UFC 94 Review

UFC 94 turned out to be a decent show with great top billed fights. With an estimated 14,855 people showing up at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. I watched the fights on ppv and will be interested to see how many ppv buys the event had. GSP v. Penn has been hyped since last year and my guess is that the advertising dollars paid off.

Clay Guida def Nathan Diaz via Dec (Split)- Guida came to the fight with a high energy and smothering style to win the split decision. Diaz was able to land some heavy strikes and knees, but couldn't get anything really going. Guida won the fight by being able to get Diaz' back, get takedowns and better position. Guida now has three straight wins since his loss to Roger Huerta.
*Guida and Diaz win Fight of the Night.

Karo Parisyan def Dong Hyun Kim via Dec (Split)- In my opinion, Kim got the short hand of the stick in this fight. Kim won the first round by getting Karo's back, throwing down hammerfists, and almost getting Karo stuck in a Kim triangle choke. The first round that was decisive as the second and third round were very hard to score. I would give the second to Karo and the third to Kim. In dropping the decision, Kim learned a lesson not let the fight go to the judges scorecards.

Jon Jones def Stephan Bonnar via Dec (Unanimous)- Jon "Bones" Jones looked athletic and unorthodox in his second straight win in the UFC pushing his record to 8-0. Jones landed a suplex in the first while trying to get Bonnar's back. Jones also connected with a spinning back elbow and a vicious knee. Jones didn't let up, tossing Bonnar to the mat, getting takedowns at will, and throwing good knees throughout the fight to win the unanimous decision. With some more training and experience, Jones will continue to progress and develop into a force.

Lyoto Machida def Thiago Silva via KO (Punches) R1, 4:59- Machida took his time early on before connecting with a kick and knee to the body. After a brief time for a knee to the groin, Machida was able to land consistent combinations and takedowns. Right before the end of the round, Machida landed a left right combination and dove in for one more punch. Absorbing the impact, Silva is out for the count as the ref called the fight. Machida did a good job silencing his critics as he systematically took Silva apart.
*Machida wins KO of the Night.

Georges St. Pierre def B.J. Penn via TKO (Corner Stoppage) R4, 5:00- GSP simply overwelmed BJ Penn en route to an eventual TKO at the end of the fourth round. St. Pierre was able to dominate the fight with takedowns, ground and pound and connecting on his feet. BJ almost was able to get a couple submission attempts going, but they never really came close. BJ ate way too many elbows and punches in the fourth and when he went to the corner they called the fight.

GSP is now a lock for the UFC Hall of Fame. He has five straight wins including over Matt Hughes for the interim title, Matt Serra to unify the title, and defending against Jon Fitch and BJ Penn. A fight with Thiago Alves looms, as well as speculation of a potential fight with Anderson Silva.

UNDERCARD

Dan Cramer def Matt Arroyo via Dec (Split)
Jake O'Brien def Christian Wellisch via Dec (Split)
Thiago Tavares def Manny Gamburyan via Dec (Unanimous)
Jon Fitch def Akihiro Gono via Dec (Unanimous)
John Howard def Chris Wilson via Dec (Split)- Won the second fight of the night bonus.

UFC 94 Preview

UFC 94 kicks off this Saturday, January 31st at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The BJ Penn v. GSP fight is being hyped up as the Superbowl of MMA. We will see how the card plays out, hopefully Machida is feeling peppy. All fighters made weight, with former heavyweights Christian Wellish and Jake O'Brien debuting at 205 pounds.

MAIN CARD

Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn- This fight is being hyped as the fight of the year. The undisputed king of the 170 pound class versus the king of the 155 pound class. In addition, this is a rematch of a match from UFC 58 where BJ lost a close split decision. I would expect to see GSP go for the takedown early and often. The question in this fight may come down to whether or not BJ can get a submission off his back.

Since a crazy upset loss to Matt Serra, Georges St. Pierre has been on quite a streak. He has outwrestled Josh Koscheck, armbarred Matt Hughes and punished Matt Serra and Jon Fitch since that loss. Georges is an incredible athlete, with suberb striking, cardio and wrestling ability. Georges also holds wins over Jay Hieron, Sean Sherk, Mayhem Miller and Frank Trigg.

(Georges St. Pierre pictured)

Since a disappointing loss to Matt Hughes at UFC 63, BJ Penn reinvented himself at 155, dominating his competition. He won over Jens Pulver following TUF 5, then crushed Joe Stevenson for the interim 155 pound title. He then went on to outstrike and eventually TKO Sean Sherk to unify the 155 pound title. BJ will be looking to strike with GSP and possibly go for a submission. If BJ has one clear advantage, it would be in the submission game. BJ also has wins over Duane Ludwig, Takanori Gomi, and Caol Uno.

(BJ Penn pictured)

Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva- Someone's undefeated status will be loss against in this battle for the number one contender spot at 205 pounds. Machida is a karate and BJJ black-belt who utilizes a countering style that frustrates many opponents. Silva, who owns a great ground game rarely uses it. Silva instead uses his heavy hand to knock his opponents out.

I expect this fight to remain standing, with Machida waiting to capitalize on a Silva mistake. Machida is 13-0 with victories over Rich Franklin, Stephan Bonnar and BJ Penn outside the UFC. He holds wins over Sokoudjou, Tito Ortiz, Kazuhiro Nakamura, David Heath and Sam Hoger inside the UFC.

(Lyoto Machida pictured)

Thiago Silva (13-0) has ten knockouts and two submission wins in his career. He has beaten Antonio Mendes, Houston Alexander, Tomasz Drwal and James Irvin in the UFC. I expect Silva to try to get in close on Machida to throw punches in the clinch.

Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones
Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida

UNDER CARD

Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono
Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares
John Howard vs. Chris Wilson
Jake O'Brien vs. Christian Wellisch
Matt Arroyo vs. Dan Cramer

TUF Elite 8

After tonight's episode of The Ultimate Fighter only 8 fighters remain in the TUF tournament. In the final prelim fight, CB Dollaway was able to dominate Nick Klein in the first round with a barrage of elbows, leg kicks and punches. As usual, Steve Mazagatti had to warn about punching to the back of the head.

In the second round CB pressed the action even more eventually sinking in a guillotine choke for the tapout. To his credit, Nick Klein was able to fight back pretty well and took quite a bit of punishment. The closest Klein came to victory was an attempted knee-bar in the first.

Rampage gave some expert advice when CB was encountered with a deep kimura attempt barking, "put yo' knee on dat elbow!" Needless to say, CB was able to escape.

*Here are the TUF Elite 8*

TEAM RAMPAGE
CB Dollaway
Dan Cramer

TEAM FORREST
Amir Sadollah
Tim Credeur
Matt Brown
Cale Yarborough
Jesse Taylor
Dante Rivera

Quarterfinal Match-ups
1. Jesse Taylor v. Dante Rivera
2. Amir Sadollah v. Matt Brown
3. Dan Cramer v. Tim Credeur
4. CB Dollaway v. Cale Yarborough


*CB Dollaway circa ASU wrestling days

TUF Episode 6 Recap

The sixth episode of The Ultimate Fighter got off to a bang. The fight between the ever intense Matt Brown and obnoxious Jeremey May promised to be one fought with malice. Pre-fight Brown discussed his run-ins with the law, brushes with death and drug and alcohol problems. During the training clip, you saw him go head to head with Forrest for some time after the bell. Brown's teammates have the utmost respect for him, and make some Chuck Norris like jokes about him.

Conversely, May seems to be hated by just about everyone in the house. The lime juice in the dip pissed Brown off, but everyone in the house seems to be annoyed with him. Riddle willfully gave Brown information that May had suffered a knee injury (which May later said wasn't bad). Furthermore, in training, May hasn't been doing much of anything except ride a stationary bike.

The fight kicked off to May throwing some big unorthodox hay makers. As the punches and kicks came, Brown blocked them and denied May's offense. As Jeremy May ran out of gas, Brown brought the pain, and a couple knees and a kick to the face later, the fight was over. Brown had ice on his foot and 10K in his pocket, and May had a broken nose and ego.

The second fight saw Daniel Cramer fight Luke Zacharich. The fight broiled down to a Frye v. Takayama slug fest. Pretty boy Cramer can really take a shot, as can Zacharich. After both burned a significant amount of energy in the first, Cramer took advantage. After getting the mount, he worked over Zacharich for the TKO victory.

I was very happy to see Rampage get a victory. Rampage's impromptu break down of the Cramer v. Zacharich was pretty funny. His spirits were lifted to say the least. Here is a recap and breakdown of who is left in the tournament:

Team Forrest 4 - Wins- Jesse Taylor, Tim Credeur, Dante Rivera, Matt Brown
Left to fight- Amir Sadollah, Cale Yarbrough, Nick Klein

Team Rampage 1 - Wins- Dan Cramer
Left to fight - Gerald Harris, CB Dollaway, Patrick Schultz

TUF Episode 2

This episode was all fights which pleased me. The match-making was somewhat puzzling in this episode as some of the experienced guys were paired up and some of the the experienced guys were paired. Luke Zacharich explained on his MMA Junkie blog that Dana White actually walked around and randomly paired up fighters. One of the most idiotic things I've heard of Dana do for awhile.

Matt Serra trained fighter Dan Simmler (1-0) learned the hard way that he needs to improve his standup and takedown game. After a first round that where Matt Riddle (1-0) took him down and then Simmler tried subs, the second was fast. As Simmler threw a lazy kick, Riddle dropped him with a right hook directly to jaw dropping him to the canvas. Two more jaw punches followed as Simmler was looking to the stars. After a serious of moaning and a possible broken jaw, Simmler asked, "what happened, was it practice or a fight?" Ouch.

The second fight saw Luke Zacharich (7-1) v. Patrick Schultz (5-1). These two probably should have been fighting some of the 1-0, 0-0 guys as both looked seasoned. Zacharich was in a little trouble after a Schultz takedown. Zacharich's wrestling seems to be good as he got decent position and dropped punches. Schultz' frosted tips didn't prevent Zacharich from eventually getting his back and a rear naked choke. Zacharich probably needs to

Tim Credeur (9-2) took out Erick Charles in a workmanlike performance. He pushed Charles to the fence, took him down, and got the armbar. He is a BJJ blackbelt from Louisiana. Credeur is a legit threat, at (9-2) his two losses have come in Bodog to Chael Sonnen (20-9) and Joey Villasensor (25-6) in KOTC.

Aaron Meiser (2-0) v. Brandon Sene (2-0)- After exchanging kicks and knees, Sene got a takedown eventually got the rear naked choke. The mohawked Sene was gassed at the end.

Gerald Harris (6-2) v. Mike Marrelo (6-1)- IFL vet Gerald Harris used slams, punches to the face, elbows to the face to eventually get the decision. Harris' entry makes all three IFL fighters in the 16.



Jerimiah Riggs (1-0) v. Dan Cramer (0-0)- Dana what were you thinking with this match-up? Horrible match making, I feel sorry for Marrelo and Schultz.

Nick Rossborough (8-3) vs. Jesse Taylor (6-2)- Taylor got a takedown, punches, and then a rear naked choke for a victory. Taylor has a couple quality wins and a couple losses to MMA vet Kenny Ento and TUF 3's Jesse Forbes.

Josh Hall (3-2) vs. Matt Brown (9-6)- Matt Brown despite being a little small at 185 used his experience and skill to beat Josh Hall with 9 seconds left in the round.

*We learn the teams next week.