| Date: 10/26 | 12:45 AM |
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Okay, we're going live RIGHT NOW. Time for UFC 90!
Ahh, the Zuffa logo is a welcoming sight. Thiago Alves says he wants to be #1 in the world. Josh Koscheck says you're going to see an aggressive guy you've never seen before. Alves says he loves to knock people out. Koscheck says his road to the top stops today. Anderson Silva says Patrick Cote won't be an easy fight - he'll go to war with him. Silva says he'll go five rounds if he needs to. Cote: "I'm tired of a lack of respect toward me. I'll prove everybody wrong. I'll take the belt home." HELL YEAH, LET'S GET IT ON~! I don't even like Cote, but I can respect his desire to be the upset victor. It's a shame for him that Anderson Silva losing is about as likely as the sun not rising this morning. "IN-TO PIE-CES~!" Goldberg tells us the Octagon has finally made its way to Illinois for UFC 90, and the joint seems to be jumpin in the AllState Arena! Goldberg notes Silva is 7-0 in UFC and hasn't lost in four years. He's joined by Joe 'The Lumberjack' Rogan. Rogan: "He's a tall guy, he has great reach, he's a phenomenal striker with world class ground game to boot. Makes quality fighters look bad. Beat Rich Franklin twice." We see a clip of Cote and Silva going nose to nose from the weigh-in yesterday, as Goldberg promotes the text voting to 88222. 1 for Silva, 2 for Cote, but don't vote now. Don't blow 99 cents on this OR Cyber Sunday. Koscheck vs. Alves is also previewed by our announce team. We go to the rules of the Octagon, but if you're reading this you should be well familiar with the 10 point must system by now.
* Sean Sherk v. Tyson Griffin
Goldberg calls this a clash between two of the most intimidating lightweights. Griffin says he doesn't think about Sherk as a former champion, just as a very tough competitor. Sherk says the fight will be explosive and fast, and they both want to break each other by being aggressive. Griffin is 5-1 since making his Octagon debut, but Sherk is no slouch, as Goldberg notes he can match him in both strength and ability. Goldberg says Sherk knows what it takes to make it back to the top. Sherk: "I'm going to take my time and take advantage of whatever opportunities there are to finish the fight." Griffin comes out first to "Eye of the Tiger." I approve! Goldberg notes he represents Xtreme Couture tonight and calls Griffin a "stud." Rogan says his wrestling pedigree is what makes him a great fighter, and we see both Mike Pyle and Randy Couture behind him getting him ready to step into the cage. Goldberg also puts over the fact Griffin holds a win against Urijah Faber. Sherk's music starts with some Jaws type sounds before switching to heavy metal, and Goldberg says it's an easy trip down I-94 from Minneapolis to Chicago. Hmm. I'd take I-35 and I-80 myself, but what do I know. Sherk is quickly readied by his team and steps into the Octagon looking like the definition of his 'Muscle Shark' nickname. You already know the weigh-ins, both stand five foot six, and the reach is almost identical at 67 and 68 inches.
Bruce Buffer performs the introductions. Griffin is in the blue corner, is 12-1, and fights out of Las Vegas. Sherk is in the red corner, is 36-3-1, and fights out of Oak Grove, Minnesota. Buffer is sure to remind us he's the former champion, which doesn't elicit nearly as many boos as I'd expect. Dr. David Smith is our referee in charge for this fight as Arianny walks around the Octagon to remind us it's round one.
HERE WE GO! Sherk has Griffin pushed up against the cage for a takedown in the first 30 seconds then takes his back at about 45 seconds. Griffin walks all the way across the cage with Sherk on his back to get advice from Couture, then manages to shake him off. The two return to the standup. Griffin keeps trying to load up a left and come in but Sherk responds with a right, grabs the leg on a kick attempt, then pushes him up against the cage and grab a leg to sweep him to the ground. Two minutes gone by. 15 seconds later Griffin has gotten back to his feet, but Sherk is looking to take him down again. The ref calls for more work and for both men to get off the fence. Griffin tries to please the ref by throwing a big right hand and a leg kick. Goldberg plugs UFC 91 coming up November 15th. Uppercut by Sherk, leg kick by Griffin, leg kick by Sherk. Rogan loves Sherk's stand-up. Griffin is mixing up his kicks and strikes nicely. Another back riding segment comes and goes. Slobberknocker with 15 seconds left as they start exchanging constantly, two punches right at the horn to boot. Goldberg questions how much damage Griffin can take, but Sherk was getting beat up too. Couture tells Griffin not to worry, he's got a cut over his eye, but it's a small cut.
Round two. FIGHT! Griffin comes forward with strikes and Sherk faints then throws a body kick. 21 seconds in Sherk has him pushed up against the fence and gets another takedown but Griffin pops RIGHT back up. First minute goes by with neither man getting the upper hand. Griffin may have caught Sherk with at least one head shot at 3:45 but it didn't faze him at all. Sherk lands a big right and tries to follow up but Griffin blocks effectively and he doesn't seem fazed either. Sherk lands about five punches in a row but I can't tell if any actually scored damage. Sherk does seem to be landing more strikes out of the two of them, but Griffin is hitting some serious leg kicks too. The crowd loves the action, neither guy is letting up. 90 seconds left. Griffin may be slowing down just a little. Sherk may have stunned him a little at 1:08 but couldn't take him down, and the two start firing off head shots at each other as we pass to under a minute left. Sherk misses on a combo with 20 left. Griffin is dropping his hands a little too much for his own good. He tries a spinning kick with ten seconds left but nothing happens and the round ends. We see Miguel Torres in the crowd watching.
Round three is underway! Griffin tries to rock Sherk right away and may have caught him with something, but Sherk survives. Sherk gets a little muay thai clinch 30 seconds in but lets it go. Griffin with a right at 45 seconds. Sherk responds with jabs. Sherk hits a 1-2 combo at about 80 seconds. Big Grififn right hand about 100 seconds in. Sherk no longer seems to be looking for any takedowns, content to keep it on the feet. Goldberg notes that's playing to Griffin's advantage. Rogan calls it a kickboxing bout. Sherk blocks an uppercut and a right but something got through because the bridge of his nose is bleeding. Griffin fakes a punch and hits a leg kick instead with 1:45 left. Griffin nearly eats a knee. Sherk lands with at least one left and a leg kick. One minute to go and for all the things I've said about Sherk I've got to say he's made this an interesting fight for almost the entire 15 minutes. Both men start swinging for the fences in the last half minute hoping to hit one big punch. Leg kick by Griffin with 10 seconds left. Griffin hits one more jab to Sherk right as time expires! Hell of a slugfest to open up the PPV and I can't wait to hear how the judges scored this one - it really could go either way.
Here's Bruce Buffer! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AFTER THREE ROUNDS OF ACTION WE GO TO THE SCORECARDS FOR A DECISION. 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 FOR THE WINNER BY UNANIMOUS DECISION - 'THE MUSCLE SHARK' SEAN SHERK! I can't argue. There are some boos for the announcement but not much. Sherk puts over Griffin as a great opponent, says he was just a little more active, landed a few more strikes and did get a couple of takedowns and that was what made the difference. Sherk says he loves Chicago, it's almost like fighting at home, and he can't wait to come back. Wow, the text voting has it SEVENTY-NINE TO TWENTY-ONE in favor of Silva. Ouch! Not even the people on their cell phones think Cote has a chance. Goldberg shows us Rachelle Leah on the cover of Playboy then plugs all the sponsors including Transporter 3. We see both Silva and Cote arriving backstage earlier in the evening. Goldberg says next month will be "the return of The Natural" and an on-screen graphic promotes Couture vs. Lesnar as "the biggest fight in history." When the video package ends we see a live shot of Silva warming up backstage, and one of Cote warming up as well.
* Fabricio Werdum v. Junior Dos Santos
Even Mike Goldberg says that Werdum is next in line for a heavyweight title shot after the UFC's "mini-tournament" involving Couture, Lesnar, Nog and Mir comes to an end. Dos Santos could be the man to spoil his plans though. Goldberg describes Dos Santos as a man who makes fight experts sit up and take notice, a winner of six out of seven fights, and none of his victories went past the first round. "He better be prepared or he's gonna get messed up." Goldberg says Werdum made his name on the ground but after TKO victories in his last two fights his opponents have even more to worry about now. Dos Santos comes out first to Nelly's "Party People," decked out in FarCry 2 merchandise. I know this is a big sponsor for UFC right now but I'm really getting tired of seeing them all the time - enough is enough. Werdum's music sounds like Rage Against the Machine, and Goldberg notes he's come a long way from being a coach for Mirko Cro Cop. Rogan calls him one of the best heavyweight grapplers in the world and notes he's an Abu Dahbi champion. Neither man takes long to get ready. Werdum is 7 years older, 31 to 24. Both have a reach of 77" and you already know their weights from the weigh-in results posted yesterday.
Buffer says this fight is brought to you courtesy of Xenergy. It must not be selling well - I saw cans of it on clearance at Dollar Tree. Dos Santos is introduced first out of the blue corner, which means Werdum is out of the red - natch. Each man hails from a different city in Brazil. Our referee in charge is Marc Fennell. Dan Severn is in the crowd looking on and throws a thumbs up to the camera. Here we go!
Not much happens for the first 30 seconds, then Werdum and Dos Santos exchange leg kicks. Werdum ducks a punch and goes for a clinch but DS slips away. Werdum GETS ROCKED!!!! Dos Santos stuns him with an uppercut! WERDUM HAS NO DEFENSE! Even Rogan admits he missed the punch. The uppercut in slow motion looks nasty!!! Werdum appeared to be trying to duck it and instead in trying to get under it ended up catching it flush. So much for that title shot Werdum! Rogan describes it as an "ear wiggling" punch. Werdum is bloody, woozy, and all kinds of messed up!! STOPPED AT 1:20 OF ROUND ONE FOR THE WINNER VIA KNOCKOUT: JUNIOR DOS SANTOS! Through the translator Dos Santos says he trained very hard with the best in the world including his coach Big Nog, and that he knew he might be a little sketchy on the ground with Werdum, but the striking paid off. Rogan tries to thank him and end the interview but Dos Santos has more to say! "I'd like to thank everybody who helped me, everybody in Brazil, thank you for beliving in me I hope I made you proud." He's ALL SMILES AND THUMBS UP. Goldberg shows us the replay again and that's one nasty punch! GSP bops his head to the beat as he looks on in the crowd, then gives a smile and the thumb when he sees the camera on him. Voting for Silva v. Cote is now 74 to 26 so it's improved a little for the latter... but not much. Obviously we've got a little time to kill now so Goldberg is plugging sponsors, Couture v. Lesnar, a UFC Fight Night on December 10th, and pretty much everything under the sun. The Ultimate Fighter Finale Nog v. Mir finale will be three days later, and UFC Ultimate 2008 will be two weeks after that FEATURING Nog v. Mir, Evans v. Griffin and Wanderlei v. Chuck.
* Rich Clementi v. Gray Maynard
Both men are talking smack in the pre-fight video as expected. Clementi's recent victories are put over and Goldberg says Maynard could be "lucky #7." Maynard says the fight will be all cardio, all heart, but no matter where it goes he'll kick his ass. Maynard 'The Bully' comes out to "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" by Snoop and 2Pac. Clementi comes out to some rock song I've heard before but can't immediately identify. Clementi is 3 years older, 32 to 29, and has a one inch height advantage at 5'9" to 5'8". Buffer introduces Maynard first in the blue corner and he fights out of Las Vegas, NV. Clementi is in the red and fights out of Slidell, LA. Our referee in charge is Todd Frederickson. Here we go!
Clementi has purple and black trunks with CONDOM DEPOT on, whereas Maynard's trunks are solid black with a few sponsors on the legs. Almost nothing happens for the first minute as the two dance around and try to find their respective range. Maynard finally starts to go for lefts and hooks. Clementi responds with an inside leg kick. Goldberg calls Maynard an oustanding wrestler from Michigan State who discovered MMA by accident when he came to Hawaii to help BJ Penn train for a fight. There's some light booing from the crowd here and there as they want more action. Maynard tries to shoot just before the halfway point but gets nada. Boos are getting a little louder three minutes in. Maynard picks up Clementi and gets a big takedown at 1:20, and initially had his neck in, but Rogan says he was never in any danger of being submitted. Goldberg segues into an eeriely collegiate discussion that no Michigan State guy (or Ohio State one) would ever wear a Michigan sweatshirt. Well I used to live in Eastern Michigan so I've still got one or two in the closet. Maynard finishes the ground with ground'n'pound and may have gotten a 10-9 just because of the takedown. Matt Hughes gets a mixture of cheers and boos when shown in the crowd (Rogan seems surprised by it).
"Are you ready... are you ready... FIGHT!" Maynard tries to come forward with strikes right away in R2. Rogan seems to feel Maynard is ahead now solely due to the takedown in R1. Clementi stuffs another takedown attempt. Never thought I'd say a Sean Sherk fight was more exciting than a Rich Clementi one, but it is what it is, This is a snorefest by comparison, although Maynard does get another big slam takedown just about 75 seconds in. Clementi gets to his feet, Maynard has a standing guillotine for a minute, but he lets it go and takes Clementi back down to the ground. A few near subs later Clementi is on his back with Maynard looking to pass. The crowd seems stunned into silence at this point. Clementi nearly takes his back. Clementi nearly gets a guillotine. Clementi nearly this and nearly that and yet Maynard will get all the points for the takedown because there are none for submission ATTEMPTS. The ref calls for more work at 50 seconds left. Clementi tries to sweep, Maynard avoids it, Maynard tries to posture up, Clementi avoids it and makes him duck the upkick. R2 ends like R1 with Maynard on top, putting him up 10-9 in two straight.
Time for R3! Maynard and Clementi exchange knux to start. 20 seconds in Maynard gets another big takedown, Matt Hughes style. The ref is calling for work even though both men are looking for subs, and much like me Rogan takes exception to it. "What more does he want!" Maybe he's as bored as the crowd, I don't know, but Clementi and Maynard both SEEM to be doing more even though they're not scoring much or getting a sub. Crowd is booing almost BECAUSE the official keeps calling for more action. Rogan is flabbergasted at 2:25 left and so am I. Maynard is trying to get a triangle from the top and the ref is STILL calling for more work. Clementi stands up, Maynard spins him around, and Clementi just opts to pull guard. The ref is STILL calling for more action even as Maynard is grinding away at Clementi on the cage. Clementi spins around and tries to take Maynard's back but Maynard slips away. He's looking for a takedown with 45 seconds left and gets it. The crowd is very unhappy with this fight now. Rogan says to go to UFC.com to check out some unaired prelims. The stupid official is still calling for more work with 7 seconds left. Really, at that point, what difference does what YOU want to see make Mr. Smug Octagon Ref! We're going to the scorecards.
Here's Bruce Buffer with the decision. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AFTER 3 ROUNDS WE GO TO THE SCORECARDS. ALL 3 SCORE THIS CONTEST 30-27 FOR THE WINNER BY UNANIMOUS DECISION: GRAY 'THE BULLY' MAYNARD. Maynard keeps apologizing to the crowd and to Rogan for not being able to strike more in the fight. He notes in the first round he was being careful, but Clementi didn't slow down and kept trying to catch me in round two and three. Both Rogan AND Maynard call Clementi "crafty." Fine, get both The Bully and The Crafty the heck out of the Octagon. Let's get to Koscheck v. Alves already! Voting has improved slightly for Cote - it's now 68% to 32% but that still means Silva is getting two-thirds of the vote.
* Thiago Alves v. Josh Koscheck
Red and black trunks for Alves, black and white trunks for Koscheck. Koscheck gets the requisite amount of boos during the introductions. He slips on a side kick attempt and nearly pays for it but recovers quickly. Alves rocks him at about the 80 second mark! Koscheck goes for a single leg to save himself and recovers quickly. Koscheck does seem fully recovered two minutes in but Rogan and Goldberg debate if that's just gamesmanship on Koscheck's part. Alves does land a big head kick and tries to get a superman punch, but Koscheck responds with right hands of his own as we pass minute three. Alves with a smacking leg kick with 90 seconds left. Koscheck rebutts with a good right hand and then goes for a single leg. He has Alves bulled up against the fence with sixty left and can't finish it as Alves slips away at 45. Another leg kick to Koscheck's left knee. And another! Alves keeps attacking the same spot over and over. Alves comes forward with ten seconds left, may have accidentally hit the groin but Koscheck waves it off and the two touch up gloves before the round ends.
Round two is underway! Alves keeps coming forward with jabs. Koscheck responds with big combos in turn and Rogan says he throws his right hand like a fastball. Koscheck seems to be happy to keep it on the feet. Koscheck throws a nice headkick but it's not a KO blow. 1:20 gone by. Alves avoids a spinning back kick and Koscheck comes forward with a knee then looks for a takedown against the fence. Koscheck gets turned around so he breaks free . Alves misses with a head kick as Koscheck gets a leg kick. The round is halfway gone and we've got another ref calling for more work. Nice left kick by Koscheck and Alves stalks him in response. Alves lands an uppercut and keeps pushing him backwards towards the fence. Alves ducks a Koscheck punch coming in. Alves lands a jab with 80 left. Koscheck grabs a leg with 1:05 left and Alves promptly sprawls to avoid, spreading his legs and staying over the top, controlling the wrist. The ref keeps calling for more action as we get down to 30 left. Koscheck switches and goes for a body lock. There's no point for the ref calling for more work with 10 seconds left, just give it up already! We go to R3.
Alves and Koscheck both bounce around on their feet to start R3. Alves keeps coming forward and lands a big leg kick that sends Koscheck to the ground. He's wobbly but gets back to his feet 40 seconds into the round. Alves seems to be landing shots at will now in R3. Koscheck pushes him up against the fence and at 3:40 left tries to drop levels for a takedown - he just can't get it. Koscheck claims he got a finger in the eye and the ref stops things for a second but we go right back to action 1:40 gone by. Rogan says we don't need eyepokes marring the reputation of MMA when so many people already consider it a bloodsport. Thanks Joe. Alves throws a big head kick which gets checked. Koscheck comes forward with strikes. Now Alves accidentally catches a finger in the eye. Time in at 1:38. Koscheck and Alves keep dancing. Thago's left eye may be swelling up but it doesn't stop him from rocking Koscheck with more kicks, and some punches that push Josh all the way to the fence. Goldberg says his eye is really red now but he's gutting it out to the finish. Big leg kick by Alves and Koscheck responds with jabs. He's eating leg kicks and hooks and keeps coming forward no matter what. Alves takes him to the ground even after time expires because he couldn't hear the horn. We'll go to the scorecards!
Here's Bruce Buffer. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AFTER THREE ROUNDS WE GO TO THE SCORECARDS. 30-27, 29-28 AND 30-27 FOR THE WINNER BY UNANIMOUS DECISION: THIAGO 'PITBULL ' ALVES.
Sorry about the lack of post-fight interview recap - it would have likely been with a translator anyway and I was having some technical difficulties too (also resulting in a delay in these results). Now that we're back on track it's time to get to the main event of the evening!
* Anderson Silva {C} v. Patrick Cote (UFC Middleweight Championship)
A final check of the polling by cell indicates it's 64% to 36% but that still means Silva is getting two-thirds of the vote and for Cote that's as good as it's going to get. Cote points out in the pre-fight interview that nobody's unbeatable. That's true - Matt Serra beat Georges St. Pierre, Sokoudjou beat Ricardo Arona, but even KNOWING that it's true still doesn't make me BELIEVE Cote has a snowball's chance in hell. I'll give him props on picking Fort Minor's "Remember the Name" to come out to though. Not that I like Silva's choice of song any less - "Ain't No Sunshine" by DMX is always good. Bruce Buffer reminds us that the Octagon is the ultimate proving ground, that THIS is the MAIN EVENT and so on and so forth. Our ref in charge is Herb Dean (a real ref at last, thank Cthulhu for that). We get a close up of Silva's belt as Buffer gives us his trademark ANNNND NOW followed by IT'SSSSSSSSS TIIIIIIME. Time for what? Time for five rounds to decide the UFC Middleweight Championship. Cote is 14-4, 5'11" and fights out of Quebec City, Quebec. Silva is 22-4, stands 6'2", and hails from Curitiba, Brazil. He is both REIGNING AND DEFENDING as the widely regarded PFP best fighter in MMA. Here we go!
Round one is underway! Cote comes forward with a kick right at the start. Anderson moves around and keeps his distance, letting Cote fire away one kick after another. Rogan points out that Cote is aware that Silva takes a minute to warm up and that could play to his advantage. A minute in Silva is still avoiding and dancing. Cote keeps coming forward. Silva circles around him a little as we near the 90 second mark. So far nothing big by either man. Silva finally throws an inside leg kick. Crowd is getting impatient as Cote throws a spinning kick that hits air. Silva nearly grabs a muay thai clinch a little after two minutes in. I might be hearing a Cote chant, I could be wrong. Silva pushes forward just under three minutes, then backs away from the kicks of Cote. Okay even I am wanting to boo now. I knowit's a five round fight but still. Silva finally starts loading up with 90 seconds left and hits a knee that cuts Cote's forehead. Cote responds with a leg kick. Silva backs away one minute to go in the round. Both men are dancing. Silva seems to be just walking away from Cote now, trying to bait him into chasing and engaging. A very blah first round. Silva bows at the end and the crowd boos. We see the big left knee that Silva landed in slow motion on replay.
Silva explodes in the first 30 seconds of R2, and nearly lands a head kick that would take Cote's block off in the process. Instead they wind up clinched against the fence at the one minute mark. They break apart and it's probably not to Cote's advantage as Silva keeps on striking him, then gets a takedown and winds up in Cote's guard. Cote does a good job of holding him down and trying to throw elbows at his head. Silva backs away and offers him a hand up, Cote waves it off, Herb Dean stands Cote up anyway. Cote is now two minutes away from being the first person to take Anderson Silva to the third round in UFC. Still a whole lot of nothing though and I can't blame the crowd for booing as we pass the one minute left mark. Cote catches a leg and tries to get the takedown but Silva's balance prevents him from getting the fight to the ground. Silva lands some big knees to the body as they clinch up and the horn sounds to prevent more damage. On to R3!
Silva and Cote touch up to start R3. Rogan doesn't feel Cote has won either round so far but he's acquitted himself nicely. Silva is shadowboxing with him and all of a sudden at 4:33 we see Cote wince, fall backwards onto his butt and grab his leg. WHAT THE HECK? I don't get it. Herb Dean immediately waves off the fight. Rogan says he blew his ACL. Cote tries to stand up but he's visibly limping. Dean won't allow him to continue. THIS CROWD IS PISSED. Goldberg says he saw this coming earlier when Cote winced and tried to shake out his leg. Silva shakes his head with disappointment. We see on the replay that a bone in Cote's leg popped to the outside during the fight. They keep showing it over and over but what we're seeing on replay isn't making the crowd any happier. Rogan says he's had two ACL reconstructions and he knows what that is. Joe, I've had one too. Doesn't change the fact this crowd suddenly feels cheated... injury or not so do I. I'd say the same thing if Calzaghe popped a knee fighting Jones and couldn't continue in R3. You feel bad for the guy but at the same time you feel like that's $45-$55 down the hole for the one fight you wanted to see. That's even worse for the people at the All State Arena who may have paid hundreds of dollars and up for this fight.
Here's Bruce Buffer. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN REFEREE HERB DEAN CALLS A STOP TO THIS CONTEST AT 0:39 OF R3 FOR THE WINNER BY TKO AND STILL UFC MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD: ANDERSON 'THE SPIDER' SILVA. Boy that's not a satisfying way to win. Silva himself seems non-plussed about having his hand raised - he's not happy about this finish at all. Through the translator Silva has this to say: "He wants to apologize to everyone in the stadium and everyone watching on TV. Fighters go through a lot of training, cutting weight, fight hurt, and Patrick should not be booed. You don't know what it's like to be in here. He should be applauded and I'll be back here to put on another show for everybody." Rogan calls it a "very entertaining" fight before the unfortunate injury. Well, that might be a stretch. Entertaining to me as a fight fan, but the live crowd was taking a dump on it even before the injury. "Patrick is a great athlete, we were putting on the fight the world wanted to see, unfortunately he got hurt but we'll be back again." Rogan again puts over the idea it was "entertaining" and Silva says "Thanks for coming everybody! Thank you! Sorry! Sorry!"
Rogan goes to Cote and uses the "entertaining" line again and now I'm getting fucking pissed off at Joe Rogan. I want to go up to him and shave that stupid lumberjack beard off with a rusty razor blade. Stop calling a fight that had two rounds of shadowboxing with two fucking kicks that landed "entertaining" particularly when it ended in R3 on a fluke injury before anything ACTUALLY entertaining happened. Cote: "It was an old injury, I'm so sorry. I was chasing Silva, I was the only one who lasted to the third round. I bust my knee in the second round, I tried to go to the third but it just popped out. I'm sorry. It's just an old injury. To fight for the belt was a dream come true. I'm sorry." Rogan says he looks forward to seeing him healed up and back again. I don't. I wasn't a Cote fan to begin with. Move on, find someone else to challenge Silva. I'm done with Cote. Done.
* Thales Leites v. Drew McFedries
Bonus fight time! Without even knowing the result I'm glad they picked this one, because this one was one of my favorite fights on the undercard - right up there with Dan Miller v. Matt Horwich. McFedries says he's going to hurt him and make him want to quit. Leites is 27, McFedries 30. 6'1" to 6 feet even. Both weigh in at 186. Leites has a 6 inch reach advantage, 78" to 72". Buffer introduces three middleweight rounds. McFedries is 7-4 and fights out of Bettendorf, IA in the blue corner. In the red corner Leites is 13-1 and fights out of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Our referee in charge is Marc Fennell. Here we go!
Drew lands a big right hand early and Leites responds by picking up McFedries for a takedown slash slam. Thirty seconds in and Leites is looking to come over the top as Drew fires off upkicks. He passes and gets an arm and goes to his back 40 seconds in. Rogan says Drew is in big trouble now. Hard to argue. The only defense Drew has is to duck his chin and prevent Leites from getting it under, but Leites keeps slapping and boxing at it until he gets it under. "That is a wrap son!" Drew agrees and taps at the 75 second mark. IT IS ALL OVER. Damn, McFedries couldn't do shit once Leites got him on the ground. Rogan: "If you're a jiu-jitsu fan it doesn't get more beautiful than this." True. Leites controlled the body, trapped the arms and legs, snuck his right arm under the neck and finishes him with the rear naked choke. Textbook.
Bruce Buffer. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN REFEREE MARC FENNELL CALLS A STOP AT 1:18 OF THE VERY FIRST ROUND FOR THE WINNER BY TAPOUT DUE TO A REAR NAKED CHOKE - THALES LEITES! Leites thanks McFedries for accepting the fight on short notice, and Rogan congratulates Leites for facing and defeating such a dangerous opponent. Our "Turning Point of the Night" is the knockout of Fabricio Werdum by Junior Dos Santos. Goldberg throws us to the "Submission of the Night" and it's from a fight we haven't even seen - Spencer 'King' Fisher putting a triangle on Shannon Gugerty. Rogan notes oddly enough the last person he put a triangle on was guess who? Thiago Alves. The show goes off the air at 3:48 AM my time with no additional bonus fights. Here are the other unaired fight results from Sherdog.com.
1 Pete Sell d. Josh Burkman Decision (Unanimous) 3 5:00
2 Hermes Franca d. Marcus Aurelio Decision (Unanimous) 3 5:00
3 Dan Miller d. Matt Horwich Decision (Unanimous) 3 5:00
4 Spencer Fisher d. Shannon Gugerty Submission (Triangle Choke) 3 3:56
Ahh, I can see why they didn't bonus any of these other fights - three went the distance and even the one with the Submission of the Night nearly did as well. Thanks for reading, g'night everybody!