THIS. IS. IT! Silva vs. Sonnen II! Griffin vs. Ortiz III, Tito Ortiz’ last fight, ever! And SO MUCH more!
MAIN EVENT
-Middleweight Championship-
Anderson “The Spider” Silva vs. Chael Sonnen
Round 1 – This. Is. It! It’s a fight! Sonnen takes him down! Sonnen lands small strikes as he did before! Half-Guard! Silva is trying to force a standup but Sonnen remains active. Hard shots! Mount! Total domination!
Round 2 – Sonnen ties up again, presses him to the cage! They separate! Sonnen goes in again but Silva is holding his shorts! Sonnen’s trying to get him down but Silva isn’t letting go! They separate but Silva is still gripping the shorts with one hand and punching with the other! The Ref finally breaks the grip! Sonnen throws a spinning backfist and slips! Silva throws a knee to the body while Sonnen is down! Silva follows up!
Official: Round 2 - 1:55 TKO, Anderson Silva (32-4)
Fight of the Night
Knockout of the Night
Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz
Round 7 – Here we go! Griffin kicks early. Tito takes him down and here comes the elbows! Griffin escapes but not without a struggle. Great exchanges on the feet! Another great shot by Ortiz but Griffin slips out. Ortiz has slowed down quite a bit. Griffin is throwing much more strikes.
Round 8 – They come out swinging! Griffin goes down! Pops back up and we have a brawl! They break and we’re back to exchanges with Griffin with much more output. Ortiz begins to fade again. Ortiz is eating punch after punch.
Round 9 - Last five minutes of Tito Ortiz! Griffin is throwing everything at him. Griffin goes down! He’s back up again! Ortiz takes him down! Griffin tries to control his posture and escape but Ortiz holds on tight but can’t posture up for strikes! Griffin fights up! Ortiz has nothing left. Brawl!
Official: Unanimous Decision – 29-28, Forrest Griffin (19-7)
Fight of the Night
Cung Le vs. “The Predator” Patrick Cote
Round 1 – Le catches a kick and sweeps Cote down early. Le is landing some good kicks early which seems problematic for Cote. Le looks significantly better than when he fought Wanderlei. He’s very fast and calm. Crowd is loving it.
Round 2 – Le continues where he left off. Cote opens up a bit but Le recovers. Cote is bleeding heavily from the top of his head. Cote opens up again, moreso this time! Le’s cardio begins to fade.
Round 3 – Both guys are tired but want to finish strong now! Le gets him down but lets up! Cote tries to return the favor but Le doesn’t go down. Le trips him down again! Keeps position til the end.
Official: Unanimous Decision – 30-27, Cung Le (8-2)
Dong Hyun “Stungun” Kim vs. Demian Maia
Round 1 – Maia walks straight up, grabs him and drags him down from the back and the fight is suddenly over! Looks like Kim may popped a rib on the way down.
Official: Round 1 – 0:47 Injury, Demian Maia (16-4)
Chad “Money” Mendes vs. Cody McKenzie
Round 1 – McKenzie treats it like a fight and they come out swinging! Body shot from Mendes! Beautiful straight punch to the liver! Awesome!
Official: Round 1 – TKO 0:31, Chad Mendes (12-1)
Ivan Menjivar vs. “The Hulk” Mike Easton
Round 1 – Both guys timing their stikes; Easton is hard to predict. Menjivar is very clam and finding a home for his strikes.
Round 2 – Good strikes continue, power goes up a bit. Easton pushes forward but Menjivar is landing counter-strikes.
Round 3 – Menjivar seems to be falling behind now as Easton continues to push forward with consistent power. Easton takes him down but Menjivar fights up.
Official: Unanimous Decision – 30-27, 29-28, 30-27 Mike Easton (13-1)
PRELIMINARY FIGHTS
“The Young Assassin” Melvin Guillard vs. Fabricio Camoes
Round 1 – Guillard pops in and out very quick, nothing heavy yet. Camoes finds his way in and nearly secures the takedown but Guillard fights it off easily. Guillard grabs Camoes as he comes in and slams him down. Camoes reverses! Mounts! Guillard is in trouble! He escapes! Camoes goes for a terrible spinning kick, falls and Guillard makes him pay to end the round.
Round 2 – Guillard maintains his new calm composer. Very little action here. Camoes plays to the crowd and punches his way in and gets Guillard down. Guillard ends up on top, pounding his face again.
Round 3 – Slow again. Comoes gets him down at the very end, trying for the Kneebar. Times up.
Official: Unanimous Decision – 30-27, Melvin Guillard (30-10-2-1)
Gleison Tibau vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Round 1 – Tibau is looking for the knockout early but Nurmagomedov is composed and elusive. Wild punches from Nurmagomedov as he tries to get Tibau down. Crazy wild punches from Nurmagomedov and none of them land.
Round 2 – Super slow start. They let the leather fly for a bit but no major damage.
Round 3 – Much more action now with both men connecting with strikes. Neither can put the other away.
Official: Unanimous Decision – 30-27, Gleison Tibau (26-7) Khabib Nurmagomedov (18-0)
Costa Philippou vs. Riki Fukuda
Round 1 – Both guys seem to respect one another’s threats and stay patient. Fukuda gets a great shot but can’t complete the takedown. Philippou opens up with his hands and Fukuda is damaged.
Round 2 – It’s a bit more aggressive from both guys. Philippou is still landing with some stiff punches. Fukuda can’t get this guys down.Fukuda really opens up with some kicks but Philippou is still out-punching him.
Round 3 - Philippou still cannot be taken down. Both have slowed down significantly. Philippou takes a nasty eye-poke that is visibly very bad. He fights on! Philippou is mad now and goes for broke! Fukuda stays tough!
Official: Unanimous Decision – 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, Costa Philippou (11-2-1)
John “The Natural” Alessio vs. Shane Roller
Round 1 – Good strikes from both guys. Neither able to land the clean power shot early but they’re looking for it. Things begin to pick up on both ends. Hard shots at the end and Roller goes down!
Round 2 – They pick up where they left off. Alessio puts him against the cage and Roller sangs a Guillotine but Alessio scrambles out. Slam by Roller! Roller dominates from the top. Roller takes his back. Alessio keeps safe from submissions but takes a lot of hard shots.
Round 3 – Alessio comes out with a flurry! Roller tries to fire back and gets the takedown. Alessio works back up but Roller isn’t letting go, puts him back down. Alessio is frustrated and tries to coax Roller into standing up but Roller isn’t letting this go.
Official: Unanimous Decision – 29-28, Shane Roller (11-7)
Rafaello Oliveira vs. Yoislandy Izquierdo
Round 1 - Izquierdo establishes his range early, with some power. Oliveira wants it on the ground and gets it there after having enough of Izquierdo’s standup. Oliveira smothers him and moves to an American but Izquierdo escapes back to his feet. Izquerido dominates the standup.
Round 2 – Izquierdo picks him apart again but Oliveira gets it to the ground again. Oliveira works for the Americana again, but can’t get it. Keeps control to the end.
Round 3 – Izquierdo is tired now and gets taken down early. Americana attempts fail again. Keeps control to end the fight.
Official: Unanimous Decision – 29-28, Rafaello Oliveira (15-5)