1. BJ Penn looked his best. BJ turned a “ram charging,” “ultra intense” Diego Sanchez and totally turned him into office furniture. It was like Diego was sitting in the middle of the ring and BJ was running around him in the Matrix during the schoolyard scene. You could have scored every round a 10-8. BJ Penn’s trainer after every round says, “He doesn’t belong in there with you. Lets finish this already.” The 5th round rolls around and BJ finishes the fight. With a FREEKING high kick that opens up a gash the size of the gap between the ring girl’s thighs. Fight over. When was the last time BJ even threw a kick?
Diego tried to take BJ down, but BJ made the takedown defense look effortless. BJ likes his back against the cage. Its a protective measure where he uses it as leverage, to keep his feet more solidly planted. This is something different than probably all other fighters are taught today.
2. Frank Mir threw 1 punch and put Kongo face down on the mat and as “the Kongo” tried to recover, Mir sank the guillotine in and put Kongo to sleep. He was out a good minute. Frank Mir’s punch on Kongo will put him BACK on the UFC intro highlight reel. The last time he made that reel was his striking against Wes Simms. Not only that, but it puts a Lesnar rematch back in focus.
3. Kenny Florian’s boxing looked great. Guida’s striking looked completely ineffective. Guida has some of the best cardio in all of MMA though. Florian won via TKO in another elbow smashing cut. How many is this for Florian? Guida did not get the takedown on Florian.
4. Belcher TKO’d Gouveia. A great 1 round match where both fighters almost won via TKO, but each fighter came back swinging until Belcher just caught Wilson a few more times and folded him up.
5. I wouldn’t say robbed is the right word as the match was razor thing, but I think Paul Buentello beat Stefan Struve. Buentello clearly lost the first round as Struve got the legs locked around the body and spent the whole round trying to RNC Buentello. As the round was in its final seconds, Buentello reversed it and closed with a thundering double chop, not seen since the UFC Dreamcast game. You remember that game system right? Hey Mikey Burnett was on that thing. Round two and Buentello cracked Struve very badly to where Struve almost injures his own knee as he folded like my 1 year old’s LEGO tower. Round 2 for Buentello. Round 3 was close and Buentello didn’t look as busy, but he controlled the ring and got the better of the punches. However, Struve landed a bunch of leg kicks to Buentello’s front leg. On my card, Buentello won, and Struve agreed after the fight. Winner – me.
6. TJ Grant beat Burns via TKO. Like I thought he was too much for Burns.
Alot of people have been complaining about the last two cards being weak and this card was worth the price. However, like I’ve said before, all cards to me are exciting, this one was just a little better than the usual. I still can’t believe how dominating BJ Penn looked.