BIG MMA WEEKEND CONCLUDES TONIGHT
Philadelphia, PA– B.J. Penn (14-5, 5 KOs, 6 SUBs) SUB4 Kenny Florian (11-4, 3 KOs, 7 SUBs) B.J. Penn did what he does best-dominate at lightweight. Aside from the occasional kick, Florian seemed to do nothing but press Penn against the cage looking for the takedown. Penn is almost impossible to take down (unless your name is Georges St. Pierre). Penn was able to land strikes and seemingly win every round until ultimately taking Florian down and using his world class Jiu-Jitsu to submit Florian via a rear naked choke in the fourth session.
Anderson Silva (25-4, 15 KOs, 4 SUBs) KO1 Forrest Griffin (16-6, 3 KOs, 7 SUBs) Silva beat Griffin like a scolded dog and did so in easy fashion. Silva was able to easily slip any strikes Griffin threw, while Griffin seemed to catch everything Silva threw with his face. Silva hurt Griffin badly twice until ultimately knocking him cold with a well placed soft jab while moving backwards as Griffin lunged at Silva. Griffin was so embarrassed as soon as he gathered himself he sprinted out of the cage and ran backstage. It was a brilliant display by Silva and I can honestly say that this guy is on a completely different level.
Johny Hendricks (6-0, 4 KOs, 1 SUB) TKO1 Amir Sadollah (1-1, 1 SUB) Hendricks remained undefeated and added a knockout to his ledger after referee Dan Miragliotta prematurely halted the bout. After Hendricks momentarily knocked down Sadollah just seconds into the fight, Miragliotta jumped in and stopped the fight as Sadollah rose from the flash knockdown wondering what the hell the ref was thinking. This isn’t the first time Miragliotta has been in the middle of controversy due to bad refereeing. He has got to be the worst ref in the game and should be cut from the UFC.
Ricardo Almeida (11-3, 4 SUBs) UD3 Kendall Grove (10-6, 2 KOs, 6 SUBs) Almeida was able to dominate on the ground for the most part and take somewhat of a lackluster decision. Grove for his part tried to improve his position but couldn’t seem to succeed at it.
Kurt Pellegrino (14-4, 2 KOs, 9 SUBs) UD3 Josh Neer (25-8-1, 10 KOs, 11 SUBs) This fight was very similar to the Almeida-Grove fight in that Pellegrino was able to maintain a dominate position on the ground for much of the fight. To his credit, Neer went for several submissions from the bottom but never could secure one.
PRELIM BOUTS
Aaron Riley (28-11-1, 5 KOs, 13 SUBs) UD3 Shane Nelson (12-4, 2 KOs, 3 SUBs)
John Howard (12-4, 2 KOs, 6 SUBs) SD3 Tamdan McCrory (11-3, 6 KOs, 4 SUBs)
Alessio Sakara (14-7, 8 KOs, 2 SUBs) SD3 Thales Leites (14-3, 2 KOs, 9 SUBs)
Matt Riddle (3-0) UD3 Dan Cramer (1-1)
George Sotiropoulos (10-2, 1 KO, 6 SUBs) SUB2 George Roop (9-5, 1 KO, 4 SUBs)
Jesse Lennox (11-1, 6 KOs, 5 SUBs) TKO3 Danillo Villefort (9-3, 3 KOs, 5 SUBs)
TONIGHT: WEC CARD HAS ‘POUND 4 POUND’ GUY TORRES
UFC 101 is followed by a good WEC card Sunday on the Versus TV network. World Extreme Cagefighting, which is owned by the UFC (Zuffa Sports), will have their card Sunday featuring their ultra talented bantamweight (135 lbs) star Miguel Torres (37-1, 9 KOs, 22 SUBs). Torres will be taking on the #3 ranked bantamweight the dangerous Brian Bowels (7-0, 2 KOs, 5 SUBs). The televised card will feature four other bouts, all which look pretty solid. WEC tends to have some of the best fights out there so if you have Versus be sure to tune in Sunday night for a great night of fights!
Matthew Grizzle