UFC 60 ~ The Results and the Images

I continue to grow in my computer knowledge on how to add things to my page to better inform the public. This review will incorporate images of some of the fights. The cool KO's anyways!

Melvin "The Young Assassin" Guillard over Rick "The Flying Squirrel" Davis

As you will see below this fight ended indramatic fashion as Melvin dropped Davis with a huge overhand right. You can clearly see what I have talked about in the past regarding the KO's in MMA. The smaller glove makes for a cleaner knock out which is actually safer that the continuous pounding of the heavier glove!





Spencer "The King" Fisher over Matt Wiman

This was a great fight, maybe the fight of the night. Krista (MMA friend not my fiancee) wasn't lyin when she told me about Wiman. This kid brought it! In the end Fisher was able to land a flying knee (pictured below) to end the fight. Right before the knee fisher landed a punch that, as Joe Rogan would say, "rocked" Wiman and sent him stumbling. I will also add that Fisher did a lot of uncharacteristic trash talking taunting that I didn't care for. But we will see these 2 fight again in the future, and Fisher better watch out.




Mike "Quick" Swick over Joe "Diesel" Riggs

This was one of Swick's longest fights, what can you say he just ends them quick. It was still relatively quick as Swick controlled the action early. As you will see below in the 1st image Swick landed a high right kick that wobbled Riggs. Riggs then shoots in and tries to take Swick down but ends up in the "Swick-a-tine", Swick's version of the Guillotine choke. You can see from the 2nd image that Swick has his right arm tight under Riggs' chin which quickly cuts off the air and blood supply causing that bright redish-purple color his face turns. This is why they tap people!






Brandon "The Truth" Vera over Assuerio Silva

The Truth is this guy can fight. He should be fighting at 205, but don't tell him that, he's not done with the heavyweights yet. I was a little dissapointed that Silva was caught in the Guillotine like Riggs, he's a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu guy that should nothave been caught like he was. But I guess he wanted to allow me to give you all another angle of the Guillotine, here it is. You can see the head trapped like before with Riggs, the tremendous arch on the back is cause by Vera pulling Silva's head and controlling Silva's waist with his legs. Very well excecuted.




Diego Sanchez over John Allesio

I could show you some imagesof this fight but you may die of boredum!!!!! This was one of the most painful things to watch. Diego pushed all the action, kept coming forward and trying to take Allesio down. Credit Allesio for defending the takedowns but the guy didn't do anything offensively. I do know a few people who thought he won the fight, but you have to give me something. Diego won on my card simply because he tried. Allesio could have won my card by throwing 4-5 punches. It's that simple.


Dean Lister over Alessio Sakara

Below you will see a very nice Triangle Choke applied to Sakara. Lister seemed very comfortable in his Octagon debut. This was a rather quick night of fights as we didn't see much in the way of 2nd rounds. To apply the Triangle Choke you must have 1of your opponents arms between your legs and 1 out side (in this case Sakara's right arm is trapped by Lister), notice his right leg over the head and neck while his left leg works as a lever to apply force to the choke, this cuts off the supply of blood and oxygen to the brain quickly. Had Lister had needed to add more pressure he could have reached up with his hands and pulled Sakara's head down into his belly.





Jeremy Horn over Chael Sonnen

They didn't show this fight.



Matt Hughes over Royce Gracie

I was pretty dissapointed in Royce on this evening. I expected Hughes to win the fight but I really thought that Gracie would defend better. Hughes was able to stay out of Royce's guard and almost submit him. In the end Royce gave up his back and Hughes pummeled away at him. There are many people saying many things about Royces performance. Here's how I see the many arguments.

1 - Matt is just too strong for Royce. - Gracie has fought much bigger and stronger people that Matt Hughes. Ken Shamrock, Kimo, Dan Severn to name a couple. All these men had 40-90 pounds on Royce when he fought them.

2 - MMA has evolved too much for Royce and the Gracie family. - There are still some successful BJJ fighters that don't strike to much. Royce wasn't one of them tonight.

The truth about this fight was that Royce looked intimidated to me. Why, I don't know. Gracie's inability to defend Hughes from his back or even pull guard on him shouldn't have been a factor of the sport evolving or strength. Had Hughes dominated Royce in the stand up and defended his takedown attempts it may be an issue of evolution, had Royce not been able to keep a 230 pound Ken Shamrock (who I'm sure is stronger that Hughes) in his guard it may be an issue of strength. All in allthis was an over hyped fight, that was my fear going in but I still watched to see if Royce could pull off some old magic. Below is the end of the fight. Royce is not defending himself leaving Big John McCarthy no choice but to stop the fight.

UFC on PPV at the Harding Hooters

Appaerntly the Harding Hooters in Nashville is showing the UFV PPV tonight. Any of you interested in seeing the UFC that may not want to shell out the money should be able to check it out there.

UFC 60 ~ The Predictions

Here we go on another UFC ride. UFC 60, the return of Royce Gracie. We do have this small matter of 8 other fights to get through before we talk about the big one. If you want to come over and watch all the action, drop a line.

The Undercard (these fights may not be broadcast)

Jeremy "Gumby" Horn



VS

Chael Sonnen



If you click the link you will quickly notice that Jeremy Horn has been in the ring over 100 times. Yep, 100. That's a lot of fights no matter how you slice it. He's a grappler by nature but says he's gonna try and showcase his stand up abilities against the Team Quest submission fighter. If he comes from Team Quest you know he can wrestle and grapple. I look for Sonnen to overcome his 2 losses to Horn and defeat him on this stage.



Gabriel Gonzaga



VS

Fabiano Scherner



A couple of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters going at it. I like this match up for 2 reasons. 1) They are pretty even if you look on paper. They are both submission guys. Both 5 wins, both 4 submission wins. 2) We need more heavyweights to step up and prove that they can compete with Arlovsky and Sylvia. I'm gonna take Scherner just cuz I liked his last fight, it ended in defeat but you can't win them all.



Alessio Sakara



VS

Dean Lister



Another good match up. Lister is world known for his submission skills. He's been waiting to move up the UFC and now he has his chance. Sakara has 2 fights in the UFC so he has had the chance to get his feet wet. I'm gonna take Sakara with a victory in this one. Although Lister has tremendous skills on the ground I haven't been overly impressed with his MMA game.



Spencer Fisher



VS

Matt Wiman



Although I've heard a lot about Matt Wiman from Krista (my fight fan friend, not my fiancee) I have always been impressed with Fisher. He has a 17-2 record with 9 KO's and 7 Submissions and only 1 decision. He keeps coming forward to try and end the fight. I wish Matt a lot of luck and hope he does well but I believe he will come up short. (sorry Krista!)



Melvin "The Young Assassin" Guillard



VS

Rick "The Flying Squirrel" Davis



Most know by now that I likethe way Melvin fights, I've picked him in every fight I've reviewed. Rick Davis is an up and comer with 4 fights under his belt. Melvin should try to keep this fight standing but will not be afraid to use that wrestling background to ground and pound fora victory. I'm pickin Melvin.


The Main Card


Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez



VS

John "The Natural" Alessio



Diego takes you down, Diego pounds you and you tap out or go to sleep. That's how he compiled that 16-0 record (14-0 on Sherdog). John Alessio has been around the block a few times. Until I see someone stop Diego I'm not picking against him. Nick Diaz is a good fighter, he was able to slow down Diego a little but in the end it was an easy decision victory for Diego. Pick, Diego.



Mike "Quick" Swick



VS

Joe "Diesel" Riggs



Don't blink in this fight!!!! I'll give you some numbers..... :22, :20, :45, :26 and :31. That is the time, in seconds, of 5 of Mike Swick's last 6 fights. All ending in KO's (1 of him and 5 of his opponents). The nickname is Quick and he lives up to it. Riggs is trying to climb back up to the top after his devistating loss to the scales, weighing in over the limit by 2 pounds before getting submitted in the 1st round by Matt Hughes. he has since beat Nick Diaz in the cage and reportedly also beat him in a fight at the hospital after the fight. Riggs will be glad to stand toe to toe with Swick. If Swick doesn't knock his head off witht he 1st flury of punches Riggs may take him down and work his ground game. It's a close one but my gut says Swick keeps on rolling. But don't blink for God's sake!


Brandon "The Truth" Vera



VS

Assuerio Silva



Vera has always seemed to me like he should cut 20 pounds and fight at 205, I'd love to see him against Chuck Liddell. But he just keeps KO'ing the heavyweights so if it aint broke dont fix it! Assuerio is coming off his loss to current heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia. The winner of this fight may be in line for a title fight with the winner of the next Sylvia vs Arlovsky fight coming up in August (i think). I don't think Vera will be able to keep this one in his comfort zone on his feet. I look for Silva to take him down and dish out some ground and pound. I take Silva.


And now for the moment we've all been waiting for. I cannot tell you how excited I am for this fight to happen.

Royce Gracie



VS

Matt Hughes



No fancy nicknames, just 2 guys who live to train and fight. Royce - a legend, the one who changed martial arts as we all knew it, a guy who fights people 20-100's of pounds out of his weight class. Matt - A great champ, a guy who will fight anyone anywhere, one of the most dominant fighters today. Here's how I see this breaking down. Matt will try to work his stand up, Royce will work the takedown even if it means being on the bottom and playing defense for a while. Hughes will work his ground and pound fromthe top and land some but not enough to warrant a KO, TKO or landslide decision. That's right, I see this one going the distance. But it is so damn exciting I will watch every second. And then I'll back the disc up and watch it again and again. I like both these fighters, I also have a high respect for both these fighters. That being said I would love it if Royce were able to pull this off and submit Hughes. But I really don't believe that will happen. The Militech camp trains better than anyone in the world right now and I think Hughes will be ready for this fight. I look for Hughes to win a decision here.

UFC 60 ~ The Storyline

Wow, I am excited for this one!!!! Royce Gracie, the man who started it all, back in the cage to prove that he's still got it and that Gracie Jui Jitsu is still the best. If you've seen any of the hype you've probably heard some of this before. Let me kind of run down what this boils down to, in Bruceleeroy's terms.

1) Since the dawn of martial arts until about 13 years ago most people got into a style, studied that style, lived that style. Karate, Kung Fu, Tae Kwan Doe, Jui Jitsu, Aikido, Muay Thai....Whatever your poison. All taught throughout the globe by instructors who will tell you that any man or woman of any size can take out any aggressor with the right amount of skill.

2) Back in 1993 the UFC began, it's goal was to find out what martial arts style is the best and would be the most practical in a close to real fight atmosphere. Royce, with his family name Gracie Jui Jitsu, dominated. A 170 pound man defeating a who's who of fighters in minutes, often times fighting people 20-40-100 pounds heavier than him. Having been at the 1st 2 UFC's live I can tell you that very few people had much of an idea of what was going on, including myself. If you rent the video's you will actually hear people booing because they don't know why the fights are being stopped. Royce went on to beat Boxers, Savate practitioners, Karate, Wrestling legends (real wrestling not WWE) and anyone they put in front of him. It was in a word, impressive.

3) Since the early 90's MMA has evolved to where most people will train in 3 areas, Boxing, Muay Thai Kickboxing and Brazilian Jui Jitsu. (Training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu often translates to Gracie Jiu Jitsu) In the last couple years or so many 'new era' fighters and/or people who train have began to revolt against the Gracie family stating that they are stubborn in only training 1 style, that Royce walked through a bunch of people who had no idea what they were getting in to.

4) The match between Royce Gracie and Matt Hughes is signed in and the questions arise.


Is Royce "washed up" or even "never meant to be"?
Is Royce not prepared to step into today's UFC where so many people are actively training in a stand up game and a ground game?

The answers to these questions will all be answered on Saturday night. But the results of Saturday night will not change the following facts.....

Fact - Most Mixed Martial Arts fighters inthe U.S. would not be where they are at this moment had it not been for Royce Gracie. Anyone who says different is just plain wrong. Like him or dislike him his theory was proven. 1 on 1 Gracie Jui Jitsu dominated the other styles. Once you get a Karate guy off his feet, he's about worthless unless he now trains a ground game.

Fact - Royce has not lost in the UFC. He is 13-1-2 overall. He is one of a very few fighters still around who will go out of his weight class to fight people. (In a noted rivalry Tito Ortiz, 205 lbs, and Ken Shamrock, 235 lbs, wanted to get it on. Tito would not agree to the fight against Shamrock unless it took place at 205 so Ken would loose size and strength. Gracie weighed 180 when he fought Shamrock and won.) Gracie, at 170-180 throughout his career, fought Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock twice, Kimo Leopold, Keith Hackney and most recently Aekebono, giving up anywhere from 20-80 pounds in most fights, well over 100 pounds to former sumo wrestler Aekebono.

Win lose or draw he and his family have done more to change martial arts in the last couple years than anyone has in the previous 2000.

So I got engaged last night

I asked Krista to marry me and after much thought about all my shortcomings and weaknesses I was able to get enough alcohol into her to make her agree with me!

So there!