UFC 102 Results August, 29 2009
Despite entering the Octagon at a year younger than the age of Randy Couture, most of the speculation before the fight had Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira coming in as the doomed old man of the fight. Nogueira's years of MMA masochism had many commenters thinking he was finished as a top tier athlete.

After returning to the standup they traded shots and both scored effectively. Nogueira bled but continued to score but then in the clinch, Couture scored with uppercuts. It was a classic bout between two legends! Couture punished Nogueira in the clinch as the crowd chanted "RANDY RANDY". Couture came out of the first round behind on the scorecards, but in possession of the momentum in the match.

Between rounds the Brazilian's corner told him to stay off the fence and in the center of the ring.

Couture got first points in the round, but Noguiera got the first really hard shots. But soon the fight was on the ground, in Nogueira's guard in the center of the cage. Couture landed with "some "Evan Tanner" elbows and bloodied Nogueira. Minotauro swept into mount and laid it on. But Couture moved to 1/2 guard in a fine display of defensive jiu jitsu. Nogueira locked in an arm triangle but had to escape 1/2 guard. And he did it. Full mount. He rained down shots and maintained head and arm control while landing punches. Couture escaped and got a headlock while still being mounted. Couture escaped to his feet with one minute left. They traded sharp punches to finish the round, but Nogueira seemed to have the advantage but Couture managed to land telling blows too.

With one round left, Couture seemed to be down 2-0.

Again, Couture opened the round scoring but Nogueira landing the telling shots. Then he dropped the American and followed him down to continue the punishment. In side mount against the fence, Minotauro battered Couture. The crowd roared with 2:30 left as Randy tried to fight to his feet. But Couture's efforts only exposed his back to the Anaconda-like jiu jitsu player. Couture reversed with 1:16 left. But there he was in Minotauro's guard. Couture scored with elbows but didn't finish the fight. As the fight ended, Couture was being reversed into mount.

Nogueira dominated from bell to bell but left the fight in the hands of the judges. He was safe and won the fight by unanimous decision.  Source Kid Nate at bloodyelbow.com

UFC 100 Results July, 15 2009
On Saturday night’s UFC 100 fight card over 11,000 fans attended the fight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas to watch MMA stars Brock Lesner, Georges St-Pierre, Dan Henderson, Michael Bisping, Frank Mir and Thiago Alves go at it in separate fights.

Immediately following that, Lesner marched around the ring shouting and flipping off the crowd much to the horror of Dana White. It seemed as if Lesner was having a flash back to his Professional wrestling days where he tended to play the bad guy. The class of Saturday night’s UFC 100 event was Canadian welterweight St-Pierre, who put on a clinic in how to perform take downs. He looked superb in completely dominating Brazilian Thiago Alves, winning all five rounds with ease over a very tough opponent.

In the main event, heavyweight Brock Lesner (4-1, 3 KO’s) defeated former UFC champion Frank Mir (12-4, 2 KO’s) by a 2nd round TKO. Lesner, 31, had previously been defeated by Mir a year ago by a 1st round submission in UFC 81, so this was a grudge match for Lesner.

Using his 20 pound weight advantage, the 265 pound Lesner toyed with Mir in the 1st round, taking him to the mat and pounding him for most of the round with short punches while Mir was flat on his back unable to fight back effectively. Lesner landed a lot of shot punches in the round and by the end of the round, Mir’s right cheek was badly swollen and he looked beaten.

In the 2nd round, Lesner took Mir down immediately, but then let him up without hitting him. Mir responded by elbowing Lesner in the face. Lesner then took Mir down and kept him there. Mir worked became trapped against the fence and was unable to get away.

Lesner then pounded him with short punches, winding up and getting a lot of leverage on them. Mir made the mistake of turning over and exposing the back of his head to Lesner’s punches. Lesner then teed off with 13 straight punches to the side and back of Mir’s head until the referee stepped in and stopped the fight at 1:48 of the 2nd round.

Mir, his nose bleeding badly and his face swollen, got up off the mat after a brief spell, staggering to his feet. Lesner then moved in and shouted something at Mir. Lesner then began his victory parade around the ring, flipping off the crowd while they booed and cheered him. In the post fight interview, Lesner made mention about wanting to go home and drink some Coors beer and possibly mount his wife. The interviewer looked kind of sheepish and at a loss for words.
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In middleweight action, Dan Henderson (25-7, 11 KO’s) stopped Britain’s Michael Bisping (17-2, 11 KO’s) in the 2nd round after hitting him with a tremendous right hand that sent Bisping down back first landing with his head bouncing off the canvas.

Bisping was out cold and just lying there like a corpse. However, Henderson jumped in the air and landed with an elbow to the jaw to finish him off just in case. It was like hitting a dead person, because Bisping never flinched or stirred and just continued to lay unconscious for at least a minute after. The fight was officially stopped at 3:20 of the round.

Bisping, 30, fought timidly in the 1st round, moving around the ring and trying to avoid getting hit by Henderson’s big right hands. Henderson, a two-time Olympic wrestler with excellent grappling skills, wanted to keep the fight in the stand up mode, no doubt knowing that this is what makes an MMA more appealing to the fans.

In the 2nd round, Henderson began to catch up to Bisping and nail him with right hands. Bisping began to move around even more trying to avoid Henderson at all costs. Henderson had to literally chase Bisping to catch up to him.

It paid when Henderson caught Bisping near the fence and blasted him with a huge right hand that crashed off the jaw of Bisping knocking him cold immediately and sending him down on the mat where he landed with the back of his head bouncing off the mat. Henderson the added a final right elbow, leaping into the air before landing it.

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In welterweight action, UFC champion Georges St-Pierre (21-2, 8 KO’s) toyed with Brazilian Thiago Alves (16-4, 10 KO’s), defeating him by a one-sided five round decision. St-Pierre, 28, took Alves down over and over again in each round, dominating him both on the mat and while standing up.

The fight was thought to be a competitive one going into the fight but St-Pierre immediately made it clear in the 1st round that he was the dominant fighter. By the end of the fight, both of Alves’ eyes were badly swollen and blackened from the many punches he had taken from St-Pierre.

So one-sided was the fight that I kind of felt sorry for Alves, because he was just totally dominated by St-Pierre and looked like a child fighting a grown man. Alves could do nothing right whether it be fighting on the mat or trying to land his punches.

When Alves would try to throw a punch, St-Pierre would immediately take advantage of it by taking Alves to the canvas in a double leg take down and would then keep him there for extended periods of time during which St-Pierre would methodically beat him up. This for me was the best fight of the night because of St-Pierre’s skills.

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In the first fight of the night, middleweight Alan Belcher (14-6, 7 KO’s) was defeated by Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1, 5 KO’s) by a three round split decision. In the 1st round, Belcher dropped Akiyama with a right hand. However, Akiyama came back to take Belcher to the canvas and keep him down for awhile. Belcher got the better of Akiyama in the 2nd round, landing a lot of inside leg kicks.

By the end of the round, Akiyama looked tired and his left eye was bruised. In the 3rd round, Akiyama dropped Belcher with a right hand to the head. Later on, he dove in and took Belcher to the canvas with a double leg takedown. The fight was very hard to score because Belcher was mostly landing leg kicks, where as Akiyama was landing the sharper punches and doing most of the take downs in the fight.

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In the final bout of the night, welterweight Jon Fitch (23-3, 4 KO’s) used his superior wrestling skills to defeat Brazilian Paulo Thiago (11-1, 2 KO’s) by a three round decision. Thiago caught Fitch in a guillotine early in the 1st round after being taken down to the canvas by Fitch and kept him in the hold for almost two minutes before Fitch could squeeze his way out of it.

After that, it was really not much of a contest because of Fitch’s excellent grappling skills. He spent the next two rounds, taking Thiago to the canvas whenever he pleased and keeping him down for long periods of time. Thiago had some good skills, but he couldn’t contend with the expert wrestling ability of Fitch.

In some ways, Fitch was similar to St. Pierre, only not as good at take downs or quite as good of a wrestler, which is kind of strange because St. Pierre didn’t wrestle in high school or college and Fitch was a wrestler for Purdue.

UFC 98 Results May, 23 2009

Main card


Lightweight bout: Sean Sherk vs. Frank Edgar

Edgar defeated Sherk via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Frank Edgar completely dominated Sean Sherk over this three round
brawl. Perfect example of why having a complete arsenal of strikes and ground attack will prove victorious every time.

Middleweight bout: Dan Miller vs. Chael Sonnen

Sonnen defeated Miller via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Chael Sonnen avoids a few submission attempts by Dan Miller early in the fight to pound out a unanimous decision.

Middleweight bout: Drew McFedries vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam

McFedries defeated Foupa-Pokam via TKO (strikes) at 0:37 of round 1.

Drew McFedries came with a mission and that was to make mince meat out of this or any opponent on this particular night. Xavier Foupa-Pokam had zero chance of avoiding the early barrage by McFederies and was sent home packing after a mere :37 seconds of round 1, not a good night to be French.

Welterweight bout: Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra

Hughes defeated Serra via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Despite the heated war of words between these to veterans, this proved to be an all out war. 3 rounds of ground and pound that left both Hughes and Serra bruised and battered. Not until going to the score cards did anyone know who would escape victorious, and it was Hughes, by the slimmest of margins that was awarded the unanimous decision. Can we see Hughes vs Serra once again, I certainly hope
so.

Light Heavyweight Championship bout: Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida

Machida defeated Evans via KO (punch) at 3:57 of round 2 to become the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

Lyoto Machida has to be the best pound for pound fighter in the world after this display of excellence over ex-lightweight champ Rashad Evans. Evans didn't know how to respond to Lyoto's  un-orthodox attack and had at best 4-5 punches landed through the entire fight. Machida proved to be far too superior and ultimately KTFO (knocked the F%*# out) Evans with effective blows to the jaw.  This is a perfect example of why all of the UFC weight class champions have a few things in common: world-class striking (both legs and punches), defense technique is second to none, and submission and ground attack are beautifully executed.  The days of straight dirty boxers are coming to an end my fellow UFC fans. The days of true MMA fighters are here, and the (strikeandsubmit.com) program will teach you ALL necessary martial art forms to complete your game plan.

Franc Alonso, SAS Staff May 24, 2009

Heres a list of what you can't do in an MMA promotion held in the United States.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission currently lists the following as fouls:

UFC's Top Ten MMA Fighter Rankings 

LIGHT WEIGHT DIVISION (155 LBS.) 

1. B.J. Penn

2. Shinya Aoki

3. Eddie Alvarez

4. Joachim Hansen

5. Tatsuya Kawajiri

6. Gesias Calvancante

7. Sean Sherk

8. Kenny Florian

9. Josh Thomson

10. Satoru Kitaoka 

WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION (170 LBS.) 

1. Georges St. Pierre 

2. Jon Fitch

3. Thiago Alves

4. Jake Shields

5. Josh Koscheck

6. Matt Hughes

7. Matt Serra

8. Diego Sanchez

9. Carlos Condit

10. Karo Parisyan 

MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION (185 LBS.) 

1. Anderson Silva

2. Yushin Okami

3. Robbie Lawler

4. Nate Marquardt

5. Jorge Santiago

6. Dan Henderson

7. Gegard Mousasi

8. Vitor Belfort

9. Chael Sonnen

10. Demian Maia 

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205 LBS.) 

1. Lyoto Machida

2. Rashad Evans ?

3. Forrest Griffin

4. Quinton Jackson

5. Mauricio Rua

6. Chuck Liddell

7. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

8. Keith Jardine

9. Wanderlei Silva

10. Thiago Silva 

HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (up to 265 LBS.) 

1. Brock Lesnar

2. Josh Barnett

3. Frank Mir

4. Andrei Arlovski

5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

6. Brock Lesnar

7. Randy Couture

8. Tim Sylvia

9. Gabriel Gonzaga

10. Alistair Overeem 

POUND FOR POUND (No Limit) 

1. Fedor Emelianenko

2. Anderson Silva

3. Georges St. Pierre

4. Lyoto Machida

5. Miguel Torres

6. Rashad Evans

7. BJ Penn

8. Quinton Jackson

9. Thiago Alves

10. Mike Brown
 

MMA Ranking Rules

Rankings are based on combinations of fighter recent performances
and body of work career results.

Fighters victorious over high quality opponents, and, losses versus
non-ranked opponents have a higher impact on their ranking.

Fighters do not necessarily over take a higher ranked opponent in
the event of a victory of the higher ranked opponent.

Fighters drop in the rankings due to losses as well as not fighting
regularly against highly ranked opponents.

Fighters choosing not to fight in a period of 12 months will automatically
be removed from the rankings.