WMMA - Championship Fighting

[AlexB]

It's time for the Lightweight UFN...

Kyle 'The Freak' Winterburn, 20, Chandler, Arizona, 0-2 v. Erik Owings, 29, Covington, Kentucky, 3-3
(Blurcat: Winterburn by TKO)

Winterburn:	1.09	UFN	lost to Joseph Stanley		decision

Owings:		1.09	UFN	lost to Pat Troy		decision

An intriguing opener in as much as whoever loses is gone. Both fighters will see this a decent draw: neither is particularly strong and winning this will give them the possibility of three more fights.

Encouragingly both fighters seem to be rising to the challenge rather than worrying about the loss, and an excellent first round sees Owings knock Winterburn down and score some other good strikes. The second is again all about the stand-up, and this time it's The Freak who scores the knock down. An excellent opening bout is going into the third with everything on the line for both fighters...

And this time it seems to show: the third sees much less offense from both, but Winterburn is the more effective and picks up his first W and sends Owings packing.


Bae Yoon, 22, South Korea, 0-2 v. 'The Blonde Bomber' Nicholas Bretton, 22, Mont-Laurier, Quebec, 2-1
(Blurcat: Bretton by submission)

Yoon:		1.09	UFN	lost to Stefan Champion		decision

Bretton:	1.09	UFN	lost to Joseph Duarte		KO R3

The second fight could see a second fighter on his way out, an in all honesty probably will. Yoon probably wont get knocked out, but Bretton has a good future in the sport and should prove to be far too skilled for the Korean.

Bretton abolutely dominates the first after shooting with a double leg takedown, and also the second after some good strikes and a single leg takedown. Two takedowns in the last seal the deal, and the scores are in: 30-27 twice and the blind judge scores it 29-28, but all for The Blonde Bomber. As we said before, bye bye Bae Yoon!


Dale Hartt, 29, Bangor, Maine, 5-2 v. Joseph 'AK-47' Stanley, 19, St Paul, Minnesota, 1-0
(Blurcat: Stanley by submission)

Hartt:		1.09	UFN	lost to Corey Hill		TKO R3

Stanley:	1.09	UFC2	beat Kyle Winterburn		decision

On paper this should be another AK-47 victory: he is far more skilled than Hartt. However, his chin is a worry - he will need to make sure he does not lose concentration.

Hartt suffers a flash knock down in the first, and get schooled in the second with far superior boxing. Can he land that lucky strike to steal the fight? No - Stanley seems to be aware that he could throw away the first two rounds if he were to be caught, resulting in a tepd round. Stanley wins 30-27 twice and 29-28 once: no arguments with the last round going either way this time.


'The Hillbilly Hammer' Luke Hilton, 22, Birmingham, Alabama, 4-2 v. Corey Hill, 30, Brooksville, Florida, 3-1
(Blurcat: Hilton by decision)

Hilton:		1.09	UFN	lost to Gray Maynard		TKO R2

Hill:		1.09	UFN	beat Dale Hartt			TKO R3

The veteran Hill looks to be overmatched against the inaugural Jr LW title challenger: The Hillbilly Hammer should win at a canter.

However in the first Hill scores a clumsy knockdown, but then grounds and pounds the Alabaman into next week. The second is pretty eve: Hilton may have done enough to level the fight... But to no avail - Corey Hill gets a takedown in the third and does enough to win 29-28 on all three cards - he will likely be in the Jr title eliminator next time out against another, even younger fighter: Joespeh Stanley.

[AlexB]

UFC Jr LW Eliminator
Stefan 'Stealth Ninja' Champion, 22, Lincoln, Nebraska, 3-0 v. Pat 'Blue Boy' Troy, 20, New Orleans, 1-0
(Blurcat: Champion by decision)

Champion:	1.09	UFN	beat Bae Yoon			decision

Troy:		1.09	UFN	beat Erik Owings		decision

Both fighters have the chance to be good solid fighters if they train on, but neither is anywhere near there yet. If Troy can avoid Champions deadly knees, his superior ground game could see him spring a minor surprise here. However, both of their victories last time out have lost some of their shine as their opponents have just been told they have to go to Russia... Moscow!

Round 1
Champion throws two high punches, then steps in for a hook to the body. Nice combination, but Troy defended with ease. They clinch up next to the cage, but a short struggle only ends with them separating and coming back in. They circle. Troy tries to work inside, but leaves himself open and gets taken down. Guard. Champion hits a few tentative punches, but doesn't have anything on them. Troy manages to turn the tables and ends up in the guard, Champion let his dominant position slip too easily. Troy rains down punches, but Champion defends them well. Troy gets out of the guard and into side control. Big elbow to the face. Champion caught that flush. Another big elbow, followed by a third. Champion is looking groggy. Troy hits a fourth huge elbow, and the referee has seen enough, the match is over. Champion might have some complaints about that, but the elbows were clearly connecting, and he didn't manage to do anything to stop any of them. The official time of the TKO is 1:33 of round 1.


'The Fireball Kid' Tankanori Gomi, 30, Kanagawa, Japan, 29-5 v. Tyson Griffin, 25, Sacramento, California, 12-3
(Blurcat: Gomi by KO)

Gomi:		Belts Held:	PRIDE LW: 2005-closed, 1 defence
		1.09	UFC2	lost to Vitor Ribeiro		TKO R1

Griffin:	1.09	UFN	lost to Jackson Gray		decision

Tyson Griffin must win to stay in, and comes up against a poor match up for him: Gomi is a great stand-up fighter who has a decent wrestling game. If the Griffin can get close enough to grapple he could win: if not he will be looking for a new job.

Round 1
Gomi leads with the right hand to set up a low kick, Griffin deals with it well. They clinch, but only for a few seconds before it gets broken. Both throw stiff jabs at the same time, neither connects properly. Back to the clinch. It has been a disjointed start to the round, the flow hasn't quite developed properly. Griffin uses a knee to the ribs before backing Gomi up against the cage. Right hand from Gomi connects though, that was well timed. Griffin breaks the clinch and backs off. That was sloppy on his part, Gomi was basically gifted a free shot. Three quick jabs from Griffin sting the gloves, then a crashing hook to the body finds its mark. Good recovery. Gomi fires off a low kick again, but it's well wide. They are circling, then come in close. Both fighters are tentatively looking for the chance to strike. Griffin is the first to go for it, throwing a three-punch combination. Gomi covered up well, taking very little damage. Griffin goes to throw a bomb, but gets clipped with a right hand before it can connect. He felt that. Gomi steps in and throws a bomb of his own, and it crunches into the side of the cheek of Griffin, who goes down! Replays show the shock wave passing through his entire body as that powerful punch connected. What a strike! Gomi wins this by a brutally clean knock out. Official time of the knock out is 3:29 of the first.

This has been a night of heavy casualties: another man down as Tyson Griffin loses his roster spot. I think we have the KO of the Night!


Nate Diaz, 23, Stockton, California, 10-3 v. Shinya 'Tobikan Judan' Aoki, 25, Tokyo, 18-4
(Blurcat: Diaz by split decision)

Diaz:		1.09	UFC2	lost to Paolo Roberto Bezzera	KO R1

Aoki:		1.09	UFC2	(3) lost to Carlos da Guia	KO R2

Despite being ranked at #3 last time out, Aoki is not a clear favourite with the bookmakers: the fighters do appear to be well-matched, and it is tough to pick a winner - whoever gets the first takedown in each round is likely to win it.

After the previous two fights, the opening round is something of a disappointment, but Diaz wins through quantity, if not quality. Aoki levels the fight in the 2nd by taking Diaz down, and the split decision prediction refelct the fight - this could still go either way.

But it's Nate Diaz who takes the fight, winning with technical striking this time, and gets three 29-28 decisions to advance. Aoki must win next time or go from the #3 rank to unemployed in three fights.

[AlexB]

UFC Jr LW Title Bout
Gray 'The Bully' Maynard, 29, Las Vegas, 7-0 v. 'The Hybrid' Joseph Duarte, 25, Hagatna, Guam, 5-0
(Blurcat: Maynard by TKO)

Maynard:	Belts Held:	UFC Jr LW: 2009-present, 0 defences
		1.09	UFN	beat Luke Hilton		TKO R2

Duarte:		1.09	UFN	beat Nicholas Bretton		KO R3

Can The Bully dominate again? On paper it looks like he could - both have heavy strikes and good chins, and while Duarte has the better submission skills, it's tough to see when he will get the chance to use them as he really struggles against wrestlers... Maynard's strength.

Nothing really happened in a dull opening round, I'd personally score it 0-0...

Round 2
Tentative start to the round, the fighters are circling. Maynard throws out a couple of range-finding jabs, but they aren't anything that will trouble Duarte. Kick to the thigh from Duarte, but it lacked power. Maynard tries to back Duarte up against the cage wall, but it comes to nothing. Maynard seems to be growing in confidence over the past thirty seconds. He has just come up with four good separate straight rights, although I don't think any of them did too much damage. He moves in for another, but takes a wicked kick from Duarte. Maynard looks wobbly, and his hands drop. Duarte sees it, and comes in with a solid right hand that drops Maynard to the mat. Duarte follows up with more punches, and the referee has to get in there and stop it, Maynard was not defending himself properly. I think it's the kick that did the most damage, it seemed to scramble his brains. Official time of the TKO is 1:53 of the second round. Joseph Duarte is the new UFC Junior Lightweight champion.

Something of a surprise, but The Hybrid is the Jr Champ, and will defend against Pat Troy.


Sean 'The Muscle Shark' Sherk, 35, St Francis, Minnesota, 33-4-1 v. Joachim 'Hellboy' Hansen, 29, Oslo, Norway, 19-8-1
(Blurcat: Hanson by KO)

Sherk:		Belts Held:	UFC LW: 2006-7, 1 defence
		1.09	UFC2	(8) lost to Mario de Souza	decision

Hansen:		Belts Held:	DREAM LW: 2008, 0 defences, vacated
		1.09	UFC2	(6) lost to Kenny Florian (9)	decision

Both fighters were top 10 ranked before their previous losses, and it's a tough fight to call. Sherk is the better athlete, but Hansen has less milage.

Sherk takes the opener via a takedown and ground & pound, and repeats the trick in the second. The Norwegian seems to have no answer to Sherk's takedowns: as soon as Hellboy tries any offense he ends up on his back...

Round 3
Sherk starts the round by throwing some low kicks. Hansen checks them, then comes in and clearly wants to trade punches. Sherk doesn't seem too bothered by that, and they enter into the first exchange of punches of the round. Difficult to say who came out on top, neither of them did a great deal of damage, most of the shots hit the opponent's gloves. Sherk cleverly head-fakes, allowing him the time and angle that he needed to catch Hansen with a beauty of a right hook. Hansen stumbles backward, but doesn't go down. Sherk presses the advantage by following in with a kick, then a right hand. Hansen clinches. They remain clinched for a while. Hansen scores with a nice knee, it appeared to catch Sherk in the gut. Sherk uses a single leg trip and takes the fight to the ground. Sherk gets to side control upon impact, and immediately goes for an armbar. Hansen reacts quickly, but is in real danger. Sherk has his left arm straightened out, fortunately Hansen has managed to roll and get a good position that is stopping Sherk from getting the leverage needed to apply an armlock. Sherk tries to step over and fully apply it, but Hansen breaks free and gets him to back off with a couple of up-kicks. Sherk steps back and motions for him to stand up. They go back to circling in the center. Hansen hits a nice right hand, but takes one back too. The time runs down; Sherk will probably get that round on points, he hit the best punch of the round, and got the only takedown, plus was the one who was working toward a submission. The third round is over. Blurcat.com has it down as 10-9 Sherk. The official scores are: 30-27 (twice), 29-28 for Sean Sherk.

Another blind judge by the looks of it! Hansen joins Aoki as a fighter in the initial top 10 now at risk. They will be hoping to avoid each other in the draw.


'The Prodigy' BJ Penn, 30, Kailua, Hawaii, 13-5-1 (9) v. 'Brazilian Whirlwind' Giovani Silva, 34, Brasilia, 22-9
(Blurcat: Penn by decision)

Penn:		Belts Held:	UFC WW: 2004, 0 defences
				UFC LW: 2008, 1 defence
		1.09	UFC2	(1) lost to Eddie ALvarez (2)	TKO R2

Silva:		2.09	GAMMA	beat Duane Weatherley		decision
		1.09	GAMMA	beat Marcus Speed		TKO R1

Talking of draws... welcome to the UFC! Silva makes his debut against the shock loser in the initial LW Title fight - The Prodigy must win this time out surely? Silva struggles on both ends of takedowns and gets rattled easily - not a good mix against Penn.

Round 1
Penn hits some tentative punches, then comes in fast and forces Silva to back up against the cage, where they clinch. Penn hits a nice body shot, but takes two short punches to the side of the head in return. Silva tries a trip, but it doesn't go anywhere. They separate, with Penn having to stay sharp to avoid a scorching right hand from Silva. They come together, both throwing punches. Silva gets a nice clean shot in, and Penn stumbles backwards and falls to the floor. Silva is on top of him quickly, and unloads with two more big punches, both connect solidly. The referee jumps in and pulls him away before a third is thrown, this match is over by TKO. Replays show the referee may have been slightly early. Official time of the TKO is 3:20 of the first round.

HOLY SHIT! We said welcome to UFC - Silva seems to have announced his arrival! Wow!!! Take a back seat Shinya Aoki - BJ Penn could go from champ to chump in the same time!!!

[AlexB]

It will be no consolation to Erik Owings, but his bout with Kyle Winterburn wins Fight of the Night. Unsurprisingly Takanori Gomi gets the KO of the Night bonus.

For the first time we have no injuries after an event: Tyson Griffin has a 28 day suspension, but he will be spending them asupported by the local clinic and not the UFC medical team.

[AlexB]

UFC 7 LW Summary

UFC Lightweight Championship
Go Yamamoto (2) beat Eddie Alvarez (1) by submission R1 (Blurcat: Alvarez by split decision)

UFC Lightweight Title Shot Eliminator
Diego Sanchez (4) beat Kenny Florian (3) by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Sanchez by TKO)

Jason Dalglish beat Mario de Souza by decision (Blurcat: Dalglish by TKO)
Carlos da Guia (10) beat Paolo Roberto Bezzera by TKO R3 (Blurcat: da Guia by TKO)

Roger Huerta (8) beat Jackson Gray by decision (Blurcat: Huerta by TKO)
Jonathan Huang beat Vitor Ribeiro (6) by decision (Blurcat: Ribeiro by submission)
Clay Guida beat Charles Stiles by decision (Blurcat: Stiles by submission)
Gesias Calvacante (5) beat Gilbert Melendez (7) by decision (Blurcat: Calvacante by KO)

Joe Stevenson beat Tatsuya Kawajiri by submission R3 (Blurcat: Kawajiri by TKO)
Sean Morrison beat Mitsuhiro Ishida by decision (Blurcat: Morrison by decision)
Frankie Edgar beat Edson Edmilson by decision (Blurcat: Edmilson by submission)
Josh Thomson beat Ricardo Fernandes by decision (Blurcat: Thomson by submission)
Sean Sherk beat Joachim Hansen by decision (Blurcat: Hansen by KO)
Giovani Silva shocked the world against BJ Penn (9) by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Penn by decision)
Tankanori Gomi beat Tyson Griffin by KO R1 (Blurcat: Gomi by KO)
Nate Diaz beat Shinya Aoki by decision (Blurcat: Diaz by split decision)

UFC Jr LW Title Bout
Joseph Duarte beat Gray Maynard by TKO R2 (Blurcat: Maynard by TKO)

UFC Jr LW Eliminator
Pat Troy beat Stefan Champion by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Champion by decision)

Nicholas Bretton beat Bae Yoon by decision (Blurcat: Bretton by submission)
Kyle Winterburn beat Erik Owings by decision (Blurcat: Winterburn by TKO)
Corey Hill beat Luke Hilton by decision (Blurcat: Hilton by decision)
Joseph Stanley beat Dale Hartt by decision (Blurcat: Stanley by submission)

It's bad news for anyone in red still on the right hand side - it was their 3rd loss in a row and they get the boot.

New rankings are released immediately after UFN as usual:

1. Diego Sanchez, 27, USA, 21-2 (+3)
2. Go Yamamoto, 31, Japan, 15-1 (-)
3. Gesias Calvacante, 25, Brazil, 16-2-1 (+2)
4. Roger Huerta, 25, USA, 22-2-1 (+4)
5. Giovani Silva, 34, Brazil, 23-9 (NE)
6. Eddie Alvarez, USA, 25, 16-2 (-5)
7. Carlos da Guia, 24, Brazil, 7-0 (+3)
8. Clay Guida, 27, USA, 26-9 (NE)
9. Jason Dalglish, 27, Scotland, 11-2 (NE)
10. Sean Morrison, 29, USA, 13-4 (RE)

For the second time in a row, the new champ, having previously been ranked #2 and beating the #1 get leapfrogged! Go figure...

[AlexB]

Monthy WMMA round up for May:

Marcus Davis KO'd Jonathan Goulet to take the vacant Affliction Welterweight title

In a controversial fight, James Zikic won a split decision over Bryan van den Hauwe to claim the GAMMA Light Heavyweight Title

Sengoku has a new Lightweight Cahmption - Rodrigo Damm won a unanimous decision victory over Staoru Kitaoka to take the belt.

In an absolutely horrible fight to watch, TJ Grant won the TKO Welterweight crown with another split decision over Koji Oishi

And that's pretty much it - another quiet month.

[AlexB]

A couple of days before UFC 8, and big, but not unexpected, news breaks - Randy Couture is set to retire. He will fight at UFC 10, but will call it a day regardless of the result. After losses the last two times out, against Brock Lesnar and Rick Stanley, The Natural was on the edge anyhow, and so will be desperate to leave on a high, to leave on his own terms...

[AlexB]

It's LHW time again: a reminder of the rankings following UFC3, and the draw for the forthcoming cards

1.  Forrest Griffin	29  USA     17-4   (-)
2.  Tadamasa Yamada	27  Japan   14-1   (+2)
3.  Quinton Jackson	30  USA     29-7   (-1)
4.  Wanderlei Silva	32  Brazil  33-8-1 (+4)
5.  Thiago Silva	28  Brazil  14-0   (+5)
6.  Inejiro Chiba	34  Japan   21-4   (NE)
7.  Luis Arthur Cane	27  Brazil  10-1   (NE)
8.  Anthony LeToussier	29  Canada  14-5   (NE)
9.  Keith Jardine	33  USA     14-4-1 (-)
10. Mike Whitehead	27  USA     24-6   (NE)

UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
Forrest Griffin, 17-4 (1) v. Tadamasa Yamada, 14-1 (2) (Blurcat: Yamada by submission)

Light Heavyweight Championship Eliminator
Thiago Silva, 14-0 (5) v. Luis Arthur Cane, 10-1 (7) (Blurcat: Silva by KO)

Zvonimir Asanovic, 11-1 v. Anthony LeToussier, 14-5 (8) (Blurcat: Asanovic by KO)
Keith Jardine, 15-4-1 (9) v. Mike Whitehead, 24-6 (10) (Blurcat: Jardine by TKO)

Ricardo Arona, 14-5 v. Quinton Jackson, 29-7 (3) (Blurcat: Jackson by KO)
Lenny McFadden, 10-4 v. Nicolai Mickiewicz, 10-1 (Blurcat: Mickiewicz by TKO)
Inejiro Chiba, 21-4 (6) v. JJ Reid, 13-0 (Blurcat: Reid by submission)
Souleymane Ya Konan, 11-1 v. Ricky Heath, 11-3 (Blurcat: Heath by decision)

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, 5-4 v. Renato Sobral, 30-8 (Blurcat: Sokoudjou by split decision)
Mike Watson, 2-1 v. Lyoto Machida, 13-1 (Blurcat: Watson by decision)
Rob Baines, 10-3 v. Atshushi Nakajima, 15-13 (Blurcat: Baines by submission)
Roberto Aldez, 19-4 v. Dan Henderson, 23-8 (Blurcat: Aldez by TKO)
Rich Franklin, 24-4 v. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, 15-4 (Blurcat: Nogueira by submission)
Rashad Evans, 12-1-1 v. Leon Banks, 11-4 (Blurcat: Banks by TKO)
Vladimir Matyushenko, 21-4 v. Bambang Sriyanto, 10-5-2 (Blurcat: Sriyanto by TKO)
Mauricio Rua, 16-4 v. Aleksei Chekhov, 8-3 (Blurcat: Rua by KO)


UFC Jr LHW Championship
Jon Jones, 7-0 v. Nate Carey, 4-1 (Blurcat: Jones by TKO)

Jr LHW Eliminator
Andre Gusmao, 6-1 v. Matt Hamill, 5-2 (Blurcat: Gusmao by TKO)

Marc Howard, 0-1 v. Tomasz Drwal, 14-3 (Blurcat: Drwal by TKO)
Rafael Cavalcante, 7-2 v. Jamal Patterson, 5-2 (Blurcat: Patterson by submission)
Conor Houghton, 1-1 v. Jorge Oliveira, 3-3-1 (Blurcat: Oliveira by submission)
Alfred Freebush, 1-0 v. Kyle Kingsbury, 7-2 (Blurcat: Freebush via submission)


The #4 ranked Wanderlei Silva is still injured from his victory over Leon Banks at UFC3, and wont be back for a couple more months yet. The Axe Murderer would have fought Keith Jardine, so Mike Whitehead gets the free pass up as the highest ranked fighter on a winning streak from the level below.

Bambang Sriyanto was injured for UFC 3 so he comes back to the fill the roster hole from Wanderlei missing, and we have brought in Souleymane Ya Konan to replace the retired Chuck Liddell. Ya Konan finds himself immmediately at the second level to fill the hole left by Whitehead, as the only fighter from below on a winning streak.

[AlexB]

The main event of Forrest Griffin defending his belt against Tadamasa Yamada has really caputured the imagination - it is the most anticipated fight of the new UFC yet. No fighters on the PPV card are in danger of getting fired this time out.


Rob Baines, 29, Norwich, 10-3 v. 'Iron Man' Atshushi Nakajima, 35, Nagoya, 15-13
Blurcat: Baines by submission

Baines:		2.09	UFC3	lost to Ricky Heath		TKO R1

Nakajima:	2.09	UFC3	lost to JJ Reid			decision

Neither fighter has strong stand-up, but Baines has the better submission skills, and even if the Japanese judo exponent gets the takedown, the Norwich fighter is a danger from his back.

Baines takes the first through an excellent quick takedown, but fails to capitalise. The second sees some handbags before the Englishman again gets a takedown, but Nakajima defends surprisingly well. Will there be a turnaround in the last, or will the fight go as predicted?

Round 3
Baines throws two high punches, then steps in for a hook to the body. Nice combination, but Nakajima defended with ease. They clinch up next to the cage, but a short struggle only ends with them separating and coming back in. Baines pushes Nakajima back against the cage, and is able to use that as a set up to taking Nakajima down the mat, landing in side control. Nakajima tries to scramble into a better position, but Baines grabs an arm and tries to lock a hold in. Nakajima bucks him over, and manages to wind up on top, but Baines still has the arm, and now has his legs wrapped around it. Nakajima hits a flurry of left hands to the back and thighs of Baines, who is almost upside down now. It's no good though, as Nakajima cannot get his arm free, and as soon as Baines starts to sink the hold in fully, there's no choice but to tap out. Baines wins via armbar submission at 1:53 of the third round.


'The Calgary Assassin' Mike Watson, 22, Calgary, 2-1 v. 'The Dragon' Lyoto Machida, 31, Belem, Brazil, 13-1
Blurcat: Watson by decision

Watson:		2.09	UFN	lost to Lenny McFadden		decision

Machida:	2.09	UFC3	(3) lost to Forrest Griffin (1)	TKO R1

Skills-wise, the fighters match up well, so you have to look at the experience factor: Watson is a talent for sure, but Machida will likely have too much nous for the young Canadian.

But The Calgary Assassin seems determined to prove me wrong by taking the fight to Machida and landing a couple of good shots in the first. He definitely wins the round.

Round 2
Machida misses with a straight right. Watson hits a standing kick, and Machida is rocked, stumbling backwards and falling to the floor. Watson leaps into action and fires off a barrage of right hands. The referee dives in and protects Machida, bringing the fight to an end. The kick didn't knock Machida out, but it left him stunned, and that was all that Watson needed to finish the job. The official time is 1:44

A big win for Watson, and Machida has tumbled from title fight to having to win to stay in.


Rich 'Ace' Franklin, 34, Cincinnati, 24-4 v. Antonio 'Minotoro' Rogerio Nogueira, 32, Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil, 15-4
Blurcat: Nogueira by submission

Franklin:	Belts Held:	UFC MW: 2005-6, 2 defences
		2.09	UFC3	lost to Inejiro Chiba		TKO R3

Nogueira:	2.09	UFC3	lost to Zvonimir Asanovic	decision

The first striker v. jiu-jitsu fight tonight: such is Nogueira's dominance on the ground that Franklin will be desperate to keep it standing, where he does have an excellent chance of winning the fight.

Another advantage Franklin obviously holds is in the kicking game, and he uses this to take the opening round. The second sees Minotoro try for the takedown twice, by Franklin defends well and unleashes a couple of nice flurries to go two rounds up. Whoever has started weel has won the first two fights - will the third follow the pattern?

Yes it does - Nogueira is unable to change the pattern of the fight, and Franklin clearly wins all three rounds by virtue of better striking. All three judges agree, and he gets a 30-27 score from each.

[AlexB]

Inejiro Chiba, 34, Sakai, Japan, 21-4 (6) v. 'The Amazing' JJ Reid, 26, Val-d'Or, Quebec, 13-0
Blurcat: Reid by submission

Chiba:		Belts Held:	ALHPA LHW: 2006-7, 5 defences
		2.09	UFC3	beat Rich Franklin		TKO R3

Reid:		2.09	UFC3	beat Atsushi Nakajima		decision

This could be another feather in the cap for one of the rising LHW stars: Chiba is aging, and although he has good stand-up, he is exceptionally vulnerable to Reid's strength: jiu-jitsu. If The Amazing JJ gets another win, he will surely crack the top 10.

The fight is very nearly over in the first, as the Canadian gets two takedowns, dishes out some good G&P and nearly sinks in two submission holds. Two more takedowns in the second, and although Chiba was in nowhere near as much danger this time, you could make a case for at least 20-17 thus far...

Round 3
Right hand from Chiba was thrown with power, but bounced off the gloves of Reid. Chiba follows up by coming in close, but Reid is ready with a straight right hand that glances off the side of the head. They clinch. Chiba gets in a nice knee, but a second attempt sees him swept to the ground. Chiba landed hard with Reid right on top of him, it looks like he got winded. Reid hits three big punches to the face, and Chiba is rocked. Reid gets an arm, locks in a kimura, and Chiba has no alternative but to tap out. Reid wins via 3rd round kimura submission with the official time being 1:49.

A very very impressive outing for Reid: he keeps his undefeated record, and moves another rung up the ladder.


'The Dean of Mean' Keith Jardine, 33, Butte, Montana, 15-4-1 (9) v. Mike Whitehead, 27, Medford, Oregon, 24-6 (10)
Blurcat: Jardine by TKO

Jardine:	2.09	UFC3	(9) beat Aleksei Chekhov	submission R1

Whitehead:	2.09	UFN	beat Chuck Liddell (6)		submission R3

Can Whitehead take advantage of his free pass to within one fight of the eliminator? Both fighters got submission wins last time out, Whitehead notably sending The Iceman into retirement, but Jardine looks to have too much here.

Jardine takes the first, defending Whitehead's takedown attempts relatively easily and winning the striking battle. The second sees Jardine position himself so Whitehead can't get close enough to try for the shoot, and he really can't compete with the Dean of Mean's stand-up. Whitehead really needs to do something to change the direction of the fight: he is going to lose without really getting in any offence as things stand...

Round 3
Jardine scores with a kick to the outside of the thigh, but it didn't have a great deal of power on it. Whitehead returns fire with a jab, and then tries for a takedown. Jardine doesn't pull guard, but instead tries to spin out of it and get back to his feet, but it proves to be a mistake as he isn't able to get free and only ends up giving his back to Whitehead! Jardine turtles up, and takes a few heavy shots to the ribs. Whitehead gets his legs around Jardine and uses them to roll him over. Exposed, Jardine tries to turn so that he is on top, but Whitehead has already rammed one arm around his throat and has a tight choke-hold applied. Jardine is in big trouble, and obviously can't see a way out as he taps out pretty quickly. Whitehead wins via 3rd round rear choke submission with the official time being 0:56.

Whitehead obviously did realise this, and what a turnaround! He progresses to the title eliminator against either Asanovic or LeToussier, and does take maximum advantage of his promotion up the levels.


'Lethal' Lenny McFadden, 26, Falkirk, Scotland, 10-4 v. 'The Scourge of Europe' Nicolai Mickiewicz, 26, Minsk, Belarus, 10-1
Blurcat: Mickiewicz by TKO

McFadden:	2.09	UFN	beat Mike Watson		decision

Mickiewicz:	2.09	UFC3	beat Dan Henderson		decision

Two wrestlers go at it in a fight that is tough to call. It looks as if it is likely to go the cards, with Mickiewicz probably having the edge over the Scot.

He will have to win both of the last two if the fight does go the distance though, as McFadden gets the takedown and brutalises the Belarussian with some nasty ground and pound. A mistake from the Scot leaves him wide open in the second, and Mickiewicz takes advantage, opening up a cut over the eyebrow and continuing to win the round of stand-up. It looks like it's even going into the last...

And it's the Scot that gets the takedown to take the fight, winning 29-28 on two cards and 30-27 on the other.

[AlexB]

Roberto 'The Sniper' Aldez, 31, Rio de Janeiro, 19-4 v. 'Dangerous' Dan Henderson, 38, Downey, California, 23-8
Blurcat: Aldez by TKO

Aldez:		Belts Held:	GAMMA LHW: 2006-7, 4 defences
		2.09	UFC3	(7) lost to Thiago Silva (10)	KO R1

Henderson:	Belts Held:	PRIDE WW: 2005-closed, 0 defences
				PRIDE MW: 2007-closed, 1 defence
		2.09	UFC3	lost to Nicolai Mickiewicz	decision

Two ex-champs meet following defeats last time out, and this has all the makings of a classic - Aldez is an exceptionally dangerous stand-up fighter, while Hendo will be trying to get the fight to the ground with his wrestling, from where he has a big advantage. The worry for Aldez is that he was KO'd last time out: will Henderson take heart and a few more risks than normal to swing for the fences?

It is immediately apparent that Aldez has done his homework, as clever movement and position negates the majority of Hendo's attacks, and The Sniper lives up to his nickname, darting in and out to win by crisp counter punching. But in the second Henderson floors the Spaniard, before dominating on the ground - another fight with everything to play for going into the last...

Aldez gets a trip takedown, but stands off - this proves to be his downfall as Henderson gets back up, takes Aldez down in return, and wins the final round from the top position. Henderson wins 29-28 on all three cards.


'Sugar' Rashad Evans, 29, Niagara Falls, New York, 12-1-1 v. 'The Street Fighter' Leon Banks, 27, Boston, Massachusetts, 11-4
Blurcat: Banks by TKO

Evans:		02.09	UFC3	(5) lost to Tadamasa Yamada (4)	decision

Banks:		2.09	UFC3	lost to Wanderlei Silva (8)	decision

The two fighters are almost carbon copies of each other, being extremely well rounded and versatile. The danger is that this will turn into a stalemate - it is anyone's fight to win.

The first is anything but a stalemate, Banks has his moments before Evans takes him down, and although Evans wins the round, Banks was active from his back. The second round, however, was like watching paint dry, and I couldn't tell you how to score that one.

The third was much better again, and Rashad Evans gets the sweep takedown - he wins 30-27 on all three cards.


'The Brazilian Tiger' Ricardo Arona, 30, Niteroi, Brazil, 14-5 v. Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, 30, Memphis, Tennessee, 29-7 (3)
Blurcat: Jackson by KO

Arona:		2.09	UFN	beat Sokoudjou			decision

Jackson:	Belts Held:	UFC LHW: 2007-8, 1 defence
		2.09	UFC3	(2) beat Mauricio Rua		KO R1

A great match up here for Rampage: he should be able to withstand Arona's ground attack, and The Brazilian Tiger is more like a shark - if you punch him in the nose he will back off. Jackson should win and progress one step closer to a title shot.

Round 1
Arona pushes Rampage up against the cage in a clinch. Arona throws a knee, then a couple of short punches to the side of the head. Rampage pushes him away and steps in to score with an uppercut. Arona took it flush on the chin and is rocked! Another right hand drops Arona against the cage, and Rampage follows up by unloading with a barrage of punches. The referee gets in and pulls Rampage away, he wins the match by TKO. The official time is 1:23.

[AlexB]

Light Heavyweight Championship Eliminator
Thiago Silva, 28, Sao Paulo, 14-0 (5) v. Luis 'Bahna' Arthur Cane, 27, Sao Paulo, 10-1 (7)
Blurcat: Silva by KO

Silva:		2.09	UFC3	(10) beat Roberto Aldez (7)	KO R1

Cane:		2.09	UFC3	beat Vladimir Matyushenko	stoppage R1

Two Brazilian Muay Thai fighters meet for a shot at the belt, and the difference is likely to be jiu-jitsu! The undefeated Silva is a much more rounded fighter: in a kickboxing fight it would be a close contest, but I see Thiago taking the fight to the ground and dominating from there.

A cracking opener sees no attempt from Silva to take the fight to the ground, and he suffers from it: Cane wins the first round war on points. Another good round sees the score evened up: Silva scores a flash knockdown and lands a couple of good kicks...

Round 3
Silva leads with the right hand to set up a low kick, Cane deals with it well. They clinch, but only for a few seconds before it gets broken. Both throw stiff jabs at the same time, neither connects properly. Back to the clinch. It has been a disjointed start to the round, the flow hasn't quite developed properly. Cane uses a knee to the ribs before backing Silva up against the cage. Right hand from Silva connects though, that was well timed. Cane breaks the clinch and backs off. That was sloppy on his part, Silva was basically gifted a free shot. Three quick jabs from Cane sting the gloves, then a crashing hook to the body finds its mark. Good recovery. Silva fires off a low kick again, but it's well wide. They come together in the center and exchange strikes. Cane gets the better of it, and throws a wild right hand with evil intentions. Silva saw it coming, and ducks under it, allowing him the perfect position to hit Cane with a takedown and put them on the ground. Silva gets past the guard, but only just, one leg is trapped by Cane. A couple of right hands by Silva leave ugly red marks where they hit the unprotected stomach of Cane. Silva gets both legs free and transitions higher up the body, putting Cane in huge trouble. Silva manages to get a forearm firmly across the throat of Cane and he pushes down. Cane, with no way of getting out, has no alternative but to tap out. The official time of the choke submission is 3:12 of round 3.

Finally he works out how to get the big man down, and it pays off. 15-0, and a world title shot at UFC13 against Griffin or Yamada. Neither will look forward to the fight against a man who has won by clean KO and submission already in the new UFC.


'The Croatian Sensation' Zvonimir Asanovic, 26, Zagreb, 11-1 v. Anthony 'LiveWire' LeToussier, 29, Senneterre, Quebec, 14-5 (8)
Blurcat: Asanovic by KO

Asanovic:	Belts Held:	GAMMA LHW: 2007-8, 1 defence, Vacated
		2.09	UFC3	beat Minotoro Nogueira		decision

LeToussier:	2.09	UFC3	beat Renato Sobral		decision

The line is for the Croatian, as LeToussier does struggle against wrestlers - however while I still make Asanovic the favourite, this is far from as clear cut as is being made out in the betting.

The Croatian wins the first, which is another stand-up battle: however LeToussier did have his moments as well. More superior striking sees Asanovic go two rounds up - LeToussier needs something special to make it a Canadian ahttrick tonight...

Round 3
Right hand from Asanovic was thrown with power, but bounced off the gloves of LeToussier. Asanovic follows up by coming in close, but LeToussier is ready with a straight right hand that glances off the side of the head. LeToussier with a low kick, but without much power. He comes in close and hits a nice body shot, then an elbow to the face. The impact staggers Asanovic back, taking him out of range of an uppercut, leaving LeToussier slightly off balance. Asanovic hits a kick as he staggers and it lands dead on the jaw. LeToussier drops like a ton of bricks, he is out cold. That single moment of lost balance was all the opportunity Asanovic needed. The official time is 1:26.

Wow - nice finish and you've got to admire LeToussier for going for it. Nevertheless it's Asanovic v. Whitehead next time out for the chance to fight for the LHW belt at UFC 18.


UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
Forrest Griffin, 29, Columbus, Ohio, 17-4 (1) v. 'The Dragon' Tadamasa Yamada, 27, Osaka, 14-1 (2)
Blurcat: Yamada by submission

Griffin:	Belts Held:	UFC LHW: 2008-present, 1 defence
		2.09	UFC3	(1) beat Lyota Machida (3)	TKO R1

Yamada:		Belts Held:	ALPHA LHW: 2007-8, 1 defence, vacated
		2.09	UFC3	(4) beat Rashad Evans (5)	decision

There will be few fights more anticipated than this one: America's darling takes on the pride of Japan - this is truly a worldwide event in MMA terms. Forrest has already slain one Dragon, but unfortunately for him Yamada is a different beast altogether, and looks to be a clear favourite. The undoubted #1 and #2 meet, and there could be a changing of the guard...

After the build-up the first round is an anti-climax: not much happens, and it is tough to score. The second sees a little more action, but the two are cancelling each other out. If anything Yamada is more aggressive, and may have been given the edge thus far for this reason.

Round 3
Yamada throws a ragged jab, missing by a mile as Griffin simply ducks under and unloads a vicious hook from below. It catches Yamada square on the jaw, and he goes down! Griffin mounts and starts firing off punches, rapid-fire. The referee waits to see if Yamada can recover, decides that he can't, and pulls Griffin off. The match is over. Official time of the TKO is 0:39 of the third. Forrest Griffin successfully retains the UFC Light Heavyweight title.

The nickname has to stick now - Forrest Griffin is The Dragonslayer! Once again he finds a way to win. Unbelievable.

[AlexB]

Fight of the Night honours go to Thiago Silva v. Luis Arthur Cane, while Mike Whitehead is awarded Submission of the Night over bothThiago Silva or Rob Baines as he turned the fight around against an opponent who has some degree of ground skills. Whitehead's opponent next time out, Zvonimir Asanovic, gets the KO of the Night for his sickening headkick to Anthony LeToussier.

On the injury front Lyota Machida will miss a month with a rib injury inflicted by Mike Watson, while Leon Banks is facing a race against time to be fit for UFC 13: he is slated to be out for 4 months with a damaged elbow.

Other than the standard 28 suspension handed to Anthony LeToussier, there were no other injuries of note

[AlexB]

UFN - LHW style.

Tomasz Drwal and Kyle Kingsbury are both fighting for their development roster spots tonight, while Shogun Rua and Sokoudjou find themselves in the same boat, but for a main roster position.

Slight change to the format: other than the title and eliminator fights, there will be no extended write-ups for the developmental roster, as a precursor to this sections expansion next time out.


Alfred 'The Fridge' Freebush, 19, Fresno, California, 1-0 v. Kyle Kingsbury, 27, Santa Clara, California, 7-2
Blurcat: Freebush by submission

Freebush:	2.09	UFN	beat Conor Houghton		decision

Kingsbury:	2.09	UFN	lost to Matt Hamill		submission R1

Round 2
Tentative start to the round, the fighters are circling. Freebush throws out a couple of range-finding jabs, but they aren't anything that will trouble Kingsbury. Kick to the thigh from Kingsbury, but it lacked power. Kingsbury looks to be working an angle. Freebush suddenly seizes on a wayward uppercut from Kingsbury and thunders in with a takedown. Kingsbury landed hard, but had the presence of mind to pull guard before Freebush could get a better position. Freebush passes guard without too much trouble, and cracks Kingsbury with a hard punch to the cheek. Kingsbury tries to scramble into a better position without dropping his guard against another punch, but can't, and Freebush maneuvers so that he has one knee planted on Kingsbury's chest, keeping him from rolling. Freebush quickly secures the left arm and transitions into a tight arm bar. Kingsbury has no way out, he taps. The official time of the armbar submission is 1:22 of round 2.

And Kyle Kingsbury leaves the UFC for a second time...


Marc Howard, 22, Toronto, 0-1 v. Tomasz 'Travolta' Drwal, 28, Krakow, Poland, 14-3
Blurcat: Drwal by TKO

Howard:		2.09	UFN	lost to Jamal Patterson		decision

Drwal:		2.09	UFN	lost to Andre Gusmao		TKO R1

Round 3
Howard hits some tentative punches, then comes in fast and forces Drwal to back up against the cage, where they clinch. Howard hits a nice body shot, but takes two short punches to the side of the head in return. Drwal tries a trip, but it doesn't go anywhere. They separate, with Howard having to stay sharp to avoid a scorching right hand from Drwal. Drwal misses an uppercut and is off balance, which allows Howard to get the takedown. Side mount. Howard is looking for an armbar, but Drwal is defending it well. Drwal gets a nice elbow in, that caught Howard by surprise. Howard fires off several elbows to the ribs, and Drwal is left gasping for air. Those were hard, there's a big red patch where they hit. Howard takes the left arm, Drwal couldn't defend it any longer. The armbar is applied, there's no way out. Howard wins by tap out. The official time is 4:55.

Second fight, second fighter on their way out.


'The Irish Warrior' Conor Houghton, 25, Antrim, Northern Ireland, 1-1 v. Jorge 'Van Damme' Oliveira, 29, Rio de Janeiro, 3-3-1
Blurcat: Oliveira by submission

Houghton:	2.09	UFN	lost to Alfred Freebush		decision

Oliveira:	2.09	UFN	lost to Nate Carey		decision

Round 3
The official scores are in; two judges give 30-27, the other 29-28, all for Conor Houghton.


Rafael 'Feijao' Cavalcante, 29, Rio de Janeiro, 7-2 v. Jamal 'The Suit' Patterson, 35, Hoboken, New Jersey, 5-2
Blurcat: Patterson by submission

Cavalcante:	2.09	UFN	lost to Jon Jones		TKO R1

Patterson:	2.09	UFN	beat Marc Howard		decision

Jamal Patterson wins, with a score of 30-27 from two judges, 29-28 from the other.

[AlexB]

Vladimir 'The Janitor' Matyushenko, 35, Recyca, Belarus, 21-4 v. Bambang Sriyanto, 29, Sumatra, 10-5-2
Blurcat: Sriyanto by TKO

Matyushenko:	Belts Held:	IFL LHW: 2007-closed, 1 defence
		2.09	UFC3	lost to Luis Arthur Cane	stoppage R1

Sriyanto:	2.09		injured

Sriyanto is an excellent boxer with a poor ground game; the veteran Matyushenko is an excellent wrestler with poor stand up and a glass jaw. Toss a coin and see which way it lands - this is wide open.

The first round sees Sriyanto control via his kicking, but Matyushenko did surprisingly get a couple of good shots in. The Janitor tries for a takedown in the second, but Bambang defends well and unleashes flurries of punches that will get the judges' attention. if Matyushenko can't get Sriyanto down, he is in real trouble...

And so it proves - the third is fought out on foot as well and the Indonesian gets the decision 30-27 from two judges, but one judge saw Matyushenko winning a round.


Jr LHW Eliminator
Andre Gusmao, 32, Goiania, Brazil, 6-1 v. Matt 'The Hammer' Hamill, 32, Loveland, Ohio, 5-2
Blurcat: Gusmao by TKO

Gusmao:		2.09	UFN	beat Tomsz Drwal		TKO R1

Hamill:		2.09	UFN	beat Kyle Kingsbury		submission R1

Although Gusmao is favoured, his main vulnerability is to wrestlers which will encourage The Hammer. Whoever ends up on top will likely win the fight, and if it stays standing, Hamill's ever-improving stand up should be superior.

Shows what I know - Gusmao wins the first by surprisingly good and powerful strikes. The second is more even, but the Brazilian wins again - Hamill has to get close and try for the takedown otherwise he will lose his title shot...

Unfortunately he can't get close, and the rounds plays out in the same manner qs the second. Gusmao wins 30-27 on all three cards, and will progress to the junior title fight.


'The African Assassin' Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, 25, Hom'la, Cameroon, 5-4 v. Renato 'Babalu' Sobral, 33, Rio de Janeiro, 30-8
Blurcat: Sokoudjou by split decision

Sokoudjou:	2.09	UFN	lost to Ricardo Arona		decision

Sobral:		2.09	UFC3	lost to Anthony LeToussier	decision

I'm going to go against the odds here: I think Sobral has too a well rounded game and too much experience for Sokoudjou here tonight, and I can see Sokoudjou going home. The African Assassin's power always means he is one strike away from a win, but the longer the fight goes on, the better for Babalu.

Sobral gets the takedown in the first, and while he never looked like ending the contest, he will have won the round. Amazingly Sokoudjou gets the takedown in the second, but Babalu sweeps and ends up on top. Again, no real danger, but he controls the round and is undoubtedly two up going into the last. Could Sokoudjou be getting cut?

Round 3
Sokoudjou's straight right hand punch finds its mark early, tagging Sobral below the right eye, leaving a mark. Sobral throws a couple of strikes in return, but can't find a way past the gloves. Sokoudjou keeps Sobral off balance by switching between looping punches, low kicks, and plenty of jabs. Sobral can't work an angle under the barrage, and backs off. Sokoudjou tries to press the advantage, but Sobral is quick to clinch up. Sobral goes for a trip but Sokoudjou kicks it away. Sobral drops down and tries for a single leg, but Sokoudjou bends down and blocks it. There's an awkward moment as neither can do a great deal. Sobral eventually releases the leg and gets back into the clinch. Sokoudjou hits a knee, and they part. Sobral throws a nice kick. Sokoudjou gets in close enough to hit a kick to the body, then darts back out of range. He repeats the trick, this time replacing the kick with a hard right hand. It appears that he is using 'hit and run' tactics, and Sobral isn't coping with it yet. Sokoudjou goes for it again, and this time almost gets taken down as Sobral times it well and shoots in. Sokoudjou sprawls to block the first attempt, then scrabbles free on the second push, getting out from the side. Sobral was very close then. Sokoudjou keeps Sobral back, throwing kicks. The action unfortunately peters out, with Sobral unable to get in close enough to go for a takedown, Sokoudjou unwilling to risk the takedown by coming in and throwing strikes. The time eventually runs out on the round. That's the end of the round. Blurcat.com sees it 10-9 to Sokoudjou. All three judges give a score of 29-28 to Renato Sobral.

Yes he is: while Sokoudjou may be back, 5-5 just doesn't cut it in the new UFC...

[AlexB]

UFC Jr LHW Championship
Jon 'Bones' Jones, 22, Endicott, New York, 7-0 v. Nate Carey, 33, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 4-1
Blurcat: Jones by TKO

Jones:		Belts Held:	UFC Jr LHW: 2009-present, 0 defences
		2.09	UFN	beat Rafael Cavalcante		TKO R1

Carey:		2.09	UFN	beat Jorge Oliveira		decision

In my opinion Jones sprang a suprise last time out by beat Cavalcante, but he is a heavy favourite here againt Carey: I see this as a convincing first defence.

Round 1
Right hand from Carey was thrown with power, but bounced off the gloves of Jones. Carey follows up by coming in close, but Jones is ready with a straight right hand that glances off the side of the head. Carey fires off three straight jabs, none of which connect. Jones is forced up with his back against the cage though. He clearly doesn't like the thought of being trapped there for any length of time though, as he quickly comes forward with a barrage of wild punches. Carey bobs and weaves to avoid them, but is literally bundled over in the process. There wasn't really any punch that put him down, it was simply the fact that Jones was advancing at a faster rate than he could back-pedal! Jones follows up with Carey down on his back. Jones gets side control, and Carey has to cover up immediately to deflect two scathing right hands. Jones is looking to get a crucifix, which Carey is fighting while simultaneously trying to roll his hips to either pull guard to get back up. Neither happens, as Jones lets him roll, but cleverly stays with him, taking his back as a result. Carey turtles up, but not before taking a brutal punch just below the left ear. The crowd certainly reacted to that shot. Jones, clearly sensing it's time to kill this match off, starts throwing bombs from either side, smashing into the side of Carey's face. Carey tries to cover up, but it's futile; the referee pulls Jones off to save Carey from any further punishment. Official time of the TKO is 1:21 of the first round. Jon Jones retains the UFC Junior Light Heavyweight title.


'The African Dream' Souleymane Ya Konan, 29, Abdijan, Cote D'Ivoire, 11-1 v. Ricky 'Hollywood' Heath, 27, Fresno, California, 11-3
Blurcat: Heath by decision

Ya Konan:	4.09	ALPHA	beat Washichi Kobayashi		decision

Heath:		2.09	UFC3	beat Rob Baines			TKO R1

The new boy at LHW has a tough task ahead of him in his UFC debut - Ricky Heath has the edge in just about every area, and while Ya Konan is no slouch, Heath may simply be too much for him this time.

Heath takes the first through his superior technical striking, and follows up by winning the second through both strikes and a takedown. So far, Ya Konan is being outclassed as thought...

And nothing happens in the third to change the course of the fight: Heath wins a unanimous 30-27.


Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, 27, Curitiba, Brazil, 16-4 v. Aleksei 'Fists of Death' Chekhov, 26, Moscow, 8-3
Blurcat: Rua via KO

Rua:		2.09	UFC3	lost to Quinton Jackson (2)	KO R1

Chekhov:	2.09	UFC3	lost to Keith Jardine (9)	submission R2

This could be a classic... if the fight stays standing. If it goes to the ground, Shogun is likely to win without too much fuss.

Shogun gets the takedown, but can't finish: nevertheless he wins the first. Similarly, he bullrushes Chekhov for another takedown in the second, and takes the round from there. His roster spot is looking good so far...

And Rua is obviously aware of this, as he does nothing in the third to put himself in danger, but still wins 30-27 all round to stay in the UFC.

[AlexB]

There were no injuries at all tonight.

Marc Howard gets a nice bonus for Submission of the Night. Fight of the Night goes to Sokoudjou and Babalu.

[AlexB]

LHW Summary

UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
Forrest Griffin, 17-4 (1) beat Tadamasa Yamada, 14-1 (2) by TKO in R3 (Blurcat: Yamada by submission)

Light Heavyweight Championship Eliminator
Thiago Silva, 14-0 (5) beat Luis Arthur Cane, 10-1 (7) by submission in R3 (Blurcat: Silva by KO)

Zvonimir Asanovic, 11-1 beat Anthony LeToussier, 14-5 (8) by KO in R3 (Blurcat: Asanovic by KO)
Mike Whitehead, 24-6 (10) beat Keith Jardine, 15-4-1 (9) by submission in R3 (Blurcat: Jardine by TKO)

Quinton Jackson, 29-7 (3) beat Ricardo Arona, 14-5 by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Jackson by KO)
Lenny McFadden, 10-4 beat Nicolai Mickiewicz, 10-1 by decision (Blurcat: Mickiewicz by TKO)
JJ Reid, 13-0 beat Inejiro Chiba, 21-4 (6) by submission in R3 (Blurcat: Reid by submission)
Ricky Heath, 11-3 beat Souleymane Ya Konan, 11-1 by decision (Blurcat: Heath by decision)

Renato Sobral, 30-8 beat Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, 5-4 by decision (Blurcat: Sokoudjou by split decision)
Mike Watson, 2-1 beat Lyoto Machida, 13-1 by TKO in R2(Blurcat: Watson by decision)
Rob Baines, 10-3 beat Atshushi Nakajima, 15-13 by submission in R3 (Blurcat: Baines by submission)
Dan Henderson, 23-8 beat Roberto Aldez, 19-4 by decision (Blurcat: Aldez by TKO)
Rich Franklin, 24-4 beat Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, 15-4 by decision (Blurcat: Nogueira by submission)
Rashad Evans, 12-1-1 beat Leon Banks, 11-4 by decision (Blurcat: Banks by TKO)
Bambang Sriyanto, 10-5-2 beat Vladimir Matyushenko, 21-4 by decision (Blurcat: Sriyanto by TKO)
Mauricio Rua, 16-4 beat Aleksei Chekhov, 8-3 by decision (Blurcat: Rua by KO)


UFC Jr LHW Championship
Jon Jones, 7-0 beat Nate Carey, 4-1 by TKO in R1 (Blurcat: Jones by TKO)

Jr LHW Eliminator
Andre Gusmao, 6-1 beat Matt Hamill, 5-2 by decision (Blurcat: Gusmao by TKO)

Marc Howard, 0-1 beat Tomasz Drwal, 14-3 by submission in R3 (Blurcat: Drwal by TKO)
Jamal Patterson, 5-2 beat Rafael Cavalcante, 7-2 by decision (Blurcat: Patterson by submission)
Conor Houghton, 1-1 beat Jorge Oliveira, 3-3-1 by decision (Blurcat: Oliveira by submission)
Alfred Freebush, 1-0 beat Kyle Kingsbury, 7-2 by submission in R2 (Blurcat: Freebush via submission)

Once again, those fighters in red still on the right hand side are three and out: their contracts have been terminated with immediate effect.

As usual the rankings are updated immediately:

1.  Forrest Griffin	29  USA     18-4   (-)
2.  Quinton Jackson	30  USA     30-7   (+1)
3.  Thiago Silva	28  Brazil  15-0   (+2)
4.  Wanderlei Silva	32  Brazil  33-8-1 (-)
5.  Mike Whitehead	27  USA     25-6   (+5)
6.  Zvonimir Asanovic	26  Croatia 12-1   (NE)
7.  Tadamasa Yamada	27  Japan   14-2   (-5)
8.  JJ Reid		26  Canada  14-0   (NE)
9.  Ricky Heath		27  USA	    12-3   (NE)
10. Rashad Evans	29  USA     13-1-1 (RE)

[AlexB]

June Monthly WMMA round-up

Scott Lightly took the Adrenaline LHW title, TKO'ing Mike Ciesnolovicz in the second round

The ALPHA LW belt was awarded to Chojiro Goto after he stopped Terratep Nutnum at the very end of the opening round

Another LW belt changed hands: this time it was in DREAM, where Artur Oumakhanov won a unanimous decision victory over Daisuke Nakamura

A split decision was all Dong Hyun Kim needed to claim the RAW Comabt WW championship as he defeated Dan Hornbuckle.

Rashad Evans' brother Lance was unsuccessful in his bid to win the TKO HW championship, losing another split decision to Tom Murphy

Finally, Mike Thomas Brown succesfully defended his WEC FW belt, stopping Josh Grispi after just 39 seconds.

[AlexB]

As July breaks, we at the UFC announce an expansion of the developmental side.

There's still a lot of young and inexperienced fighters not signed to any org, and without any fights they will have no chance of progressing. So we will expand the junior roster from 12 to 32,and run it on the same basis as the senior pyramid.

Only unsigned fighters will be considered: we are not suggesting we have the best young fighters, but are giving them a platform.

To cope with the extra 10 fights, we have commissioned a new TV Show, PenUltimate Fight Night, which will be shown on medium and small TV channels and will cover the bottom eight fights in the developmental bracket and two fights from next level.

[AlexB]

Middleweight Carl Ratcliffe, who has lost his last two fights, has decided to drop down to 170 in an attempt to keep his roster spot. He does so just after the Welterweight draws are made, so will not fight now until UFC 14 in December. A very cunning way of keeping a roster spot for at least three extra months!

[AlexB]

The welterweights make their return, and for the first time we will see a full developmental pyramid. First, the senior rankings, which have been adjusted slightly since the last WW events for some reason, and the full draws.

1.  Georges St Pierre	28  Canada    18-2    (-)
2.  Jon Fitch		31  USA       18-3    (-)
3.  Carlos Condit	25  USA       24-4    (-)
4.  Matt Serra		35  USA	      10-5    (+1)
5.  Jack Humphreys	28  USA	      13-2    (+1)
6.  Josh Koscheck	31  USA       12-3    (-2)
7.  Karo Parisyan	26  Armenia   18-5    (-)
8.  Caol Uno		34  Japan     26-11-4 (-)
9.  Fumiaki Hayashi	29  Japan     14-4    (+1)
10. Hayato Sakurai	33  Japan     34-8-2  (-1)

UFC Welterweight Championship
Georges St. Pierre, 18-2 (1) v. Carlos Condit, 24-4 (3) (Blurcat: GSP via decision)

UFC Welterweight Title Shot Eliminator
Heikichi Shimizu, 4-0 v. Fumiyaki Hayashi, 14-4 (9) (Blurcat: Hayashi via decision)

Hayato Sakurai, 34-8-2 (10) v. Kafu Bunya, 11-3 (Blurcat: Sakurai via decision)
Gabriel Gallego, 13-0 v. Alan Kendall, 11-2 (Blurcat: Gallego via decision)

Josh Koscheck, 12-3 (6) v. Karo Parisyan, 19-5 (7) (Blurcat: Parisyan via TKO)
Jack Humphreys, 13-2 (5) v. Caol Uno, 26-11-4 (8) (Blurcat: Humphreys via KO)
Jon Fitch, 18-3 (2) v. Matt Serra, 10-5 (4) (Blurcat: Fitch via TKO)
Noach van der Capellen, 11-3 v. Dominykas Jankovic, 9-4 (Blurcat: Jankovic via TKO)

Ichisake Miyagi, 14-7 v. Alberto Basora, 8-3 (Blurcat: Miyagi via submission)
Bakin Sakamoto, 12-6 v. Claudio Palacios, 10-3-1 (Blurcat: Sakamoto via submission)
Nick Thompson, 36-11-1 v. Doug Hansen, 14-4 (Blurcat: Hansen via submission)
Geoff Cahill, 21-14 v. Thiago Alves, 16-4 (Blurcat: Alves via decision)
Simon Vine, 7-4 v. Lukas Mellberg, 10-1 (Blurcat: Mellberg via submission)
Mike Swick, 12-3 v. Joe Hinchcliffe, 12-5 (Blurcat: Swick via submission)
Jake Shields, 22-5-1 v. Ikku Funaki, 5-4 (Blurcat: Shields via split decision)
Julio Regueiro, 9-1-1 v. Marcus Davis, 17-4 (Blurcat: Regueiro via decision)

[AlexB]

Jake Shields, 30, Mount Ranch, California, 22-5-1 v. 'The Fist Of Justice' Ikku Funaki, 25, Sendai, Japan, 5-4
Blurcat: Shields via split decision

Shields:	Belts Held:	Elite XC WW: 2008-vacated, 0 defences
		3.09	UFC4	(5) lost to Carlos Condit (9)	decision

Funaki:		3.09	UFN	lost to Jon Fitch (3)		TKO R3

Round 1
They get in close, and end up grappling against the cage, Funaki is in the dominant position. Shields gets in a couple of stinging shots to the side of the ribs. Funaki steps to the side slightly and gets free enough to unleash a massive punch to the side of the head, but Shields partially blocked it. The fist missed, but replays show that the elbow caught Shields right above him eye. Shields grapples Funaki in closer to stop another strike. The referee separates them though, he has seen something. Looks like he wants a look at Shields. As the grapple is broken, it's instantly clear where that elbow connected, there's an ugly looking gash and blood is really starting to flow quite heavily. That's a really deep cut. The doctor is brought in. This could be all over, as the blood is going right into the left eye of Shields. The referee consults the doctor....and this match is over. Shields has been deemed unable to continue, that really ugly looking cut is going to make it impossible for him to continue. Funaki will walk out with the win. Funaki wins via 1st round medical stoppage with the official time being 0:45.

What a way to keep your roster spot, but I'm sure Ikku won't be arguing!

'Hell Boy' Simon Vine, 27, Temagami, Ontario, 7-4 v. 'The Ice Cold Swede' Lukas Mellberg, 26, Stockholm, 10-1
Blurcat: Mellberg via submission

Vine:		3.09	UFC4	lost to Noach van der Capellen	decision

Mellberg:	3.09	UFC4	lost to Alan Kendall		decision

The Ice Cold Swede takes the first through aggressive striking, but Vine doesn't show a lot in a fight he must win. The second is similarly stale, and Mellberg probably edges it again, although at the very end Vine catches him in the groin: will this alter the course of the fight?

Not really: both tried for the takedown - Mellberg got it and wins 30-27 on all three cards. Simon Vine is the first welterweight casualty.


Mike 'Quick' Swick, 30, Houston, Texas, 12-3 v. Joe 'The Hitman' Hinchcliffe, 29, Phoenix, 12-5
Blurcat: Swick via submission

Swick:		3.09	UFC4	lost to Kafu Bunya		TKO R1

Hinchcliffe:	3.09	UFC4	lost to Caol Uno		decision

Not a lot happens in the first - Swick may have done just enough to get the verdict. The second sees The Hitman look plain clumsy, and it allows Swick to pick him off at will, causing bad marking around the eyes. It's very one sided thus far, and unless hincliffe wants to avoid following Vine through the exit door, he must come up with something...

Round 3
Swick comes in fast and low and takes Hinchcliffe down to the mat by the legs. Nicely done. He keeps hold of one leg, and applies a leglock. That was all in one motion, Hinchcliffe got taken by surprise. Swick sits back and wrenches in the hold, and that looks painful. Hinchcliffe is holding on. He tries to twist free, but it's on tight. Hinchcliffe gives in and taps out. The official time is 0:52.

And a leglock finish shows the differnece in class: if you get beat by a leglock you deserve the can.


'Spanish Silk' Julio Regueiro, 26, Madrid, 9-1-1 v. 'The Irish Hand Grenade' Marcus Davis, 35, Houlton, Maine, 17-4
Blurcat: Regueiro via decision

Regueiro:	Belts Held:	GAMMA WW: 2008, 0 defences, vacated
		3.09	UFC4	lost to Gabriel Gallego		KO R3

Davis:		Belts Held:	Affliction WW: 2009, vacated, 0 defences
		5.09	Affl.	beat Jonathan Goulet		KO R1
		1.09	Affl.	beat Brett Cooper		KO R1

Regueiro probably sneaks a scrappy first round...

Round 2
Davis leads with the right hand to set up a low kick, Regueiro deals with it well. They clinch, but only for a few seconds before it gets broken. Both throw stiff jabs at the same time, neither connects properly. Back to the clinch. It has been a disjointed start to the round, the flow hasn't quite developed properly. Regueiro uses a knee to the ribs before backing Davis up against the cage. Right hand from Davis connects though, that was well timed. Regueiro breaks the clinch and backs off. That was sloppy on his part, Davis was basically gifted a free shot. Three quick jabs from Regueiro sting the gloves, then a crashing hook to the body finds its mark. Good recovery. Davis fires off a low kick again, but it's well wide. Regueiro throws a couple of scorching jabs; neither hit, but it forces Davis to back pedal all the way back to the cage. Regueiro follows in and throws a stinging kick to the ribs. Davis tries to catch it, but couldn't. Davis throws a right hand to try and catch Regueiro coming in, but it's wide of the mark. Regueiro throws a head kick, and it's a beauty, landing flush to the cheek. It was delivered with enormous power, and Davis drops to the floor immediately, he is out cold. The referee stops Regueiro from following up, it's all over. Regueiro wins via 2nd round knock out with the official time being 4:17.

[AlexB]

Bakin Sakamoto, 28, Yokohama, Japan, 12-6 v. Claudio Palacios, 28, Lima, Peru, 10-3-1
Blurcat: Sakamato via submission

Sakamoto:	3.09	UFC4	lost to Matt Serra (7)		decision

Palacios:	3.09	UFN	lost to Josh Koscheck (4)	submission R2

In a fight he must win to keep his roster spot, Sakamoto gets the takedown in the first as expected, and dominates without threatening to end the fight. Similar fare in the second, and Palacios needs to find a fight-changing punch in the last.

Unfortunately it just isn't there, and Sakamoto wins 30-27 from two judges, and 29-28 from the third.


Nick 'The Goat' Thompson, 28, Newport News, Virginia, 36-11-1 v. 'The Nightmare' Doug Hansen, 28, Falkirk, Scotland, 14-4
Blurcat: Hansen via submission

Thompson:	3.09	UFC4	lost to Heikichi Shimizu	TKO R1

Hansen:		3.09	UFC4	lost to Hayato Sakurai		decision

Some relatively average stand-up in the first, and it's the Scot who has slightly the better of it. The Goat tries to take the fight to Hansen in the second, but spends the entire five minutes being picked off on the counter. In the third Hansen clearly feels confident, and dominates the striking, putting on a bit of a show for the crowd. He wins a unanimous 30-27 verdict.


'The Devil In Blue' Ichisake Miyagi, 31, Nagoya, Japan, 14-7 v. Alberto Basora, 25, Barcelona, 8-3
Blurcat: Miyagi via submission

Miyagi:		Belts Held:	ALPHA WW: 2005-6, 1 defence
		3.09	UFC4	lost to Dominykas Jankovic	decision

Basora:		3.09	UFC4	lost to Fumiyaki Hayashi	decision

The ex-ALPHA champ is on the precipice tonight, and needs to prove the bookies right in order to stay in the UFC. He starts off well, getting the takedown and delivering some effective ground and pound that marks up the Spaniard's body. Basora tries his own takedown in the second, but Miyagi defends well and gets a trip in of his own: he can;t quite get the subsequent armbar attempt to stick, but clearly wins the round. Can Basora turn the fight around in the last?

No! Miyagi gets another takedown, and realising he is no danger of losing from the top position is content to do enough not to get stood back up - he wins 30-27 twice and 29-28 once.


Noach 'Super Animal' van der Capellen, 27, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 11-3 v. Dominykas 'Slamkovic' Jankovic, 26, Varna, Bulgaria, 9-4
Blurcat: Jankovic via TKO

v.d. Capellen:	3.09	UFC4	beat Simon Vine			decision

Jankovic:	3.09	UFC4	beat Ichisake Miyagi		decision

Slamkovic shoots in early and gets the double-leg takedown, and spends the rest of the round bullying the Dutchman. At the start of the second Jankovic hits a huge kick that sends van der Capellen down in a heap!!! But amazingly Super Animal recovers his senses quickly, and in the face of a barrage of hammerfists somehow manages to pull guard, and even tries a triangle as the Bularian gets too aggressive! It fails, but what heart! All that actually does is bring on more vicious ground and pound, but van der Capellen even tries to get back up! He is getting pounded here, but you can't fault his effort. You almost want him to get the stoppage in the last, as he must be 20-17 down...

Unfortunately the second round seems to have taken too much out of van der Capellen, and Jankovic dominates again. We clearly have Tommy as a judge again, as one judges scores the fight 29-28 Jankovic, but the other two generously keep in 30-27. A very very impressive performance from Slamkovic.

[AlexB]

Geoff 'Die Hard' Cahill, 36, French River, Ontario, 21-14 v. Thiago 'Pitbull' Alves, 25, Fortaleza, Brazil, 16-4
Blurcat: Alves via decision

Cahill:		3.09	UFN	lost to Karo Parisyan (8)	decision

Alves:		3.09	UFC4	(2) lost to GSP (1)		TKO R3

Alves seems keen to make amends for his title match defeat, and shoots immediately for a takedown... but Cahill sprawls and manages to flip The Pitbull for a takedown of his own. Die Hard does get to side mount briefly, and is likely to win the round, but Alves defended very well from his back. The score is evened in the second through Alves' superior stand-up, and it's up for grabs going into the last...

In the third, Alves flicks out a couple of jabs, trying to work an angle. He steps in to throw a body shot but gets caught with a left hook. Alves stumbles backwards, falling on his ass, stunned. Cahill charges in and throws a knock out powered right hand, but Alves parries it and brings his legs around Cahill's waist to pull guard.

From there Cahill continues to control, and gets a 29-28 score from all judges in something of an upset.


UFC Welterweight Title Shot Eliminator
Heikichi Shimizu, 32, Sakai, Japan, 4-0 v. 'The Lightning Kid' Fumiyaki Hayashi, 29, Sakai, Japan, 14-4 (9)
Blurcat: Hayashi via submission

Shimizu:	3.09	UFC4	beat Nick Thompson		TKO R1

Hayashi:	Belts Held:	ALPHA WW: 2006-7, 3 defences
		3.09	UFC4	beat Alberto Basora		decision

The eliminator has not captured the imagination, largely as both fighters are really only well known in Asia, but also due to the vagaries of most of the original top 10 having lost last time out before the new UFC, the rankings do not reflect the eliminator status.

Hayashi wins the opener through much betters stand-up, but the second is tough to score: Shimizu reverses the trend and is generally the better striker, but Hayashi lands the best shot by far. However it was scored, Shimizu is not winning, and must find something to change the course of the action...

And he does, and clearly wins the round by taking the fight to the floor. Unfortunately all three judges gave the second to Hayashi, and The Lightning Kid gets three 29-28 decisions.


Hayato 'Mach' Sakurai, 33, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, 34-8-2 (10) v. 'White Hope' Kafu Bunya, 27, Fukuoka, Japan, 11-3
Blurcat: Sakurai via decision

Sakurai:	3.09	UFC4	beat Doug Hansen		decision

Bunya:		3.09	UFC4	beat Mike Swick			TKO R1

The first is all about the stand-up, and while it starts even, Sakurai gradually gets the upper hand. The second is much more difficult to score - maybe Sakurai edged it. Bunya certainly needs to do something to turn this one around...

Round 3
Bunya hits two jabs, then a high kick. It glances off Sakurai's shoulder, catching him on the top of the head. He stumbles backward, ending up against the cage. Bunya charges in and starts unloading, and after several crunching punches have landed the referee has no choice but to jump in and bring the match to the end. Bunya wins via third round TKO at 1:26.

That'll work.


'The Show Stopper' Jack Humphreys, 28, Mobile, Alabama, 13-2 (5) v. 'Uno Shoten' Caol Uno, 34, Kanagawa, 26-11-4 (8)
Blurcat: Humphreys via KO

Humphries:	Belts Held:	GAMMA WW: 2006-8, 5 defences
		3.09	UFN	(10) beat Matt Hughes (6)	decision

Uno:		3.09	UFC4	beat Joe Hinchcliffe		decision

Humphreys takes the first through his striking, and it looks like Uno is struggling with the increased size of a quality welterweight. The worry seems to be an undercurrent throughout the second, and The Show Stopper wins the second by frightening Uno into defensive mode. He tries to be more aggregssive in the last round, but is simply outgunned, and more dominant striking sees two 30-27 decisions for Humphreys and 29-28 from Tommy.

[AlexB]

Josh 'Kos' Koscheck, 31, Waynesbury, Pennsylvania, 12-3 (6) v. Karo 'The Heat' Parisyan, 26, Yerevan, Armenia, 19-5 (7)
Blurcat: Parisyan via TKO

Koscheck:	3.09	UFN	(4) beat Claudio Palacios	submission R2

Parisyan:	Belts Held:	WEC WW: 2004, vacated, 0 defences
		3.09	UFN	(8) beat Geoff Cahill		decision

Round 1
Koscheck leads with the right hand to set up a low kick, Parisyan deals with it well. They clinch, but only for a few seconds before it gets broken. Both throw stiff jabs at the same time, neither connects properly. Back to the clinch. It has been a disjointed start to the round, the flow hasn't quite developed properly. Parisyan uses a knee to the ribs before backing Koscheck up against the cage. Right hand from Koscheck connects though, that was well timed. Parisyan breaks the clinch and backs off. That was sloppy on his part, Koscheck was basically gifted a free shot. Three quick jabs from Parisyan sting the gloves, then a crashing hook to the body finds its mark. Good recovery. Koscheck fires off a low kick again, but it's well wide. Parisyan pushes Koscheck up against the cage in a clinch. Parisyan throws a knee, then a couple of short punches to the side of the head. Koscheck pushes him away and steps in to score with an uppercut. Parisyan took it flush on the chin and is rocked! Another right hand drops Parisyan against the cage, and Koscheck follows up by unloading with a barrage of punches. The referee gets in and pulls Koscheck away, he wins the match by TKO. Koscheck wins via first round TKO at 4:32.


Jon Fitch, 31, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 18-3 (2) v. Matt 'The Terror' Serra, 35, East Meadow, New York, 10-5 (4)
Blurcat: Fitch via TKO

Fitch:		3.09	UFN	(3) beat Ikku Funaki		TKO R3

Serra:		Belts Held:	UFC WW: 2007-8, 0 defences
		3.09	UFC4	(7) beat Bakin Sakamoto		decision

Fitch manages to pick up and slam Serra at the very opening of the fight, and dominates from there, leaving Serra's torso red and bruised from some sickening ground and pound. It took longer in the second, but we saw a bigger and better slam from Fitch, and more ground and pound that marked Serra's eyes. However The Terror managed to stand back up, and he can take heart that he's still in the fight. Can he take advantage though?

The simple answer is no - Fitch is just too good a grappler, and gets another takedown, and three 30-27 scores. Even Tommy got this one right.


'Mad Dog' Gabriel Gallego, 27, Buenos Aries, 13-0 v. 'Flash' Alan Kendall, 27, Green Bay, 11-2
Blurcat: Gallego via decision

Gallego:	Belts Held:	ALPHA WW: 2007-8, 3 defences
		3.09	UFC4	beat Julio Regueiro		KO R3

Kendall:	3.09	UFC4	beat Lukas Mellberg		decision

Round 1
Jab from Gallego, then another, and a third. Kendall weaved out of the way of all three, although the second glanced off the shoulder slightly. Gallego moves back to avoid the counter uppercut. Kendall comes from the left with a high punch, then goes for the body. Gallego blocks, ducks a straight right, then unleashes an enormous kick. Kendall ducks at the last possible moment, avoiding it by a split-second! That was an evil-looking kick, if that had hit it was good night for Kendall, that had 'knock out' written all over it. Kendall will be on the look out for a repeat of that, there is no way he can afford to take a head kick with that much power without taking a defeat. Gallego throws a stinging jab, landing just above the left eye. Kendall steps in and fires off one of his own, but Gallego bobs out of the way and scores with a pair of solid shots to the body. Kendall turns and swings, just as Gallego also unloads...and it's Gallego who connects first! Kendall's hands drop and he is on rubbery legs. Gallego follows up with a beauty of a right hand, and that drops Kendall. The referee doesn't even wait for Gallego to dive in to finish, he's seen enough, Kendall is clearly on Dream Street. This bout is over! Gallego wins via 1st round TKO with the official time being 3:54.


UFC Welterweight Championship
Georges 'Rush' St. Pierre, 28, St Isidore, Quebec, 18-2 (1) v. 'The Natural Born Killer' Carlos Condit, 25, Albuquerque, 24-4 (3)
Blurcat: GSP via decision

St. Pierre:	Belts Held:	TKO WW: 2002-vacated, 2 defences
				UFC WW:	2006-7, 0 defences
				UFC WW:	2008-present, 2 defences
		3.09	UFC4	(1) beat Thiago Alves (2)	TKO R3

Condit:		Belts Held:	WEC WW: 2007-8, 3 defences, vacated
		3.09	UFC4	(9) beat Jake Shields (5)	decision

The first is very much a feeeling out round, and as such is very tough to score. The second is largely a stalemate as well, although GSP does mount a sustained attack towards the end which will probably give him the nod. A very cagey first two rounds...

Round 3
GSP hits some tentative punches, then comes in fast and forces Condit to back up against the cage, where they clinch. GSP hits a nice body shot, but takes two short punches to the side of the head in return. Condit tries a trip, but it doesn't go anywhere. They separate, with GSP having to stay sharp to avoid a scorching right hand from Condit. Condit hits a solid left, then a right. GSP felt both of them, and backs off a little. Condit charges right in to follow up though, and unleashes a powerful right hook, and GSP took it flush on the chin! Condit doesn't even bother following up on that, because GSP was out cold from the instant that that hit. Incredible punch. Condit wins via third round knock out at 3:50. Carlos Condit is now the UFC Welterweight champion.

[AlexB]

Injury update: Ikku Funaki, Matt Serra, Gabriel Gallego and Hayato Sakurai all picked up knocks that will keep them out of the gym short term, but they will be back in plenty of time for UFC14. Jake shields will need time off for his cut to heal, but again he is in no danger of missing the next event.

Doug Hansen's stomach injury is of greater concern: he is estimated to be out for near enough five months, and may have to sit the next event out.

[AlexB]

And so to the developmental squad:

UFC Jr Welterweight Championship
Agustin Gonzalez, 24-0 v. v. Yoshiyuki Yoshida, 10-2 (Blurcat: Gonzalez via TKO)

Junior Welterweight Title Shot Eliminator
Darin Blood, 3-0 v. John Hathaway, 9-0 (Blurcat: Blood via submission)

Christopher Hulme, 2-0 v. Rowan Cunningham, 6-2 (Blurcat: Cunningham via submission)
Sinali Shomen, 3-1 v. Joe Scarola, 4-1 (Blurcat: Shomen via TKO)

Eli Harris, 1-0 v. Eric Bradley, 2-1 (Blurcat: Harris via KO)
Gregor Gracie, 3-1 v. Rodrigo Ruas, 4-5-1 (Blurcat: Gracie via submission)
Pirmin Zubriggen, 1-2 v. Matthew Riddle, 1-0 (Blurcat: Zubriggen via TKO)
Paul Georgieff, 6-2 v. Blake Bowman, 1-0 (Blurcat: Georgieff via TKO)
Dorian Price, 7-3 v. Dan Barrera, 0-1 (Blurcat: Barrera via submission)
Anthony Waldeburger, 8-4 v. Mike Dolce, 3-5 (Blurcat: Dolce via TKO)
Robert Huey, 0-0 v. Jared Rollins, 6-4 (Blurcat: Heuy via TKO)
John Kolosci, 8-5 v. Matt Arroyo, 3-3 (Blurcat: Arroyo via submission)
Vincent Chase, 0-0 v. Andre Galvao, 1-1 (Blurcat: Galvao via submission)
Billy Miles, 2-2 v. Troy Mandaloniz, 3-2 (Blurcat: Mandaloniz via TKO)
Xie Ming, 3-1 v. Brandon Wolff, 7-3 (Blurcat: Ming by TKO)
Dan Cramer, 0-1 v. Marlon Matias, 5-3 (Blurcat: Matias via TKO)

[AlexB]

Robert 'The Executioner' Huey, 21, Lands End, England, 0-0 v. Jared 'J-Roc' Rollins, 32, Long Beach, California, 6-4
Blurcat: Huey via TKO
Robert Huey wins, with a score of 30-27 from two judges, 29-28 from the other. Jared Rollins' term with the UFC development roster is brief.


Paul Georgieff, 26, Madison, Wisconsin, 6-2 v. Blake Bowman, 28, Carrollton, Georgia, 1-0
Blurcat: Georgieff via TKO

Georgieff:	3.09	UFN	beat Troy Mandaloniz		decision

Blake Bowman wins the match, getting a score of 30-27 from all three judges.


Billy Miles, 31, Lincoln, California, 2-2 v. Troy 'Rude Boy' Mandaloniz, 29, Hilo, Hawaii, 3-2
Blurcat: Mandaloniz via TKO

Mandaloniz:	3.09	UFN	lost to Paul Georgieff		decision

Going into the third round, it's a round apiece. We join the fight in the middle of the last round...

...Rude Boy clinches up, and they wind up against the cage. Miles tries to throw a knee, but Rude Boy sweeps his standing leg and is on top on the ground. Rude Boy gets past the guard, but only just, one leg is trapped by Miles. A couple of right hands by Rude Boy leave ugly red marks where they hit the unprotected stomach of Miles. Rude Boy gets both legs free and transitions higher up the body, putting Miles in huge trouble. Rude Boy manages to get a forearm firmly across the throat of Miles and he pushes down. Miles, with no way of getting out, has no alternative but to tap out. Rude Boy wins via third round choke submission at 3:34.
Billy Miles is the second developmental casualty of the night.


Dorian Price, 31, Baltimore, 7-3 v. Dan Barrera, 28, Elizabethtown, Kentucky, 0-1
Blurcat: Barrera via submission
The fight is stopped after 2:40 of the second, but Price, who needed a win to stay in, was dominating anyhow.


Anthony 'TJ' Waldeburger, 20, Temple, Texas, 8-4 v. Mike 'Skull-Cracker' Dolce, 33, Gresham, Oregon, 3-5
Blurcat: Dolce via TKO
All three judges give a score of 30-26 in favour of Anthony Waldburger, and despite being favoured to win the fight, Dolce is both outclassed and canned.


Dan Cramer, 23, Bethel, Connecticut, 0-1 v. Marlon Matias, 26, Curitiba, Brazil, 5-3
Blurcat: Matias via TKO

Cramer:		3.09	UFN	lost to Sinali Shomen		decision

The three judges all give the match as 29-28 to Dan Cramer, and the junior roster is taking a hammering - Marlon Matias is out as well!


'The X Factor' Xie Ming, 27, Pearl River, China, 3-1 v. Brandon Wolff, 34, Honolulu, 7-3
Blurcat: Ming via TKO

Ming:		3.09	UFN	lost to Agustin Gonzalez	stoppage

Wolff:		3.09	UFN	lost to Darin Blood		submission R3

Round 1
Wolff works an angle and comes in from the side of Ming, getting two good jabs in before a ragged left misses by quite a margin. Ming hits a low kick to back Wolff against the cage, then works the body with a series of short punches. Wolff fights out and the action returns to the center. Ming throws a stinging jab, landing just above the left eye. Wolff steps in and fires off one of his own, but Ming bobs out of the way and scores with a pair of solid shots to the body. Wolff turns and swings, just as Ming also unloads...and it's Ming who connects first! Wolff's hands drop and he is on rubbery legs. Ming follows up with a beauty of a right hand, and that drops Wolff. The referee doesn't even wait for Ming to dive in to finish, he's seen enough, Wolff is clearly on Dream Street. This bout is over! Official time of the TKO is 2:55 of the first round.


Pirmin Zubriggen, 23, Zurich, Switzerland, 1-2 v. Matthew Riddle, 23, Lehighton, Pennsylvania, 1-0
Blurcat: Zubriggen via TKO

Riddle:		3.09		injured

Round 1
Riddle doesn't waste any time and throws two jabs to the face, but Zubriggen easily side-steps both and circles to the left. Zubriggen throws a head fake, then comes in fast from an angle with a looping punch, but misses and takes a glancing shot to the shoulder from a left hand counter. Riddle scores with a jab, then another, then comes in fast with a takedown. Zubriggen scrambles and after an extended period of struggling manages to get himself into north and south position, on top of Riddle. Zubriggen hits a hard right to the chest, then turns and gets a full mount. Riddle is really struggling, and can barely get his arms up to cover up from the strikes that Zubriggen is now raining down. A quick transition and Zubriggen has an arm and applies an americana. Riddle has no choice, there's the tap out. Official time of the americana submission is 1:26 of the first.

[AlexB]

Vincent Chase, 18, Bangor, Maine, 0-0 v. Andre Galvao, 26, Sao Jose, Brazil, 1-1
Blurcat: Galvao via submission

Galvao:		3.09	UFN	lost to Gregor Gracie		decision

Andre Galvao wins, with a score of 29-28 from two judges, 30-27 from the other.


John Kolosci, 34, Portage, Indiana, 8-5 v. Matt 'No Regard' Arroyo, 26, Tampa, Florida, 3-3
Blurcat: Arroyo via submission

Arroyo:		3.09	UFN	lost to Eli Harris		decision

We're guaranteed another departee here: it's win and stay in, or third strike and out in one fight...
The official scores are: 30-27 from all three judges for Matt Arroyo.

Gregor Gracie, 23, Brazil, 3-1 v. Rodrigo Ruas, 27, Rio de Janeiro, 4-5-1
Blurcat: Gracie via submission

Gracie:		3.09	UFN	beat Andre Galvao		decision

All three judges give a score of 30-27 in favour of Gregor Gracie.


'The Farm Boy' Eli Harris, 20, Boise, Idaho, 1-0 v. Eric 'Lion Heart' Bradley, 27, Los Angeles, 2-1
Blurcat: Harris via KO

Harris:		3.09	UFN	beat Matt Arroyo		decision

All three judges give a score of 30-27 in favour of Eli Harris.

[AlexB]

'The Freak' Christopher Hulme, 29, Sunnydale, California, 2-0 v. Rowan Cunningham, 33, Port Williams, Nova Scotia, 6-2
Blurcat: Cunningham via submission
We join the fight halfway through round three, following two rounds where Cunningham has been well on top through his attacking jiu-jitsu...

...Off-balance, Cunningham is ripe for a takedown, and Hulme obliges, thundering him down to the ground. Hulme is looking dangerous. He fires off a couple of punches, and one gets through. A third is attempted, but that gives Cunningham the opportunity he needed, and Hulme gets swept, ending up underneath in side control. Cunningham fires off three punches of his own, two connecting solidly above the eye. Cunningham moves up into a dominant position, totally controlling the head and left arm of Hulme, and looking for a kimura. Hulme is trying to stop it, but he is in a really poor position and cannot get any sort of leverage. Cunningham sinks it in, and Hulme has to tap out. Cunningham wins via 3rd round kimura submission with the official time being 4:14.


Sinali 'Sho Sho' Shomen, 19, Nagoya, Japan, 3-1 v. Joe Scarola, 30, East Meadow, New York, 4-1
Blurcat: Shomen via TKO

Shomen:		3.09	UFN	beat Dan Cramer			decision

The official scores are: 30-26 (twice), 29-27 for Sinali Shomen.


UFC Jr Welterweight Championship
Agustin 'The Latino Wildcat' Gonzalez, 22, La Paz, Mexico, 4-0 v. v. Yoshiyuki 'Zenko' Yoshida, 35, Tokyo, 10-2
Blurcat: Gonzalez via TKO

Gonzalez:	Belts Held: 	UFC Jr WW: 2009-present, 0 defences
		3.09	UFN	beat Xie Ming			stoppage R3

The first two rounds are scrappy, but the champ has the edge: lets join the fight at the start of the third:
Round 3
Yoshida doesn't waste any time and throws two jabs to the face, but Gonzalez easily side-steps both and circles to the left. Gonzalez throws a head fake, then comes in fast from an angle with a looping punch, but misses and takes a glancing shot to the shoulder from a left hand counter. Yoshida tries an ill-advised head kick, but Gonzalez ducks and comes straight underneath it. Grabbing the leg, he lifts Yoshida up and then violently plants him into the ground with a slam. Gonzalez dives in, but gets pulled into guard. Yoshida struggles to contain Gonzalez, who passes to half guard without too much trouble. A few hard shots get thrown, and Yoshida does well to defend them, deflecting them off his gloves. Gonzalez is trying to get his leg free so that he can get into side control. Yoshida throws a couple of punches from his back, but they do very little damage. Gonzalez half-stands, and throws a couple of big punches with a lot of force behind them. One is blocked, but the other hits home just below the left eye. Yoshida tries to cover up, while Gonzalez manages to get his leg free and get into a mount. Yoshida is in big trouble. He tries to roll his hips and shift Gonzalez's weight, but it's not working. Gonzalez fires off a couple of punches, then drops an absolute bomb of a right hand, landing flush on the chin! Yoshida is out, just for a second, but the referee has already pulled Gonzalez off. Sharp-eyed refereeing there. This match is over by knock out. Official time of the knock out is 1:27 of the third round. Agustín Gonzalez is still the UFC Junior Welterweight champion.


Junior Welterweight Title Shot Eliminator
'Dangerous' Darin Blood, 25, Kailua, Hawaii, 3-0 v. John 'The Hitman' Hathaway, 29, Brighton, England, 9-0
Blurcat: Blood via submission

Blood:		3.09	UFN	beat Brandon Wolff		submission R3

All three judges give a score of 30-27 to Darin Blood.

[AlexB]

WW summary

UFC Welterweight Championship
Carlos Condit, 24-4 (3) beat Georges St. Pierre, 18-2 (1) by KO R3 (Blurcat: GSP via decision)

UFC Welterweight Title Shot Eliminator
Fumiyaki Hayashi, 14-4 (9) beat Heikichi Shimizu, 4-0 by decision (Blurcat: Hayashi via decision)

Kafu Bunya, 11-3 beat Hayato Sakurai, 34-8-2 (10) by TKO R3 (Blurcat: Sakurai via decision)
Gabriel Gallego, 13-0 beat Alan Kendall, 11-2 by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Gallego via decision)

Josh Koscheck, 12-3 (6) beat Karo Parisyan, 19-5 (7) by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Parisyan via TKO)
Jack Humphreys, 13-2 (5) beat Caol Uno, 26-11-4 (8) by decision (Blurcat: Humphreys via KO)
Jon Fitch, 18-3 (2) beat Matt Serra, 10-5 (4) by decision (Blurcat: Fitch via TKO)
Dominykas Jankovic, 9-4 beat Noach van der Capellen, 11-3 by decision (Blurcat: Jankovic via TKO)

Ichisake Miyagi, 14-7 beat Alberto Basora, 8-3 by decision (Blurcat: Miyagi via submission)
Bakin Sakamoto, 12-6 beat Claudio Palacios, 10-3-1 by decision (Blurcat: Sakamoto via submission)
Doug Hansen, 14-4 beat Nick Thompson, 36-11-1 by decision (Blurcat: Hansen via submission)
Geoff Cahill, 21-14 beat Thiago Alves, 16-4 by decision (Blurcat: Alves via decision)
Lukas Mellberg, 10-1 beat Simon Vine, 7-4 by decision (Blurcat: Mellberg via submission)
Mike Swick, 12-3 beat Joe Hinchcliffe, 12-5 by submission R3 (Blurcat: Swick via submission)
Ikku Funaki, 5-4 beat Jake Shields, 22-5-1 by stoppage (Blurcat: Shields via split decision)
Julio Regueiro, 9-1-1 beat Marcus Davis, 17-4 by KO R2 (Blurcat: Regueiro via decision)

[AlexB]

And the Jr WW results:

UFC Jr Welterweight Championship
Agustin Gonzalez, 4-0 beat Yoshiyuki Yoshida, 10-2 by KO R3 (Blurcat: Gonzalez via TKO)

Junior Welterweight Title Shot Eliminator
Darin Blood, 3-0 beat John Hathaway, 9-0 by decision (Blurcat: Blood via submission)

Rowan Cunningham, 6-2 beat Christopher Hulme, 2-0 by submission R2 (Blurcat: Cunningham via submission)
Sinali Shomen, 3-1 beat Joe Scarola, 4-1 by decision (Blurcat: Shomen via TKO)

Eli Harris, 1-0 beat Eric Bradley, 2-1 by decision (Blurcat: Harris via KO)
Gregor Gracie, 3-1 beat Rodrigo Ruas, 4-5-1 by decision (Blurcat: Gracie via submission)
Pirmin Zubriggen, 1-2 beat Matthew Riddle, 1-0 by submission R1 (Blurcat: Zubriggen via TKO)
Blake Bowman, 1-0 beat Paul Georgieff, 6-2 by decision (Blurcat: Georgieff via TKO)
Dorian Price, 7-3 beat Dan Barrera, 0-1 by stoppage R2 (Blurcat: Barrera via submission)
Anthony Waldeburger, 8-4 beat Mike Dolce, 3-5 by decision (Blurcat: Dolce via TKO)
Robert Huey, 0-0 beat Jared Rollins, 6-4 by decision (Blurcat: Heuy via TKO)
Matt Arroyo, 3-3 beat John Kolosci, 8-5 by decision (Blurcat: Arroyo via submission)
Andre Galvao, 1-1 beat Vincent Chase, 0-0 by decision (Blurcat: Galvao via submission)
Troy Mandaloniz, 3-2 beat Billy Miles, 2-2 by decision (Blurcat: Mandaloniz via TKO)
Xie Ming, 3-1 beat Brandon Wolff, 7-3 by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Ming by TKO)
Dan Cramer, 0-1 beat Marlon Matias, 5-3 by decision (Blurcat: Matias via TKO)

[AlexB]

Updated rankings:

1.  Jon Fitch		31  USA       19-3    (+1)
2.  Carlos Condit	25  USA       25-4    (+1)
3.  Josh Koscheck	31  USA       13-3    (+3)
4.  Jack Humphreys	28  USA	      14-2    (+1)
5.  Fumiaki Hayashi	29  Japan     15-4    (+4)
6.  Georges St Pierre	28  Canada    18-3    (-5)
7.  Gabriel Gallego	27  Argentina 14-0    (NE)
8.  Kafu Bunya		27  Japan     12-3    (NE)
9.  Karo Parisyan	26  Armenia   19-6    (-2)
10. Matt Serra		35  USA	      10-6    (-6)

[AlexB]

With the third round of the middleweights up in a couple of months, the veteran Dan Halvorsen announces that he is to retire after UFC11, win or lose.

Like Couture next time up, he is on two losses, so a third would mean the end anyway, but the ex-GAMMA champ will not want to go out that way.

[AlexB]

Speaking of the HWs, it's UFC10 - age has caused just one ranking change since UFC5...

1.  Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria 32  Brazil	     32-4-1
2.  Hassan Fezzik	     33  Turkey	     26-0 
3.  James Foster	     30  USA	     17-2 
4.  Brock Lesnar	     32  USA	     4-1 
5.  Gunnar Nilsson	     32  Sweden      19-3   (+1)
6.  Rick Stanley	     35  USA	     21-7-3 (-1)
7.  Alistair Overeem	     29  Netherlands 30-11
8.  Tim Sylvia		     33  USA	     25-5
9.  Lefter Oktay	     30  Turkey	     7-0 
10. Stratos Papaoiannou      34  Greece	     21-4

The draws for both sections have been made, but the fights will be spread a little over the PPV, UFN and PUFN...

UFC Heavyweight Championship
Hassan Fezzik, 26-0 (2) v. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria, 32-4-1 (1) (Blurcat: Fezzik via KO)

Heavyweight Title Shot Eliminator
Brock Lesnar, 4-1 (4) v. Gunnar Nilsson, 19-3 (5) (Blurcat: Nilsson via submission)

Lefter Oktay, 7-0 (9) v. Stratos Papaoiannou, 21-4 (10) (Blurcat: Oktay via TKO)
Gabriel Gonzaga, 11-3 v. Alistair Overeem, 30-11 (7) (Blurcat: Overeem via TKO)

Rick Stanley, 21-7-3 (6) v. Grzegorz Boniek, 14-4 (Blurcat: Stanley via KO)
Sergei Kharitonov, 17-3 v. Fabrizio Werdum, 12-4-1 (Blurcat: Kharitanov via TKO)
Junior dos Santos, 8-1 v. Raul Hughes, 13-0 (Blurcat: Hughes via decision)
James Foster, 17-2 (3) v. Stafford Alois, 32, London, 19-7 (Blurcat: Foster via KO)

Jeff Carlton, 16-4 v. Harry Milne, 20-7 (Blurcat: Carlton via TKO)
Tony McCall, 20-5 v. Kunimichi Kikuchi, 20-3 (Blurcat: Kikuchi via KO)
Fedor Emelianenko, 28-2 v. Mirko Filipovic, 23-7-2 (Blurcat: Fedor via KO)
Hiro Arai, 17-4 v. Andrei Arlovski, 14-6 (Blurcat: Arai via KO)
Josh Barnett, 26-6 v. Tim Boyer, 16-4-2 (Blurcat: Boyer via TKO)
Alexsander Emelianenko, 13-4 v. Cheick Kongo, 12-5-1 (Blurcat: Emilianenko via TKO)
Robun Yamazaki, 17-7 v. Garry McSweegan, 12-3 (Blurcat: McSweegan via KO)
Ben Rothwell, 33-7 v. Randy Couture, 16-10 (Blurcat: Couture via TKO)


UFC Jr Heavyweight Championship
Cain Velasquez, 5-0 v. Pat Barry, 4-0 (Blurcat: Velasquez via decision)

Jr Heavyweight Title Shot Eliminator
Antonio Silva, 11-1 v. Shane Gilchrist, 11-2 (Blurcat: Gilchrist via KO)

Icho Larenas, 5-4 v. Derek South, 2-0 (Blurcat: South via decision)
Carl Seumanutafa, 5-1 v. Bryan Vetell, 4-3 (Blurcat: Seumanutafa via KO)

Eli Joslin, 2-1 v. Jon Murphy, 4-3 (Blurcat: Joslin via split decision)
Sean O'Haire, 3-3 v. Esteban Andres, 1-0 (Blurcat: Andres via KO)
Jack Punk, 1-0 v. Soa Palelei, 8-2 (Blurcat: Punk via KO)
Jefferson Silva, 3-2 v. George Bush, 5-1 (Blurcat: Silva via TKO)

Jesse Speed, 0-0 v. Takenao Kawate, 0-0 (Blurcat: Speed via submission)
Noah Musch, 0-1 v. Justin Vegas, 0-0 (Blurcat: Musch via KO)
Darrell Gorman, 0-1 v. Marcus Maxx, 0-0 (Blurcat: Gorman via KO)
Bo Cantrell, 10-11 v. Bill Naess, 0-0 (Blurcat: Cantrell via TKO)
Jamie Bagwell, 0-0 v. Charlie Montoya, 0-0 (Blurcat: Montoya via TKO)
Brian Wood, 0-0 v. Neil Wain, 4-2 (Blurcat: Wood via devision)
Aleksander Ivanov, 0-0 v. Jay Martinez, 0-0 (Blurcat: Ivanov via KO)
Julio Hill, 0-0 v. Analu Brash, 1-2 (Blurcat: Hill via split decision)

[AlexB]

First up it's UFN, with a couple of the bigger fights from the senior card at the top...

Jefferson 'Tanque' Silva, 31, Sao Paolo, 3-2 v. George Bush, 31, Columbus, Ohio, 5-1
Blurcat: Silva via TKO
Round 1
Tentative long range jabs from both fighters. Silva with a low sweeping kick, but it was telegraphed. Bush comes in quick but misses a kick. Silva with a straight right, another, but then walks right into a solid punch. That certainly connected, the crowd could clearly hear it. Silva backs up quickly, almost on instinct; his hands are down by his side, and he looks glassy eyed and unsteady on his feet. The referee quickly steps in and ends the fight, stopping Bush from following up. It'll go down as a TKO for Bush. As Bush celebrates, the doctor is quickly in to check on Silva. From the looks of things, he may have been dealt a concussion with that punch to the jaw, as he doesn't look like he knows where he is. Official time of the TKO is 0:37 of the first round.


Sean O'Haire, 35, Atlanta, 3-3 v. Esteban Andres, 19, Mexico City, 1-0
Blurcat: Andres via KO

O'Haire:	3.09	UFN	lost to Pat Barry		decision

Andres:		3.09	UFN	beat Darrell Gorman		TKO R3

We join the fight after a couple of unextraordinary minutes of round 1:
...Andres pushes O'Haire back against the cage, and is able to use that as a set up to taking O'Haire down the mat, landing in side control. O'Haire tries to scramble into a better position, but Andres grabs an arm and tries to lock a hold in. O'Haire bucks him over, and manages to wind up on top, but Andres still has the arm, and now has his legs wrapped around it. O'Haire hits a flurry of left hands to the back and thighs of Andres, who is almost upside down now. It's no good though, as O'Haire cannot get his arm free, and as soon as Andres starts to sink the hold in fully, there's no choice but to tap out. Andres wins via 1st round armbar submission with the official time being 2:31.


Carl Seumanutafa, 29, Sunnydale, California, 5-1 v. 'The Philosopher' Bryan Vetell, 34, New York City, 4-3
Blurcat: Seumanutafa via KO

Seumanutafa:	3.09	UFN	beat Eli Joslin			decision

...Vetell makes Seumanutafa back up against the cage by throwing some looping punches. He comes in closer and hits a right hook to the body, getting a jab to the cheek in return. Vetell throws another two punches, both to the body, then steps back to avoid an uppercut. Seumanutafa lets fly with a scorching punch though, and it catches Vetell by surprise, putting him down! Seumanutafa follows up and starts raining down right hands. Vetell covers up as best he can, but it's not enough as the referee pulls Seumanutafa off, the match is over. Official time of the TKO is 3:51 of the first.


'The Fridge' Jack Punk, 21, Seattle, 1-0 v. Soa Palelei, 29, Perth, Australia, 8-2
Blurcat: Punk via KO

Punk:		3.09	UFN	beat Noah Musch			decision

The official scores are: 30-27 (twice), 29-28 for Jack Punk.

[AlexB]

Eli 'Nightmare' Joslin, 30, Mariposa, California, 2-1 v. 'The Sherpa' Jon Murphy, 32, Minersville, Pennsylvania, 4-3
Blurcat: Joslin via split decision

Joslin:		3.09	UFN	lost to Carl Seumanutafa	decision

The official scores are: 29-28 (twice), 30-27 for Jon Murphy.


Icho Larenas, 29, Quebec City , 5-4v. Derek 'Smash-Mouth' South, 23, Gotham City, New Jersey, 2-0
Blurcat: South via decision

South:		3.09	UFN	beat Neil Wain			decision

Derek South wins the match, getting a score of 30-27 from all three judges.


UFC Jr Heavyweight Championship
Cain Velasquez, 27, Yuma, Arizona, 5-0 v. Pat 'Get Hype' Barry, 30, New Orleans, 4-0
Blurcat: Velasquez via decision

Velasquez:	Belts Held:	UFC JR HW:  2009-present, 0 defences
		3.09	UFN	beat Mugur Boc			TKO R2

Barry:		3.09	UFN	beat Sean O'Haire		decision

Velasquez has the better of the opening two rounds - let's pick up the action at the beginning of the third:

Round 3
Right hand from Barry was thrown with power, but bounced off the gloves of Velasquez. Barry follows up by coming in close, but Velasquez is ready with a straight right hand that glances off the side of the head. They clinch. Velasquez fires off a couple of right hands to the ribs, then ducks down and secures a leg. Barry hops up and down, but can't prevent Velasquez from simply pushing forward and taking them to the ground. Barry uses his free leg to wrap up a half guard, and manages to secure that to full guard pretty swiftly. Velasquez tries to pass the guard. Barry is holding it quite high, which is helping. Velasquez throws a couple of loose punches, then grabs the legs and turns Barry over. Barry tries to scramble free, but Velasquez is already on top of him and has his back! Velasquez doesn't waste any time, he starts throwing bombs with both left and right fists, slamming them into the side of Barry's head. He is trying to cover up, but a lot of shots are getting through. The referee is watching closely. A vicious right hand thunders into the ear of Barry, then another to the side of the nose. That's all the referee wants to see, he pulls Velasquez off. Velasquez wins via TKO at 1:30 of the third round. Cain Velasquez retains the UFC Junior Heavyweight title.

[AlexB]

Jr Heavyweight Title Shot Eliminator
'Bigfoot' Antonio Silva, 29, Brasilia, 11-1 v. 'The Butcher' Shane Gilchrist, 26, Perth, Australia, 11-2
Blurcat: Gilchrist via KO
All three judges give a score of 30-27 in favour of Shane Gilchrist.


'The Pit Bull' Rick Stanley, 35, Philadelphia, 21-7-3 (6) v. 'Polish Power' Grzegorz Boniek, 31, Warsaw, Poland, 14-4
Blurcat: Stanley via KO

Stanley:	3.09	UFN	(10) beat Randy Couture	(9)	TKO R1

Boniek:		3.09	UFC5	beat Aleksander Emelianenko	TKO R1

The Pit Bull wins a tepid first: we'll start the action at the beginning of the second:

Round 2
They are circling, then come in close. Both fighters are tentatively looking for the chance to strike. Boniek is the first to go for it, throwing a three-punch combination. Stanley covered up well, taking very little damage. Boniek goes to throw a bomb, but gets clipped with a right hand before it can connect. He felt that. Stanley steps in and throws a bomb of his own, and it crunches into the side of the cheek of Boniek, who goes down! Replays show the shock wave passing through his entire body as that powerful punch connected. What a strike! Stanley wins this by a brutally clean knock out. Official time of the knock out is 1:19 of the second round.


Heavyweight Title Shot Eliminator
Brock Lesnar, 32, Webster, South Dakota, 4-1 (4) v. 'Swedish Superman' Gunnar Nilsson, 32, Gothenburg, 19-3 (5)
Blurcat: Nilsson via submission

Lesnar:		3.09	UFC5	beat Josh Barnett (6)		TKO R3

Nilsson:	Belts Held:	GAMMA HW:   2006-7, 2 defences
		3.09	UFC5	beat Kunimichi Kikuchi		TKO R1

An excellent opener sees Brock get taken down by the experienced Swede, who then proceeds to dish out some vicious ground and pound. Lesnar nearly returns the favour in the second, buy Nilsson shows surprisingly good takedown defence, and manages to resverse momentum for a takedown of his own. Although he inflicted much less damage from the top position, Nilsson is definitely two rounds up going into the last...

And he gets another takedown to seal the deal, winning 30-27 twice, and getting 29-28 from Tommy. Gunnar Nilsson gets the title shot against either Fezzik or Big Nog.

[AlexB]

Due to an administrative error, UFN was scheduled for the same night as the main UFC 10 card, and had to be staged in the afternoon to avoid TV clashes. But after a good free card, it's time for our PPV offering.

'Wild Man' Julio Hill, 19, Susanville, California, 0-0 v. Analu Brash, 26, Maui, Hawaii, 1-2
Blurcat: Hill via split decision
In the only developmental roster matchup on the card, Analu Brash must beat the rookie Wild Man in order to stay on the rsoter for more than just the one fight. It doesn't start well as he loses the first two rounds. We join after a fairly stale first two minutes of the third and final round.

...Brash scores with a kick to the outside of the thigh, but it didn't have a great deal of power on it. Hill returns fire with a jab, and then tries for a takedown. Brash doesn't pull guard, but instead tries to spin out of it and get back to his feet, but it proves to be a mistake as he isn't able to get free and only ends up giving his back to Hill! Brash tries to fight out of it, but Hill keeps position well. Hard shot to the ribs by Hill. Can he capitalise on this great position though? He tries to apply a choke hold, but Brash defends it. However, in doing so, he leaves his left arm exposed, and Hill is able to float over and trap it inbetween his legs. Hill falls forward and pulls, forcing Brash to tap out rather than have his arm hyper-extended. The official time is 3:51.


Robun Yamazaki, 32, Kitakyushu, Japan, 17-7 v. Garry McSweegan, 27, Edinburgh, 12-3
Blurcat: McSweegan via KO

Yamakazi:	Belts Held:	ALPHA HW:   2004-5, 1 defence
		3.09	UFN	lost to Junior dos Santos	decision

McSweegan:	Belts Held:	BCF HW:     2007-8, 2 defences, vacated
		3.09	UFC5	lost to Stratos Papaoiannou	decision

The first senior fight sees another man trying to save his roster spot: ex ALPHA champ Yamazaki must beat ex-BCF champ McSweegan, or he follows Brash out the door. We start the action a minute and a half into the first round

...The two fighters clinch up, ending up struggling next to the cage, with the referee watching intently to make sure there are no rules being bent during the grappling match. McSweegan gets in a cheeky right hand, but that's all the offence he can generate from the clinch before Yamazaki sweeps his legs and takes him down to the ground. McSweegan struggles to contain Yamazaki, who passes to half guard without too much trouble. A few hard shots get thrown, and McSweegan does well to defend them, deflecting them off his gloves. Yamazaki is trying to get his leg free so that he can get into side control. McSweegan throws a couple of punches from his back, but they do very little damage. Yamazaki half-stands, and throws a couple of big punches with a lot of force behind them. One is blocked, but the other hits home just below the left eye. McSweegan tries to cover up, while Yamazaki manages to get his leg free and get into a mount. McSweegan is in big trouble. He tries to roll his hips and shift Yamazaki's weight, but it's not working. Yamazaki fires off a couple of punches, then drops an absolute bomb of a right hand, landing flush on the chin! McSweegan is out, just for a second, but the referee has already pulled Yamazaki off. Sharp-eyed refereeing there. This match is over by knock out. Official time of the knock out is 3:13 of the first.


'The Grim Reaper' Alexsander Emelianenko, 27, Stary Oskol, Russia, 13-4 v. Cheick Kongo, 34, Paris, France, 12-5-1
Blurcat: Emilianenko via TKO

Emilianenko:	3.09	UFC5	lost to Grzegorz Boniek		TKO R1

Kongo:		3.09	UFC5	lost to Sergei Kharitanov	decision

Kongo takes the first two rounds by dominant striking, staggering Fedor's younger brother a couple of times. The Russian tries to take the fight to the Frenchman in the third, and definitely is the stronger man, but can't find the fight-ending punch, and loses 29-28 on all three cards.

[AlexB]

Tony 'The Spider' McCall, 32, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 20-5 v. 'Unstoppable K' Kunimichi Kikuchi, 31, Sendai, Japan, 20-3
Blurcat: Kikuchi via KO

McCall:		3.09	UFC5	lost to Stafford Alois		TKO R3

Kikuchi:	Belts Held:	ALPHA HW:   2005-7, 6 defences
		3.09	UFC5	lost to Gunnar Nilsson		TKO R1

The first two rounds are shared, and it's all up for grabs in the last. We pick up the action two minutes into the final round:

...McCall makes Kikuchi back up against the cage by throwing some looping punches. He comes in closer and hits a right hook to the body, getting a jab to the cheek in return. McCall throws another two punches, both to the body, then steps back to avoid an uppercut. Kikuchi lets fly with a scorching punch though, and it catches McCall by surprise, putting him down! Kikuchi follows up and starts raining down right hands. McCall covers up as best he can, but it's not enough as the referee pulls Kikuchi off, the match is over. Official time of the TKO is 2:49 of the third round.


Sergei Kharitonov, 28, Plesetek, Russia, 17-3 v. Fabrizio 'Vai Cavalo' Werdum, 32, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 12-4-1
Blurcat: Kharitanov via TKO

Kharitanov:	3.09	UFC5	beat Cheick Kongo		decision

Werdum:		3.09	UFN	beat Tim Boyer			submission

Lets start the action with a minute remaining of the opening round...

...Kharitonov fires off a low kick again, but it's well wide. Werdum makes Kharitonov back up against the cage by throwing some looping punches. He comes in closer and hits a right hook to the body, getting a jab to the cheek in return. Werdum throws another two punches, both to the body, then steps back to avoid an uppercut. Kharitonov lets fly with a scorching punch though, and it catches Werdum by surprise, putting him down! Kharitonov follows up and starts raining down right hands. Werdum covers up as best he can, but it's not enough as the referee pulls Kharitonov off, the match is over. The official time is 4:26.


Junior 'Cigano' dos Santos, 25, Salvador, Brazil, 8-1 v. 'The Demolition Expert' Raul Hughes, 32, Elgin, Illinois, 13-0
Blurcat: Hughes via decision

dos Santos:	3.09	UFN	beat Robun Yamazaki		decision

Hughes:		Belts Held:	GAMMA HW:   2008-9, 2 defenceS, vacated
		3.09	GAMMA	beat Steve Mason		TKO R1
		1.09	GAMMA	beat Thomas Smith		KO R2

Now it's time for the newest UFC Heavyweight to make his debut: can Junior dos Santos avoid being the 14th KO/TKO victim of The Demolition Expert? He sees the first round out safely enough, but was defintely on the wrong end of the 10-9 score. As we start the tape, we're halfway through a fairly drab second round.

...dos Santos hits a nice body shot, but takes two short punches to the side of the head in return. Hughes tries a trip, but it doesn't go anywhere. They separate, with dos Santos having to stay sharp to avoid a scorching right hand from Hughes. They come together, both throwing punches. Hughes gets a nice clean shot in, and dos Santos stumbles backwards and falls to the floor. Hughes is on top of him quickly, and unloads with two more big punches, both connect solidly. The referee jumps in and pulls him away before a third is thrown, this match is over by TKO. Replays show the referee may have been slightly early. Official time of the TKO is 3:42 of the second.

[AlexB]

'North Star' Ben Rothwell, 27, Kensosha, Wisconsin, 33-7 v. Randy 'The Natural' Couture, 46, Everett, Washington, 16-10
Blurcat: Couture via TKO

Rothwell:	3.09	UFN	lost to James Foster (4)	decision

Couture:	Belts Held:	UFC HW:     1997-8, 0 defences
				UFC HW:     2000-2, 2 defences
				UFC LHW:    2003-4, 0 defences
				UFC LHW:    2004-5, 0 defences
				UFC HW:     2007-8, 1 defence
		3.09	UFN	(9) lost to Rick Stanley (10)	TKO R1

And now the highlight fight for many fans - The Natural's last ever MMA appearance. Can he go out on a high, or will his career fade ingloriously into retirement?

The first is classic Couture: making the fight scrappy and getting the better of it. Counter-punching is the key in the second, and it's Randy again with the upper hand. it's looking good so far for the victory everyone wants to see...

And so it proves - Randy The Natural Couture wins the third round as well and gets a 30-27 score from all three judges, and the longest standing ovation witnessed in MMA history. The end of a legendary career.


'The King of Ground and Pound' James Foster, 30, Aurora, Illinois, 17-2 (3) v. 'The Brixton Butcher' Stafford Alois, 32, London, 19-7
Blurcat: Foster via KO

Foster:		Belts Held:	ALPHA HW:   2007-8, 1 defence
		3.09	UFN	(4) beat Ben Rothwell		decision

Alois:		3.09	UFC5	beat Tony McCall		TKO R3

Pity these two, fighting after the retirement of Couture: maybe it will work in the Brit's favour?

Round 1
Alois scores with a kick to the outside of the thigh, but it didn't have a great deal of power on it. Foster returns fire with a jab, and then tries for a takedown. Alois doesn't pull guard, but instead tries to spin out of it and get back to his feet, but it proves to be a mistake as he isn't able to get free and only ends up giving his back to Foster! Foster gets one arm in and snakes it around the throat of Alois, squeezing his wind-pipe shut. Alois tries to pull the arm free, but can't, and so rolls over in a last-ditch effort to break free. It is to no avail though, as that allows Foster to get a body-scissors in too. With no alternatives left, Alois taps out. The official time of the rear choke submission is 0:42 of round 1.

Or maybe not.


'The Last Emperor' Fedor Emelianenko, 32, Stary Oskol, Russia, 28-2 v. Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic, 34, Vinkovci, Croatia, 23-7-2
Blurcat: Fedor via KO

Fedor:		Belts Held:	PRIDE HW:   2003-close, 3 defences
		3.09	UFC5	(1) lost to Hassan Fezzik (2)	KO R2

Filipovic:	3.09	UFC5	lost to Tim Sylvia (7)		KO R2

A cagey first four minutes sees a stalemate: we pick the fight up with the two having just separated from a standing clinch.

...They separate, with Fedor having to stay sharp to avoid a scorching right hand from Mirko Cro Cop. Fedor with a jab. Mirko Cro Cop glances at the referee, not sure why. Big kick from Fedor! That was out of nowhere, and hit Mirko Cro Cop on the jaw. I don't think anyone saw that coming, least of all Mirko Cro Cop, and he has been laid out cold with one massively powerful kick. Fedor wins via 1st round knock out with the official time being 4:27.

[AlexB]

Gabriel 'Napao' Gonzaga, 30, Rio de Janeiro, 11-3 v. 'Demolition Man' Alistair Overeem, 29, Utrecht, Netherlands, 30-11 (7)
Blurcat: Overeem via TKO

Gonzaga:	3.09	UFC5	beat Harry Milne		KO R1

Overeem:	Belts Held:	S'force HW: 2007, 0 defences
		3.09	UFC5	beat Jeff Carlton		decision

Napao takes Overeem down in the first and will have won the round from this. Our action starts from the bell of the second.

Round 2
Gonzaga doesn't waste any time and throws two jabs to the face, but Overeem easily side-steps both and circles to the left. Overeem throws a head fake, then comes in fast from an angle with a looping punch, but misses and takes a glancing shot to the shoulder from a left hand counter. Overeem makes Gonzaga back up against the cage by throwing some looping punches. He comes in closer and hits a right hook to the body, getting a jab to the cheek in return. Overeem throws another two punches, both to the body, then steps back to avoid an uppercut. Gonzaga lets fly with a scorching punch though, and it catches Overeem by surprise, putting him down! Gonzaga follows up and starts raining down right hands. Overeem covers up as best he can, but it's not enough as the referee pulls Gonzaga off, the match is over. Official time of the TKO is 1:34 of the second round.


Lefter 'The Beast' Oktay, 30, Istanbul, Turkey, 7-0 (9) v. Stratos Papaoiannou, 34, Athens, Greece, 21-4 (10)
Blurcat: Oktay via TKO

Oktay:		3.09	UFC5	beat Hiro Arai			KO R3

Papaoiannou:	3.09	UFC5	beat Garry McSweegan		decision

The first two rounds have the fans on their feet, as are the two fighters - it's all about the stand-up in this Mediterranean MMA fest, and the young Turk gets the best of both. Can the veteran Greek turn the fight around?

No - a dominant display from The Beast earns 30-27 scores from all three judges.


UFC Heavyweight Championship
'The Big Bad' Hassan Fezzik, 33, Istanbul, Turkey, 26-0 (2) v. Antonio Rodrigo 'Minotauro' Nogueria, 32, Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil, 32-4-1 (1)
Blurcat: Fezzik via KO

Fezzik:		Belts Held:	ALHPA HW:   2007-8, 3 defences, vacated
				UFC HW:	    2009-present, 0 defences
		3.09	UFC5	(2) beat Fedor Emelianenko (1)	KO R2

Nogueira:	Belts Held:	PRIDE HW:   2001-3, 1 defence
				UFC HW:     2008, 0 defences, vacated
		3.09	UFC5	(3) beat Andrei Arlovski (5)	decision

And so on to Lefter Oktay's mentor - will he remain undefeated like his protege? Everything in the first two rounds suggest that he will: he takes the first by strikes, the second by kicks. Minotauro was clearly frustrated after the second, and slows the fight down in the third, to the point where there's no real action of note, and it's a tough one to score - the defending champion was slightly more aggressive and will likely get the nod for that reason. Big Nog tries to push the action again in the fourth, but just can't get near enough to Fezzik to be a threat, and it's looking increasingly unlikely that he can trouble the champion...

And so it proves: Fezzik gets a unanimous decision, 50-45 from two judges, and 49-46 from thr third, who must have given the middle round to Nogueira. Fezzik will defend next time out against Gunnar Nilsson, and if he is successful, and Lefter Oktay can overcome gabriel Gonzaga, we may have a problem: the two Turks have always said that they will not fight each other, even if it costs them titles or title shots...

[AlexB]

Finally we have the PenUtimate Fight Night, for the lower level development fights and the last couple of senior bouts:

'Red Rum' Bo Cantrell, 33, Citrus Heights, California, 10-11 v. Bill 'Tarantula' Naess, 19, La Habra, California, 0-0
Blurcat: Cantrell via TKO
Bo Cantrell starts the night off fighting for his UFC junior life...

Round 1
The two fighters meet in the center with an exchange of jabs, but neither gets anything but gloves or air. They go right into a clinch, with only a few seconds of the match gone. Naess gets a knee to the ribs in, but it wasn't particularly hard. They break. The two fighters are circling. Naess comes in for a punch, but Cantrell countered well by coming in fast and low and using a good solid takedown. Cantrell is in Naess's guard. Cantrell tries to pass the guard. Naess is holding it quite high, which is helping. Cantrell throws a couple of loose punches, then grabs the legs and turns Naess over. Naess tries to scramble free, but Cantrell is already on top of him and has his back! Cantrell doesn't waste any time, he starts throwing bombs with both left and right fists, slamming them into the side of Naess's head. He is trying to cover up, but a lot of shots are getting through. The referee is watching closely. A vicious right hand thunders into the ear of Naess, then another to the side of the nose. That's all the referee wants to see, he pulls Cantrell off. Cantrell wins via first round TKO at 1:33.


Jamie Bagwell, 20, Phoenix, 0-0 v. 'Hot Stuff' Charlie Montoya, 20, Barrie, Ontario, 0-0
Blurcat: Montoya via TKO
Montoya edges an excisting first round from the two debutants. We pick up the fight halfway through the second, just after the referee separates a standing clinch.

...Montoya clinches with Bagwell. A quick trip sends Bagwell falling backward, pulling guard to take Montoya down with him. Bagwell is trying to turn. Montoya fires off a big punch, and it connects right on the point of the chin. Bagwell goes limp, he is out cold from one brutal shot, Montoya manages to get the knock out from the guard position. The referee leaps in and makes sure that Montoya doesn't throw any more bombs. Montoya wins via knock out at 3:25 of the second round.


Darrell 'Mongoose' Gorman, 21, St Louis, 0-1 v. Marcus Maxx, 19, Huntingdon Beach, California, 0-0
Blurcat: Gorman via KO

Gorman:        3.09    UFN    lost to Esteban Andres        TKO R3

The official scores are: 30-27 (twice), 29-28 for Darrell Gorman.


Jesse Speed, 19, Elgin, Illinois, 0-0 v. 'Ace Of Clubs' Takenao Kawate, 20, Osaka, 0-0
Blurcat: Speed via submission
Kawate dominates the opener: we'll join at the start of the second round.

Round 2
Speed doesn't waste any time and throws two jabs to the face, but Kawate easily side-steps both and circles to the left. Kawate throws a head fake, then comes in fast from an angle with a looping punch, but misses and takes a glancing shot to the shoulder from a left hand counter. Speed pushes Kawate up against the cage in a clinch. Speed throws a knee, then a couple of short punches to the side of the head. Kawate pushes him away and steps in to score with an uppercut. Speed took it flush on the chin and is rocked! Another right hand drops Speed against the cage, and Kawate follows up by unloading with a barrage of punches. The referee gets in and pulls Kawate away, he wins the match by TKO. Official time of the TKO is 1:43 of the second.

[AlexB]

'The Colonel' Noah Musch, 32, Stuttgart, Germany, 0-1 v. 'The Bullfrog' Justin Vegas, 20, Las Vegas, 0-0
Blurcat: Musch via KO

Musch:        3.09    UFN    lost to Jack Punk        decision

Round 1
The two fighters meet in the center with an exchange of jabs, but neither gets anything but gloves or air. They go right into a clinch, with only a few seconds of the match gone. Musch gets a knee to the ribs in, but it wasn't particularly hard. They break. Vegas hits a right hand above Musch's right eye, but gets clinched up before he can do anything further. Musch forces him back against the cage. They struggle, with Vegas keeping the takedown from happening by pulling away from every trip attempt. Musch pushes Vegas into the cage, then sweeps the legs quickly. Vegas couldn't get out of the way that time, and goes down. He pulls guard. Musch manages to push the guard apart, and leans over Vegas, trapping one leg underneath his body. Bad position for Vegas to be in, and Musch now starts throwing big lefts and rights. Vegas tries to deflect them away but quite a few are hitting home. Vegas tries to bring his free leg in to add some leverage, but Musch swats it aside and gets the full mount. More punches start raining down, and Vegas is left just covering up to try and weather the storm. It's no use though, as the barrage of punches without answer convince the referee to call a halt to the action. Musch wins via 1st round TKO with the official time being 1:19.


'The Macho Man' Brian Wood, 20, London, 0-0 v. Neil 'Old School' Wain, 33, Doncaster, England, 4-2
Blurcat: Wood via devision

Wain:        3.09    UFN    lost to Derek South        decision

Brian Wood wins, with a score of 30-27 from two judges, 29-28 from the other.

Following defeat in the battle of Britain, Neil Wain is now an ex-UFC fighter.


'The Great Bear' Aleksander Ivanov, 20, Moscow, 0-0 v. 'Out Of Control' Jay Martinez, 19, Baltimore, 0-0
Blurcat: Ivanov via KO
All three judges give a score of 30-27 in favour of Aleksander Ivanov.

[AlexB]

'The Babyface Assassin' Josh Barnett, 31, Seattle, 26-6 v. Tim 'The Tower of Power' Boyer, 31, Toronto, 16-4-2
Blurcat: Boyer via TKO

Barnett:	Belts Held:	UFC HW:     2002, 0 defences
		3.09	UFC5	(6) lost to Brock Lesnar	TKO R3

Boyer:		3.09	UFN	lost to Fabricio Werdum		submission

Barnett gets a trip takedown and tries a couple of submissions that Boyer defends well. Nevertheless Barnett will win the round. At the very start of the second Boyer catches Barnett with a huge right hook that staggers the Babyface Assassin: although Barnett survives, he does not look as if he has shaken off the cobwebs even when getting off his stool for the final round...

And it shows, as Boyer dominates the last, winning 29-28 twice, and 30-27 from Tommy.


Jeff 'The Rock' Carlton, 31, Shreveport, Louisiana, 16-4 v. 'The Bulldog' Harry Milne, 33, Bolton, England, 20-7
Blurcat: Carlton via TKO

Carlton:	Belts Held:	GAMMA HW:   2005-6, 2 defences
		3.09	UFC5	lost to Alistair Overeem	decision

Milne:		3.09	UFC5	lost to Gabriel Gonzaga		KO R1

carlton wins the opener, defending Milne's takedown and getting one of his own.

Round 2
Milne leads with the right hand to set up a low kick, Carlton deals with it well. They clinch, but only for a few seconds before it gets broken. Both throw stiff jabs at the same time, neither connects properly. Back to the clinch. It has been a disjointed start to the round, the flow hasn't quite developed properly. Carlton uses a knee to the ribs before backing Milne up against the cage. Right hand from Milne connects though, that was well timed. Carlton breaks the clinch and backs off. That was sloppy on his part, Milne was basically gifted a free shot. Three quick jabs from Carlton sting the gloves, then a crashing hook to the body finds its mark. Good recovery. Milne fires off a low kick again, but it's well wide. They come together, both throwing punches. Carlton gets a nice clean shot in, and Milne stumbles backwards and falls to the floor. Carlton is on top of him quickly, and unloads with two more big punches, both connect solidly. The referee jumps in and pulls him away before a third is thrown, this match is over by TKO. Replays show the referee may have been slightly early. Carlton wins via TKO at 4:46 of the second round.


Hiro Arai, 33, Kawasaki, Japan, 17-4 v. 'The Pitbull' Andrei Arlovski, 30, Minsk, Belarus, 14-6
Blurcat: Arai via KO

Arai:		3.09	UFC5	lost to Lefter Oktay		KO R3

Arlovsky:	Belts Held:	UFC HW:     2005-6, 2 defences
		3.09	UFC5	(5) lost to Minotauro (3)	decision

Round 1
Tentative long range jabs from both fighters. Arai with a low sweeping kick, but it was telegraphed. Arlovski comes in quick but misses a kick. Arai with a straight right, another, but then walks right into a solid punch. That certainly connected, the crowd could clearly hear it. Arai backs up quickly, almost on instinct; his hands are down by his side, and he looks glassy eyed and unsteady on his feet. The referee quickly steps in and ends the fight, stopping Arlovski from following up. It'll go down as a TKO for Arlovski. As Arlovski celebrates, the doctor is quickly in to check on Arai. From the looks of things, he may have been dealt a concussion with that punch to the jaw, as he doesn't look like he knows where he is. Arlovski wins via 1st round TKO with the official time being 0:16.

[AlexB]

HW Summary

UFC Heavyweight Championship
Hassan Fezzik, 26-0 (2) beat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria, 32-4-1 (1) by decision (Blurcat: Fezzik via KO)

Heavyweight Title Shot Eliminator
Gunnar Nilsson, 19-3 (5) beat Brock Lesnar, 4-1 (4) by decision (Blurcat: Nilsson via submission)

Lefter Oktay, 7-0 (9) beat Stratos Papaoiannou, 21-4 (10) by decision (Blurcat: Oktay via TKO)
Gabriel Gonzaga, 11-3 beat Alistair Overeem, 30-11 (7) by TKO R2 (Blurcat: Overeem via TKO)

Rick Stanley, 21-7-3 (6) beat Grzegorz Boniek, 14-4 by KO R2 (Blurcat: Stanley via KO)
Sergei Kharitonov, 17-3 beat Fabrizio Werdum, 12-4-1 by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Kharitanov via TKO)
Raul Hughes, 13-0 beat Junior dos Santos, 8-1 by TKO R2 (Blurcat: Hughes via decision)
James Foster, 17-2 (3) beat Stafford Alois, 32, London, 19-7 by submission R1 (Blurcat: Foster via KO)

Jeff Carlton, 16-4 beat Harry Milne, 20-7 by TKO R2 (Blurcat: Carlton via TKO)
Kunimichi Kikuchi, 20-3 beat Tony McCall, 20-5 by TKO R3 (Blurcat: Kikuchi via KO)
Fedor Emelianenko, 28-2 beat Mirko Filipovic, 23-7-2 by KO R1 (Blurcat: Fedor via KO)
Andrei Arlovski, 14-6 beat Hiro Arai, 17-4 by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Arai via KO)
Tim Boyer, 16-4-2 beat Josh Barnett, 26-6 by decision (Blurcat: Boyer via TKO)
Cheick Kongo, 12-5-1 beat Alexsander Emelianenko, 13-4 by decision (Blurcat: Emilianenko via TKO)
Robun Yamazaki, 17-7 beat Garry McSweegan, 12-3 by KO R1 (Blurcat: McSweegan via KO)
Randy Couture, 16-10 beat Ben Rothwell, 33-7 by decision (Blurcat: Couture via TKO)


UFC Jr Heavyweight Championship
Cain Velasquez, 5-0 beat Pat Barry, 4-0 by TKO R3 (Blurcat: Velasquez via decision)

Jr Heavyweight Title Shot Eliminator
Shane Gilchrist, 11-2 beat Antonio Silva, 11-1 by decision (Blurcat: Gilchrist via KO)

Derek South, 2-0 beat Icho Larenas, 5-4 by decision (Blurcat: South via decision)
Carl Seumanutafa, 5-1 beat Bryan Vetell, 4-3 by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Seumanutafa via KO)

Jon Murphy, 4-3 beat Eli Joslin, 2-1 by decision (Blurcat: Joslin via split decision)
Esteban Andres, 1-0 beat Sean O'Haire, 3-3 by submission R1 (Blurcat: Andres via KO)
Jack Punk, 1-0 beat Soa Palelei, 8-2 by decision (Blurcat: Punk via KO)
George Bush, 5-1 beat Jefferson Silva, 3-2 by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Silva via TKO)

Takenao Kawate, 0-0 beat Jesse Speed, 0-0 by TKO R2 (Blurcat: Speed via submission)
Noah Musch, 0-1 beat Justin Vegas, 0-0 by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Musch via KO)
Darrell Gorman, 0-1 beat Marcus Maxx, 0-0 by decision (Blurcat: Gorman via KO)
Bo Cantrell, 10-11 beat Bill Naess, 0-0 by TKO R1 (Blurcat: Cantrell via TKO)
Charlie Montoya, 0-0 beat Jamie Bagwell, 0-0 by KO R2 (Blurcat: Montoya via TKO)
Brian Wood, 0-0 beat Neil Wain, 4-2 by decision (Blurcat: Wood via devision)
Aleksander Ivanov, 0-0 beat Jay Martinez, 0-0 by decision (Blurcat: Ivanov via KO)
Julio Hill, 0-0 beat Analu Brash, 1-2 by submission R3 (Blurcat: Hill via split decision)

[AlexB]

As always, updated heavyweight rankings are released immediately...

1.  Hassan Fezzik	     33  Turkey	     27-0   (+1)
2.  Gunnar Nilsson	     32  Sweden      20-3   (+3)
3.  Rick Stanley	     35  USA	     22-7-3 (+3)
4.  James Foster	     30  USA	     18-2   (-1)
5.  Lefter Oktay	     30  Turkey	      8-0   (+4)
6.  Gabriel Gonzaga	     30	 Brazil	     12-3   (NE)
7.  Tim Sylvia		     33  USA	     25-5   (+1)
8.  Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria 32  Brazil	     32-5-1 (-7)
9.  Sergei Kharitonov	     29  Russia	     18-3   (NE)
10. Fedor Emilianenko	     32  Russia	     29-2   (RE)

There were no major injuries to report, given the five months weight cycle.

[AlexB]

After a second full cycle, we have updated pound for pound rankings as well:

1.  Miguel Torres	28  Mexico	37-1	(+2)	WEC
2.  Hassan Fezzik	33  Turkey	27-0  	(-)
3.  Anderson Silva	34  Brazil	25-4	(+1)
4.  Gunnar Nilsson	32  Sweden	20-3   	(NE)
5.  Diego Sanchez	27  USA		27-2	(NE)
6.  Go Yamamoto		31  Japan	15-1	(NE)
7.  Rick Stanley	35  USA		22-7-3 	(NE)
8.  Jon Fitch		31  USA       	19-3   	(NE)
9.  Forrest Griffin	29  USA     	18-4   	(-2)
10. Carlos Condit	25  USA       	25-4	(NE)

[AlexB]

There will be a slight issue next the HWs roll around - Shane Gilchrist's win caused him to go from inexperienced to experienced, and as such he no longer qualifies for the developmental roster.

However, he is regarded more highly than some of the seniors, so he will get promoted and someone will lose their roster spot. We need to find a new challenger for Cain Velasquez.