Mauro Ranallo, Bill Goldberg, and Stephen Quadros are the announcers.

1. Jake Shields vs. Renato Verissimo

Shields gets taken down, but gets up and takes Verissimo down. It was text book ground and pound. He got the mount and threw about 50 unanswered punches before Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight.

Winner: Jake Shields by way of first round TKO.

2. Riki Fukuda vs. Joe Villasenor

Fukuda gets an early arm triangle after taking Villasenor down. Fukuda has an impressive boxing stance. Both guys seem tired but Villasenor wins the first round by hitting some impressive looking head kicks.

Fukuda eats a left hook and his head drives into the cage, much like the Nature Boy Ric Flair in a cage match with Dusty Rhodes. Steve Mazzagatti puts them back in the center of the ring twice after they clinch against the cage. Don’t let him referee a Randy Couture match. Fukuda’s stand-up is busier, though Villasenor seems to land the heavier punches. Fukuda catches Villasenor’s leg at the end of the round and takes him down. Fukuda wins the second round, but it’s very close.

Fukuda is landing the straight left at will. Fukuda shoots and gets the takedown, but Villasenor rolls over and gets the top position. Villasenor wins the last 90 seconds in the stand-up war and probably wins the fight.

Winner: Joe Villasenor by way of split decision.

3. Tonya Evinger vs. Gina Carano

Where’s Master Toddy? Evinger takes Carano down and gets side control. She tries to get a choke in, but Carano slips out, switches position and gets Evinger’s back. She goes for a rear naked choke and it’s hard to tell if Evinger is out, or is trying to hang on because her hair is in the way. She taps out right before the round ends.

Winner: Gina Carano by way of first round submission.

4. Mike Aina vs. Nick Diaz

It’s too hard to see if Nick’s eyes are red. Aina comes out swinging. He’s throwing the bigger shots and is the busier fighter. Diaz seems content to take the punches as if they won’t hurt him to get his range. Diaz starts to find it later in the round and even lands a couple knees, but it was Aina’s round.

Aina knocks Diaz down with a right hand following a lazy kick by Diaz. Diaz is peppering him with shots, but not really hurting him. Diaz is scoring though and he finally gets the takedown late in the round. He goes for the rear naked choke as the round ends. While Aina got the knock down, he looked awful at the end of the round and I’d give it to Diaz because he nearly had the submission.

Diaz is controlling it, and Aina is just trying to hold on. But he’s holding on well. Diaz is trying to take him down and has him against the cage. He finally gets the takedown and spends the rest of the round trying for the rear naked choke. Aina nearly bucks him off but Diaz then goes for the arm as the round ends.

It’s an odd fight to score because if you look at it as a whole, Diaz is obviously the more talented fighter and not once did I believe he was ever in trouble. Aina was in trouble twice and had to hold on. I don’t think that by holding on, he looked like the winner. The way he wins the fight is if the judges count his knockdown in round two as enough to win the second.

Winner: Nick Diaz by way of split decision.

One judge scored it 30-27 for Diaz, which might’ve been more ludicrous than any one of the judges and their scoring of the Matt Hammill/Michael Bisping fight last weekend.

5. Robbie Lawler vs. Murilo “Ninja” Rua

Lawler is landing the better punches while Rua is landing low leg kicks. It wasn’t much of a round as they did more feeling each other out than anything. I’d give it slightly to Lawler.

Rua seems to want to stand with Lawler. He shoots, but Lawler sprawls and then lands a right handed uppercut that rocks Rua. Rua tries to trade with Lawler, and while he lands, he’s not landing the heavier shots. Lawler wins the second.

Lawler is landing very heavy punches now. He’s throwing some three punch combinations. He lands one that makes Rua woozy and Rua goes down. Lawler is throwing some hammers from the top and Rua is out cold.

Winner: Robbie Lawler by way of third round TKO.

Lawler is thew new EXC middleweight champion.

Labels: EliteXC

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- UFC 75 does great ratings for Spike TV.

- Dave Meltzer discusses the 10 point must system in the UFC.

- Is Pride overrated?

- Ok, maybe not.

- Michael Bisping’s “hometown” decision win.

- More debating about Bisping vs. Hamill.

- Mark Cuban launches HDNet Fights.

- Sam Caplan previews EliteXC’s Uprising card.

- Nick Diaz says um, probably too much in his interview with Sam Caplan.

Talking Points

I don’t mean to make light of the subject matter, but why all the fuss over Michael Bisping’s decision victory over Matt Hamill? Robbery? Probably not. Was it a bad decision victory for Bisping? Probably so.

In a three round fight, all you have to do is win two of those rounds to win the fight. You don’t even have to win them decisively. Unfortunately for Hamill, he only won one round convincingly. I scored the second round for him myself and gave Bisping the third. If I were a judge, I’d have given Hamill the fight based on his winning two rounds to Bisping’s one. If the fight were scored on a whole, without having to score by rounds numerically, it’s easily Hamill’s fight based on his dominance in the first round. However, it’s not like this is anything new. Because of the judging system in the fighting game, this is going to happen, and will continue to happen. Judges are human. They are going to see things differently. This is why there are three of them instead of one.

I have been a boxing fan ever since I was a small child. I remember scoring old fights just to see what my eyes saw as important versus what the judges saw as important. I remember watching Larry Holmes lose two fights to Michael Spinks and simply wondering how the judges could score the fight for a man who peppers the other man with light punches that don’t do any discernible damage. But we have to remember that not everyone sees a fight the same way. A judge could’ve seen Spinks’ style and come to the conclusion that he was controlling the tempo and using his quickness and defense to out box the bigger Holmes. While I didn’t think it was necessarily fair, I understood that the only way Holmes or Spinks could’ve decisively won the fight was if there was a knockout. When you have subjective scoring methods, you are prone to think that your judgment is right, and whoever is opposed to your judgment is wrong. This was no robbery. It was simply a minority viewpoint by two judges that was different from what the majority of fans saw on television.

This weekend is the calm before the storm. There’s only one show and it’s an EliteXC show on Saturday night being broadcast on Showtime. It’s not a stellar card from a big fight perspective. The main event between Murilo “Ninja” Rua and Robbie Lawler, isn’t a must see big time match, it could be an entertaining one. There’s also the intrigue of watching Nick Diaz in his first fight back since being suspended for testing positive for marijuana. But maybe the main reason I want to watch this card is because I get to see Gina Carano fight. Say what you want about women’s fighting, but Carano could be the first female star of the MMA. After watching her on Fight Girls, I’m certain that she has all the star qualities as long as she continues to win.

Next weekend is busy with two UFC cards and the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter Season 6.

If you want to contact me, click here.

Thanks for reading,

Garrett M. Gonzales
MMAHelpWeb.com

Labels: Dave Meltzer, EliteXC, Gina Carano, HDNet Fights, Mark Cuban, Matt Hamill, Michael Bisping, Murilo “Ninja” Rua, Nick Diaz, Pride FC, Robbie Lawler, The Ultimate Fighter Season 6, UFC 75

It’s UFC 75 on tape delay from London, England.

First off is Houston Alexander facing off against Alessio Sakara.

Alexander puts him down with a knee and then some ground and pound ends the fight early in the first round. Alexander looks for real.

Winner: Houston Alexander by way of first round TKO.

Marcus Davis faces off against England’s own Paul Taylor.

Taylor hits a big head kick and tries to end it, but Davis defends and gets the top position. He then starts wailing from the top, but Taylor bucks him off, but then falls into an arm bar and taps out. Outstanding one round fight.

Winner: Marcus Davis by way of first round submission.

Mirko Cro Cop walks down the aisle in a wife beater tank top. That scared me.

Cro Cop stalks Kongo for half the round and then catches a leg kick attempt. He puts Kongo down and gets into the mount before Kongo switches the position right as the round ends. Not a fascinating round, but Cro Cop had good position.

Kongo dominates the second round on the ground and in the clinch as he hits Cro Cop with some huge knees. Definitely Kongo’s round.

Kongo knees Cro Cop in the testicles and Big John McCarthy warns Kongo. Kongo is now stalking Cro Cop and Cro Cop is back pedaling. Kongo out muscles Cro Cop and puts him up against the fence three times before Big John restarts them in the middle. Cro Cop does nothing for the rest of the round. It looks like he’s going to lose again.

Winner: Cheick Kongo by way of unanimous decision.

Well, I guess Randy Couture doesn’t have to worry about fighting Cro Cop anytime soon.

Matt Hamill comes out to Born In The USA. Bisping receives a rock star like crowd reaction.

Hamill dominates the stand up with a heavy left jab and looping right hand. Bisping is going to hit him as Hamill leads with his face, but Hamill is so powerful. Hamill wins round one and wins the stand up.

Hamill takes him down a couple times, but doesn’t do much with him on the ground. Bisping peppers him with punches, but those punches really don’t do anything. Pretty uneventful round compared to the first.

Hamill is using his wrestling to score points, but he doesn’t do anything while he has Bisping down. Bisping is doing much better striking and hit Hamill with a kick that stuns him late in the fight, but it might be too little, too late.

Winner: Michael Bisping by way of split decision.

Well, we are in London. Eddy Zucko (who I’m watching the fight with) is very disappointed in the decision.

It’s time for Rampage vs. Henderson.

Henderson is controlling Rampage against the cage in the clinch. He takes him down, but Rampage slips out and gets back up, only for them to go back against the cage. Henderson controlled most of the round and wins it pretty easily.

Henderson controlled the first half of the second round and Rampage controlled the second half. The round was very even.

Rampage takes Henderson down and controls the position. Henderson switches the position by grabbing onto Rampage’s arm, but they get back on their feet and Rampage gets the better of him before the bell sounds.

Rampage hits a shot to Henderson’s forehead that drops him. Rampage goes to ground and pound him and Henderson catches an arm. Rampage controls him on the ground while Henderson tries to latch onto the arm. They get stood up and Rampage wins the stand up battle before the round ends.

Rampage gets the best of the combinations, but Henderson hits a right and takes Rampage down and is trying to steal the round. Rampage gets up and takes Henderson down. Rampage is winning the stand up war at the end of the fight and I think he takes it.

Winner: Quinton Jackson by way of unanimous decision.

Labels: UFC 75

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Watch clips of the weigh ins from UFC 75.

- Dana White has plenty to say.

- Fighting and beating Chuck Liddell twice is enough for Rampage Jackson.

- Todd Martin previews Rampage vs. Dan Henderson in a title for title bout.

- Kenny Florian talks about preparing for Din Thomas.

- Michael Coughlin says UFC 75 is anticlimactic.

Talking Points

This weekend is UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion. It’s on Spike TV rather than on PPV, so there should be some new eyeballs watching the show. The main event should be really good. Predicting who is going to win between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Dan Henderson is a tough. It’s champion versus champion. You have the UFC Light Heavyweight champion putting his belt on the line against the now defunct Pride’s Light Heavyweight champion. Rampage is probably a slight favorite and on a roll, but Dan Henderson is also hot. He beat a possibly punch drunk Wanderlei Silva, but it was a step up in weight for him and you can’t take anything away from him as he badly beat Silva.

Rampage Jackson comes off his recent knockout of Chuck Liddell, the UFC’s most popular fighter. It was an impressive win, but not one in which he had to show much skill. He showed fast hands and knocked Chuck out with a punch that surprised many. It could’ve simply caught Chuck flush, or Rampage just has that much power. Henderson is a wrestler, but he has power as well. He fights much like Randy Couture, using his Grecco-Roman wrestling to push men around and using his powerful clinch to dominate them.

I think Rampage has all the upside in the world and I think he shows it tomorrow. Henderson is a game fighter, but I think he’s simply standing in Rampage’s way in becoming something pretty special. I think Rampage probably finishes Henderson in the third round.

There are two other big fights tomorrow. Mirko Cro Cop faces Cheick Kongo and Michael Bisping fights Matt Hamill. I think Mirko Cro Cop will knock out Cheick Kongo in the second round. Kongo will stand up with Mirko and I think he’ll see an angry Mirko. I wouldn’t want to see an angry Mirko. Bisping probably taps out Hamill early in their fight. This is The Ultimate Fighter Season 3 final that everyone wanted to see. Hamill was injured before the fight could take place, and Bisping won. I think Bisping is too skilled and he’ll be able to withstand an early flurry from Hamill and tap him out.

If you want to contact me, click here.

Thanks for reading,

Garrett M. Gonzales
MMAHelpWeb.com

Labels: Cheick Kongo, Chuck Liddell, Dan Henderson, Dana White, Kenny Florian, Matt Hamill, Michael Bisping, Mirko Cro Cop, Quinton Jackson, Randy Couture, UFC 75

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Dave Meltzer talks about how Rampage Jackson and Dan Henderson ruined Dana White’s original plan.

- One writer’s take on the Babalu situation.

- Sam Caplan says that the rumored Fedor deal isn’t close to being done.

- Randy Couture’s greatest hits

- Ex-NFL athletes try to test the MMA soil.

Talking Points

After a great night at UFC 74, one could say that maybe the only black eye on the event was during a dark match between Renato “Babalu” Sobral and David Heath. During the match, in which Babalu was winning, he put a choke on Heath that ended the fight. First, Heath himself tapped out. Then, the referee tapped Babalu on his arm to signal that the fight was over and that he needed to release the choke. Then he had to physically force Babalu to break the hold before Babalu finally broke it. This happens at times in mixed martial arts. Sometimes a fighter can get overwhelmed in what’s going on and not notice that the other fighter has tapped. I’m sure there have been instances in certain grudge matches where the fighter kept a hold on for an extra second or two on purpose. In Babalu’s case, it definitely seemed to be premeditated.

After the fight he mentioned that Heath had talked trash and that he did it to teach him a lesson, which is akin to a criminal admitting to a crime with glee. I don’t mean to compare what Babalu did to something that a lecherous criminal would do, but choking a man out isn’t something to be taken lightly. The reason why MMA works as a sport is because it’s a sport. It isn’t combat with the intent to injure. It’s combat with the intent to win. There are big differences. MMA fighters get hurt all the time. It comes with the territory. But so do football players and pro wrestlers. It’s the same deal. In this case, Babalu took it over the line. He decided that it wasn’t about sport anymore. And for UFC to continue to it’s climb to be accepted as a mainstream sport, they have to react strongly to situations just like they did. In this instance, Dana White reacted really strongly and fired him.

I don’t know if they are related or not, but don’t be naive to think that his arrest in mid July wasn’t in the back of the minds of the decision makers. You don’t want to see any of your athletes arrested for fighting for many reasons. And to have both things happen in the span of over a month and a half couldn’t have helped Babalu’s situation.

If you want to contact me, click here.

Thanks for reading,

Garrett M. Gonzales
MMAHelpWeb.com

Labels: Dan Henderson, Dana White, Dave Meltzer, David Heath, Fedor Emelianenko, Quinton Jackson, Renato “Babalu” Sobral