Bonuses:
- Submission of the night – CB Dollaway
- Fight of the Night – Two were issued to the competitors involved in the Sherk-Dunham and Mitrione-Beltran fights
- Even though Mir got a knockout, there is no knockout of the night.

I caught the press conference a little late.

Matt Mitrione:
- He made a lot of mistakes in his opinion.
- He’s as serious as he can be, but he likes to have fun. He loves his job.

Chris Lytle:
- He hit Serra as hard as he could, but he wouldn’t fall. His hands hurt.

Melvin Guillard:
- He pleased his coaches.
- Stephens was tough, but he was a better fighter and better wrestler. He’s grown up and grown up with the sport and has integrity now.

Dana White:
- Chris Lytle is in the mix with his four wins in a row.
- Doesn’t want to expand into more divisions because it would be hard to find guys in the division.

Frank Mir:
- Could’ve pushed the pace a bit more. Velocity of Cro Cop’s left hook slowed him down a bit. He’s not happy at all about his performance.
- He’s surprised he didn’t huff and puff at all so he thought he was in great shape. (Um, should he have been tired in that fight?)
- He should’ve closed the distance and fought a boxing fight rather than a kick boxing fight.

If you missed the Spike TV prelims, I logged them here.

How great would it be to see Mirko Cro Cop beat Frank Mir tonight? We actually had three guys take Cro Cop in the preview that we put out yesterday. I don’t see it, but I think it’d be a great story.

1. Jeremy Stephens vs. Melvin Guillard

Guillard came in quickly and was put on his butt. But he got back up. He’s way too cocky. It’s almost like he’s nervous and he’s faking it by pretending like he’s overconfident. It was a pretty even round in the striking department and that’s all they did. Neither guy had a real advantage and it felt a lot like a feeling out round. But they are going all out with their strikes. They just aren’t exchanging all that much.

Neither guy is really landing, though Guillard does have a speed advantage. He’s able to get in and out before Stephens has a chance to get off. But it’s not like Guillard is landing. Stephens is starting to fake shots to throw others and it’s a better strategy. They both finally land, but it’s just too bad it’s in each other’s cups. Looks like Guillard got the worst of his. Stephens looks bothered by Guillard’s Floyd Mayweather impersonation. Well, it’s not the fight anyone expected.

Unless he gets knocked out, Guillard’s going to win this fight and it’s not because of his offense. It’s going to be because of his defense. He’s keeping his distance and not allowing Stephens to do anything impressive. Stephens may have landed more shots because of his leg kicks, but it’s unimpressive. Someone might as well kick a guy in the balls. That was the most impressive moment of the fight so far. Stephens landed a body shot that Guillard didn’t like and tried to follow it up with a flying knee, but missed badly. They started to exchange really late in the fight. Guillard landed a wicked knee while Stephens was coming in but took punches as well.

Winner: Melvin Guillard by way of split decision

The scores were 29-28 Guillard, 29-28 Stephens, and 30-27 Guillard.

2. Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk

Dunham put him in a guillotine early and it looked deep. Sherk got out of it and did what he does best which is muscle guys on the ground. That’s two takedowns. Dunham had another guillotine and twisted on it. Mike Goldberg called it early but Sherk didn’t tap. It looked deep though. Sherk got back on top and blasted Dunham from the top with an elbow and we have blood. The cut is nasty. The ref stopped the fight to check on the cut, but restarted the round. I think the visual of the cut probably wins the round for Sherk on the judges’ scorecards, but I’d give the round to Dunham.
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I like the fact that TUF guys get a chance to showcase their stuff in front of a decent sized Spike TV audience before the main PPV card starts. However, if they don’t see this as a gift, then they don’t understand the game. The Spike TV fights should be the most inspired and crazed fights on the show because their job is to get people excited and then to add late buys to the PPV. Think Leonard Garcia and the Korean Zombie. Think the opposite of Nik Lentz.

1. Joey Beltran vs. Matt Mitrione

Mitrione’s offense looks quick. He’s not just throwing one shot at a time and he’s also mixing in leg kicks too. But all it took was one big right by Beltran to put him on the defensive. Beltran then got a takedown, which actually might’ve been good for Mitrione because he looked a little nervous after being hit like he did. Well, for two and a half minutes, this fight was good. Beltran held him down on the ground, getting in north/south position and Mitrione kept trying for the triangle rather than trying to get back on his feet. It will be interesting how they score this round.

Beltran doesn’t seem to fear Mitrione’s power at all. He’s just putting his head down and taking Mitrione’s punches to give his own. But he took one too many as Mitrione tagged him and Mitrione thought he might’ve had him and closed in. Then he threw an idiotic and off-balanced right uppercut that left him open and he was tagged. Sometimes I’m appalled at how little boxing these guys have, no matter how hard they hit. Mitrione started to use his reach advantage to stay away, but then got stuck against the fence and took some shots. With his reach advantage and quickness, he shouldn’t ever be really hit by Beltran. Mitrione closed strong and he won the second.

Mitrione did a much better job at controlling the stand-up. He mostly peppered him with shots, but it was effective. The last two rounds were all Mitrione.

Winner: Matt Mitrione by way of unanimous decision

All of the scores were 29-28.

2. Joe Doerksen vs. CB Dollaway
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Kudos again to Ariel Helwani for an excellent video interview that he did with Dana White. White discusses UFC 119, Chael Sonnen, cutting Todd Duffee and Efrain Escudero, and more.

Jason Hagholm has predictions for the the first four non-televised fights for UFC 119.

Folllow Jason on Twitter at dadrrtywhyteboi.

Sean McCorkle vs Mark Hunt: K-1 & PRIDE star Hunt has powerful hands and not much of a ground game and has been on a big losing streak coming into the UFC. Granted, they were to guys that he was no match for like Fedor, Barnett, and Moussasi. McCorkle is a tall and thick heavyweight who has a 7-0 record, which really doesn’t mean much because it was on the independent scene. McCorkle loves to get a fight to the ground and just ground and pound you into submission or until the ref stops it.

Prediction: McCorkle TKO 2nd Round

T.J. Grant vs Julio Paulino: Paulino is coming off a decision loss to Mike Pierce but he has good hands and a decent ground game and has fought some name guys, so he is experienced. Grant is a guy who brings his lunch bucket and puts in work on all of his fights and recently lost to Johnny Hendricks at UFC 113. But he has a consistent record in the UFC beating Ryo Chonan and Kevin Burns and to me, he should have beat Dong Hyun Kim. If Grant gets this fight to the ground, I think he can pull off the submission on Paulino.

Prediction: T.J. Grant 3rd round submisison

Waylon Lowe vs Steve Lopez: In a fight between two unknowns to many, both guys have fought in the UFC before suffering losses. Lowe lost to Melvin Guillard by a devastating knee to the body and Lopez lost to Jim Miller via TKO, though granted he couldn’t continue after he injured his shoulder. Lowe has the experience but I think Lopez’s youth will shine through and he will grind out a decision victory.

Prediction: Steve Lopez Unanimous Decision

Pat Audinwood vs Thiago Tavares: Tavares is a vet of UFC events and is coming off a DRAW against the man who killed the Spike prelim ratings for UFC 118, Nik Lentz. Tavares has a great ground game, decent hands and can go the distance. Pat “Awesomely Awesome” Audinwood has maybe the coolest nickname in all of MMA, but he is more than just a nickname as he has a good ground game which has comprised most of his victories. He, like Tavares, can push a fight to the distance but if I were a betting man I would take Tavares to get a 1st round submission on the inexperienced fighter and for Tavares’s sake hopefully his submission is Awesomely Awesome.

Prediction: Thiago Tavares 1st round submission

Here’s weigh-in results for UFC 119:

Sean McCorkle (263) vs. Mark Hunt (265)

Julio Paulino (170) vs. TJ Grant (170)

Waylon Lowe (154) vs. Steve Lopez (156)

Pat Audinwood (156) vs. Thiago Tavares (155)

Joey Beltran (239) vs. Matt Mitrione (253)

Mitrione was wearing a shirt with Marvin Gaye’s face on it that said, “Let’s get it on.”

Joe Doerksen (186) vs. CB Dollaway (186)

Jeremy Stephens (155) vs. Melvin Guillard (155)

Guillard got right up in his face with his hands down at the stare down.

Evan Dunham (156) vs. Sean Sherk (155)

Sherk looks a little bit smaller than I expected.

Chris Lytle (171) vs. Matt Serra (170)

They goofed off at the stare down with Serra trying to look taller and Lytle shorter.

Ryan Bader (205) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (205)

Bader looks jacked and lean. Rogan called Lil’ Nog by the name of Minotauro.

Mirko Cro Cop (227) vs. Frank Mir (252)

Cro Cop looks small. Mir looks big, but not as big as he’s been of late.

Cro Cop says he feels good and it’s just another fight. Mir says he’s not underestimating Cro Cop and he’s going to look to take him out quick.