The UFC Blog

Brock Larson came into this fight after suffering his first loss to huge underdog Mike Pierce in his last fight. Brian Foster had lost his UFC debut to Rick Story, but pocketed teh Fight of the Night Bonus. The heavily favored Larson got shooled by Story in the first round, including getting mounted midway through. Larson made matters worse for his own cause with two point deductions, leading to a 10-7 round for Foster.

Proving the opening was no fluke, Foster dominated Larson on the feet, ragdolled him, exploded with hammer fists and ultimately made Larson tap to strikes at 3:22 of the second round.

Fabricio Camoes hadn’t lost a fight since 2006 coming into his UFC debut tonight against veteran Caol Uno. The streak is alive, but not the way you’d expect.

The Brazilian was a hair away from finishing the fight by rear naked choke in the first round but Uno tucked his chin by just enough to survive. Uno clearly won the second stanza, which became a 10-8 round by virtue of a Camoes upkick that led to a one point deduction. Uno took the third round as well, maintaining controlling positions for most of the round. Much to Uno, my and the crowd’s surprise, two judges scored the fight 28-28 and another 29-27 leading to a rare majority draw. Camoes is a good young fighter, but should have a loss on his record after this one.

Bodybuilding.com is here at the Mandalay Bay to bring you the undercard of UFC 106. Let’s get started.

George Sotiropoulos has showed amazing ground skills in his short time in the UFC since appearing on The Ultimate Fighter. Tonight was no exception as the Matt Serra trained ground wizard had fellow TUF veteran Jason Dent in the first round but couldn’t finish him. George was able to get Jason back into a full mount position in the second round, transitioned nicely and ended up locking in a fight-ending armbar about four minutes into the round.

Vegas, Nevada – The wait is finally over!  The longest reigning light heavyweight champion if UFC history makes his much anticipated return to the octagon tomorrow night as Tito Ortiz squares off with former champion Forrest Griffin.  

The Oritz/Griffin rematch will headline UFC 106 and will also feature a welterweight bout between Anthony “Rumble” Johnson and Josh Koscheck.

“The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz has not fought since he lost to Lyoto Machida in May of 08.  He’s coming off a successful back surgery and claims to be one hundred percent, but we’ve heard that before.  

Forrest also has had his fair share of obstacles this last year.  Since defeating “Rampage” Jackson for the light heavyweight title, Forrest was beat down by Rashad Evans and embarrassed by Anderson Silva.  

Both fighters are desperate for a victory and desperation usually means an exciting fight.

Tito is world renown for his cardio and wrestling.  Recently he’s stepped up his striking while training with Freddie Roach.  Tito is 34 and I believe has one more title run in the UFC.  

Forrest has taken quite a few beatings in his last fights.  His balls out approach might be taking a toll on his body and head.  To be successful, Forrest should utltilize the same game plan that he used for “Rampage.”  Leg kicks, leg kicks and more leg kicks.  He’ll need to chop Tito’s legs down; slowing down his takedown attempts.

This fight will play out similar to their first fight at UFC 59.  An injured Tito earned a split decision victory over a still “green” Forrest.  This go around, Tito will smash Forrest for the first two rounds while Forrest earns round three.

Tito is back, unanimous decision for my boy!

Fireworks will be going off with a stellar bout between two of the welterweights top contenders.  KO machine Anthony “Rumble” Johnson looks to continue he meteoric ascent up the food chain as he battles Josh Koscheck.

Johnson has been on a tear since dropping a controversial loss to Kevin Burns.  He avenged that loss with a stunning head kick KO and his 4-0 since.

Koscheck has been equally impressive with his latest KO victory over Frank Trigg.  “Kos” is a talented wrestler and his standup improves fight to fight.

Johnson is a monster at 170 and quite honestly might be the most dangerous striker in the whole division.  Both fighters have trained with each other in the past, but they are not friends.  
Koscheck has wanted to fight with someone who will bring the fight and Johnson will be more than willing.

Johnson will take care of business in round one securing “knock out of the night!”

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (17-3) twin brother of former UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is set to make his UFC debut.  He gets a tough test in Luis Cane.

Cane is scary standing up and is nearly undefeated.  His only blemish was a no contest against James Irvin many moons ago.  

Both fighters have fought Sokodjou in the past with Cane knocking him out and Nogueira’s lone KO defeat was due to him.

This fight will a barn burner for sure, but I’m going to with the Pride veteran Nogueira.

“The NY Bad Ass” Phil Baroni is back in the UFC, I’m not sure how this happened, but he’s back.  

Baroni was once a promising fighter but that was years ago.  His record is 13-11 and hasn’t beaten anyone worth mentioning in five years.  He’ll be facing TUF winner Amir Saddollah in welterweight action.

Saddollah lost his UFC debut in a controversial KO to Johnny Hendricks and is hungry to erase that memory.

Saddollah is solid on the ground and should secure a victory if he can stay away from the bombs Baroni will throw for the first minute.

Saddollah wins in round three via submission.

Event: UFC 106
Date: Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009, at 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view (PPV)
Location: Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada

Main event:

205 lbs.: Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin

Main card (Televised):

170 lbs.: Anthony Johnson vs. Josh Koscheck
205 lbs.: Luis Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
170 lbs.: Phil Baroni vs. Amir Sadollah
170 lbs.: Dustin Hazelett vs. Karo Parisyanv CANCLED

Under card (May not be broadcast):

170 lbs.: Marcus Davis vs. Ben Saunders
185 lbs.: Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt
170 lbs.: Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann
170 lbs.: Brian Foster vs. Brock Larson
155 lbs.: Fabricio Camoes vs. Caol Uno
155 lbs.: George Sotiropoulos vs. Jason Dent

Make sure to tune in on Monday for Pro MMA Radio’s recap of WEC 44 with the promotion’s GM, Reed Harris. We’ll also have a full recap of UFC 106 with Yahoo MMA Blogger Steve Cofield.

Pro MMA Radio is the official MMA radio show of Bodybuilding.com, FIGHT! Magazine, Flex Magazine and MMA Mania. The show airs every Monday at 6PM PST, 9PM EST and is hosted by Larry Pepe.

José Aldo became the new WEC Featherweight Champion with a dominant performance over Mike Brown that culminated in a second round TKO finish. Aldo, a lightning fast, dynamic striker showed that he is a much more well rounded fighter than people may have thought with phenomenal takedown defense and a calm, cool demeanor that you would expect him someone 10 years senior to the 23-year-old Brazilian.

In a fight that could very well have title implications at some point down the road, Manny Gamburyan scored a unanimous decision victory over fellow contender Leonard Garcia in a bout that Manny controlled with a strong ground game and solid striking. Depending on the outcome of Faber vs. Assuncao in January, don’t be surprised to see Manny in the title discussion sooner rather than later.

WEC newcomer Karen Darabedyan beat former WEC lightweight champion "Razor" Rob McCullough, getting a split-decision win in a very close fight. Darabedyan is a training partner of Gamburyan and was very impressive in his debut fight in the WEC, a fight he took on short notice.

It looked like Danny Castillo was narrowly getting the better of Shane Roller until he ended up with Shane on his back seccuring a fight ending choke in the third round. Roller feels he should be getting a title shot in his next WEC appearance. We’ll have to wait and see what matchmaker Sean Shelby and GM Reed Harris think, but this victory definitely moved him one step closer.

In the first Versus-televised bout of the night, Iranian-born Kamal Shalorus showed solid striking that inflicted enough damage on Will Kerr for the referee to step in (a bit prematurely to my eyes) at just 1:26 of the first round.

WEC 44 was yet another great night of fights put on by the organization that houses the best fighters in the world under 145 pounds.

The five fights on the undercard were a good appetizer for the main course that was yet to come.

L.C. Davis rolled to a dominant unanimous decision victory over previously undefeated Diego Nunes. Davis controlled the fight both standing and on the ground and is now 2-0 in the WEC and 15-2 overall.

Cub Swanson bounced back from a vicious 8 second knockout at the hands of new WEC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo (OK, actually it was from a flying knee, not from his hands at all) to finish John Franchi with a guillotine choke in the third round. Swanson was getting the best of Franchi for the bulk of the fight and showed a lot of character in coming back from such a tough loss.

Antonio Banuelos scored a unanimous decision over Kenji Osawa in a slugfest that saw the always exciting take two of the three rounds on all the judges scorecards. Antonio had some starpower in his corner with Chuck Liddell standing by his roomie.

Ricardo Lamas also got back in the win column with a unanimous decision over James Krause, 30-27 on all cards. Lamas got KO’d by Danny Castillo in his last fight and was asking for a rematch after dispensing with Krause, who last fought, and lost to, Cowboy Cerrone.

Frank Gomez and Seth Dikun started the night out with the Greg Jackson trained Gomez scoring a unanimous decision over the WEC first timer Dikun.

Manchester, England – The questionable judging in Mixed Martial Arts continued Saturday night as Randy “The Natural” Couture secured a unanimous decision over Brandon “The Truth” Vera in the main event of UFC 105.

The unanimous decision left much of the record 16,693 fans within the MEN Arena puzzled.

Vera came out quick rocking Couture with a nice combo of punches and kicks.  Couture was able to survive and quickly turned the MMA battle into a wrestling match.  Couture was able to pin Vera against the cage for much of round one and for that reason won the round.

Vera was successful in round two landing some painful kicks to the body and dropped Couture with a knee to his body.  Couture grimaced with pain and fell to the mat.  Round two easily belonged to “The Truth”.

Round three was close as Vera secured a takedown and mounted Couture, but was unable to take advantage.  Couture was able to throw a few flurries at the end which may have proved dividends as all three judges scored the bout 29-28 in favor of Couture.

Vera nearly pulled a “Forrest Griffin” as he stormed out of the cage, but decided not to sprint out like Griffin did.  

Vera’s offense was more damaging and looked unscathed after fifteen minutes with “The Natural”.

I nearly forgot how boring Randy’s fights are at 205lb.  As a larger light heavyweight, Randy is able to out muscle and lay on his opponents instead of striking.  I wish he would have stayed at heavyweight!

Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy earned a welterweight title shot as he defeated Mike “Quick” Swick in the night’s co-main event.

Hardy came to bang and his standup looked impressive as he rocked Swick on numerous occasions.  He also proved his chin was solid as Swick got his licks in as well.  

Hardy is now 4-0 in the UFC and a date with GSP is next.

Michael “The Count” Bisping can return to running his mouth again as he defeated Denis Kang in middleweight action.  

Kang looked impressive in round one as he dropped Bisping with a solid right hand, but was unable to capitalize with any ground and pound.  

Bisping came out in the second round determined as he secured a takedown and landed some punishment of his own.  Kang was unable to recover and the ref stopped the fight at the 4:24 mark of round two.

Matt Brown spoiled the first fight since winning TUF 9 for James Wilkes.  The fight was close entering round three, but Brown was able to escape a tight kimura.  Brown was able to gain top position and he landed some crushing blows that ended the night for Wilkes.  

The fight was stopped at the 2:27 mark of round three.  Brown is a no nonsense fighter and will be a tough fight for anyone.

Fellow TUF 9 winner Ross Pearson was successful in his UFC debut as he punished Aaron Riley for nearly two rounds.

Pearson used a barrage of strikes and knees that bloodied Riley.  One knee in particular opened up the veteran fighter and the he was unable to continue due to doctor stoppage.

  OFFICIAL RESULTS:
• Randy Couture def. Brandon Vera via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Dan Hardy def. Mike Swick via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Michael Bisping def. Denis Kang via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 4:24
• Matt Brown def. James Wilks via TKO (punches) - Round 3, 2:27
• Ross Pearson def. Aaron Riley via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) - Round 2, 4:38
• John Hathaway def. Paul Taylor via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
• Terry Etim def. Shannon Gugerty via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 2, 1:24
• Nick Osipczak def. Matthew Riddle via TKO (punches) - Round 3, 3:53
• Dennis Siver def. Paul Kelly via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 2:53
• Alexander Gustafsson def. Jared Hamman via knockout (punches) - Round 1, 0:41
• Andre Winner def. Rolando Delgado via knockout (punch) - Round 1, 3:22

Manchester, England – Former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion Randy “The Natural” Couture returns to the light heavyweight division for the first time since 2006 as he faces Brandon “The Truth” Vera.

Manchester’s MEN arena will witness many of there own do battle tonight as Michael “The Count” Bisping looks to rebound from his devastating UFC 100 knockout loss to Dan Henderson as he faces Denis Kang.  The night’s co-main event will be a welterweight number one contender bout between Mike “Quick” Swick and Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy.

The UFC 105 main card will be aired free on SPIKE TV for us stateside and will start at 8PM ET.  

Randy “Father Time” Couture has had a ton of success in two divisions, but he hasn’t been victorious within the octagon in over two years.  Randy was stellar in defeat to both Brock Lesnar and most recently Minotauro Nogueira.  Facing a three fight losing streak; time had come to switch things up.  

We last saw Randy compete at 205 back in 2006 where he suffered a second round knockout loss at the hands of Chuck Liddell.  He retired that night but came back a year later to dethrone then heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.  

To claim victory, Randy will also need to return to his strength; wrestling.  He couldn’t out wrestle Brock, he decided to stand with “Big Nog” and he came up short both times.  Vera is somebody he can out muscle and will be able to dictate the fight.  

Vera is a talented muay Thai striker and is finding his stride with in the light heavyweight division.  Since dropping a razor thin split decision to Keith Jardine, Vera is now riding a two fight win streak.  

To be victorious, Vera will need to punish the legs of Couture making it hard for him to shoot for takedowns.  Vera is also well versed in submissions, but Couture is nearly un-submittal as we saw in his last fight against Nogueira.  

This fight will take place wherever Randy wants, He’ll out power Vera and turn this MMA bout into a wrestling match.  

Couture will not taste defeat tonight and may have one more title run in him.  

Randy Couture defeats Brandon Vera by unanimous decision, bank on it!

England’s own “Outlaw” Dan Hardy is 3-0 in the UFC and is quickly becoming a suitor for George St. Pierre’s welterweight championship.  He’ll face his toughest test in Mike “Quick” Swick.  

Since moving down to 170lb Mike Swick has been unstoppable.  He’s 4-0 and his last two victories have been TKO’s.  Swick has found a home in the welterweight division and is ready to stake his claim as champion.  

Swick is all around the better fighter and his thirsty for blood.  Hardy has a knack for getting under the skin of his opponents and it’s no different tonight.  Swick is an angry bull, seeing red and is ready to gore the Englishmen.  

Don’t blink during this fight; Swick will make quick work of Hardy.

Middleweights Michael Bisping and Denis Kang are both in need of a victory to stay relevant in the middleweight title picture.  

Kang fizzled in his UFC debut against Alan Belcher, but bounced back at UFC 97 with a victory over Xavier Foupa-Pokam.  With over forty career fights, Kang is a legit title contender and should be able to humble the cocky Brit.  

Bisping was embarrassed by Dan Henderson in July as he was knocked silly.  Bisping’s mouth hasn’t been running as much lately and he looks to erase that memory with a stellar performance tonight.

I’m going to go with a small upset here.  I like Kang via TKO in round two.  Bisping is a decent fighter, but has little KO power and is no wizard on the ground.  If Kang is mentally prepared, he should have little trouble here.

TUF 9 winners James Wilks and Ross Pearson will also be in action tonight.  

Wilks faces Matt Brown, who is on a two fight win streak.  Brown is relentless and is talented enough to spoil the homecoming for Wilks.  

Pearson faces a tough test as well as he fights Aaron Riley.  Riley is veteran of over forty career fights and is coming off a victory over Shane Nelson.  Riley is a grizzled veteran and look for him to steal this fight from Pearson.

So four Brits are fighting on the main card, can they all taste defeat?  Let’s hope so!

MAIN CARD
• Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera
• Dan Hardy vs. Mike Swick
• Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang
• Matt Brown vs. James Wilks
• Ross Pearson vs. Aaron Riley
PRELIMINARY CARD
• Terry Etim vs. Shannon Gugerty
• John Hathaway vs. Paul Taylor
• Nick Osipczak vs. Matthew Riddle
• Paul Kelly vs. Dennis Siver
• Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jared Hamman
• Roli Delgado vs. Andre Winner

Undefeated Heavyweight Title Contender Shane Carwin was slated to meet division champion Brock Lesnar at UFC 106 later this month until Lesnar had to postpone the fight due to an illness. Carwin, considered by most in the know to be the biggest threat to separate Lesnar from the belt, joins Pro MMA Radio this week to talk about the postponement, preparing to fight Lesnar and how he maintains his career as an engineer while training to be a world champion mixed martial artist.

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