UFC ‘Fight for the Troops’ was a charitable event, held to benefit the Intrepid Center – a medical center which helps U.S. veterans who suffered a traumatic brain injury.  Ironically, several matches on the card ended with brutal concussion-inducing knockouts, along with other injuries.

Jim Miller vs. Matt Wiman (155 lbs)

This fight had a last-minute substitution: Wiman was originally slated to face Frankie Edgar, who pulled out with an injury only a week prior to the fight.  Jim Miller stepped in on short notice, and performed admirably.  After getting the better of Wiman in early exchanges, Miller pulled guard as Wiman was going to a takedown, and secured a very tight guillotine.  Miller rolled over into mount as he attempted to finish the choke; Wiman held on to Miller’s trunks despite repeated warnings from the referee Mario Yamasaki.  As Mario finally detached Wiman’s hand from Miller’s shorts, Matt was able to slip out of the guillotine.  After briefly achieving the top position Wiman let Miller up and Jim finished the round strong on the feet.

The pace slowed down a bit in the remaining two rounds, but Miller thoroughly dominated Wiman both standing and on the ground for the rest of the match.  Wiman hung in there but was never able to get an advantage, and lost all three rounds in a unanimous decision.

Fight Grade: 4.5/5

Aftermath:  A dominant performance from Miller in his second UFC bout should earn him a spot in the lightweight Top 10.  Wiman’s win streak is over with what has to be a very disappointing loss after his last performance.  Both fighters earned an additional $30,000 for the official ‘Fight of the Night’.

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WEC 37 featured featherweight and bantamweight bouts on the televised portion of the card, and was highlighted by the bantamweight champion Miguel Torres defending his belt against the undefeated challenger Manny Tapia.

Joseph Benavidez vs. Danny Martinez (145 lbs)

The first televised bout turned out to be rather lackluster.  Martinez worked hard for a takedown in the first round, but was unable to complete and ended up on his back as a result of a throw at the end round.  In the second and third, Martines gave up on the takedown attempts and instead began swinging at Benavidez with widely telegraphed shots, most of which did not find their target.  Benavidez on the other hand peppered Martinez with multiple combinations of punches and kicks, none of which seemingly did much damage.  Benavidez won a unanimous decision: 30-27 on all three scorecards.  This was the first MMA bout that I’ve seen where a woman (Kim Winslow) was the referee.

Fight grade: 2/5

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UFC 91 featured the return of the briefly retired heavyweight champion Randy Couture, taking on the challenger Brock Lesnar in the first leg of a four-man heavyweight title tournament.  The matchup was billed as ‘biggest in UFC history’ and so the undercard of this event was overlooked: the only bout besides the main event to receive any publicity was a #1 contender eliminator between Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson for a shot at the lightweight title.  Three other lightweight bouts took place in the preliminary portion of the event.

Nate Quarry vs. Demian Maia (185 lbs) 

The televised card began with a striker vs. grappler matchup, and the grappler Maia wasted no time bringing the fight to the ground. From there he easily passed Quarry’s guard and achieved mount, then back control, and finished with a rear naked choke forcing a tapout less than halfway through the first round.

Fight Grade: 3/5

Aftermath: Maia once again demonstrates impeccable jiu-jitsu, gaining his fourth victory in the UFC.  Since there are no clear-cut contenders for Anderson Silva’s middleweight belt, undefeated Maia can make a good case for demanding a title shot.  However he instead asks for Michael Bisping in the post-fight interview, stirring up rumors that he may become the coach on the next season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’, opposite of Bisping.

Quarry suffers his second loss in the UFC, dashing any hopes of title contendership in the foreseeable future.  Perhaps he can take on Kendall Grove in his next bout.

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WEC 36 was originally scheduled to take place on September 10th in Hollywood, Florida but was postponed due to Hurricane Ike.  The event featured two championship bouts: Urijah Faber defended his featherweight title against Mike Thomas Brown, and middleweight challenger Chael Sonnen was set to rematch champion Paulo Filho for the belt.  However Filho was not able to make weight, and so the bout was changed to three-round affair with no title on the line.  Not that it made any difference in the big picture, as Zuffa (the parent company of WEC and UFC) decided to fold WEC’s 185-lbs & 205-lbs divisions, rendering the middleweight championship belt meaningless after this event.  Also on the card, two former UFC lightweights Jens Pulver and Leonard Garcia met in a featherweight bout that would likely produce the #1 contender for the winner of Faber-Brown.

Jake Rosholt vs. Nissen Osterneck (185 lbs)

In a middleweight bout with a potential shot at a future UFC contract on the line, Osterneck came out swinging from the opening bell, and was dominating Rosholt in the standup.  However Rosholt was able to reverse the course of the round by taking Osterneck down and controlling him on the ground, winning the round despite not doing much damage.  In the second round, Nissen once again attempted to work his standup, and had Rosholt reeling at one point, but lost his balance after throwing a head kick and ended up on his back.  Rosholt capitalized and mounted his opponent; Osterneck had nothing left in the gas tank at this point and was not able to escape or offer any defense to Rosholt’s strikes as the referee Troy Waugh stepped in to stop the bout.

Fair performance from both fighters, though it’s not clear whether either one is ready for a move up to the UFC at this point.

Fight grade: 4/5

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