the air because of the previous two fights being very short. It was fun while it lasted. Barbosa went for a takedown, which was stuffed, but Barbosa immediately pulled guard. Barbosa then slithered around Keenan to get his back, then getting both hooks in; Barbosa kept a firm grip of Keenan as he worked his way into a rear naked choke to get the submission in 1:55.

Brian Baker vs. Jared Hess was our main event and final middleweight tournament fight. The first round was really hot, with Hess powering his way into taking the back of Baker and sinking in a rear naked choke; it looked tight but Baker managed to not just hold on, but escape the grip of Hess. Late in the round, Baker trapped Hess in a D’Arce choke, but Hess managed to survive and see the round out. The announcers felt that Hess was tired near the end of the first round. The second round was similar to the first in that it was based around submissions, but Baker was more dominant this time out and it looked like Hess was tiring as he was a lot slower. The third round would seem to show that was true because Baker soon had control of Hess, Baker then taking his back and never letting go. A rear naked choke couldn’t force a submission, so Baker settled for pounding on Hess until the referee stopped the fight at 2:52 of the third round.

Numbers

Ratings: The show drew 114,000 viewers.

UFC Fight Night 94: Poirier vs. Johnson (September 17th 2016)

This would be the UFC’s 12th show in Texas but their first time in Hidalgo. The main event would be a lightweight clash between two fighters on two very different career paths; one was surging closer to a possible title fight, whilst the other was making the slow fall towards irrelevancy.

Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Johnson (the build)

Dustin Poirier had had two strong runs at featherweight. The first had come to a halt at the hands of the ‘Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung in a Fight of the Year candidate, whilst the other had ended the hands of the UFC’s biggest superstar, Conor McGregor. Looking for a change, Poirier moved back up to lightweight, the weight class he had originally started out in. Poirier enjoyed immediate success, reeling off four straight victories including three first-round finishes.

Poirier had found his new home and was fast rising up the ladder of the UFC’s most stacked division. But to keep that run going and start breaking out of the pack, Poirier would have to face a fighter who was one of the divisions most dangerous and who had wins over some top-level opponents, but whose biggest battle had been against inconsistency.

Michael ‘The Menace’ Johnson had entered the UFC through TUF 12 as part of Team GSP. Johnson made it through to the tournament final where he lost to fellow Team GSP member Jonathan Brookins. Johnson went 4-3 in his next seven fights, including a win over future top contender Tony Ferguson, but a two-fight skid on the end of that run meant that Johnson was the big underdog when he faced Joe Lauzon on the UFC’s first show on Fox Sports 1. Johnson surprised everyone with a dominant performance over the hometown favourite, Johnson taking the victory by unanimous decision.

Johnson won his next three fights, with that third win being a unanimous decision victory over the dangerous striker Edson Barboza. It seemed like Johnson was starting to make his mark in the lightweight division. But inconsistency continued to plague Johnson and he dropped back-to-back fights, one of which was especially bitter, a split-decision loss to Beneil Dariush in a fight where it seemed like the only people who thought Dariush had won were the judges.

So when he was matched up against the red-hot Dustin Poirier, it was felt that this could be make-or-break for Johnson. Another loss would end whatever faint hopes Johnson had of ever getting a title shot, and the stacked nature of the lightweight division meant that anyone on a losing run had a real chance at being released in order to make way for new blood. It was a fight Johnson had to win in order to stay relevant, and perhaps stay employed, but it wouldn’t be easy as Dustin Poirier was on a tremendous run of form and was looking absolutely sensational.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event would be a top middleweight fight between Derek Brunson and Uriah Hall. Brunson had won four straight but his last three wins had all been first-round knockouts, making Brunson one of the hottest rising fighters in the middleweight division. Hall was considered to be a future superstar coming off a string of incredible knockout wins en route to the TUF 17 final, but a lacklustre showing against Kelvin Gastelum in the TUF 17 final and then an equally flat showing against John Howard had taken most of the steam off of Hall that he’d gained from TUF.

Coupled with generally lacklustre performances, outside of a remarkably memorable knockout of Gegard Mousasi, that failed to show the explosiveness of his TUF fights and Hall was fast turning into case of ‘what could have been’, and a fight with Brunson was felt to be a case of ‘sink or swim’ for Hall; matched up against a fellow striker with knockout power, Hall would either rise to the occasion and show the potential that everyone knew he had, or he’d fall victim to the kind of knockout that he himself had once handed out with devastating regularity.

Elsewhere on the main card, Evan Dunham would face Abel Trujillo, Roan Carneiro was making the move down to welterweight, having previously competed at middleweight, to fight Kenny Robertson, Islam Makhachev would be up against Chris Wade, and opening up the main card would be Maximo Blanco facing the scrappy and dangerous Chas Skelly.

Card Changes

Manvel Gamburyan was scheduled to face Alejandro Pérez at the event. However, Gamburyan pulled out of the fight in mid-August for undisclosed personal reasons and was replaced by Albert Morales. Abel Trujillo pulled out of his fight against Evan Dunham citing injury, his place taken by UFC newcomer and former WSOF Featherweight Champion Rick Glenn, who was moving up a weight class.

UFC Fight Night 94 (the preliminary fights)

Albert Morales went to a majority draw with Alejandro Perez in a fight where Perez cost himself the victory. At the end of the second round, Morales hit Perez at the bell and Perez, perhaps out of frustration took a swing at Morales after the bell had gone off. Right before the third round was to begin, the referee, Kerry Hatley, took Perez to the middle of the cage and announced he was taking a point from Perez due to his actions. Brian Stann took issue with Hatley waiting so long before taking the point off, Stann feeling it should have been done before Perez had gone back to his corner. Hatley made another big mistake when Morales hit a running knee to Perez as Perez was on his knees; this was a blatantly illegal move yet Hatley did nothing about it. Hatley has long been a terrible referee, one of the very worst in the sport and it is nights like this that show you why. The lost point would cost Perez the fight as it ended up a majority draw with scores of 29-27, 28-28 and 28-28; had Perez not been deducted the point, then he would have won by unanimous decision.

Randy Brown came back from a tough second round to submit Eric Montano in 18-seconds of the third round with a modified guillotine choke. José Quiñónez beat Joey Gomez by unanimous decision in a fight where Quiñónez took a few hard shots but handed out more than he received, including a great looking knee in the clinch. Antonio Carlos Junior submitted Leonardo Augusto Leleco in the third round, with Junior getting a point deducted in the first round for landing a knee to a grounded opponent; Leleco was standing and had his hand on the ground. Brian Stann made a point to mention that the knee may not have been illegal and how the fact the illegal knees went without caution earlier in the night may have had the referee a little eager to deduct points, because they were mindful that the rules hadn’t been properly been enforced in previous fights. Belal Muhammad survived a low blow and a blatant thumb to the eye in the first round to TKO Augusto Montano in the third. And Gabriel Benitez choked out Sam Sicilia with a guillotine choke at 1:20 of the second round.

UFC Fight Night 94 (the main card)

Maximo Blanco vs. Chas Skelly was a crazy fight for as long as it lasted. The bell rang and Skelly charged across the ring to hit Blanco with a leaping front kick, Blanco firing back with front kick of his own at the same time. They scrambled and Skelly grabbed a guillotine before transitioning into a D’Arce choke and Blanco was quickly unconscious and the opening fight of the main card was over and done with in just 19-seconds. It was the fastest submission in WEC/UFC featherweight history.

Islam Makhachev vs. Chris Wade was a pretty good grappling contest for the first two rounds, lots of movement and positional control, as well as some submission attempts. It wasn’t the kind of fight that would appeal to lot of fans but it was very interesting to watch. Things slowed down a lot in the third round and the fans were quick to register their displeasure, and the fight really had become boring so I can’t blame them. It went the distance and Makhachev won the unanimous decision on scores of 29-28 across the board.

Rain Carneiro vs. Kenny Robertson was an exceedingly dull fight that was bereft of excitement and interest. It went a tedious 15:00 and Rain Carneiro won by split-decision.

Evan Dunham vs. Rick Glenn was a decent fight although the only real highlight occurred in the first round when Dunham had Glenn in a tight rear naked choke but Glenn somehow managed to defend enough to eventually work his way out of the hold. Other than that, though, there were few highlights in what was a pretty one-sided fight, with Dunham outworking Glenn for the entire fight and easily getting the unanimous decision win.

Derek Brunson vs. Uriah Hall saw the battle of the heavy hitting strikers end in disappointing and somewhat controversial fashion in the first round. Not much happened before Brunson dropped Hall with a left hook, Brunson pouncing with some ground and pound as Hall appears to hold his arms out in defence and the referee, Herb Dean, moves right in to stop the fight. Hall immediately gets to his feet and protests the stoppage, and the fans are unhappy and they boo every replay of the finish, and it looks like an early stoppage. As Brian Stann noted on commentary, the way Hall fell is going to put referees on edge in regards to stopping the fight and while Hall was holding out his arms, he wasn’t putting his hands up or really covering up, so I can see why the referee, after that first punch, would have been inclined to step in. It was an early stoppage but understandable given the perspective of the referee.

Dustin Poirier vs. Michael Johnson

The pre-fight video is a good one, especially in contrasting how Poirier is getting close to a title shot with having won four-in-a row, while Johnson needs a victory after having lost his last two fights.  There is clearly bad blood between the two and there is no touch of the gloves at the start of the fight.

The fight started off nicely, Poirier and Johnson both throwing some hard and heavy hands, each man landing a few shots but enough to do any real damage. Then, at the 1:30 mark on the nose, Johnson drills Poirier with a left hook that drops Poirier had has him stunned; Johnson follows up with a few wild punches, windmilling Poirier before the referee steps in to stop the fight and somehow manages to lose a shoe in the process.

The fans go crazy; “The ‘Menace’ is back”, exclaims John Anik as Michael Johnson halts his losing run and puts himself firmly back in the win column and among the pack of potential contenders. Johnson celebrates with his corner and then, showing that the bad blood is still there, goes and gloats over the still-fallen Poirier before being ushered away by an official.

It was the big win that Johnson needed as Dustin Poirier’s scorching run to the top of the lightweight division comes to a crashing halt.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 5,624
Gate: $323,419
Ratings: The main card drew 826,000 viewers, peaking at 905,000 viewers for the Evan Dunham vs. Rick Glenn fight. The preliminary card drew 637,000 viewers.

Fight of the Night: Evan Dunham vs. Rick Glenn
Performance of the Night: Michael Johnson and Chas Skelly

Other Notes for September 17th

HERO's Middleweight Tournament FINAL 2007 (September 17th 2009)

This was from K-1’s HERO’s promotion and featured the semi-finals and finals of their Middleweight Grand Prix, as well as fights involving Alistair Overeem, Norifumi Yamamoto, and the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba. The Grand Prix semi-finals featured Andre Dida getting a two-round unanimous decision win over Caol Uno, and JZ Calvan (Gesias Cavalcante) scoring a 35-second knockout over Vitor Ribeiro. The Grand Prix final saw Calvan submit Dida in 4:48.

Prior to the tournament final, which was the main event, fights of note saw Ikuhisa Minowa TKO Kevin Casey, Sergei Kharitonov TKO’d Alistair Overeem, and PRIDE legend Kazushi Sakuraba defeated former and future pro-wrestling star Katsuyori Shibata.

Other Notes for September 18th

Pancrase 1999 Anniversary Show (September 18th 1999)

In results of note on this event; Masakatsu Funaki beat Tony Petarra by submission due to punches in 1:16. It was pretty obvious this fight was designed to give Funaki an easy win; it was only Petarra’s fourth fight and the guy had absolutely nothing. The main event saw Yuki Kondo retain the Pancrase Openweight Championship against Kiuma Kunioku in 34-seconds. Kondo flattened Kunioku with a flying knee and then followed up with palm thrusts; as they were in the ropes, the referee ordered a break in the action, but when Kunioku got back to his feet, the referee saw that Kunioku was out of it and he stopped the fight.

WSOF 23: Gaethje vs. Palomino II (September 18th 2015)

At WSOF 19, Justin Gaethje defended the WSOF Lightweight Championship against Luis Palomino. It was probably the greatest fight in WSOF history; certainly, no other WSOF fight springs to mind to warrant consideration for that title. The first fight was an absolutely awesome brawl from start-to-finish, a complete and total war. On that night, Gaethje came out the winner but the fight was so good that WSOF booked an immediate rematch between the two.

The sequel wasn’t quite as good as the original but it wasn’t because they didn’t try. The rematch would probably best be described as the first fight but a few steps slower; it was still a brawl, just not a brawl contested at the pace and at the level of recklessness as the first fight was. The other main difference was that in this fight, Palomino was much more dominant and he had Gaethje in trouble a number of times. In any event, the sequel is still worth a watch.

 

[Carbomb]

Always a great write-up, as usual. Bit of a typo, though - the Mac Danzig/Clay Guida fight, you've written "Gray Maynard" instead of "Clay Guida".

[wandshogun09]

Josh Neer is one of those guys that gets forgotten but he was nearly always good for a fun scrap. I remember that fight with Nate Diaz being excellent. He had a corker with Nick Diaz a few years earlier as well. And off the top of my head he had some good rucks with Mac Danzig and Court McGee as well. 

[Noah Southworth]

On This Day in MMA History (September 19th)

UFC Fight Night 11: Thomas vs. Florian (September 19th 2007)

The original main event to this show was going to be a rematch between Chris Leben and Mick Swick; the two had first fought at WEC 9, with Leben winning by knockout to become the first WEC Middleweight Champion. Leben allegedly turned down the rematch; Leben would later claim that his managers turned down the fight without his knowledge. The main event was then set to be Din Thomas taking on Spencer Fisher, but Fisher withdrew from the fight citing injury and his place was taken by Kenny Florian.

Din Thomas vs. Kenny Florian (the build)

Din Thomas was an experienced fighter heading into his showdown with Kenny Florian. Sporting a 23-6 record, Thomas had previously scored submission wins over Jens Pulver and Jeremy Stephens, as well as faced the likes of BJ Pen and Matt Serra, whom Thomas defeated at UFC 41. Thomas was considered a big test for Florian, who was 7-3 coming into his second main event in the UFC. Yet Florian did have big fight experience; he had made it to the TUF 1 Middleweight Tournament final before dropping down to lightweight, where Florian was chosen as one of the fighters to fight it out for the then-vacant UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 64. Florian lost that fight, to Sean Sherk, but he’d rebounded with back-to-back finishes and was now poised to once again try and prove that he belonged among the elite in the UFC’s lightweight division.

The Rest of the Main Card

Mike Swick was to remain on the main card, facing Jonathan Goulet, but Swick was forced out of the fight due to injury and was replaced by Dustin Hazelett. Chris Leben did remain on the main card and he would be facing Terry Martin. Nate Quarry returned to action for the first time in nearly two-years, Quarry put on the shelf due to injury, and he would take on the heavy-handed Pete Sell. This would be a rematch, with the two having first fought at on the first ever Fight Night card back in 2006. On that occasion, the fight lasted just 42-seconds with what many felt was a premature stoppage. It was hoped that the rematch would end more conclusively.

Because of recent events, an interesting trivia note is that OJ Simpson’s people wanted tickets for this show, but George Maloof Jr., part owner of the Palms Casino Resort, where this show was taking place, banned OJ from the casino. This show took place just days after the robbery that Simpson took part in saw him jailed, with Simpson recently being freed on parole.

UFC Fight Night 11 (the preliminary fights)

Gray Maynard needed just 9-seconds to get the knockout over Joe Veres, a three-time Division II All-American. Luke Cummo TKO’d Edilberto de Oliveira in 1:45, and the finish played out a little weird because after Cummo hit de Oliveira with the first punch that set up the finish, de Oliveira looked around like he was looking to his corner, as if he didn’t know what to do after he’d been hit. Cummo soon solved that problem, though, to get the finish. Cole Miller had a fairly comfortable unanimous decision win over Leonard Garcia. Thiago Alves dismantled Kuniyoshi Hironaka on his way to a 4:04 victory in the second round. Dustin ‘Screech’ Hazelett tapped out Jonathan Goulet with an armbar in 1:14.

UFC Fight Night 11 (the main card)

Nate Quarry vs. Pete Sell was a really good scrap. Sell landed a right hand almost immediately that clearly stunned Quarry but it was momentary enough that Sell didn’t pick up on it and failed to capitalize. This was a pure slugfest and Sell was landing the heavy shots for the first two rounds. Sell rocked Quarry again later in the first round but Quarry kept going. In the second round, Sell dropped Quarry and whilst Quarry was quickly back up to his feet, it was all Pete Sell in the fight so far. Then, just over thirty seconds into round three, in a fight where Quarry was undoubtedly down two rounds on the scorecards, Quarry clipped Sell in the jaw with a right hand and knocked him silly. The referee didn’t immediately step in and Quarry was able to land one more good shot to finally get the stoppage. This was a very entertaining fight and a real come-from-behind win for Quarry.

Junior Assuncao vs. Nate Diaz was a really good grappling battle, with lots of positional advancement, reversals into counters, and all sorts of other neat ground work that made this great fun to watch. The only downside is that we only got one round of this goodness; their only real striking exchange ended with Diaz flooring Assuncao with a left hook and then sinking in a guillotine choke. Assuncao tried to roll out of it and reverse it, and for a moment it looked like he had succeed, but Diaz had the hold on too tight and Assuncao was forced to tap. If you’re not a fan of grappling but want to test the waters with a shorty but a goody, watch this fight.

Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin wasn’t particularly good outside of the finish; apart from the finish, the only moments of interest were Leben losing a point for fence grabbing in the first round and Leben getting a triangle choke on Martin towards the end of the second round. Things picked up a little in the third round with Martin starting to press the fight a little and having Leben backing up; with just over a minute to go, Martin rocked Leben with a big right hand, staggering him a little, but Leben came back, they started swinging, and Leben knocked Martin down and out with a big left hook. Finish aside this wasn’t a very good fight.

Din Thomas vs. Kenny Florian

The main event of the evening was preceded by a good pre-fight video package that got across the motivations of both Thomas and Florian. However, the fight didn’t live up to the video package, primarily because it came to an unfortunate end late in the first round; Thomas went for a big takedown attempt and in the process he blew out his left knee. This left Thomas virtually defenceless as Florian was all over him going for the stoppage before getting a rear naked choke for the submission finish. Before then, and outside of an inadvertent lowlbow requiring a timeout, the fight looked like it had the potential to develop into something really good.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 3,000
Gate: $270,000
Rating: 1.55 rating with 1.9 million viewers. The show peaked at a 1.73 for the Leben/Martin fight, although some of that gain was because they’d lost viewers between fights.

Fight of the Night:  Cole Miller vs. Leonard Garcia
Knockout of the Night:  Chris Leben
Submission of the Night:  Dustin Hazelett

UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort (September 19th 2009)

This show was originally going to be headlined by a rematch between Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson. But the online MMA community complained bitterly about the fight and the UFC subsequently changed the main event, and Rich Franklin would instead face a former champion who was making his UFC return.

Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort (the build)

Rich Franklin had been a mainstay of the UFC’s middleweight division since his first fight in the weight class at UFC 50, when he armbarred Jorge Rivera in the third round of their fight. Having a good idea of Franklin’s marketability, the UFC matched him against the aging legend Ken Shamrock in the main event of the live TUF 1 finale, with the idea of giving Franklin a star-making win against a fighter with a name. Franklin got the win, in 2:42, and from that moment on he remained a lynchpin of the UFC and the middleweight division.

Franklin defeated the late Evan Tanner to become UFC Middleweight Champion at UFC 53, with Franklin putting in a sterling performance against the double tough Tanner. Franklin’s first defence was a pretty one-sided fight against Nate Quarry at UFC 56; the plan had been for Nate Marquardt to get the title shot but the fight Marquardt won that was intended to springboard him into that title fight was so bad that all plans for a Marquardt title fight were scrapped and Quarry got the nod instead.

Franklin followed up on that with a one-sided five-round destruction of David Loiseau at UFC 58 in March of 2006. But the fight was not without cost for Franklin, either, as he came out of with a broken left hand, torn ligaments in his right hand, a hairline fracture of the right foot, and tendon damage in his left foot. Franklin had to have surgery on his left hand that put in a metal plate and seven screws. It was expected that Franklin would be out until 2007, but instead he was back in the cage in late October, defending his title against Anderson Silva. Franklin was clearly not at his best, something evident just from watching Franklin make the walk to the octagon, although even Franklin at his best may not have lasted much longer than the 2:59 it took for Silva dismantle Franklin with very little effort to claim the UFC Middleweight Championship.

Wins over Jason MacDonald and then Yushin Okami gave Franklin the chance to get his title back at UFC 77, but even though Franklin made it, just, to the second round, he lasted little longer with Silva again stopping Franklin, at 1:07 of the second round to retain the UFC Middleweight Championship. Franklin scored back-to-back TKO wins over Travis Lutter and Matt Hamill before losing by split-decision to Dan Henderson at UFC 93, in a fight where the winner could become one of the coaches on an upcoming season of TUF. Franklin’s next fight was a catchweight contest at 195lbs at UFC 99 when he took on Wanderlei Silva; it was a tough fight, but one Franklin managed to see out and claim the unanimous decision victory.

Franklin would again compete at a catchweight for his next fight, and this time Franklin would be welcoming back a former champion and a fighter with a colourful past back to the UFC.

Vitor Belfort arrived in the UFC with a bang at UFC 12, dispatching Tra Telligman and then blitzing Scott Ferrozzo to win the one-night heavyweight tournament. Belfort followed up on that with a 52-second mauling of Tank Abbott at UFC 13 to become the hottest fighter in the promotion. Belfort was considered a future heavyweight champion, but those plans were derailed in epic fashion at UFC 15 when Belfort suffered a one-sided TKO loss to Randy Couture in a heavyweight title eliminator. Belfort was back in action two months later at UFC Japan, but with Belfort unwilling to face his original opponent, Brad Kohler, and with the UFC needing to keep Belfort on the card as most of the promotion for the show it was built around him, Belfort faced hand-picked Joe Charles, whom he dispatched with ease in 4:03.

Belfort’s next fight saw him blitz Wanderlei Silva in just 44-seconds at UFC Brazil in a highlight reel finish that remains one of the most memorable knockouts in UFC history. This would be Belfort’s last UFC fight for almost four years, with Belfort competing in PRIDE until he returned to the UFC at UFC 37.5 in 2001 to face Chuck Liddell in a light heavyweight fight that was de facto title eliminator. It was a close fight, one that could have gone either way but ultimately it was Liddell who won the unanimous decision. Belfort was back, the ‘old Vitor’ at UFC 43 with a 67-second finish of Marvin Eastman, in a fight which saw Eastman suffer the most gruesome looking cut in UFC history.

This win secured Belfort his shot at UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture at UFC 46, where Belfort finally won UFC gold but in the most disappointing of fashions, with the fight ending in less than a minute due to Couture suffering and accidental cut to his eyelid. The two rematched at UFC 49 where, in a fight that must have heralded some dark memories for Belfort, Couture regained his title in a one-sided fight that left Belfort battered and bloody.

After a controversial split-decision loss to Tito Ortiz at UFC 51 in January 2005, Belfort once again left the UFC, with his highest profile fight in the interim coming at PRIDE’s US debut in October of 2006, with Belfort facing Dan Henderson. Belfort lost the fight by unanimous decision and then failed the post-fight drug test, Belfort testing positive for anabolic steroids. Belfort was eventually suspended for nine months, during which time he took two fights in the UK, outside the jurisdiction of the athletic commissions in the US, before signing with the ill-fated Affliction promotion. Belfort would score knock out wins over Terry Martin and Matt Lindland before Affliction folded, but these wins would be enough to see that Belfort was again signed by the UFC in mid-2009.

There was obvious anticipation over whom Belfort would face in his first fight back and at what weight class, before it was announced that Belfort’s return would take place UFC 103, where he would face former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin, although the fight would be contested at a catchweight of 195lbs instead of at middleweight. It was intriguing fight, if for no other reason than to see whether we’d get the ‘old’ Vitor or the ‘new’ Vitor.

The Rest of the Main Card

The co-main event was a heavyweight collision between two dangerous strikers, Junior Dos Santos and the hall-of-famer Mirko Cro Cop. Dos Santos exploded onto the UFC scene with a brutal knockout in an upset win over Fabricio Werdum at UFC 90. Dos Santos followed up on that with a 54-second mauling of Stefan Struve at UFC 95, proving his win over Werdum was no fluke. Cro Cop had returned to the UFC at 99, with a win over Mostapha al-Turk, having had a hugely disappointing stint in the UFC a couple of years earlier. It was clear even then that Cro Cop was on the downside and with Dos Santos on the ascent, it seemed like matching him up against Cro Cop was classic UFC matchmaking of giving a hot new star a fight against an aging veteran to give them a big win over a fighter with name value.

Paul Daley, after initially set to make his UFC debut in the prelims, was moved up to the main card to replace Mike Swick against Martin Kampmann. Daley was a very heavy-handed striker, known for his punching power, while Kampmann was a former kickboxer, so this appeared to be a contest of power vs. technique. Coming off of his upset loss to Paulo Thiago, Josh Koscheck would welcome back former two-time title challenger Frank Trigg back into the UFC. Koscheck came to fame on the first season of TUF, whilst Trigg is most well known for his two welterweight championship fights with Matt Hughes. And opening up the main card would be a lightweight fight between Hermes Franca and Tyson Griffin.

This would be the first UFC PPV where a portion of the preliminary card would air live, and commercial free on Spike TV.

Card Changes

Rob Emerson replaced Mat Wiman against Rafael dos Anjos. Steve Lopez made his UFC debut replacing Thiago Tavares against Jim Miller. Nik Lentz replaced Dan Lauzon against Rafaello Oliveira.

UFC 103 (the preliminary fights)

Rafael Dos Anjos outgrappled Rob Emerson for the unanimous decision victory. Vladimir Matyushenko used a similar strategy to gain a unanimous decision win over Igor Pokrajac. Eliot Marshall edged past Jason Brilz by split-decision. Rick Story survived a broken and very bloody nose to tap out Brian Foster with an arm triangle whilst still in the guard of Foster. Nik Lentz slipped over Rafaello Oliveira by unanimous decision, Lentz getting the win despite being dominated and controlled for the first two rounds. Jim Miller beat Steve Lopez via stoppage when Lopez dislocated his left shoulder after throwing a punch. The fight was fairly one-sided, in Miller’s favour, before the untimely ending.

Tomasz Drwal ground his way to a second round submission win over Drew McFedries. Efrain Escudero knocked out Cole Miller in the first round of a fight that was pretty boring until the finish.

UFC 103 (the main card)

Hermes Franca vs. Tyson Griffin was not the most engaging of fights, with a first round where it seemed neither fighter was willing to pull the trigger and be the first one to go for it. Things picked up a little in the second round as a lot of big punches were starting to get thrown, though few of them were landing. Things finally got exciting with just under two-minutes le in the second round when Griffin landed a straight right that dropped Franca; Griffin followed up with a barrage of punches and Franca was eventually knocked out. It was a great win for Griffin, to put his UFC record at 7-2.

Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg was short and sweet; Trigg was walking Koscheck down until a wild swing saw Koscheck clip Trigg with his forearm/wrist. Trigg was stunned and left wide open for Koscheck to drop him with a right hand; Koscheck landed one more punch, and as Trigg turned over onto his hands and knees, Koscheck moved around to the front of Trigg and delivered a trio of punches to the jaw, Trigg not defending them, before the referee moved in. Trigg wasn’t happy when he finally got up, even shoving the referee away. When they showed the replay, Joe Rogan wasn’t sure on the stoppage, but when a guy is taking big punches and doing nothing to defend himself, the fight is over.

Paul Daley vs. Martin Kampmann was also short but it was not so sweet, but in a good way, at least for the fans, because this was two men throwing with very bad intentions. Daley and Kampmann were putting everything into their punches, both men landing some very hard shots, although Daley was landing a little more and a little harder. Outside of a momentary pause, Daley seemed to take Kampmann’s shots well, but the same cannot be said of Kampmann’s ability to take Daley’s punches, with the Dutchman getting moved around with each blow. Once such left hook had Kampmann wobbled but not down; as Kampmann backed up against the fence, Daley tried his best to remedy that with a barrage of punches and whilst Kampmann didn’t go down, Kampmann was out on his feet and the referee stepped in to stop the fight. Neither Kampmann nor the fans were happy with the stoppage but it was the right call because Kampmann was just getting hammered. On the replay, Joe Rogan gleefully says that Kampmann should have been allowed to take more punches, which is among one of the more idiotic things Rogan has said over the years and that covers a lot of ground.

Mirko Cro Cop vs. Junior Dos Santos was a decent if almost entirely one-sided fight, as JDS dominated a Mirko Cro Cop who was old and slow, and either anxious or just scared because he looked like he didn’t want to be in there at all. It looked like Cro Cop had no fire in him, no real desire to fight as he took punches, kicks and elbows from the younger Dos Santos. Cro Cop fired back with the occasional kick, but this was pretty much Junior Dos Santos teeing off in a tackling dummy. Part way into the third round, not long after getting rocked with a knee and taking a lot of shots, Cro Cop waived off the fight claiming that he couldn’t see due to an eye injury. A replay did show that Cro Cop got punched right in the eye not long before the finish, so there very likely was an injury, but whether it was bad enough that he couldn’t see, and Cro Cop wasn’t displaying any of the behaviour you typically get from someone who can’t see and whose eye is injured, is open to debate. In any event, it was win over the name opponent that the UFC and JDS wanted.

Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort

Vitor came into this fight looking more natural than he would as his UFC run developed, although how natural he actually was in this fight can be debated, especially given his history, both prior to this night and later on down the road.

The fight really wasn’t any good; virtually nothing happened before Vitor caught Franklin with a wild left hook that dropped the former middleweight champion to one knee. Franklin goes to both knees as Vitor lands again and Franklin slumps to the canvas as Vitor waylays him with punches, the referee quickly stepping in to stop the fight as Franklin is out cold. The replays show that the punch that dropped Franklin got him behind the ear, and that Franklin was trying to get up as Vitor landed the punch that knocked Franklin out.

Despite the fight itself being not very good, the finish was explosive and memorable and it was the kind of finish Vitor needed to announce his return to the UFC and remind people that he could be a force to be reckoned with.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 17,428
Gate: $2,400,000
PPV Buys: 375,000

Fight of the Night: Rick Story vs. Brian Foster
Knockout of the Night: Vitor Belfort
Submission of the Night: Rick Story

This PPV took place on the same night as the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manuel Márquez. UFC 103 drew the bigger crowd but the boxing had the larger gate, the boxing gate being $6,811,300. The boxing also drew more buys, drawing 1,000,000 buys.

Bellator 125 (September 19th 2014)

This Bellator show would be headlined by a battle of the heavy hitters as Melvin Manhoef took on Doug Marshall. The co-main event was to see Brian Rogers take on James Irvin, but Irvin was injured and replaced by Brett Cooper, who was then himself injured and replaced by newcomer Rafael Carvalho

Martin Stapleton vs. Goiti Yamauchi was a catchweight contest due to Stapleton missing weight. The weight advantage, however much it was did him no good as Yamauchi took Stapleton down right away, transitioned into an omoplata and Yamauchi never let go of Stapleton for the rest of the fight. The omoplata didn’t get the tap but it didn’t matter as Stapleton couldn’t escape the grip of Yamauchi who eventually worked his way into a rear naked choke to get the tap near the end of the first round.

Javy Ayala vs. Raphael Butler saw the heavy-handed Ayala take on Raphael Butler, a former professional boxer Butler with 35-12 record including 28 KOs. This one didn’t last long, Ayala quickly rushing Butler back up against the cage, eventually slamming him to the mat, and quickly sinking in a rear naked choke to get the tap at 1:03.

Julio Cesar vs. Poppies Martinez was an undercard fight that was getting shown because Cesar was 20 years old with a 29-0 record. Let’s not beat around the bush with this one; Cesar has been fed a steady diet of cans to fatten his record. On this night, Cesar faces no problems against Martinez and dispatches him with ease. Martinez is experienced, far more so than any of Cesar’s previous opponents, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that Cesar is impossible to take seriously given the fact that the vast majority of his opponents are cans and other assorted no-hopers.

Rafael Carvalho vs. Brian Rogers was a fight of two halves. The first three minutes saw Rogers negate the size and reach advantage that Carvalho had with a relentless pressure attack, throwing constant punches and giving Carvalho no chance to mount any offense of his own. Then, around the three minute mark, Carvalho landed a straight left that stunned Rogers and clearly had him a little wobbly; Carvalho forced Rogers up against the cage with a series of punches, and Rogers was knocked down but he had his hands on the mat, though, to keep himself a grounded opponent. That didn’t stop Carvalho from unloading with punches to Rogers’ head and whilst Rogers was able to keep taking them, he wasn’t defending himself because he was keeping his hands on the mat and eventually the referee stepped in stop the fight. Rogers protested the finish but he was not defending himself and that’s not going to go on for too long, at least with any competent referee.

Chris Honeycutt vs. Aaron Wilkinson was another undercard fight saw the air. It was very wrestling-heavy, so if you like wrestling you’ll like this fight, although it lacked real fireworks. Honecutt dominated throughout, and whilst Wilkinson mounted occasional offensive spurts, they didn’t last long. Honeycutt ended up TKO’ing Wilkinson late in the second round.

Melvin Manhoef vs. Doug Marshall was our main event of the evening and it was hard-hitting for as long it lasted. Marshall took a kick to the groin about a minute in; it wasn’t a full force kick from Manhoef or Marshall’s nuts would have shot out of his mouth. The end came shortly after the restart with Manhoef backing Marshall up with a series of leg kicks before hitting a big punch behind the ear that caused Marshall to do a flying faceplant to the mat and the fight was over. It was the kind of finish we expected with the fight going about as long as we expected given the punching power of both fighters.

Bellator 142: Dynamite I (September 19th 2015)

This supershow was a mixture of MMA from Bellator and Kickboxing from GLORY. The Bellator portion of the show was built around a four-man light heavyweight tournament, with the winner of the tournament getting a shot at the Bellator Light Heavyweight Championship; in one semi-final, Britain’s Linton Vassell would take on former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion ‘King Mo’ Lawal, whilst the other semi-final would see former UFC fighter Phil Davis make his Bellator debut against the former Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Emmanuel Newton.

For the two semi-final fights, they were two-rounds in duration, and in the event of a draw, judges would select a winner based on merit. If a winner was unable to continue, the ‘survivor rule’ was in effect, meaning the person he beat would go on instead, but if the neither fighter could continue, an alternate would take their place.

The main event would see the Bellator Light Heavyweight Championship on the line as Britain’s Liam McGeary defended the title against MMA and UFC legend Tito Ortiz. McGeary had won the title from Emmanuel Newton at Bellator 134, and this would be his first title defence. Ortiz was 2-0 so far in his Bellator run, having beaten Alexander Shlemenko and Stephan Bonnar.

Bellator 142: Dynamite I

They had a PRIDE-style opening ceremony, bringing the fighters out one at a time with a big video wall behind them to add to the excitement. They even had Lennie Hardt, the screaming PRIDE announcer, doing the introductions, although they made the same mistake PRIDE did when they brought Lennie over to the US and showed her on screen; Lennie works so much better as this mysterious booming voice.

‘King’ Mo Lawal vs. Linton Vassell – in a light heavyweight tournament semi-final was a decent fight, pretty one-sided in favour of Lawal. Lawal landed a big punch on Vassell early and whilst Lawal didn’t press his advantage, to the surprise of the announcers, it did set the tone for the fight. Lawal rocked Vassell a few times, even dropping monetarily, something Vassell couldn’t do to Lawal. There were a couple of slams late on from both fighters, and although Vassell performed the better slam, it couldn’t really turn the tide of the fight. This went the distance with Lawal getting the win by unanimous decision.

Phil Davis vs. Emmanuel Newton – in a light heavyweight tournament semi-final took a minute to get going and when it finally did, it was all Davis in what was an even more one-sided fight than the first tournament contest. Newton tried spamming spinning attacks, which has been Newton’s primary strategy in all of his fights since his knockout of Mo Lawal at Bellator 90. This didn’t end well as Davis got a hold of Newton and once he did so, Davis never let Newton out of his grip. Davis completely controlled Newton on the ground with positional control and going for submissions before getting the tap at 4:39 with a kimura.

We get a stand-up from Jordan Whitley, the host of the evening, transitioning over the GLORY kickboxing with commentary duties being done by Mauro Ranallo and Stephen Quadros.

Hadley Griffith vs. Keri Melendez was passable fare for a one-sided kickboxing fight where one fighter, Melendez, was 2-1 against an opponent making her professional debut.

Paul Daley vs. Fernando Gonzalez was a little more competitive than the previous fight, although Daley did dominate a lot of the fight, dictating the action and pressing forward. Gonzalez come on fairly strong in the third round, enough to take it, but Daley had the first two rounds in the bag and won by unanimous decision.

Jordan Whitley interviews Phil Davis about fighting Mo Lawal in the tournament final; in this and her previous stand-ups, Whitley is so much better at this than most people UFC/FOX stick in the role.

We’re back to MMA for the Bellator debut of Josh Thomson, who is taking on Mike Bronzoulis. Bronzoulis is shown backstage, wearing a gladiator-type helmet, which somehow plays into his nickname of ‘the Greek Assassin’.

Mike Bronzoulis vs. Josh Thomsom sees Mike Bronzoulis coming out with a shield and helmet as part of his nickname. Bronzoulis could have use the shield in this fight, which saw Thomson methodically dominate him on his way to a third round submission finish. If you like to watch Thomson, you’ll like this fight. Otherwise, it lacked any moments of interest to make it worth watching.

We return to kickboxing next for a title fight, as Saulo Cavalari faces Zack Mwekassa for the vacant GLORY Light Heavyweight Championship.

Saulo Cavalari vs. Zack Mwekassa – for the vacant GLORY Light Heavyweight Championship was the best kickboxing fight of the night although it didn’t have a lot of competition, given that this was the only one to involve  top-level fighters. It was a good fight as kickboxing bouts go despite the constant clinching up that forced momentary breaks in the action. The clinching up is the biggest thing that stops me really getting into both kickboxing and boxing. I know it’s allowed, at least in kickboxing, as long as it sets up a strikes, but it seems like it’s only ever done to stall the action and for me, it completely kills the excitement and momentum of a fight. Cavalari won the majority decision to take the vacant title.

As we transitioned back into MMA, we went into the cage for a ‘major announcement’ that had been talked up all night, and the announcement turned out to be Kevin Kay, the president of Spike TV, bringing out Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the founder of PRIDE, to announce a partnership that would involve a live New Year’s Eve show to be headlined by the Bellator debut of Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor made his entrance as a surprise to the fans and it got a big reaction.

We were then told that ‘King’ Mo was out of the light heavyweight tournament final after suffering rib injuries during his fight with Linton Vassell. Vassell was also ruled out of the final, as he would have taken Lawal’s place under the ‘survivor rule’, so Phil Davis would be facing Francis Carmont, who had won an alternates fight before the live show started.

Francis Carmont vs. Phil Davis – in the light heavyweight tournament final was completely uneventful for the first two-minutes, with very little happening until Davis landed a big left hand that dropped Carmont, Davis following up with a couple of big punches before the referee stopped the fight. It was a one-sided fight but purely because Davis delivered the only major shot of the fight. It wins Davis the fight and the light heavyweight tournament and puts him in line to face the winner of the main event between Liam McGeary and Tito Ortiz.

They ran a really good video package before the main event, pushing Tito as a legend and McGeary as the guy intent on using Tito to make his own legend. Tito comes out to walk-in music preceded by kids reciting the pledge and to an honour guard by soldiers, or at least people dressed up as soldiers. Ortiz gets a strong reaction. McGeary comes out to very strong booing, and walk-in music that sounds like a mixture of bagpipes and dance music as the lead-in to rock music. Bellator walk-ins are invariably better than the UFC’s and this was no exception.

Liam McGeary © vs. Tito Ortiz – for the Bellator Light Heavyweight Championship opens up with some speculative punches before Ortiz goes for the takedown; McGeary sprawls and stuffs the takedown, and then goes for an arm-in guillotine but can’t properly get it and Ortiz ends up in top position. McGeary shows some good defence to stop Ortiz doing much other than a few punches, but Ortiz remains in control as McGeary can’t shift Ortiz. With about a minute left, Ortiz gets into side-control; as he stands, McGeary is able to get an armbar on Ortiz; it looks very tight but Ortiz manages to escape. But Ortiz is still close to McGeary so the champion throws up his legs and with less than thirty seconds to go in the round, McGeary traps Ortiz in the inverted triangle and Ortiz has no choice but to tap out.

Ortiz curses, and it gets sound edited but he’s quick to congratulate McGeary and there is great sportsmanship between the two. As Jimmy Smith said on commentary, Ortiz wanted this so badly and he’s incredible frustrated at having looked so good and then getting caught. Ortiz gives a good post-fight promo, as does McGeary, but it’s Ortiz who is the fan favourite on this night. It’s the biggest win of McGeary’s career and whilst it’s not Ortiz in his prime, McGeary is the first man to submit Ortiz since Frank Shamrock did it 16 years previously, almost to the day.

Notes and Numbers

Attendance: 11,732
Ratings: The show averaged 800,000 viewers, peaking at 930,000.

Next time out, we talk about UFC 11: The Proving Ground and UFC Fight Night 52: Hunt vs. Nelson.

9 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Josh Neer is one of those guys that gets forgotten but he was nearly always good for a fun scrap. I remember that fight with Nate Diaz being excellent. He had a corker with Nick Diaz a few years earlier as well. And off the top of my head he had some good rucks with Mac Danzig and Court McGee as well. 

He was also on the wrong end of a spectacular knockout, thanks to Mike Pyle.