Spike TV Pre-Fights

Spike TVs pre-event fights started off with featherweights, Chad “Money” Mendes against Michiro Omigawa.  This was a classic match-up of grappler Omigawa is a trained judoka, while Mendes is a 2-time All American Greco-Roman wrestler.

In the first round, Mendes came out swinging against Omigawa, who didn’t really strike much.As I watched Omigawa, it became clear that he had no intention of striking, when judo was his strong point.

The second round was again initiated by Mendes. A bautiful right hand sent Omigawa to the canvas. Although Omigawa was on his back, he proved himself capable of handling Mendes. During this round, Mendes ended up finding his timing and controlling the distance. Although he repeatedly tried to take down Omigawa, he was unsuccessful because of Omigawa’s judo. Mendes concluded with a flurry that left Omigawa’s left eyebrow split open.

The final round sealed Omigawa’s fate. He started by walking into Mendes’ fist, which knocked the vaseline loose off of his cut. Mendes went in for the shoot, but was squashed by Omigawa’s sprawl defense. Shortly afterward, he attempted a guillotine that Mendes eluded. Toward the end, it was clear both were tired. However, Mendes somehow engaged in ground-and-pound that Rogan excellently described as an “exclamation point.

The second fight had light-heavyweight, Kyle Kingsbury facing off against Ricardo Romero. This was probably the most brutal fight. Immediately, Kingsbury drove Romero right into a corner, where he unleashed a flurry of knees that led up to a left hand that leveled Romero. Romero held his side, which indicated some possibly broken ribs. In a classy move, Kingsbury came over to check on Romero because his loss was a vicious one.

The third fight had Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone facing off Paul Kelly’s ninth UFC bout, after coming from WEC. It started memorably with Kelly skipping touching gloves in favor of sucker punching Cerrone. Kelly tried taking Cerrone down, which resulted in Cerrone sustaining a small cut. He ended up going for some ground-and-pound that opened up Kelly •something that didn’t sadden me.

The second opened with an exchange. Kelly dropped him with an attempted guillotine that took them both down, where Cerrone kept kneeing Kelly’s thigh. Though he unleashed some ground-and-pound, Kelly went for an armbar that Cerrone eluded and took Kelly’s back. Until the end, Kelly struggled to defend himself ultimately leaving himself open for a rear-naked choke.

Pay-Per-View Main Event

The first PPV fight featured bantamweights, Miguel Torres and Antonio Banuelos. I was extremely excited because they seemed like two fighters that seemed to have a lot of heart. Banuelos was part of Chuck Liddell’s training camp and had Jon Hackleman in his corner, while Torres was a Carlson Gracie protege and even helped to train Stephan Bonnar in BJJ.

My expectations turned out to be too high. During the first round, Torres kept holding his arm out to seemingly keep Banuelos at a distance. Here and there, Torres would jab. Banuelos’ movements seemed jerky and awkward. The worst part about Banuelos was his inability to close in or pursue Torres on the ground.

The second round wasn’t much better. Early on, it appeared that Banuelos was hit in the groin, though he quickly recovered. Truthfully, his head movement was one of the few things keeping him alive because Torres tagged him with strikes that lacked any real power. Banuelos attempted a few strikes that kept falling short.

Unfortunately, the fight went the distance. The last round was pretty much a repeat. Toward the end, Banuelos started swinging like a madman. All in all, this was probably the worst fight. When, after the fight, Torres said that he didn’t want to get in close because of Baneulos, I thought that he had no business stepping into the octagon.

The second fight was another battle of grapplers. Welterweights, Jake Ellenberger and Carlos Eduardo Rocha, were not supposed to fight each other because Ellenberger was supposed to fight Jon Fitch, who ended up being paired up with BJ Penn.

In the first round, Ellenberger ended up taking down Rocha and putting him into side control. Past the halfway point, Rocha almost took Ellenberger’s back. As he recovered, Rocha then took down Ellenberger and went into side control. He stood up and almost put Rocha into a guillotine. Easing into the end, Rocha tried a futile spinning backfist and ended with a series of ground moves to no avail.

Going into the second round, Ellenberger let out a series of knees that helped to press Rocha to the ground and made him turtle up a bit.  Around 1:32, Rocha landed a beautiful roundhouse that, unfortunately, didn’t cause much damage. Shortly afterward, he attempted a flying knee that also had little effect.

The final round also had a lot of back-and-forth. At one point, Ellenberger had Rocha on his back but wouldn’t engage him. Rogan noticed that Rocha would drop his hip when he was about to do a spinning move something that probably Ellenberger also picked up on.

Of all of the fights, this was perhaps the one where I was wondering if the judges were watching the same one. They amazingly gave it to Rocha, despite the fact that Ellenberger landed numerous takedowns.

The third fight had Jon “Bones” Jones and TUF alum, Ryan Bader the first grudge match of the night. This was a match-up between a flash fighter and a straightforward one. Considering their strong wrestling backgrounds, I knew that this one would be good.

Early in the first, Jones went in for a shoot that left him open for a guillotine. They both ended up on the ground. Rogan remarked on Jones’ strength because he was throwing around Bader someone built like a beast. Toward the end, Jones had Bader in the corner and punished him with elbows to the ribs that set him up for a choke.

A hilarious moment came before the round started. Bader’s friend in his corner screamed, “Put your fucking hands on him.” Excellent advice because Jones easily earned the first round. Toward the end, Bader fell, though I couldn’t see why. Jones had control, as he went from a darth choke into a guillotine. He kept tightening his python grip, until Bader tapped out at 0:41.

As for the next fight, Rich Franklin vs. Forrest Griffin, this was one that I anxiously waited for. I remember hearing that they had a bet going that the loser would get a tattoo of the winner’s choosing. For me, the real reason that I was tuning in was to see how Franklin would perform as a light-heavyweight.

In the first round, Griffin easily dominated Franklin. Rogan commented that even Griffin probably had 20 pounds on Franklin. Even though at the weigh-in he weight two more pounds, it was very clear that Griffin was much bigger at fight time. This size was something that he utilized very well to control Franklin on the ground, although he didn’t do any serious damage.

The second round was more of the same. Griffin hit Franklin with a big leg kick that landed on his left arm which he had been nursing from his fight against Chuck Liddell. There was a small exchange toward the end but nothing significant. It seemed that Griffin was using leg kicks to soften up Franklin and slow his advance.

The third round, like the second, had a lot of back-and-forth. At 3:58, Griffin attempted an unsuccessful judo type of throw, only to have Franklin try to take him down. There wasn’t much that went on and, as the fight concluded, I felt tremendously disappointed. Franklin was physically outmatched by Griffin.

Any disappointment was erased by the main event fight: Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort two very similar fighters. Both are Brazilians with equally strong grappling and striking, although I would consider Belfort the more devastating striker. Also, I had seen the footage of their very heated weigh-in that resulted in words being exchanged.

One of the things that struck me during the first round was how Silva kept moving his hands in circular motions almost like a kung-fu fighter. Both were very tentative. It was even so bad that the crowd ended up booing. Silva even dropped his hands a trademark move to entice Belfort. Around 2:18, Belfort tagged Silva a few times and, shortly afterward, he attempted a head kick. The literal coup de grâce came at 1:40, when Silva faked low and then hit Belfort in the face with a high front kick that knocked him out lights out and they weren’t coming back on.

In the end, even with the uneven fights and the questionable Rocha victory, it was worthwhile to see Silva make history with that kick one that I was explaining to people that weren’t lucky enough to watch it. I can’t wait for my next UFC PPV event.

Author: José A. Rodríguez