UFC Fight Night 12 Live Recap: Swick vs. Burkman

Hit F5 or refresh as often as you like as we'll be updating the results LIVE throughout the show. Coverage starts in just five minutes!

Welcome to another edition of UFC Fight Night, coming just days after the big UFC 80 PPV where BJ Penn became the UFC Lightweight Champion. Some might say that's overkill but right here right now I'm not complaining about getting some fights on free TV. Tonight's card includes Mike 'Quick' Swick taking on Josh Burkman in the main event, but we'll also get to see the likes of Alvin Robinson, Nate Diaz, Michihiro Omigawa and Thiago Tavares compete inside the Octagon - including a personal favorite of mine, Drew McFedries. "FACE THE PAIN! RIP HIM INTO PIECES!"

We're live from The Pearl at the Palms Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Goldberg notes that Swick moved from middleweight to welterweight in his quest for gold, and Rogan says he thinks that's a much better weight division for him. Rogan describes him as a dynamic striker with a well rounded jiu-jitsu game, but notes that Burkman is explosive and strong so this will be a really big test for Swick, who has fought in 185 and even as high as light heavyweight at 205. That makes you question what kind of weight cutting some of these guys do. Next we go to a package promoting Thiago Tavares vs. Michihiro Omigawa. I have no knowledge of the latter. Next up is Patrick Cote and Drew McFedfries and I'm hoping for a quick knockout in the fight so I don't have to hear the fans chanting "Koh-TAYYYY, koh-tay koh-tay koh-TAYYYY!" Coming up next after this commercial break is Nate Diaz v. Alvin Robinson, so stay tuned!

And WE'RE BACK at The Pearl. Goldberg says that Nate Diaz is undefeated inside the Octagon and puts him over as the Ultimate Fighter 5 winner. "I've got plenty more competitors to deal with. I'll take out Alvin Robinson and whoever comes next." We're reminded that Robinson mauled Jorge Gurgel in UFC 77, and at the end of the fight "there was no question who the winner was." Indeed - Gurgel looked like a burn victim after that fight! Diaz workout regimen is put over, as is his last win via submission in the first round. "I'm for real you know. Soon everybody will be gunnin' for me cause I'll be whoopin' everybody's ass in this division." Tale of the tape - Diaz is 22, Robinson 25. Diaz stands four inches taller than the 5'8" Robinson. Both weighed in at 155, and Diaz has a three inch reach advantage at 71". Time for the fight!

* Nate Diaz v. Alvin Robinson

Robinson's record is 10-2, Diaz' record is 7-2. The referee in charge is Steve Mazzagatti. "Bring it on, c'mon!" Diaz and Robinson immediately start exchanging blows in the center. Diaz bodyslams him to the ground and ends up on top against the fence, raining down elbows. Alvin tries to work his way into a guillotine, Diaz stands up and slams Robinson down, and Rogan seems to think Diaz has made his situation worse but Robinson can't cinch it up and Diaz immediately passes. From the side he throws punishment down and moves to side control. Nate uses one arm to pin Robinson down and continue to spin around looking for a submission. Shoulder lock turns into a sweep with Alvin on top. Nate is staying very calm even here and manages to move his legs up and lock in a triangle, and IT IS ALL OVER! Diaz wins via triangle choke at 2:09 according to Rogan, but we'll wait for the official announcement after this commercial break.

Here's Bruce Buffer with the decision. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN REFEREE STEVE MAZZAGATTI STOPS THE FIGHT AT 3:40 OF THE FIRST ROUND VIA TAPOUT DUE TO A TRIANGLE CHOKE FOR THE WINNER - NATE DIAZ! Diaz: "I'm tryin' to get some top guys, some contenders, so whassup! I'm coming man, whassup! Watchout. I wanna thank Cesar Gracie, my brother Nick Diaz, and my boxing coach Richard Prez, and I want to thank my teammates, Team Stockton repping tonight..." and finally Rogan cuts him off but not before something he said got bleeped out by the censors. This is followed by a promo for UFC 81 focusing heavily on Brock Lesnar making his UFC debut. Lesnar's opinion of Mir: "So he broke Tim Sylvia's arm. WHO CARES." Indeed! This fight is going to be AWESOME. Goldberg promotes Swick v. Burkman and Cote v. McFedries, but coming up next it's Tavares v. Omigawa. Commercial break!

I've learned some more about Omigawa thanks to the promo package after commercial break - he's a four time judo champion and his last UFC fight was against 'Handsome' Matt Wiman. They don't say that he WON that fight though. Tavares says in broken english that he'll kick Omigawa's ass and send him back to Japan. Tale of the tape - Tavares 23, Omigawa 32. Tavares is one inch taller at 5'7". Weight he's also got the advantage, 155 to 154, and he has a 3" reach advantage at 70". Omigawa's fight record is 4-5 - ouch! Tavares record is sixteen wins and ONLY one loss. GO TAVARES!!!

* Thiago Tavares v. Michihiro Omigawa

Josh Rosenthal is our referee in charge. "Gentlemen are you ready, let's fight!" Omigawa charges in after about 15 seconds of shadowboxing but Tavares gets a single leg takedown. Omigawa gets to his knees but Tavares simply picks him up and carries him across the ring to slam him into the canvas. We're seeing a lot of slams tonight! Omigawa tries to close guard and do some dirty boxing while Tavares keeps spinning around for position. Omigawa escapes again but Tavares literally JUMPS onto his back and sinks in the hooks. Tavares throws fists from behind, being careful not to hit the back of the head, hoping he can soften up Omigawa enough to sink in a choke or transition to an armbar. Omigawa defends fairly well. Omigawa finally slips out but Tavares manages to get behind him and pick him up with a waistlock for a full body slam. He rolls looking for am armbar and Omigawa ends up on top in guard. Tavarez nails him with a right elbow from the bottom but largely stalls looking for position, and Rosenthal warns both men to stay busy. Omigawa tries to come over the top with punches from the feet but Tavares defends well with his legs and the round ends with Tavares on his back and Omigawa looking down on him. I'm calling it 10-9 Tavares.

Round two is underway! Once again both men are dancing around and feinting jabs. Tavares shoots for a single leg but Omigawa escapes. Tavares comes in a second time and Omigawa falls to his back - which I guess you could score as Tavares taking him down. Omigawa kicks him off though and both end up back in stand up. Omigawa's cornerman is screaming "JABBU JABBU JAB JAB!" I'm not even trying to be stereotypical - that's EXACTLY what he's saying. Tavares goes for the leg AGAIN, Omigawa counters AGAIN. Even this pin drop quiet crowd at The Pearl is bound to start booing sooner or later. I can hear the cornermen so loud and clear it's like I was right there in the building. 2:30 into the round and I can definitely hear the crowd getting restless. Yup 2:00 left to go and there are definitely some audible boos. Tavares is starting to realize the takedowns aren't there and go for punches and kicks from standup, which momentarily quells the catcalls. Momentarily. At 1:20 the boos are much louder. Tavares finally gets the single leg takedown and gets on top, but Omigawa gets right to full guard and defends well. Jesus can somebody bring Nate Diaz back, this fight fucking blows goats. I like Tavares but he should have destroyed Omigawa by now. 15 seconds left to go in the round and Tavares connects with a kick and not much else. 10-9 to Tavares for landing more strikes but that was an awful, horrible, shitty round to watch.

We're back for round three and I hope to Cthulhu this one will be much better. Omigawa chases Tavares and Tavares responds by - YOU GUESSED IT - going for another single leg takedown. Omigawa gets back to his feet as Rogan notes that even though Tavares won the strike war in round two "nothing was devestating." Tavares finally gets the takedown and even though he may win just for having more riding time on top this is far from an impressive performance by any stretch of the imagination. Both Omigawa and Tavares are throwing punches from the guard and neither can do much damage. Tavares is content to jab the ribs. Omigawa manages to occasionally clock the left side of his head. Omigawa finally manages to roll and get on top, which may be exactly what Tavares wants in terms of getting a submission. Tavares tries to work his lefts up around Omigawa's head and Omigawa stands up and tries to come over the top with a punch. Tavares defends with dangerous upkicks. Omigawa finally comes down onto him and it appears one of those kicks caught Omigawa and either split his forehead or busted his nose. Omigawa ducks a punch and gets another takedown as Tavares was looking for a guillotine. "ELBOWU ELBOWU ELBOWU!" Goldberg and Rogan argue about whether that's Portuguese or Japanese and that exchange is more interesting (and bizarre) than anything in this fight. Time expires and we'll go to the judges' scorecars. I think Omigawa may have actually won round three but I'm calling it a 29-28 unanimous decision for Tavares. We'll find out after this commercial break!

Tapout crew are in the crowd. Here's Bruce Buffer with the decision. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AFTER THREE ROUNDS WE GO TO THE JUDGES SCORECARDS. JUDGES SCORE 30-27, 29-28, 30-27 FOR THE WINNER BY UNANIMOUS DECISION: THIAGO TAVARES. Since neither man can speak that much english we don't get post-fight interviews with Rogan, which is something of a blessing considering I don't think either would have anything worthwhile to say after that boring fight. Instead we immediately go to another commercial break.

And we're back at the Palms Resort & Casino again. Since I mentioned BJ Penn earlier I might as well let it be known right here and now on the website - I'll be in the house for UFC 85 when BJ Penn takes on Sean Sherk to prove he's the Lightweight Champion once and for all. UFC probably isn't giving out press credentials (they didn't win I applied for UFC 74 - they don't seem to like websites in general) but I don't care - I'll happily pay my own way and buy my own ticket for the show. Joe Rogan interviews Sylvester Stallone and he talks like a guy who has been punched in the head one too many times - maybe he should have hired more pro wrestlers for his Rocky films to pull those punches. Then again wrestlers are being told to "work snug" for HD these days. Rogan gives Stallone a backhanded compliment by saying nobody his age has ever remained a convincing action movie star. There is a funny moment during the interview when a fight breaks out in the crowd and both Rogan and Stallone gawk at the action. Stallone yells out "Thanks mom! Thanks for coming!" Stallone reminds us that Rambo comes out this Friday and thanks Rogan and UFC for everything. Coming up next, Patrick Cote v. Drew McFedries!

Goldberg puts over our next fight as the middleweight version of Liddell v. Silva - I can only hope! McFedries: "If things go my way, it's gonna keep going my way, I'm gonna end it." We're noted that he defeated Sakara and had a war with Kampmann before an injury sidelined him in the second half of 2007. "I'm gonna put this fool flat on his face and that'll be that, Patrick Cote, knocked out." Cote is noted to have turned things around in 2007 with a decision over Scott Smith and a KO on Kendall Grove. Cote: "I want to knock him out, beat him in his own game, that's what I want and that's what I do." Tale of the tape: Cote 27, McFedries 29. McFedries is six foot even and Cote is one inch shorter. McFedries was a half pound over the limit, Cote one under at 184. Cote has a three inch reach advantage at 75". Here we go!

* Patrick Cote v. Drew McFedries

McFedries is six wins and two losses overall in his career and fights out of Bettendorf, IA. Cote has twelve wins and four lossesand fights out of Quebec City, Quebec. Our referee in charge of this fight is Herb Dean! "You ready to fight, let's do it!" Cote and McFedries both come out with kicks. McFedries charges out with strikes and Cote tries to back him up and hits an inside leg kick. Both return to center to spar. Cote keeps trying to push McFedries but he's ducking the punches. Now McFedries tries to back Cote up but he hits a nice combo in responds. McFedries hits another inside leg kick in response. Lots of contact, not a lot of damage so far. Goldberg notes his condolences for McFedries on his mother's death. My condolences to him on being overwhelmed by Cote, who stuns him with a punch and then finishes him off on the ground QUICK! WINNER: PATRICK COTE. Replay shows a right uppercut, a left, and then when McFedries crumpled rights straight to the head finished him off on the ground. Official decision after the commercial even though Herb Dean is already standing there with both men in the center of the ring!

Here's Bruce Buffer. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN REFEREE HERB DEAN STOPS THE FIGHT AT 1:44 OF THE VERY FIRST ROUND, DECLARING THE WINNER BY TKO PATRICK 'THE PREDATOR' COTE. Cote: "Thank you to Drew, this was a very emotional fight, thanks to him for taking this fight because it wasn't easy for him. He was being cocky a little bit, thinking I didn't have enough power, but I just hit the target right. I'm the Predator man, when I see something I go for it. Thank you to all my fans here, all my training partner and {something in French}." Cote leaves the ring and we immediately move to a dark match from earlier tonight.

* Kurt Pellegrino v. Alberto Crane

Pellegrino is 8-1 and 155 pounds, hailing from Glendale. Pellegrino is sixteen wins and only three losses, also 155, hailing from Jupiter, FL. The referee in charge is ALSO Herb Dean. "Let's do this!" Crane rocks Pellegrino with a big head kick and immediately goes to the ground. Pellegrino goes for the guillotine, but Crane slips out. Pellegrino has blood on his head and chest and continues to hang on, looking for an omoplata or submission as the first minute of the round goes by. Pellegrino shoots in for a takedown and gets stuffed. Crane snaps off a couple of kicks with a lot of sound and fury that signify nothing. Pellegrino continues to jab away and throw sweet combos even though he's leaving his mouth hanging wide open, giving Crane a big target. Jab jab jab. JABBU JABBU JABBU. Pellegrino screams "C'MON" at Crane then takes him to the ground, but hasn't done enough to finish him. Crane slips trying to throw a kick. Pellegrino keeps jabbing and connects with a right hand before throwing Crane to the ground. Only 10 seconds left though so we're going to round two! I'll give it 10-9 to Pellegrino despite being rocked early.

Crane immediately goes for a takedown to start round two and Kurt gets warned about grabbing the fence. Crane is trying to get top and finally gives up and switches to Pellegrino's back, but Kurt slips out of it and now he's on top. Pellegrino lands a big elbow and I think it may have split Crane's forehead. Herb Dean stops the fight when Crane stops defending himself and IT IS ALL OVER. Replay shows Kurt rocking him with a right and Crane closed his eyes and stopped defending himself. Pellegrino apparently had a couple teeth go through his lip in that very first flurry. WINNER AT 1:55 OF R2 DUE TO TKO: KURT PELLEGRINO. Rogan makes everybody look at the hole in Pellegrino's bottom lip from the kick he took. Pellegrino: "Hey at least no boogers were coming out of my nose today! Nice kick! I thought it was a punch though." He thanks the usual suspects and we go to commercial.

Joe Rogan is with the stars of Vince Vaughn's Wild West Show. Apparently this movie is "spring break for thirty year olds" according to Bret Ernst. Yes ladies and gentlemen, this is how UFC stalls for time when they're not ready to put on the main event yet. Rogan throws us to a clip. Rogan says the clip looks spectacular. I couldn't agree less. The promo for UFC 81, Mir v. Lesnar, is a LOT more entertaining. Lesnar: "I'm coming to this fight to win!" Mir: "Once it gets to the ground it'll be all about chokes and armbars." Mir better hope so or Lesnar will KILL HIM. UFC plugs him being on the cover of Muscle & Fitness Magazine and his NCAA wrestling credentials, but COMING UP NEXT it's the main event fight of Mike Swick v. Josh Burkman. Stay tuned!

Swick and Burkman are warming up backstage as we come back to live action. The Mike Swick vs. Josh Burkman logo appears on screen and we go to cageside where Goldberg and Rogan are going to analyze the fight. "A stern test for Mike Swick. Burkman is very powerful. Swick was at the lower end of the middlerweight ladder. I think there needs to be more weight classes. The gap between 170-185 is huge, and between 185-205 is even more huge. I think we're going to see a better Swick at 170." We go to a highlight package with interviews for both fighters. Burkman: "He probably feels a lot of pressure - I'm gonna put a lot of pressure on him." Swick: "If he thinks he's gonna take me down and ground 'n pound me he's got another thing coming." Burkman: "Is his chin as good as mine, that's what we're here to see. I think Mike Swick is gonna help people say damn, Burkman's evolving as a fighter. Big time players make big time plays, that's what I'm gonna do." Swick: "I'm gonna exploit everything." Fight time!

'The People's Warrior' Josh Burkman comes out first, born in Salt Lake City, UT. Rogan says his KO of Sam Morgan after Ultimate Fighter was very impressive. Hmm, that could only be the same Sam 'The Squeeze' Morgan that I just saw Cung Le defeat in Strikeforce a few months ago. Goldberg says Burkman's only setbacks have been Karo Parisyan and Jon Fitch and correctly notes there's no shame in losing to either of those men. Rogan: "There's a spectrum of strengths and weaknesses, and a lot of times someone you can beat can beat a guy who can beat you. It doesn't make any sense." Neither does what you just said Joe. Swick comes out to 2Pac's "Ambitionz Az a Ridah." I like this song but c'mon guys, it's 2008. I could also say the same for Swick coming out to Fort Minor's "Remember the Name" even though relatively speaking it's a newer song. Both men are greased up and warmed up and ready for the official introductions.

Bruce Buffer: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the main event of the evening. This UFC bout is sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Our three judges are Glen Trowbridge, Adelai Bird and Nelson Hamilton. Our referee in charge by Steve Mazzagatti. This fight is sponsored by Rambo, Stallone is Rambo in theatres Friday. And now, live from The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas, it's tiiiime! Three rounds in the welterweight division. Fighting out of the blue corner, 20 wins, 4 losses, 5'10" 170 pounds, fighting out of Salt Lake City, Utah - Josh 'The People's Warrior' Burkman. In the red corner, 10 wins, 2 losses, at six foot one weighing 170 pounds, fighting out of San Jose, CA - Mike 'Quick' Swick!" Mazzagatti: "This will be a clean fair fight. Obey my commands at all times protect yourself at all times. Hook 'em up."

* Mike Swick v. Josh Burkman

"Bring it on, c'mon!" Burkman charges and pushes Swick up against the cage. He's trying to fire knees at the leg, possibly to get Swick off balance for a takedown. Swick is defending well. One minute gone by. Swick and Burkman continue to trade position along the cage and Mazzagatti finally feels it's stalled out and brings them back to center. Rogan compliments Burkman's strategy of kneeing Swick's legs. Burkman charges in again and pushes Swick up against the fence. More knees to the legs although Swick was the first to do it this time. Mazzagatti warns them to work. Burkman defends a guillotine attempt with a slam. Mazzagatti pulls them to center when they stall out on the fence again. Burkman tries a ROARING ELBOW that misses, and a lunging bodyshot that hits. Swick circles as we go to 1:30 left in the round. Burkman clips Swick with a left hook, then misses with a spinning kick. He tries a second one and flies through the air Karate Kid style! Rogan: "I think he feels very comfortable." Well no shit if you're gonna do goofy shit like that! Burkman bulls him up against the fence and Swick is on the defensive as the round expires, breaking away and backing up towards the center. 10-9 Burkman.

Back for round two! We get a replay of Burkman's three-sixty roundhouse kick that missed, which does look pretty in slow-mo' - shame he didn't hit a knockout with it or it would be highlight reel. Spinning backfist! We're getting all sorts of crazy shit in this fight. Now Swick has Burkman up against the cage and he's throwing knees. I have the feeling Mazzagatti's going to pull them back to center though... and he does. High kick by Swick! Burkman seems dazed. He rushes Swick up against the cage and avoids further damage. I think I saw him go for a foot stomp. Mazzagatti quickly pulls them back to center again. Burkman and Swick exchange strikes. Swick misses with a spinning back kick.There's a crowd chant but I can't make it out over the commentary and it quickly dies. 2:15 left in the round and both fighters are circling. Burkman rushes Swick into the fence again at 1:30. Burkman may win just for controlling the Octagon for more of the fight unless Swick gets a takedown or does some serious damage. Mazzagatti pulls them to center again, what a shock. 40 seconds to go. Now Swick gets Burkman into the cage. Rogan: "Anybody's round, somebody could pull this out right now." Nobody does anything big though and since Rogan thinks it was that close I feel safe calling it 10-9 for Burkman, putting him up for both rounds. Swick really needs a KO or submission in R3 to pull this out.

Round three underway right at 10:00 CST on the dot. It's funny, if they hadn't stalled for time so much, this would have gotten over well before the top of the hour. Burkman has Swick in the cage fence again, what a shock. You won't be surprised to know Mazzagatti pulls them to center. Crowd briefly started to boo until both men responded by throwing big right hands at each other. Unfortunately Burkman used this as an excuse to rush Swick into the fence AGAIN. Swick defends the takedown well and this time both men come back to center on their own. Swick throws a left head kick that doesn't do much. Burkman backs away, gets low, shimmies his shoulders. Swick tails him and snaps off a leg kick. 2:40 left in the round. Crowd is getting restless again there's a few scattered boos. Knee by Swick. Rogan acknowledges Burkman should give up on the takedown and just fight stand up the rest of the round. Burkman drops his hands and tries to goad Swick in. 2:00 to go. Burkman goes to the fence again and there's a smattering fo boos. This will NOT go down as the greatest UFC Fight Night ever. Rogan: "Someone has to do something spectacular." No shit Sherlock! 1:00 to go. Joe questions whether Swick lost some confidence along with the weight. Swick hits a big knee but Burkman immediately counters and rushes him into the fence. Yawn. Burkman tries to chase him down for a Superman punch but time expires as the crowd boos again. Decision coming up next. I'm going to imagine the judges saw one round for Swick, somehow, and that it'll be 29-28 unanimous for Burkman.

Bruce Buffer: "29-28, 29-28, Nelson Hamilton scores it 29-29, for the WINNER BY MAJORITY DECISION: MIKE 'QUICK' SWICK." The crowd boos. Swick cuts one of the most uncharismatic post-fight victory promos I've ever heard, apologizing for winning and not being more exciting, and the crowd continues to pour on the boos - I'm only shocked they aren't louder. He promises a post-fight party at LAX but I doubt I'd be there. Goldberg promises us Pros vs. Joes next and at this point anything would be better. Since tonight's episode may be the one featuring Kurt Angle, it certainly can't be worse. Good night everyone!