BlurayMMA.com

It’s time to step into the world of British mixed martial arts, and we’re once again paying a visit to the MAPP UK promotion, to take a look at their second show, The Champions 2, held at Cedar Court in Leeds, Yorkshire, back in August 2008.

The show began with John Moore facing Nate Simpson in the final of the Caged Steel in the Club tournament. It was an okay fight, nothing overly spectacular. Moore looked like he could get the win in the second round, but his lack of any submission attempts when he had control on the ground cost him. Both fighters looked exhausted in the third, and it looked like it would peter out until Simpson got the submission win with a rear naked choke.

Next up was Richard Belcher against Kevin Coop. This one featured some nice, fast paced action. Both men definitely came out to fight here, and although the action was a little messy at times, it was fun to watch. It could have gone either way, the way these two were banging, but Coop got the win here, dishing out some brutal ground and pound until a series of knees to Belcher’s ribs ended things with a referee’s stoppage.

Then it was on to Bryan O’Connor against Dean Thorpe, in the first blink and you’ll miss it affair. After a quick exchange of blows, O’Connor got a takedown, only to fall prey to Thorpe’s guillotine choke. O’Connor quickly tapped, fight time – just thirty nine seconds. Explosive and impressive stuff from O’Connor here.

Richie Ryder versus Kenny Dugay followed. This one was brutal, and it was obvious from the start that it wasn’t going to go to the ground as the heavy blows started as soon as the bell rang. Ruder was quickly cut open by a knee in the clinch, but the medics let the fight go on, and things continued in the same vein. It wasn’t long before the claret began to flow for Dugay as well, but in the end another big knee to the head sent Ryder reeling, and as Dugay followed up with a torrent of blows, the referee stepped in to stop the onslaught, giving the Dugay the TKO win. Well, it was brutal to watch, but also strangely compelling.

An encounter between Dennis Webb and Paul Durber followed. This was another fast paced fight with plenty of back and forth action, and saw both men going all out from the opening bell. The exchanges were lightening fast, but as the round went on Webb was visibly tiring, so much so that when he got a take down, Durber quickly reversed things and took the guard, soon synching in an arm bar for the submission win. Great action throughout here.

James Parker versus Jon Waterhouse followed. This was a far more technical battle than any of the previous fights. Parker showed some great ground work after escaping from Waterhouse’s guillotine attempt. Once Parker got the fight back down to the ground he went to work, first going for a key lock, then a kimura, before finally getting the submission win with an arm bar, rounding off a great technical display, a  welcome change to the previous slugfests.

James Anderson against Philip Hoban proved to be a very interesting fight, fought at a quite frantic pace over it’s two round duration. Hoban was clearly the better man in the stand up game, rocking Anderson as he swung for the trees, but when the fight went down to the ground it seemed as if the fighters struggled a little. Hoban went for a couple of arm submissions, but that was it, and it was his superiority in the stand up game that probably earned him the unanimous decision.

Then it was on to Nij Wright against Matthew Earnshaw. This fight had the spark that the previous one lacked. Wright took control early on with a big slam, but after the fighters got to their feet there were some frantic exchanges before Earnshaw defended a take down attempt, took side control, and synched in a key lock for the submission win, bringing to an end a good fight.

Liam O’Neil then faced Qasim Shafiq. This was another of those rather interesting fights that went the distance. Both fighters showed some good take down skills, but after they got there they just lacked that certain spark, and although there were some submission attempts, nothing came of them. Neither man had any real success in the stand up either with their wild brawling. In the end the unanimous decision went to Shafiq, although it could have gone either way.

Mark Stoker and Andrew Farrell followed that particular affair. Now this was more like it. Farrell looked intense as he came to the ring, and went to work straight away, taking Stoker down and soon moving into position so he could apply an arm triangle for the submission win, the second blink and you’ll miss it fight on the show.

The penultimate fight saw James Williams facing Mark Aldridge. This was another exciting fight. Williams looked even more intense than Farrell in the previous fight, and you could tell what was on his mind during the pre-fight instructions. He got the immediate take down, and went for the ground and pound. Aldridge’s brief escape only delayed the inevitable, which came after Williams took Aldridge’s back and delivered more punishment. When Aldridge stopped defending himself, the referee stopped the onslaught, giving Williams the well deserved TKO win.

The main event saw Tomasz Wisiniewski taking on Justin Wring. This was a good little fight, with Tomasz getting the quick take down, and soon moving into the mount where he went for some ground and pound. He then quickly moved to the side, applying an arm bard for the quick submission win.

DVD extras come in the form of a photo gallery, fighter intros, a highlight video and a segment featuring an MMA fighter taking on a professional wrestler. Now this isn’t as good as it sounds, because it’s obvious from the outset that it’s a complete work. The supposed MMA practitioner uses several pro wrestling moves, and the execution and selling of the moves is really poor.

In conclusion – a mixed bag of action here. While there are some good fights, there’s also some quite messy affairs, especially as far as some of the fighter’s boxing skills are concerned. So, if you willing to take the bad with the good, then you may find something here to your liking.

With thanks to Tom Tailford for supplying a copy of this release. For more information on how you can get a copy, Tom can be contact via www.fight-factory.co.uk.

THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
E-mail: julian@twoshedsreview.com
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
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UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

UFC 107 Penn vs Sanchez on December 12, 2009, FedExForum, Memphis, Tenn.

Live on pay per view in north America or ESPN in the UK.

Who will you bet betting on? Penn or Sanchez?

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

UFC 98 Evans vs Machida

The Christmas shopping season is upon us, no doubt you will be looking for recommendations to add to your own Christmas present list. To get you started here is the first of many UFC DVD releases from fightdvd.co.uk to be reviewed here at BluRayMMA.com. If you are an MMA enthusiast I’m sure you will want to get your mitts on these DVD delights.

First off is UFC 98 – Evans vs Machida.

There are 2 main reasons to add this DVD to your collection, the first is to see how the Machida era began, when Lyoto challenged Rashad Evans for the light-heavyweight championship, secondly the grudge match between Matt Serra and Matt Hughes.

Entering this title fight challenge Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida was undefeated, as was champion and current Ultimate Fighter coach ‘Sugar’ Rashad Evans. Having 2 undefeated octagon combatants battle it out for the belt was a first at UFC 98. Clearly the defending title holder – Evans was not viewed as the crowd favourite since defeating fan favourite and original Ultimate Fighter winner Forrest Griffin. Machida on the other hand was seen as the cool Karate fighter that most fanatics wanted to see kick some butt and grab the gold.

As Joe Rogan states this is the first time a traditional martial artist has reached the pinnacle of MMA. Machida is true martial artist in the Bruce Lee sense, trained in the ways of the warrior under the guidance of his Japanese father growing up in Brazil. Machida being at the top of the MMA world with that exposure is a huge moment, he can potentially influence a whole generation of young males what being a martial artist is about, discipline, honour, respect, ideals to live your life by, not just beating someone up.

Machida’s post fight speech is something to behold, proclaiming Karate is back and announcing proudly if you have a dream you can do it, truly inspiring stuff. It’s fair to say this a direct contrast to Rashad Evans, a showman who has been know to display some level of arrogance.

The co main event of UFC 98 features the grudge fight of Matt ‘The Terror’ Serra and Matt Hughes. Both fighters have held the welter-weight title in the past but there is no belt on the line here, this is a clear grudge match, these guys do not like each other, no matter how much they respect each others MMA abilities.

Their history dates back to 2005, Serra saw Hughes on the Ultimate Fighter and didn’t like him then as the opposite coach to top UFC ace-face Rich Franklin. A year later Serra took part as a contestant on the cage fighting reality TV show, with Hughes guesting to coach. Serra’s disgust of the farmer’s boy grew from there on. UFC management paired the 2 Matts as the coaches for TUF 6, using weekly TV episodes to build up to their big showdown planned to follow at UFC 79, December 2007. The fight wasn’t to be due to Serra’s injury received during training. Lots of bad mouthing followed in the mean time, both fighters still wanted to beat each other up.

The battle of the Matts is interesting stylistically, Serra is a Jiu Jitsu expert with great boxing, with Hughes’ main strengths rooted in his wrestling ability. On top of that they are contrasting characters, Serra the Italian-American street-wise New Yorker, where as  Hughes is the mid-western farmers’ boy.

UFC 98 2 disc DVD release boasts superb presentation complete with all the preliminary bouts, many not aired on the live broadcast along with the weigh-ins, behind the scenes and what I feel really adds enjoyment to the main event fight the countdown show. Watch the countdown to see Lyoto preparing for the title fight in his native Brazil, training and meditating to clear his mind in preparation. You’ll also see what led to his arrival in the UFC fighting on cards in Japan for pro wrestling icon Antonio Inoki and being on the receiving end Inoki’s initiation wallop to the face.

UFC 98 is out now on DVD, available direct from www.fightdvd.co.uk and all good retailers.

UFC DVD review by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

The prodigal son has returned, with Tito Ortiz making his long awaited comeback to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, facing his old rival Forrest Griffin in the main event of UFC 106: Ortiz v Griffin 2, shown live here in Britain in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on ESPN, with Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan handling commentary duties.

The broadcast began with the preliminary fights, beginning with a middleweight encounter between Kendall Grove and Jake Rosholt. This proved to be a very good opener. Rosholt got a couple of big slams in, and looked good in the early part of the fight, but as is often the case the momentum changed in an instant, with Grove synching in an arm triangle for the submission win. Nice work from both fighters here.

Then it was the turn of the Australian lightweight, George Sotiropoulos, as he went up against Jason Dent. Although Dent managed to put in some good work here, the Aussie was just that much better in all departments, and as the fight progressed into the second round it came as no surprise when he got the submission win courtesy of an arm bar. Sotiropoulos really impressed me here, and I’m looking forward to seeing what sort of reception he’ll get when the UFC ventures down under for the first time next year. I’m also looking forward to George’s next fight as well.

Welterweight action followed, with the always watchable Marcus Davis facing Ben Saunders. Well, I say always watchable, but the Irish Hand Grenade had an off night here. Davis looked good early on, but it wasn’t long before Saunders upped his game with some great looking knees in the clinch, and it was a right knee that saw of Davis as Saunders secured the knockout win, capping off an impressive performance.

The final fight of the preliminary show saw more welterweight action, with Brock Larson and Brian Foster. With the UFC’s other famous Brock recovering at home after surgery, this Brock proved to be just as controversial with two rule infringements in the first round. The first came when he connected with an up-kick to Foster’s head while Foster was still on the ground. Moments later he connected with a knee to Foster’s head while his hand was down on the mat, which meant that he ended the round with two less points. Foster did well to recover in the second round though, and after a couple of periods of ground and pound he secured the TKO win. Larson had clearly been put off by what had happened in the first round, but as the old saying goes, rules are rules, and kudos to Foster for recovering in the way he did.

The first fight on the main show continued the welterweight action with Amir Sadollah facing the returning Phil Baroni. The former Ultimate Fighter obviously didn’t read the script here. Although the New York Bad Ass put in a good performance, Sadollah always seemed one step ahead as Baroni began to look tired in the second round. Sadollah’s kicks looked awesome, as did his clinch work, and it was enough to earn the unanimous decision from the judges, proving that these UFC judges can get things right from time to time.

Debut time next, with the other Nogueira, Antonio Rogerio, who for some reason is also known as Minotaur, facing Luiz Cane in light heavyweight action. Little Nog put in an impressive performance here, getting the first round win after knocking Cane down with a big left, before going in for the ground and pound. The referee quickly stepped in, giving Nogueira the TKO win.

After a replay of the Marcus Davis/Ben Saunders fight, more welterweight action followed, with Paulo Thiago taking on Jacob Volkman. This was an enjoyable back and forth encounter, and another one of those fights were both men looked good, but one man was just a tad better than the other. Both fighters put in some good work, but on the night Thiago was the top man as the fight went the three round distance, getting the unanimous nod from the judges.

Even more welterweight action followed the replay of the Kendall Grove/Jake Rosholt fight, with Josh Koscheck and Anthony Johnson. As with the Larson/Foster fight, this one will be remembered for it’s controversy. In the first round Johnson hit Koscheck with a knee to the head while he was down, losing a point in the process, but this particular blow left the commentators and those of us watching at home rather confused. Johnson’s blow connected with Koscheck’s right eye, but afterwards he complained of blurry vision in his left eye. It certainly left me scratching my head a little. Despite this apparent injury Koscheck came back well in the second, busting Johnson open with his ground and pound before getting the submission with a rear naked choke. Good work from Koscheck here. Sadly though we didn’t get the low down on his right/left eye injury during the post-fight interview, as Koscheck seemed more intent on telling everyone that he, and not Dan Hardy, should get a shot at the welterweight title next.

The main event saw the return of former light heavyweight king Tito Ortiz, as he went up against Forrest Griffin for a second time. A lot was expected of this one after their previous encounter, and this fight certainly delivered. Ortiz looked great in the early stages, showing absolutely no signs of ring rust, although Griffin was able to keep up with him. As the fight went on Griffin began to get into his stride, with his kicks in particular looking particularly devastating. Ortiz continued to look good as well, but whenever he took Griffin down and went for the ground and pound Griffin showed some great defensive work. But when the third and final round started, Ortiz looked like a completely different person, on the back foot for the majority of the round as Griffin was able to strike at will. So with the fight going the three round distance, the judges were called into action, and they gave the split decision to Griffin, a fair decision, because Ortiz was wilting badly in that final round, which was unusual for him considering his normally top notch conditioning. As for Griffin, it was a tremendous performance, especially considering the loss he’d suffered at the hands of Anderson Silva in his previous fight. The judges did okay too!

A replay of the George Sotiropoulos/Jason Dent fight rounded off the show.

In conclusion – well, I think it’s pretty obvious what I’m going to say here, isn’t it? This was another strong effort from the UFC here. The action was so good throughout that you kind of forgot that Brock Lesnar was meant to be defending his Heavyweight title against Shane Carwin on this show. The Koscheck/Johnson and Larson/Foster fights were a little disappointing because of the rule infringements, but overall it was a strong show with some strong action, so kudos to Dana White and the boys for this one.

Review courtesy Julian Radbourne @ www.twoshedsreview.com

JOSH THOMSON AND GILBERT MELENDEZ TO SQUARE OFF FOR UNDISPUTED STRIKEFORCE LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY, DEC. 19, AT HP PAVILION IN SAN JOSE, CALIF.

NEW YORK (Nov. 24, 2009)—After twice being forced out of the highly anticipated rematch due to injuries, STRIKEFORCE World Lightweight (155 pound) Champion Josh “The Punk” Thomson (16-2) is healthy and ready to defend his title against top-seeded mixed martial arts (MMA) rival and Interim Champion Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez (16-2) on Saturday, Dec. 19 at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

Thomson, who captured the lightweight championship by earning a five round, unanimous decision over Melendez in the main event at HP Pavilion on June 27, 2008, has not seen action since Sept. 20, 2008, when it took him a mere 1 minute and 14 seconds to demolish Ashe “The Archer” Bowman during STRIKEFORCE’s second event at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Shortly after undergoing surgery for a broken fibula in his left ankle earlier this year, Thomson sustained a break in the bone located above the original injury.  He suffered yet another setback after the bone broke a second time.

“Everything feels great now.  Nothing is going to keep me out of this fight,” said the 31-year-old Thomson of San Jose.  “I’m looking forward to getting back in there and going to work.”

While Thomson was sidelined, the 27-year-old Melendez of Santa Ana, Calif., remained busy in 2009, scoring a second round (2:02) knockout over Brazil’s Rodrigo Damm at STRIKEFORCE:  Shamrock vs. Diaz on April 11 and avenging the first defeat of his career by punching his way to a third round (3:56) TKO of Mitsuhiro “The Endless Fighter” Ishida at STRIKEFORCE:  Carano vs. Cyborg the following Aug. 15.  Both bouts took place at HP Pavilion.

His brilliant performance against Ishida, whom he had lost a unanimous decision to in Saitama, Japan on Dec. 31, 2007, returned Melendez to the top-10 rankings in MMA’s lightweight division.

“I’ve been training for this fight for a long time now and have been thinking about it ever since Josh beat me last year,” said Melendez, a protégé of both STRIKEFORCE World Middleweight Champion Jake Shields and Muay Thai legend Jongsanan Fairtex.  “I’ll be getting the best Josh Thomson out there and he’s going to get the best Gilbert Melendez so it’s going to be a great fight for the fans.”

Tickets, priced from $30, are on sale at the HP Pavilion box office as well as at all Ticketmaster locations (800-745-3000), Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com) and STRIKEFORCE’S official website (www.strikeforce.com).

The live SHOWTIME® telecast will begin at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast), and conclude with a sensational, strikers’ main event featuring undefeated superstar and former STRIKEFORCE World Middleweight (185 pounds) Champion Cung Le (6-0) against power punching Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith (16-6).

Also in action will be 2000 Olympic wrestling silver medalist Matt “The Law” Lindland (21-6), who will take on fellow superstar Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (10-2) at middleweight.  Light heavyweight (205 pounds) star Muhammed ” King Mo ” Lawal (5-0) and middleweight knockout artist “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (16-5) will each face opponents to be announced.

About STRIKEFORCE
STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history.  The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265.  Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.”  In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose.

The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights

Following the live action of UFC 105, it is time to catchup on episode 9 of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights.

This week Roy ‘Kimbo Slayer’ Nelson squares off against Justin Wren. Aside of from the experience factor these guys appear pretty evenly matched when it comes to style and physicality, although Roy seems to carrying some extra timber.

Following the hard hits Matt Mitrione  received from Scott Junk, Matt seems to be still reeling from the effects. Suffering with a bad headache and dizziness, followed by throwing up, seems the Team Rashad member has concussion. Could this be another opportunity for a Kimbo Slice comeback? Whether Slice will be given another opportunity is unclear but the producers love to tease us don’t they?

In another entertaining moment from the show Rampage and Tiki prank Rashad, planting some chickens in his car. A chance for Rampage to get his own back since all the ribbing at his poor coaching ability and only one win for Team Rampage. Mike and Rashad saw the funny side though, the joke backfires and they are treated to  spanking new rental cars.

Mitrione returns from hospital, he wants to fight but is yet to receive medical clearance.

Pre-fight it is clear Nelson and Wren are well matched in grappling, the difference is the experience factor versus youth.

Round 1)

The first round is a tough fought brawl. Nelson defends well against Wren the aggressor, negating his attack. Neither combatant utilise their ground grapple skills. Throughout Brit and fellow member of Team Rashad – James McSweeney does a first rate job cornering Wren.

Round 2)

Come round round 2 Wren appears tired after the exertion in the first. The action continues upright through the majority of the bout. Overall it appeared even, giving good reason for a third round to decide the winner but it wasn’t to be. IFL veteran was announced the winner via a majority decision on the score cards.

Young hopeful Justin Wren was disappointed as you could imagine  but he gave it his all, Nelson had the better defence being the more experienced MMA fighter.

Dana White once again wasn’t impressed Roy Nelson’s performance despite the win, he does not seem to like the guy. Perhaps the fact Nelson is the ‘Kimbo Slayer’ plays a part in his low affinity for the heavyweight contestant? It’s clear Dana sees Kimbo as a good investment and displays respect for the street-fighter earning his dues joining the cast of TUF 10.

Episode 10 will feature Brendan battling it out with John for a place in the next round of the competition, plus it will be the week of the coaches challenge.

Don’t forget you can watch all the Aftemath videos at UFC.com

Watch The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights Saturdays 11pm on FIVE USA, in the UK on Freeview 31, Sky 174, Virgin Media 150 and Tiscali 30. Also shown on subscription channel ESPN and ESPN HD. Wednesdays on Spike TV in the US.

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

*** MEDIA ALERT ***

KANSAS CITY’S RUDY BEARS AND BOBBY VOELKER, FEMALE COMPETITOR KIM COUTURE AMONGST STRIKEFORCE MMA STARS TO PARTICIPATE IN OPEN TO PUBLIC WORKOUT AT RINGSIDE/COMBAT SPORT WORLD HEADQUARTERS

WHO: Main event fighter and Kansas City native Rudy Bears
Kansas City MMA pioneer Bobby Voelker
Xtreme Couture member Kim “Sugar Free” Couture

WHAT: Two days before the highly-anticipated, live SHOWTIME® televised STRIKEFORCE Challengers MMA event at Kansas City’s Memorial Hall, STRIKEFORCE and Ringside will co-host a free, open to the public workout for the media at Ringside/Combat Sport World Headquarters in Lenexa at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, November 18.

The participating fighters will demonstrate a typical MMA workout and answer questions from the media.

Bears will look to extend his six fight win streak in the STRIKEFORCE Challengers main event when he squares off with two-time All-American NCAA wrestler at University of Missouri and undefeated rising MMA star, Tyron “T-Wood” Woodley, at welterweight (170 pounds).

Voelker, Kansas City’s most popular MMA star who maintains a 50 plus hour per week job as a vinyl siding salesman and installer despite the rigorous demands of his fight career, will challenge Erik “Bad” Apple in another welterweight contest.

Couture will battle Kerry Vera in a 135-pound matchup only six days after their husbands, Randy “The Natural” Couture and Brandon “The Truth” Vera, collide in the main event of UFC 105.

Doors for the 11-bout STRIKEFORCE Challengers fight card at Memorial Hall open at 7:15 p.m. and the first preliminary card bout will begin at 8 p.m.  Tickets, priced from $35, are available at the Memorial Hall ticket office and Ticketmaster (800-745-3000) as well as online at Ticketmaster.com and Strikeforce.com.

WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 1 p.m.
WHERE: Ringside/Combat Sport World Headquarters
14865 W. 105th Street
Lenexa, Kansas 66215
Ph:  913-888-7766

It was time for the Brits to shine again this past Saturday night as the Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to the MEN Arena in Manchester for their latest offering, with Randy Couture and Brandon Vera going at it in the main event of UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera, shown live here in Britain on ESPN, with Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan handling commentary duties.

The broadcast began with Ultimate Fighter 9 lightweight winner Ross Pearson making his UFC debut proper against Aaron Riley. This was a hell of a debut for Pearson, as he put in a dominating performance, controlling the flow of the fight from the beginning, with Riley looking very tentative. Pearson looked great in all aspects, and he probably would have finished the fight himself if the doctors hadn’t stopped it, with Riley having sustained a nasty cut, courtesy of a Pearson flying knee. Good stuff from Pearson here, giving us Brits another fighter to keep an eye on.

Then it was on to James Wilks taking on Matt Brown at welterweight. Wilks looked good to begin with, but as the fight progressed Brown really got into his game, controlling the fight and putting in some nice work. He may well have got the submission win with a triangle in the second round, but the clock was against him. Wilks looked exhausted as the third round started, and it looked like he was about to stage something of a comeback until a sustained ground and pound attack from Brown earned him the TKO win. Another very good fight, with Brown in particular looking great.

Fight three was the proverbial blink and you’ll miss it affair, with Andre Winner facing Rolando Delgado in a lightweight encounter. Delgado went for a few knees and kicks early on, but a big right from Winner sent him crashing to the mat. It wasn’t long before Winner unloaded with the big right hand again, and this one completely knocked Delgado out as he fell to the ground like a sack of spuds, ending a very impressive performance from Winner here.

Britain’s most popular mixed martial artist, Michael Bisping, was up next, looking to get his career back on track as we went up against Denis Kang in a middleweight bout. Kang came into this one with a big reputation, and many people thought that this would be a cake walk for the former Pride star, and he put on a good display in the first round with his ground game. However, Bisping proved to be his equal, quickly shaking off the right hand that had knocked him down to put on a tremendous defensive display. So having been on the defensive in the first round, Bisping went on the offensive in the second, scoring with numerous take downs. When Bisping went for the ground and pound after the second take down, Kang got busted open, and from there you could tell it was only a matter of time, with the referee calling a halt to proceedings when Kang failed to respond to Bisping’s final ground and pound onslaught, earning him the TKO win in what was possibly the best performance of his career.

The second blink and you’ll miss it affair came next, with Alexander Gustafsson facing Jared Hamman in a light heavyweight fight. This one began as a slugfest, but soon saw Hamman down on the mat after a Gustafsson right. Brief ground and pound followed, but Hamman was out of it by the time the referee stepped in. A short but impressive display from Gustafsson here as he earned the TKO win.

The big welterweight fight followed, with Mike Swick facing Dan Hardy for a possible shot at Georges St-Pierre’s title. This may have been the best fight on the night, a great encounter between two fighters looking to get that big fight. Both men put on a good display in an even looking first two rounds, with Hardy really upping his game in the third, showing some good stand-up and ground work. All in all it was a very good fight, with Hardy getting the unanimous decision after three hard fought rounds, and rightfully so. This writer hopes that he gets that well deserved title shot.

The main event saw Randy Couture returning to the light heavyweight division to face a man who had recently gone down there himself, Brandon Vera. To say that the Natural got a great reception would be an understatement. This fight proved to be a little controversial to say the least. Couture’s game plan was to use his wrestling skills against Vera, and this involved controlling his opponent up against the cage. If truth be told, Couture did a good job here, but it was in the third round that many thought Vera had won it, rocking Couture with his punches and causing damage to his ribs with several great kicks. But this just didn’t seem to be enough in the eyes of the judges, with all three giving the fight to Couture, which didn’t sit too well with Vera. Many thought that even though Couture had controlled the majority of the fight, the damage Vera caused in the third was enough to get him the win. And I have to admit, I thought Vera had edged it.

In conclusion – the UFC’s latest foray to this side of the pond proved to be a very good show, and a very good advertisement for how far mixed martial arts has come in this country over the past few years, with Ross Pearson, Michael Bisping and Dan Hardy all putting in great performances. As for the main event decision, well, we’ve had two dodgy main event decisions in a row now. Let’s hope we don’t get another one next weekend.

Review courtesy of Julian Radbourne @ www.twoshedsreview.com

KANSAS CITY NATIVE RUDY BEARS, TYRON WOODLEY AND OTHER STRIKEFORCE STARS TO HOST OPEN WORKOUT AT RINGSIDE/COMBAT SPORT WORLD HEADQUARTERS

WHO: Rudy Bears, Tyron Woodley, Sarah Kaufman, Kim Couture, Aaron Rosa, “Feijao” Cavalcante, Erik Apple and Boby Voelker.

WHAT: Open workout to the media as budding superstars in the Strikeforce Challenger series prepare for the 11-bout fight card at Memorial Hall. Some of the brightest up-and-coming local and national talent, including St. Louis’s Woodley, a two-time All-American NCAA wrestler at the University of Missouri, who will put his perfect 4-0 record on the line against Kansas City resident Rudy Bears in the main event Friday on SHOWTIME.

WHERE: Ringside/Combat Sport World Headquarters
14865 W. 105th Street
Lenexa , Kansas 66215

WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 1 p.m., CT