Heavyweight bout: Roy Nelson vs. Junior dos Santos

Fat vs. muscle usually has fat win because muscle gasses from too much muscle. Nelson takes a bunch of bombs, survives, dos Santos gasses a little, but did prevent a major shutdown by not getting too excited when he got a knockdown to pull a Shane Carwin. Dos Santos survives to win decision. Two big guys punching is alright. **

Welterweight bout: Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida

I hate Matt Hughes and Almeida’s a 4-time bjj world champ, so you know who *I’m* going for. Joe Rogan knows his shit as he notices Hughes uses an orthodox stance which means Hughes either wants to punch or he expects punching, but last fight he went unorthodox because he expected wrestling. Almeida should be better than shitty Renzo Gracie. Uh oh, Almeida knocked down from a punch. Uh oh, front headlock. Looks tight. WTF ALMEIDA WENT TO SLEEP?! FROM A HEADLOCK? God, WTF. **1/2

Lightweight bout: Clay Guida vs. Rafael dos Anjos

Guida doesn’t want to tap gloves with dos Anjos which I love because I’m sick of fighters doing that. Takes the intensity off the fight a bit for me. Guida with some monster punches including one to the jaw. Guida on top and does a standard shoulder to dos Anjos’s chin and then using his free foot to pass half guard and…TAP?! W. T. F?????????????!!! Dos Anjos broke his jaw from one of Guida’s punches and the pressure was too much. But on the bright side, Guida tried to shake hands after and dos Anjos said fuck you. That’ll show him. *1/2

Catchweight bout (171.5 Ibs): Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves

Alves decided not to cut a final half pound because he couldn’t so he loses part of his purse. Joe Rogan correctly hypothesizes that he probably didn’t cut that last half pound because what he cut already weakened him so much. It’s pretty obvious that this is the case as Fitch takes down Alves at will and Alves has no energy to sweep out. Basic wrestler just laying on a guy and baby punching to a decision win. Yawn. 1/2

Middleweight Championship bout: Anderson Silva (c) vs. Chael Sonnen

I’m actually believing the hype on Sonnen’s shit talking. Especially the part where Lance Armstrong gave himself cancer. Silva gets a few solid hits standing but Sonnen knocks Silva down, lays on him, and lands a few blows and tap punches the rest of the round. This repeats for four rounds. Silva seems a bit content staying in guard trying to submit Sonnen or butterfly guard sweep him. I think Silva’s trying to avenge his Nogeria brothers black belt that Sonnen talked shit about. Joe Rogan says that Silva is hurt and tired from the big punches and laying on Silva, but Silva doesn’t seem that tired or hurt to me and none of Sonnen’s punches look like they’re hurting him, even the big ones, but they’re scoring points to where Sonnen has clearly won the first four rounds. Meanwhile, Silva is busting elbows from the guard and busted Sonnen’s face open. By the end of the fourth round, Sonnen’s face has a big gash on his upper left eye brow and Silva just has bruises under his eyes. 5th round is more of the same of some stand up punches and then to the ground, and why not. Silva slips by ducking a punch and goes to guard. This shit is over. About four minutes left and Sonnen’s rabbit punching the shit out of Silva, which does nothing damage-wise but scores points like hell. This shit is sooooooooo ov- oh what…shit…Silva with a triangle. It looks deep and long legs makes triangles easy. Sonnen uses one of the three proper escapes to a triangle by putting his own leg over Silva’s stomach and trying to pull out, but Silva looks like gumby. OMFG SONNEN TAPPED. Ha, Sonnen then tried to act like he didn’t tap and tries to keep going but UFC uses instant replay and shows that he did tap. UNBELIEVABLE. Silva wears his gi and Nogeria black belt and says, “Nogeria jiu jitsu!” I wonder if Silva was just trying to submit Sonnen on purpose. I would have given this 5 stars if the ref stood the fights up more. Too much of nothing significant in Silva’s guard, but I can see why the ref didn’t want to stand it up. I would have stood it up at two times per round at most, at least once. Not the fight of the year, but damn close. ****1/2

A mild night with a great finish. I don’t know who you put Silva against next, but I don’t think he cares if he wins or loses anymore. I’m sad he didn’t get to use aikido. People hate Silva, but honestly I’d rather watch a guy run around the ring and bust rabona kicks instead of ANOTHER wrestler laying on a guy and rabbit punching to a decision win. Fuck Sonnen. Next card looks boring, but I REALLY want James Toney to beat up Randy Couture to make Dana White mad.

Lightweight bout: George Sotiropoulos vs. Kurt Pellegrino

Looking forward to this fight as Sotiropoulous is a 10th planet guy against a Marcelo Garcia guy. Marcelo Garcia is pretty much accepted as the greatest sport bjj guy ever, gi and no gi. 10th planet jj is designed for MMA and no gi only and hated by Brazilians mostly because it was made by an American dude on weed that really never won anything except a semifinal ADCC win over Royler Gracie. I seen all of Marcelo Garcia’s tapes and while its pretty bad ass, I don’t think any of it is useful to an MMA guy whereas a lot of Eddie Bravo 10th planet stuff is immediately useful for MMA. Long side note, but only because I’m totally into this fight.

Oh also, Pellegrino was quoted begging Sotiropoulous to not tap out and to let his arm break or get choked out and he’d do the same so they could show how real BJJ guys do dis. Moron.

Sotiropoulous is a legit boxer with good boxing combos, and Pellegrino should use leg kicks to counter because Sotiropoulous’s head seems to be in the wrong place for an MMA fight but not for a boxing match. 1st round, Sotiropoulous knocks Pellegrino down with a jab, tries to get his back but does some side control thing and Pellegrino gets up. Back to boxing and Sotiropoulous is landing with the left hook a lot. Pellegrino with a takedown, but Sotiropoulous just gets back up. USA chant by Vegas crowd, which is stupid. George with a nice knee. His left jab and hook are doing well. Kurt with a takedown. George into crackhead control and unloads punches on Kurt so Kurt correctly pulls out and then goes into half guard. George pulls full guard easily and the round ends.

Kenny Florian told Kurt he gives George too much respect standing, but George is owning boxing. Kurt with unconvincing leg kicks. George grabs a leg and then after some hopping, Kurt goes down. George has awesome passing and eventually passes into quarterguard. George just unloads punches, hammerfists, and elbows from quarterguard. Kurt almost scrambles out but George holds him and Kurt’s pinned on the cage allowing George to get side control. George trying to get the back but Kurt stands up with the cage. George tries to lift Kurt to take him down but doesn’t work. Ref says advance position because Kurt cries but that’s because George is owning him Rashad Evans-like. Back to boxing. Kurt with a nice knee to George’s head but then eats a left and the round ends.

Kenny Florian tells Kurt has to finish the 3rd. Eddie Bravo tells George “HE DUN WANNA STAND WIT YOU.” 3rd round starts with boxing. George has legit boxing with a really stiff jab, but I really don’t like where George’s head is after he throws his combos. Kurt needs to bust some leg kicks and stop punching. George left hooks Kurt again and Kurt takes George down. George attempting mission control but Kurt’s stacking nicely to prevent it. I like George’s offensive guard. Kurt tries to pass but fail. George gets crackhead control, Eddie’s yelling for George to put the foot on Kurt’s hip to release the stacking. Kurt slams George to get out and they both stand again. Kurt gets a huge knee and a punch to the face as George hits the ground to convince one judge to steal the round, but George wins by decision. This was just George controlling every aspect of the fight, but the end of the fight could have been bad for George because his head is in the wrong place after his boxing combos. Against BJ Penn he won’t pay, but if they match George with a leg kicker, George would probably lose. ***1/2

Light Heavyweight bout: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Stephan Bonnar

Mr. Kimura vs. Mr. Lifetime Contract. This fight as basically two guys trading punches. Soszynski should have made it a grappling fight, but his pride and concern for a good fight got in the way and decided to trade blows with Homer Simpson. Entertaining fight because they just traded punches, but stupid for Soszynski. ***

Welterweight bout: Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown

Matt Brown tries to make this a clinch fight whereas Lytle is trying to trade. Matt Brown wins the first round with his dirty boxing clinch bullshit, but Lytle doesn’t look like he cares. Lytle gets mount on Brown, then side control, then reverse triangle from the top. When I saw this I was like, “WTF IS HE DOING GIVING AWAY MOUNT FOR SIDE CONTROL? Oh…reverse triangle from mount is worse.” It is worse because Lytle gets free shots to Brown’s head if he wanted, but he instead finishes with an armbar using his arms, which usually never works, but if Brown didn’t tap, Lytle would have punched the shit out of him anyway with hammerfists. Extra half star for the reverse triangle from mount that no one ever uses. ***1/2

Middleweight bout: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben

So Leben takes Wanderlei Silva’s place because Silva broke 3 ribs and injured his knee in training. Oops. Leben just fought two weeks ago, sooooooooo wtf. Akiyama says he’s disappointed. Dana White says Akiyama is the type to trade blows just to show he can when people says he can’t. Great, another “pride” moron. Akiyama beats the crap out of Leben, but Leben’s another Homer Simpson. Akiyama looks gassed after the 1st round. Akiyama gets caught in a triangle and doesn’t even try to escape because he’s gassed. My god. Leben calls out Wanderlei Silva. Call out old, famous fighters. That’s how Tito does it. Easy wins. Akiyama was good as his judo takedowns, but his ground work really sucks. **1/2

Heavyweight Championship bout: Brock Lesnar (c) vs Shane Carwin (ic)

I have legit chills for this match up. I want Brock to win because he’s good for the sport, but Carwin’s knockout power is Mike Tyson-like. Brock gets punched in the face and tries to take down the Division II Wrestling Champion, but Carwin still has energy. Brock gets knocked down and Carwin unloads 101 punches to Brock’s head. I thought twice the ref might have stopped the fight, but I’m glad he didn’t because Brock looked like he was okay and was blocking a lot of them and fighting back when Carwin stopped punching. Some scary shit for Brock though. Joe says Brock’s wife isn’t watching anymore and put her head between her legs, but the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin are still watching. Carwin with almost full mount and Brock takes that time to escape. Very nice. Round ends and this is the first time Carwin is past the 1st round.

Carwin looks TIRED the start of the 2nd round. Uh oh, is he gassed. You can’t be gassed if trained with Greg Jackson can you? Well, maybe you will be gassed if instead of training you went to your engineering job instead. Brock takes down Carwin and Carwin doesn’t even struggle. Ho shit, Carwin’s fucked. Brock in Carwin’s half guard. Brock looks like he’s going to get mount but instead moves to the other side and has a head and arm triangle. UH OH. Wait, Carwin’s got this, he looks comfortable. Oops, Carwin’s face tweaks as Brock does an adjustment and Carwin taps. Brock’s obviously been working with Erik Paulson. Modern age rope a dope as Brock waited for Carwin to punch himself out and gas and then tapped him. Didn’t even need to throw another punch in the 2nd round. No ring rust there for Brock. Afterwards, they show the Rock in Brock’s locker room saying something like, “MAN I THOUGHT YOU WERE DONE” and Brock looks like he said, “Yeah me too.” I’m paraphrasing, but Brock obviously is more humble around the Rock than to the public. If Carwin’s punching power can’t take out Brock, maybe less punching power but full cardio on Tito Ortiz look alike Cain Velasquez can give Brock some problems. Great fight. ****

After so many terrible cards, this one was awesome. Next card looks like it might suck my ass, but I want Anderson Silva to beat the shit out of Sonnen and dance doing it so he dares Dana White into firing him.

In Vancouver, Canada.

Welterweight bout: Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald

MacDonald grabs Condit’s foot on a kick and punches his face to make Condit go down to start but gets back up. These guys are swinging. Condit taken down on clinch and starts meathook rubber guard. I thought Greg Jackson hated rubber guard, but his dude keeps pulling it. Greg Jackson guys are usually good at wrestling too but Condit is getting dominated in the clinch. He grabs his own foot for rubber guard which is stupid as you can break your own foot off if MacDonald postures up. Back to the feet and they throw blows as Condit gets a nice punch to the face on MacDonald. They trade punches to the face and MacDonald takes Condit down again. Condit loves the meathook rubber guard to get pot shots with the free hand. Back to the feet which shows me the takedowns don’t really put Condit in danger. These guys are mashing with kicks and punches. Condit busting nice leg kicks but taken down again. Takedowns look more impressive than solid strikes so that’ll probably cost Condit. Condit just sucks at clinch. Condit is never in danger when he’s taken down, which to me should negate the impression made from takedowns. They really need a bjj type point system. Condit almost gets taken down again but sweeps, then is pushed with MacDonald’s fet and reversed. Condit’s guard is pretty safe. Crowd loves MacDonald and chants his name all fight long. Lots of punches connecting from both guys. MacDonald starts winning the stand up and then tries the takedown, but Condit has figured out to kimura to reverse takedowns and enjoys some time on top and busts a bunch of elbows into mount. MacDonald is like “Fuck this” and just stands up but is quickly taken down. Condit looks like he’s about to knock MacDonald out. MacDonald just needs to survive to win by decision. Condit just DOMINATING with elbows. HAHAHA The ref stopped the fight because MacDonald wasn’t really responding to the 100 punches and elbows. Crowd’s pissed. I probably wouldn’t have stopped the fight, but MacDonald looked like he gave up. ***

Heavyweight bout: Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel

Rothwell comes out super aggressive. Both guys passing each other’s guard easily because heavyweights suck. Rothwell finally just lays on Yvel. Rothwell tries to get greddy and get a mounted crucifix and Yvel stands up. Rothwell with full mount again. I don’t know how you don’t finish here. Yvel with a footlock but he sucks. Rothwell gets his mounted crucifix and can’t finish and rolls out. He sucks at grappling but his escapes are okay. Rothwell looks rocked. Rothwell continues to take Yvel down and lays on him for about two minutes before standing up. Yvel sweeps Rothwell with an Americana attempt and throws blows. Rothwell looks tired. This fight is basically lay on a dude and punch, but these punches don’t seem to hurt. Rothwell is taking Yvel down all day and wins the decision from it. Some people like the kind of fight where it’s two fat fucks taking each other down and busting weak punches. I don’t. *1/2

Welterweight bout: Paulo Thiago vs. Martin Kampmann

Lots of, uhh, “feeling out” and running. Thiago is definitely getting out punched. Thiago sick of being punched in the face and grabs a leg. Sweep kick actually takes Kampmann down but puts Thiago in a guillotine. Thiago changed the fight into a wrestling match. Well played, but he’s now losing the wrestling match. Kampmann catches a north-south choke but uses the cage to escape. Man that was tight. Next round has even more feeling out. Thiago gets bored and tries to take down and gives his back. Kampmann gives up the back mount to go for the arm triangle. Lots of stalling as Thiago has a kimura sweep. Hmm, kimura defense is looking pretty good. I may try that next week in BJJ class. Thiago taken down again after a minute and a half of “finding range.” Kampmann loves the arm triangle. Thiago looks tired. Kampmann winning because he knows how to sprawl, which is really the only technique you need if you’re against a grappler. Another arm triangle attempt and Kampmann gets the decision. Too much stalling. *1/2

Heavyweight bout: Mirko Filipović vs. Pat Barry

I love Cro Cop, but he seems slower since moving to the UFC and I picked Pat Barry to win this fight. Pat looks HUGE compared to Cro Cop. Pat knocks down Cro Cop, and then lets Cro Cop up. WTF? Why not follow him down? Pat’s leg kicks are ownage. Looks like these two just want to kick box, which is alright with me, but bad for Pat I think, especially since he’s bigger. OH SHIT! Pat just knocked down Cro Cop again with a monnnnnnster punch…and doesn’t follow. Dude, you’re going to regret it. Cro Cop looks like a mess with a messed up leg and his jaw is swollen which means broken jaw. Pat is just beating Cro Cop up. Cro Cop trying to takedown because fuck this. They tap gloves HAHA that was kinda cool. They tap gloves again and hug haha. This is funny. Pat Berry is definitely not finishing Cro Cop because he’s Pat’s hero. Cro Cop looks super hurt. Cro Cop’s left eye is swollen. Cro Cop is confortable throwing his signature kick now because he knows it’s just a kickboxing match. Cro Cop picking up speed. Clinch and Cro Cop is just slapping Berry’s thigh. Berry looks tired or something. I don’t know. Something’s off. Cro Cop just kicking the shit out of Berry. Berry with high kick that misses and Cro Cop following him to the ground. Smart. Maybe Berry should have done that. Cro Cop in Berry’s half guard. Mount into the back. Cro Cop riding the back. Nice little punches by Cro Cop. Pat Berry sucks on the ground. Cro Cop with a high kick. Cro Cop looks comfortable now busting an axe kick. Cro Cop clinches. Smart. Cro Cop with a high kick and Pat sweeps the leg like you would on the Karate Kid. Doesn’t follow up. Lots of kicks and punches by both guys again. If Pat Berry got a blue belt in BJJ he would beat Cro Cop. Pat looks like he’s throwing the fight. I said it. Cro Cop unloading on Pat Berry and Berry goes down and gets the rear naked choke for the win. Weird fight, but I liked it. This is pretty much how you market Cro Cop. We don’t want to see Bill Goldberg wrestle Chris Benoit. We want Bill Goldberg to squash some bitches. **1/2

Light Heavyweight bout: Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin

I used to like Chuck Liddell, but he got cocky and talked shit on Tito. In fact, all the reasons people hated Tito is what Chuck now does, but people don’t hate on Chuck. I do. Liddell and Franklin trade a bunch of kicks and punches. These guys look old and slow. Liddell’s leg kick breaks Franklin’s arm, but Franklin punches Liddell with it anyway because he’s a MAN. Liddell has been training with Scott Epstein, 10th Planet JJ’s third black belt, and probably their best in terms of MMA application. Too bad it’s just two old guys punching. Liddell starts to win but gets caught with a soft looking fade away punch by Franklin and it’s lights out to Liddell for the match and hopefully his career. If Liddell still forces Dana White for fights, Dana should put him against Rampage or Brock and let him get beat up really really bad. Old man fight. Boring. *

Overall, a boring night again, but I liked the first fight and the Cro Cop fight. I guess I just need more big name guys on a card I pay for. I hope the next card doesn’t suck. It won’t. Geroge Sotiropoulous and Kurt Pellegrino are awesome bjj guys, Bonnar and Soszynski mash, and Lesner and Carwin are mashers. Good match ups by the match up guy. Carwin’s going to destroy Brock, which is too bad because I like both guys.

I’m at this dude’s house that kept pausing the fights. I hope my memory holds.

Welterweight bout: Diego Sanchez vs. John Hathaway
Diego is legit crazy. I know that because I know a guy who used to train with him at Greg Jackson before Greg Jackson was famously awesome. Unfortunately, he’s about as smart as his coaches are. So when he left Jackson, he left the smartest coaching staff in MMA. I’ve never heard of John Hathaway, but 13-0 means something, especially if 3 of those wins are from the UFC. Diego tries the same takedown strategy as his last fight with BJ. Hathaway stuffs the shit out of him every time and proceeds to punch the shit out of Diego. Everyone at the party thought he was a goner, but I told them if BJ Penn can’t knock him out, no one can. Diego has some of the best knockout recovery ever, but that’s not good if that’s a skill that is utilized every fight like Diego. Hathaway neutralizes everything Diego does, which includes takedowns and stale stand up and gets the easy decision. One judge gave a 10-8, which I’m like HUHZ but MMA judges are retarded. This is important in the next fight. *

Light Heavyweight bout: Antônio Rogério Nogueira vs. Jason Brilz
Nogueria keeps crying that instead of fighting a stand up guy, he’s fighting a wrestler. Lil Nog gets beat up and taken down at least twice per round and wins a split decision. Lil Nog had a darce attempt, but besides that, Brilz just stands up whenever he’s in turtle, side control, or guard. Well, there WAS a crucifix that any blue belt could have held, but Brillz somehow just stands up from that too. One thing that kept working was the deep half guard sweep that’s probably new to MMA but has been an “in” thing in BJJ for quite some time. I hate it, prefering the lockdown, but it worked here. Brilz doesn’t even complain because the crowd knows what’s up. Joe Rogan’s hilarious. He interviews Lil Nog, “The crowd is saying bullshit. Were you worried about losing this fight in the decision?” Rogan’s so great for the sport. *

Heavyweight bout: Todd Duffee vs. Mike Russow
Todd Duffee is buff and Russow has a tire around his waist. Rogan reminds everyone that buff guys gas. Duffee punches the shit out of Russow, but Russow trained at Homer Simpson Top Team and takes every punch like a man until Duffee’s arms gas. Duffee is still winning this entire fight up until the mid 3rd round with Russow supplying no offense. Then, out of no where, Russow grazes Duffee’s ear and he falls like a sack of shit. Rogan orgasms that this was the greatest come-from-behind KO ever. This would actually matter if these guys were exciting fighters. LAME

Middleweight bout: Michael Bisping vs. Dan Miller
The UFC has a boner for Bisping, but I really think he sucks. Dan Miller is a wrestler and a BJJ black belt, so of course he stands the whole fucking fight until the last minute of the last round. I just don’t understand the Demian Maia mentality. You’re awesome at grappling and submission, so you stand up and box. In the beginning of the fight during the stand off, Bisping puts his forehead in Miller’s face, which was pretty gay. Bisping gains confidence as dumbass Miller trades punches and gets tags from Bisping’s weightless punches and wins every round. Around the middle of the 3rd round Bisping’s weak chin almost costs him again, but Miller sucks. Miller does one take down, but he’s so tired that Bisping just gets up. Stupid, disappointing fight. I want to see grapplers take down and grapple. LAME

Light Heavyweight bout: Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans
I actually got goosebumps and butterflies for this fight. Rashad does a bit of capoeria in his stand up. Rashad’s pretty fast. His basic strategy is to come in and jab and get out, and when Jackson gets confused enough, Rashad fake attempts a takedown and just holds Rampage on the fence. The crowd boos every minute of this fight until Rampage punches Rashad and Rashad goes lights out for two seconds. Rampage is so gassed from losing 50 lbs to fight this fight that he doesn’t finish. Rashad punches Rampage in turtle and the fight ends. Rashad won, but his style is the modern version of ground and pound when it was boring. Back in the day, Old school ground and pound had wrestlers take down BJJ guys and just do baby punches to win. Boring as fuck to watch, but you can’t deny that the wrestler won. This was REALLY bad for the sport of MMA. As the sport evolved, punches and elbows were thrown more dangerously, and people in the guard discovered the wall walk and the wall ride where you just use the wall to stand up from guard. Now we have Rashad where he pins you on the fence and just baby punches you until Herb Dean separates you. You can’t deny that Rashad won, but this type of fighting is bad for the sport. Much worse than Geijitsu master Lyoto Machida who was just dodging, not running, so that was more entertaining for me. Rampage didn’t look hurt the whole fight. Fuck Rashad. I hope Shogun beats the fucking shit out of him, but it’s a style conflict where Shogun wants to mash and Rashad just wants to hold you on the fence, so Rashad will probably regain the title. LAME

Shitty as FUCK night with boring action leading to boring decisions. Next card with Chuck “Asshole” Liddell and Rich “I Created Geijitsu” Franklin will be a better card.

Here we go again. Just in case you forget, here’s how I rate fights:

Engagement on different levels
You can’t just only stand or only grapple. Great matches have both.

Near finishes
Whether submissions attempts or knockdowns, escapes and recoveries make fights more exciting.

Entertainment
Whether the drama building to the fight or the story being told in the fight, special fights have a special aura around the fight. Consider this the x-factor.

***** Fight of the year candidate
**** Great fight
*** Watchable fight
** Mild fight
* Boring
LAME Just go take a big shit

Middleweight bout: Patrick Côté vs. Alan Belcher
Belcher went with a south paw stance to kick Cote’s right arm hoping that it weakens Cote’s arm enough to take his primary weapon away. Instead, he continually connects with kicks to Cote’s liver, which to me is just as good. Belcher probably won Round 1 just from that. Cote comes back in the 2nd Round, but Belcher busts Triple H’s Pedigree and then rear mounts him to finish with a rear naked choke. You can spike a guy on his head pile driver style, but slamming him on the face is cool. Cote started to cry pile driver, but to no avail. Canadian home town favorite loses. “Hometown” is going to be part of the story a little later in the show. Extra star for the Pedigree. **

Heavyweight bout: Kimbo Slice vs. Matt Mitrione
Kimbo comes in with three slams, almost gets caught in a triangle twice, and the gasses. Kimbo looks really buff, but I think that and the fact that he had to fight through submissions and slamming a dude tired him. Mitrione busts some leg kicks that Kimbo doesn’t block. I don’t really get why pro MMA guys generally don’t know how to guard leg kicks. JUST LIFT YOUR LEG FFS. Kimbo takes one more leg kick and has the face of a quitter. Mitrione tries to finish be he SUCKSSSSSSSSSS. Mitrione mounts Kimbo and throws weak ass punches and the ref stops the fight from patheticness. Dana gave Kimbo a patsy and he gassed out. I still think Kimbo will draw money, but I guess you can only give someone so many chances. Kimbo would be released after this show. Star only because the slams were cool. *

Lightweight bout: Sam Stout vs. Jeremy Stephens
Sam Stout is the home favorite. He busts his Homer Simpson defense taking punch after punch and kick after kick. Jeremy Stephens throws a couple spinning back fists for fun but one barely hits Stout and the other misses completely. Stout loses by split, but it was fun because they kept punching. **

Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley
Awesomest fight of the night. Daley calls Koscheck a dick like Serra did to Hughes, except Hughes deserved it. Daley also calls Koscheck a big pussy. OOOOooooo. The ref asks them to touch gloves and before the ref can finish his sentence of “Okay, touch gloves and..oh no?” Koscheck just turns and walks back to his corner. It’s on. Koscheck’s basic strategy is to let Daley feel comfortable punching and then fence-a-dense Daley into a take down. Koscheck’s takedown is NICE. In the interview after, he claims he watched GSP’s fight with Dan Hardy (who is Daley’s fight camp mate) “about 20 times” to learn how to take Daley down. Hilarious moment when Daley gets up from being clinched on the ground for a long time and tries to knee Daley while Josh is still on his knees and Josh grabs his face like a train hit it. Replays show the knee barely grazed him. Hilarious. At the end of the fight, Koscheck is on top of Daley for the millionth time and Daley say something about Koscheck needing to be a man and fight on their feet or something. Koscheck decides to talk some mad shit for the last minute while laying on top of him. (Rashad Evans asked Koscheck later if he said something about Daley’s mom, and Koscheck replied, “It might have been a little worse.”) After the fight ends, Daley pretends to want to congratulate Koscheck so the ref gets out of the way and then punches Koscheck in the right eye, bruising it in the process. Dana White says in the post interview that Daley “will never fight in the UFC again.” Koscheck is interviewed later saying he did “egg him on” and that he hopes the UFC gives him another chance. He looks genuinely remorseful hearing that Daley was released. I’m sorry, but if you call a guy a big pussy and then sucker punch him. That makes you the biggest pussy. Joe Rogan says Daley should be in jail for assault. Being fired is probably worse. He was an up and comer, and now he went from almost title shot to being regulated to Strikeforce. ****

Light Heavyweight Championship bout: Lyoto Machida (c) vs. Mauricio Rua
My hero, Machida, decides to fight outside his style and be super aggressive and takedown Rua. Not a bad strategy, but he went to the well once too often, gets caught with a glancing punch to the top of the head to go down. Then he’s mounted and bearhugs Rua while being mounted which is one of the biggest no-nos in BJJ that I wonder if he gets his BJJ black belt revoked. Machida gets what’s coming to him as he takes a bunch of punchs while bearhugging in the mount and Rua KOs in the first round. Two fights later, the Machida Era ends. He fought out of his regular style both fights and got smoked. Anderson Silva no can avenge Machida if he can get on Dana’s good side again. *

Overall, okay card. The Koscheck/Daley fight was just awesome. Two guys who really hated each other. Then one guy was still butthurt and threw in another punch after the fight while a guy’s guard was down. First time ever in the UFC. That alone might be worth the PPV. Dana did the right thing in releasing Daley. Too bad about Kimbo though. I understand why he would be released, that he serves no purpose as a belt contender, but people still want to see him fight. He does seem legit in that he can take down and punches really hard. honestly I thought he looked good until he gassed, and you can work on cardio. But oh well. Strikeforce will be getting two guys that will bring money to them.