UFC 98 took place in Las Vegas and featured a lightheavyweight title bout with two undefeated fighters: challenger Lyoto Machida and the champion Rashad Evans. The undercard was highlighted by a long-overdue ‘grudge match’ between former welterweight champions Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. Here’s how it went down:

Sean Sherk vs. Frankie Edgar (155 lbs)

Round 1: In the opening round of the televised broadcast, Sherk chose to stand and trade strikes with Edgar, despite a clear reach disadvantage.  Sherk stalked Edgar but most of his strikes didn’t find their target while Edgar circled away and landed counters.  Sherk shrugged off Edgar’s takedown attempts, until Edgar caught a leg kick and attempted a guillotine.  Sherk escaped to finish the round on his feet. Round 10-9 Edgar

Round 2: Sherk continued to stalk Edgar and had some success with his punches early on.  Eventually Edgar picked up his rhythm and began scoring with jabs, kicks, and combinations while evading Sherk’s strikes.  Round 10-9 Edgar

Round 3: Sherk finally changed his strategy and quickly took Edgar down, but Edgar escaped and successfully defended all subsequent takedown attempts.  In the final seconds of the round, Sherk shot for another takedown and was caught in a tight guillotine as the time ran out.  Round 10-9 Edgar

Frankie Edgar wins the unanimous decision, 30-27 on all scorecards.

Fight Grade: 2.5/5

Aftermath: With no clear-cut challenger for the winner of an upcoming lightweight title bout between champion BJ Penn and Kenny Florian, Frankie Edgar positioned himself as one of the top contenders.  Sherk’s decision to be a kickboxer has cost him this fight, and he needs to go back to his roots as a ground-and-pound wrestler if he wants to contend for the title again.

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UFC 97 took place in Montreal, Canada. Several milestones were on the line in the main event: the middleweight champion Anderson Silva was looking to defend his title for the fifth time, and add an unprecedented ninth consecutive UFC win to his career record. In the second featured matchup, the former lightheavyweight champion Chuck Liddell faced off with Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in a bout where the winner would be propelled into title contention, while the loser would likely be looking at the end of his UFC career. The historic event broke the North American MMA attendance record. Here’s how it all went down:

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WEC 40 took place in Chicago, IL – the hometown of the reigning WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, who was set to defend his title against Brian Bowles in the main event.   When Bowles pulled out of the fight with an injury, he was replaced by one of Japan’s premier 135 lbs fighters – Takeya Mizugaki.

Raphael Assuncao vs. Jameel Massouh (145 lbs)

Round 1: Assuncao slips in an early exchange but Massouh fails to capitalize.  Assuncao takes the upper hand in standup, knocking down Massouh with a punch.  Assuncao follows Massouh to the ground and works strikes from the top.  Massouh has an active guard and attempts several submissions; Assuncao stays out of danger and eventually the fighters get back to their feet.  Assuncao lands a solid combination then grabs a guillotine as the round draws to a close.  Round 10-9 Assuncao

Round 2: Mostly standup action in this round, with Assuncao clearly dominating.  Massouh attempts a takedown but has no luck bringing the fight to the ground.  Massouh throws a high kick and slips, ending up on his back with Assuncao working from half-guard to finish the round.  Round 10-9 Assuncao

Round 3: Massouh comes out aggressively, likely knowing that he needs to finish his opponent to win this fight.  Massouh is once again losing the standup battle and pulls guard.  Assuncao passes Jameel’s guard and gains full mount, but Massouh reverses and ends up on top.  After a struggle Assuncao sweeps Massouh; Jameel attempts submissions but is unable to do much off his back.    Round 10-9 Assuncao

Raphael Assuncao takes a unanimous decision with scores of 30-27 from all three judges.

Fight Grade: 4/5

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UFC Fight Night 18 took place in Nashville, Tenn. and kicked off the ninth season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality show.  The card was headlined by the UFC debut of the WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit, taking on Martin Kampmann in the main event.

Cole Miller vs. Junie Browning  (155 lbs)

After a brief striking exchange, Browning shoots for a takedown.  The fighters end up back on their feet after a scramble, then Miller latches on to a guillotine and pulls guard.  Browning quickly taps out.

Fight Grade: 3/5

Aftermath: In the post-fight interview, Miller called out the winner of the upcoming bout between Spencer Fisher and Caol Uno.   This will be a big step-up in competition for Cole.  Junie Browning will likely be relegated to the untelevised undercard in his next outing.

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UFC 96 was headlined by a matchup between Keith Jardine and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson – a bout that would determine the future top contender in the light heavyweight division.  Beyond the main event, the lineup was not very impressive, lacking in big names and matchups with title implications.  Though this event received very little hype, the less anticipated events often exceed all expectations, and UFC 96 was no exception.

Jim Miller vs. Gray Maynard (155 lbs)

Round 1: After Maynard got the best of the initial striking exchange, Miller clinched and attempted a takedown.  Maynard had no intention of going to the ground with Miller and defended the takedown, pummeling Miller who held on to the single-leg attempt.  When the fighters disengaged Miller had a bloody nose and a swollen eye, and Maynard finished the round strong, hurting Miller with a combination.  Round 10-9 Maynard

Round 2: Miller worked leg and body kicks; two of the kicks glanced off Maynard’s groin protector, causing referee Dan Miragliotta to warn Miller.  Maynard answered with punch combinations, some of which found their target. Miller attempted another takedown; Maynard defended and Miller pulled guard but Maynard stood right back up.  Neither fighter landed much in this round; Maynard gets the nod for keeping the fight on the feet.     Round 10-9 Maynard

Round 3: Both fighters slowed down a bit, and Miller was once again scoring with leg kicks.  Miller attempted another takedown; Maynard defended again and responded with a huge slam.  Miller went for a leg lock and used the submission attempt to get back to his feet.  Miller shot a single but ended up on the bottom, and was not able to do anything off his back.  Maynard landed punches from the top, easily winning the round.    Round 10-9 Maynard

All three judges scored the fight 30-27 Gray Maynard.

Fight Grade: 3/5

Aftermath: Great performance from Maynard, who picked up his fifth UFC win and positioned himself as one of the top contenders to the winner of the upcoming title bout between champion BJ Penn and Kenny Florian.  Jim Miller is dealt his first UFC loss, knocking him out of the Top 10 for the time being.

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WEC 39 took place in Corpus Christi, TX and was headlined by a featherweight title bout between the reigning champion Mike Thomas Brown, who was set to make his first title defense against Leonard Garcia.  The card was rounded out by a handful of lightweight, featherweight, and bantamweight fights.  Notably, Frank Mir was absent from his usual position in the commentator’s booth, replaced for the night by Jens Pulver.  The televised broadcast began with a matchup between the former lightweight champion ‘Razor’ Rob McCullough and former title contender Marcus Hicks.

Rob McCullough vs. Marcus Hicks (155 lbs)

The lightweight bout started out very tentatively, with the opponents circling and clinching for the majority of the first round and no significant offense from either fighter.  Hicks threw jabs and an occasional overhand left; McCullough responded mainly with leg and body kicks.  Early in the second, Hicks landed a left hand that knocks McCullough down;  Marcus latched on to one of his patented guillotines but was not able to finish, and ended up on his back when McCullough escaped.  Hicks got back to his feet and received a barrage of strikes from McCullough to finish out the round; Marcus was reeling on his feet by the end of the second.

The third round had even less action than the first, causing the referee to warn both fighters that he will call the bout a no-contest if they do not engage.  The pace picked up a bit after the warning, but both were still tentative, making for a very tedious fight.   One of the ringside judges called the fight a draw, while the other two saw McCullough as the winner, giving ‘Razor’ Rob a majority victory (30-27, 29-28, 29-29).  A disappointing start to the event.

Fight Grade: 2/5

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In another installment of UK-based UFC events, UFC 95 was broadcast on Spike TV with several hours of tape delay.  The event featured a mixed bag of fights spanning across all of UFC’s weight classes.  In the main event, Ultimate Fighter Season 1 winner Diego Sanchez made his debut at 155 lbs, facing a fellow ‘TUF’ champion Joe Stevenson.  UFC 95 also featured two bouts with title shot implications in the middleweight division as Chael Sonnen took on Demian Maia and Nate Marquardt faced off against Wilson Gouveia.  There were also a number of fresh faces on the card as several fighters received an opportunity to impress the fans in their Octagon debut.  Let’s see how it all turned out:

Josh Koscheck vs. Paulo Thiago (170 lbs)

The fighters circled and exchanged ineffective combinations for most of the first round.  Koscheck was the aggressor until he walked into an uppercut-hook combination from Thiago that dropped Josh to his back.  Koscheck appeared to have recovered instantly but the referee jumped on him and halted the bout before Josh had a chance to get up or Thiago had a chance to follow him to the ground.  Awful, completely unjustified stoppage.

Fight Grade: 3 1/5 2 points deduction for the stoppage

Aftermath: With a little help from the ref, Paulo Thiago is launched right to the top with a first round TKO victory over a perennial UFC contender.  A bad loss for Koscheck in a fight that he really should never have taken will drop him from title contention for the foreseable future.  A rematch would be the most logical next fight in my opinion, to see if Thiago can repeat the feat without ref help involved.

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Ultimate Fight Night 17 marked the UFC’s first event in Tampa, FL.   The card was plagued by injuries and had a late substitution in the main event after Hermes Franca pulled out with an ACL injury, leaving his training partner Jeremy Stephens to take on Joe Lauzon in the featured bout.

Luigi Fioravanti vs. Anthony Johnson (170 lbs)

In the opening matchup, Johnson successfully utilized his reach advantage to keep Fioravanti at bay with kicks and jabs.  Fioravanti attempted to even things out by bringing the fight to the ground but Johnson defended the takedown.  Fioravanti landed a knee to Johnson’s groin in the clinch;  the action was restarted after a brief break then Johnson staggered Fioravanti with a glancing right hand.  Johnson followed up with a series of hammerfists to his opponent and Luigi was not able to recover, forcing the referee to stop the fight.

Fight Grade: 3/5

Aftermath: Another impressive win for Johnson shows that he is ready for a step up in competition; he should be matched with another rising star like Ben Saunders or Mike Swick.  Fioravanti will remain a gatekeeper and will most likely fight a UFC newcomer in his next bout.

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In the past, UFC has usually lined up a star-studded event for the Superbowl weekend.  This year was no exception, with a mega-matchup between the welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and the lightweight champion BJ Penn in the main event, and the undefeated lightheavyweight contenders Thiago Silva and Lyoto Machida meeting in the co-main.

The remainder of the card was so evenly matched that all eight undercard bouts went to a decision;  five of them a split decision.  It turned out that the close matchups for most part did not make for exciting fights.

Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida  (155 lbs)

In the opening bout of the broadcast, Guida’s wrestling made all the difference as he was able to control Diaz and maintain dominant position through most of the bout.  Guida had Nate’s back very quickly in the first round, and alternated between back control and top guard for much of the fight, staying out of Diaz’s submissions though not inflicting much damage on his opponent.  Diaz did a better job of keeping the fight on his feet in the third round, but outboxing Guida was not enough to win the fight for Nate.  Guida took home the split decision victory.

Fight Grade: 2/5

Aftermath: The first loss on the record of the ‘Ultimate Fighter’ winner Nate Diaz shows that he needs to improve his wrestling to advance in the very deep decision.  Guida earns a win but will not earn many fans with a grinding methodical style – a big change from Guida’s earlier UFC bouts where he was the exciting fan favorite who often walked away on the losing end of close decisions.

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Only a day after the impressive Affliction ‘Day of Reckoning’ event, the fans were treated to another MMA show: WEC 38, broadcast live from San Diego, featured the WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner defending his title against Donald Cerrone in the main event.  The other big matchup on the card was the rematch between the former featherweight champion Urijah Faber and the UFC veteran and former champion Jens Pulver.

Jose Aldo vs. Rolando Perez (145 lbs)

In the first televised bout, both featherweights came out swinging from the opening bell.  Aldo quickly took control of the bout with crisp punches and body kicks.  Perez fired back with combinations of his own but was outgunned by Aldo.  As Perez stepped forward, Aldo fired a knee up the middle that knocked Perez on his back.  Aldo jumped on top of Perez for a quick TKO finish.

Fight Grade: 4/5

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Affliction’s second MMA event revolved around the headlining bout: a return to action by the top-ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, in a long awaited matchup with former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski.  The main event was scheduled to be a five-round title bout, with Fedor’s dubious WAMMA title belt on the line.  The remainder of the card was filled with names familiar to most long time MMA fans, including Josh Barnett taking on Gilbert Yvel in a matchup that was touted to produce the next challenger to the winner of the Emelianenko-Arlovski bout.  Also of note was the presence of Tito Ortiz, in the role of a color commentator.

The broadcast began with a bout that had a last-minute substitution, as Bobby Green stepped in on a day’s notice to replace the injured Chris Horodecki:

Bobby Green vs. Dan Lauzon (155 lbs)

A little-known fighter, Bobby Green had a chance to make a big impression in this bout, but came out with mixed results.  Green took the fight to the more experienced Lauzon, winning the striking exchanges and scrambling well on takedown attempts.  However an errant kick to the groin caused a halt to the action.  Lauzon took his time to recover – and the foul was repeated two more times in the round: first a knee then a glancing kick both landing to the groin area.  Two points were deducted from Green by the ref Herb Dean after the third low blow, and the fans grew restless watching Lauzon massage his injured crotch for the third time.  Green did not use any kicks or knees after the final restart to avoid a disqualification.  After a scramble Lauzon was finally able to achieve a dominant position on the ground, and took Green’s back sinking in a rear naked choke.  Green tapped out with only seconds left in the round.

Fight Grade: 5 3/5 2 point deduction for the low blows

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UFC 93 took place in Dublin, Ireland; and as it has been the case with many of the overseas UFC events, it did not feature a very strong card.  In the main event, Rich Franklin took on Dan Henderson for a chance to coach the upcoming season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ opposite of Michael Bisping.  Strangely enough, the Franklin-Henderson fight was at 205 lbs, despite the fact that the winner would face Bisping at 185.

The co-main event was a rematch between Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Mark Coleman – both men making a return to action after a long layoff.  The only other notable bouts on the card were the UFC debut of Denis Kang (facing Alan Belcher) and a bout between two gatekeepers of the welterweight division – Marcus Davis and Chris Lytle.  Let’s see how it all turned out:

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Traditionally the UFC has always had a stellar lineup for their end-of-year show, and this year was no different.  With the lightheavyweight title on the line in the main event, the interim heavyweight title defended in the co-main, and the third installation of the Wanderlei Silva-Quinton Jackson series, ‘The Ultimate 2008’ had plenty of hype going into the show.

Cheik Kongo vs. Mostapha Al-Turk (HW)

In the first televised bout, the UFC newcomer Al-Turk started out attempting to exchange strikes with Kongo, until Cheik caught a kick and threw Al-Turk to the canvas.  After getting up, Al-Turk went for the takedown but was thwarted, then landed a knee to Kongo’s groin from a clinch.  After a break for Cheik to recover, the fighters went back to clinch and Kongo retaliated with a knee to the groin of Al-Turk.  When the fight restarted again, Kongo came out aggressive and dropped Al-Turk then following him down, pounding away with elbows and punches that split Al-Turk’s forehead wide open and caused the referee to stop the bout, giving Kongo the TKO victory.

Fight grade: 4/5 3/5 (1 point deduction for low blows)

Aftermath: Nut shots aside, a good performance for Kongo that should place him in the top tier of contenders for the winner of the heavyweight championship mini-tournament.  He is perhaps one win away from a title shot.  Al-Turk does not impress in his debut; look for him on the televisual undercard of a UK UFC event some time in 2009.

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Another season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ passed by.  This one was a bit painful to watch at times, what with the urination in the fruit salad and ejaculation in the sushi.  Was the finale worthy of the buildup?  Let’s take a look:

Junie Browning vs. Dave Kaplan (155 lbs)

TUF back-story: Both men stood out more for their drinking problems than their fighting abilities.  While Junie was the unanimously despised, throwing glasses and fits – drunk, Kaplan was more of a happy, ‘punch-me-in-the-jaw-I-can’t-be-knocked-out’ drunk.   It was only fitting that these two met in the finale.

A few glimpses of skill managed to shine through Junie’s bad attitude, and he controlled the bout from the beginning.  While Kaplan was somewhat competitive in the first, Browning handily won the round then completely took over in the second, quickly taking down Kaplan then achieving dominant position and securing an armbar.  Kaplan had no choice but to tap out.  The fast-paced bout took the ‘Fight of the Night’ award.

Fight grade: 4/5

Aftermath:  It is usually the case that the winners of all TUF finale fights get to stay in the UFC, while the losers are shown the door.  In this case, ‘Fight of the Night’ may have earned Kaplan another fight in the Octagon (or perhaps a smaller version of it in the WEC).

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UFC ‘Fight for the Troops’ was a charitable event, held to benefit the Intrepid Center – a medical center which helps U.S. veterans who suffered a traumatic brain injury.  Ironically, several matches on the card ended with brutal concussion-inducing knockouts, along with other injuries.

Jim Miller vs. Matt Wiman (155 lbs)

This fight had a last-minute substitution: Wiman was originally slated to face Frankie Edgar, who pulled out with an injury only a week prior to the fight.  Jim Miller stepped in on short notice, and performed admirably.  After getting the better of Wiman in early exchanges, Miller pulled guard as Wiman was going to a takedown, and secured a very tight guillotine.  Miller rolled over into mount as he attempted to finish the choke; Wiman held on to Miller’s trunks despite repeated warnings from the referee Mario Yamasaki.  As Mario finally detached Wiman’s hand from Miller’s shorts, Matt was able to slip out of the guillotine.  After briefly achieving the top position Wiman let Miller up and Jim finished the round strong on the feet.

The pace slowed down a bit in the remaining two rounds, but Miller thoroughly dominated Wiman both standing and on the ground for the rest of the match.  Wiman hung in there but was never able to get an advantage, and lost all three rounds in a unanimous decision.

Fight Grade: 4.5/5

Aftermath:  A dominant performance from Miller in his second UFC bout should earn him a spot in the lightweight Top 10.  Wiman’s win streak is over with what has to be a very disappointing loss after his last performance.  Both fighters earned an additional $30,000 for the official ‘Fight of the Night’.

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