UFC

The event kicks off with Nathan Quarry and Pete Sell ready to go toe to toe. This is a big fight for Quarry because it is his first fight in 2 1/2 years. In addition, during that time period he had to learn how to fight again because of the surgery required on his back. Quarry got rocked in the first round but hung on and made it to the bell. The action was back and forth until in the third round Quarry lands a big right cross where you can see the blood spraying off of Pete’s face as the punch lands. This was a beautiful fight and no one was more deserving of the win that Quarry.

Nick Diaz caught Junior Assuncao with a Guillotine choke in round 1. Junior came out looking to slug but Nick’s superior Jiu Jitsu helped him finish the fight.

The next fight was a straight up brawl between Terry Martin and Chris “The Crippler” Leben. The stare down for this fight set mood, with both fighters wanting to make a statement in the Middleweight division. Leben looked like he is in the best shape ever and it paid off because he was landing Thai elbows from everywhere. Late in the third round Terry Martin cracked Leben with a right cross. This caused Leben to shake it off even though he looked rocked. Chris stomped forward throwing bombs and caught Terry Martin with a left hook on the chin and put Martin to sleep.

In the final fight of the light Din Thomas blew out his knee and suffered a first round stoppage to Kenny Florian. Kenny didn’t seem to know that Din was injured but secured the win with a rear naked choke.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson looked tough in his first title defense against Dan Henderson. Dan took control early on with his wrestling but Quinton was too strong to push around all five rounds. Jackson also got the striking edge being more technical then Henderson. When all five rounds had passed it was clear that Quinton was going to pull a unanimous decision. When the decision came I was worried Judge Cecil was going to throw a wrench in the plans but this one ended with the right victor.

Matt Hamill however did get the screw job from the refs. After out wrestling Michael Bisping and showing improved standup Matt dropped a decision that even the London fans booed.

Other notes of the night was an uninspired performance by Mirko “Cro Crop” Filipovic, dropping a decision to Cheick Kongo. Mirko still seems rattled from his last fight where he got knocked out by Gabe Gonzaga. Some fighters just never come back the same after getting knocked out like he did. Marcus Davis put his 5th UFC win in a row together after his armbar defeat of Paul Taylor. Houston Alexander represented for Nebraska again, showed that his first UFC win was not a fluke, and proved he was a force to deal with at LightHeavy. He obtained this status by busting Alessio Sakara with a Muay Thai knee then polishing him off with some ground and pound.

In the “fight of the night” Randy Couture fought Gabe Gonzaga for the UFC Heavyweight Title. The fight seemed pretty even right up until Randy distributed some frequent flyer miles and dumped Gabe Gonzaga in amazing fashion. The impact of the slam left broke Gonzaga’s nose and it was down hill from there. Gabe did amount a small comeback in the 3rd and cracked Randy with a kick that broke the Champions arm. Randy however just added to his legend and finished Gabe off with ground and pound. It looks as if Pride’s old Heavyweight champion Big Nog is in line for the next title shot.

A highly anticipated match up between George St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck left us knowing just how sick George’s wrestling is. Not only did he defend the take down but he out wrestled Koscheck and pulled a unanimous decision.

Other notes of the night are Roger Huerta out classing Alberto Crane’s stand up and scoring a third round tko. Joe Stevenson keeps making noise in the Welterweight division and defeated Kurt Pellegrino by Decision. Patrick Cote continued his UFC winning streak and caught Kendall Grove with a solid right that set up the TKO after he pounded him out on the ground. Renato Sobral defeated David Heath with an Anaconda Choke in the second and decided to send a message to Heath. This was by not letting the choke go right away when the ref tried to pull him away. Well Dana White happened to want to send Sobral a message and tore up his UFC contract. Frank Mir defeated Antoni Hardonk by Armbar in the first round. Thales Leites caught Ryan Jensen with an armbar in the first. Clay Guida also showed he belongs in the UFC with a decision win over Marcus Aurelio.

The fights will take place in London, England on September 8, 2007. They will air in the United States via tape delay on Spike TV that night.
Featured Fights

-Quinton Jackson vs. Dan Henderson-For the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship

-Mirko Cro Cop vs. Cheick Kongo-Alot of talk about how Mirko is training like a mad man, we will see if it pays off.

-Michael Bisping vs. Matt Hamill-Grudge match from Ultimate Fighter Series

-Houston Alexander vs. Alessio Sakara-We will see if Houston Alexander can duplicate an impressive performance.

Preliminary Fights

-Thiago Silva vs. Tomasz Drwal
-Marcus Davis vs. Paul Taylor
-Naoyuki Kotani vs. Dennis Siver
-Anthony Torres vs. Jess Liaudin
-Gleison Tibau vs. Terry Etim

UFC 74 will take place August 25, 2007 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Main Card Bouts:
-Randy Couture (UFC Heavyweight Champion) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
-Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck
-Joe Stevenson vs. Kurt Pellegrino
-Kendall Grove vs. Patrick Cote
-Roger Huerta vs. Alberto Gonzales Crane

Preliminary Bouts: (Some or all may not air depending on the length of the Main Card bouts)
-Marcus Aurelio vs. Clay Guida
-Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. David Heath
-Antoni Hardonk vs. Frank Mir
-Thales Leites vs. Ryan Jensen

The UFC was dubbed Stacked for a reason with two titles on the line and a highly anticipated match-up between Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans.

Looking to continue his string of impressive stoppages Anderson Silva walked right through Nathan Marquardt with a slick take down reversal that ended up with Anderson delivering accurate punches on a downed Marquardt.

Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans fought in a close fight that ended up becoming a draw solely because of a point that got taken away from Tito for grabbing the fence.

Sean “The Muscle Shark” Sherk outpointed Hermes Franca in a five round lightweight title fight. Next on Sherk’s list is BJ Penn unless Dana White brings over some Pride lightweights for competition.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira made his UFC debut and got a decision win over Heath Herring. Big Nog showed off his steel chin withstanding an early Heath onslaught to come back and pull a decision.

Kenny Florian disposed of Alvin Robinson in the first round when Alvin tapped due to strikes. Stephan Bonnar got on the winning track with a submission with over Mike Nickels. Rising star Franky Edgar got another win with a first round stoppage due to strikes. Chris “Lights Out” Lytle got submission of the night with a modified armlock that looked painfull. Then winner of “fight of the night” Jorge Gurgel won a decision over Diego Saraiva but ended up having to go the hospital afterwards because he was urinating blood.

BJ Penn finally got the revenge that he had been waiting for since there last fight.  Penn’s only knock on his game has been his cardio and he came into this bout looking in better shape than ever.  That did not bode well for Jens Pulver because he got controlled the entire fight up untill he got submitted with a slick BJ Penn Rear Naked Choke in the second.

Manvel “Manny” Gamburyan was looking very impressive in the Ultimate Fighter Finale against Nate Diaz.  That is untill he got a takedown blocked by a sprawl and dislocated his shoulder, being forced to tap laying face down in pain.  Nate Diaz is the winner of this years season and looks to follow the footsteps of his brother Nick Diaz to UFC greatness.

Other news and notes of the night was a crazy ending to the Gray Maynard, Rob Emerson fight.  Emerson got hurt with a punch to the body and could barely continue into the second round.  In addition, Gray looked like he wanted to go for the kill at the beginning of the next round.  After throwing some heavy punches he scooped up Rob and slammed him hard on the ribs where Emerson was favoring.  Rob quickly taps while laying in pain on the ground.  But a Lifeless Gray just layed on top because he knocked himself out on the slam.  The ref ended up calling it a No contest to the dismay of Gray who protested during his post fight interview.Cole Miller got knockout of the night with a left head kick that stunned Andy Wang and set up the ground and pound finish.Joe Lauzon baited Brandon Melendez into a triangle in the second round.  Roger Huerta got a game opponent in Douglas Evans but managed to finish him off with strikes from the mount in the second.  Thales Leites Jiu Jitsu looked off the hook when he finished his fight with Floyd Sword by Arm Triangle.  Matt Wiman also scored a win in a fight that was not aired on tv by overwhelming Brian Geraghty in the first.  The other fight that was not aired involved  an ass clown who is bad for the sport Allen “The Lobstah” Berubie.  Berubie reassured what most thought, that he did not belong in the octagon in losing to up and comer Leonard Garcia via not knowing how to defend a Rear Naked Choke.

June 23 Live on Spike Tv from The Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada

-Main event: BJ Penn vs. Jens Pulver
-TUF 5 Lightweight Finale: Manny Gamburyan vs. Nate Diaz
-Roger Huerta vs. Doug Evans
-Thales Leites vs. Floyd Sword
-Joe Lauzon vs. Brandon Melendez
-Gray Maynard vs. Robert Emerson
-Leonard Garcia vs. Allen Berube
-Cole Miller vs. Andy Wang
-Matt Wiman vs. Brian Geraghty

The first two rounds consisted of the former Middleweight champion Franklin outpointing his competitor Okami. Round 3 saw a little more action as Okami knew he was down on the score cards. Yushin closed the distance, got a take down and tried to finish Rich off. The most danger Rich saw was a deep kimora that he gutted out and escaped. The round ends shortly after giving Rich “Ace” Franklin the win by decision.

Forrest Griffin saw his first action since a loss to Keith Jardine. His opponent Hector “Sick Dog” Ramirez was also hungry for a win, being his only fight in the UFC was a loss. Forrest played it cautious using his hand speed to out box and out strike Hector for three rounds. The much needed win goes to Forrest Griffin in a three round decision.

The ex-TUF member Rory Singer almost finished Jason “The Athlete” Macdonald, but Jason was saved by the bell at the end of the first just when Rory got a triangle choke locked in. After dominating the first Rory got taken down in the second and couldn’t get much done on his back. Jason eventually got serious momentum going and finished Rory with elbow strikes from mount in the second round.

Other notes of the night are Tyson Griffin edged out Clay Guida in a close split decision. Ed Herman turns in his best UFC performance with a 2nd round Rear Naked choke submission over Scott Smith. Marcus Davis looks less like a boxer and more like a machine in his first round KO of Jason Tan. Eddie Sanchez bounces back from his Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic loss with a TKO over Colin Robinson in the second round. Steven Lynch also had an early night losing by anaconda choke to Dustin Hazelett.

Fights are Saturday June 16 in Belfast, Northern Ireland
-Rich Franklin vs. Yushin Okami
-Forrest Griffin vs. Hector Ramirez
-Tyson Griffin vs. Clay Guida
-Jason MacDonald vs. Rory Singer
-Ed Herman vs. Scott Smith

Preliminary Bouts:
-Marcus Davis vs. Jason Tan
-Eddie Sanchez vs. Colin Robinson
-Dustin Hazelett vs. Stevie Lynch