john lawrence taps out …
UFC 159 in New Jersey was absolutely one of the strangest nights in fighting ever. Through horrible officiating, extremely odd injuries, and even possibly the only mistake ever made by announcer Bruce Buffer, the night truly had it all. We had two fights stopped due to eye pokes (one rightfully so and the other not so much). We had the reigning champion somehow break his toe, and not even notice until his post fight interview. We had Bruce Buffer announce a combatant as the winner, just mere moments after the fighter was rendered unconscious. Despite all of the oddities and anomalies, there was still a great night of fights.
The pay per view started out with a light weight war between New Jersey native, Jim Miller and Strikeforce veteran Pat Healy. Miller started out the fight extremely aggressive with some great striking and was literally pushing Healy around. Healy was able to find his stride about halfway through the first round and takedown Miller. Miller got up only to be taken down again, and have Healy take his back. Miller quickly spun and was able to take the top and proceeded to ground and pound Healy for the remainder of the round. The round ended just in time for Healy as I believe it was close to being stopped by the referee. Apparently this served as a wake up call for Healy as he proceeded to dominate the second round with takedowns, ground and pound, and submission attempts. This carried on all the way through the third round, as Healy proceeded with more of the same until he was finally able to take Miller’s back and sink in a rear naked choke. Miller, refusing to tap, was rendered unconscious and the referee put an end to it. Despite the fact that Miller lost, Bruce Buffer was nice enough to announce Miller as the winner. He promptly corrected the mistake and collected a few laughs, but hey one mistake in seventeen years – we should all be that good at our jobs.
Winner via submission (rear naked choke) – Jim Miller – Oh wait I mean Pat Healy
In the light heavyweight division, we got to witness what happens when three time Jiu-Jitsu world champion Vinicius Magalhaes takes on a four time all-american wrestler Phil Davis. To be honest, I expected a lot more grappling in this fight. I at least expected some. There was none. It seems to me that Magalhaes had a game plan that entailed getting Davis to the ground, or letting davis take him to the ground. Apparently Phil Davis had a completely different game plan, and he executed it to perfection. He wanted nothing to do with grappling the BJJ world champion, and continued with a three round onslaught of striking. He landed a beautiful headkick in the first, but seemed a little apprehensive about charging in for the kill after Magalhaes was rocked. Davis was patient and content to continue with his game plan. He executed his one two combo flawlessly and at-will for all three rounds. Inevitably, it went to the judges table and they rightfully saw in favor of Davis. Davis’ striking looked better than ever and he apparently has added a few more tricks to his arsenal. It’s great to watch this guy evolve and get better every fight. He’s definitely making a case for his name to move up the ranks towards title contention.
Winner via Unanimous decision: Phil Davis
Next we go to the heavyweight division to watch as two completely opposite ends of the spectrum clash. Cheick Kongo, who is one of the finest physical specimens in the heavyweight division took on Roy Nelson, complete with mullet, scraggly beard, and a gut that would make Santa jealous. Don’t get me wrong, I love Roy Nelson. Not only do I find him absolutely hilarious, the guy is an absolute badass. He is one of only a few high level jiu-jitsu practitioners with true knock out power. If only Cheick Kongo read this before the fight. There was some light grappling against the cage, before the ref stepped in and broke it up (I really have no idea why), and about two minutes in, Cheick was introduced to Nelson’s right hand. Just for good measure, Nelson threw another right to the jaw of Kongo, before the referee called it.
Winner via KO: Roy Nelson
The Middleweight fight between Michael Bisping and Alan Belcher was extremely one sided. Bisping set the pace for the entire fight and definitely had the edge in the striking game. Belcher did not really show any sense of urgency and approached the fight rather lazily. Bisping worked hard for all three rounds showing pinpoint accuracy in his strikes and pushing the pace. Late in the third round, he caught Belcher with an accidental eye poke. It was truly brutal as blood poured from Belcher’s eye. The referee was forced to stop the fight and it had to go to the judge’s scorecards.
Winner via technical decision: Michael Bisping.
On a sidenote, this was the second fight of the night stopped due to an eye poke. On the preliminary card, Ovince St. Preux caught Gian Villante with an eye poke. The referee gave Villante no chance to recover and simply called the fight over. A referee is supposed to give a fighter time to recover, then assess the situation, but I guess this ref didn’t get the memo.
The night of bizarre occurrences continued into the main event between Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and contender Chael Sonnen. The match itself started out great. Sonnen looked good and was able to clinch the champion and land some good shots. From there out the champion took over as he took down Sonnen twice and began the ground and pound. The referee stepped in with thirty seconds left in the round to stop the beating. As the post fight interview with the champ began, he noticed that his toe was broken. No big deal right? I thought so too until the camera panned down to it. It looked like his toe was twisted sideways. It reminded me of the hammer scene in the movie the Payback. The champ was gracious enough to keep his composure long enough to continue the post fight interview, but you could tell that it hurt like hell.
On the preliminary card, there was a great fight in the women’s bantamweight division between Olympic silver medal wrestler Sara McMann and German sensation Sheila Gaff. Mcmann look brilliant as she dismantled Gaff with her wrestling skill. She was able to pin her down in a crucifix and unleash a ground and pound beating that forced the referee to step in and put a stop to it.
Preliminary Fight results:
Rustam Khabilov def. Yancy Medeiros via TKO (Medeiros broke his thumb)
Bryan Caraway def. Johnny Bedford via submission (guillotine)
Cody McKenzie def. Leonard Garcia via unanimous decision
Steven Siler def. Kurt Holobaugh via unanimous decision
