In a return to Columbus, Ohio, UFC 82 “Pride of a Champion” was headlined by a title unification bout between the defending UFC 185-lbs champion Anderson Silva and the last Pride FC 183-lbs champion, Dan Henderson.

John Fitch vs Chris Wilson

The televised broadcast started off with John Fitch (7-0 in his UFC career) taking on UFC newcomer Chris Wilson in a welterweight bout.  Wilson started strong, surprising Fitch with crisp standup and excellent takedown defense.  Fitch secured a takedown late in the first round but was not able to capitalize.  Wilson appeared to have won Round 1.

In the following two rounds, Fitch was able to get the takedown earlier in the round and controlled Wilson on the ground, scoring points but not damaging his opponent.  Wilson had some submission attempts and the final round ended with Fitch inside of Wilson’s triangle, but it was not enough.  Fitch took the unanimous decision with the scores of 29-20, 30-27, 30-27 in what was a fairly boring fight. Keep Reading

On February 13th, World Extreme Cagefighting made its debut in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Three titles were up for grabs as WEC’s welterweight, lightweight, and bantamweight champions all put their belts on the line.  It so turned out that two of them walked away empty handed from this night of mostly great fights.

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For the past several years, UFC has always stacked their Superbowl weekend card to make it one of the biggest events of the year.  This year, UFC 81 is the third UFC event within the span of 2 weeks, following an unexpectedly fun UFC 80 and a mind-numbingly boring Ultimate Fight Night.  The two featured matchups were heavyweight showdowns:  Tim Sylvia faced Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the interim UFC HW title; and NCAA champion turned WWE superstar turned MMA fighter Brock Lesnar made his UFC debut against the former HW champion Frank Mir.

Tyson Griffin vs Gleason Tibau

The fight starts out with a long feeling-out period.  Griffin lets his fists fly towards the end of the first round, and Tibau responds with an impressive takedown.  The rest of the fight is more of the same, with Griffin winning the standup exchanges and Tibau getting an occasional takedown but unable to hold Tyson down for long.   In the third round, Griffin really finds his range and is hurting Tibau with head and body shots.  Tyson wins the bout, 30-27 on all judges’ scorecards.  The crowd does not agree with the judges and Griffin is boo’ed ruthlessly during the post-fight interview.

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UFC 80 took place at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England.  The main event featured BJ Penn taking on Joe Stevenson for the vacant 155-lbs title.

Jorge Rivera vs. Kendall Grove

The broadcast begins with the veteran fighter Rivera taking on the middleweight TUF 3 winner, Kendal Grove.   Rivera pushes the pace with an early takedown and punishes Grove with ground-and-pound.  Grove gives up his back and is taking heavy strikes to the head.  Grove tries to get back to his feet while still eating blows.  Grove collapses next to the cage and the referee calls an end to the bout.

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On paper, UFC 79 looked like one of the top MMA events of 2007.  Featuring the final installment in the Matt Hughes – Georges St. Pierre trilogy, a long awaited meeting between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva, as well as the collision between two of the fastest rising light heavyweight stars in Lyoto Machida and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, this event had a lot of hype to live up to.  Let’s take a look at how it turned out.

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Interim Welterweight Championship
[#2] Georges St. Pierre vs. [#3] Matt Hughes

Light Heavyweights
[#4] Chuck Liddell vs. [#10] Wanderlei Silva

Light Heavyweights
[#3] Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. [#8] Lyoto Machida

Lightweights
[#41] Rich Clementi vs. [#69] Melvin Guillard

Heavyweights+
[#45] Eddie Sanchez vs. [#80] Soa Palelei