Fight Game Blog

Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg are on the broadcast.

And a very long intro starts the show. Jason MacDonald vs. Demian Maia opens up the show.

1. Jason MacDonald vs. Demian Maia

Just as Rogan said that MacDonald had to keep the fight standing, he clinched and Maia fell into his guard. He sunk in a triangle and MacDonald sat in it for over a minute and rolled over and got out of it. Maia fell into a rear naked choke, but he pulled out of it. Maia tried to get MacDonald to come back to the ground with him and MacDonald did. Maia transitioned in and out of MacDonald’s guillotine (really, he jumped into it) and then got MacDonald’s back for a rear naked attempt. Maia has a cut over his left eye.

Maia was on top pretty much the entire round throwing elbows from the top. He cut MacDonald over the eye. He got the mount and at one point tried for an arm triangle. MacDonald weathered the storm the entire round and even took the top position right at the end.

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News and notes from around the MMA, pro wrestling, and boxing world …

- Big Daddy V and others were released today by WWE.

- Is Lance Storm the most talented WWE superstar to never have a match at Wrestlemania?

- Good ol’ JR talks about Ric Flair’s break up with WWE.

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This might be the underdog UFC show of the year. With three bouts each with their own heavy intrigue, I’m probably more interested in this PPV than even last month’s big main light heavyweight title match.

Your friends at Fight Game Blog have put together a preview of the top three bouts.

Roger Huerta faces Kenny Florian in a bout that has an affect on who will be in the running for a lightweight title shot. Huerta hadn’t faced a true contender until beating Clay Guida in a great fight last year and now faces Florian who seems to be one of the measuring sticks in the division. If you think you are up to snuff in the division, you face Florian.

Roger Huerta vs. Kenny Florian

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Kenny Florian takes over for Joe Rogan and joins Mike Goldberg.

1. Mark Bocek vs. Mac Danzig

Danzig looks big tonight. Kind of boring first round until the end. Bocek got Danzig down and pretty much held him down for most of the round. Danzig finally got out of it about 35 seconds left in the round and started pounding him.

Danzig hit a huge knee that floored Bocek. He was pounding him more and was on top of him for about the next three minutes until Bocek got up, but Danzig went right back to work. Bocek’s face is a mess.

Lutter was either super tired or he was playing possum. Franklin was teeing off on him and then when he got close, he’d grab his leg. But after taking a few shots, he was done. If that was his strategy, it was a poor one. Lutter really looked in terrible shape.

Winner: Rich Franklin by way of second round TKO

Bocek did a good job in getting Danzig back down and looked like he was going to control the round, but he simply couldn’t stand with Danzig. Danzig was picking him apart. Bocek looked like Rocky Balboa after the second fight with Apollo Creed. He might’ve not been able to see well out of his left eye as his reaction time was a split second late. Danzig got him down, Bocek gave up his back, and Danzig sunk the rear naked for the submission.

Winner: Mac Danzig by third round submission

2. Charles McCarthy vs. Michael Bisping

Bisping controlled nearly the entire round with the stand-up. McCarthy took him down and tried for a submission, but Bisping got back up and threw about 10 knees and McCarthy finally went down. He was saved by the bell, but couldn’t get up and the referee stopped it before the second round.

Winner: Michael Bisping by way of first round TKO

3. Kalib Starnes vs. Nate Quarry

Quarry is 36 and Starnes is 33?

Quarry is chasing Starnes around the ring and is the only one scoring. But he’s going to be a tired guy if this thing goes three rounds. That may even be Starnes’ strategy because he gave away that first round.

The second round wasn’t much different than the first. Quarry was scoring with more leg kicks. He was wearing him out. When Starnes tried to clinch, Quarry threw knees and Starnes wasn’t trying to clinch anymore.

Third round was much of the same. Not sure what Starnes was necessarily trying to do in front of his hometown. Starnes was running away and Quarry was pretending to run like on a treadmill and Starnes flipped him off. Quarry then covered his eyes and was pretending to throw blind hammer shots. Starnes didn’t look like he wanted to be there tonight. Not good considering they were put on third from the top.

Winner: Nate Quarry by way of unanimous decision

One judge had it 30-24, which means that he either had every round 10-8, or he scored that last round 10-6 on the account of running.

4. Travis Lutter vs. Rich Franklin

Lutter had his way with Franklin for most of the round and had him in an arm bar that looked like trouble until Franklin twisted out of it. Franklin is going to have his way with him if he keeps it standing, but Lutter was dominant on the ground.

5. Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra

My prediction is St. Pierre by knockout in the third. But then again, I predicted St. Pierre by knockout last time and we know what happened.

St. Pierre took him down right away and spent the first three minutes trying to get passed Serra’s guard. He was in side control and then got his back, but Serra positioned himself up against the cage and got back up. St. Pierre just looks so much stronger. St. Pierre hit a super man punch and then took him down again. St. Pierre’s round for all five minutes.

St. Pierre continued to take him down and pound away. Serra looked tired throughout as well. It wasn’t much of a fight. Serra gave up his back and St. Pierre just reared back and threw knees to the ribs until the referee stopped it.

Winner: Georges St. Pierre by way of second round TKO

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- If you missed UFC Fight Night 12, we summarized it on the blog.

- The payouts have also been reported and Kurt Pelligrino (dark match) made just as much as the headliner, Mike Swick, if the report is accurate.

- Sam Caplan interviews WEC vice president Peter Dropick and they talk 2008, PPV, and other things upcoming for the WEC. He also chats with Eddie Alvarez who fights tonight on the ShoXC card.

- Todd Martin gives readers insight about who “The Beast” Bob Sapp is and why you need to know about him if you don’t already.

- Dave Meltzer writes about the perennial semi-main eventer, Tim Sylvia.

- Matt Hughes says he wants Matt Serra if Serra loses to Georges St. Pierre.

- Mia St. John is putting her boxing gloves away for MMA gloves. I talked to her when she was in San Francisco trying to fight at the MMA show that never happened during the wrestling convention at the Cow Palace. She said that at the time, the California State Athletic Commission didn’t think she knew enough jiu-jitsu to be cleared to fight.

- Kevin Iole talks about how people were right not to give up on Patrick Cote.

Talking Points

Although he was promoting a show on the National Geographic, Randy Couture talked mostly about how he’s done with the UFC and how he’s not their heavyweight champion, though he’s still called their champion. At the end of the three minute piece, the interviewer asked him if we would ever see him fight again in the UFC. It really shows that to most media, the UFC is the only game in town. She didn’t ask him about MMA and probably didn’t even know there were other organizations. I just thought that interview told the entire story about how much UFC has become the Xerox of MMA. Couture tried to say that he hoped to fight again, but by then, it seemed like it was an afterthought.

News and notes from around the MMA world …

- Ken Shamrock has an opponent for his March Cage Rage fight.

- MMAPayout looks at the UFC 80 Countdown Show.

- Dave Meltzer writes about Fabricio Werdum and Gabriel Gonzaga which is a rematch of a fight that Werdum won 4 years ago.

- CBS Sportsline analyzes UFC 80.

- UFC is going to work with TNA Wrestling to help in promoting Brock Lesnar.

- Kimbo Slice says that he’s going to make Tank Abbott piss blood.

- B.J. Penn wants another crack at Georges St. Pierre after Joe Stevenson.

- FHM showcases the girls of the octagon.

- Dana White doesn’t think Europe is a profitable market.

Talking Points

UFC 80 comes from Newcastle, England on Saturday and it has an early start for US viewers. It’s a 3PM Eastern/Noon Pacific start time, which means I’m going to be watching this show before I eat lunch. I should have live play by play here on the blog.

B.J. Penn faces Joe “Daddy” Stevenson in the main event for the lightweight championship. Interestingly enough, it’s a title that has evaded Penn, who is a former welterweight champion. The reason why this fight is for the lightweight title is because former champion Sean Sherk failed his drug test for steroids and was suspended. He was then stripped of the belt, but according to Dana White, will get the first shot at the new champ. Penn and Sherk have been squawking at each other through the media and their match-up is a natural one, and would’ve been the match-up had Sherk not failed his drug test. Stevenson was the next in line and he’s in his first main event on a PPV show. The show itself is one of the weaker efforts on paper and is a show that more than likely will be one of the lower bought efforts since the UFC explosion in 2006.

But at least the this fight should be good. The match has all the makings of a ground war that should be fast paced for at least a few rounds. Stevenson will probably try and push the pace to test Penn who has been out of shape in the past. But after watching the countdown show on Spike TV, he looks to be taking his training very seriously. I think Penn will win by submission, but not until at least the third round. This is one of those fights where Stevenson can make his name just as much by losing a great fight, as he could by upsetting Penn. Not too many people are expecting him to win. While it’s not the marquee style of main event, especially after all the star power on the December card, it should still be a fun fight and one that should bring the goods.

The semi-main event pits Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Fabricio Werdum. After beating Mirko Cro Cop and main eventing against Randy Couture, Gonzaga is now a big name in the UFC. But I’m not sure about Werdum. Werdum actually beat Gonzaga when both were early in their career, so this is a revenge fight for Gonzaga. Werdum fought in Pride and made his name there, but after his fight last year against Andrei Arlovski, it doesn’t seem like he and Gonzaga should be all that close. You’d think that with the level of competition he’s faced in his last two fights, Gonzaga should be ready to fight at different level than Werdum. I think Gonzaga wins the fight, either by a knockout or submission in the second round. They’re both jiu-jitsu fighters, but Gonzaga seems to have the better stand-up based on what I’ve seen from both in the UFC. With a win, you’d think that Gonzaga would be thrown right back in with the top heavyweight fighters again.

Rather than do the regular news updates, I’m going to give out some awards. This will encompass all of MMA, but really, my focus will be on the American companies since I didn’t see much of Pride or K-1 this year.

Fighter Of The Year

There are some great candidates for this one, including guys that will get overlooked like Urijah Faber. But I think the year belonged to three men. Randy Couture had the comeback that all comebacks will be measured by, but near the end of the year, he was done with the UFC and any proposed big year end match was out the door. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson had a banner year by beating Marvin Eastman, Chuck Liddell, and Dan Henderson. Anderson Silva held the middleweight title all year long, beating Travis Lutter, Nate Marquardt, and Rich Franklin for the second time. If you look at someone who dominated their division, the choice is Silva. But if you’re looking for who won the toughest and biggest fights, the answer is Jackson.

Winner: Rampage Jackson

Fight Of The Year

In the early summer, Frank Shamrock and Phil Baroni had a war that ended when Shamrock called his own shot. Early on, he mocked Baroni, by putting his hands together on his cheek, insinuating that he was going to put Baroni to sleep. And after two rounds of fighting that left both guys completely exhausted, Shamrock caught Baroni in a choke and rather than tapping out, he went to sleep, just like Shamrock predicted. Tyson Griffin seemed to be on fire all year long, having great matches in wins against Clay Guida and Thiago Tavares. But his best fight was one in which he lost, against Frankie Edgar at UFC 67. It was a wrestling war and ended with Griffin pulling on Edgar’s knee at the bell after putting him in a knee bar. Edgar would take the decision. Right before year’s end, Roger Huerta shook off two losing rounds against Clay Guida at the season finale to The Ultimate Fighter Season 6. He would go on to finish him in the third round in a very exciting comeback victory. While the two UFC fights were great, I have to go with the fight I saw in person.

Winner: Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni at Strikeforce Judgment Day

Fight Card Of The Year

Strikeforce Judgment Day was an exciting card with a fantastic main event. UFC 68 had the most emotional MMA match that I’ve ever seen. UFC 76 had five matches that went the distance and had two of the biggest upsets of the year. And I was never able to see a good copy of the Pride show in February. But if I had to choose the card of the year, I’d have to go with The Ultimate Fighter Season 6 Finale. It had two fight of the year candidates with an exciting finish to end the night when Huerta came back to stop Guida. The War Machine vs. J-Rock was a great brawl as well.

Winner: The Ultimate Fighter Season 6 Finale

Upset Of The Year

Oh, there were many. How about Randy Couture coming out of retirement to chop down Tim Sylvia? What about Forrest Griffin beating Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who was in his first UFC fight, after coming over from Pride. Keith Jardine outpointing Chuck Liddell? Or what about both Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo beating Mirko Cro Cop? Well, I guess that since he lost twice, maybe they weren’t such huge upsets. But the winner has to be Matt Serra beating Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69 in Houston. When that fight ended, my jaw hit the floor. St. Pierre came into the fight looking unstoppable and Serra took the fight right to him, knocking him out and shocking St. Pierre himself.

Winner: Matt Serra knocking out Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69.

Promotion Of The Year

When the UFC is the biggest game in town, how can they not be the best promotion? They are making money and drawing huge crowds and good PPV buyrates. Who are their competitors? Well, Zuffa, the same company that owns the UFC also owns the WEC, which put on some very fun and exciting cards, focusing on the smaller fighters. The San Jose based Strikeforce understands their fan base and sets up fights that the locals want to see. With local fighters like Cung Le and Frank Shamrock, they should have a pretty good 2008 as well.

Winner: UFC