PENNYBUFFINGTON Posted:

Written by Penny Buffington

A healthy, healed and raring to go Brock Lesnar will put his UFC heavyweight belt on the line on July 3rd 2010.  He will face off against the well respected undefeated contender Shane Carwin. Shane holds a full-time job as a civil and mechanical engineer in northern Colorado as well as the interim UFC heavyweight title, after he defeated the 2 time heavyweight title holder Frank Mir back in March.

The bout was originally set for UFC 106 when Brock became very ill from an illness he didn’t even know he had- diverticulitis, and had to pull out of the fight. After professional care, time and a new stringent diet he is set for his return.

He did say he misses, “A big bowl of fruity pebbles at 10 o’clock at night” though.

At a UFC media conference held today June 22, 2010 Brock was assuring the media his past health issues and almost 1 year away from competition would not have an effect on the outcome of the fight. With statements given to MMA2DAY and other members of the media such as, “I believe the way I went to college and the division 1 title that I have, I believe, I have gotten a lot accomplished in my wrestling. I’ve allot of confidence in my coaching staff and my training partner. I surround myself in this camp with former division 1 and division 2 national champions so I’m coming in this fight well prepared for my opponent that’s for sure.”

Lesnar trains primarily with Minnesota Martial Arts Academy. He brought in Randy Couture to help prepare him for the fight. Randy is a UFC three-time former heavyweight champion and a two-time light-heavyweight champion and before that he was an Olympic wrestling alternate.   

This was done to combat the fact that Shane Carwin wrestled in college, becoming a two-time NCAA Division II Wrestling National Runner-Up Heavyweight in 1996–97 and the NCAA II Wrestling Heavyweight National Champion in 1999. He was also a two-time All-American in football for Western State.

Brock states, “Randy Couture has more wresting credentials then Goldstein and I put together.” He also said, “We complement each other and we degrade each other. You know the biggest compliment is honesty. It makes you a better fighter.”

Continuing to speak of Randy Lesnar said, ‘I’ve got to really take my hat off to the guy. When he came in to my training camp I was very impressed with him.”

35 year old Carwin holds an MMA record of 12 wins with no losses. He began his UFC career in 2008. All 12 of his winning fights have ended in round 1. He trains at one of the most well known camps in the country, Jackson’s Submission Fighting.

Lesnar who turns 37 just a few days after the fight clearly takes no fight lightly and that includes Carwin. “I think every fight is a tough fight. There’s been no easy fights for me since I stepped foot in the octagon. Shane possesses some different threats that I haven’t had. Being the size and strength and the wrestling. Shane is heavy handed and he is a division 2 national champion wrestler and he’s got 12 fights. I took a different route. I got thrown to the wolves right away, where Shane has been able to get out and cut his teeth a little bit. Where I was thrown into the cage right away and had big fights right away so every fight is a big fight and whether or not I’ve prepared for them. I believe that I am.”

It’s been almost a year we have waited for Brocks return. “I’m excited to get in there again and be a part of it. I put my heart and soul and my whole life into my training camp. I’m very confident that I am going to win that night. I think I am going to win and I think Shane thinks I am going to win”

Shane on the other hand states, “I’ve got that never quit attitude, a lot of heart, determination and you know what? I love to get in there and I love to bang and I like to fight. This is what I was born to do. This is what I love to do and I’m passionate about it.”

A reporter from Scottland asked Brock if there were any aspects of when he was the main event for WWE that he would use for situations like July the 3^rds    main event fight.  To which he responded, “The main thing I can take from WWE is that it’s basically the same thing. We are promoting a big fight. It involves sports entertainment and this is a sport and entertainment. The main difference is this is real and WWE wasn’t. The WWE always lifted big PPV’s and this is the same thing. I just got to get out and execute and fight for real.”

No disrespect intended, “If it wasn’t for the WWE and all the visibility I got worldwide and that is what I bring to the table for the UFC. This is somewhere in the 30’s of PPV that I have participated in. I’ve headlined and main evented probably 25 PPV events. Like I said this isn’t my first rodeo. I enjoy it and I’ve got no nerves, no jitters. I am well prepared. If it weren’t for the WWE I wouldn’t be as well prepared as I am now.”

Brock’s response to being asked if he thought he would win in a fight with Fedor, “Absolutely I can beat anybody.”

It may be the 4th of July weekend but for the real fireworks look to the cage on July 3rd. Live on PPV.  From the MGM Grand Garden Arena located in Las Vegas Nevada. Visit UFC.com for the full fight card.

For a complete recap of the fights and to hear Clay Guida talk about his UFC 117 fight against Rafael dos Anjos tune in to MMA2DAY live WSBR 740 out of south Florida. You can also listen live on the internet for info please visit MMA2Day.com or PennyJoMMA.com or SweetEntertainment.com

DRMMA618 Posted:

Fedor Emelianenko Def. Brett Rogers by Sub. Rd. 1

Jake Shields Def. Jason “Mayhem” Miller by Dec. Rd. 5

Gegard Mousasi Def. Rameau Theirry Sokoudjou by TKO Rd. 2

Fabricio Werdum Def. Antonio Silva by Sub. Rd. 1

feldashv Posted:

UFC 104 did not necessarily promise a stacked card, but its main event was supposed to be explosive.  The light heavyweight championship fight between the champ Lyoto Machida and the challenger Maurucio “Shogun” Rua was technically impressive, but fell short of pleasing the crowd both during the fight and after its conclusion. 

UFC (and MMA in general) is usually at its best when two different styles clash.  Usually, such fights pit strikers against grapplers to determine who can impose his will and keep the fight in their domain.  Machida-Rua bout was a clash of styles, but unusually, it was a clash of two different striking styles:  Machida’s elusive karate vs. Rua’s violent muay thai.  Both fighters represented their styles impressively.  The “good” Shogun showed up this time, and he was game from start to finish.  Machida eluded punches as well as he ever has, but he wasn’t as successful again Rua’s leg and body kicks.  The fight as a whole is very hard to describe in words, but it was like an old school fighting video game.  Both fighters looked as different as strikers can look–in the stances, in the attacking angles, in the weapons used and in the defenses.  Neither was overly aggressive (which was expected of Machida, but unusual for Rua).  Rua seems to do more damage to Machida’s body, but the fighters were so evenly matched that the crowd was not pleased with the apparent lack of action (although if you looked closely it was no less of a chess game than high level BJJ).  The fight went all 5 rounds and, displeasing the crowd again, all three judges gave the win to Machida.  If this were a non-title fight, I would have to agree with the crowd as Rua seemed to have edged out the “Dragon.”  However, as the saying goes, you have to take the belt away from the champion, and it’s not as clear that Rua did that.  Regardless, Dana White has already indicated that a rematch is in the works. 

The rest of the card was not as bad as it looked on paper.  Cain Velazquez looked very impressive against Ben Rothwell who was making his long-awaited (by him) UFC debut.  Velazquez was relentless with his take downs, delivering lots of punishment on the ground and in the clinch.  Although Rothwell survived the first round, he was pinned and finished with strikes in the second.  Velazquez should be next in line for the title.  UFC shared some of the undercard for free on SpikeTV, and we got to see an impressive KO by Patrick Barry of Anthony Hardonk, a great submission from the towering kid Stefan Struve and a relentless attack of Ryan Bader that earned him a decision victory over dangerous Eric Schafer. 

Two other fighters deserve note.  Joe Stevenson won a second fight in a row by roundly defeating veteran Spencer Fisher.  Stevenson looked great, and his new camp may be doing him well.  The other fighter is Anthony Johnson, who looked scary in his KO of Yoshiyuki Yoshida.  Johnson weighed in at 176, which prompted questions of his move to middleweight.  He denies such rumors, but he should seriously consider that move if he continues to bulk up.  He would be a great addition to the 185 ranks. 

UFC 105 is on November 14, and Fedor’s fight with Brett Rogers is on November 7.

PENNYBUFFINGTON Posted:

Cung Le is a Man of Many Talents

Interview with Cung Le by Penny Buffington

The multi-talented Cung Le discusses his decision to give up his belt in order to concentrate on his acting career. “I decided to vacate my belt. I have been out of action in the cage for the last 17 months. I felt like the right thing to do- the honorable thing to do- is to vacate the belt so the top competitors in the Strikeforce middleweight division could compete for the actual belt, not the interim belt. Because I don’t feel that it is right for me to keep doing movies while everyone is waiting around or fighting for an interim belt. I sat down with my promoter Scott Coker and we worked it out.”

Coming to the decision was not easy especially considering his long standing relationship with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker. “It was a very difficult decision. I have been fighting and competing in martial arts since 1994. I turned pro in 1998. I have been with Scott Coker since 1998 when I signed with him. He put me on ESPN 2 on Strikeforce Kickboxing and made me fight for titles in super fights. Also we went over to K1 USA to do super fights and then when he opened up the mixed martial arts Strikeforce division I was part of his first show and my last show with him was against Frank Shamrock.”

“Just because I vacated the belt does not mean I am retiring I plan to come back early next year. With everything that has been going on with me the last year and a half I have been able to do movies at the same time fight but as the parts get bigger and the rolls get more demanding I came to that fork in the road where I basically had to make a decision and my decision right now is to strike while the iron is hot and do the best I can do in the world of entertainment, movies and stuff.”

In fact one such movie Cung is in, Pandorum will be released this Fri. September 25, 2009. Le explains, “Basically the movie starts in this massive space ship. The 2 min. trailer talks about there are 60 thousand people and 500 years. It’s like a Noah’s Ark going to a livable planet. They have every nationality on this ship in sleep chambers that will keep them young and healthy so when they do get there they will wake everyone up and re-building begins. But, somewhere along the lines during that time frame people start waking up and the 2 crew members Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster when they wake up they think they are alone. They don’t remember anything of what they were supposed to have done because they have been asleep so long. So Dennis Quaid is guiding Ben Foster through the vents. Along the way Foster notices there are other people and craziness going on and I save them in my opening scene and we team up and we explore the ship.”

Obviously Cung Le did not just walk on to a set and snatch up a movie roll without putting in a whole lot of effort. “I have been taking acting lessons since 1998 off and on. I have gotten more serious in the last 2 years. I have been working with private acting coaches. I knew when I got the part in Pandorum that it was going to be no easy task. Most of my scenes were shared with Ben Foster. My manager told me he has known Ben since he was 17 and they call him the scene stealer as you can see in Alpha Dog and 3:10 to Yuma he stole the show from whoever he shared the screen with and I did not want that to happen to me. I made sure that even for the audition I had time to prepare for it. I trained just like I would be training for a fight. Morning and night putting myself on tape, getting with my private acting coach and doing scene study. When I got to the audition I knocked my audition out of the park and they cast me for a roll that was supposed to be Japanese. They couldn’t find the right Japanese so they opened it to all Asians and I beat out all the top Asian actors that went out for the part. The director Christian Alvart told me a lot of people auditioned. I was excited and I knew that was just the beginning of a lot of really hard work because now it’s “go time”. I get to go toe to toe with Ben Foster so it was pretty awesome.” You can view a complete list of movies Cung Le has been in and will be in the coming year at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1087183/

As with many professionals Le has a family he has to distribute his time to as well. “I have 2 boys, Cung Michael is 8 and Anthony Ryan is now 4. I got married in August to Susan. She was my rehab therapist before we started dating. I had a major hamstring injury. She was the therapist at Score Clinic. We became friends and one thing lead to another and now we are married.”

Cung Le may have given up his Strikeforce middleweight title spot but they will never actually take his belt. He told me, “They make new belt every time lucky for me I have a nice Strikeforce Middleweight belt really no one can ever take.”

“When I come back I plan to be in the best shape and hopefully not to have too much rust. I will take it one day at a time one fight at a time and one movie at a time right now it is all about promoting Pandorum. I’ve got a few days before it gets released and Overture Films was kind enough to do a little premiere in San Jose for me at the AMC Mercado. They added a Q&A after for the media. It starts at 11:30.” Media please contact AMC Mercado for the date.

Here are 5 things you may not know about Mr. Le “I think I’m a funny guy. I let my sons win every day when we play either baseball or football. I have sweet tooth for chocolate. I am grateful everyday I wake up. I’m a Round 5 -series 4 -action figure. It’s pretty cool”

Wrapping up the interview Cung thanks his supporters. “Thank you for all your support and for sticking by me. When I come back I will make sure that I am in shape. I always come in ready to fight; and win, lose or draw I will be ready to put them spinning back kicks with full affect when I get back into the cage.”

DRMMA618 Posted:

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira defeats Randy Couture by Sub (Rd. 3)

Keith Jardine defeats Thiago Silva by Dec (Rd. 3)

Jake Rosholt defeats Chris Leben by Dec (Rd. 3)

Demian Maia defeats Nate Marquardt by Sub (Rd. 3)

Krzysztof Soszynski defeats Brandon Vera by Dec (Rd. 3)

Gabriel Gonzaga defeats Chris Tuchscherer by Sub (Rd. 3)

Ed Herman defeats Aaron Simpson by Sub (Rd. 3)

Mike Russow defeats Justin McCully by KO (Rd. 3)

Tim Hague defeats Todd Duffee by KO (Rd. 3)

Mark Munoz defeats Nick Catone by Dec (Rd. 3)

Marcus Aurelio defeats Evan Dunham by Sub (Rd. 3)

PENNYBUFFINGTON Posted:

Daniel Cormier, 2x US Olympic Wrestler and 6x U.S Senior National Champion, has just signed on with Zinkin Entertainment & Sports Management, officially beginning his professional career in MMA.  Cormier adds his name to other MMA stars under Zinkin Entertainment such as Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Jon Fitch, Mike Swick, Josh Koscheck, Cain Velasquez, Josh Thomson, Bobby Southworth and Paul Buentelllo.

Cormier, resident of  Oklahoma  since his collegiate wrestling career at Oklahoma State University, is known for his extraordinary talent and physically aggressive, explosive style of wrestling.  Zinkin Entertainment is excited to have Cormier as part of their team and have high expectations for their latest MMA fighter.  Daniel will soon begin training at the world-renowned American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San Jose , California under “Crazy” Bob Cook, Javier Mendez and Dave Camarillo. 

With a collegiate record of 117-10, Cormier is considered one of the most decorated U.S wrestlers.  Notable achievements include:

2x United States Olympian: Freestyle (’08 Beijing, ‘04 Athens)
6x U.S National Champion

8x U.S National Team Member

2002-2009 Ranked #1 in the U.S
2008 U.S National Champion

2008 U.S Olympic Trials, Champion

2008 U.S Olympic Team Captain
2008 NJCAA Hall of Fame Inductee

2007 World Championships, Bronze Medalist

2007 USA Wrestling Freestyle Wrestler of the Year

2007 Pan Am Games, Bronze Medalist

2006 World Cup, Champion

2005 World Cup, Silver Medalist

2005 Yarygin International Tournament, Champion

*toughest tournament in the world, only 6th American to win

2005 Super Cup, Silver Medalist ( Russia )

2004 Olympic Games, 4th place ( Athens )
2004 Titan games, Champion

2004 Boutiatyr Grand Prix, Champion ( Russia )

2003 Pan Am Games, Champion
2003 World Championships, 5th place

2003 Yarygin International Tournament, Bronze Medalist

2003 Absolute World Championships, Bronze Medalist

2002 Pan Am Games, Champion

2001 NCAA Championships, Silver Medalist
3x NCAA College All-American

2x NJCAA National Champion (‘97,’98)
3x Louisiana State Champion
1995 Cadet World Championships, Bronze Medalist

feldashv Posted:

The UFC 100 milestone is behind us.  Although the fights were high caliber and did not disappoint, the event really focused on the UFC’s coming of age.  The rumored second-hand ticket prices (a high of $45k for floor seats!), the thousands of fans at the UFC Expo, Hall of Fame inductions, guest ring girls and other peripherals all pointed to a maturing (although still young) sport.  It was fun to watch.  But, let’s not overlook the fights. 

Although heavyweights were the main event, the co-main headliner GSP impressed me the most.  Thiago Alves, his large powerful opponent was no slouch.  Known for his devastating striking and huge weight cut, common wisdom dictated that he would present a challenge on the feet early, but if the fight lasts into 4th round, he would be gassed and quickly stopped.  To his credit, Alves lasted all 5 rounds, and was still escaping the bottom position in the 5th round.  But, unfortunately, he spent a lot of the fight escaping.  He offered no credible threats to GSP, even in stand up exchanges.  In addition, GSP was able to take the fight to the ground almost at will.  After such dominant display, commentator Joe Rogan could not help asking GSP the question on everyone’s mind–will he fight Anderson Silva?  GSP avoided the question for the time being, but he won’t be able to do so for long.  The winner of Kampmann-Swick is presumed to get the next shot at GSP, and while they deserve a title shot, their chances are much lower than either Alves’ or BJ Penn’s were. 

Do we have the same unrivalled dominance in the heavyweight division?  Although there is room to argue so, I do not believe so.  In the main event, Brock Lesnarunified the splintered heavyweight title by defeating Frank Mir.  The fight started in a very similar fashion to the first meeting, with Lesnar trying to secure top position and Mir threatening submissions from the guard, but this did not last.  Lesnarwas able to settle down in Mir’s half-guard and literally hold Mir entire body down with one arm, while pepperinghis face with short punches.  The first round ended there, and although Mir got up and seemed light on his feet, his face was batterred.  The second round was much more exciting.  The fighters engaged on the feet, and Mir seemed, for a moment, to get the better of Lesnar.  A few punches got through, and Lesnarshot for a single leg.  Mir greeted him with a knee on the way in, but Lesnar got his hold.  Mir then jumped and hit Lesnar with his free knee (a la Yves Edwards… or Urijah Faber for mainstream fans).  That looked impressive, but also allowed Lesnar to finish the takedown.  Interestingly, for the first time, Lesnar simply rested on top of Mir without moving.  The referee seemed close to standing the fighters up and gave several warnings before Lesnar finally moved to attempt strikes.  At this point, Mir tried to escape using the cage, but Lesnar instead trapped him between his own massive frame and the cage.  There was no escape, and Lesnar punched Mir out with several quick short punches to the head.  The power he generated in that position was very impressive.  It is worth mentioning that Lesnar got into Mir face after the fight and flipped off the entire arena as well. 

So, who can stop Lesnar?  At first blush it seems hard.  Mir is very skilled ground fighter, and one of the better HWs off his back.  He failed.  Now, we are looking for someone who can avoid Lesnar’s takedowns….  Is that possible?  It sure is no easy task.  Parts of this fight and Couture fight, however, offer clues to Lesnarvulnerabilities.  Although Brock is good 50 lbs heavier than Randy, he found it fairly difficult to take Couture down (instead he knocked him out).  That shows that a good wrestler should be able to stand with Brock for a meaningful amount of time.  Mir’s striking flurry, although short lived, indicated that Brock does not like to get hit.  That could be for a number of reasons, but it’s there.  That means that anyone with strong striking may present a problem.  It just happens that there are several heavyweights with decent wrestling in the UFC.  Shane Carwin, Cain Velazquez and Gabe Gonzaga are all good candidates to challenge Brock.  We shall see. 

Aside from the main events, Dan Henderson’s determined destruction of Bisping was impressive.  The fight ended in a nasty KO that everyone should try to watch.  Jon Fitch also got a good decision victory over Paulo Thiago.  A surprising result in the prelims was Mark Coleman’s victory over Stephan Bonnar. 

UFC 101 is on August 8.  DREAM.10 is July 20 and Affliction Trilogy is August 1 (supposedly).

feldashv Posted:

UFC 99 was the promotion’s first foray into Germany, and was meant to please the audiences there.  I am certain it did.

Although the card featured no title bouts, it had plenty of action, as well as contender positions.  First and foremost among these was the catch-weight (195 lbs) bout between Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva.   This was touted as a fight between two aggressive fighters that was bound to end in a KO.  It didn’t, but the fight did not disappoint.  The fight started slowly, with fighters feeling each other out, and then the fireworks started.  Franklin was on the attack more, and had crisper cleaner punches.  He used his reach advantage well.  But Silva was never out of it, and in the second round rocked Franklin to take initiative.  Franklin recovered quickly, and was strong in the third round, finishing with a takedown.  The unanimous decision went to Franklin (although Silva was the crowd’s favorite).  Silva looked significantly more gassed than Franklin, which may have been the consequence of his first career weight cut.  Hopefully, he can manage it better next time (although it will be an additional 10 pounds to go). 

The night’s other featured event was a heavyweight contender battle between Cheick Kongo and Cain Velazquez.  The fight was an easy story to predict–either the striker Congo would use his reach effectively to pick apart Velazquez, or the young wrestler would put Congo on his back and impose his will.  And the result was that Cain was able to come out dominant, but not without some scary moments or some interesting questions being raised.  Prior to first takedown, Congo reached Velazquez’s chin twice, buckling his knees and almost knocking him out.  Velazquez’s wrestling instincts took over and he got Congo down.  From there, it was an impressive show of wrestling dominance.  Congo never really got up, and Velazquez continuously peppered him with shots.  Second round looked almost exactly the same.  And the third.  Congo was quite a step up in competition for Velazquez, but he lacks any semblance of a takedown defense, especially when faced with a top wrestler such as Velazquez.  In fact, that is a glaring issue for Congo in his future career.  He needs to address it immediately, if he wants to have a shot at the title.  In the meantime, it’s Cain Velazquez who moves into the title picture.  But his performance, while dominant, left some questions.  His striking ability was exposed and while his recovery power was nothing short of amazing, few more shots from Congo, and the fight may have been over.  The second question is lack of a finish.  Velazquez literally rode Congo’s back for most of the fight, but was not able to either submit him or TKO him.  He needs to imrove on this, as he cannot give chances to higher level of competitors.  He needs to end fights if he gets into such dominant positions.   Not to take away from his win though–he will surely face some of the world’s best next. 

The other notable event was the return of Cro Cop.  He energized the crowd with a TKO win over Mustafa Al-Turk, but the replays showed that the TKO was the result of an eye poke.  Unfortunate all around, to be honest, as UFC does not get a real test of Cro Cop, and Al-Turk gets a short end of the eye poke stick, which has caused other controversies in the past. 

Dan Hardy and Mike Swick also looked impressive in their wins.  Hardy fought well against Marcus Davis in a back and forth battle, winning a split decision, while Swick overwhelmed dangerous Ben Saunders with strikes.  Both Davis and Saunders looked good though, for the future.  Hardy should move up to some of stiffer competition at 170, while Swick may be ready to take a run at the same weight’s title.  The final televised bout was Caol Uno vs. Spencer Fisher.  A lackluster affair (likely because of off-setting skills of the fighters) ending with a Fisher decision victory. 

Decent event overall, but not necessarily the most exciting.   Ultimate Fighter finale is next Saturday, June 20, and the UFC 100 fireworks are July 11th.

feldashv Posted:

I wasn’t going to report again until this weekend’s UFC 99, but there were some notable fights that I cannot ignore. 

Without a doubt, the best and most memorable of them was Brown-Faber II for the WEC featherweight crown.  This was a 5-round war that saw amazing technique and athleticism.  Both fighters looked fairly unstoppable, as both survived heavy hits, bad positions and numerous submission attempts.  Brown proved the better of the two on this particular night (unanimous decision), but Faber was hobbled–he broke his right hand in round 2.  That shouldn’t take away from Brown’s win, as Faber was unlikely to knock him out, but it definitely slowed the former champ down and even affected his submissions a bit.  What was amazing is that Faber did not stop attacking with right arm–he adjusted to make all his right-arm stikes elbows.  Such versatility is what keeps Faber one of the most entertaining and well-liked mixed marital artists around.  Great fight all around. 

Rest of WEC 41 was very exciting as well, with quick KOs (Aldo) and emotional near-retirement defeats (Pulver). 

Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields had some decent fights, but most notable was the quick KO of Andrei Arlovski.  I still think he is a great fighter, but his chin simply cannot handle the heavy punishment of the likes of Brett Rogers.  Affliction’s logos were on hand, as were Fedor and Josh Barnett, who are set to face off in August.  Other than that, I wish the over-the-top, loud and self-serving announcement crew changes its tack one of these days.  For now, I’ll keep watching Strikeforce on mute. 

See you next week.

feldashv Posted:

UFC 98 was an injury-plagued card that always seemed short on star power.  It therefore delivered well beyond its expectations. 

The talent-rich light heavyweight division crowned a new champion–Lyoto Machida.  He remained undefeated in his MMA career, as he dismantled Rashad Evans with a second-round KO.  For some reason, the official scoring shows a “TKO,” but anyone watching the fight would probably called it a stone-cold knock out.  Evans was rocked by strikes, and as he scrambled to avoid the barrage, he got hit clean on the chin by a Machida strike and collapsed, head awkwardly flailing as his whole body went limp.  He lay there for a few seconds completely out–nothing “technical” about this KO.   Evan’s quickness that served him well against Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin did not solve the puzzle of the “Dragon.”  Machida continued to confound his opponent’s with his “elusiveness,” although this time, he jacked up his aggression quite a bit.  In his previous win over Thiago Silva, Machida did get a KO, but it came after a knockdown on a counterpunch, followed by a heavy punch to the downed Silva.  Against Evans, Machida attacked (as opposed to waiting to counter) and broke through Evans’ defenses rather easily.  This was by far the most impressive Machida we have seen.  He follows other accomplished martial artists to the top, such as training partner Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, GSP and Miguel Torres.  These are the new breed of champions, who combine hard modern training with ancient arts (karate base, infused with judo and BJJ, in Machida’s case).  They replace the older breed that was rooted in hard modern training alone (Matt Hughes being the prime example there).  What’s next in the top of the LHW division?  Likely a bout between Rampage and Machida.  Rampage is not unlike Evans in style, but has much more experience, striking and power (he may give up some speed to Rashad).  These will be new puzzles to solve for Machida, but he himself continues to be the most difficult dilemma for opponents. 

The co-main event was the long-delayed grudge match between Matt Serra and Matt Hughes.  It was hard to know what to expect from two fighters who seemed to be on the tail end of their careers.  Additionally many pundits, and Matt Hughes himself, felt that Serra was simply not in the same league as Hughes (even Hughes in the twilight of his career).  I was actually surprised that the crew of ESPN’s MMA Live picked Serra to win.  In the event, Hughes did prevail, but only by a 29-28 decision.  Further, the bout itself did not disappoint.  It was a back and forth battle, which saw Hughes rocked in round 1, almost to a point of a TKO.  Replays showed a partial headbutt at the outset of a Serra attack that helped his case, but his continued strikes put Hughes in a bad spot.  Hughes wrestling took over in autopilot, and he was able to survive the round.  Hughes then dominated round 2 through ground and pound, although Serra avoided most of the damage by utilizing his guard skills.  Round 3 was more even.  Hughes got a take down and went to work, but Serra threatened from the bottom on several occasions.  Toward the end of the round, Serra even took Hughes down with a pretty throw, but that was not enough for the judges, and Hughes got the decision.  The bitter rivals embraced and held each other’s hands up.  In post-fight interviews both have backed off their retirement talk and surely each felt re-energized by the fight. 

The other fights on the card were exciting, with some slick submissions (Brock Larson and Tim Hague) and spectacular knock-outs (Krzysztof Soszynski and Drew McFedries).  One impressive stand out was Frankie Edgar, who out struck former champ Sean Sherk.  Edgar, considered undersized for UFC’s lightweight division, showed impressive head and body movement and crisp boxing to frustrate Sherk.  Edgar also faked many takedowns, which in my opinion neutralized Sherk’s wrestling.  Sherk got a takedown only once, and in that sequence controlled the action.  It would have been a good gameplan to stick to, but Edgar neutralized it and got a unanimous decision victory.  Edgar will now continue to face elite fighters, while Sherk’s future is uncertain (although the division is rich, so there are plenty of fights to make). 

One other bout to mention was the red-hot Dan Miller facing a late replacement Chael Sonnen.  Sonnen is a crafty, well-respected veteran, and a powerful Greco-Roman wrestler.  He is the uncrowned WEC middleweight champ.  And he won this fight as well.  He smothered Miller with his wrestling and ground and pound attack, surviving two guillotine attempts, which were the only moments where Miller looked to have any chance.  Good win for Sonnen, but questions about his submission awareness remain.  He has a frustrating tendency to get caught in every imaginable jiu-jitsu submission from the guard–armbars, triangle chokes, guillotines, etc.  He is string and with a powerful base, so anything but a perfect technique will likely fail to submit him–witness Miller’s failed guillotine.  But, a good BJJ fighter will almost always catch him–witness Demian Maia and Filho in their first encounter.  Sonnen also refuses to pass any one’s guard.  He seems too set in his way to change, which will present problems for him as he faces better competition.  I do not see him defeating the likes of Marquardt or Maia, let along getting a title shot. 

In all, a good event for the UFC.  UFC 99 is next in Germany on June 13.