UFC 73: Stacked Live Fight Recap

According to www.Sherdog.com here are the dark matches so far:

* Mark Bocek vs. Frank Edgar - Frank Edgar wins by TKO due to strikes at 4:55 of R1.

* Jason Gilliam vs. Chris Lytle - Lytle defeats Gilliam via keylock at 2:15 of R1.

* Diego Saraiva vs. Jorge Gurgel - Gurgel defeats Saraiva via unanimous 30-27 decision.

* Mike Nickels vs. Stephan Bonnar - Bonnar defeats Nickels via rear naked choke at 2:14 of R1.

Here's the live card on PPV!

Nogueira dominates the first three oto four minutes with strikes. Herring hits a left kick to the jaw and Minotauro hits the canvas. Herring tries to finish him off with strikes but the referee won't stop the fight. Nog looks dazed between rounds.

Nog controlled most of the second round, getting takedowns largely at will, although Herring did score a key reversal midway through. Herring looks completely gassed and has a gash over his left eye and a shiner under his right. The fight is probably even on the judge's scorecards right now so R3 will decide it all.

Round three is almost a stalemate. Herring is landing more strikes but Nog has better control of the Octagon and often seems to have the Texas Cowboy on defense. Nog gets a choke midway but Herring slips out of it. To me this seems like a fight that's going to a split decision.

Here's Bruce Buffer with the announcement - all three judges score the contest 29-28 for a unanimous decision - WINNER: ANTONIO RODRIGO 'MINOTAURO' NOGUEIRA. Rogan compliments him on the heart and tenacity he showed in surviving the near knockout early to win the fight. Urijah Faber is shown in the crowd afterwards.

Franca comes out to the strains of "Crazy Train." Sherk has a one inch reach advantage over Franca. Buffer calls this fight the "ultimate proving ground for fighters" and indeed - five rounds of five minutes each always are. Franca's record is 19-5 and he weighs in at 154.5 pounds. Sherk's record 35-2-1 and he also weighs in at 154.5 pounds, fighting out of Oak Grove, MN. Let's get it on!

An early knee hits Sherk hard! He goes for the takedown but puts his neck into a choke in the process. Franca tries and tries to pull it tight but can't finish. Sherk survives and maintains the dominant position for the rest of R1.

Franca nearly gets him again at the start of R2! A huge knee sets up another submission attempt. Franca absolutely rattled Sherk but Sherk survived, pops the head up and he's mounted up with 4 minutes to go. Sherk dominates most of the second round until the last half minute when Franca went for another choke. Sherk had one of Franca's arms trapped and was never really in danger, and popped up a second before the round came to a close.

Sherk gets a North-South choke about 1:30 into R3 but Franca escapes. Sherk has Franca's back with about two minutes left but appears to be controlling as opposed to submitting or striking, and the crowd starts to boo as a result. The referee calls for more action and Franca tries to roll through but Sherk is on top of him in an instant. 45 seconds to go and Sherk is probably going to win the round due to ground control but nobody's enthralled. Crowd momentarily pops for an americana attempt but it goes nowhere and right back to side control for Sherk. Muscle Shark has to be ahead for at least 2 of 3 rounds. Franca may be gassed.

More boredom for the first 90 seconds of R4 with Sherk mostly in control. Sherk picks him up 15 seconds later for a big body slam and immediately goes back to side control. "Each time they stand up, it's like Franca only has one chance" according to Mike Goldberg and I tend to agree. Sherk is working the elbows and punches on the ground but is nowhere near finishing Franca despite how gassed he is. Knees to the body. Back to the feet with less than two minutes. Franca swings and misses with a wild right. Sherk shoots in and gets another takedown on the cage. Franca doesn't even go for a choke this time. Hermes stands up with 25 seconds and is taken right back down again. DO WE REALLY NEED A FIFTH ROUND - JUST GIVE UP!

Analysis from a friend watching the PPV: "Hermes is bleeding on his back, but that's about it." The crowd is booing heavily at this point. With two minutes left Hermes Franca looks like he's going for a leg hook but has no energy to lock it on. Francca tries to fight to his feet with 90 seconds to go but Sherk keeps taking him down with ease. Everybody wants this to move on to Evans v. Ortiz in a bad way. The fight is either 50-45 for Sherk or 49-46 on all scorecards. Crowd starts booing heavily with 31 seconds to go. Franca is trying to stand with 10 seconds to go but Sherk just holds onto him until the finish for another chorus of boos.

Here's Bruce Buffer with the decision - judges score the fight 50-45, 50-45, 49-46 unanimously. WINNER: SEAN 'THE MUSCLE SHARK' SHERK. Rogan compliments him on his positioning and takedowns which the crowd is not one bit happy about. Rogan inquires about him leaving UFC for a year, but Sherk says he's happy he came back and that he plans to train like a monster and retain his title no matter what. Rogan compliments him on being an amazing champion and Sherk dedicates his fight to a friend that died several weeks ago.

"Big" John McCarthy is the referee for this fight. Ortiz and Evans are both mean mugging as he gives the fight instructions. Ortiz with a left high kick to start and shoots in for the takedown right away. Evans starts to posture up along the fence about one minute in and finally gets up to his feet at 75 seconds. Big slugfest at 1:45 in. Ortiz has him up against the fence. McCarthy calls time and sends them to their corners because Evans lost his mouthpiece. Evans dances around and circles Ortiz at 2:30 while Ortiz calmly waits for a shot. Crowd is impatient and starts to boo. Evans is dancing like crazy but not throwing anything. Ortiz shoots in to the fence and hits a big knee, possibly to the groin, but McCarthy doesn't deduct a point. Evans reverses and pushes Ortiz to the fence. Ortiz has a bleeder over his right eye. Ortiz reverses and gets double underhooks. Slugfest on the fence with under a minute. Ortiz goes for the single leg but Evans shows balance and survives to the end of the round. Other than one good punch that cut Ortiz' face I'd score 10-9 in his favor.

Tito has a point taken away for repeatedly grabbing the fence in the second round, but Evans was being dominated throughout and nearly got taken out by a guillotine choke at the end, only surviving due to time being called. This round will probably end up being 9-9 on the judges' scorecards as a result, and both Randy Couture and Joe Rogan agree.

Ortiz is even through most of the round but Evans scores a takedown with about 10 seconds left to go, which causes most of the announcers to pick the round 10-9 for Evans. However if you call it 10-9 Ortiz R1, 9-9 R2, and 10-9 Evans R3 it's going to be scored as a draw. Let's wait to see the scorecards of the judges.

Here's Bruce Buffer with the announcement - all three judges score the fight 28-28. UNANIMOUS DRAW - NO WINNER. Ortiz: "Rashad's tough as hell! He's a lot tougher than I thought he would be. Are you fans satisfied - Rashad, we can do it again!" Rogan asks him to go through the replay where he grabbed the fence: "If you ain't cheating you're not trying. What else can Rashad do but fight his ass off - the rematch will be that much better. I'm going to Iraq at the end of the month for USO to support our troops. And the afterparty at Empire, and the Leer jet the next day we're gonna party."

* Nate Marquardt v. Anderson Silva {C} (UFC Middleweight Title)

All of the other fights have gone so long that our fourth fight is the main event. In the words of Carlito, "Dat's not cool!" Buffer reads us a long list of sponsors and kills even MORE time, including that awful film "Chuck & Larry." Marquardt's record is 28-6-1 and he stands six feet tall and weighs 182.5 pounds, fighting out of Denver, Colorado. Silva's record is 18-4, he stands 6'2", weights 184.5 and fights out of Curitiba, Brazil. Our referee is Big John McCarthy once again. Let's get it on!

Hooray for a first round KO! Anderson Silva rocks Marquardt at about 4:50 in R1 and Marquardt is unable to respond, forcing McCarthy to stop the fight. Couture: "Silva was just teeing off on him!" Marquardt is being checked over by the doctors. Goldberg: "3 of his last 4 fights ended in the first round, you can add another fight to that streak." Here's Bruce Buffer: "At 4:50 of the first round, the winner by TKO, and still the UFC MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD: ANDERSON 'THE SPIDER' SILVA!" Buffer tells us that there's one more fight coming up afterwards - Robinson v. Florian. Rogan tries to take us through the replay but of course Silva is speaking Portuguese. Translation: "It's going to be very difficult to take the belt away from me." Goldberg reminds us there's more action up next!

Robinson has a half pound weight advantage and two inches reach. Buffer announces Robinson as 9-1, 5'8", 156 and fighting out of Denver, Colorado. Florian is announced as 8-3, 5'10", 155.5 and fighting out of Boston, Massachusetts. Our referee in charge is Yves Lavigne. Bruce Buffer was SPEEDING through those introductions. Let's fight!

Lavigne stands them up about 90 seconds in even though Florian seems to have been dominating position. Robinson lands a strike and goes for a hip toss attempt that fails. Florian sweeps him to the ground. Florian mounts up and tries to throw big elbows. Side control and more of the same. Robinson tries to roll out and Florian just goes for up position big punches and a leg kick. Florian is showing better ground and pound than Tito Ortiz did in his fight. Side control again with 90 seconds. Robinson bucks out and gets back to the feet. Knees by Robinson and striking by both men. Double leg takedown by KenFlo. Ken mounts up and is hammering Robinson at will forcing Lavigne to stop the fight with less than 40 seconds in R1. KENNY FLORIAN IS THE WINNER.

Here's Bruce Buffer with the official announcement - stopped at 4:30 of R1 for the winner Kenny 'KenFlo' Florian. Rogan tries to claim he was inspired by Sean Sherk but Florian says "With no disrespect, who came here to see a fight finished! I finish fights! I want to fight Sean Sherk again. I want to be the only choice for UFC. I want it to be Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian and then everybody else." Rogan asks him to go through the replay and he just says he was bringing the heat.