UFC 2011 - Business As Usual

[stangejr]

July 21, 2011

Today we will take a look back at season ten of the Ultimate Fighter, which some deemed to be the most bland and unimpressive of the series. The series featured successful veterans such as Roy Nelson, multi-sport athletes such as Marcus Jones, internet sensations such as Kimbo Slice, and new up and comers such as Brendan Schaub. We will look at each fighter that competed and see where they are and how they have progressed since the show.

First we will look at the winner of the series, Roy Nelson. Nelson was an amazing fighter early in his career, becoming one of the faces of the IFL Heavyweight division along with Ben Rothwell. He dominated in the promotion, and immediately after their close, he was given two high-profile fights against Andrei Arlovski in Elite XC and Jeff Monson in March Badness. He wasn't able to live up to the hype against them, which dropped his stock tremendoulsy. This is where he saught to rise back to his spot along other top Heavyweights by winning the Ultimate Fighter. He blew threw the competition. Even though he found himself the favorite to win, to say he was a shoe-in would be a lie. Nelson had many doubters on the show and even after. Fresh off his victory over Brenden Schaub to win the contest, he went on to fight now ranked #10 Stefan Struve. He made short work of the big guy and continued on to fight the #1 ranked Junior dos Santos, where he received his first UFC loss. He was unable to match the high level striking possessed by the next championship contender. Fresh off that loss, he looked to solidify his spot among top ten Heavyweights with a win over long time contender, Frank Mir. In a very uneventful fight, he pulled off the decision win, placing himself at #8 on the current rankings. Maybe a fight against the Schaub / Nogueira winner or the loser of the Velasquez / dos Santos fight could put him into the #1 contender spot.

The runner up in the event, Brendan Schaub is an up-and-comer in the UFC, quickly making his way up the rankings. He is 4-0 since his loss to Nelson, with his last victory over the legend, Mirko CroCop Filipovic. If he wins his next fight against #9 Nogueira, he should see his #18 spot move up tremendously. A fight against Shane Carwin could work whether he wins or loses against Big Nog.

Both Semi-Finalists in the show are no longer employed by the UFC. Marcus Jones enjoyed a 4-1 record coming into the show, but after suffering a loss at the hands of Brendan Schaub in the semis, he tried to get back on track with a fight against rival in the house, Matt Mitrione. This led to an embarrassing performance, leaving Jones without a UFC contract. He hasn't fought since, and with his age and willingness to compete, he probably never will again. The other semi-finalist that lost to Roy Nelson was James McSweeney. McSweeney kind of found himself at the very bottom of the Heavyweights after TUF, getting no name opponents to fight. After an initial win against Darrell Schoonover in the finale, he lost two straight, leading to his release with a 4-8 record. He is currently employed by BAMMA and CFC.

Of all of the other contestants, only two are still employed by the UFC. Both Jon Madsen and Matt Mitrione are still fighting for the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Jon Madsen lost in the quarter-final round of the show against runner up, Brendan Schaub. Since the show he has gone 4-1 with his highest ranked victory against Gilbert Yvel. In his last contest, he lost to #20 ranked Mike Russow due to doctor stoppage. The other fighter, Matt Mitrione has made a huge turn-around since the show. With zero professional fights under his belt, Mitrione stepped onto the show with high hopes, but in the quarter-finals, James McSweeney ended those. Since the show, Mitrione has went undefeated with all five of his fights being victories, all but one stopped by knockout. He belongs with the winner and runner up as far as where he has progressed. His extreme athleticism carried over from the NFL to MMA as he is clearly a prospect for the future of the Heavyweight division. He is currently ranked #19.

The other fighters that appeared on the show in no particular order are:

Justin Wren (10-2), currently unemployed.
Darrill Schoonover (10-4), currently unemployed.
Mike Wessel (8-3), currently unemployed.
Kevin Ferguson (4-2), currently fighting for Sengoku (SRC).
Abe Wagner (8-4), currently unemployed.
Demico Rogers (1-0), currently unemployed.
Wes Sims (22-13-1), currently fighting for the MFC.
Scott Junk (8-2-1), currently fighting for Shark Fights.
Wes Shivers (7-1), currently unemployed.
Zak Jensen (9-6), currently unemployed.

While only four contestants remain in the UFC, twice as many remain from the very first season back in 2005. Just a comparison.

@nyj721 - This is with WMMA 3. I'm also using Tag01's MW4 mod, which was released right before UFC 130, hence why I started with that. I hope you are enjoying it thusfar. Don't forget to put in your prediction. That way you get to steer this in a certain direction.

[nyj721]

Re: UFC 2011 - Business As Usual

Rashad Evans | Phil Davis in Round 1 | 2 | 3 | Dec by way of KO/TKO | Sub | Dec
Rich Franklin | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in Round 1 | 2 | 3 | Dec by way of KO/TKO | Sub | Dec
Vitor Belfort | Yoshihiro Akiyama in Round 1 | 2 | 3 | Dec by way of KO/TKO | Sub | Dec
Jorge Rivera | Alessio Sakara in Round 1 | 2 | 3 | Dec by way of KO/TKO | Sub | Dec
Mike Pyle | Rory MacDonald in Round 1 | 2 | 3 | Dec by way of KO/TKO | Sub | Dec
Vladimir Matyushenko | Alexander Gustafsson in Round 1 | 2 | 3 | Dec by way of KO/TKO | Sub | Dec
Chad Mendes | Rani Yahya in Round 1 | 2 | 3 | Dec by way of KO/TKO | Sub | Dec
Dennis Hallman | Brian Ebersole in Round 1 | 2 | 3 | Dec by way of KO/TKO | Sub | Dec
Mike Brown | Nam Phan in Round 1 | 2 | 3 | Dec by way of KO/TKO | Sub | Dec
Ivan Menjivar | Nick Pace in Round 1 | 2 | 3 | Dec by way of KO/TKO | Sub | Dec
Riki Fukuda | Rafael Natal in Round 1 | 2 | 3 | Dec by way of KO/TKO | Sub | Dec
Johny Hendricks | Mike Pierce in Round 1 | 2 | 3 | Dec by way of KO/TKO | Sub | Dec

[stangejr]

I just wanted to let everyone know, updates such as the last one I posted can be created and posted by anyone if they'd like. If anyone wants to post news that you would find on sites like Sherdog, Middleeasy, Bloody Elbow, Cage Potato, etc, just send me a PM and I'll make a headline banner for it. Obviously it can't be anything related to results of another show, or a booking of a match, but if you want to recap where a fighter's been and how they got there, or talk about a certain camp and whatnot, go ahead. Some other ideas could be an in-depth prediction of the upcoming fights, maybe who the winners and losers should compete against next, or even who deserves to be picked up or dropped from the UFC. Like I said, it is completely up to you, but I'm allowing that option to anyone that wants it. I'll supply the banner and any info you request from the game. Hope you all are enjoying!

[stangejr]

July 22, 2011

Who has the most to gain on August 6th?

I believe the better question is who doesn't have something big to gain on August 6th. In virtually every fight, something big hangs in the balance for atleast one fighter, so lets run them down.

Phil Davis
Wow, I don't even know if I should spend time to explain this. This kid has been nothing short of a wrecking machine in the the Light Heavyweight division. Being undefeated, 9-0, this is literally another Jon Jones coming up. Could you imagine...Jon Jones vs Phil Davis? That is going to be the Anderson Silva vs Georges St-Pierre of the future. With a win over Rashad in this fight, I see Davis being one fight away from a title shot. He'll probably have to fight one more top 5 guy to really prove he belongs at the top. On the other hand, a loss here may prevent him from getting that shot for atleast another year or two.

Rashad Evans
I think Rashad has the most to lose in this fight. Originally scheduled to take on Light Heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, he had to settle for a fight with Davis due to Jones pulling out with an injury. This means he was already the #1 contender. Now with Rampage destroying Hamill, he lost his spot to another guy he doesn't like too much. A loss here would destroy any aspirations of getting the next shot, while a win pretty much solidifies it.

Rich Franklin
The could-of-been superstar. Franklin was once the UFC's posterboy. A good looking, everyday American schoolteacher who fights for a good cause, what's not to like? Oh yeah, the fact that a guy named Anderson Silva happened to ruin his career. Franklin is reaching the end of his prime, if he hasn't already passed it, and his last big win over Liddell is probably his last shot to regain the fame he once had. Now he has to go through the smaller of the Nogueira brothers. Is this fight alone going to make him a star? No. Will it set him up to possibly beat the man that embarrassed him twice? With another fight or two, yes. If Franklin wins here, he may have one more run at the top. If not, he will remain a gatekeeper for young talent.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Things could not look much worse for this Brazilian. He has been dealt quite a bad hand since coming to the UFC. He happens to fight all the upcoming top contenders before they get big, making him look much worse than he is. Well this is simply his shot to prove that he belongs in the UFC. Franklin is no joke, but nor is he a nobody that may be the champ in a year. A win over Franklin will be that big name victory he needs to solidify his image instead of being remembered as 'Big Nog's brother.'

Vitor Belfort
Vitor Belfort is definitely a top five Middleweight in the UFC, right? Do we really know? Prior to his title fight with Anderson Silva, so much hype was created behind this guy that only made the loss that much worse. People expected Vitor to put up one of the best tests for Silva yet. Unfortunately that didn't happen. So this leaves Vitor in a very very sticky spot. A win over Akiyama could propel him directly to the top for another title fight with another victory. A loss here makes him seem as if he was one of the most overrated UFC fighters in 2011. It's that simple.

Yoshihiro Akiyama
Akiyama hasn't been to shabby as of late. Leben set him back a little bit though. It always seems as if Akiyama runs into trouble when he's near the top. Well lucky for him, just like a game of chutes and ladders, he's got a potential ladder in front of him...along with a chute. A victory over the very popular and hyped up Vitor Belfort could put him back where he was before Leben, but another loss could send him back to the middle of the division.

Some more on the card:
Jorge Rivera - A win means he's still got it. A loss puts retirement into question.
Chad Mendes - A win probably makes him the #1 contender at 145.
Mike Brown - A win means he stays. A loss means he'll be praying the phone doesn't ring.

[stangejr]

July 23, 2011

Strikeforce is truly hurting. Since the departure of Nick Diaz, Coker has been searching high and low for anyone eligible to fight for the vacant belt. Most would assume he would give the shot to someone such as Tyron Woodley or Paul Daley, but he threw a curveball about a month ago announcing the title fight to be former KOTC Welterweight champion, Quinn Mulhurn and Shooto Light Heavyweight champion, Siyar Bahadurzada on Challengers.

In the end, Mulhurn was the one to pull off the submission win with only 19 seconds left in the fight, but was it really a good choice to put two fighters debuting in Strikeforce against each other for a title? The fight was hard to get excited for, it seemed more as if it was King of the Cage vs Shooto.

In the co-main event, we saw the very tough Revelina Berto pull off the submission upset on Erin Toughill in the 2nd round.

Paul Bradley def. Nathan Coy via TKO 3:31 R2
Christina Domke def. Elaina Maxwell via TKO 1:41 R1
Maiju Kujala def. Sara McMann via Submission 2:25 R3
Rodrigo Damm def. Merritt Warren via Majority Decision
Roger Bowling def. James Terry via Unanimous Decision
Christian Uflacker def. Jorge Masvidal via Split Decision
Chad Griggs def. Valentijn Overeem via TKO 1:17 R2
Tevelina Berto def. Erin Toughill via Submission 1:49 R2
*Quinn Mulhern def. Siyar Bahadurzada vis Submission R5

*Championship fights

[stangejr]

July 24, 2011

¡ESPN firmó con el UFC!

Today we got news that the rumors of the UFC in negotiations with ESPN on a potential Mexican broadcast were in fact true. Zuffa was able to work out a deal to extend the broadcast of the Fight Nights to ESPN Deportes. This is a big international step for the UFC. Only time will tell if they will find success with the Spanish crowd.

[stangejr]

July 25, 2011

Two more fights were added to the Fight Night card in September. They are expected to round out the card, finalizing it. The last two fights to be added were a contest between lightweights Waylon Lowe and Kyle Watson, and a Bantamweight contest between Charlie Valencia and Antonio Banuelos.

Lowe is coming off an unimpressive loss to Nik Lentz, while Watson is coming off of a knockout loss to John Makdessi after a quite impressive win streak. Valencia and Banuelos square off in a rematch from 2007 where Valenica came out the winner.

Waylon Lowe (10-4)
Loss - Nik Lentz - Sub - UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Davis
Win - Willamy Freire - Dec - UFC: Fight For The Troops 2
Win - Steve Lopez - Dec - UFC 119: Mir vs. Cro Cop

Kyle Watson (13-7-1)
Loss - John Makdessi - KO - UFC 129: St-Pierre vs Shields
Win - Sako Chivitchian - Dec - The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale
Win - Steve Reyna - Sub - C-3 Evolution

Charlie Valencia (12-7)
Loss - Ivan Menjivar - TKO - UFC 129: St-Pierre vs Shields
Loss - Miguel Torres - Sub - WEC 51: Aldo vs Gamburyan
Win - Akitoshi Tamura - Dec - WEC 46: Varner vs Henderson

Antonio Banuelos (18-7)
Loss - Miguel Torres - Dec - UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort
Win - Chad George - Dec - WEC 51: Aldo vs. Gamburyan
Loss - Scott Jorgensen - Dec - WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber

[stangejr]

July 25, 2011

Taking a picture of UFC matchmaker, Joe Silva is like getting a snapshot of Bigfoot doing a cartwheel. Getting an interview with this guy? Well, I thought I had better chances of sharing a cold one with the Jesus on Christmas.

Regardless of how rare it is to get a hold of such a man, we here at Middleeasy did, and we had a little Q&A session with him.

Hey Joe, how's it going?

I can't complain.

So, I'm sure everyone out there doesn't give you the credit you deserve, it's not easy to book for any organization, especially one as big as the UFC.

Yeah, it's frustrating. The hardest part is trying to squeeze everyone in. Most of the fighters want to fight three or four times a year. It's impossible to get that many guys in. It's very stressful.

I'm sure. So you have the Lightweight Grand Prix coming up. Any word on that?

Umm, so far all of the fighters have agreed to be a part of it. Dana will be announcing when the opening rounds will take place soon. I don't really know what else there is to say about it.

With recent upsets, such as Shane Roller defeating Melvin Guillard, how will that affect the Grand Prix? Will Roller take Guillard's place, or will the seeding be different?

That was a big issue for us and the team that event, but there isn't much we can do. The contracts have been signed. They were signed before the fight. We have our hands tied. The seeding will not be changed, and Guillard remains in the tournament. Alternates are still available, so I'm positive Roller will be up there on the list, but that's still something we have yet to tackle. The only way a fighter can lose his spot in the Grand Prix right now is if he either loses, gets injured, or drops out on his own will. It's unfair to some, such as Shane, but that's the way it is.

Do you feel as if someone may drop out?

I hope not, but you have to understand how loose the contracts we have with fighters from other organizations are. Due to laws surrounding contractual disputes, we did our best to bring in the top guys from all around the world. I sure hope nothing happens, but if it does, we'll have a plan B.

Will the Lightweight title be on the line in either Frankie Edgar or Gray Maynard's fights, depending on who wins at UFC 135?

No. This tournament is not about belts. This is greater than that. This tournament represents who the best in the world is. Regardless of belts, I can guarantee whomever wins will be known as the #1 Lightweight in the world.

If the Grand Prix results in success, will we be seeing more tournament style booking?

One step at a time. Right now we're just focused on this. We have no further plans.

Who do you think will win this tournament?

To be honest, I had a feeling it would be Melvin Guillard. But after his last fight, I'm not sure. I think a resurgence from BJ Penn is possible, but I've been trying to get Gilbert Melendez to the UFC for quite some time. I think he'll win it all.

Thank you. Anything else you want to say?

Yeah, my favorite MMA news website is, and always will be Middleeasy.com

[stangejr]

July 26, 2011

Sengoku is making 2011 their comeback. With new financial backing by Mr Max, Senguku is ready to roll, already putting on two events in three months. This event, much more successful than the first, featured multi-award winning grappling champion, Alexandre Ribeiro against Japanese sensation, Hiroshi Izumi. The newly founded Light Heavyweight championship was put on the line as the fighters went to war. With no one really knowing what Ribeiro had, Izumi came in the heavy favorite. After three rounds of hard fighting, where to the amazment of everyone, Ribeiro outstruck Izumi, both fighters looked exhausted. Finally, in the fourth, Ribeiro was able to hit a nice trip takedown and use his Jiu Jitsu mastery to get to the back and get the rear naked choke.


Kenta Takagi def. Omar de Cruz via Unanimous Decision
Hideki Kadowaki def. Yoshiitaka Abe via Unanimous Decision
Brian Cobb def. Seung Hwan Bang via Submission 2:11 R1
Joe Doerksen def. Gerald Harris via Unanimous Decision
Gilbert Yvel def. Jae Young Kim via TKO 1:15 R1
Seiya Kawahara def. Toru Harai via TKO 1:11 R1
Fabio Silva def. Mamed Khalidov via KO 3:37 R1
Jae Hyun So def. Kil Woo Lee via Submission 3:06 R1
Izuru Takeuchi def. Jason Lambert via KO 2:10 R1
Tatsuya So def. Manabu Inoue via Split Decision
Eiji Mitsuoka def. Kiuma Kunioku via TKO 3:43 R1
Yuichiro Yajima def. Wataru Takahashi via Unanimous Decision
Sanae Kikuta def. David Loiseau via Submission 4:07 R1
*Alexandre Ribeiro def. Hiroshi Izumi via Submission 2:04 R4

*Championship fights

[stangejr]

July 27, 2011

DREAM announced their signing of Ricardo Arona, outbidding Bitetti after his big win over ranked contender, Glover Teixeira. Arona made the comment that he is happy with his new organization and he wishes Bitetti the best.

[stangejr]

July 29, 2011

Rich Franklin takes some time out of his day to discuss his training regiment and next opponent.

Sorry guys, these last couple weeks have been extremely busy for me. Updates are slow and hopefully they'll pick up soon. Just wanted to say I didn't give up on this, I've just been pressed for time.

[stangejr]

August 1, 2011

Another fight has been added to the UFC 135: Edgar vs Maynard 3 card. This time, a Featherweight matchup between Tito Jones and Sadhu Bott. The fight is most likely to be on the Facebook preliminaries.

Tito Jones (7-3)
Win - Tenkei Oda - Dec - Vale Tudo Japan 2009
Loss - Bao Quach - Dec - Strikeforce Challengers 1
Win - Justin Smitley - Dec - PFC 12: High Stakes

Sadhu Bott (5-1)
Win - Francisco Richardson - Sub - Local Show
Loss - Dustin Kimura - Dec - X-1: Island Pride
Win - Matt Comeau - TKO - X-1: Champions 2

[stangejr]

August 4, 2011

Rashad Evans vs Phil Davis
damonster (GDS) - Davis by Dec
Huntman (GDS) - Evans by R1 KO
nyj721 (OS) - Evans by R2 TKO
Pokerking88 (GDS) - Davis by Dec
stangejr (ME) - Evans by R1 KO

Rich Franklin vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
damonster (GDS) - Franklin by R1 KO
Huntman (GDS) - Nogueira by Dec
nyj721 (OS) - Nogueira by Dec
Pokerking88 (GDS) - Franklin by Dec
stangejr (ME) - Franklin by Dec

Vitor Belfort vs Yoshihiro Akiyama
damonster (GDS) - Belfort by Dec
Huntman (GDS) - Belfort by R2 KO
nyj721 (OS) - Belfort by Dec
Pokerking88 (GDS) - Akiyama by R2 Sub
stangejr (ME) - Belfort by R1 TKO

Jorge Rivera vs Alessio Sakara
damonster (GDS) - Rivera by R2 KO
Huntman (GDS) - Rivera by R1 KO
nyj721 (OS) - Sakara by R2 TKO
Pokerking88 (GDS) - Rivera by R3 KO
stangejr (ME) - Sakara by R2 TKO

Mike Pyle vs Rory MacDonald
damonster (GDS) - Pyle by Dec
Huntman (GDS) - MacDonald by R3 KO
nyj721 (OS) - MacDonald by R1 Sub
Pokerking88 (GDS) - MacDonald by Dec
stangejr (ME) - MacDonald by Dec

Vladimir Matyushenko vs Alexander Gustafsson
damonster (GDS) - Gustafsson by R1 TKO
Huntman (GDS) - Gustafsson by R1 Sub
nyj721 (OS) - Matyushenko by R2 TKO
Pokerking88 (GDS) - Matyushenko by Dec
stangejr (ME) - Gustafsson by Dec

Chad Mendes vs Rani Yahya
damonster (GDS) - Yahya by R2 Sub
Huntman (GDS) - Mendes by Dec
nyj721 (OS) - Mendes by Dec
Pokerking88 (GDS) - Yahya by R1 Sub
stangejr (ME) - Mendes by Dec

Dennis Hallman vs Brian Ebersole
damonster (GDS) - Hallman by R2 KO
Huntman (GDS) - Hallman by R3 KO
nyj721 (OS) - Ebersole by R2 TKO
Pokerking88 (GDS) - Hallman by R3 KO
stangejr (ME) - Ebersole by Dec

Mike Brown vs Nam Phan
damonster (GDS) - Phan by R2 TKO
Huntman (GDS) - Brown by Dec
nyj721 (OS) - Brown
Pokerking88 (GDS) - Brown by R1 TKO
stangejr (ME) - Brown by R2 TKO

Ivan Menjivar vs Nick Pace
damonster (GDS) - Menjivar by R3 Sub
Huntman (GDS) - Pace by R2 Sub
nyj721 (OS) - Menjivar by Dec
Pokerking88 (GDS) - Menjivar by Dec
stangejr (ME) - Menjivar by R3 Sub

Riki Fukuda vs Rafael Natal
damonster (GDS) - Natal by Dec
Huntman (GDS) - Fukuda by Dec
nyj721 (OS) - Natal by Dec
Pokerking88 (GDS) - Natal by R2 Sub
stangejr (ME) - Natal by Dec

Johny Hendricks vs Mike Pierce
damonster (GDS) - Hendricks by Dec
Huntman (GDS) - Pierce by R1 KO
nyj721 (OS) - Hendricks by R1 KO
Pokerking88 (GDS) - Pierce by Dec
stangejr (ME) - Hendricks by Dec

[stangejr]

August 5, 2011

Well, I made a banner, and got about a quarter of the way through writing up a preview for UFC 133. After doing that much, I realized how much I hate doing previews and how it isn't really needed, as predictions are in way ahead of time. Therefore, I am skipping them for this one and going straight to the results. If you really enjoy the preview write-ups, go ahead and post on here that you want me to bring them back and I will, but if not, I feel it is something I can do without. Lemme hear what you guys think.

[stangejr]

August 6, 2011

UFC 133 kicked off with quite a large card to be displayed over Facebook. The first of which was a contest between two Welterweights, Johny Hendricks and Mike Pierce. The fight wasn't built up to be anything spectacular, but the fighters sure wanted to turn some heads.

The first round proved to be quite unspectacular however. It began with a lackluster showing of standup between the two fighters, eventually leading to Pierce being waistlocked against the cage, face first. With Hendricks' hands clasped around his waist, it was only a matter of time before he would be thrown down and held in side-control. Hendricks tried using strikes to allow him to pass over into mount, but he couldn't find any success with it, ending the round on top in side-mount.

Round two began after a wild showing from Hendricks' cornermen, pumping him up and shouting "Throw his *ss to the ground!" On the feet, Pierce seemed to be putting alot more behind his punches, trying to score a KO before he could be dropped again, but nothing was hitting it's mark. Hendricks used great head movement to slip the shots of Pierce and score some of his own. Eager to change the pace of the fight, Pierce shot in for a takedown, achieving it, and using an early scramble to secure side control. From here, he was able to reign down knees and hard elbows to end the fight in the second round.

The next fight featured on the (decent at best) stream of the prelims on Facebook was a Middleweight matchup between Riki Fukuda and Rafael Natal. Although predictions were favored towards Natal, Fukuda came into the fight as a large favorite at -500. Would he live up to the hype?

The first round was interesting, as Natal easily took it, but it seemed Fukuda was implementing his gameplan more. Fukuda began the round by pressing Natal against the cage and working some good dirty-boxing, which seemed to be very effective. But as soon as Natal turned the corner on him, Fukuda easily gave up two takedown and pulled guard. From his back, he tried a few sweeps, but nothing was working and with someone like Natal on top of you, it is going to be very hard to pull off a successful sweep. If I were in Fukuda's corner, I would tell him to try a different gameplan.

Round two looked a little better for the favorite. Fukuda did not allow any takedowns, and instead stuffed one. The round was quite a snoozer however, as it was more of a wrestling contest than an MMA fight. Punches were thrown, but without any "oomph" behind them. The battled back and forth for clinch positions, but in the end, it was Fukuda that held a dominate position longer. This round made both fighters look gassed more than anything else.

Round three saw the most action of all the rounds in the fight but by no means was it exciting. It was another wrestling match, but I must give credit to Fukuda, who tried to throw some striking in there. Unfortunately for him, Natal proved to be the better striker and took the round based on that. It was close however, due to two more stuffed takedowns from Natal, but in the end all three judges gave him the fight, 29-28.

Continuing on, the next fight to be contested was between the veteran, Ivan Menjivar and Nick Pace in the very exciting Bantamweight division.

Finally there is some action! Round one proved to be a one-sided beatdown with a kryptonite being found in the last few seconds. The round opened with Menjivar being completely outclassed on his feet, eating almost everything Pace was throwing at him. For four and a half minutes, Menjivar took hooks, uppercuts, and overhands to the dome, without answering with anything more than a jab that would only be countered. At one point it looked as if the fight could've been stopped. But with less than a minute left, Pace started slowing down, showing signs of fatigue, and Menjivar slipped in to scoop him up and slam him to the mat without any trouble. With the level of takedown defense shown by Pace, I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the mat again within the first minute of round two, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see Menjivar sleeping from a big shot by that point either.

Well, I was right. Within the first minute of round two, Menjivar shot in for a quick double-leg and took down the crafty striker. Pace proved he was no match for Menjivar on the ground, as Menjivar used his spectacular Jiu Jitsu to slither from guard to side-mount to Pace's back. From here, instead of working for a choke, Menjivar wanted to unleash some payback, pounding out Pace until the referee jumped in to save Pace's chances of winning any modeling gigs.

With only two fights remaining on the Facebook card, the numbers of live viewers slowly rose. The next fight was between fighters with their backs up against the wall in Mike Brown and Nam Phan at 145lbs. Even with all of his recent losses, Brown still came into the fight as the -500 favorite. I guess being a former champion carries alot of weight.

The first round was somewhat what everyone expected. Phan threw a significant amount of strikes, most without much juice behind them, and Brown was able to block/check most of them. It seemed more as if the fighters were setting up one big strike rather than combos. Finally, Brown shot in for a double-leg, in which Phan swung a wild uppercut which was only off by a hair, and would of surely ended the fight. Brown was able to drive through his opponent and take him down to a seated position against the cage. From here, his posture was controlled and no real damage was done to either fighter for the rest of the round.

The second round was yet another close one. This was saw a bit more effective striking along with a failed takedown effort from the heavy-handed wrestler. The majority of the round was contested in the clinch however, where Brown used his strength to muscle Phan around, but Phan equaled it by using leverage and short, peppering strikes to keep Brown guessing. In the end, Phan probably edged this round out, making the third round crutial due to how close the first was. Phan looked to be in slightly better shape walking back to his corner, as Brown seemed to be breathing a little harder. This may come back to bite him in such a close fight.

Round three was entirely contested on the feet in striking exchanges. I was a little off on my observation, as round three proved both fighters were tired, but they gutted it out. Phan pushed the pace in the round, throwing almost three times the strikes that Brown threw, but Brown had much much more behind his. At one point, Phan's legs looked to give a little as he was countered with a huge right hook that almost dropped him. In the end, great combinations and very crisp striking gave Phan the round and the fight with the judges scoring 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 all for Nam Phan.

The last of the fights featured on Facebook was a Welterweight clash between Brian Ebersole and Dennis Hallman. This fight would prove interesting as Ebersole has been getting some notoriety for his "harrow" and a win here could put him against some real serious competition. Hallman is fighting a fight that he needs to win in order to keep his job in the UFC.

Round one would forever been known as the round of what-if. It started off with Hallman using his boxing to keep Ebersole from implimenting a solid gameplan. Then, as Hallman shot in, Ebersole landed a crazy hook, dropping Hallman and nearly putting him out. As Ebersole jumped on him, looking to finish him and shoot his career up to a level in which he had tried to get to for so long, Hallman was able to swing his legs up and sink in a desperate triangle, choking out the "almost" winner. What if, Ebersole will always ask. With this loss, Ebersole may never really know how far he could've gone.

And with that, the Facebook prelims ended and the UFC moved to Spike TV for their broadcast of another two fights before the big show, live on PPV.

. . .
Mike Pierce def. Johny Hendricks
TKO | 4:29 | Round 2
Decent

. . .
Rafael Natal def. Riki Fukuda
Unanimous Decision | 5:00 | Round 3
Average

. . .
Ivan Menjivar def. Nick Pace
TKO | 3:21 | Round 2
Great

. . .
Nam Phan def. Mike Brown
Unanimous Decision | 5:00 | Round 3
Average

. . .
Dennis Hallman def. Brian Ebersole
Submission | 2:52 | Round 1
Great