For my last show at UFC 104 I thought it worked out well when I put newest results at the top of the page, so that's what I'll be doing tonight. For those of you joining the coverage late, just scroll down to the bottom to get the results of the undercard fights.
The arena is quite empty as the undercard is about to get underway. Ticket sales were also very soft. I was able to get a single seat that had a $300 face value for just $102.50 on eBay last night and Dana White was giving away free tickets at the Mandalay Bay sportsbook while he was doing a radio show last night as well.
I have to start off by saying that this show brings back fond memories for me. Ortiz vs. Griffin was the first UFC show I attended and it was just a superb show. That match had such incredible heat from a crowd that couldn't seem to decide on which guy they liked. Sometimes it's forgotten, but that show also had a memorable heavyweight championship fight as Tim Sylvia dropped Anderi Arlovski with a "shitty uppercut" and pulled a big upset to begin his second (and most likely, last) title reign.
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Time for the wrapup.
I'm sure that Griffin is happy about the win, and he should be. Where this goes, I don't know. It's a stretch to say that he's a contender again but maybe with a win over a top guy he could be.
Tito showed that he's a capable fighter, but this was not a performance that foretold a championship. He's older, his wind is not what it once was and his striking is below the level of the top guys in the division. Still, he's a draw and his wrestling is such that it might allow him to pull an upset over some of the top guys.
If I were booker (and we know that Joe Silva needs no help), I'd try to book Tito vs. Chuck again. I think it'd be a great semi-main on PPV or a main event on a Spike TV show. For Forrest, I'd look at Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Neither guy seems ready for a title shot and the Nogueira name combined with Griffin's celebrity make it a viable semi-main event or maybe even a main event in a pinch.
I'm going to sign off now and head to the press conference. Hope you all enjoyed the commentary and/or the show.
As a last note, I was notified by Steve D. via email that it was Method Man's "Bring the Pain" that James "The Grim Reaper" Roper (played by Damon Wayans) entered to for his championship fight with "Irish" Terry Conklin (played by Peter "The Only Man Ever to Get a Decent Movie Out of Dwayne Johnson" Berg) in THE GREAT WHITE HYPE. I really like that movie, by the way. I'd recommend it for anyone's Netflix.
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Vince Vaughn shown on the video board as we ready for the main event. This fight should be good. It does lack consequence to a degree, but the last Ortiz vs. Griffin match was awesome.
Griffin enters first. To Chumbawamba's "Tubthumber" (I get knocked down...). WTF? Where's Dropkick Murphy's "Shipping Out to Boston"??? It's not as devastating as if Hughes dropped Hank Jr., but it sucks nonetheless.
Tito enters to (loud, loud boos and) Eminem's "Mosh". Either he hates George W. Bush, he wants Forrest to remember the song he entered to in their first fight or he just really likes this song. I'll guess the latter.
That black eye does not give me confidence for Tito.
End of round 1. Pretty even round, I'd say. Tito got a takedown and did his typical ground and pound, but Griffin got up by going for an uma plata. Forrest was probably a hair better standing, but the most interesting thing to me is that Tito more or less took the last 45 seconds off. I wonder if his conditioning is not what it usually is.
What a pop. The biggest pop of the night by far was when Forrest rolled Tito over and got on top in half guard. It was after Ortiz got one of his usual takedowns and had bloodied up Forrest with elbows and punches in the guard. Forrest continues to be better on his feet, but Ortiz continues to get takedowns. Let's see what happens in round 3. I predict a finish.
I don't have PunchStat numbers for that fight, but it felt like 75-10 Forrest. Tito just could not get off with his hands. It wasn't like Forrest was hitting devastating punches and a lot of them were blocked, but Forrest controlled that round and Tito looked like he was trying to run out the clock and hope the judges gave him the first two rounds. I think Tito was just too tired to shoot and so he just was hoping for an opening for a big punch that never came.
Let's see what the judges think.
Forrest! 30-27, 29-28 and 28-29 split decision victory.
Big, big pop for the announcement. He deserved the decision. Tito gets cheered in his interview afterwards, but once he mentions his back and head injuries the boos come again.
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I could be wrong, but I think I spy Josh Barnett. Too bad he failed that drug test. I'd still like to see him face some top guys.
5 minutes from Koscheck vs. Johnson. I like Koscheck +125 but I've been cold with my picks lately (some would say, "as usual").
Anthony "Rumble" Johnson enters to Redman's "Time 4 Sum Aksion" which, of course, was Mike Tyson's entrance song (along with classic MGM Grand towel over the shoulders) when he returned from his 4 year prison sentence to roast Peter McNeely in 1995. Yes, I'm old. And yes, I still love this song because of that. I think James "The Grim Reaper" Roper (played by Damon Wayans) may have entered to this against "Irish" Terry Conklin (played by one of my favorite directors, Peter Berg)in THE GREAT WHITE HYPE. Koscheck enters to "Higher Ground" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers at jet engine sound levels.
Johnson looks like an absolute monster at 170 pounds. I'll go with low bone density again. Koscheck gets booed heavily on intros. They just have to give this guy another shot at GSP if he wins. Here comes round 1...
Oh no! Another knee to the head of a down opponent, this time by Rumble, and this fight might be over. That one was so clean. Koscheck is still on the ground but let's see what happens when he gets up.
One point deducted from Johnson's score as the crowd boos the replay. I think they are booing because Koscheck was trying to stand. It looks like the magic words ("I can't see") are being uttered. In Koscheck's defense, that knee really nailed him. It's kind of unfair to let a guy who hurt his opponent with an illegal blow just continue and crush a handicapped opponent.
Fight's back on.
First round's over and now the crowd is popping. What frontrunners.
Interesting round overall. Johnson has reach, but Koscheck has technique and quickness. Towards the end of the round neither of those things mattered because Koscheck got him down, got his back and almost locked a rear naked choke. It's also interesting that Johnson goes southpaw whenever he throws a kick. I wonder if Koscheck's corner is on to that.
Eye poke. Haha! This fight has all sorts of weirdness. Rumble was the victim of the poke.
And another! This one was really bad. Tons and tons of boos. Well, at least it's an interesting replacement for Carwin vs. Brock.
Koscheck wins to a HUGE pop.
Rear naked choke win and it was Johnson's near-comical inexperience on the ground that did him in. Johnson was getting the better of the striking but didn't seem to have to power to hurt Koscheck. Koscheck got a nice takedown and basically just controlled him against the cage while Johnson did nothing but hold and hope for a standup. Finally after hitting a few punches and maneuvering to Johnson's back, Koscheck sunk in an arm and won with the RNC.
Koscheck calls out Dan Hardy. Calls himself "the number one freakin' contender". He wants Hardy in February or March.
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10 minutes until the next live fight. "Master of Puppets" by Metallica being mixed in the arena. Nice.
We are back with Jacob Volkmann vs. Paulo Thiago.
Volkmann enters to "T.N.T." by AC/DC. What a great song to enter to. They've gotta let it play so that the crowd can chant, "Oy! Oy! Oy!". They don't. Killjoys. Thiago enters to something that wounds a little like Ween (acoustic guitar part, at least) but with Portuguese lyrics. I'm assuming it's Brazillian.
Interesting first round. Thiago got a takedown early, went for a guillotine choke from the top and got reversed. Then he got another takedown and got mount, but Volkmann showed great defense and got back to his feet. Finally at the very end of the round (literally as time expired) Volkmann was floored by a right cross. I'm enjoying this fight a lot, but the crowd is kind of tepid. If Volkmann manages to come back and win this could be fight of the night caliber in my opinion.
Pop for Anderson Silva between rounds.
This has been a fascinating fight but the crowd is crapping on it. Volkmann was knocked down at one point, he got mount at one point, he had Thiago's back at one point and at the horn he was on the bottom trapped in side control. The skill level here is really high. I'm excited for round 3.
Man, what a good round. Again Volkmann got knocked down and again he had spells where he controlled Thiago from the ground. In fact at one point late in the fight Volkmann was caught in north-south and managed to worm his way into a d'arce choke that came close to ending it.
Thiago wins, as expected. two 30-27s and a 29-28. Joe Rogan calls it a great fight. Thank you, Joe. The crowd may be booing, press row may be disinterested but I thought this was a superb show of ground skill. Give it fight of the night, Dana!
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Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Luiz Cane is up next. A guy who knocked out Sokoudjou against a guy who got knocked out by him. Tough one to call, though, because of lil' Nog's ground game.
Method Man (& Redman?) entrance for Nogueira. Jane's Addiction for Cane.
And by the way if you didn't already dislike Adelaide Byrd, I just saw her dress down a poor security guard for having the gall to ask to see her ringside pass. Fight fans who hate bad judging might know your face, Adelaide, but not everyone.
Great round one knockout for lil' Nog! He rocked Cane with a left and Cane was literally running. They engaged again but Cane was still hurt. Nogueira hit another big left cross that put Cane down. A few punches on the ground later and it was waved off by Mazzagatti.
Good sized pop for the victory announcement. The arena is now pretty full, with only small pockets of open seats, mostly in the lower level. Should be a hot crowd for the main event.
No non-MMA celebs to speak of that I've see thus far apart from Chuck Zito (does he count?).
Chuck Liddell gets a nice pop when shown on the board. Oliver Copp pointed out to me that his heat has dissipated a bit, though. He still gets a reaction, but it's not quite what it once was.
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YES!!! "Baba O'Riley" by The Who is back as the opening song!!!
And we've got a few new clips (mainly of big KOs) to go along with it. I'm really happy that they didn't stick with "Ladies and Gentlemen". Though it could be a time thing. Maybe when they are short on time they go with Saliva.
Alright. Crowd has filled in almost completely in the upper sections and the lower level is 90+% full.
Jacob Volkmann vs. Paulo Thiago will open the show at welterweight (170 lbs.). Undefeated fighter (Volkmann) against a guy with one loss. Interesting opener.
I was wrong. Amir Sadollah vs. Phil Baroni will open the show. I like Baroni at +190 in this one. I just think he'll get Sadollah down and control the fight. I also like Koscheck as an underdog later on.
Nice pop for the NY Badass as he enters to "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood. One of the greatest uses of a song in a movie ever was this sequence in TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY by The King of Sequels, James Cameron.
Sadollah enters to a punk song that I am unfamiliar with. Mix of boos and cheers for Baroni. Same for Sadollah.
Great round 1. Both guys were super aggressive. Baroni hit a lot of body shot early. Sadollah hit quite a few good knees from the clinch. Baroni did get a takedown, but did almost nothing with it and almost seemed in more danger from the top. Let's see how round 2 goes.
Another action-packed round in round 2. Baroni does look gassed and Sadollah definitely hit the better shots, mostly with kicks. I could see how a judge might have it tied and I could see how Baroni might need a finish. He looks too tired to finish but crazier things have happened.
Crowd pops big for a really aggressive fight. If this gets fight of the night I'd be disappointed, but not surprised. I don't like it when sloppy kickboxing with maximum heart gets the quality award.
Sadollah controlled round 3 much in the same way he controlled round 2. Baroni was game, but by the end he was basically just throwing wild punches.
Amir wins a unanimous decision with 30-27 from two judges and 29-28 from one. Phil does exit the arena with his sunglasses on and his tan intact.
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15 minutes until Ben Saunders vs. Marcus "The Irish Hand Grenade" Davis wraps up the SpikeTV show.
My quest to get Jake O'Brien nicknamed "The Irish Proximity Mine" has been less than successful thus far. Even Todd Martin is not on board.
"Black Betty" by Ram Jam is playing in the arena as we wait for the next fight. Things have filled in fairly well. I'd say 60+% at this point with most of the upper tier occupied. As far as celebs go all I've seen is Chuck Zito and Jon Fitch thus far. I haven't been looking too closely, though.
No entrances for the fighters, but a good pop for both guys, especially Davis. First fight for Davis since the emotional loss to Hardy and if he wants a rematch he'd better win.
K.O. win for Saunders with a HUGE knee from the clinch. It was a one-sided fight. Davis was smaller and slower. He just couldn't land the big shot he needed to give him a chance to overcome that size advantage.
I see Dan Hardy and Stephan Bonner are at ringside, both with a lady. Hardy's has a nice sleeve of tats on her left arm. Makes sense.
Alright, we're about 18 minutes away from "Ladies and Gentlemen" by Saliva and the opening of the main show. And judging by the fact that "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" by Drowning Pool is playing now, the UFC D.J. is coincidentally playing some songs that have been featured on WWE television in the past. Earlier they even played "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock, which was the highlight of his Wrestlemania 25 concert (other than Jessica Wagner, of course).
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Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt is our first SpikeTV fight.
This feels like a future star vs. a JTTS. Rosholt may or may not end up being a star at middleweight, but it's clear that UFC has set up this fight to get him a win over a name opponent.
No entrances for either fighter. I guess that makes sense since they need commercial time to pay the bills.
Wow! Great, great win for Grove!
Rosholt was who we thought he was. He's a wrestler willing to plow in and take a punch or two to get his opponent down. Grove was better than we thought he was, as he got mounted, curled out of it and then locked in a super tight triangle from the bottom to win. Very impressive. And the crowd (including what appears to be some kind of Hawaiian contingent) was behind him.
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Brian Foster vs. Brock Larson is our 3rd prelim fight.
Foster enters to "Simple Kind of Man" by the legendary Lynyrd Skynyrd. How dare he. That is Mike Brown's song, damn it. I know that Brown is WEC and Foster is UFC but I don't like it. And yes, I am as curmudgeonly as the New York sportswriters who were complaining about Billy Wagner of the Mets entering to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica because it had been used by Mo Rivera of the Yankees. Larson also has great taste, entering to "Sixteen Tons" by The Man in Black, Johnny Cash.
Heh. I forgot that Larson is from Brainerd, MN. Anyone remember this movie?
There's a break in the action in the first round after Larson kicked Foster in the head while Foster was on his knees. A point has been deducted and that will really make it tough for Larson. You could tell about 20 seconds into the fight that Larson was going to have problems. He's never been the most technically proficient guy but he's always had great wrestling and strength. Well, early on Foster snuffed a takedown so conclusively that it appeared to rattle Larson. Larson spent the next few minutes on his back, including nearly getting mounted at one point.
Dang. Another point deducted from Larson. This one was a tough one because they were standing and Larson had a front facelock, but Foster put his hand on the ground solely to prevent Larson from being allowed to throw knees. It was a cheap move, but technically within the rules. In any case, that makes it a really tough road for Larson to get a win.
Foster wins in round 2 with punches while Larson was in the fetal position. It was a dominant victory. I don't know if this means that Foster is ready for Fitch, Koscheck, Hardy, St. Pierre, Hughes and the rest of the tough guys at welterweight, but he cold get there. He had a wild loss in his first UFC fight but after this I'd put him on a main show if I were UFC.
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Fabricia Camoes vs. Caol Uno (entering to a mix of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana) is up second.
It's clear that the crowd likes Uno here. He got taken down a couple of times (including one where Camoes got his back), but he always escaped. He's pushing the action for the most part when they're standing and it's clear that he's the better technical fighter. I think Camoes is stronger, though.
Majority draw, with the accompanying boos. That means that Camoes had the win, but an upkick while he was on the bottom in the guard during the second round cost him the match. It was a close fight so I don't mind the draw result. If judged on the whole fight, I'd have gone with Uno because it was very tight and Camoes was penalized for the upkick.
Brian Foster vs. Brock Larson is up next at 170 pounds. Arena is willing in a little bit. I'd say it's about 35% full right now. No celebs in the crowd that I've seen. I'd think that this would be a tough time to get celebrities because a lot of productions are probably working hard to get wrapped before the holidays hit.
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George Sotiropoulos vs. Jason Dent starts us off. Sotiropoulos enters to "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, revealing again that Aussies tend to have great taste.
First round saw Dent look good striking, but Sotiropoulos eventually got the takedown and passed into mount. Dent survived the round, but he almost certainly lost it on the scorecards.
Second round much the same as the first, only this time Sotiropoulos had time to maneuver into an armbar after getting mount. Submission win (4:36) for Sotiropoulos over a guy who looked helpless on the ground.
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