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UFC 63 Hughes vs. Penn II - Round-by-Round Joe Lauzon vs. Jens Pulver Wow. Lauzon stunned Pulver, and most of the MMA world with this one. Lauzon caught Pulver early, and didn’t give him a chance to mount any offense. I think a combination of Lauzon trying to end it early, which was his best chance of winning, and, it seems, Pulver taking his opponent lightly, led to this most stunning of upsets. Jason Lambert vs. Rashad Evans Rashad controlled the first round, and while Lambert did fight for a kimura, and somewhat got it, Rashad was never in any real trouble while Lambert was backing up a lot. Rashad wins this 10-9 for me. Rashad dominated Lambert and took him down easily, en route to a brutal TKO win. Lambert’s biggest problem was that he didn’t appear willing to take the fight to Rashad and was waiting to play counterfighter and it cost him big. Gabe Ruediger vs. Melvin Guillard Guillard completely dominated the first half of the round, to where I was anticipating a 10-8 round. Then, things slowed down and Ruediger wound up turning the tide in his favor and was very close to upsetting Guillard. Guillard controlled for longer than Ruediger, but his easing up, and then coming close to losing, makes this round even for me. 10-10. It started slow and then Guillard struck with a hard right to the solar plexus. A second one soon followed and Ruediger crumpled into a heap and it was all over. Quite the finish to this one. Mike Swick vs. David Loiseau First round was pretty methodical, with neither man really advancing forward, but Swick did pick things up in the second half the round and for me he did enough, just, to win the round. 10-9 for Swick. Round two was very boring round, with neither fighter seemingly willing to be the one to get things going. Swick did try and do a few things late on and while he did give Loiseau a small but, it wasn’t enough for me to give him the round, so I scored it even, 10-10, with Swick ahead 20-19 going into the third and final round. Round three was mostly slow but both fighters picked up the pace halfway through. Loiseau seemed ready to pounce as Swick appeared to gas out badly, but he never really took advantage and Swick was content to let time run out. Swick got a takedown right at the end, but I don’t view it as enough to win a very even, and none too exciting, round. 10-10 draw, so I have Swick winning 30-29. The judges all scored 29-28 in favor of Swick. David Lee vs. Tyson Griffin Lee tried to start big and it wound up costing him in a big way, as Griffin got him down and kept him there. Eventually, Griffin was able to get a rear naked choke on, and Lee did try to work his way out of it but to no avail and was forced to tap out. BJ Penn vs. Matt Hughes Hughes tried to take Penn down almost right away, but Penn showed excellent takedown defense and blocked it. Penn managed to tag Hughes a couple of times, and Hughes’ face reddened up a bit. The poke to the eye was unfortunate, but it didn’t take away from a round that Penn clearly won, through great defense and solid offense. 10-9 to Penn, and Hughes really needs to try something new. Round two was incredible. Hughes was finally able to take Penn down after a struggle, but things managed to got worse for Hughes after that as Penn fought him off Hughes and was able to get his back. Penn had Hughes in trouble with a rear naked choke but Hughes fought out of it only to get trapped with a triangle choke and armbar combination and he was damn near close to being choked out but he was able to hold on to the end of the round. Penn wins round two as well, and I’d say it was enough to make it a 10-8 win, meaning I have Penn up 20-17 so far. The third round saw Hughes turned things around in a big way. He got Penn down again and managed to slip past Penn’s guard, grab side control and tie up Penn’s arms. This left Penn open to a barrage of punches, and Penn had no way to escape and eventually John McCarthy had to stop the fight to give Hughes the TKO win, in a fight that he came very close to losing. As a fight, the main event was really good, but as a story it was incredible. Eddie Sanchez vs. Mario Neto The first round was relatively uneventful, and while Neto did get some offense in, it wasn’t enough to win a very sedate round. 10-10 The second round didn’t last long before Sanchez nailed Neto with a strong left hand and, after a couple more strikes on the ground, it was all over. Overall: This was a pretty solid card of action, with a relatively strong undercard and a main event that more than delivered, which is what you really want out of a PPV. It was better than UFC 62 and was obviously streets ahead of UFC 61, but I don’t know that I’d call it a great PPV. If you judge a PPV by the overall quality, then it was good but great, but if you judge a PPV by how well the main event delivers, then it was off the charts.

Ultimate Fight Night 6: Round-by-Round Josh Koscheck vs. Jonathan Goulet Koscheck totally controlled the fight and was never close to being in danger. Koscheck continues to show that he could be a title contender down the line. Guess I’m going to have to wait a while for Josh to finally get the shit kicked out of him. Dean Lister vs. Yuki Sasaki A very slow start but it turned into a good round. Lister controlled the direction of the fight and clearly won the round, but Sasaki put up more than enough of a defense to avoid being blown out, so I have it 10-9 for Lister. Round two was again controlled by Lister who tied Sasaki up in knots on the ground, but Sasaki somehow weathered the storm and escaped to get things standing for the last few seconds. The question is does Lister win 10-8 for such dominance, or does he only win 10-9 for not being able to finish? I’ll go with 10-9, making it 20-18 for Lister going into the third and final round. The third round saw Lister gassed out from trying to put Sasaki away in round two, but Sasaki was equally gassed and was unable to take advantage. 10-10 round, so I have it as Lister winning 30-28. All three judges give it 30-27 to Lister. There was very noticeable booing from the crowd to that, probably from Lister actively trying to stall during round three. Chris Leben vs. Jorge Santiago Round one was even, and neither guy did enough to make me give them the nod so I have it 10-10. Round two was slow standing up until Leben hit home with a great left hand knocking Santiago out cold. They showed the punch a couple of times in slow motion and it hit Santiago right in the face and he was out before he hit the ground. Joe Riggs vs. Jason Von Flue It went to the ground and Riggs controlled Von Flue en route to a great triangle choke. Von Flue flipped the bird and then quickly tapped out, which was funny. Karo Parisyan vs. Diego Sanchez Round one was very heated with the crowd being loud and noisy. Sanchez was awesome with how easily he was able to get Parisyan’s back. Parisyan was cut under one of his eyes, so that may give the round to Sanchez with the judges, but Parisyan was able to take Sanchez down with some excellent judo throws, so I score the first round even. Round two was all-action and Diego again showed tremendous agility with his ground game. He was able to effectively neutralize Parisyan and dominated the round so I give the round to Diego. It’s 20-19 for Diego on my scorecard. Round three was exciting with a hot crowd who never let up. Diego was again in command with Karo trying to hang in there, getting limited respite. Karo did get a throw in there, but Diego was just dominating in this round and I’d give it to him 10-8. With that, I have him winning the decision 30-27. The judges gave it Sanchez with scores of 29-28. 29-28 and 30-26. An awesome fight, and a real FOTY candidate.

Yves Edwards vs. Joe Stevenson A good first round, which I’d give to Edwards. He did a good job of fending off Stevenson for the most part, and he scored with a great looking high kick. Stevenson totally dominated round two, but the real story was the bleeding from Edwards off the cuts to his head. The canvas was splattered with Yves blood, and was a sight to see. Going into round three, I have it 19-18 to Stevenson. The doctor stops the fight, though, and Stevenson gets the victory. No complaints with the stoppage, because that was a cut that just wouldn’t stop bleeding and it was going to impair Yves’ vision. Frank Mir vs. Dan Christison Christison did just enough to win a very boring round. Mir was totally blown up and did very little. Neither did Christison, but he did get an armbar on Mir that came close, so I’d go with Christison again. Not a very lively round, but Mir did more than enough to win it, but it won’t save the fight for him with me. I gave it 29-28 to Christison. Mir won it 29-28 with all three judges, and it’s not a decision I really agree with. Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz This has the atmosphere of something special. Hopefully, we’ll see a special ass kicking from Ortiz. Ortiz wins by ref stoppage in 1:18. I’m not a fan of Ken, but that stoppage was way too premature. A terrible decision by Herb Dean, and I’d be chanting “bullshit” too. Dana White calls out Wanderlei Silva and then Chuck Liddell and announces that, if Liddell gets past Sobral, which is likely, it will be Silva vs. Liddell in November. Holy shit, I am there. Josh Neer vs. Josh Burkman There were some good exchanges in what was a very even round. Burkman did enough, including a great takedown, to win the round. It goes into round three 20-19 for Burkman. Third round was even, but Burkman, I think, did enough to win the round and the fight. I have it 30-28 for Burkman. Burkman wins it by unanimous decision. Andrei Arlovsky vs. Tim Sylvia The first round was mostly action, with Arlovsky doing more than enough to win the round for me. There was a lot of back and forth action in round two, but I don’t think either man did enough to win it. The third round was dangerously close to being without any merit. Sylvia did get decent punches in, but they didn’t win him the round in my eyes, though. It’s 30-29 for Arlovsky so for in my book. Round four = snooze. No winner. 40-39 so far on my card. More of the same in round five. I have Arlovsky winning 50-48, but I’d hardly call him a winner based on his performance. The judges have it 48-47, 49-46 and 48-47 for Sylvia. This fight was beyond boring as shit. Round-by-round, I had Arlovsky winning, but if I were to judge the fight based on overall performance, I’d call it a draw. Neither man did anything to warrant being called the UFC Heavyweight Champion, and the heavyweight division needs a lot of rehab to overcome this debacle. Overall Outside of the terrible call in the Ortiz vs. Shamrock fight, the announcement of a possible Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell fight in November, and Yves Edwards bleeding like crazy, there was absolutely nothing of note on this PPV, and it had the least merit of any UFC PPV for a long time.

UFC: Best knockout from a punch: Brad Kohler on Steve Judson at UFC 22 Best knockout from a kick: Yves Edwards on Josh Thompson at UFC 49 Best submission: Matt Hughes on Frank Trigg at UFC 45 PRIDE: Best knockout from a punch: Igor Vovchanchyn on Francisco Bueno at PRIDE 8 Best knockout from a kick: Gilbert Yvel on Gary Goodridge at PRIDE 10 Best submission: Ryo Chonan on Anderson Silva at PRIDE Shockwave 2004