With the majority of their wins coming in the first round, not many fans were expecting the heavyweight championship bout between Junior dos Santos and Frank Mir to go the distance Saturday night. After an early feeling out process, Dos Santos establis…
With the majority of their wins coming in the first round, not many fans were expecting the heavyweight championship bout between Junior dos Santos and Frank Mir to go the distance Saturday night. After an early feeling out process, Dos Santos established his attack and showcased the boxing skills that have taken him throughout his […]
This final episode of the TUF 15 season included perhaps more out-of-the-ring action than any prior episode. We got more of Cruz and Faber cracking wise at each other, but also legit blows thrown inside of the house and a surprise announcement or two.
The winning fighter and coach will each win a Harley Davidson motorcycle and so the guys are taken to a Harley super store to try bikes on and leather for size. They are hosted by Theo “Juice” Rossi, who has inexplicably still managed to survive cooperation with the government (Watch Sons of Anarchy to get the reference. And yes, I have trouble telling the difference between quality screenplay and reality.)
Back in the house, Tickle decides to throw a water bottle on the balls of a sleeping Daron. Daron, with weeks of pent up aggression from being eliminated, wakes up into a sprint like a Navy Seal or something, finds Tickle and fires off a punch and kick combination on the goofball.
Tickle acts outraged, like he doesn’t understand that getting awoken from slumber by getting hit in the balls absolutely deserves an ass-kicking. Daron worries that he might get kicked off of the show for fighting in the house because that’s what has happened in past seasons.
Naw, its cool, dawg, says UFC President Dana White. Well, not really. But he does announce to the guys in the gym, later that all of them will be fighting on next week’s finale in Vegas. All, except for Mike Rio, who busted his rib, and Andy Ogle, who is on medical suspension after his last KO loss.
The passionate Ogle is distraught at the idea that he won’t get to fight after making it so far. White assures him that he will “be back.” That isn’t good for everyone’s favorite warrior-poet, who literally runs after White as the Prez is leaving the building, wraps his arm around him and asks to be put on the Nottingham card in September.
This final episode of the TUF 15 season included perhaps more out-of-the-ring action than any prior episode. We got more of Cruz and Faber cracking wise at each other, but also legit blows thrown inside of the house and a surprise announcement or two.
The winning fighter and coach will each win a Harley Davidson motorcycle and so the guys are taken to a Harley super store to try bikes on and leather for size. They are hosted by Theo “Juice” Rossi, who has inexplicably still managed to survive cooperation with the government (Watch Sons of Anarchy to get the reference. And yes, I have trouble telling the difference between quality screenplay and reality.)
Back in the house, Tickle decides to throw a water bottle on the balls of a sleeping Daron. Daron, with weeks of pent up aggression from being eliminated, wakes up into a sprint like a Navy Seal or something, finds Tickle and fires off a punch and kick combination on the goofball.
Tickle acts outraged, like he doesn’t understand that getting awoken from slumber by getting hit in the balls absolutely deserves an ass-kicking. Daron worries that he might get kicked off of the show for fighting in the house because that’s what has happened in past seasons.
Naw, its cool, dawg, says UFC President Dana White. Well, not really. But he does announce to the guys in the gym, later that all of them will be fighting on next week’s finale in Vegas. All, except for Mike Rio, who busted his rib, and Andy Ogle, who is on medical suspension after his last KO loss.
The passionate Ogle is distraught at the idea that he won’t get to fight after making it so far. White assures him that he will “be back.” That isn’t good for everyone’s favorite warrior-poet, who literally runs after White as the Prez is leaving the building, wraps his arm around him and asks to be put on the Nottingham card in September. White instantly grants his request.
That’s how you do it, kids. Train and fight like hell, with all your heart, and run towards fights even when you’re recovering from serious injuries. Can’t wait to see Ogle scrap again.
Back in the training room, Coach Dominick Cruz agonizes over the possibility of Vick getting put on his back against Chiesa. In the Faber room, Chiesa is struggling on his feet during sparring.
“I’m two fights away from fulfilling my dream and I want this thing so damn bad that when I have a bad day, everything comes piling in on me,” Chiesa says emotionally.
Faber tells Chiesa not to worry, that he has often had some of his worst training days right before fights and that they don’t affect his performances.
Fight Time!
James Vick vs. Michael Chiesa
Rd 1
Both men are cautious, feel each other out with jabs, feints and leg kicks. Chiesa wanting to stay clear of Vick’s striking and Vick not wanting to give Chiesa an opportunity to close the distance and take him down.
A minute and a half in, off of a missed right cross from Vick, Chiesa does duck under slightly and close the distance, securing double under hooks and a body lock. Vick doesn’t go down easy, however, works to get his own under hook and pushes Chiesa against the cage. Vick gets a takedown!
They land in Chiesa’s open guard and Chiesa uses a left under hook to help him stand back up. Vick goes for another takedown but can’t land it cleanly. They are back up on their feet, in free standing range.
Chiesa starts coming forward more confidently and lands a left cross. Vick fires back with a three punch combo but only lands glancingly and to Chiesa’s forehead. Chiesa lands another left cross! Vick marches forward and goes to the body with punches.
Vick lands a cross, then a jab, then an uppercut a few moments later and two more straight punches. Vick lands his long jab and goes back to the body with a left hook. Chiesa lands another straight left hand. Vick throws a body kick that Chiesa catches. He tries to turn that into a takedown but Vick gets his hips out of the way and defends.
Chiesa counters a leg kick with a hook and follows up with two straights. Vick presses forward and lands a left uppercut to the head of Chiesa. Chiesa half falls, half takes a desperation takedown shot. He’s on his knees.
Vick gets side control, then is forced back into half guard and then half butterfly guard by Chiesa. Chiesa turns in to get back up and Vick grabs a front headlock with arm in. Vick goes for an arm-in guillotine and reverses Chiesa into mount. Vick has the choke in tight with seconds left. Chiesa holds on until the horn.
Rd. 2
Chiesa shoots and scores the takedown early. From there, he moves into the mount with relative ease.
Looks like Coach Cruz’ worst nightmare of Vick being on his back might be coming true. Chiesa unleashes a barrage of strikes, Vick doesn’t defend and the referee steps in to call the bout.
What a comeback in this fight for Chiesa and what a season of perseverance through adversity all season long after the death of his father just weeks ago. It may be the most compelling personal narrative out of any TUF season. And it isn’t over. In just one week, Chiesa will fight again, for the title of The Ultimate Fighter.
Al Iaquinta vs. Vinc Pichel
Rd. 1
Al comes out firing and moving very aggressively. He follows that up by shooting for a single from very far away. Vinc defends well but then Al switches to a double leg and scores the takedown.
Vinc stands up but gives his back. Al gets one hook in and drags Vinc back to the ground while taking his back. Vinc defends Al’s rear naked choke attempts and stands up.
Al looks to be the much quicker fighter, with better footwork, effectively staying away from most of Vinc’s power strikes. Al also is throwing more combinations with the hands and finishing them off with low kicks.
Al shoots in and hits another double leg. Vinc controls Al’s posture with a high full guard before standing back up with seconds left in the round. The horn sounds with Al pressing in for another takedown.
Rd. 2
Al lands a left jab followed by a high kick. Vinc wades in, moving his head and feinting, and walks in to an uppercut. Al’s combinations continue to come fast but his finishing leg kicks are starting to land more solidly, with Vinc not checking most of them.
Al starts to move side to side in an even more slick fashion and is making Vinc miss big with punches, by slipping and weaving well. Al fakes a leg kick, throws a super-man punch and then shoots for a takedown. He’s stuffed by Vinc.
Vinc lands a low kick, followed by a right hand. Al shoots in for a takedown, presses Vinc against the cage. Vinc defends, circles away from the cage, to his right, and lands a solid knee to Al’s mid section. The round ends with Al makind Pincel miss with his punches more, by bobbing.
Al gets the decision nod and is in the finals against Chiesa!
As the episode ends, Al and Mike square off. Nuts that they will be fighting one another in just one week at the Palms in the finale. Cruz gets a water bucket thrown on him by his team. Slips, falls and injures his other acl.
That’s the season, folks! Please join us here next week for our live play by play blog of The Ultimate Fighter 15 Live Finale from The Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Let’s get a few things straight before we even start to analyze this one: Yes, Cole Konrad picked up the quickest stoppage of the evening at last night’s Bellator 70 from New Orleans. No, that isn’t our way of saying that the entire card was full of decisions. And no, we aren’t lying to you.
But before we get to that, let’s talk about the evening’s main event. Despite having a heavyweight title fight on the card, the main event of the evening was the lightweight tournament finals between former welterweight standouts Rick Hawn and Brent Weedman. While the first two rounds were razor thin, the third round was all Rick Hawn. Hawn took Weedman down numerous times throughout the round and utilized elbows from inside Weedman’s guard. Weedman put together some late offense, but it was too little, too late. Rick Hawn will meet Michael Chandler next season for a shot at the lightweight title.
Let’s get a few things straight before we even start to analyze this one: Yes, Cole Konrad picked up the quickest stoppage of the evening at last night’s Bellator 70 from New Orleans. No, that isn’t our way of saying that the entire card was full of decisions. And no, we aren’t lying to you.
But before we get to that, let’s talk about the evening’s main event. Despite having a heavyweight title fight on the card, the main event of the evening was the lightweight tournament finals between former welterweight standouts Rick Hawn and Brent Weedman. While the first two rounds were razor thin, the third round was all Rick Hawn. Hawn took Weedman down numerous times throughout the round and utilized elbows from inside Weedman’s guard. Weedman put together some late offense, but it was too little, too late. Rick Hawn will meet Michael Chandler next season for a shot at the lightweight title.
When a champion who goes out and earns the quickest stoppage of his career in his first heavyweight title defense, that speaks volumes on how quickly that fighter is developing. Cole Konrad immediately put the dangerous boxer Eric Prindle on his back and locked in a kimura, earning the tap exactly one minute into the fight. If you were interested in seeing how the Team Deathclutch prospect’s standup has improved, you’ll have to wait for his next fight. Obviously, his submissions seem to be coming along. If Konrad continues to develop into a balanced, complete fighter, he’ll be a tough matchup for anyone in the heavyweight division.
And likewise, it’s hard to be too critical of Eric Prindle. For starters, stepping up to fight a teammate in the first place deserves respect from the fans. As for his performance, preventing a takedown from such a huge, yet technically solid wrestler like Konrad is no easy task. He was taken down and overpowered on his way to the early stoppage. There’s no doubt that Prindle will be back, as Bjorn Rebney already confirmed in last night’s post-event press conference that Prindle will be fighting in the next heavyweight tournament. Hopefully he’ll be back with better takedown defense next time around.
In the bantamweight tournament semifinals, Luis Alberto Nogueira was simply on a different level than Hiroshi Nakamura. Save for an early low blow to Nakamura, Nogueira’s performance was flawless. Nakamura simply had no answers for the Brazilian’s crisp standup, getting outpointed on his way to a third round TKO defeat. Props to Nakamura for almost making it the entire fight, but Nogueira was simply too much for him last night. Luis Nogueira will meet Marcos Galvao for the Season Six Tournament Championship and a shot at Bantamweight Champion Eduardo Dantas.
Also of note, Louisiana’s own Rich Clementi picked up a quick submission victory over Derek Campos. Campos managed to catch Clementi early on, using his superior standup to control the fight. However, the fight quickly changed once Clementi earned a takedown. Once “No Love” got the fight to the ground, the fight was essentially over, as Clementi’s jiu jitsu was simply too much for Derek Campos. Clementi improves to 43-21-1 with the victory.
Full Results:
Main Card:
Lightweight Tournament Final: Rick Hawn def. Brent Weedman via unanimous decision
Heavyweight Title Fight: Cole Konrad def. Eric Prindle via submission (kimura), 1:00 of Round One
Bantamweight Tournament Semifinal: Luis Nogueira def. Hiroshi Nakamura via KO (punches), 1:58 of Round Three
Rich Clementi def. Derek Campos via submission (guillotine choke), 4:18 of Round One
Preliminary Card:
A.J. Matthews def. Charlie Rader via KO (kick), 3:34 of Round Two
Kelvin Tiller def. Jeremiah Riggs via verbal submission (kimura), 3:38 of Round Three
Jonas Billstein def. Mike Seal via submission (rear-naked choke), 2:55 of Round One
Derek Arcement def. Blake Dufour via unanimous decision
(Negative side effects of TRT: Bacne. Positive side effects: Falcon Punch.)
My God, today’s NSAC meeting, which determined both Chael Sonnen’s future ability to continue legal injecting steroids testosterone replacement therapy and Nick Diaz’s minimum retirement length was like watching Lawrence of Arabia, twice, minus all of the train explosions and shots of interesting desert landscapes. To describe the six hour hearing in a word: humdrum. Thankfully, we’ll be much briefer in summing up what went down.
To kick off the afternoon, Sonnen was successful in achieving a therapeutic use exemption for testosterone replacement therapy, and now joins the like of Dan Henderson, Todd Duffee, and Shane Roller in the select group of MMA fighters to receive an exemption from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. As far as interesting developments go, Sonnen admitted that he injected himself with testosterone, stating, “I administer two times a week, every Sunday and Thursday. It’s self-injected intermusculatory and [I] consider it to be a prescription.” When Commissioner Pat Lundvall asked why Sonnen had never listed using testosterone on his medical forms over the past few years, Sonnen stated that he was under the impression that it wasn’t something that needed to be disclosed. He also stated under oath that he “has never taken anabolic steroids.”
In another interesting moment, which took place before the hearing truly began, Keith Kizer likened TRT to “the new Viagra” as doctors continue to push it on the population and that “Therapuetic Use Exemptions do not allow you to test outside of normal ranges. It only allows for presence of synthetics.” Does this make Sonnen TRT’s Smiling Bob? Only time will tell.
(Negative side effects of TRT: Bacne. Positive side effects: Falcon Punch.)
My God, today’s NSAC meeting, which determined both Chael Sonnen’s future ability to continue legal injecting steroids testosterone replacement therapy and Nick Diaz’s minimum retirement length was like watching Lawrence of Arabia, twice, minus all of the train explosions and shots of interesting desert landscapes. To describe the six hour hearing in a word: humdrum. Thankfully, we’ll be much briefer in summing up what went down.
To kick off the afternoon, Sonnen was successful in achieving a therapeutic use exemption for testosterone replacement therapy, and now joins the like of Dan Henderson, Todd Duffee, and Shane Roller in the select group of MMA fighters to receive an exemption from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. As far as interesting developments go, Sonnen admitted that he injected himself with testosterone, stating, ”I administer two times a week, every Sunday and Thursday. It’s self-injected intermusculatory and [I] consider it to be a prescription.” When Commissioner Pat Lundvall asked why Sonnen had never listed using testosterone on his medical forms over the past few years, Sonnen stated that he was under the impression that it wasn’t something that needed to be disclosed. He also stated under oath that he “has never taken anabolic steroids.”
In another interesting moment, which took place before the hearing truly began, Keith Kizer likened TRT to “the new Viagra” as doctors continue to push it on the population and that “Therapuetic Use Exemptions do not allow you to test outside of normal ranges. It only allows for presence of synthetics.” Does this make Sonnen TRT’s Smiling Bob? Only time will tell.
And with that, Sonnen was granted an exemption on the grounds that he will undergo several blood tests both before and after UFC 148 to monitor his injections. The commission then asked if Sonnen would help them as an adviser on TRT in the future, which he gladly accepted.
Let’s move on to Diaz, who, true to form, did not pull any punches when answering his questions. When asked approximately when he began smoking marijuana again after his 2007 hearing with the NSAC, something Diaz swore he would never do again during said hearing, Diaz admitting to smoking weed pretty much immediately afterward upon returning home. Twenty-four year old Dave Chapelle approves. But the main issue was not when exactly Diaz had started dating Mary Jane again, or how early he broke it off with her before his fight with Carlos Condit at UFC 143, but rather why he lied on his pre-fight questionnaire when he stated that he was not taking any prescription or over-the-counter drugs at the time. The argument Diaz and lawyer Les Grossman attempted to make was an old stand-by for Diaz: ignorance.
According to Diaz and Grossman, Diaz was not aware that his marijuana usage did in fact fall under the terms of either prescription or OTC usage, simply because Diaz did not think his medically diagnosed ADHD was serious enough to be listed on the questionnaire. Also, being that Diaz neither obtained his medical marijuana through a prescription or over-the-counter means, but rather through a doctor’s statement, that Diaz should not be held entirely accountable for his actions. Diaz stated that he often obtained his medical marijuana through other friends who also had physician statements (yeah, same here bro) or at cannabis dispensaries located near his home, whichever was more convenient. Diaz also stated that he was diagnosed with ADHD in the second grade, and that although he began smoking pot for purely recreational purposes, looking back, he considered it more therapeutic than anything.
Although the commission wasn’t exactly out to make Diaz look like a fool, and seemed more than willing to hear his argument, their deliberation was so short that I could barely step outside to help cure my own self-diagnosed eating disorder, if you know what I mean, before the ruling had been handed down.
12 months, and thirty percent of Diaz’s UFC 143 purse and bonus.
Combine that with Grossman’s substantial fees, and that sure doesn’t leave him a whole lot to retire on, so expect to see Diaz back in the octagon once his suspension is up. Hopefully he’ll show up for the fight this time.
Mauro haters, hit mute now. Actually, everyone hit mute and read what I say about the fights below. (Video: YouTube/ShoSports)
Bruised and battered. Cut and bloodied. Josh Barnett’s face wasn’t one of a man who got out-wrestled last night. Olympic-level or not, wrestling doesn’t leave you looking like you put your head through a meat grinder. Don’t get me wrong, he did get out-wrestled last night, he just got out-struck as well. He got out-everythinged, if you want to get technical.
It didn’t have to be that way, of course. A lot of men would have wilted earlier–much earlier–in the onslaught of Daniel Cormier’s attack. But Barnett never thought of taking the easy way out, and today his face testifies to the evolving game of Cormier. The AKA product showed great versatility in his striking, staggering Barnett with heavy hands, head kicks, and knees. His combinations come fast, hard, and often, which explains why his hand surgeon is on retainer (yeah, he broke his hand again last night). When he did grab hold of “The War Master”, his grappling pedigree shone as well. He sent Barnett stumbling across the cage from the clinch and dolled out single-leg frequent flier miles, at one point flipping the former UFC champion in the air before slamming him to the mat.
Mauro haters, hit mute now. Actually, everyone hit mute and read what I say about the fights below. (Video: YouTube/ShoSports)
Bruised and battered. Cut and bloodied. Josh Barnett‘s face wasn’t one of a man who got out-wrestled last night. Olympic-level or not, wrestling doesn’t leave you looking like you put your head through a meat grinder. Don’t get me wrong, he did get out-wrestled last night, he just got out-struck as well. He got out-everythinged, if you want to get technical.
It didn’t have to be that way, of course. A lot of men would have wilted earlier–much earlier–in the onslaught of Daniel Cormier’s attack. But Barnett never thought of taking the easy way out, and today his face testifies to the evolving game of Cormier. The AKA product showed great versatility in his striking, staggering Barnett with heavy hands, head kicks, and knees. His combinations come fast, hard, and often, which explains why his hand surgeon is on retainer (yeah, he broke his hand again last night). When he did grab hold of “The War Master”, his grappling pedigree shone as well. He sent Barnett stumbling across the cage from the clinch and dolled out single-leg frequent flier miles, at one point flipping the former UFC champion in the air before slamming him to the mat.
If Cormier looked great last night it was only because Barnett forced him to. Josh had DC in trouble on more than one occasion, visibly hurting him in the second frame with a right hand-left knee combination, and later working dutifully for leg-locks on the ground. He too will have to nurse a broken hand suffered in the opening frame, but hopefully he’ll find his way to the Octagon soon.
The rubbermatch between Gilbert Melendez and challenger Josh Thomson was far more evenly contested and therefor far more difficult to judge. The old rivals started off slowly in a pair of cautious opening rounds. Both men found a home for their fists in those first two frames, but with the more active hands and several short-lived takedowns the champion edged out Thomson on the cards. “The Punk” came alive in the third, turning up the heat in a pivotal swing-round that could arguably have gone either way on a night where the scorecards bore little resemblance to the action taking place inside the cage.
Thomson took control in the championship rounds. Another slick trip takedown in the fourth round ended with the challenger taking Melendez’s back and threatening with several rear naked choke attempts. “The Punk” outlanded the champion two-to-one in significant strikes in the final round, taking Melendez down and maintaining top-control to close the bout.
Thomson suffered from repeated unintentional eye pokes throughout the bout, and a potential point deduction would have yielded a majority draw in a bout that either man could have been awarded under the Unified Rules. Under Melendez’s hometown ‘Stockton Rules‘, however, that belt is changing hands. “El Nino” got busted up in the exchanges and looked far more worse for wear after the fight. Though Thomson wasn’t exactly unleashing hell from above as the final bell rang, momentum had clearly shifted in his direction in the latter half of the battle. No matter who you had ahead, there will be no fourth fight and Melendez is keeping the strap.
In a far more decisive battle, Rafael Cavalcante evened the score in his rematch with Mike Kyle. Only seconds into their bout, “Feijao” connected with a knee to the grill that sent Kyle flying back against the cage. The Brazilian swarmed him on the ground with a torrent of hammerfists, many to the back of the head, before Kyle worked his way back to his feet. Perhaps inspired by Jon Jones pulling guard at UFC 145–not!–Feijao jumped around MAK’s waist and sunk in a guillotine. Kyle stayed standing for a bit before attempting to slam his way free of the choke, but Feijao rolled with the momentum and cranked away for the tap once they hit the ground.
In the evening’s opening tilt, late-replacement Chris Spang needed less than a round to dispatch Nah-Shon Burrell and even up his family’s MMA record over the weekend. Spang dropped Burrell halfway through the first then threw more high knees than a Rockettes performance. Fortunately for Burrell, he was out on his feet for much of the abuse, and referee Josh Rosenthal mercifully called the bout once Burrell collapsed his way out of Spang’s thai clinch and sprawled out on the canvas.
Also, if you didn’t catch the Virgil Zwicker-Carlos Inocente throwdown in the prelims, do yourself a favor. The only part of Zwicker’s body that Inocente doesn’t smash was his heart. It’s an entertaining scrap that casts Zwicker as the loveable anti-Sapp.
Main Card (on Showtime): -Daniel Cormier def. Josh Barnett by unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-45)
-Gilbert Melendez def. Josh Thomson by split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
-Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante def. Mike Kyle by submission (guillotine choke) at :33, R1
-Chris Spang def. Nah-Shon Burrell by KO at 1:35, R1
Preliminary Card (on Showtime Extreme): -Isaac Vallie-Flagg def. Cesias “JZ” Cavalcante by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
-Carlos Augusto “Guto” Inocente Filho def. Virgil Zwicker by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
-Gian Villante def. Derrick Mehmen by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
-Quinn Mulhern def. Yuri Villefort by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
-Bobby Green def. James Terry by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
When we last saw Maiquel Falcao and Andreas Spang in the cage with each other, the two nearly started brawling during a post-fight interview at Bellator 66. Anticipation for their main event clash at last night’s Bellator 69 from Lake Charles, Louisiana was high, even though Falcao initially missed weight for their bout. The dust has settled, and the event produced this season’s middleweight tournament champion, a close (borderline controversial) decision and much more.
The evening’s main event saw UFC veteran Maiquel Falcao dominate Swedish prospect Andreas Spang. Save for an early right cross that appeared to have Falcao in trouble, as well as an illegal knee from “Big Rig” that cost him a one point deduction on the scorecards, Maiquel Falcao controlled this entire fight. Already known for his Muay Thai prowess, Falcao utilized an ever-improving wrestling game on his way to the unanimous decision victory.
Immediately after winning this season’s middleweight tournament, Bjorn Rebney came to the cage to announce that Maiquel Falcao will be fighting Alexander Shlemenko, who was initially set for a rematch against Hector Lombard before he signed with the UFC, for the vacant middleweight title. Falcao vs. Shlemenko should be an interesting fight, especially if Falcao is healthy for it. At the post-event press conference, Maiquel Falcao revealed that he had been battling a flu leading up to his fight against Spang.
When we last saw Maiquel Falcao and Andreas Spang in the cage with each other, the two nearly started brawling during a post-fight interview at Bellator 66. Anticipation for their main event clash at last night’s Bellator 69 from Lake Charles, Louisiana was high, even though Falcao initially missed weight for their bout. The dust has settled, and the event produced this season’s middleweight tournament champion, a close (borderline controversial) decision and much more.
The evening’s main event saw UFC veteran Maiquel Falcao dominate Swedish prospect Andreas Spang. Save for an early right cross that appeared to have Falcao in trouble, as well as an illegal knee from “Big Rig” that cost him a one point deduction on the scorecards, Maiquel Falcao controlled this entire fight. Already known for his Muay Thai prowess, Falcao utilized an ever-improving wrestling game on his way to the unanimous decision victory.
Immediately after winning this season’s middleweight tournament, Bjorn Rebney came to the cage to announce that Maiquel Falcao will be fighting Alexander Shlemenko, who was initially set for a rematch against Hector Lombard before he signed with the UFC, for the vacant middleweight title. Falcao vs. Shlemenko should be an interesting fight, especially if Falcao is healthy for it. At the post-event press conference, Maiquel Falcao revealed that he had been battling a flu leading up to his fight against Spang.
The evenings co-main event, a welterweight tournament bout between David Rickels and Karl Amoussou, was a much closer fight. With the crowd expecting fireworks, the bout was paused after a low kick from Rickels caused Amoussou’s jock strap to tear. After attempting to find Amoussou a backup jock, officials decided to just tape the cup to “Psycho” and proceed with the fight. Seriously.
The first round was all Amoussou, who outstruck “Caveman” and displayed his impressive judo. Round two started off the same way, but Rickels managed to turn things around mid-round, and managed to nearly finish the fight with an armbar. Amoussou slammed his way out of the armbar attempt as the round came to a close. Round three saw Rickels thoroughly outclass Amoussou, taking him down and unloading some serious ground and pound for the remainder of the fight, including some two-handed “Caveman smash” by the end of the fight.
In the end, the judges saw the bout in favor of Karl Amoussou, who had to miss the post-event press conference due to a possibly broken orbital bone. Needless to say, David Rickels was not impressed with the decision (neither were the fans in attendance, for that matter). At the press conference, Rickels speculated that Pepe Le Pew must have been one of the judges, and paraphrased Chael Sonnen by asking in what parallel universe can a fighter break a guy’s orbital bone and have his opponent declared the winner. The loss marks the first in his career.
The top two women’s 115-pound fighters, Megumi Fujii and Jessica Aguilar, were also booked for the evening. Throughout the fight, Aguilar used her superior striking to keep Fujii at bay. While Fujii did not attempt a single takedown in the second round, she managed to take Aguilar down in the final round, although it was too little too late. Jessica Aguilar improves to 14-4, and emerges as the top 115 pound fighter with the victory.
Also of note, Abe Wagner and Mark Holata led off the card with a heavyweight tournament qualifier bout. The short bout ended in confusion, as Abe Wagner was caught in a seemingly ineffective foot lock. Abe Wagner attempted one of his own before saying “Tap”, ending the fight. After the bout, Wagner called his loss “fucking embarrassing” and vowed to come back with a better performance next time.
Full Results:
Main Card:
Maiquel Falcao def. Andreas Spang via unanimous decision
Karl Amoussou def. David Rickels via split decision
Jessica Aguilar def. Megumi Fujii via unanimous decision
Mark Holata def. Abe Wagner via verbal submission (ankle lock), 2:24 of Round One
Preliminary Card:
Josh Quayhagen def. Cliff Wright, Jr via unanimous decision
Shanon Slack def. Booker Arthur via unanimous decision
Andrey Koreshkov def. Derrick Krantz via TKO (strikes), 0:51 of Round Three
Richard Hale def. Josh Burns via TKO (strikes), 0:38 of Round One
E.J. Brooks def. Kalvin Hackney via unanimous decision
