UFC 115: How we fared

Though I went into this PPV with relatively low expectations, I came away from it quite entertained and very glad I'd purchased it. I wasn't quite as pleased, however, with how well we fared on our picks.

In the undercard, we did better than I expected.

Mike Pyle vs. Jesse Lennox

We both chose Pyle, and he indeed won, but he dominated far more than I expected. He slapped on his submission finish, a triangle choke, so quickly it was there before Lennox knew what was happening. Poor Lennox actually looked lost most of the fight.

Ricardo Funch vs. Claude Patrick

Claude Patrick indeed won, as we both predicted, and he did so in convincing style. I wouldn't be surprised to see Funch without a contract by the end of next week and Patrick starting to be a UFC poster boy within a month.

James Wilks vs. Peter Sobotta

We were right yet again, as Wilks won a decision victory in a fight I didn't get to see. From what I read, Wilks definitely controlled the battle.

David Loiseau vs. Mario Miranda

My calls and Kyle's finally diverged on this fight, as he went with Loiseau and I opted for Miranda. I chose correctly, though I failed to call the style of the victory: I said Miranda was unlikely to finish Loiseau, but finish him Miranda did, by TKO in the second. I wish I could have seen this fight, but the UFC didn't broadcast it.

I was then one ahead of Kyle.

Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman

We both correctly chose Wiman to win, but I don't feel good about, as referee Yves Lavigne made one of the worst calls I've ever seen in declaring Danzig out from a guillotine choke when half of Danzig's neck was clearly not trapped and Danzig was holding his hand in the air. I hope the UFC lets these two guys do it again.

Tyson Griffin vs. Evan Dunham

Dunham controlled this fight for two rounds, and when Griffin finally turned it on, it was too late. Dunham earned a split-decision victory--one of the judges had to have been blind to award the fight to Griffin--and I notched my first wrong call. Still, I remained ahead of Kyle by one.

So, as we moved into the main card, Kyle was 4-2, and I was 5-1. Our records would not stay anywhere near this good.

Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald

MacDonald was so dominating Condit for the first two rounds that I was completely convinced that Kyle and I were correct to have chosen him to win. Then, for the first time that I've seen, Greg Jackson yelled at a fighter: he told Condit that it was all about war, and he had to bring the war. Condit did, eventually grounding and pounding MacDonald for a TKO with seven seconds left in the fight. You could argue that the ref stopped the fight incorrectly and should have let MacDonald absorb seven more seconds of punishment, but MacDonald was doing nothing, so I support the ref's choice.

Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel

We both expected Rothwell to beat up Yvel, but eventually he won largely by outlasting Yvel. It was not a pretty fight, as both of them gassed early, but in my judgment Rothwell won all three rounds, and the judges gave him the fight.

Paulo Thiago vs. Martin Kampmann

We both figured this to be a good fight with Thiago ultimately emerging victorious. Instead, it was a solid fight that Kampmann completely dominated en route to a unanimous decision, three-round victory.

At this point, we were both wrong on two of the three fights. Fortunately, we had a sure thing coming in Pat Barry's victory over Cro Cop.

Mirko Filipovic vs. Pat Barry

Oops! Barry won the first round, but Cro Cop took the second. In the third, Cro Cop beat up Barry and ultimately got his back, slapped on a rear naked choke, and emerged the victor.

Ouch! We were then wrong on three of the four main card fights.

Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin

Say goodbye to Chuck Liddell. I can't believe Dana White will let him fight in the UFC again, because despite having his left arm broken from blocking one of Liddell's kicks, Rich Franklin knocked out Liddell five seconds before the end of round one. Liddell went down hard. It's time for him to stop fighting. We both called this one's outcome correctly, though neither of us figured Franklin for the knockout.


When all the fights were over, we'd both gone 2-3 on the main card, for these total results:

Kyle: 6-5
me: 7-4

Once again, I bested Kyle in the predicting battle.

As always, don't rely on our predictions for your sports betting!