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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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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