A brief review of last night’s uneventful Fight Night:

Houston Alexander vs. Eric Schaefer (205 lbs) 

The night began with a matchup of opposing styles, as Eric ‘Red’ Schaefer desperately tried to take down Houston Alexander for the first half of the first round, while getting battered by knees and uppercuts from within Alexander’s clinch.  Once Schaefer finally got the fight to the ground, Alexander had no defense for Eric’s grappling, as Schaefer mounted Houston and applied an arm triangle choke. Alexander tapped out with only seconds remaining in the round.

Fight grade: 3.5/5 

(more…)

UFC 88 ‘Breakthrough’ - the first UFC event in Atlanta - was headlined by a lightheavyweight bout between the former champion Chuck Liddell and the Ultimate Fighter Season 2 winner Rashad Evans.  The winner of this bout was virtually guaranteed the first shot at UFC’s new LHW champion, Forrest Griffin.  The other major bouts on this card were Rich Franklin’s debut at 205 lbs against Matt Hamill, and Dan Henderson attempting to score his first UFC win in over a decade against the Brazilian submission specialist Rousimar Palhares.

The first televised match of the night was supposed to be a welterweight bout between Karo Parisyan and Yoshiyuki Yoshida, however Parisyan pulled out of the fight with a back injury the day of the weight-ins, and so another 170 lbs bout was moved up to lead the televised card:

(more…)

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

(more…)

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

(more…)

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

(more…)