UFC & MMA News and Reviews by MartialArtsPride.com

The main even saw a close match between Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans that could of went either way. Bisping decides it may be best to drop a weight division after his first loss by decision.

Thiago silva put a quick end to the Houston Alexander bandwagon. It was clear his jiu jitsu is beyond what Alexander can handle.Also on the card Karo “The Heat” Parisyan defeated Ryo Chonan in a decision and Ed Herman won KO of the night by putting away Joe Doerksen in the 3rd round. Frankie Edgar continued his 155 climb with a decision win over Spencer Fisher.

Premlims:

Thiago Alves def. Chris Lytle, TKO of round 2

Joe Lauson def. Jason Reinhardt, RNC of round 1
Marcus Aurelio def. Luke Cadillo, TKO of round 1

Akihiro Gono def. Tanden McCrory, Armbar of round 2

The first PPV bout of the night was a very competitive bout between Kalib Starnes and Alan Belcher. Kalib got cut in the first but decided to continue fight the second round. Midway though the second round the fight is stopped because the doctor claims he can see Kalib’s skull. Kalib is furious the fight got stopped and appears to momentarily feud with his own corner.

In the next PPV bout Stephan Bonnar controlled Eric Schafer up until the fight was stopped by TKO in the second. It appeared that Stephan could have any offensive position he wanted in the second. In the end the strikes cam to quickly for Schafer to defend.

Alvin Robinson also made an impressive showing in Ohio. After the first round of getting controlled by Jorge Gurgel, Alvin fought back and put he hurt on Jorge for the next two round. At the end of three it was a clear decision win for Alvin.

With all kinds of title implications after Randy Couture left the belt high and dry this next match up was a big deal for heavyweights Tim Sylvia and Brandon Vera. It looked like both wanted to keep it tight with the clinch early. This favored Tim the bigger man who was able to push Vera around in the clinch. Brandon landed a couple shots though out the first and second round but Tim clearly won the fight in the third where he pressured Vera and was landing multi punch combos which Vera had no answer for. At the end of three rounds Tim Sylvia wins a decision and puts his name in the hat for the title.

The most anticipated fight of the night was the rematch between the Champion Anderson Silva and the Challenger Rich Franklin. Rich looked determined to fight this match differently then the first. Rich even got a take down but unfortunately could not keep Silva down. Anderson then started picking Rich’s stand up apart and almost had Rich TKO’d but was saved by the bell. At the beginning of the next round spider gets the plumb locked in for the clinch and Rich gets that boy who lost his puppy look. After a few breathtaking combos that were masterfully mixed up, Anderson Leaves Rich unconscious an with broken nose again. It looks as if Anderson Silva can not be stopped at Middleweight and he is clearly one of the most exciting fighters the UFC has seen.

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.

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

Paulo Filho made his debut on American soil with his Middleweight WEC title fight against Joe Doerksen. At first it looked like Paulo was having problems grappling with Joe and getting him to the ground. Paulo went to plan b at the end of the first round and ended up putting heavy combos together. Joe did not have the time he needed to recover because Paulo was looking to end him. The ref eventually stepped in at the 4:07 mark of the first round and crowned Paulo Filho WEC’s first Middleweight Champion.

The other title fight on the card was Carlos Condit vs. Brock Larson for the Welterweight title. Carlos made quick work of Brock when he locked on a tight armbar from guard. Brock did not tap but the ref saw him in a vulnerable spot and stopped the fight via submission. Carlos is now climbing the MMA ranks and is looking to hold on to his title for long time.

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

On Sunday August 5th the cable channel Versus is going to be airing WEC fights. The main fights of this card are going to see top Middleweight Paulo Filho face off against Canadian Joe Doerksen. Carlos Condit looks to keep up his winning ways as he faces one of his toughest challenges in Brock Larson.

The Fights take place at the Hard Rock Hotel in Vegas from 9:00 p.m. ET to 11:00 p.m. ET Live on Versus.