Lucky for him, if he makes it through this round, Baroni is going to gas. He’s already slowed down 4 minutes into the round, and is kinda gasping for air. Lucky for him, he took a shot to the nuts so he got a second to rest. Tavares gets Baroni with a sweet leg kick to the head, followed by a couple of punches and a knee. Baroni goes down, Tavares starts punching, and Rosenthal stops the fight. Brad Tavares by KO. The curse of the indoor sunglasses continues.
Josh Grispi vs. Dustin Poirier – Damn. Josh Grispi is well on his way to a PDOTW title. He is just super handsome and he fights like the wind. Dustin Poirier is also a cutie patootie, and only 21! He’s barely got grass on the field!! Uh-oh. Grispi is wearing his hat sideways as he comes into the arena. He’s just dropped down quite a bit on the PDOTW list. Bad form, kid. At least he isn’t wearing sunglasses… Fight starts with lots of kicks. Love it, but Cecil Peoples wouldn’t approve. Poirier goes in for the clinch, and Grispi jumps up and wraps his legs around Poirier, from the front. He was possibly hoping to take Poirier down, but that didn’t happen. Poirier is really going at Grispi with the punches and kicks. Poirier gets Grispi down again with a leg kick, Grispi goes for the top, but Poirier gets it. They stand up, and Poirier lights him up with his fists. Typing the work Poirier sucks. Back down to the ground, and Grispi was working for an arm submission, but can’t get it. First round is dominated by Poirier. 2nd round and Poirier is throwing the punches again. Back down to the ground, and Grispi is going to submissions, but no dice. Poirier is taking advantage of the top position to get some punches in on the ground. Grispi is looking exhausted, and Poirier is absolutely controlling the fight. Poirier ends the round with more punches, and Grispi is doing absolutely nothing to defend. 3rd round and the boys are clinched, with Poirier throwing some knees. Grispi gets Poirier on the ground, and he’s going to have to be careful here. Grispi’s only chance for a win here is a submission, so he’s probably going to go all out. Poirier gets full guard and I think Grispi is too exhausted to pass. Poirier wins by decision.
Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens – I’m guessing this fight will be do or die or Marcus Davis. After watching two kids under the age of 23 kill it in the Octagon just a few minutes ago, the UFC’s aging fighters should be sweating it. Yay! Kate Winslow is the ref. Please, please, please let her also ref the Nate Diaz fight! We start with some striking. For some reason Jeremy Stephens goes for a takedown. Davis gets it instead. Nothing happens. Back on the feet. Davis gets Stephens with a nice punch, but doesn’t take advantage and goes for the clinch instead, giving Stephens a chance to recover. 2nd round and we’re starting with some more striking. Stephens looks recovered, and he’s now learned a valuable lesson about Davis’s fists. Back on the ground, and I’m losing focus, due to the delightful soup that I’ve just been handed. I’ll let you know if anything exciting happens. Quick update….nothing exciting happened and round 2 is over, still on the ground. I’m giving rounds 1 & 2 to Davis, so Stephens is going to have to do something fancy here. Stephens knows that and is swinging for the fences. And it works. Stephens gets Davis on the button, and wins with a knockout.
Takanori Gomi vs. Clay Guida – Is it weird that I’m really hoping for a Clay Guida monster burp? I think this is going to be a great fight. I think Takanori Gomi has it, but I’m curious to see how he handles Guida’s energy. The audience is boo-ing Gomi, and I could really vomit. What a bunch of absolute morons. Guida comes out like the Tasmanian Devil, just jumping all over the place. He looks crazy as hell, but he’s making it super hard for Gomi to hit him. Guida gets Gomi with a leg kick, and they keep it on the ground. He’s working with Jackson, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see this fight spend some time on the ground. 2nd round and Guida is still dancing around like a crazy man. Gomi is starting to look a bit more aggressive, but he still can’t get around Guida’s ballroom routine. Guida’s doing a great job of throwing Gomi off, and he goes for a takedown. Guida goes for multiple submissions, and ends up getting Gomi with a guillotine.
Nate Diaz vs. Dong Hyun Kim – Nate Diaz doesn’t hug any of his cornermen, and I guess this doesn’t surprise me. I wouldn’t guess there’s a lot of hugs going around in the Diaz household. Dong Hyun Kim’s first name is Dong. That is awesome. The boys start out with some kicks, but it goes to the ground pretty quickly. If I were Kim, I’d watch myself with Diaz on the ground. Kim is on top, but Diaz is doing a good job of keeping busy. Kim is definitely controlling the top, and he just looks quite a bit bigger than Diaz. More solid, if that makes sense. Diaz works on a leg lock and then a heel hook, but Kim gets out of it. It takes Kim about a minute and a half to get Diaz down, and at this point I’m rooting for Diaz to get a submission. Kim’s a master at staying busy without actually doing anything significant. Diaz looked like he was going to have a RNC for a second there, but Kim got out of it. I am now fully rooting for Diaz. My hatred for Kim after the Sadollah fight has resurfaced with a vengeance. Diaz starts out the third round as the aggressor and tries to get Kim down. I’d say he’s down two rounds, so he’s going to have to win outright. Diaz gets Kim with a knee while he’s technically down, as his hand is touching the ground. Calling Kim down at that point is absolutely insane, and Diaz lost some excellent momentum there. Diaz takes it to the ground, and Kim manages to get hooks in, but Diaz escapes. Diaz is going for it with a minute left with kicks and punches, but with less then I minute left, it looks like it’s going to be too little, too late. And it is. Kim wins by unanimous decision.
Brandon Vera vs. Thiago Silva – I remember that not that long Brandon Vera seemed ready to run all the way to the top of the division and Thiago Silva was an absolute beast who beat down every opponent. This fight is almost like a brawl between the could have beens. They are both still young, but once you lose that kind of momentum, it seems hard to get it back. The fight starts out with both guys fighting aggressively. Silva takes it to the ground quickly and maintains top position. He gets side control, and starts getting Vera with some big shots to the face and body. Vera starts the second round with aggressive punches. He probably wants to avoid having Silva on top of his for 5 minutes again. All in vain, as Silva gets him to the ground less than 1 minute into the second round. 2nd round looks a lot like the first. 3rd round, some more of the same, except this time, Silva has Vera’s back with a hook in. Neither guy is able to better their position, and the crowd is not pleased. Vera is able to stand a few times, but Silva gets him right back down again. 3rd times a charm, and Silva is pounding and slapping Vera in the face, with Vera doing nothing to defend. Fight is over, and Brandon Vera’s nose is very, very broken. Silva wins the unanimous decision.
Chris Leben vs. Brian Stann – Yay! I’m counting on Chris Leben to save the night here. I do love Brian Stann and the whole Marines thing, but I really don’t think he has a shot here against Leben. Regardless, I think these two guys are going to give us a great fight. We’ve got what I thought we would, which is a nice little punching match. The’re clinched with one arm and punching with the other. Stann knocks Leben down with a set of punches. Leben is able to get up, but he’s quite wobbly. Stann takes Leben down again, and Leben stands. Not looking good for Leben. Stann knocks him down again. Rosenthal tells Leben to defend himself. He doesn’t and the fight is stopped. Brian Stann wins by TKO.
Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard – This one is going to go the distance, isn’t it. I can’t decide which guy is going to win, cause, honestly, I don’t really care. How awful to feel so blah about a championship fight. I’d rather Frankie Edgar keep the title tonight, though I certainly won’t be shocked if Gray Maynard wins this. first round and they’re testing each other out, until Maynard gets Edgar with a big shot. He is all over Edgar, who is trying very hard to get up but is unable to under Maynard’s aggressiveness. freepicks-serviceplays.com Edgar gets up, but with a bloody nose. Edgar, gets knocked down again, and I don’t see him getting out of this first round. Last minute and a half and Maynard’s not really pressing, giving Edgar some time to get his legs back, and he makes it out of the round. 2nd round – Edgar is doing a good job of staying out of the path of Maynard’s fists. Maynard is not nearly as aggressive here, and I wonder if he’s not a bit tired from the first round? Edgar slams Maynard to the ground. Don’t know if it did any damage, but it sure did look fancy and it’s a nice way to let the judges and audience know you’re back in the game. Maynard ends the round with a cut under his left eye. 3rd round – We’re at 1 round a piece at this point. Gray Maynard has a freakishly large head. Maynard is looking a bit more aggressive this round, but Edgar seems to be completely recovered, and he’s keeping up with him. Maynard is shooting on Edgar, who’s doing a good job of defending the takedown. Maynard gets Edgar with a few shots, and gets the takedown. Edgar goes for a guillotine with about 10 seconds left. Not enough time. 4th round – Edgar goes in aggressive and tries to get that guillotine he missed out on at the end of the last round. Maynard gets out, and Edgar tries to get his back. Maynard’s punches are definitely coming slower now, and Edgar still looks pretty fresh. He gets him with some punches and a knee, and shoots for the take down. 5th round – You’ve got to assume that the first round went to Maynard 10-8, possible even 10-7, so Edgar’s going to have to pull out something really special this round to make the judges take notice. Edgar has done a great job tonight of stuffing Maynard’s takedown attempts, and I never would have imagined Edgar would have shown the superior ground work in this fight. Fight’s over, and I’d give the fight to Edgar, despite that nearly disastrous first round. 48-46 Maynard, 48-46 Edgar, 47-47. We have a draw.
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