UFC 84: Ill Will lived up to the hype. The three main fights were all worthy of their headline status. Let's take a look at them and the results:- BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk for the lightweight championship. BJ and Sherk were both in great shape. I thought it would be a great fight and it was. Although most predicted a BJ win by submission, the fight turned into a stand up slugfest! Neither man was willing to back down. BJ got the better of Sherk in the first two rounds, but Sherk kept it close. In the third round it appeared that Sherk may have hurt his right hand because he wasn't throwing it with conviction and seemed to be favoring it. At the very end of the round, Penn landed a solid punch that sent Sherk back into the cage. BJ immediately followed with a running knee to the head and Sherk went down. BJ rained blows as the ref stood by ready to stop the fight -- and the round ended. There was immediate confusion as BJ walked around the ring in apparent victory. Then we learned that Sherk's corner called the fight. When both fighters met in the center of the ring for the decision, each praised the other. A great ending to a great fight.
- Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine. I predicted it to be the slugfest of the night and it was.. Both men came out throwing bombs. Jardine was KO'd despite landing some of his own.
- Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida. When the two met in the center of the cage, the bad blood with Dana White no longer mattered. It was two of the best fighters in the weight class ready to wage war. Machida fought the entire fight backing up which is his style. Tito was willing to fight standing up, and it was a good thing because he just couldn't get Machida down. Although Tito pressured the fight, Machida landed better counter-punches and at times made Tito look bad. In the third round, and with Tito way behind on the scorecards both fighters ended up on the mat. With just seconds left in the fight, Tito locked in a triangle choke. To Machida's credit he continued to fight and roll, and to Tito's credit he rolled with Machida holding on to the choke... unfortunately the new position allowed Marchida to come out as the bell sounded the end of the fight. Machida won by decision but Tito showed he still has more fights in him.
Next week it's Kimbo Slice on CBS!
6 comments:
Penn had Sherk's timing down and was hitting him with some nice combos. That flying knee was excellent because Sherk was bouncing off the cage making the impact worse. Always interesting when world class grapplers know they cancel one another out and go to fight in standup. That shows how MMA has grown since the early days of the octagon.
Silva has some heavy hands, everything he landed seemed to rock Jardine. Silva may hit harder than Liddell since Liddell couldn't land a solid shot that could put Jardine down like that.
Machida is another evolution of MMA, a high level karate guy learning the MMA fight game and applying his style to the sport. Sooner or later other high level martial artists from various styles will adapt to the MMA fight language the same way the wrestlers, Muay Thai and BJJ folks have.
oh, i'm seriously looking forward to Elite XC next weekend!
Raf - I always appreciate your insight into the world of MMA. Who would you pick between BJ and St. Pierre?
Big Chris - Elite should be a fun evening. Thanks for stopping by!
Craig,
That's one of those fights that will come down to who's on the top of their game that night. Really like both fighters - technical, smooth and have KO power.
Im gone with sherk. im even going as far as to put money on him.
Squaremovie
Craig,
I'm not much of a UFC fan, mainly because my love for BOXING. However, I have a lot of friends who are obsessed with UFC. I've been watching the past few events closely. I gotta admit, last night's card was GREAT. BJ Penn really surprised me. I was so into that fight. It actually played out a lot like a boxing match. It was technical, and both men were waiting patiently, picking their spots, and were countering beautifully. BJ Penn is a force to be wrecken with when his head is in the right place.
SherriffFreddyHefflin
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