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Round One: A Year Long Wait = 3 Rounds Of Action
The first time Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson were set to meet in the octagon, Rashad Evans was the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and Quinton Jackson was yet to film the movie, “The A-Team.†Flash forward to UFC 114 in May 2010, Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson finally went face to face in a battle that pitted strategy against sheer brutality. Rashad Evans used his superior speed and physical skill to plant Quinton Jackson on the ground multiple times and eventually tire his longtime rival. Despite a brief third round comeback by Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans played the role of dominator for the fifteen minute affair. After the fight had concluded, Quinton Jackson did admit that the long layoff between fights had hindered his performance. Either way, Rashad Evans walked out of the octagon victorious and earning a UFC Light Heavyweight Title opportunity while Quinton Jackson is left putting the pieces back together.
Next Round For Rashad Evans: A UFC Light Heavyweight Title fight against Mauricio Rua.
Next Round For Quinton Jackson: Lyoto Machida in a contenders battle.
Round Two: The Count Returns To Form
After having their fight promoted to co-main event following the cancellation of the Forrest Griffin/Antonio Rogerio Nogueira battle, Michael Bisping and Dan Miller put on a bloody battle that lived up to co-main event status. Michael Bisping then took the opportunity to beat down and bloody a very game opponent in Dan Miller. Despite battling with a heavy heart, Dan Miller stepped up his game against Michael Bisping and traded blows with the British fighter for the majority of the encounter. Michael Bisping also showed an improving striking game, while not of Anderson Silva like skill, is still light years better than what skills he showed in his early UFC appearances. Dan Miller may have unintentionally cost himself the fight against Michael Bisping due to the lack of time the fight was on the ground, which is the strength of Dan Miller’s MMA game.
Next Round For Michael Bisping: The Brit does want a rematch with Wanderlei Silva, but could end up with the Damien Maia/Alan Belcher winner.
Next Round For Dan Miller: Mike Swick, Patrick Cote or Drew McFedries could be interesting.
Round Three: One Upset, Two Upsets, Three Upse….Never Mind!
When the pay-per-view kicked off on Saturday Night, former UFC Lightweight Title top contender Diego Sanchez and undefeated John Hathaway stepped into the octagon. When the three rounds came to an end, John Hathaway remained undefeated while Diego Sanchez suffered his second straight loss in the UFC, upset number one. Later in the evening, the heavily favored Todd Duffee, who holds the UFC record for the quickest knockout in UFC history, entered the octagon to face the little known Mike Russow. However, Todd Duffee quickly left conditioning outside of the cage and Mike Russow collected his “Knockout Of The Night†bonus after putting Todd Duffee out with a right to the face, upset number two. As relative unknown Jason Brilz entered the octagon to take on a much more known Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, fans may have been thinking upset. However, despite an unbelievable performance by Jason Brilz, the judges still saw Antonio Rogerio Nogueira as the winner of the fight, but a star was made in Jason Brilz, no upset number three on this night.
Next Round For John Hathaway: Patrick Cote or Martin Kampmann would make for a good slugfest.
Next Round For Diego Sanchez: A return to the UFC Lightweight Division would suit the fighter best.
Next Round For Mike Russow: Stefan Struve, Brendan Schaub or Joey Beltran.
Next Round For Todd Duffee: James McSweeney or a rematch with Tim Hague.
Next Round For Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: A bout with a healthy Forrest Griffin.
Next Round For Jason Brilz: Cyrille Diabate or Thiago Silva.
Round Four: It Was Alumni Night At UFC 114
Besides the bone crushing action at UFC 114 that featured Quinton Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Dan Miller, Dong Hyun Kim and others. UFC 114 also featured a card with five UFC Ultimate Fighter winners in Rashad Evans (Season 2), Amir Sadollah (Season 6), Michael Bisping (Season 3), Diego Sanchez (Season 1) and Efrain Escudero (Season 8). On this night, the UFC Ultimate Fighter alumni went 3-2 with Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping and Efrain Escudero achieving victories, while Amir Sadollah and Diego Sanchez fell to defeat. Also, if Forrest Griffin hadn’t been injured during his training camp, there would have been a sixth UFC Ultimate Fighter alumni on the card. With the popularity of the UFC Ultimate Fighter continuing to rise, there will be plenty more of alumni to compete on future UFC events.
Next Round For Amir Sadollah: Learning takedown defense and a battle with Diego Sanchez could be interesting.
Next Round For Efrain Escudero: A rematch with Evan Dunham or battles with Tyson Griffin, Matt Wiman or Sam Stout would be cool.
Round Five: Dan Lauzon Forgot What Conditioning Was
Despite the recent personal tension with Dan Lauzon and his brother Joe Lauzon, Dan Lauzon still had to step in the octagon on Saturday Night. While Dan Lauzon entered the cage with his corner men in toes and the proper fighting gear, Dan Lauzon forgot to enter the cage with one unique item…conditioning. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan commented multiple times during the fight that the lack of work ethic by Dan Lauzon was obvious throughout the battle. Hopefully in the future, Dan Lauzon can enter the cage again with the drama behind him and the proper work ethic rebuilt inside of him.
Next Round For Dan Lauzon: More time in a gym and less time in the UFC.
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
