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It was a big night for Brazilian fighters as the Ultimate Fighting Championship went to Rio as Yushin Okami challenged Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title in the main event of UFC 134, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on ESPN here in Britain.

The broadcast began in the light heavyweight division as Luiz Cane faced Stanislav Nedkov.

A lot of feeling out at the beginning of this one as Nedkov threw a lot of overhand rights, with Cane responding with some sound combinations.

Although we saw some good shots it was only as the first round neared it’s final minute that the fight sprang to life. An overhand right followed by a left hook rocked the Brazilian, and as he staggered around like a baby learning to walk Nedkov went in for the kill, with the referee stopping the fight as Nedkov unloaded with the ground and pound.

It was up to heavyweight for the next fight as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira went up against Brendan Schaub.

We saw some more great striking in this one. Schaub connected with a couple of sweet looking uppercuts that rocked big Nog, but it wasn’t long before a left/right combination rocked the former Ultimate Fighter finalist. Nog followed up with several piston-like lefts and rights as Schaub slumped to the ground, the referee stepping in to give the hometown boy the knockout win.

Filler material followed as Erick Silva faced Luis Ramos in the welterweight division.

This all Brazilian battle was the blink and you’ll miss it affair. After a brief feeling out period Silva connected with a big right that sent Ramos down like the proverbial sack of spuds. Silva followed him down for a brief moment of ground and pound before the referee stopped the action, giving Silva the impressive TKO win.

The regular action resumed in the lightweight division as my fellow Brit Ross Pearson took on Edson Barboza.

The first fight of the broadcast to go the distance was an intriguing striking battle. Pearson had some success early on, but after Barboza connected with a spinning back kick to the body the fight got a whole lot more interesting.

The Brazilian seemed to get better as the fight went on, scoring with a succession of combinations and kicks. It wasn’t all one way traffic though as Pearson got in some good shots, although as the fight ended the Brit’s face was swelling badly.

So with the fight going the distance it was down to the judges, with Barboza taking the split decision.

The battle of former Light Heavyweight Champions followed as Mauricio Rua faced Forrest Griffin for the second time.

Very little happened in the first 60 seconds, but when we got past the one minute mark Shogun went to work, unleashing with the combinations as Griffin went down after a big right. The Brazilian followed him for some ground and pound, with the referee stepping in as Griffin went limp, giving Rua the knockout win.

The main event saw Yushin Okami challenge Anderson Silva for the Middleweight title.

Once again Silva proved he is the best there is at what he does. Beginning the fight in his usual way it wasn’t long before he got the better of a clinch against the cage, ending the first round by connecting with a left kick to the back of Okami’s head and neck.

The arrogance and cockiness was on display at the beginning of the second when a simple jab knocked Okami down. The champion didn’t follow him down though, and invited Okami back to his feet. It was another jab that sent Okami down again, and this time Silva went in for the kill with the ground and pound, with the referee stepping in to give the Spider the title retaining TKO win.

So with nearly an hour left to kill it was on to more filler material as Paulo Thiago faced David Mitchell (no, not that one) in the welterweight division.

This fight featured something we hadn’t seen all evening, some ground work. Thiago put on a great display whenever the fight went down to the ground, while Mitchell always seemed to look like a fish out of water.

Thiago also controlled the striking game, mainly because Mitchell seemed content to throw out his one punch combinations.

The Brazilian went back to the ground towards the end of the third, taking Mitchell’s back and going for a rear naked choke and then the ground and pound as the fight came to an end.

So once again the judges came into play as all three gave everything to Thiago.

Then it was down to the bantamweight division as Yves Jabouin took on Ian Loveland.

The first fight of the broadcast that didn’t feature a Brazilian was a great back and forth encounter. Loveland began the fight by coming forward quickly before taking the fight to the ground and going for a kimura.

Jabouin, for his part, put in some good striking, especially with the kicks, mixing it up with some nice spin kicks.

That was basically how the rest of the played out, with Loveland looking good on the ground and holding his own against Jabouin in the striking department, particularly in the third round.

So with neither man able to finish it was down to the judges, with Jabouin taking the split decision.

In conclusion – with only Luiz Cane failing to get the win it certainly proved to be a great night for the home country fighters in the UFC’s first Brazilian show for over a decade.

All the fights shown certainly delivered here, with the performances of big Nog and the Spider particularly impressing as once again I’m left to wonder if there is anyone left in the middleweight division anywhere in the world who could actually defeat Anderson Silva.

So taking all of that into account UFC 134 gets the big thumbs up from this particular writer as another example of why, like their Middleweight Champion, Dana White and his crew are the best they are at what they do.

Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com.

It was a title shot taken at short notice as Mauricio “Shogun” Rua defended the Light Heavyweight title against Jon “Bones” Jones in the main event of UFC 128, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning here in Britain.

The broadcast began with the preliminaries, beginning with lightweight action as Edson Barboza faced Anthony Njokuani.

I had been very impressed with Njokuani’s kickboxing displays during my World Combat League reviews, so this was one fight I was really looking forward to.

This was a very good striking battle. Barboza began strongly, rocking Njokuani with a big right early in the first. Njokuani was clearly stunned for the remainder of the round.

But from the second round onwards Njokuani worked his way back into the fight with some crisp striking, including a great looking spinning back elbow. However, Barboza managed to get the big take down as the round ended.

It was the same story for the third, good striking from Njokuani with Barboza again getting the late take down. The last act of the fight was a Barboza spin kick to Njokuani’s head.

The judges were quickly called into action as all three scored in favour of Barboza, although I thought Njokuani had just edged it.

It was up to the light heavyweight division for the next fight as Luiz Cane took on Eliot Marshall.

A quick fight saw Marshall looking for the early take down, looking to negate Cane’s striking ability.

It never happened though. A straight left rocked Marshall and sent him down. Cane was all over his man like a cheap suit as he rained down with a torrent of blows. Marshal simply had no answer to this, and the referee stepped in after Marshall took a hell of a beating, Cane getting the deserved TKO win.

Then it was down to the featherweight division as Raphael Assuncao faced Erik Koch.

Lots of feeling out at the beginning of this one with both fighters testing the waters with kicks and jabs.

But when Assuncao came forward to attack Koch connected with a right hook. Assuncao went down like the proverbial sack of spuds, giving Koch the knockout win.

The main show began with heavyweight action as Mirko Cro Cop went up against Brendan Schaub.

This proved to be a very good main show opener, with solid displays from both men as well as a couple of controversial moments.

Schaub looked to negate Cro Cop’s big weapon straight away by simply moving to his left. He also scored with some impressive take downs, although he earned a point deduction in the second for blows to the back of the head.

Cro Cop had his good moments as well as he bloodied Schaub’s nose and left eye. He also earned a warning for connecting with an up kick to the head while Schaub was still grounded.

The end came in the third round when Schaub connected with a right hand. Cro Cop went down immediately. Schaub followed him down but the referee quickly stepped in to give him the very impressive TKO win.

It was down to the middleweight division for the next fight as Nate Marquardt took on late replacement Dan Miller.

This three round affair saw some great ground work from both men. Miller was relentless with his take down attempts at times, and Marquardt looked highly impressive when he scored with the big slam.

Both men had other good moments as well with Miller going for a couple of guillotine attempts while Marquardt opened his man up with some great looking ground and pound.

The judges came into play once again with all three giving the fight to Marquardt, a disappointing result for the New Jersey fans.

Dan’s brother Jim Miller was up next, taking on Kamal Shalorus in the lightweight division.

Miller put on a good display of striking throughout, catching Shalorus a number of times. He also showed some great work on the ground. His take down and quick transition to the back was a thing of beauty, although he couldn’t seal the deal with the rear naked choke afterwards.

The end came in the third round. Miller connected with an uppercut, quickly following up with a knee that sent Shalorus down. Miller went for the ground and pound, with the referee stepping in to give Miller the TKO win.

The co-main event saw Uriah Faber going up against Eddie Wineland in the bantamweight division.

Another great three rounder saw Wineland getting off to a good start in the first round, looking particularly impressive when he took Faber’s back and took him down to the mat.

Faber began his comeback at the start of the second round. After getting the take down he put on a great display of ground and pound, adding some crisp striking in the third and finishing the fight with some more nice ground work.

The judges again came into play as all three scored in favour of Faber’s highly impressive display.

The main event saw Jon Jones challenging Shogun Rua for the Light Heavyweight title.

From the moment this fight began Jones dominated. Although he looked a little wild at the start it wasn’t long before he settled down.

From there he took it to the champion in every aspect of the game. His striking was crisp, his ground and pound was solid, and his defensive work was top notch.

Shogun just had no response to Jones’ assault, and by the time the third round started the Brazilian looked exhausted. Jones continued with his assault, and after some more tremendous ground and pound Shogun staggered to his feet, only to get knocked straight back down. As Shogun slumped against the cage the referee stepped in to give Jones the title winning TKO win.

A second showing of the Assuncao/Koch fight rounded out the show.

In conclusion – this was one of those shows that had that feel good factor about it, something we haven’t really seen since Randy Couture defeated Tim Sylvia for the Heavyweight title a few years ago.

Shogun vs. Jones proved to be another great outing for the UFC. There were plenty of great performances, topped off nicely by the excellent main event, and surprisingly no technical cock-ups from ESPN, meaning that we actually got to see every second of every fight.

So in all UFC 128 gets the big thumbs up. Nice work guys.

Along with putting all the UFC pay per view events on DVD for you to own, fortunately for us FightDVD also release all the best of collectors discs. One such recent offering is UFC Best of 2009.

Originally aired on ESPN, this unique DVD has the function of choosing extra bouts in their entirety as you view the main feature or you can pick to see the fights separately from the menu.

2009 without a doubt was an exciting year for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, seeing new champions crowned, emerging top contenders plus returning cage warriors returning to better form. If you weren’t able to catch all the UFC’s output last year then this DVD for you.

Highlights include the epic battle of champions, Georges ‘Rush’ St Pierre (Welterweight champ), challenged by the then reigning lightweight title holder BJ ‘The Prodigy’ Penn.

Another pivotal title fight was the crowning of new light-heavyweight king Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida, who devastated ‘Suga’ Rashad Evans.

One of the biggest moments of them all had to be at the monumental pay per view – UFC 100. That huge moment there on July 11 being former WWE wrestler Brock Lesnar beating Frank Mir. Yes, ‘the next big thing’ stamped his moniker on Mir and the heavyweight division, thus avenging his only MMA lost.

Along with dominant champions, 2009 saw a huge return for octagon icon Chuck Liddell. The KO loss to Shogun Rua reminded us the best is behind the UFC Hall of Famer. Former PRIDE FC legend Rua of course went on to greater glory, putting in a great performance versus Machida, earning a return title fight in 2010.

Still in the LHW bracket, 2009 was the year a UFC great – Tito Ortiz made his return to active MMA competition and the ranks of the UFC. A new arrival making an impact Brazilian Little Nog.

The newer emerging talent featured on the 2 disc set that get a shout are Brits Dan ‘Outlaw’ Hardy, who had a fantastic year, plus Scouser Terry Etim, another rising star from our fair isles. Can’t forget the success of the UK contingent on season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter. Lightweight winner Ross Pearson in particular is a fighter to watch the progress of.

A fight aired at part of TUF 9 finale making the compilation here is Diego ‘Nightmare’ Sanchez facing Clay ‘The Carpenter’ Guida, in possibly the best slug-fest of ’09.

TUF 10: The Heavyweights receives a mention but here too, but not enough time here given to winner Roy Nelson, a fighter Dana White didn’t seem to appreciate.

The Best of 2009 may not be personally all what you might pick for the DVD but it’s clearly a value for money addition to your MMA DVD collection, boasting 345 minutes worth of ultimate-fighting action in total, including bonus material, peeking behind the scenes of memorable 2009 cage-clashes.

UFC Best Of 2009 is out now on DVD, available direct from www.fightdvd.co.uk and all good retailers.

Keep visiting BluRayMMA.com for more reviews of brand new UFC, related combat sport and martial arts DVD releases.

If you are yet to see it here is the UFC 104 Countdown video as shown on Spike TV in the US and ESPN in the UK.

http://www.blitzcorner.com/MMA/Countdown-to-UFC-104-Video

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com

UFC & MMA blog by Duane Farr

duane@bluraymma.com