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

Exciting TUF Finale

Season Six Finale Recap by the MMA Blaster

Anyone who was upset at the uneventful UFC 78 should have been rejoicing after seeing the latest Ultimate Fighter Finale. Season Six wrapped up with a bang with exciting fight after exciting fight. Even though I was a little disappointed at the showing of Tom Speer, the card was great. As you can see by the results there was only one fight that went to a decision and that usually guarantees there were some fireworks. In terms of grades I would give this card an A.

Huerta v. Guida will definately get fight of the year consideration. The fight was an absolute war with Guida beating Huerta pretty bad in the first two rounds. Huerta was able to come back somehow in the third round, a round which he knew he had to do something to finish the fight. He came out with everything he had, hitting Guida with punches and knees that found their mark. Huerta was able to get Guida's back and won with a rear naked choke with just 31 seconds to spare. Because of this victory, Huerta better get a shot at the winner of Stevenson v. Penn.

Full results:

1 Jonathan Goulet defeats Paul Georgieff Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 1 4:42
2 Roman Mitichyan defeats Dorian Price Submission (Ankle lock) 1 0:23
3 Matt Arroyo defeats John Kolosci Submission (Armbar) 1 4:42
4 Troy Mandaloniz defeats Richie Hightower KO 1 4:20
5 Ben Saunders defeats Daniel Barrera Decision (Unanimous) 3 5:00
6 George Sotiropoulos defeats Billy Miles Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 1 1:36
7 Jon Koppenhaver defeats Jared Rollins TKO (Strikes) 3 2:01
8 Mac Danzig defeats Tom Speer Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 1 2:01
9 Roger Huerta defeats Clay Guida Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 3 0:31

Thoughts on the TUF fights

Ben Saunders needs to develop takedown defense because Barrera was able to get takedowns whenever he wanted. Saunders does have potential to be a UFC star with solid kicks, punches, and submission defense and offense.

Sotiropoulos should have taken on a tougher opponent because Billy has little submission defense or striking ability. George outclassed Billy.

Koppenhaver showed heart and determination in a great fight with Jared Rollins. This was a three round battle that went back and forth with J-Roc and War doing damage. After being wobbled, War Machine was able to sweep J-Roc and knock him out cold with elbows and punches with little time left in the third. This was my second favorite fight of the night.

Mandaloniz v. Hightower was a pretty exciting fight. There were times when Hightower was getting the most of the action, but then he was stunned by some huge shots and pounded out by Rude Boy.

Danzig beat Speer just two minutes into the action. Seemed like Tommy may have been a little gun shy being on the big stage for the first time in his fight career. He didn't look like himself and Danzig capitalized.



Photo from Sherdog

TUF - Upperdecker Edition

Recap by the MMA Blaster

I saw something that was pretty nasty last night. Nasty in the sense that War Machine, or Poop Machine, dropped a deuce in the the top shelf of the Team Hughes toilet. I have heard about this practice before, but had never seen it in action. Billy Miles reaction was priceless when he walked into the bathroom and discovered a nasty smell. When he flushed the backwater came back a little brown.

It was pretty obvious when Team Hughes came back from practice that something had just went down. All three could not stop laughing. Mac said that Richie was laughing like Fran Drescher (the Nanny) and got in his face before the deed was even discovered. The person that took it the worse was J-Rock, who proceeded to kick team Serra's door in (too bad he didn't kick like that when he was facing George). Rude Boy and War ended cleaning it up, no harm, no fowl smell.

The editing of this episode was priceless. Anytime they showed Speer, it was right after his previous fight when he is the most swollen. We got to see some actual coaching from Serra and Hughes - finally. Serra was showing JJ, and Hughes gameplaning for some Saunders high kicks. I wish that they would show more technique and training, but I don't think it will happen anytime soon.

The first round of the fight consisted of Speer basically imposing his will for a takedown, and then Saunders getting the most of Speer on the ground. Saunders nearly had a arm bar, then nearly had a triangle. But, close just doesn't cut it. The second round saw Speer taking Saunders down and getting some shots in. I scored the first round for Saunders and the second for Speer. With time left, I thought for sure it would have been called a draw and we would see another round. To my surprise Speer won. I seriously have my doubts about judges, but if you want to win you have to finish the fight.

The quarters were picked with Danzig fighting Arroyo and George fighting Speer. Supposedly one fighter won't be going any further. If it is injury related, I would guess Speer would be out. If it is idiot related, I would say Mac probably did something stupid to Richie and got booted. Regardless, I am looking forward to the next show.

TUF Finale Preview

Preview Picks by MMA Blaster

On December 8th, this Saturday night, I will be recording the TUF Finale to watch the following morning. Unfortunately, I have two Christmas parties that I am supposed to attend that night. The past episode of the Ultimate Fighter saw Matt Arroyo suffering a rib injury and not being able to continue. John Kolosci was the only fighter enthusiatic about taking a fight with Mac Danzig. However, Mac stood stong against Kolosci's kicks and eventually got him in a rear naked choke.

The second match-up saw George Sotiropoulous v. Tom Speer. Speer threw a punch which caught George's eye. After taking a brief time-out, George re-entered and was caught by combinations and eventually got knocked out. The final is set with Speer v. Danzig.

Here are the match-ups for the finale, my picks are in bold:

MAIN CARD

Clay Guida vs. Roger Huerta
Mac Danzig vs. Tommy Speer - TUF 6 Title
Jon Koppenhaver vs. Jared Rollins
Billy Miles vs. George Sotiropoulous
Dan Barrera vs. Ben Saunders

PRELIMINARY CARD

Matt Arroyo vs. John Kolosci
Richie Hightower vs. Troy Mandaloniz
Roman Mitichyan vs. Dorian Price
Paul Georgieff vs. Jonathan Goulet

**Looks like my only loss was taking Speer over Danzig.

TUF Fight to Call Tonight - Saunders v. Speer

Thoughts by the Blaster

Tonight's episode of the Ultimate Fighter reality show features a matchup between American Top Teams' Ben "Beserk" Saunders (4-0-2) and Minnesota farm boy Tom Speer (7-1). Speer and Saunders both faced tough battles in their previous fights and both ended up coming out on top. Kind of sucks for them that they have to fight at this stage, because Saunders and Speer are no joke.

Saunders lists himself as a Jeet Kune Do Concepts fighter. I'm guessing he is a Bruce Lee fan "flow like water." I saw superb kicks, crisp punches, and near submission attempts in his fight against a very tough Daniel Barrera and expect the same in this fight. Looking at his record, he has wins over Charles Blanchard (4-1, only loss to Saunders), and a couple 185 pounders. His first pro fight ended with a draw to UFC vet Crafton Wallace.

Speer has been shown as a soft spoken and excellent wrestler on TUF (almost a Matt Hughes clone). The red head was cut by a War Machine punch right off the bat in his first match and bled all over the place. Instead of panicking, Speer persevered and was able to get the victory. He has fought in the WEC beating Sidney Silva (6-2), and has fought mainly in Extreme Challenge events. His one loss came from referee stoppage about a year and a half ago to a fighter named John Meyer (2-1).

I really don't know who to pick in this fight, mainly because I am such a fan of both fighters. While ideally, I would have liked a Danzig v. Speer, George v. Saunders quarterfinals, this fight will probably be entertaining. What the heck, I'll say Saunders by submission round 2.

TUF Speer v. Koppenhaver

Breaking News, Blaster's Pick is Correct

Looks like the Blaster's premonition was correct and Tom Speer pulled off a win against Joe "War Machine" Koppenhaver. It was definitely no easy victory for Speer, as War Machine's first punch in their battle landed flush in the bridge of the nose. Blood gushed out of Speer's face as he quickly found himself in a rear-naked choke attempt. There were numerous times I Serra's team thought they had the fight won, but Speer persevered for two minutes of nearly getting choked.

Pulling a page out of the Matt Hughes playbook, ala Hughes v. Trigg, Speer managed to escape out of the seemingly close choke attempts. Then Speer used his farmboy spirit to pound the War Machine with elbows and fists for the rest of the round. The second round was all Speer, who was apparently, "still leaking" according to coach Matt Serra. Koppenhaver said it best when he discussed blowing his load trying to get the choke in the first, because with no gas in the tank Speer pounded War Machine for the entire round with elbows, punches and sub attempts.

*War Machine, if you need to catch your breath, don't throw a leg kick at a wrestler who is looking for a takedown.

**Neck grenade tattoo + bullet belt = Pure Awesome

Tom Speer v. Joe Koppenhaver TUF

I have Tom Speer winning over Joe "War Machine" Koppenhaver on TUF tonight. Tom Speer has a win in the WEC.