Archive for September, 2007

The first televised fight that aired was up and comer Tyson Griffin vs. Thiago Tavares. Tyson Controlled the entire fight and came out with a hard fought unanimous decision.

Next up was “Lyoto” Ryoto Machida vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura in a three round fight. Lyoto showed superior striking and stayed undefeated while handing Nakamura his first loss in the UFC. After the fight Lyoto was awarded the unanimous decision and now he awaits his next test at 205.

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua had his first fight in the UFC and what an uninspired performance it was. There were times he was the dominant fighter but he never had control for long. Forrest Griffin pushed the pace to the point where Rua gassed and got caught with a rear naked choke with 15 seconds left in the fight.

The main event was Chuck Liddell attempting to put the pieces together following his failed title defense. It ended up being three rounds of all stand up fighting between Chuck and Keith Jardine. Both rocked the other in the second round but what set Keith apart is the amount of leg kicks that he landed on Chuck. After three rounds Keith Jardine scored the victory and the upset.

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.