UFC 87 ‘Seek and Destroy’ was the organization’s debut event in Minneapolis, Minn. and featured the showdown for the welterweight title between champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Jon Fitch.  The undercard was highlighted by Brock Lesnar making his second UFC appearance against the veteran Heath Herring, as well as a much anticipated lightweight matchup  between Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta.

Jason MacDonald vs Demian Maia (185 lbs)

In the first round, MacDonald quickly gets a takedown then gets caught in Maia’s triangle.  He escapes and gets Maia’s back, attempts a rear naked choke but Maia is able to escape as well.  MacDonald works ground and pound from the top; towards the end of the round Maia gets MacDonald’s back and threatens an RNC of his own. 

MacDonald does enough to win the first round, but the next two is all Maia as he gets takedown early in both rounds and works MacDonald on the ground, mounting him and constantly threatening submissions.  MacDonald survives until the middle of the third round, when he finally gets caught in an RNC he can’t escape and is forced to tap.

The aftermath: MacDonald put up a good fight and will likely remain in the lower half of UFC’s middleweight division.  Maia shows a great display of grappling against a very game opponent, and is only a fight or two away from a title shot should he keep winning.

Fight grade: 4/5

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Back at the ‘The Joint’ in Vegas, WEC 35 brought us another championship triple-header: a rematch between Brian Stann and Steve Cantwell for the lightheavyweight title, a welterweight title bout between Carlos Condit and Hiromitsu Miura, and a lightweight championship match between Jamie Varner and Marcus Hicks.  Here is how it went down:

Damacio Page vs. Brian Bowles (135 lbs bout)

The first televised bout of the night started out at a hectic pace, with Page slipping after throwing a high kick and ending up on his back with Bowles in his guard.  Bowles attempts a guillotine; Page escapes and gains the top position.  Page stands up and they go back to trading on the feet; Bowles attempts a takedown but Page sprawls.  Page goes for a takedown of his own and is caught in a standing guillotine.  He looks like he is trying to slam his way out of the hold, but his arms are trapped and Page is forced to tap out as Bowles pulls him down to the canvas. 

Bowles improves his career record to 6-0 and positions himself as one of the top contenders for the 135 lbs title (currently held by Miguel Torres.)

Fight grade: 4/5

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After their cluster-bomb of a CBS debut, Elite XC returned to network television, loaded with two title matchups:  a middleweight rematch between the reigning champion Robbie Lawler and challenger Scott Smith, and a welterweight bout between Jake Shields and Nick Thompson to crown the organization’s first 170 lbs title holder.  The third title match - heavyweight showdown between Antonio Silva and Justin Eilers - was left off the CBS card and instead headlined the preliminary card broadcast on Showtime.

Shayna Bazsler vs. Christiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos (140 lbs women’s bout)

In the first round, Bazsler aggressively goes for takedowns and submissions, getting a near heel hook at one point, but Santos escapes and batters Shayna with punches and knees.  In the second 3-minute round, Santos completely takes over the fight, landing strike after strike from clinch until Bazsler collapses.  Santos jumps on the top of the cage to celebrate, even though referee Steve Mazagatti did not stop the fight!  A few seconds of confusion ensue; Bazsler gets back to her feet and Mazagatti orders the fighters to continue.  Santos finishes what she started, knocking out the wobbly Bazsler with only seconds left in the round.

Fight grade: 4/5

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After the UFC lightweight title was on hold for most of the year due to the champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and the top contender Forrest Griffin coaching opposite each other on the seventh season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, the two finally met in the Octagon at UFC 86. With all the hype on the main event, the rest of the card looked somewhat lackluster in comparison, with Cote-Almeida being the only undercard bout with immediate title implications.

Tyson Griffin vs Marcus Aurelio (155 lbs)

Griffin dominated Aurelio in standup, and avoided danger on the ground, through the entire fight. Aurelio was not able to find an answer for Griffin’s striking, never achieved dominant position, and while he threatened numerous submissions from his always-dangerous guard, none of them came close. Griffin won every round on every judge’s scorecard for a 30-27 unanimous decision.

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Seven seasons old, and still going strong, The Ultimate Fighter has become somewhat of a farm system for the UFC.  This season didn’t produce a very high yield:  of the 32 competitors initially appearing on the cast, only seven were scheduled for a bout in the live finale. (One of those scheduled bouts, Tim Credeur vs Cale Yarborough, did not happen as Credeur was banned from competition by Nevada State Athletic Committee due to taking prescription drug Adderall several days prior to the fight.)  The rest of the card was mostly filled with UFC veterans, many of whom were in a must-win situation.

Dante Rivera vs Matthew Riddle (185 lbs)

TUF back-story: A friendly rivalry between a veteran Rivera and a rookie Riddle culminated with Rivera claiming he will retire should he lose this fight, and Riddle promising to have a retirement plaque ready to present to Dante after the bout.

The fight itself turns out to be pretty boring, with most of the bout taking place clinched against the fence.  Riddle gets a takedown towards the end of every round, and achieves mount on more than one occasion.  Ending each round in dominant position is enough to give Riddle the bout, 29-28 on one judge’s scorecard and 30-27 on the other two.  I don’t understand the UFC’s reasoning behind starting out the televised broadcast with this bout.

The aftermath:  Cooler heads prevail, and the retirement plaque never rears its ugly head.  Nevertheless, Rivera is not a UFC caliber fighter.  Riddle is very raw and green but shows potential.

Fight grade: 2/5

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