We'll have live coverage for all six dark matches as well as all four matches that will air live on Versus at 6:30 p.m., PST. You can email me during the show at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
The first fight is already underway. I had a little mixup on the starting time, so let's go.
Seth Dikun vs. Charlie Valencia starts us off. (135 pounds)
Valencia is the big time crowd favorite. Valencia more aggressive. Ground with CV in half guard. Big pop for carry slam. SD worked his way up and they ended the round standing. Dikun looks very passive striking. Seems that he wants the fight on the ground but at this point he hasn't made a move to get it there. Let's see how round 2 goes.
Second round was mostly on the ground. Initially, SD looked better standing but then CV hit another slam to go to the ground. SD had a very active guard and really did more work in the round. He almost got Valencia's back when they stood up at one point but the round ended in a stalemate. Probably even going into round 3.
Valencia really put his stamp on the last round. He hit a nasty rib kick that send Dikun down and then did well on the grond, even to the point of getting full mount to end the round. That may very well have won him the decision.
Unanimous decision for Valencia. Also, no Frank Mir on the interview. Looks like he's off commentary. I guess that makes sense, but I always liked his style.
Jesse Lennox vs. Blas Avena is scheduled next. (170 pounds)
Wrestling (JL) vs. Jiu Jitsu (BA) here. Really good round. In fact, you may want to skip these spoilers because I think they may show this fight later if they have time. BA looked good wrestling and got it to the ground but then if was Lennox who controlled things from the mat. He almost had Hughes/Newton and then he even got full mount towards the end of the round. JL then went for a Fujiwara armbar but BA got out of it. Avena hit punches from the standing guard to end the round.
More great stuff in round 2 as Jesse Lennox won by TKO from punches. JL hit a nice straight left to the chin as both men decided to throw punches without caution to start the round. BA ended up getting backed into the cage, where JL hit a series of right uppercuts until the ref stepped in. Todd Martin correctly pointed out that Avena was too aggressive. When he got hit with the big shot he swung back wildly instead of going for a clinch. I'm very impressed with Lennox and I think you'll see more of him.
Our first of four undefeated fighters is up as 6-0 Frank Gomez faces Scott Jorgensen. (135 pounds)
Good, quick win for Jorgensen. He does show potential. He bullied FG into the cage and locked in a guillotine choke. He turned the choke about a minute into the fight and Gomez submitted. Good moment in the interview as SJ was asked about a rear naked choke and had to correct the interviewer that it was more of a guillotine. That's 0-1 for our undefeated fighters.
Ian McCall vs. Dominick Cruz is scheduled next. (135 pounds)
Big pop for Cruz coming out, presumably because he's from San Diego. While I have a minute I'll say that thus far the crowd looks good. 95% plus of the lower bowl is full and the upper bowl is nearly full along the sidelines. They have screens along the baselines so there are only a smattering of fans in the upper bowl of those sections. Wow, huge pop for Cruz during the ring intros.
Action packed first round. Most of the round was standing, though McCall got a brief takedown early and Cruz wall-walked out of it. Cruz was better standing. He is much taller. Late in the round McCall started having problems, as he wasn't countering when Cruz would lunge in with combinations. McCall's boxing seems a bit unpolished. If I were his corner I'd tell him to get the fight to the ground, pronto.
A similar round two, but somewhat less exciting. Early in the round McCall seemed discouraged. Cruz would come in with strikes and McCall was not countering. Later in the round McCall started to come in occasionally, but he was ineffective for the most part. Cruz countered OK, but his real success was when he came in. Let's see if McCall can do anything in round 3.
As a USC football fan, I can only relate this to the fourth quarter of a game against Notre Dame. The score is lopsided, the starters are out and a once enthusiastic crowd struggles to celebrate. McCall was just outclassed here. He did at least get one takedown but Cruz just stood back up immediately and kept up the same rhythm of striking that he worked the entire fight. Hey! He just used the word, "rhythm," in his interview seconds after I wrote it. Hmmm. Change mine to, "tempo."
Our second undefeated fighter, Edgar Garcia (6-0) is scheduled next against Hiromitsu Miura. (170 pounds)
Big win for Garcia by TKO. They exchanged punches early and it was clear that Garcia was seeing Miura's punches from the very first exchange. A few exchanges later Garcia saw Miura coming in for a jab and hit a big left hook to counter. I mean, this was exactly how you learn it in a boxing gym. From there it was a flurry of punches, first from a standing guard and then Miura turned his back before the ref stopped it. Garcia got in the names of his sponsors, which was an interesting throwback to the dark days of UFC.
Our last dark match is scheduled next: Anthony Njokuani vs. Ben Henderson. (155 pounds) Njokuani was born in Enugu, Nigeria. I wonder if he speaks Igbo (pronounced like Eee-boo). Hopefully he at least likes Fufu. If not he should be officially stripped of his citizenship.
Todd Martin says that Frank Mir was super over when he entered. If that's false, blame him. (ed. note: Todd wrong? Come on now.)
Boos for Henderson entering to Lovely Day. Maybe a bit too religious for this crowd.
Wild first round. Hard to imagine you'll see a round with more energy and action, but almost no damage done to either fighter and no moment where either fighter looked to be in danger of being caught in a submission. The story of the round was Henderson's limitless energy in shooting for single leg takedowns and Njokuani's efforts to stop them and get out of trouble. I was impressed with Henderson's cardio in going for takedowns constantly as well as Njokuani's technique in getting out of trouble. Plus, Njokuani seems like he has more physical strength.
Well, the fight ended before I could even finish typing up the first round. Early in round two we had another shot by Henderson. This time Henderson maneuvered into a guillotine up against the cage and AN tapped. Very fun match if you ask me. A funny part after the match was the crowd laughing at Henderson when they showed him on the screen wearing eyeglasses in the ring for his interview.
Well, that's it until the live show. It's scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. PST, but I overheard cops talking as we were entering the building and one guy was saying that the starting time could change if NHL All-Star game coverage goes long.
I was just sent an email saying that Sport Soup is on, so I'm expecting the show to start on time. In arena they have the lights up for the announcers' intro, but the DJ (who's been great) is still spinning.
Also, I must mention that for some reason Josh Rosenthal is a serious celebrity to many fans along the aisle. What is that about? I mean, I understood Lil' Naitch getting mobbed by good looking women at the MGM Grand Casino bar back in February, 1998, but Josh Rosenthal is no Lil' Naitch.
And heeeeeeeeere we go. Arena montage is set to a southern rap song that I'm not familiar with. Good beat, though. Can't match Baba O'Riley (Teenage Wasteland), but then again, what can? As an aside, the Lakers have started using Baba O'Riley for their intros. I think this is Kobe Bryant's influence. I remember him being ridiculed for a comment a few years back to the effect of, "we can settle it in the Octagon," when asked about an opposing player. He is exactly lame enough to see the UFC Baba montage and copy it for the Lakers.
Rolando Perez vs. Jose Aldo starts off the Versus show. (145 pounds) Perez enters to a (heavily edited version of a) song I love, Duffle Bag Boy by Playaz Circle & Lil' Wayne. Aldo enters to a rap song I am unfamiliar with. Man, they really butchered Duffle Bag Boy. Must be due to Versus. In the arena they played an unedited version of CrazyBitch mere minutes ago and that song is far more vulgar. Let's see how the first round goes.
The fight is over. Aldo won by knockout. They stood the entire fight. Aldo seemed to be more precise with his hands and he hit a few good kicks to the leg as well. Perez tried to lunge in for a jab to the body and Aldo his him with a perfect right knee to the temple. Perez collapsed backwards and Aldo went down to fire punches. The fight was stopped soon afterwards. Aldo ran nearly to the top of the lower bowl in the crowd for his celebration, which set off quite the interesting reaction from arena security.
Lots of boos for B.J. Penn during the in-arena promo for UFC Primetime. Quite a few cheers as well, but louder boos than cheers. GSP gets all cheers, of course. As Todd Martin just pointed out, the overall promo received a flatter reaction than you might expect. I know there are all sorts of huge buyrate predictions out there for this one, but I don't think either guy has broken 650,000 buys for a show where their match was the singular draw. I am sure that UFC would be badly disappointed with a 650,000 buy result. They are probably holding out hope for double that, in fact.
The next scheduled fight is our third undefeated fighter, Mike Campbell (6-0) vs. Danillo Villefort. (170 pounds) Villefort enters to The Game.
Villefort wins in round one and the crowd is ticked. Man, did DV look slick on the ground. This was just really impressive. The fight was active, with both guys having energy the entire time. Campbell got a few good punches in standing, but as soon as they went to the ground it was clear that it was Villefort's world, even on his back. On one takedown attempt Villefort pulled out a nice hip throw (Judo?) into side control. He immediately hopped to mount and the crowd, who had been behind Campbell, knew it was all but over. After a few punches Campbell pulled out some very un-Yvel like mount defense and rolled, giving Villefort his back. Campbell just covered up from there and J. Rosenthal had no choice to stop the fight even through Villefort's punches to the side of Campbell's head from the back were not very hard.
Villefort looked great. The crowd hates him, though. He did act cocky and it was a less than spectacular stoppage. Plus, in this tough economy there's probably a little bit of jingoism happening here. That's 1-2 for the undefeated guys tonight.
Next up is Jens Pulver vs. Urijah Faber. (145 pounds)
Pulver enters to Wu-Tang and Faber enters to Tupac/Dr. Dre. This is the one they came to see. Faber is over to a massive degree in the building. I mean, there are probably less than a dozen MMA fighters in the world who get a reaction like this. I think it's a combination of charisma, looks, home state pride and alcohol. I'm expecting a short fight, one way or another. Let's see.
That was quick. Faber win with a guillotine choke on the ground early in round one. Pulver looked like he didn't want to be here. He seemed into it early as they tried to exchange punches and even wrestled a bit. Faber hit a big left hook to the ribcage that doubled over Pulver and that was it. The fight kept on for another 30 seconds or so as Pulver stayed on his feet for a few more punches, but as soon as Pulver took that punch it was done. Pulver did shoot as the barrage of punches was coming, but on the ground he made almost no attempt to defend the guillotine.
Todd Martin correctly stated that this was one fighter who is better than the other, but in this case my sense is that Pulver was less than 100% into this fight. Still, the crowd reaction was superb and it seems like they are happy with the destruction.
Main event is next: Undefeated Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner for the WEC LIghtweight Championship. (155 pounds)
Cerrone enters to Kid Rock's Cowboy. Neither guy is going to be as over as either person in the last fight. This may end up being like Arlovski vs. Sylvia: Sh*tty Left Uppercut following the Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz fight a few years ago. The crowd was dead for the main event, even with the surprising title change.
That was a really good first round. Most of it was spent with Cerrone on the bottom of a guard; either standing or ont he ground. After Varner hit a good punch early, they went down to that position and stayed there with Varner throwing punches that didn't cause too much damage. Near the end ofthe round Cerrone did get up, which got a big pop. Let's see if Cerrone has affected Varner mentally.
Another interesting round. Cerrone started to really assert himself here. He was hitting his jab pretty well and he seemed to be timing Varner's boxing. It reminded me of Penn vs. Sherk, but less extreme. Towards the end of the round they did go to the guard with Varner on top, but Cerrone locked in a triangle choke as the round ended. It was hard to tell if it was tight enough, but it certainly seemed like a break for Varner. Varner also looks tired.
Third round was eventful, though a bit less exciting. Varner did well, hitting a big punch (or maybe an eye poke) that caused Cerrone to have vision problems for most of the round. Varner took advantage of that somewhat when they were on their feet, but Cerrone showed heart. Varner hit a takedown yet again towards the end of the round. It's clear that he's doing that for points and not to win. I think he's afraid of Cerrone's ground game but wants to show the judges that he can get takedowns. Championship rounds coming...
Fourth round was somewhat boring. You know, I've thought for a while that MMA is a better sport with 3 rounds and this fight is supporting that. Varner controlled the round by getting a couple of takedowns. Again, he did a modicum of damage on the ground, but it probably is enough for a fighter looking to score a decision victory.
Break in the action. After a start to the round that saw Cerrone fare much better standing, we have a stoppage for a knee to the downed opponent by Cerrone. Cerrone got a takedown on a dead tired Varner and as Varner tried to get up, Cerrone threw a knee.
They called it off! What a downer. The crowd really turned on Varner, too. The knee to the head was illegal but live it did not look like a devastating blow. It hit. That is for sure, but it was not spectacular enough for the crowd to accept it as a finish. I guess the good news is that gives me yet more ammunition in my ongoing argument with Todd Martin that MMA fans are drawn to the brutality of the sport more than boxing fans.
Mistake on my part. That was not a DQ. They stopped the fight due to an accidental blow. Varner wins by split decision to resounding boos. I am guessing there will be doubt about the judge who scored for Cerrone. I thought it was a tough fight to judge because Cerrone came forward standing and he seemed somewhat in control on the ground. On the other hand, Varner got takedowns, did more damage to the face and was on top almost the entire time they were on the ground.
The crowd hates Varner and Varner doesn't like it. He drops an F-bomb in his interview, even. Cerrone got over here, at least with the live crowd. A rematch seems like a good idea here. I don't know if it would draw without some help in the semi-main event, but maybe if enough people saw this tonight they'd want to see it again.
I am going to wrap things up now. As with every other WEC show I've attended, this one gets a thumbs up. Cerrone, Faber, Villefort and Aldo really did well on the televised card. On the undercard, I was impressed with Lennox, Jorgensen and Garcia. Let's hope we see these guys again soon.
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