UFC Shines In Boston Return

The UFC was back in Boston last night and the 13-fight card did not dissapoint. Dana White had said this was the best free TV event the company had ever put together.  And I think he was right. 

UFC 75 was the best free card (with Rampage vs Henderson (champion vs champion), the controversial Bisping win over Hamill and Cro Cop falling to Kongo). 

But short of a title fight, UFC Fight Night 26 had all the makings for a memorable, long talked about card and it lived up to the hype. 

(My view for the fights below)

When the UFC first came to Boston it was back in August of 2010. There were some real big names: Randy Couture, B.J. Penn, Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, and Kenny Florian. 

It was a good night, but not great. Couture fought boxer James Toney in a very rare "freak match" in the Dana White Era UFC. 

Maynard was boring in a win over Florian, and Edgar controlled Penn for 5 rounds in the main event title fight. Again good but not memorable like last night. 

The early fights at UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Sonnen (on Fox Sports 1) were solid and the crowd turned out early. Cold Miller lost a crap decision to Manny Gamburyan, Michael "Mayday" McDonald and Brad Pickett put on the fight of the night and crowd went bonkers for Conor McGregor... And that was all BEFORE the 6-fight main event. 

(McGregor with Joe Rogan after his decision win. BELOW. He apologized for not finishing the fight and said he hurt his knee.)

The biggest disappointment of the night was local guy Joe Lauzon losing to Michael Johnson. Not Lauzon's best night but it was Johnson's to be sure. 

John "Doomsday" Howard made sure the Mass fighters didn't go winless. The Dorchester native took a split decision win over Uriah Hall.  Howard was the biggest underdog on the card (+365), but Dana was not thrilled with all the high 5s the two fighters were dishing out during the fight. He said post fight that Hall doesn't have what it takes to fight in the UFC. 

HORRIBLE!!!!!!! The high 5 fight of the night WTF

— Dana White (@danawhite) August 18, 2013

Matt Brown made up for it with a 29 second KO victory over Mike Pyle.  Brown went on to say that Pyle is better than GSP, so...

Urijah Faber got a nice win over a tough Iuri Alcantara.  Faber dominates non-title fights, we'll see what happens next for him. 

Then it was time for the co-main event. 

Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne

Two Top 10 Heavyweights put on a hell of a show. Overeem beat the crap out of Browne for 2 solid minutes, many refs would have stopped the fight. But Browne just took it and waiting for Reem to tire. He did. When the former Strikeforce and Dream champ lowered his hands, Browne began with an assault of kicks to the head, ultimately landing one before finishing him off with hammer fists to the skull. 

Best win of Browne's career.  Another brutal loss for Overeem. 

At this point the UFC was playing with house money. 12 fights down with the vast majority being very entertaining. 

But it was time for Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Chael Sonnen.  

Sonnen took down Shogun immediately and you started to wonder if this was going to be a slow, control from the top, methodical fight. But before anyone could get too upset, Chael pulled off a submission victory, his best career win. 

Awesome night of fights. 

Lots of questions jump out: does Matt Brown or Travis Browne get a title shot soon?  Will Faber face Mayday? What's next for Overeem and Shogun?  What weight class will Sonnen's next fight be?

But we do know the answer to the most important question. The UFC WILL be back in Boston. 

UFC Fight Night Picks

The UFC returns to Boston tonight for UFC Fight Night 26. Here we go...

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua over Chael Sonnen

Alistair Overeem over Travis Browne

Urijah Faber over Yuri Alcantara

Mike Pyle over Matt Brown

John Howard (+325) over Uriah Hall

Joe Lauzon over Michael Johnson

Looking forward to seeing this card in person.  And if you can't make it to the TD Garden watch it for free on FOX Sports 1 (channel 925 on Comcast in Boston)

UFC Back In Boston

Podcast: Dana White

I talked to UFC President Dana White about the UFC's return to Boston, Anderson Silva's loss, and UFC on Fox 8 this Saturday.

The UFC's Return To Boston Should Be Worth The Wait

The UFC is coming back to the Boston nearly 3 years to the day from when it made its debut in the city with UFC 118.  The return show will also mark the first on the Fox Sports 1 channel.  So it will be free for the world to see, and for the Boston area fans paying the money to go see it live at the TD Garden, it looks like it won't disappoint.

Here is what the UFC on Fox Sports 1 1: Shogun vs. Sonnen card looks like as of right now.

SATURDAY, AUGUST, 17.

MAIN CARD (Fox Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET):

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua* vs. Chael Sonnen*

Alistair Overeem* vs. Travis Browne

Urijah Faber* vs.Yuri Alcantara 

Thiago Alves vs. Matt Brown

Uriah Hall vs. Nick Ring

Michael Johnson vs. Joe Lauzon

PRELIMINARY CARD:

Michael McDonald vs. Brad Pickett

Mike Brown vs. Akira Corassani

Conor McGregor vs. Andy Ogle

Diego Brandao vs. Daniel Pineda

Cody Donovan vs. Ovince St. Preux

Ramsey Nijem vs. James Vick

*Top 10 Fighter in Division

Sign me up for this one.

UFC on Fox 2 Thoughts and 143 Predictions

Before I get into my breakdown and picks for tonight's UFC 143 PPV card, I want to start with a quick op-ed on the 2nd installment of the UFC on Fox series.

I didn't watch the fights live. I was in San Diego for an engagement party, so I set the DVR and followed the action on my Twitter feed the entire night. I wasn't surprised by the results, but I was more surprised about some of the opinions that flooded Twitter in regards to performances, particularly the Sonnen-Bisping fight.

After watching the fights on DVR last night, I have to say that I don't disagree with the judge who scored it 30-27. The first two rounds were razor-thin close. And just because a fight is scored 30-27 doesn't mean it was a dominant performance by one fighter. S/He could have barely won all three rounds, but won them nonetheless. I think that was the case with Sonnen.

The first round was closely fought, particularly in the 2nd half when Bisping started to control the clinch against the cage. But by control, I mean position only. He mounted little offense, as he just kept Sonnen up against it. I thought Sonnen's work early in the round gave him the nod. He scored two takedowns and mounted some offense on the first one in particular, landing solid shots to Bisping's grill.

The second round was the closest of the match and could have gone either way. You wanna give it to Bisping? I won't complain. But I thought Sonnen landed the more effective strikes and seemed to have more of an impact when on the offensive. Bisping defended the takedowns well, but I just never really saw him land any effective strikes. But again, closest of the fight.

In the third, Sonnen shifted the momentum in his direction, scoring the most dominant round of the fight. He landed a beautiful double right out of the gate, landed in the mount, took Bisping's back, and found himself in dominant positions that swayed the round in his favor. Solid round. I probably would have scored it 29-28 Sonnen, but again, I didn't disagree with the 30-27.

Takeaways from the fight were that Sonnen will need to be more effective on the feet if he plans to have a chance against Silva. Landing that big shot early in their first fight gave Silva something else to think about and opened up the takedowns for Sonnen throughout. But against Bisping, while his takedowns were crisp, his striking was sloppy. He came forward with no regard for Bisping's power - perhaps part of his strategy given Bisping hits with little mittens - and he won't be able to do that against Silva. But props to Bisping. Great performance. I'd like to see him fight Munoz next after Munoz recovers from injury to determine the next guy in line to fight the winner of Silva-Sonnen II.

The Evans-Davis fight was a showcase of how much better Evans is, and solidified him as the #1 contender. Davis' striking was ineffective and he looked timid and overwhelmed in such a high-profile fight. Evans, meanwhile, did his job, got the win, and now moves on to take on Jon Jones in what has become a budding rivalry. Should be a great event at UFC 145 in Atlanta.

Now onto UFC 143...

Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit

Diaz-Condit will fight for the interim welterweight crown as champion Georges St. Pierre recovers from a blown-out knee. This fight should be exciting, as both guys are high-volume fighters that bring it every time they step out there.

The cardio and pace of Diaz is stuff for legends, particularly in the latter part of his career where we've seen him wear down opponents, drag them into deep waters and impose his will late in the fight when his opponent is broken down and unable to sustain any success because of the beating they've taken, rendering them useless. Most recently, it was BJ Penn, who had success in the 1st round but was worn out from the activity of Diaz in the 2nd and was lucky to survive in the 3rd. Diaz's boxing is, in my opinion, the best in MMA. He's active, effective, and benefits from power through volume. In other words, the sheer volume of punches that he lands eventually take their toll and make him more powerful later in the fight, when he's still strong and his opponent is not. The body punches break down the defense, leaving openings up top where he can capitalize with multi-punch combinations.

On the ground, his Gracie black belt in jiu-jitsu looms. And his submissions are tight. Pick your poison with Diaz. Wherever the fight goes, he's going to be a handful.

Condit, meanwhile, is a diverse striker with knockout power, great kicks and knees. He's got more highlight reel knockouts on the feet than Diaz, including his last couple victories: a KO win over brawler Dan Hardy and a brutal KO via flying knee against Dong Hyun Kim. The win over Hardy was shocking, as both men landed simultaneous punches, with Condit's landing on the button of Hardy, putting him down and eventually out via final blows on the ground. The victory over Kim, however, was just as impressive as Condit landed a flying knee then sent Kim into a quick coma with strikes as Kim was pressed and trapped up against the cage with nowhere to hide. Brutal.

The ground game of Condit is solid and competent. Perhaps not on the level of Diaz, but if the fight goes there, it will be fun to watch. Condit has 13 submissions wins to Diaz's 8, but I still give the edge Diaz there. But again, to talented practitioners of jiu-jitsu on the ground should be fun to watch.

For my pick, I'm going 3rd round (T)KO to Diaz. I think the first couple rounds will be competitive, as both men will have their moments. But late in the 2nd Diaz will start to shift the momentum in his favor, peppering Condit with punches to the body and head. In the 3rd, Condit will start to wear down, and halfway through the round Diaz will body-head combination that forces Condit to keel over at the waste, leaving an opening for Diaz to pepper the head and take Condit out for the stoppage and interim title.

Pick: Diaz over Condit via 2nd round (T)KO due to strikes (3:49)

Additional picks:

Roy Nelson over Fabricio Werdum via 2nd round KO (punch)

Josh Koscheck over Mike Pierce via decision (lay & pray)

-Bess

UFC 117 Recap

On the latest edition of The Throwdown we recap a great night of fights from UFC 117 in Oakland. Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen, Junior Dos Santos, Roy Nelson, Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, and Matt Hughes all took part in this fantastic card. Check out the podcast below.

The Throwdown: UFC 117 Recap

-Keefe