UFC 107: Nightmare’s End, Prodigy on the Mend

BJ Penn powers past Diego Sanchez

(Photo from sherdog.com)

Apparently, BJ Penn has gotten over the humiliating defeat he suffered at the hands of Georges St. Pierre almost a year ago. Penn has accepted the fact that he is a natural lightweight and that the super fight with St. Pierre at welterweight was at a distinct disadvantage to him and he better put up stakes exclusively at 155 pounds.

In UFC 107, Penn legitimized his stranglehold with a just-as-dominant win over Diego Sanchez, the same way St. Pierre put Penn in his place in UFC 94.

Just when Jo Rogan finished saying: “Freddie Roach once said that B.J. Penn has the best boxing in MMA,” Penn knocked down Sanchez with an overhand right to the jaw in 4:33 of the first round. Sanchez got up quickly, but Penn had him in a muay Thai plum and kneed him on his mean-face contest-winning mug for another fall. With his left arm around Sanchez’s waist, Penn pummeled Sanchez with fists while “Nightmare’ stayed semi-conscious on all fours probably thinking to himself the punishment he was undergoing wasn’t for real – that it was just a terrible dream he was to wake up from.

Sanchez rolled and sought a full guard with his back to the ground. Penn was too smart to get caught in a guard, and too frenzied to knock Sanchez out. Penn stepped to Sanchez’s left and kept striking. Penn wanted to get side control but Sanchez’s butterfly prevented him.

At 4:01, the two fighters found themselves on the fence in a north-south position. Sanchez pushed with both feet on the fence while trying to escape, but Penn pushed him back. Sanchez was able to get back on his feet at 3:43 when Penn let go of his hold as he went for punches to the head of Sanchez, who seemingly did not sustain much damage despite the barrage of blows.

Penn got back to stalking Sanchez. The challenger’s left roundhouse kick missed Penn by at least a foot, proving that he hadn’t fully recovered yet.

At 2:54, Sanchez rushed Penn with hand strikes and a half-assed flying knee, pushing the champion to the fence, getting hold of his right leg but was unable to take Penn down. They disengaged as Sanchez landed a left elbow on Penn’s head.

The rest of the first round had Sanchez surviving, but not before getting hit with another right to the head before the bell rang.

Rounds 2 to the fateful 5 was more of the same, as Sanchez was intent on getting a takedown and perhaps grounding and pounding or submitting Penn with a choke or armbar or something. Something is the right word for Sanchez, because that’s all he could hope for as Penn clearly showed his superiority.

A kick to the head of Sanchez inside the last three minutes of Round 5 produced an obscenely huge cut on the left side of Sanchez’s forehead. It was a good thing referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the beating that Penn was dealing Sanchez to have the latter’s wound checked by the ring doctor who decided Sanchez had enough for the night. Penn by TKO in the 5th.

Mir vs. Kongo

In the undercard, Cheick Kongo paid dearly by keeping his hands down as he ate a left overhand punch to the right jaw that dropped him in only 4:18 of the first round. Mir followed Kongo to the ground where the French kickboxer hit Mir on the rib with a rather weak shin kick followed by a right single-leg takedown attempt.

Mir missed with two hooks but trapped Kongo’s neck in a guillotine choke in a half guard. Kongo got back on his feet, but Mir took him down to the ground holding on tight while falling on his back. Referee Herb Dean lifted Kongo's right arm which went limp as he called a stop to the fight at 3:49 of the round.

Other results:
Jon Fitch over Mike Pierce via Unanimous Decision in 3 rounds; Kenny Florian over Clay Guida, Submission (choke) R2 (2:19); Stefan Struve over Paul Buentello, Majority Decision 3R; Alan Belcher over Wilson Gouveia, Technical Knockout, R1 (3:03); Matt Wiman over Shane Nelson, UD 3R; Johny Hendricks over Ricardo Funch, UD, 3R; Rousimar Palhares over Lucio Linhares, Submission (leglock), 2R (3:21); DaMarques Johnson over Edgar Garcia, Submission (choke) 1R (4:03); TJ Grant over Kevin Burns, TKO, 1R (1:57).

UFC 88: Breakjaw

Breakthrough for Rashad Evans; maybe Chuck Liddell's career is through

Polled by sherdog.com on UFC 88: Breakthrough's main-event match of Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans, MMA pros Randy Couture and Jaime Fletcher proved to be the most prescient. Couture said pre-fight: “Tough one to pick! Can make a case for either guy, but in my mind, it depends on Evans. We know what Chuck is gonna try to do. Can Evans pull the trigger and push himself and Chuck? That’s the question.” While Fletcher had this to say: “Liddell by KO. Rashad is a good fighter, but Chuck takes chances, is hard to take down and looping punches from weird angles are hard to deal with.”

Both were non-committal but came closest to making good predictions. Could Evans pull the trigger and push himself and Chuck? Yes, Evans did pull the trigger and push himself and The Iceman. And what result did this create? Fletcher provides the rest of the answer: Chuck takes chances, is hard to take down and looping punches from weird angles are hard to deal with. Only that it was Evans' looping punches from weird angles that were hard to deal with, giving Liddell possibly the most devastating knockout he ever suffered.

Ironically, or prophetically, Liddell had his two-cents' worth: “I don’t tend to take any shots, so he won’t have to show his takedown defense with me. I am planning on striking. We’ll see how he responds.”

And boy, did Evans, respond.

Evans jabbed, missed, jabbed and missed again. Liddell's jab missed too and almost simultaneously both fighters loaded – Evans with a looping right hand and Liddell with a right uppercut. Evans' punch landed, Liddell's didn't. With full force and his stance perfect for a strong strike, Evans hammered Liddell on the left jaw. The slow-motion replay shows Liddell's head bearing the brunt of what might as well have been a rock on a fist. Liddell fell backward unconscious. Any more strikes after that would have been overkill.

Evans tried that particular punch a few times before striking the motherload and mother of all knockouts – the kind where the victim is asleep even before hitting the deck without a pillow and a good-night lullabye. Evans faked with a short left jab and quickly followed with that arcing right bolo punch which found its mark on Liddell's jaw.

“Age won’t be a factor in this fight. I feel sharp and I’m ready for Rashad.” Liddell was right on the first one, he indeed looked fit and moved well for a 38-year-old, sadly for him, he was wrong on his second statement. He was sharp but he wasn't ready for that looping right by Evans. Call it a lucky shot, call it carelessness but luck had nothing to do with it. Evans obviously practiced that shot knowing Liddell is a sucker for a quick strong strike. It helped that Evans had Keith Jardine, who knocked down Liddell 12 UFCs ago, giving him tips on how to deal with The Iceman. It helped that Greg Jackson trained Evans. It helped that Liddell is 10 years older than Evans and has taken a lot more damage in a decade of fighting in the UFC.

Good punch. Liddell always had a problem with standing up to a good punch. When Quinton “Rampage” Jackson kayoed him in UFC 71, Rampage's right hook didn't look much but it knocked down The Iceman and eventually he was knocked out with a few more shots on the ground. Rampage's strike is nothing compared to the one-punch bomb that Evans almost decapitated Liddell with.

Yes, maybe encroaching middle age and all those knocks on the head in mixed martial arts have something to do with it. That is not to count the time Liddell spent fighting as a kickboxer.

The main co-event of the night was the Rich Franklin-Matt Mitchell encounter. It didn't have the fireworks of Liddell-Evans but it had its moments. Strangely, some will remember this fight not for the rare kidney shot that took down Mitchell in Round 3, but for the hearing-impaired (this politically-correct thing can be difficult) Mitchell looking at his cornermen asking for instructions with Franklin just a few feet away ready to pounce on him. Ironically, Franklin won but he looked like he lost with that huge cut under his right eyebrow.

This is one of those fights where you start rooting for one fighter but gradually is impressed by the other fighter and end up wishing no one gets hurt. If only a draw could be had for all fights like this.

This fight is a breath of fresh air especially with the memory of the bad aftertaste of Mitchell's bout with Michael Bisping in UFC 75, the calling out in the traditional media and in the Internet. This time, Mitchell let his fists do the fighting for him, not his mouth and his manual sign-language skills. After he lost, there was no rancor evident, Mitchell took it like the man that he really is, while Franklin, gentlemanly and a sport that he has always been, consoled his former training partner and said: “Thanks to God I don't have any serious injuries, and thanks to God my opponent doesn't have any serious injuries.”

I am not sure, though, if God approves of two grown men fighting for the entertainment (and edification) of thousands of people live in the arena and millions more on TV, while adding to the hundreds of millions in the bank accounts of Dana White and the Fertita brothers.

Anyway...we love MMA. Call it a sport, call it sports entertainment like its distant cousin professional wrestling, but one thing millions of God's creatures in hundreds of countries will agree on – this is one fragging bloody affair we don't tire watching month after month if White and the F Bros. had their way. And watch out for Affliction 2! Dang! Randy Couture is back in the UFC! Looks like there won't be a Fedor-Couture I at least until the year ends. The
Emelianenko will have to content himself with fighting lesser lights in his chosen organization and for lesser money, we think.

Hollywood Dangerous. Oh, before we forget, another of MMA's greatest fighters ever – Dan Henderson – call him Dangerous or Hollywood but one thing's for sure, he will deliver win or lose. He lost both his Pride welterweight and middleweight belts after he made the jump back to the UFC after it bought out Pride FC, but judging by the way Henderson fought a very game but less experienced, less-gifted (meaning, he doesn't have the striking ability of Henderson) and shorter by five inches, Rousimar Palhares, Henderson still has a lot of fight left in him.

The Brazilian jiujitsu black-belt Palhares was surprisingly adept with his striking especially with his kicks (marvel at those wheel kicks!) but he was simply outsized (outreached?) by Henderson, who landed the more solid blows while escaping from Palhares' submission attempts. Henderson deserved the Unanimous Decision victory. Palhares may have lost but he proved he deserves to be in the big leagues by lasting three rounds with a future hall of famer.

Other results:
Nate Marquardt over Martin Kampmann by TKO in 1:22 of Round 1. Marquardt overpowered the muay Thai specialist from Sweden with a surprise roundhouse to the side of the head followed up with punches to the head and body, a knee to the head. All Kampmann could do was cover up and wait to be knocked out or for the referee to put a stop to his suffering. The Referee Stoppage came first.

Dong Hyung Kim over Matt Brown, Split Decision in 3 rounds. This one was an injustice. Except for a late takedown in the 3rd round by Kim, Brown dominated the fight. An SD is always controversial. “I don't fight for the judges, I fight for a submission and the fans,” Brown took a shot at the men on the table. Kim had his say too: “I will be different next time.” This was a translation, so maybe he meant something else, because if he means he will win decisively next time, we sure hope so.

Tim Boetsch over Michael Platt, TKO 2:03 R1. Boetsch misses with a left hook to the head but his right straight/overhand lands squarely on Platt's chin. Platt falls on his back, Boetsch follows up with more strikes. Referee Herb Dean steps in to stop the punishment.

“I would like to thank God, without Him none of this is possible,” Boetsch said. A brawler after my own heart, someone who flashes the website nosubmit.com (Jesus Didn't Tap).

Kurt Pellegrino over Thiago Tavares, UD. Tavares almost gets armbarred but improbably escapes the hold of Pellegrino. Pellegrino though gets all the judges' nod.

Jason “The Athlete” Macdonald over Jason Lambert, Submission Rear-naked choke R2 1:20. Both very good grapplers with Macdonald with the edge on striking but he wins this with a real tight rear-naked choke. The Athlete was in Lambert's guillotine choke twice in the first round but survived with great stamina and high pain-threshold level.

UFC 84: Have Ill Will, Will Rumble

The best of the best in the best UFC tourney in recent memory.

UFC 84 is arguably the most exciting installment of the giant MMA franchise going back five tournaments. It had submissions and knockouts on chokes, armbars and strikes.

It saw, probably, Tito Ortiz's last fight in the Octagon. It had one of BJ Penn's most masterful wins in the weight division where he fits best. And best of all, on a personal level, one of my favorite fighters, the karate king, Lyoto Machida, a converted MMA warrior (a contradiction in terms right there, as real karate stylists don't just train in the empty-hand methods but are quite well-rounded, adept in ground techniques, usually from judo, stick and blade, on top of striking skills) methodically (root word, method...see?) picked Ortiz apart and nearly kayoed him before getting a unanimous decision victory.

The first televised bout, at least on what I saw on the Studio 23 replay Sunday night, was between Thiago Silva and Antonio Mendes. Silva got hit with a roundhouse kick to the right side of his head. He was able to block the strike with his right hand, but felt the impact enough to get knocked down. The Brazilian recovered, reversed the momentum, took down Mendes, mounted him, and pounded long enough to get a submission win in 2:24 of round 1.

Ivan Salaverry, 37, is a veteran. He carried a 12-5-1 win-loss-draw record into the fight with Rousimar Palhares, several years younger (Brazilians are notorious for not revealing their true age, even macho men MMA fighters) and four inches shorter at just 5-foot-8.

It was a beautiful, technical grappling fight on the ground. Palhares got Salaverry in back control and several attempted rear naked chokeholds that Salaverry wonderfully defended against. And just when Salaverry found a way to escape Palhares' hold, the Brazilian jiujitsu stylist transitioned to an armbar on Salaverry's left arm. Salaverry tapped out almost immediately, with 2:36 left in R1.

Machida-Ortiz. It could have been billed as the co-main event. No titles at stake, only Tito Ortiz's record and pride. Lyoto Machida came into this fight undefeated in MMA, seeking to keep a clean slate; the stakes for him were just as high.

Round 3 was war. It was a classic. Forget the first two rounds, which were all Machida – elusive, smart, accurate, brave. Machida was darting in and out of punching range, moving from left to right, while landing jabs and kicks on Ortiz, who tried his best to take down Machida, but the Japanese-Brazilian was just too quick and clever to be caught.

Ortiz, realizing he was trailing on all the judges' scorecards, came out very aggressive in the final round, challenging Machida to get it on. He got his licks in, catching Machida with some punches, a Thai clinch, and was ready to take him down for some of his old specialty, the ground and pound. But all of those backfired. As Ortiz was chasing Machida, he left himself open to a left knee to the kidney-abdominal area. Ortiz fell to the ground in obvious pain. Machida tried to finish Ortiz with punches, but Ortiz weathered the assault and even managed to grab Machida's neck for a triangle choke/neck crank. Machida twisted and turned on his back, pulled out his head, got to a far more comfortable position on Ortiz's guard, and went back to hitting Ortiz until the bell rang. The results on the judges scorecards painfully, figuratively and literally, obvious in Ortiz's mind. He looked at one of the cameras, ever the ham, and said something like, “I tried,” or “I did my best!”

That round 3 was like the best round Ortiz had in the last five years of his 11-year UFC career. He showed guts, strength, intelligence, resilience – too bad he lost. That means only one thing – Machida is the real thing. He is the best 205-pounder to have entered the Octagon in the last three years or so. And he only looks like a middleweight at 6-1, 205lbs. The bulky Ortiz looked like he outweighed Machida by 10 pounds.

Incidentally, “The Dragon” Machida, a Belem, Brazil native, turns 30 today, along with Rudimar Fedrigo's Chute Boxe Academy in Curitiba, Brazil. May you have more fire-breathing birthday celebrations and victories, Dragon, sir. And may CBA keep on rolling out more Wanderlei and Anderson Silvas, and Ninja and Shogun Ruas.

The Wilson Gouveia-Goran Reljic match had a lot of fire exchanged between the two light-heavyweights even before the fight started. It took Reljic eight minutes and 15 seconds to prove he was the better man that night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Nevada.

Forty-four seconds into R1, Reljic ate leather and decided to go for a flying guard defense. On the ground, Reljic attempted an omo plata with his left leg but couldn't quite get it.

In R2, after escaping from a near mount and being grounded and pounded by Gouveia, Reljic was backtracking when Gouveia followed him and walked right into a left roundhouse kick to just below his right ear. Down went Gouveia, Reljic put in the finishing with a lot of pounding. Referee Herb Dean stopped the fight, giving the TKO win to Reljic in 3:15 of R2.

Keith Jardine versus Wanderlei Silva. This was a battle between unorthodox fighters. Jardine, his arms in odd angles while squaring off with an opponent, looks like superflyweight boxer Armenian Vic Darchinyan, who was dealt his only professional loss, so far, by WBC flyweight champ Nonito Donaire Jr. of the Philippines.

Jardine went into this fight with a 13-4-1 win-loss-draw record and arms poised like spider legs about to pounce on a fly. Too bad the fly he wanted for a meal in UFC 84 is called “The Axe Murderer.” Axe beats legs anytime.

Thirty-six seconds into R1, the curse of the counterstrike struck again: Jardine threw a right kick to Silva's left leg, Silva countered with a right hook to the left jaw, followed with a left hook to the right jaw when Jardine was falling down. Then, more fist punishment. Silva got a mount, his right leg on Jardine's tummy, his left hand on Jardine's neck.

Third man in the Octagon, Steve Mazzagati, might have stopped the fight too late. Jardine had suffered serious punishment. He lay motionless on the floor, eyes dead, and looked critically injured, reminiscent of John Matua's stiffened arms and legs after David “Tank” Abbot laid him down with heavy punches in UFC 6 in just 20 seconds. It took Silva 16 seconds longer than Abbot to win over Jardine, but it was just as devastating.

BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk for the 155lb lightweight championship. Hype preceded this match. Call it hype, call it ill temper. We call it the thunder before the storm...and tsunami.

We will score this one.

R1
Penn had the edge on punching. He defended well against early takedown attempts by Sherk. It was basically a standup fight after Sherk's takedown try.
Penn 10, Sherk 9

R2
Sherk's cuts on the face started to get worse. Penn was still jabbing, throwing body punches, shrugging off the TD tries of Sherk. Sherk swinging wildly, missing. Penn ended the round with a strong right hook to the jaw.
Penn 10, Sherk 9

R3
Penn unsuccessfully tried a TD himself near the middle part of the round. He went back to jabbing, stepping back, very elusive; almost at will hit Sherk with jabs and hooks to the head and body. Sherk still on a Rocky strategy -- letting Penn hit him repeatedly on the face with punches and on the legs with isolated kicks. In the closing seconds, Penn's left hook was blocked by Sherk's right hand, right uppercut got Sherk on the chin. Sherk backtracked, got his back on the fence. Penn chased him and threw a flying knee which hit Sherk both on the chin and on the chest. Sherk fell to the ground. Penn continued his attack with right hooks and hammer fists on a defenseless Sherk, who was semi-conscious.

The bell rang. Referee Mario Yamazaki seemed unsure on what to do. It was declared a TKO win for Penn after some indecisive moments. Even before that, Penn gestured that the fight was over, mockingly licked his gloves and ran back to Sherk seated on the ground. Penn touched Sherk's face and licked his own fingers as if tasting blood in an arrogant display of victory.

Then, Penn's split personality took over. He made like a gentleman, asking Sherk if he was okay, embraced him, telling him, assumably, were soothing words. Honey on wound after vinegar.

“Drop by anytime!” Penn told a still dazed Sherk, offering his beaten foe to train with him in his Hilo, Hawaii gym. Well, if Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, after being pummeled senseless by Wanderlei Silva in Pride, not once but twice, could train with Silva in the latter's Chute Boxe gym in Curitiba, Brazil, why not Sherk at Penn's Hilo MMA hideaway?

If Silva gets to fight Jackson again, this time in the UFC, and exacts revenge on the Axe Murderer, Sherk could try to duplicate the fantasy feat, make history repeat itself for himself, against Penn. Muscle Shark over The Prodigy in Penn-Sherk 2? Stranger things have happened in MMA.

The other preliminary bouts, not carrying the same cachet, were just as exciting in their own way.

Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Jon Koppenhaver (170lbs)
R1, the Japanese UFC debutante, lean and mean at 5-11 170lbs, from the clinch on their feet, Yoshida judo threw Koppenhaver to the ground and caught the American's neck and left arm tight in a left-armed choke. Koppenhaver tried to escape, but Yoshida gator rolled and anaconda choked Koppenhaver into dreamland. The American managed a weak right hook to the ribs, but in seconds, he stopped moving. Herb Dean looked in, pulled Koppenhaver's right arm up to see if he was still conscious. Koppenhaver lay still. Dean stopped the fight in 56 secs of R1.

Rich Clementi vs. Terry Etim (155lbs)
Clementi by unanimous decision after three rounds. The Studio 23 replay didn't have this one.

Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Rameau Sokoudjou (205lbs)
Like in the Ortiz-Machida bout, Sokoudjou looked several pounds heavier than Nakamura. R1 was action packed. Nakamura with elbows and flying knees, Soukodjou with kicks and a Superman punch. Nakamura was knocked down with just seconds left in the round. “The African Assassin” Sokoudjou kicked Nakamura's ribcage. The Japanese tried to catch Sokoudjou's leg, but the African followed up with a strong right cross to the chin, Nakamura fell on his butt, sitting on his right foot, probably hyper-extending his ankle.

The Japanese wobbled to his corner, crumbled to the ground again, and couldn't continue. Rack that one up as a TKO win for Sokoudjou. In the post-fight interview, he said that he knew Nakamura would try to catch his leg when he kicked, so he followed up with a punch. Before letting go of the microphone, the muscle-bound Sokoudjou called out Shogun Rua.

Shane Carwin vs. Christian Wellisch (206lbs-up)
Just as massively built, 60lbs heavier than Sokodjou, but of lighter tone, Shane Carwin upped his MMA record to 9-0-0 with a 44-second R1 one-punch destruction of Christian Wellisch. Carwin hit Wellisch with a right cross to the jaw, his mouthpiece dislodged from the strength of impact. KO. None of Carwin's fights have gone beyond one round.

What a night. It could have been, What a day! if Solar Sports were still broadcasting the UFC, but SkyCable's Balls (really) has bought the rights to the Philippine broadcast, and non-subscribers like Free-For-All have to content themselves with half-a-day-later replays at Balls' sister station, Studio 23. Kindred channels from the same ABS-CBN seed, it seems.

Nothing beats “Live,” or at least, “Via Satellite” an hour or two-hour delays on free pay-per-views. Well, you know how it is with beggars.

We still roll, though.