Sunday, July 4, 2010

UFC 116: How we did

With the exception of the main event, last night's card looked to be one of weaker recent UFC offerings. Instead, it proved to be a very entertaining set of fights; only the first televised fight was at all dull.

For Kyle and me, it was a rare tie: we disagreed on two fights, and we each got one right.

Let's see how we did, starting with the undercard.

Jon Madsen vs. Karlos Vemola

I expected Madsen to take down Vemola repeatedly and grind out a decision. Kyle thought Vemola would be able to stuff Madsen's take-downs and land a KO. I was right, at least from what I read; we did not get to see this fight. Madsen won a unanimous decision and carried every round.

Daniel Roberts vs. Forrest Petz

Another fight we didn't see. We both chose Roberts, with Kyle expecting a submission win and me going for a decision victory. Roberts indeed won, and with a split decision.

Dave Branch vs. Gerald Harris

Spike TV's fights ran short, so we got to watch this one. Both fighters looked good, but Harris dominated the fight. Halfway through the third round, Branch pulled a standing guard by leaping onto Harris. Harris lodged his forearm across Branch's neck and then slammed Branch onto the canvas for an amazing knock-out victory. Wow.

Kendall Grove vs. Goran Reljic

After what Grove said about Spike, I'm surprised the UFC showed this fight, but at the very end of the PPV, it did. I'm glad. We both picked Grove, and I thought he would win handily. He didn't dominate Reljic, but he did win via split decision. These guys put on a heck of a fight and left it all in the cage.

On to the two fights that Spike TV committed to broadcast; as I noted above, Spike ended up showing three.

Ricardo Romero vs. Seth Petruzelli

We both chose Romero, and consequently we both spent most of the first round sweating this fight. Petruzelli dominated him for most of that five minutes, and Romero looked tired and out of shape. He didn't look much better in the second, but then he managed to slap on an arm bar and hurt Petruzellis badly enough that he screamed as he submitted. So, we were right, but barely so.

Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer

Schaub didn't need a full round to fulfill our victory prediction. He destroyed Tuchscherer, and if he sweated at all, it was because he was punching so fast.

The main card's five matches brought several big surprises.

Kurt Pellegrino vs. George Sotiropoulos

Sotiropoulos won, as we expected, but it took all three rounds and a unanimous decision. Man, that guy is great on the ground--but Pellegrino put up a superb fight.

Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski

In the first shocker of the main card, Stephan Bonnar, bleeding and looking weak, rallied in the second round and defeated Soszynski by TKO. The American Psycho proved both of us wrong and kept his UFC job.

Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown

We both chose Lytle, which was the right pick, but no one expected him to win by submission, as he did. These two tore into one another, and Brown won the first round. No matter; Lytle locked on an arm-bar well before the end of the second.

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben

The big surprise of this fight was just how great it was. These two guys gave it everything they had, and neither of them ever backed up an inch. For almost all of three rounds they beat the snot out of one another, with Akiyama probably slightly ahead. With twenty seconds to go, however, Leben pulled out a triangle choke and submitted Akiyama--giving Kyle the victory in this disputed fight and leaving the two of us tied.

Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin

Holy shit. Carwin rocked Lesnar in the first, took him down, and beat on him for several minutes. Lesnar was bloody and looked at times as if he couldn't take more, but every time one of us was about to say the ref should stop it, Lesnar defended himself just enough to keep the bout going.

At the break between rounds, Lesnar looked calm, and Carwin looked gassed.

In the second round, Carwin hit Lesnar with a hard right, but Lesnar stayed up and ultimately took down Carwin. Once Lesnar was on top, he quickly passed to mount, moved to side control, got an arm triangle, and eventually gained enough leverage to cause Carwin to tap. Lesnar then leapt on the fence and punched himself in the face many times.

At the post-fight interviews, Carwin was still fighting for air, while Lesnar did a face turn and spoke as if he hadn't even worked out.


Amazing.

Though we did pretty darn well once again, as always, don't use us for betting advice!

5 comments:

Ticia said...

As someone who doesn't watch these fights, but reads your blog...

"Lesnar then leapt on the fence and punched himself in the face many times."

What does this mean? Why would someone do that?

Griffin said...

Mmm... that crow sure doesn'ttaste good.

Mark said...

Ticia, sorry for being unclear. He jumped up onto the top of the octagon (the cage around the fighters). He then punched himself in the face to make the point that he could take all the punishment Carwin could deliver.

Mark said...

Griffin, don't worry: you aren't alone in eating it. More of the pros on Sherdog picked Carwin than Lesnar.

Ticia said...

Not your fault. I just couldn't put it into context. Thanks for clarifying it for me.

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