UFC 96 Preview

UFC 96 takes place this Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. The fights will be available on ppv. Here is the current line-up.

MAIN CARD

Quinton Jackson vs. Keith Jardine- The main event could be a quick one or a long battle. Both fighters have produced dramatic results in the UFC. Jardine (14-4, 6-3 UFC) has knocked out former champ Forrest Griffin and won split decisions over Chuck Liddell and Brandon Vera. Jardine, a veteran of TUF 2, has an unorthodox stance and throws very good leg kicks.

Rampage Jackson (29-7, 4-1 UFC), the former champ, is almost guaranteed a title fight against Rashad Evans if he wins. Rampage won the belt with a knockout victory over Chuck Liddell and defended with a decision victory over Dan Henderson. With a long lay-off Jackson lost a razor thin decision to Forrest Griffin before recently defeating Wanderlei Silva in brutal fashion. Expect Rampage to throw big bombs from his feet. If a KO doesn't happen, I expect Rampage to look for a takedown.

(Rampage Jackson pictured)

Matt Hamill vs. Mark Munoz- This will be a battle of two former top notch wrestlers. Hamill is a 3 time Division III national champion. Munoz is a 2 time All-American, winning the Division I title in 2001. Hamill was a stand-out in TUF 3, where he beat veteran fighter Mike Nickels. Hamill (5-2, 5-2 UFC) has the UFC experience factor, getting TKO's against tough opponents in Tim Boetsch, Reese Andy and Seth Petruzelli. His loss to Michael Bisping was perhaps one of the worst decisions in the sport.

(Matt Hamill pictured)

Mark Munoz (5-0, 0-0 UFC) won twice in the WEC before they folded the 205 division. Munoz looks for the takedown early and often, and if he gets it has a good ground and pound game. With Munoz stating he will test his wrestling against Hamill, this will make for a quality fight. Both are extremely strong.

(Mark Munoz pictured)

Shane Carwin vs. Gabriel Gonzaga- This match will prove whether or not Shane Carwin belongs in the heavyweight elite. Carwin (10-0, 2-0 UFC) is an absolute beast, standing 6'4" with 265 pounds of pure muscle. Carwin won the Division II national championship in 1999, and was a runner-up in 1998 and 1997. He knocked Christian Wellish out cold in his UFC debut and Neil Wain in his second fight. No fighter has lasted more than 3 minutes with Carwin.

(Shane Carwin pictured)

Gabriel Gonzaga is no slouch himself, with his young career capped with a devastating head kick KO of uber striker Mirko Cro Cop. Gonzaga (10-3, 6-2 UFC) is a BJJ blackbelt with 6 submissions on his resume. He dropped a tough loss to Randy Couture in his shot at the heavyweight title, and lost to Fabricio Werdum via TKO in his next match. He has since rebounded with a KO of Josh Hendricks and kimura over Justin McCully.

(Gabriel Gonzaga pictured)

Matt Brown vs. Pete Sell- Matt Brown (8-7, 2-1 UFC) will look to stand and trade as brawling is his forte. With a solid BJJ background Sell (8-4, 2-4 UFC) is best when looking to utilize his submission game. Sell gets in trouble when he stands and swings for the fences, which would play into Brown's game.

Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller- Maynard (6-0, 4-0 UFC) has been climbing the 155 pound ranks with solid wrestling and ground and pound. Then knock on Maynard has been a lack of excitement in his fights, he may try to push the pace here. Miller (13-1, 2-0 UFC) won over Matt Wiman in his last fight on a weeks notice. He will have more time to prepare for this one, but the fight will boil down to whether Miller can pull a submission off his back.

UNDER CARD

Ryan Madigan vs. Tamdan McCrory
Jason Day vs. Kendall Grove
Tim Boetsch vs. Jason Brilz
Mike Patt vs. Brandon Vera
Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley

UFC 88 Sugar Rocks the Iceman

UFC 88 was a well run and exciting ppv event for the Atlanta crowd. I wasn't a fan of the USA chants during Dong Hyun Kim's fight with Matt Brown, unfortunately that type of behavior is common place at UFC events.

Rashad Evans def. Chuck Liddell via KO (punch) R2, 1:51- The first round saw mainly circling and positioning. Evans didn't go for the takedown and didn't go in for a big strike. Liddell probably won on most scorecards in the first for landing a few punches.

In the second round Liddell backed Rashad near the fence. Rashad threw a jab and then a massive overhand right. Liddell threw an uppercut. Unfortunately for Liddell, Rashad's right hand landed flush, and Liddell hit the canvas like a sack of bricks. Liddell was a split second to late and he paid the price.

According to UFC president Dana White, Rashad earned an immediate title shot with the victory. Apparently, if Chuck Liddell would have won he would have gotten the shot. Lyoto Machida is another guy in line for a title shot who currently doesn't have an opponent in UFC 89 just yet. Thiago Silva had to withdraw with a back injury.
*KO of the night for Rashad Evans - 60K bonus
*MMA Blaster readers picked incorrectly 9-2

Rich Franklin def. Matt Hamill via TKO (kick to the body) R3, :39- Hamill sustained numerous leg kicks throughout the first two rounds of the fight. Hamill, an elite wrestler, was only able to manage one takedown near the end of the first round. While landing far fewer strikes, Hamill was able to open a cut on Franklin.

Franklin meanwhile looked precise in his striking. He threw kicks to the legs, body and face throughout the fight. His punches landed more clean and effectively. In the third round, Franklin threw a precise body kick, crumpling Hamill.

Franklin will face a step up in competition in his next fight. I would like to see him fight Lyoto Machida again, however Machida is fighting in a couple weeks. A fight with Chuck Liddell, Rampage Jackson, or Wanderlei Silva would garner excellent ratings and publicity. Hamill meanwhile needs to go back to the drawing board to work on his stand-up.

Dan Henderson def. Rousimar Palhares via Dec. (Unanimous)- Not exactly the most exciting fight on the card but Henderson grinded out the decision. Palhares will be back with his dazzling submission game. However, Henderson was better on his feet in this match-up and did not engage Palhares on the ground instead letting him up.

Nathan Marquardt def. Martin Kampmann via TKO (Punches) R1, 1:22- Marquardt came in and bullied the smaller Kampmann, landing multiple punches before Kampmann couldn't defend himself. I wouldn't be surprised by a Marquardt v. Henderson match for the number one contender spot at 185. I also wouldn't be surprised if Kampmann moved down to 170.

Dong Hyun Kim def. Matt Brown via Dec. (Split)- The first round saw Dong get extremely close with rear naked choke attempts and a kimura. The second round was all Matt Brown as he was able to land effective strikes and ground and pound after a failed submission attempt by Dong. The third round belonged to Dong as he was able to land some nasty elbows opening up a huge cut on Brown. A very hard fought match by two excellent competitors.

Kurt Pellegrino def. Thiago Tavares via Dec. (Unanimous)- Tavares showed alot of heart in this fight after he was nearly knocked out by Pellegrino in the first round. Kurt also had a pretty secure armbar that it looked like Tavares may have tapped. Tavares built some momentum in the second round, but ultimately Pellegrino got the unanimous decision.
*Both fighters earned the 60K Fight of the Night Bonus.

Tim Boetsch def. Michael Patt via TKO (Punches) R1, 2:03- Boetsch the Barbarian came out with a fury and Patt couldn't withstand it. A low kick by Patt was met with a vicious hard right counter by Boetsch. Patt ate a couple more before the fight was called.

Jason MacDonald def. Jason Lambert via Sub (Rear Naked Choke) R2, 1:20- MacDonald won submission of the night with his rear naked choke over Jason Lambert. Lambert hadn't been submitted since a 2001 fight against Marco Ruas.
*MacDonald wins 60K submission of the night bonus

Ryo Chonan def. Roan Carneiro via Dec.(Split)

UFC 88 Preview

**All fighters have made weight and are ready to go. The Parisyan v. Yoshida fight was scrapped when Karo withdrew because of a back injury.

Below are some fights that are listed on UFC.com as the line-up for UFC 88 in Atlanta, Georgia. The fights will take place on September 6th.


Rashad Evans (11-0-1) vs. Chuck Liddell (21-5)- Both fighters are looking at a possible title shot if they are victorious. Rashad may try to showcase his boxing skills and keep the contest standing. If that is the case, Liddell will be looking for a knockout punch. With Liddell's legendary take down defense, Rashad might not be able to showcase his wrestling ability.

Rashad's last fight was a split decision victory over Michael Bisping almost a year ago. Prior to that fight, Rashad has a controversial draw with Tito Ortiz, a high kick KO of Sean Salmon, and a KO of Jason Lambert.

In December of 2007, Liddell had a great victory over Wanderlei Silva. Prior to that, Liddell had lost to Rampage Jackson via KO, and a slim decision loss to Keith Jardine. Liddell had to push the bout back one time due to injury.


Rich Franklin (23-3) vs. Matt Hamill (4-1)- Former MW champ Franklin will be moving up to 205 pounds for the first time since his win over Ken Shamrock. Franklin was victorious over Travis Lutter in his last fight. Prior to that fight, Franklin suffered his second loss to Anderson Silva.

Hamill is coming off an outstanding victory over Tim Boetsch in April. Prior to that fight, Hamill lost a controversial decision to Michael Bisping. More than likely, Hamill will try to take the fight to the ground. Franklin will try to keep it standing. This will be the toughest fighter Hamill has fought to date. It will be interesting to see where this fight goes.


*Bout scrapped due to Parisyan back injury*
Karo Parisyan (18-5) vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (10-2)- Karo is coming off a slightly controversial loss to rising star Thiago Alves. Karo thought it was an early stoppage, but he should have avoided the knee that connected flush to his face and dropped him to the canvas. Prior to that loss, Karo had defeated Ryo Chonan, Josh Burkman and Drew Fickett via unanimous decision.

Yoshida is riding a 9 fight win streak, recently choking Jon Koppenhaver unconscious in his UFC debut. Akira Kikuchi (16-4) and Luis Sapo (15-2) are among his victories during the streak. It would be nice to see a little emotion out of Yoshida, who didn't appear to care about the awesome victory over War Machine.


Dan Henderson (22-7) vs. Rousimar Palhares (8-1)- Henderson will look to bounce back from two straight losses since joining the UFC. Henderson has lost to two of the sports best in Anderson Silva and Rampage Jackson. Palharaes has six straight wins since a loss to Arthur Cesar in 06. In his last fight he choked out Ivan Salaverry.

Martin Kampmann (13-1) vs. Nate Marquardt (26-8)- This is a huge fight for Kampmann as a win would put him near title contention. Kampmann has 9 straight victories and is 4-0 in the UFC during that stretch. Since a nasty knee injury, Kampmann defeated Jorge Rivera in June. Marquardt lost a very strange split decision to Thales Leites in his last fight. The former King of Pancrase has wins over Jeremy Horn, Dean Lister, Crafton Wallace and Joe Doerkson in the UFC.

Kurt Pellegrino vs. Thiago Tavares
Tim Boetsch vs. Mike Patt
Matt Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Roan Carneiro vs. Ryo Chonan
Jason Lambert vs. Jason MacDonald

Video of the Day - Best KO's from 2008 Vol 1

Here is the video of the day, it includes KO highlights from the first part of this year. Among the best include Yves Edwards KO over Edson Berto, Brett Rodgers KO over James Thompson, and Tim Boetsch's toss KO over David Heath.

Ultimate Fight Night 13

The Ultimate Fight Night 13 produced some excellent fights and some great come from behind see-saw battles. The show was basically a UFC pay per view lite. The fights were great, the lite describes the amount fights shown vs. filler and commercials. The multiple interviews, lengthy commercial breaks, and lack of cohesion to the production got annoying. After Diaz and Hammil's fights ended quick it took forever to get to the next fight. After Alves beat Karo, it took forever to get to Speer v. Johnson. With the amount of fights that ended in the second or first round there should have been 8 fights shown instead of 6.

MAIN CARD
Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon- Florian via TKO, 3:29 R2- Lauzon may have taken the first round with takedowns, but Kenny was able to land some kicks and elbows. The second round Kenny was able to secure the mount and land punches until the ref was forced to stop the fight.

Thiago Alves vs. Karo Parisyan- Alves via KO (knee to punches), :34 R1- The first round saw Karo and Thiago exchange blows. Joe Rogan talked alot about the mile high altitude. Karo looked to be carrying a little more weight and it didn't help him in this fight. In the second round, Karo took a massive knee to the face. He then took three or four punches from Alves before ref Steve Mazzagati called it.

Afterwards, Karo popped up and was angered at the stoppage. It was obvious on the replay that Karo's knees buckled after the knee and he took at least three punches. In Karo's defense, he did have an arm up attempting to say he was still alright. It may of been a quick stoppage, but Karo shouldn't have let a massive knee crumple him to the ground. Five straight wins for Thiago should put him one behind Jon Fitch for the title. Fitch definately has earned his place with his 8th straight win at UFC 82.

Tim Boetsch vs. Matt Hamill- Hamill via TKO 1:25, R2- Tremendous applause has to be given for Hamill in this one. After trading shots at the start, Hamill was able to take Boetsch down and land a couple glancing blows. After a stand-up, Boetsch picked Hamill apart with front kicks, knees, and punches. A brutal Boetsch knee prompted blood to start pouring from Hamill's mouth. Hamill took alot of punishment before the horn sounded.

After the round we saw that Hamill's lip was actually split basically in two. It looked as if the knee had pushed the lip trough a tooth. The second round looked to be more of the same until Hamill landed a takedown and then a huge flurry. He gave it all he had, and eventually Boetsch just wasn't blocking many punches and the action was called.

Houston Alexander vs. James Irvin- Irvin via KO :08 R1- Irvin landed a superman punch and a few others to get the KO at 8 seconds of the first round.

Nate Diaz vs. Kurt Pellegrino- Diaz via sub. (triangle) 3:06, R2- Nate Diaz impressed me with his performance in this fight. Diaz took an absolute beating in the first round. Diaz took punches and elbows directly on the chin, side of the head, and to the face. A massive Pellegrino elbow smashed him on the eye and opened up a cut. Diaz gave up his back, but was able to ride out the round. In the second, Diaz looked revitalized. After an attempted slam Diaz transitioned from an extremely non-chalant guillotine attempt to a triangle. Knowing it was sunk deep, Diaz flexed to the crowd and then flashed dual middle fingers. Classy.

Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard - Maynard via UD- Both fighters landed punches in the first, but Maynard won each round with takedowns and a slight advantage while standing.

UNDERCARD

Anthony Johnson vs. Tommy Speer- Tom Speer was absolutely destroyed in his fight. It seemed like punch after punch, kick after kick landed. Johnson popped Speer in the mouth and dropped him like a sack of bricks. Speer laid against the fence for a few seconds.

Marcus Aurelio vs. Ryan Roberts
Josh Neer vs. Din Thomas
Jeff Cox vs. Manny Gamburyan
Samy Schiavo vs. Clay Guida
Roman Mitichyan vs. George Sotiropoulos

Ultimate Fight Night and TUF 7 Preview

Ohhhhhh my. There are three hours of Ultimate Fight Night and one hour of TUF 7 on Wednesday night. I can barely contain myself. The best part is that UFN 13 is absolutely stacked, with a card that is probably better than UFC 83(minus GSP v. Serra).



Also, TUF 7 is premiering, with 32 middleweight fighters trying to make it into the TUF house. I really hope they do some sort of seeding for the first round, as there are 16 fighters who either have less than 3 fights or sub 500 records. It would be a shame if two fighters with 5 or 6 wins had to fight in the first round, while two 0-0 guys fought. Scroll down for video on two of the frontrunners, C.B. Dollaway and Gerald Harris.

UFN 13 Lineup:

MAIN CARD
Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon
Thiago Alves vs. Karo Parisyan
Tim Boetsch vs. Matt Hamill
Houston Alexander vs. James Irvin
Nate Diaz vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard - Swing bout - Showdown of two elite wrestlers in MMA. I think this fight will broadcast as Alexander v. Irvin will probably end quick.

UNDERCARD
Marcus Aurelio vs. Ryan Roberts
Josh Neer vs. Din Thomas
Jeff Cox vs. Manny Gamburyan
Samy Schiavo vs. Clay Guida
Roman Mitichyan vs. George Sotiropoulos
Anthony Johnson vs. Tommy Speer

UFC 81 Results and Recap

UFC 81 will go down as one of the most entertaining events the promotion has ever put on. Most fights ended quickly with three guillotine chokes in the main card. The audience was star studded, with the Undertaker, Stone Cold, Ken Griffey Jr., Rampage and various others and they got their money's worth. Just like the old UFC's ju-jitsu dominated over brute force.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira def. Tim Sylvia via submission (guillotine choke) — R3, 1:28 - UFC HW Championship belongs to Nogeueira and he earned it. Nogueira took punishment from Sylvia for two and a half rounds as Sylvia hit him with everything in his aresenal. But it only took one mistake for Nogeria to sweep Sylvia and choke him out. Reminiscant of the Bob Sapp and Cro Cop fights, the legend of Nogueira continues.
*Both fighters won fight of the night bonuses.
(Poll results Nogueria 29-20, MMA Blaster readers correct)

Frank Mir def. Brock Lesnar via submission (knee bar) — R1, 1:30 - Lesnar came out in a fury taking down Mir immediately before starting to rain down hammerfists on Mirs face. Mir turned, and Lesnar inadvertantly struck the back of Mir's head. Lesanr was deducted a point, and the match resumed.

Off the bat on the restart, Lesnar threw a jab that knocked Mir to the canvas. After a couple punches in half guard, Lesnar looked out of place and a leg was open for Mir to get a knee bar. It was inexperience at its finest, and Lesnar didn't know what to do, tapping.

Lesnar's performance indicates that he has raw tools. He is big, he is powerful, he is agile. But, he is inexperienced. Mir had absolutely no answer for Lesnar's two takedown attempts. The punches that were thrown looked powerful and did damage. Maybe the point deduction distracted Lesnar slightly, but it did not have any real impact on the fight. You would think Lesnar or someone in his camp would have bothered looking at the toe hold Mir put on Tank Abbott and thinking a leg lock would be probable.
*Mir wins submission of the night.
(Poll Lesnar 59-37, MMA Blaster readers incorrect)



Nate Marquardt def. Jeremy Horn via submission (guillotine choke) — R2, 1:37 - Marquardt punished Horn for virtually the entire first round. Horn eventually worked in an omaplata shoulder lock to a sweep near the end of the round. The second round was more of the same as Horn fell into the guillotine after taking alot of punishment. Marquardt was sound on his feet working his punches and combos.

Ricardo Almeida def. Rob Yundt via submission (guillotine choke) — R1, 1:08 - Almeida overwelmed the inexperienced Yundt before getting the choke. Yundt attempted to slam himself out, but was unsuccesful.

Tyson Griffin def. Gleison Tibau via unanimous decision - Griffin probably had the edge standing, but Tibau was able to get some takedowns.

Chris Lytle def. Kyle Bradley via KO (strikes) — R1, 0:33 - Lytle came out swinging, and tagged Bradley sending him to the canvas where he absorbed another punch before the ref stepped in. A dazed Bradley pulled the ref into his guard before realizing what was going on.
*KO of the night.

Tim Boetsch def. David Heath via TKO (strikes) — R1, 4:52 - IFL vet Boetsch worked his front kick and unorthodox body punches. After getting the thai clinch, Boetch worked devastating knee strikes. To finish it off, Boetsch hip tossed Heath to the canvas and finished Heath off.



Marvin Eastman def. Terry Martin via unanimous decision

Rob Emerson def. Keita Nakamura via split decision