Ultimate Fight Night 21 took place in Charlotte, NC and was headlined by the long-awaited UFC debut of the last Pride FC lightweight champion, Takanori Gomi, taking on one of UFC’s top lightweight contenders Ken Florian. Serving as a lead-in for the premiere of the eleventh season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ series, UFN 21 also featured past ‘Ultimate Fighter’ winners Roy Nelson and Ross Pearson trying to make a mark in their respective divisions.  A middleweight bout between veterans Nate Quarry and Jorge Rivera rounded out the televised card, while the preliminaries featured mostly lightweight matchups.

Ross Pearson vs. Dennis Siver (155 lbs)

Round 1: Pearson has a reach advantage over Siver, and is a bit quicker on the feet, outlanding Siver for most of the round in what is mostly kickboxing action.  Siver throws unorthodox front kicks but doesn’t land anything significant.  A small cut is open under Siver’s eye.  Pearson gets a takedown from a clinch and gets Siver’s back, then mounts Dennis.  Siver pushes Pearson off and pops up, landing a flurry of hooks to finish the round.  Round 10-9 Pearson

Round 2: Once again Pearson is scoring with punches and kicks on Siver.  Siver hangs in there and shoots for a takedown but is stuffed.  More striking exchanges and Siver gets the takedown and briefly takes Pearson’s back but can’t control the position.  Siver with his patented spin kick attempt, which falls just short of the target. Round 10-9 Pearson

Round 3: Both fighters look a bit tired but are still exchanging at a decent pace.  Pearson still outlanding Siver.  Siver gets a takedown and briefly works from guard but Pearson escapes. Pearson scores a takedown of his own.  Back to the feet and another takedown from Siver and quick escape by Pearson.  Round 10-9 Pearson

Ross Pearson wins a unanimous decision, 30-27 on all scorecards.

Aftermath: Ross Pearson continues to improve as a fighter and shows a lot of potential.  As an ‘Ultimate Fighter’ winner and one of the more promising British fighters in the UFC, he will likely be brought along slowly and kept away from the many strong wrestlers of the division who could derail his progress.  He should face Sam Stout next for another exciting display of stand-up fighting.

Denis Siver, who is usually a mainstay of the UFC’s European events, has had decidedly mixed results in the Octagon.  Siver has been the recepient of multiple ‘Knockout of the Night’ awards in the past, and with Siver and Pearson earning the ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus for this bout, Siver’s place in the lower tier of the lightweight division is safe for now.

Fight Grade: 4/5

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UFC is having a very busy month – UFC 111 came less than a week after the inaugural ‘UFC on Versus’ event, and only a few days before Fight Night 21 and the debut of 11th season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’.  Sandwiched between the two smaller events, 111 held it’s own in the fight line-up, with welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre defending his belt against Dan Hardy, and heavyweights Frank Mir and Shane Carwin meeting for the interim title.   Welterweights Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves were supposed to have a rematch in the third featured bout, however a pre-fight CAT scan revealed an abnormality in Thiago’s brain, which prevented him from being licensed for the fight and resulted in Ben Saunders stepping in to face Fitch.  Saunders’ originally scheduled opponent Jake Ellenberger was scratched for the card (receiving both ‘show’ and ‘win’ money for his troubles).  Here’s how it all went down:

Preliminary Card (Spike TV)

Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown (170 lbs)

Round 1: Brown throws a high kick and gets taken down.  He gets up but Almeida plants him back down again.  Brown uses the cage to escape to his feet.  They clinch and it’s a stalemate.  Referee breaks up the clinch but Almeida is not having any part of Brown’s stand up and goes right back to clinching against the cage looking for takedowns.  Very little action, with Almeida landing a couple of good elbows.  Almeida edges out a very boring round to the loud boo’s of the crowd.  Round 10-9 Almeida

Round 2: Brown again starts the round with a kick, leading to an instant takedown.  Brown up and back down.  Brown up again and back to clinch against the fence.  A repeat of the first round.  Almeida lands an elbow combination that cuts Brown, then takes him down and quickly passes his guard.  Brown rolls; Almeida locks in a body triangle and transitions to Matt’s back, locks in a rear naked choke and Brown is forced to tap.

Aftermath: Ricardo Almeida’s welterweight debut was a successful one, despite boring the fans out of their minds for the first and much of the second round.   He needs to be matched up with another elite grappler – preferably Matt Serra or Matt Hughes.

The usually exciting Matt Brown has his game shut out by a much superior grappler; his clinching and takedown defense clearly need some work.  In the meanwhile, a fight with Brian Foster should make for some fireworks.

Fight Grade: 2.5/5

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UFC’s first event televised on the Versus network took place in Broomfield, Colorado – the home state of the first UFC event held back in 1993.  Zuffa – UFC’s parent company – has been frequently using the Versus network to broadcast WEC events.  For a period of time, a dispute between DirecTV and Comcast (the owners of Versus) kept the network off the screens of DirecTV subscribers.  The dispute was resolved just in time for this event, allowing the first UFC on Versus to be broadcast to a wider audience.

Besides the network change, the other notable theme of this event was a reunion of the previous class of UFC’s heavyweights:  Gabriel Gonzaga, Cheik Kongo, and the presently light-heavyweight Brandon Vera.  All three fighters began their UFC careers within a year of each other, and all have received a varying degree of hype early in their careers, but consistently underachieved.  All three had a pivotal matchup lined up for them on this card.

Alessio Sakara vs. James Irvin (185 lbs)

Round 1: Sakara is the aggressor early on, interchanging punch combinations with leg kicks.  Irvin is tentative, defending and firing off an occasional leg kick.  Sakara trips and falls while throwing a leg kick but gets up before Irvin has a chance to capitalize.  Sakara lands a left hook and Irvin collapses, clutching his eye.  Referee Josh Rosenthal pulls Sakara off before any more damage is done.  Irvin complains about an eye poke but replay shows it was a clean punch that landed to the eye.  After some hesitation, Rosenthal declares the bout a TKO victory for Sakara – the right call.

Aftermath: Alessio Sakara earns three consecutive wins for the first time in his UFC career.  He should next take on the winner of the upcoming bout between Patrick Cote and Alan Belcher, or Vitor Belfort if he returns to action soon.

James Irvin looked completely flat in his first fight after a long layoff.  Whether the cause was ring rust, a difficult cut for his first fight at 185 lbs, being gun-shy after his destruction at the hands of Anderson Silva, or a combination of all these factors, Irvin’s UFC career may be in jeopardy.  Post-fight, the UFC President Dana White mentioned that if Irvin gets another chance, it will not be in the middleweight division.

Fight Grade: 2/5

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