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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