The second [Preliminary] fight of the night [which wasn't aired] was between Lightweights Cory Hill & Dale Hartt. Shortly into the 2nd round, Hill threw a kick, which Hartt blocked with his shin - nothing unusual, except for this time, the angle with which Hill's shin connected with Hart's shin, caused Hill's leg to snap - fortunately for the freaks in all of us, this moment was captured via a perfect snapshot [which has not been altered] OUCH!
Thanks to my brother for sending me the above snapshotNow, onto tonight's Re-Cap:
The first fight of the night was between Lightweights David Kaplan & [the controversial] Junie "the lunatic" Browning.
If you have been reading the few blogs that I have posted, regarding this season, then you know that I am no fan of Junie's. [nothing personal, just a horrible attitude!] So, I shouldn't have to tell you that no matter who he would have been fighting, I would have wanted to see him go down. . .
I started to have my doubts though, as Junie emerged. In the 6 months between the real ending of the show and tonight, you could tell right away that Junie was much more confident [and bigger!]
Compare this to Kaplan's emergence. . . [I don't even know what was up with that!]
The first round between these two guys was fantastic - lots of trading blows, back and forth, etc.
I have to admit that I was digging Junie's stand-up/performance - he was definitely the more in control, and started dominating in the 2nd round as well. Then, 92 seconds into the 2nd round, Junie caught Kaplan in an excellent armbar - winning the fight by tap out submission!
Even though I did not like Junie on the show, that may now very well change, as this was a well-deserved win for him. Congratulations Junie! [Hopefully you are no longer a Punk and have matured as a fighter]
Before I continue on, I just have to mention the hilarious conversation that took place between Joe Rogan [Comedian & UFC Commentator] and Kevin James [Comedian] The point of it all was to plug Kevin's new movie - Paul Blart: Mall Cop [which comes out January 16th and looks hysterical!] though Joe started talking about Kevin's MMA expertise and Kevin started talking about how he's a Master of the Rubber Guard - too funny - I was laughing out loud! :-)
The second fight of the night was between Light Heavyweights Eliot Marshall & Jules Bruchez.
I wanted Marshall to win this fight, and he did, catching Bruchez in a deep rear-naked-choke, early in the 1st round, causing Bruchez to tap out.
The third fight of the night was between Middleweights Jason MacDonald & Wilson Gouveia [who didn't make weight - weighing in, yesterday, at 4 pounds over, causing him to have to give 20% of his purse to MacDonald, win or lose]
I wanted MacDonald to win this fight, however - in the 1st round - Gouveia caught MacDonald with a blow that stunned him, allowing Gouveia to take him down and rain vicious elbows down all over him, splitting his head open, until he finally tapped.
The fourth fight of the night was between Welterweights Anthony Johnson & Kevin Burns.
[this fight was a re-match between the two, due to the fact that the last time they fought, Burns caught Johnson with an accidental finger to the eye, which was bad enough that the fight was stopped - in favor of Burns winning the fight, which Johnson was not happy about...]
I wanted Johnson to win this fight, and he did, with a fabulous head kick - knocking Burns out cold, in the 3rd round.
Next up was the fight for the 6-figure contract between Light Heavyweights Ryan "Darth" Bader & Vinny Magalhaes.
Bader was my brother's 1st pick, from the very beginning of the season, to go all the way, and he did! I expected Magalhaes to submit Bader pretty quickly, however 2 minutes and 18 seconds into the 1st round, Bader caught Magalhaes with a big right, knocking him out!
Congratulations to Bader! [and to my brother, whose fighter went all the way!]
Before the Lightweight contract fight, we had a Light Heavyweight match-up between Krzysztof "The Polish Experiment" Soszynski [who was my top pick to go all the way, but lost in his semi-final match-up] & Shane Primm.
Of course, I wanted Krzysztof to win, and he did, in the 2nd round, by a vicious kimora, almost ripping Primm's shoulder right out of its socket!
We then had the Lightweight battle for the 6-figure contract, between Phillipe Nover & Efrain Escudero.
The majority of folks [including UFC President Dana White] seemed to think Nover was going to win this match-up. While I like both of these guys, [I would have been happy no matter who won] I thought Escudero definitely had a chance, and he proved me right!
After 3 fantastic rounds [where both fighters proved why they were in the finale together] the judges decided, by unanimous desicion, that Efrain Escudero was this season's Lightweight Champion!
Congratulations Efrain!!
Next up, in MMA, the coaches from this season [Antonio Noguiera & Frank Mir] will face off, in UFC 92, on Saturday, December 27th [on Pay Per View] Whoever wins that fight will go on to face Brock Lesnar, for the Heavyweight Title!
Also on that card, Forrest Griffin will have his 1st Title Defense against the Undefeated Rashad Evans.
Also, Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva will face Quentin "Rampage" Jackson - a fight that I cannot wait to see. . .
The bad news is that I am not 100% sure if I will be getting this fight, as I will be returning home, that day, from visiting family for the holidays. . . here's crossing my fingers! :-)
Jason
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