UFC 85 Knockout of the Night ($50,000): Thiago Alves
With his fight-ending flying knee, Thiago Alves earned the biggest win of his career, a possible title shot, and a $50,000 bonus. It was truly a thing of beauty, sensing Hughes was ripe for the picking, Alves threw caution to the wind and jumped in with a flying knee, catching Hughes on the shoulder and chin, ending the fight in emphatic fashion. Alves followed up with a punch, bouncing the semi-conscious head of Hughes off of the canvas before the referee could jump in.
UFC 85 Submission of the Night ($50,000): Kevin Burns
This has to be the surprise of the night as well, as newcomer Kevin Burns secured a beautiful triangle choke on ju-jitsu black belt, Roan Carneiro.
UFC 85 Fight of the Night ($50,000/each): Matt Wiman and Thiago Tavares
This was a true back and forth battle, with the underdog Wiman and Tavares trading submission attempts in round one. Round two started and it appeared Tavares was on his way to finishing off Matt Wiman, but Wiman came back with a vengeance of knees and punches, ending Tavares’ night with a right hand. The english audience was on its feet during this fast-paced scrap.
What a great night of fights at UFC 85 Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London England.The Main Event saw an overweight (by 4 lbs due to a sprained ankle 10 days ago) Thiago Alves end Matt Hughes’ night early in the second round with a flying knee to the jaw. Hughes crumpled to the canvas, landing on and twisting his left knee in the process. Prior to that, Alves dominated the entire fight and made Hughes look very ordinary. Hughes had no answer for Alves’ strength, his crisp striking and takedown defence. Hughes looked every bit like the “old guard” in this fight, someone with great skills in one area but lost elsewhere. His striking consisted of a lunging right jab and not much else. His younger, stronger opponent stuffed his takedowns and the one time Hughes was able to take Alves down, he was not able to muster any offence. I don’t think it’s a situation where Hughes has gone rapidly downhill, but more of a new generation passing Hughes by. His days at a top 3 welterweight are over. Besides Georges St. Pierre and Alves, I can think of 3 other guys (Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, BJ Penn and possibly Diego Sanchez) off the top of my who could pummel Hughes now.
We should give referee Dan Mirgliota a new nickname, “Premie” as in premature stoppage. What a quick stoppage for the Brandon Vera/Fabricio Werdum fight. These are top-calibre fighters in the top mma promotion in the world. There was 20 seconds left in the round and Vera, while mounted, was defending himself and was alert. In fact, he was even telling Mirgliota, “I’m ok!! I’m ok!!” for fear of a stoppage. His concerns were justified. Perhaps the ref confused, “I’m ok!!” for “Stop?” This is almost as bad as his stoppage of the Kimbo Slice/James Thompson fight last Saturday. Full credit to Werdum however, he did an excellent job and like Joe Rogan said to the booing fans, he didn’t stop the fight.
The Mike Swick/Marcus Davis scrap was a good one, albeit a bit one-sided. Swick did what he needed to do, and that was to avoid Davis’ striking. Davis was unable to avoid the takedowns, even though Swick is a noted striker. In the end, the point deducted from Swick for grabbing the fence made no difference, as he scored a unanimous decision win.
Fight of the night should go to Nate Marquardt/Thales Leites. These two put on a back and forth tilt, with one fighter getting rocked and coming back and rocking the other guy. After a nice combo, Marquardt gets taken off of his feet with a fade away right from Leites. Leites fails to finish him and by the end of the round Marquardt has recovered and hits a nasty uppercut, sending Leites reeling. Round two starts and while scrambling up, Marquardt hits an illegal knee to the face of Leites. Leites had a knee down and kneeing isn’t allowed to a downed opponent. Dock one point from Marquardt. Upon the fight restarting, Marquardt furiously tries to finish off Leites to no avail. Round three is back and forth, up and down until the referee Herb Dean deducts another point off Marquardt for an illegal elbow to the back of the head. Replays clearly show the elbow landing to the side of the head, but it was a split-second call from the referee. With less than 10 seconds left in the fight, the fighters scramble and Leites grabbing Nate’s leg. Mustering up all of his strength, Marquardt actually lifts him up, Pro Wrestling style, and PILEDRIVES Leites!! Leites didn’t “rest in peace” after that and actually scrambled right back up for the final seconds of the clock. Winner was Leites by split decision. The bad call by referee Herb Dean stole this fight from him.
Co-Main Event was Jason Day vs Michael Bisping, and Day really had no answer for the striking and ground and pound attack of the Brit. Day never threatened and was out-classed in every aspect of the fight, leading to a short night for the Canadian by way of ground and pound TKO. This was the best Bisping has looked, dismantling a fighter who dismantled Alan Belcher, who in turn defeated Kalib Starnes, who defeated Chris Leben, Bisping’s original opponent. I know fights don’t work out that way, but it’s neat to see how they intertwine! Until next time.
