Hi Dave,

Thumbs Up

Best Fight: Diaz/Denny

Worst Fight: Reis/Caraway

I think in my previous feedback (Cotto/Margarito) I wrote 10:06pm EST end to the Shotime portion of the card, I meant 9:06pm ending for the Shotime.

Shotime had all the results that I expected, but neither Reis or Big Foot Silva looked overly impressive.  Feijao did look good though.  However, by the time I was done with the boxing and CBS part of the card, Feijao's fight had pretty much just faded into the background for me.

CBS part of the show was very good and I can't think they could have hoped for anything more in the cage as all the 'right' fighters won and they all looked very good in doing so.

Cyborg vs Carano has to happen and I hope that it happens on Oct. 4th.  I like how Gina (being the smart business person that she is) started to hype that possibility for the entire interview.  I was hoping that they would've interviewed Cristiane first and she would have asked for the fight and then go right to Gina cageside (still not used to writing that rather than ringside despite sending in feedback for the past 3.5 yrs for MMA) and get the response.  As big as Gina usually looks in the ring, Cyborg looked just as big if not bigger than Gina does. 

I had a bit of a problem with my recording as the show was simulcast on SUNTV (in Canada/Toronto) along with CBS, so b/w the first and second fights there was a 10 minute commercial break.  Luckily, I didn't miss any of the next fight, but I did miss the pre-fight video packs and even Thompson's intro.  The feed came back just in time to see Lennon introducing Shields.  Jake looked very impressive in finishing Thompson.  However, I can't believe that he was able to finish the fight with essentially a 1 arm guillotine.  It was (at least to these eyes) more of a combo triangle and guillotine since he (Shields) was using his body to trap Thompson's head as he didn't really 'tighten' the choke grip with his left arm - Shields used his left arm as leverage to raise up and tighten the combo sub.

Nick Diaz was the show's true headliner - as least by crowd reaction - and b/c the show was in Stockton, I guess that was to be expected.  Denny looked like Wolverine with the way he had his facial hair shaped and I thought the way he shaved Rockstar into the back of his head looked pretty good too.  The only negative to this fight was the post-fight interview when they didn't hype the potential rematch with KJ Noons for the WW title. 

Main event was a very good striking display by both men.  Lawler looked very good in taking Smith's strikes and in dishing out his own.  He looked very strong, in fact I'll say I don't think he's ever looked stronger at MW - better? yes, stronger? no.  I don't think Smith ever hurt Robbie as even in the last minute on rd 1 he looked to have just lost his balance and was backing up to create space to regain his balance so that he wouldn't leave himself wide open.  Had he tried to fire back from that spot (when off balance) he could have been hurt bad.  I don't think enough fighters do this - recognize when they are off balance and try to create space to regain their balance before resuming with their own attack.  Smith did a good job of trying to keep Lawler off balance by pressuring him, but Lawler's D was good enough to scramble long enough to a) not get hurt and b) regain his balance before going back on the attack.  In rd 2 while Smith did get a couple of strikes in and a few nice inside elbows specifically, he left himself open inside and Robbie did a great job of attacking the body, first with hard lefts in the clinch against the cage and then with the knees that essentially finished the fight.  On another day, Lawler good have got unlucky and got DQ'd for the 2 soccer kicks that he landed when Smith was on the ground right before Herb Dean stopped the fight.  I'm glad that Dean used his better judgement and realized that they had no effect on the outcome as the fight was over. 

I'm not sure who's next for Lawler in EXC, but Robbie looked like he's ready for just about anyone.  I've thought for a long time that Lawler wasn't big enough to be competitive with the top end MW fighters, but seeing how he's now grown into his body over the last year or so, I no longer feel that way. 

I'm looking forward to seeing all 4 fighters (who won) on the CBS portion of the show again, and even the 3 (winners) on the Shotime show.  EXC did a lot more for me today that they did on May 31st.  But then again, I'm much closer to being considered a hardcore than a casual.  Hopefully enough people were able to get some of their casual friends to tune in tonight and say "you gotto watch this fight ..." and that those people did tune in.  I'm hoping for a positive number for the show and once again I hope that it followed the pattern or growing as the show went on ala the May CBS debut show.

Lastly, Oct. is going to be crazy with Oct. 4th have CBS' next show, Oct. 11th having the 2nd Affliction show, Oct. 18th the Spike UFC show and the 25th have the UFC 90 PPV. 

Rishi Malhotra

Toronto