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UFC’s Ultimate Fight Night 15 took place in Omaha Nebraska which is the hometown of Houston Alexander who was on the latest card. The main event was Nate Diaz vs Josh Neer, however; the loudest ovation was for Houston Alexander from his hometown crowd as he faced Eric “Red” Schafer. The UFC aired this event on Spike TV for free.

I went 7 for 10 on my picks overall with which I was happy since there were some really tough picks. Unfortunately one of the fights I lost was the Alexander vs Schafer bout.

I’m sure Alexander will never read this nor anyone who trains him, but nonetheless, the secret is out: there is an easy formula to beat Houston Alexander and he proved it that night. As great of a fighter that Thiago Silva is, it was surprising how easily he dominated Alexander in his victory over the Nebraska native. Houston was exposed. He had a weak ground game, possibly nonexistant ground defense. After that loss, one would think that Houston and his trainers would work tirelessly to improve his ground game as he looked completely helpless and dominated by Silva. We didn’t get a chance to see it tested until Fight Night 15 because his previous fight was a knockout courtesy of a superman punch landed by James “The Sandman” Irvin. Schafer divulged his own strategy for beating Alexander: get through the intial onslaught of punches and then take over, which is exactly what Schafer did. I was impressed with Schafer’s ability to work through that barrage since some of Alexander’s strikes landed cleanly and would have knocked out many a foe. Schafer then took over and it was a carbon copy of the Silva fight. Alexander is now 2-3 in the UFC and had just signed an extension with the MMA juggernaut prior to this matchup. UFC is notorious for releasing fighters when they don’t win, but Alexander is still a big draw due to his all or nothing fighting style.

Alexander is a very likable character and seems like a genuinely nice guy, but if he wants to stay around in the UFC, the ground game or take down defense needs to improve prior to his next fight or it could be all over.

Last night the UFC displayed an event that had all the makings of a great PPV which looked great as usual in HD. All that was left was for the fighters to come through and put on a good show and they did just that.

Here is a quick rundown…

The main event was Georges St. Pierre in his first title defense since regaining the welterweight championship from Matt Serra. GSP started off against Fitch very aggressive and did a lot of damage in the first round. Despite all of the talk about Fitch being tough, surely a lot of observers including myself were surprised that Fitch made it out of the first round. Not only did Fitch make it out of the first, he endured 5 full rounds of beatings until GSP was awarded with a unanimous lopsided decision. Fitch commented in a post fight interview saying that GSP was essentially too fast for him and after the first round, he had vision problems which plagued him for the remainder of the onslaught. After the fight, BJ Penn entered the Octagon and seemed extremely eager to set up a rematch between himself and GSP. GSP of course obliged but it will up to the UFC. BJ will need to move up to welterweight as he has done in the past. GSP vs Penn may be one of the biggest draws in UFC history if it comes to fruition.

Similarly, Brock Lesnar was equally dominant over Heath Herring. Lesnar opened the first round with a flying knee and later connected on a punch that sent Herring not only to the ground but head over feet toward the cage. Herring’s vantage point upon his vision returning to normal would have seen Lesnar charging toward the vulnerable Herring. What a sight that must have been even for a veteran of over 40 fights like Herring! Lesnar continued a dominating performance for the duration, focusing on his smothering wrestling scoring a unanimous 30-26 decision. Lesnar could be the answer to the sometimes dull heavyweight division. Lesnar has personality evidenced by his head nodding along with the crowd chanting for him during the battle as well as his excitement of watching his own replays after the fight. Although Lesnar was completely effective in nullifying any offense strategized by Herring, he obviously is very young in his MMA career at 2-1 and needs to work on some techniques. Lesnar had numerous opportunities to put in hooks while on top and never did so. It was quite possible he could have choked out or arm barred Herring but instead Lesnar used his amateur wrestling skills to smother Herring and beat him mercilessly. While this may look intimidating to some MMA competitors watching, Lesnar will need to become more well rounded as surely he is aware and working on.

Kenny Florian vs Roger Huerta was almost a carbon copy of the GSP vs Fitch fight. It was very obvious that Florian was the far more cerebral and technical fighter while Huerta revealed that he was limited to being a brawler. Huerta will have a great future, but needs to learn more technique.

Also on the card:

Demian Maia defeated Jason MacDonald by a choke in the third round.
Tamdan McCrory beat Luke Cummo by unanimous decision in what Joe Rogan called “The Battle of the Geeks”
Cheick Kongo proved too much for Dan Evenson with a TKO victory at 4:55 of the third round.
Rob Emerson disposed of an over aggressive Manny Gamburyan at 12 seconds of the first round with strikes.

check the UFC website for more results.

Overall I went 7 out of 10 on my picks.

Chuck Liddell was supposed to main event this PPV but injured himself and was unable to compete. There are mixed opinions of Matt Hughes but it is undeniable that he steps up when needed to save the day for the UFC. He took a rematch against GSP on short notice and accepted the main event for UFC 85 - ‘Bedlam" on short notice as well. If that wasn’t enough, Hughes was gracious about allowing this fight against Thiago Alves to continue even though Thiago weighed in at 174 lbs (4 lbs over the 170 lb limit).

In the main event, Alves looked ripped and bigger than Hughes and it showed as he seemed more powerful in the match. In fact, Hughes looked overmatched in just about every category of this fight. Hughes was scarcely ever able to get Alves to the ground and when it happened, Hughes wasn’t able to punish Alves at all. It was Hughes who looked beaten and battered. After the fight which ended in the second round with running knee into Hughes head, Alves asked Dana White for a title fight during his interview with Joe Rogan. Alves didn’t get down on his knees but he made it clear that was he ready to take on the winner of GSP vs. Fitch.

There were a lot of unhappy fans due to what many considered a premature stoppage in the first round. Vera looked more like his old self landing knees, kicks and punches and working his Muay Thai but ended up getting mounted by Werdum and eating several unanswered punches right before the first round was set to end. Granted, Vera was in an awkward position, however; he was intelligently defending himself in my opinion. He had his hands actively covering up and there were only 15 seconds in the round when referee Dan Miragliotta called an end to the matchup. Vera immediately was distraught and frustrated by the stoppage saying he was fine to fight. The crown in London at the o2 Arena chorussed in boos obviously appalled at the result. Joe Rogan even admitted that he felt the stoppage was premature. The really interesting part about this conclusion was the fact that Miragliotta officiated the Kimbo Slice vs James Thompson fight where Thompson had Slice mounted in the second round for well over a minute and threw over 70 unanswered punches and elbows yet Miragliotta allowed that fight to continue. This seems incredibly inconsistent. It’s very unfortunate for Vera as he looked quite good in this performance and this fight was meant to get him back on track, but instead, this will take him farther away from the title shot he wants. Perhaps it’s a good time to move to light heavyweight? The main thing is that the heavyweight division is somewhat weak with Arlovski, Sylvia and Couture gone which may keep Vera in that class.

The only other fight I want to comment on is Michael "The Count" Bisping vs Jason Day. Bisping moved down to middleweight and fought Charles McCarthy (Captain Miserable as some call him) and sent him into retirement at a relatively young age of 27. This was Bispings second time out at middleweight and he took on Jason Day who looked great in his first UFC appearance, dismantling the very skilled Alan "The Talent" Belcher. With that said, Bisping looked to be in great shape, came in with a lot of energy and swarmed Day the entire fight and came out with a dominating first round victory. After seeing this, I would really like to see Rich Franklin vs Michael Bisping. Bisping was very impressive in this victory.

Overall, it wasn’t a favorite card of mine. There were a lot of problems with injuries in terms of the main event so it didn’t end up being the original matchups many were anticipating, but it was fairly entertaining nonetheless. The Vera fight was nothing short of a rip off in my opinion in terms of the premature stoppage. While it is the job of the referee to protect the fighters, these guys train very hard and it is their livelihood on the line when they are competing. It’s a tough job, but it’s important to give a guy a chance to come back in a fight. Dan Miragliotta at times looks like an amateur compared to the likes of Yves Lavigne or even Herb Dean. While Miragliotta may be ‘big’, he is also no ‘big’ John McCarthy.  The UFC needs to sort this guy out and do it fast.

There is a lot to discuss about this first broadcast of an EliteXC event on network television courtesy of CBS. I will discuss the fights, the fans and the sport in general.

The first fight was between Brett “The Grim” Rogers and Jon Murphy. This fight took only 61 seconds before Murphy was caught with a haymaker and the fight was stopped. Rogers is on a knockout win streak and seems poised for a shot at Kimbo Slice.

Smokin Joe Villasenor managed to dismantle Phil Baroni about a minute and a half into the fight. Baroni, who is know for his ripped physique and entertaining ring entrances and trash talking, is now at 10-10 and clearly very disappointed with the outcome of the fight. Baroni was very emotional at the post fight press conference when speaking about the unswerving support of legend Mark ‘The Hammer” Coleman. It is unclear what will happen with Baroni from here.

In the only women’s fight of the night, Gina Carano managed to outlast Kaitlyn Young to earn a victory. It was pretty clear as the fight grew longer that Carano was too powerful for Young. Carano weighed in at 144.5 lbs for this fight which was more than the 140 lb limit. This is something that is commonplace for Carano as she has been over the weight limit for her last 4 fights. This means that either Carano has not learned how to cut enough weight yet or perhaps that there needs to be some leeway with weight classes for women. Perhaps upping the current weight class to 150 lbs or perhaps creating a different division would be a good idea. Like men, not all women are meant to be in the same weight category and forcing them to do so can result in unhealthy and unfit fighters as they would be so dehydrated from cutting weight that it would affect their performance in the right and their health. Also, if the women really want to be taken seriously, they need to fight full 5 minute rounds. Otherwise, it will be the classic argument of not playing on the same field.

In my opinion the best fight of the night was between Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith and “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler. There was some drama with this fight as at times fans were heard booing the action which probably irritated any true fans as the action was fast paced and both competitors clearly came to put on a good show. To the casual fans - these are professional athletes that train full time, you will not see them swinging wildly 100% of the time. There is a lot of technique that goes into the performance. The excitement lies in the  impending result, not in the actual one haymaker that may flatten an opponent. The eagerness is in knowing that these guys have the capacity and talent to make this happen.
This fight ended part way through the third round when Smith was accidentally poked in the eye by Lawler. Lawler immediately acknowledged it and apologized. The rules state that Smith gets up to 5 minutes to recover. During this time, a doctor came into examine Smith upon which she was told by Smith on two occasions that he could not see out of the affected eye. If Smith wanted the fight to continue, this was a huge mistake. This is where the rules perhaps some adjustment or clarifying. Smith felt that although he could not see properly, he would have the full 5 minutes and then make a determination at that point. Smith clearly did not expect the fight to be stopped. One of two things needs to happen to make this situation right in the future: 1) Smith needs to keep his mouth shut when talking to the Dr. who is bound by the rules to make a decision on the fight should Smith give any self-diagnosis that would result in the fight being stopped, or 2) The Dr. needs to consider anything mentioned by the fighter initially as a tentative assessment and offer re-evaluation after the full 5 minutes unless the fighter clearly states that he cannot continue. As disappointing this result was to many fans (including myself at the time), a rematch is almost a guarantee. Overall, I am glad with the outcome because I have seen way too many fights where someone gets poked in the eye and then does not fight the same afterwards and loses. The fans generally consider this result as gospel, however; I always wonder if things would have been different if the eye poke never took place. A rematch gives fans the opportunity to see truly who the better fighter will be. So, while I do believe that the rules need to be amended, it will end up better overall for the sport in the end.
A side note for this fight is that I believed that it should have been the main event. It was a title fight and both competitors are at the top of their game and proven fighters.

Lastly the main event was between Kimbo Slice and James “The Colossus” Thompson. I don’t have much to say about this one. Kimbo ended up winning due to referee stoppage in the third round. I do believe that it was a very even fight overall until then. As per MMA rules, the fight should have been stopped at the end of the second round due to Thompson delivering numerous unanswered and undefended elbows and punches while on top of Kimbo. This scene lasted for well over a minute with no referee intervention.
Ironically, the fight did end with Kimbo punching Thompson’s massive cauliflower ear resulting in blood squirting and followed up by further haymakers causing the referee to call the fight over. Thompson was so disgusted with the decision to stop the fight that he put his hand in the face of the referee in frustration. Mauro Ranallo, one of the announcers, mentioned Thompson’s cauliflower ear on numerous occasions while commentating the fight. This will definitely go down in controversy but EliteXC still has the Kimbo hype intact so they should be happy about that.

Overall, it was a good showing. The main points were that the fans require further education, the women’s division needs some adjustments and more events to come will help dictate whether CBS will consider this a good investment.

This is a quick reminder to any MMA fans - Saturday May 31 at 9PM Eastern, make sure you tune to CBS for the EliteXC event. This is the first televised (free) mixed martial arts event on national TV. It should be the first of many more and will garner a ton of viewers.

On another note, I was disappointed to see that Gina Carono did not make weight for this event. She was fined 12.5% of her purse which will go to Kaitlin Young who will allow the fight to go ahead anyway.

Kimbo Slice vs James “Colossus” Thompson will be the main event although I believe the real fight to watch will be Robbie Lawler vs Scott Smith. Both throw very heavy hands and are veterans of the game. Lawler is champion right now so that adds to the intensity of the fight.