UFC Fight Night 18 Review
Nashville, Tennessee – Not since the days of “The King” Elvis Presley; has the great State of Tennessee been treated to Mixed Martial Arts. Nashville’s Sommet Center was filled to the rafters Wednesday night as The Ultimate Fighting Championship made its “Music City” debut.
UFC Fight Night 18: Condit vs. Kampmann provided the 10,267 attendees and the millions watching on SpikeTV an exciting night of fights.
The Main event featured the UFC debut of the former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit as he battled Martin Kampmann for three brutal rounds. Kampmann, a Danish kick boxer, earned a paper thin split decision over Condit, spoiling his UFC debut.
It was evident in the early goings that both fighters came to scrap as they traded submission attempts in the first round. Condit found success as he landed a huge flying knee that opened up “The Hitman.” Kampmann was able to survive the blow and locked in a deep guillotine choke as the round came to an end.
The second round mirrored much of round one as the fighters exchanged submission attempts. Kampmann seemed to have a leg up on Condit cardio wise and it paid dividends in round three.
After shrugging off an inadvertent eye poke from Condit, Kampmann was able to work from top position keeping Condit on his back. Kampmann was able to survive a last second submission attempt and apparently did enough in two of the judges’ eyes to earn a split decision victory.
Kampmann is now 2-0 as a welterweight and is quickly climbing the championship ladder. Stellar in defeat, Carlos Condit has nothing to be ashamed of and will quickly bounce back.
The co-main event featured Ryan Bader, who we last saw winning “The Ultimate Fighter 8” as he faced fellow light heavyweight Carmelo Marrero.
Bader used his strong wrestling background and kept the visibly frustrated Marrero on his back for the duration of the fight. Bader looked impressive in the first round and nearly secured a submission victory via arm bar, but Marrero survived.
Bader will continue to add weapons to his already strong wrestling game and should be a force to be reckoned with in a few years.
Tyson Griffin and Rafael dos Anjos did their best to entertain the crowd during their lightweight contest. Griffin was able to survive a nasty leg lock in round one and an equally impressive arm bar in round two to earn yet another unanimous decision.
Griffin decided to keep the fight standing and his punches were tight and crisp as he bounces back from his October defeat of Sean Sherk.
Known more for his vile behavior than his MMA skills, TUF 8 alum Junie Browning was shut out and shut up by Cole Miller. Miller dominated Browning at the get go and sank in a fight ending guillotine in round one, ‘nuff said!
Here’s to not seeing Junie Browning on a televised card again, unless it’s MTV’s Tool Academy!
PRELIMINARY RESULTS
• Gleison Tibau def. Jeremy Stephens via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Ricardo Almeida def. Matt Horwich via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Brock Larson def. Jesse Sanders via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 2:01
• Tim Credeur def. Nick Catone via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 2, 3:45
• Jorge Rivera def. Nissen Osterneck via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Rob Kimmons def. Joe Vedepo via submission (guillotine choke), Round 1 - 1:54
• Aaron Simpson def. Tim McKenzie via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 1:40
