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The first bout was Ed “Short Fuse” Herman vs Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith. Ed Herman was full of trash talk before this fight saying that he was going to knock out Smith. Smith has some of the best hands in all of MMA and it was no surprise that Herman went immediately for a take down as he does have the superior ground game while Smith has an advantage standing up. Ed Herman did look in very good shape for this fight. Herman ended up mounting Smith and threw elbows and cut Smith on the nose and blood flowed freely into Smith’s eyes as gravity ran its course. Smith never got the chance to showcase his striking power. Herman ended up taking Smith’s back and submitting him with a rear naked choke. This was likely due to the fact that Smith was distracted by the blood in his eyes impairing his vision. Smith did have Herman in a tight guillotine that went into full guard but Herman was able to escape.

The lightweight battle was between Clay Guida and Tyson Griffin. Once again, the lightweights demonstrated amazing conditioning and excitement in the fight. There were numerous submission attempts and take downs. There was not a great deal of standup but the transitioning and striking from the ground was equally entertaining. Although the fight was very close, it was Guida who looked more fresh in the third round and was more in control overall. Griffin did a great job of defending and being offensive even in defensive positions, but Guida looked like he wrapped things up in the third round by being on top for the majority of the round. Surprisingly, the judges awarded the fight to Griffin. The crowd was very displeased with the announcement and booed Griffin. In the post fight interview, Griffin did mention that the fight could have gone either way. Ultimately, the decision wasn’t the most important thing about the fight, but rather it was the conditioning of the competitors and entertaining nature of the fight itself. Either of these guys are worthy of PPV status.

Jason MacDonald fought his third TUF fighter (after beating 2 others: Ed Herman and Chris Leben), Rory Singer. These fighters were very evenly matched in the 185 lb division. Jason last lost to Rich Franklin but was looking to get back on track. After the first round, MacDonald looked a lot like he did in the Franklin fight. Singer was in control overall and had a few submission attempts as well as doing well in hte standup. In the second round, MacDonald did well to listen to his corner who instructed him to make sure he mounted Singer do some striking. In the end, the fight was stopped due to ground and pound by MacDonald.  This makes three victories over TUF competitors for MacDonald.

The Forrest Griffin vs Hector Ramirez fight displayed a very different Forrest Griffin. Forrest spent the rounds picking his shots instead of engaging in flurries. Ramirez had no answer and was looking more for a brawl which never happened. Eventually, Griffin picked apart Ramirez which led to referee stoppage. Forrest must be very relieved that he is back in the running again. Ramirez seemed a bit gassed as the fight went on.

The Main Event featured Rich Franklin vs Yushin Okami. There was a great deal of talk about Okami’s strength before this fight. This fight went the 3 round duration. Franklin did appear to overpower Okami on several occasions. Okami did not mount any offense of any significance until the third round where he almost submitted Franklin a few times. Franklin ended up winning a unanimous decision at 29-28. Franklin did look fairly impressive and appears ready to fight to regain his middleweight title against the winner of Anderson Silva vs Nathan Marquart.

Overall, it was a pretty good PPV despite there being no title matches. The UFC has already announced the cards for the next two PPV events which look very good.

UFC 72 is another demonstration of how the sport is really catching on worldwide. The venue is in Belfast Ireland. Surely, there will be other venues scattering all over the world in the future. Also with UFC acquiring the fighters from Pride, it sets up a barrage of events for the future. The challenging part will be how to keep these fighters in action enough and appease the fans that know the talent that the UFC has contracted and demands it to use it properly. Anyway, onto the upcoming card:

Jason “The Athlete” MacDonald vs Rory Singer. Jason lost to Rich Franklin who seems to be back on track (more on Rich below) but has put on some really stellar performances but was clearly overmatched by Franklin. Rory singer, who was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter, has had a few impressive fights since the tv show. I would predict that MacDonald would win this one, but Singer won’t be a pushover.

Forrest Griffin vs Hector Ramirez. Forrest is coming off a devastating knockout loss to Keith Jardine. Forrest, as always is a consummate hard worker and described as someone who works too hard at times by Randy Couture. Forrest, who is a very popular fan favorite, needs to win this fight to get back on track. Ramirez will come fully prepared and this should be a fairly even fight. This will come down to a lucky punch or who is in better shape. Griffin has indicated that he won’t quit.

Tyson Griffin vs Clay Guida is a lightweight contest that will likely end up stealing the show. Many fans feel that the lightweights are the most entertaining fighters to watch. Watch the last UFC PPV’s and you’ll see why. Tyson Griffin is one of the most entertaining fighters to watch. His conditioning is excellent and he is well rounded. Don’t miss this one!

The main event is Rich Franklin vs Yushin Okami. There is a lot of anticipation for this one. For Rich Franklin, this fight means everything. He must win this. If Franklin loses, it will inevitably look like his decline in the sport after an amazing run of title defenses. Yushin is not going to be an easy victory though. He has won 6 fights in a row against decent opponents. While I do believe Franklin can win this fight and even make it look impressive, it will be interesting to see what Franklin thinks of the rumored super human strength of Okami. Mike Swick was heard in his corner saying how strong Okami was.

Although there is no title defense on this card, it will definitely set up the winner of the Franklin vs Okami fight to challenge for the title from the winner of Silva vs Nathan Marquart.

Evans Blue from Toronto, Ontario have released their latest cd entitled “The Pursuit Begins When This Portrayal Of Life Ends”. In classic form, they do a female cover as with their version of “Possession” originally done by Sarah McLachlan on their last record. This time around, they try out “Caught A Light Sneeze” by Tori Amos and come out with a rendition enough their own to make it instantly different but still recognizable enough for the original to be placed.  As a whole, Evans Blue doesn’t really change much about their sound and arrangements on this release which is a good thing if you’ve heard their last release which is almost always on my playlist. The 11 track “The Pursuit Begins When This Portrayal Of Life Ends” again features a nice collection of tracks with unique vocals reminiscent of Billy Corgan’s whisper to a scream style in the early 90’s but in a more subtle manner.

Evans Blue will probably not sell a million records with this release but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve recognition and respect for releasing two of the most accessible cd’s of the past several years. These cd’s may take a few listens to really get into some of the tracks and hear the subtleties  of the vocals, but it’s well worth the investment.

So, here’s the deal. This band is comprised of Chad Gray (lead singer of Mudvayne), Greg Tribbett (guitarist from Mudvayne), Vinnie Paul (drummer from Damage Plan and Pantera), Tom Maxwell (guitarist from Nothingface) and Jerry Montano (bassist from Nothingface).

This is a project that got pushed forward and was a chance for the members to have some fun and in Chad Grey’s eyes - pretend to be 19 all over again, have fun, sing about the rock and roll lifestyle, drinking, partying and all of the things from come from being in a rock band. Mudvayne’s topical tunes usually are more serious so perhaps this is a respite that Chad needed.

I can tell that you cannot expect this to sound like a Mudvayne album because it doesn’t. You will definitely hear the unmistakable sound of Chad Grey’s voice which makes you think it’s Mudvayne at times, but as you listen to the music, you quickly realize it isn’t the same.

Is change good? Well, it all depends on you. Mudvayne is my favorite band and Chad Gray is obviously a reason for that. Any chance I get to listen to Chad sing is a good thing, but there are a lot of reasons why I like Mudvayne so much and a lot of those reasons are missing. I didn’t clearly hear Greg’s guitar work as much as I would have on a Mudvayne record largely due to the other band members drowning him out. I have listened to a lot of Nothingface and really like their stuff as well, but again, it seems better dismantled instead of amalgamated.

Apparently the new Mudvayne record is done and will be released in the fall of 2007. In the meantime, check out Hell Yeah and see what you think.