Wow...thats all i can say after watching the event last night. The main card had everything fight fans could want from brutal stand up exchanges to last minute submission victories. Theres quite a bit to go over here so hold on.(this only covers fights seen on the actual pay per view)
Stefan Struve>Christian Morecraft via 2nd round tko
Damn thats all i can say Struve got his ass kicked for basically the opening five minutes got his lip busted up good. Then just 22 seconds into the second frame he drops Morecraft like a bad habit. It goes to show how resilent Struve truly is and how all it takes is a few well timed blows to end a fight. Now Morecraft looked damn good through the opening frame but he had little head movement and gave Struve a very easy target to swing at. I hope to see Morecraft back for at least one more fight as he was very entertaining last night.
As for Struve this was a very nice rebound after being ko'd against Roy Nelson. Next up for him may be Todd Duffee? Both are still looking to establish themselves in the UFC and a win for either can help boost their status.
Clay Guida>Rafael Dos Anjos via 3rd round submission/injury
Guida knows how to bring it and well so does Dos Anjos but an apparent broken jaw is what cost him this fight not a lack of skill or under preperation. Guida looked decent in the stand up through out the first and that appears to be the round he broke Dos Anjos jaw. However Dos Anjos matched Guida in each exchange they had. He even took the round with a late takedown. However round two we saw the Guida we all know takedowns and ground and pound(take note jon fitch) that kept Dos Anjos from ever getting comfortable on the bottom. The thrid round was much of the same from Guida until he took down Dos Anjos and used his elbow to press on his jaw forcing Dos Anjos to tap. This win puts Guida back up there in the upper tier of the divison and leaves Dos Anjos dropping back down into the mix of gatekeepers and up and comers.
Next Fights: Dos Anjos-Rematch with Tyson Griffin
Guida-Takanori Gomi
Junior Dos Santos>Roy Nelson via Unanimous Descsion
Wow Roy Nelson has gained alot of new fans after this fight. He got hit with shots that would have knocked down a brick wall and kept swinging back. Now Dos Santos dominated this fight from the minute he landed a viscous upper cut early in the first round. From that point on Nelson looked to be on queer street for the remainder of the fight. But to his credit despite being exhausted and half concious Nelson fought on shooting for takedowns and swinging that big right hand. This fight and victory finally gave Dos Santos the title shot many felt he deserved a few fights ago. Roy Nelsons road doesnt get any easier either as he has apparently been matched up to fight Shane Carwin next. Long and short of it Dos Santos is Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez mixed into one very very scary fighter. And Roy Nelson has shown everyone that fat guys can fight and compete in a sport dominated by guys who are totally shredded
Next Fights-Dos Santos-winner of Lesnar/Velasquez
Nelson-Carwin
Matt Hughes>Ricardo Almeida via 1st round submission
Matt Hughes...what can i say he deserved that win. The shot he hit Almeida with was perfect and the submission was pure strength. All the more power to him after the victory as for Almeida he has nothing to hang his head about he lost to an absolute legend of this sport. Almeida needs to get this loss behind him and focus on training his stand up just a bit more for his next fight. Hughes can take his time off to hunt and all that but when he comes back he will not have an easy time as there will be plenty of top welterweights waiting to knock off a legend of this sport. But for now Hughes has taken over the title of Gracie(and Gracie student) killer from Kazushi Sakuraba. Now for the future i don't know if Hughes will compete for the title again he's set himself up to be only one or two wins away but should he ever get there i can't realistically see him beating St Pierre/Koscheck.
Next Fights-Hughes-Alves/Diaz/loser of Hardy/Condit
Almeida-Swick
Jon Fitch>Thiago Alves via Dry hump...i mean unanimous descsion
Honestly you could have predicted this happening the minute you heard Alves missed weight but its a simple breakdown.Alves wasn't prepared for Fitch's wrestling and basically got laid on for fifteen minutes. Now why Alves missed weight is beyond me he refused to cut half a pound and as a former wrestler i can say cutting a half pound is literally as simple as taking a leak, and running for a half hour. Now Dana said himself he's considering making Alves fight at middleweight so this doesn't happen again. Only time will tell if this actually comes to fruition. Now on to new number one contender Jon Fitch...what can i say he got the job done albeit in a boring fashion yet again. Now the post fight press conference was very entertaining as Fitch basically dodged all questions relating to him fighting training partner Josh Koscheck should Koscheck take GSP's title. He himself said he would move up to middleweight and avoid the fight all together. However i don't think he'll have to worry as GSP isn't going to lose his title any time soon.
Next Fights-Fitch:Winner of GSP/Koscheck...or a move up to middleweight
Alves: Move up to middleweight possibly
Anderson Silva>Chael Sonnen via 5th round triangle choke
Theres alot to cover here so hopefully i'll get it all in this post haha. This fight had the most shit talk out of one person ever, Chael Sonnen talked so much that most people believed he wouldn't be able to back it all up. He backed all of it up...for 23 minutes then Silva pulled a rabbit(or triangle choke)out of his magic hat and retained his title. Now thats not to say that Sonnen fought badly hell he dropped Silva in the first round and took him down and held him down for four straight frames and most of the fifth frame too. Sadly enough though midnight struck and Sonnens carriage turned back into a pumpkin and he tapped to a textbook triangle choke. Now Sonnen exposed what many already knew, Silva has trouble fighting wrestlers and had Sonnen had any kind of submission awareness he could have just stayed chest on chest and laid on top of Silva in a way that would make Jon Fitch jealous and gotten the victory. I'm not taking anything away from Silva and his victory but several things just bugged me in this fight. 1. Anderson has a black belt in jiu jitsu...what kind of black belt lets go of a locked in kimura? And throughout the fight he could have triangled Sonnen numerous times but didn't even seem to bother. 2. Where was his stand up game? The best p4p striker on the planet came out with his hands down and threw nothing but flying kicks at a man he could have destroyed on his feet. Now i know Sonnen is a damn good wrestler but over the course of this fight Silva didn't even seem to defend a takedown. Now after the fight is what really pissed me off as asshole extradonaire Ed Soares comes out and claims that Silva had hurt his ribs a week before the fight and was urged not to compete. I call total and complete shenanigans on this Soares you are already one shady man and this kinda crap makes people dislike you and your fighters even more. To sum it up Soares wanted and excuse that would clear Silvas name from the ass kicking he received from a guy im sure Soares didn't even see as a threat.
Next Fights- Silva: Belfort/Leben winner or Sonnen rematch
Sonnen: Rematch with Silva or Belcher upon his return from injury
All in all this was a very good night of fights nothing truly bad to say about it except that Jon Fitch needs to learn how to finish a fight. Stay posted for UFC 118 maincard breakdown coming up in about a week and a half. Thanks for reading any feedback is great
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