Fights on TV. Gotta love 'em. I'm a big time mma fan and I'm betting that I know more than most people, and have got enough to say about it that some of you are going to listen. And sometimes, I'm going to make stuff up: Nate Marquart once fought a Yakuza boss to a draw when Nate refused to pay tribute after winning the Middleweight King of Pancrase. BAM!
Live blogging'll start at about 5 or ten to the hour. I hope something crazy happens, that'll be fodder for the news, then this'll get picked up by CNN, and I'll be an instant MMA expert. Yeah. Expert.
Five minutes to showtime.
Rua v Machida 2 is on Spike. That was a short fight. Bigger before than during. Good Though. It looked to me like Rua was confident going in. He was moving forward and pressing. Machida got a pair of sumo take downs, but Rua reversed an won a big fight. Loved it.
Showtime! Live in Texas! RIP Mr. Rice?
So far Foster, Waldburger, Attonito, Branch, Kingsbury and Edwards all won on the undercard.
Still a lot of empty seats, but we'll see how that goes.
Goldie is at a Medium on the fake'n bake scale. I think Rogan is really excited about the bjj guys on the card
Ross Pearson and Cole Miller are up first.
There's a lot of buzz about Pearson these days. I've heard a lot about his boxing fundamentals. I got Miller in this one, but he's going to have to create scrambles to get it done, or pull out some take downs against the stout Pearson.
You can't beat Bruce Buffer. He fists bumps Miller in the middle on the intro.
Pearson has Deam Amasinger, Tuf 9 Alumni in his corner.
R1: Pearson take centre, throws a leg kick. Some staring. They engage, trade shots. Pearson closes the distance really quickly, lands 2, but then Miller gets a leg. Miller keeps a clinch against the cage.
They separate and Miller pulls guard. He lets go. Great fight. Pearson is doing great landing from a distance. Weird b/c Miller has a big reach advantage. Pace is slowing coming down to the last minute. Miller is covering up better when Pearson comes inside. Pearson almost clinches, then remembers he's the striker here.They engage and trade to end the round. 10-10. Good fight Brewing.
R2: Meet in the middle. Trade. Goldie and Rogan are selling Pearson, sounds like it's coming from upstairs. Cole jumps in. Can't take him down in the scramble. Pearson isn't committing power. He's connecting more. Miller starts landing. Lands more. Lands scissor kick. Lands punches. Pearson down! Miller follows and goes for neck. Goes really fast and hard for the neck. Takes it, Pearson taps, it's over.
Miller came out harder and pressed as soon as he started landing a little. He put power into everything and landed a few really hard shots. When Pearson dropped to his knees Miller lasered in on the neck, didn't even think of going for a strike. Secured Pearson's left arm with his leg got the throat and it was done.
Talking to Rogan after he comes out hard against control wrestlers and control bjj guys. He says fight to finish not for points or the clock, "this ain't football," he says.
Next is Jim Miller v Gleison Tibeau. I got Miller in this. I take technique over size and strength. They always front load these broadcasts with commercials. It's been on for almost forty minutes and there has only been one fight.
R1: Miller takes center, starts pushing. They exchange. Tibeau initiating with combinations. Miller lands a leg kick, went for another and Tibeau took him down.Tibeau stands out of a stalemated guard, he dives in and Jim uses it to get up. Miller lands a good jab, Tibeau staggered. Collar and elbow tie up along the fence. Tibeau takes him down, Miller gets back up. Again clinched on the cage. Tibeau almost catches another kick. Miller shoots, and gets nothing but another clinch on the fence. They break off the fence and circle, a few strikes here and there. Mostly feints. Miller rushes, and again almost catches a kick. Miller is landing. Last 15 seconds, not much lands.
10-10, or 10-9 Tibeau on take downs. But he didn't do anything with them and Miller landed more strikes. 10-10.
R2: They circle. Miller lands a big left, and drops to a knee. Miller follows up going for the neck, like Cole did last fight. Tibeau is out of the woods, but looks drained from it. They clinch for a long time against the fence. Miller want to land that left again. Tibeau gets the double. Miller goes for a move and gets up in the scramble. Miller is moving forward, Tibeau isn't. Same goes, a few small exchanges. Tibeau gets the double. He's got Miller against the cage. He stands, then gets back into Miller's butterfly guard. The round ends like that.
Another 10-10. Miller did damage, and went for the finish, Tibeau got 2 solid take downs and held control.
R3: More circling. more exchanges. Tibeau lands. Tibeau pushes him against the fence in a clinch. Miller lands as they separate. Miller is pressing more. Miller lands a couple as his corner screams about Tibeau's shot. It comes and Miller stuffs it. Miller pushes him against the fence. Miller shoots. Has a single, doesn't look really deep. Crowd boos the stalemate. The separate and Tibeau shoots. Again Miller stuffs. One minute left. Ref separates them. Tibeau shoots. Miller pushes forward. 15 seconds. Miller goes for a knee. Tibeau
I give Miller the 10-9 round. He won the striking exchanges and stuffed the take downs every time.
Which means I give Miller the 30-29, razor thin decision. Has nothing to do with me picking him to win.
Judges are taking their time. Here they are. (30-27;30-27;29-28) for Jim Miller.
Now we are joined via satellite by Frank Mir. Frank Mir is on the company line, really technical analysis of Cro Cop. He says he's two or three wins from a title shot. I like Mir a lot, but I hate his hair.
Aww fuck. Now we get Goldie and Cro Cop. Cro Cop "feel good. Not young, but condition is good." Seems like a really nice guy. Almost treating it like a phone call.
Efrain "Hecho en Mexico" Escudero v. Charles Oliveira (or Charles "Aloe Vera" as goldie says) Escudero came in 4 pounds over and gives up $$ to Oliveira before we even get started.
R1: Charles a lot taller and longer. He comes out throwing big kicks. Escudero takes him into a clinch on the cage. They stalemate and ref breaks them up. Oliveira presses, lands a hard leg kick. Oliveira looks legit. He shoots, Escudero defends well and reverses the clinch against the cage. Oliveira is the aggressor though as they come off the cage. Escudero is throwing in the exchanges, looks close with power. Oliveira almost crane kicked himself into Escudero's right hand. They are circling around the centre without engaging. They exchange, with nothing landing. Oliveira mixes munches with knees and kicks. Oliveira shoots again, but resorts to pulling guard. Efrain in close chest to chest in half guard. Oliveira gets full guard with 10 seconds left, but Escudero lands 2 elbows.
I give it to Oliveira, 10-9. But it was close. I could see someone going the other way.
R2: Oliveira takes cetre. He throws first. They are slower, but still on springs. Escudero lands a counter when Oliveira shot, but doesn't seem to have hurt. Oliveira gets the single and the trip. Escuderoa gets the back, then gets up in the scramble. Oliveira punches to the gut. Muay Thai clinch. Oliveira lands a jumping double knee. Escudero reverses and clinches against the cage. Escudero is on his heels responding. Oliveira with the teep. Olievira is landing lots of kicks to the legs and body. They scramble a little in the last minute. Escudero closes the distance and Oliveira goes for a throw but misses it, then they both stand right up.
I give it to Oliveira again, 10-9 on strikes and pushing the pace.
R3: Oliveira lands a punch to the balls, short break.
Oliveira is still in charge. He can't get in close enough to finish, but he is in charge. Escudero clinches against the cage again. Oh. Big knee to Oliveira's balls. He is down hard. Sitting in the corner against the cage with his hand down his pants. They restart after some prodding from the ref that Rogan doesn't like. Oliverira presses they bounce off the cage into Oliveira's guard. Escudero stands and Oliveira goes for the standing Rear Naked Choke. Gets it. Had the right arm trapped with his legs, like a crazy spider hunched on his back. Big time finish of a fight he was dominating. Fuck yeah.
Escudero shakes his head as Buffer starts the official decision, he looks almost indignant.
There's like three guys in Palhares' dressing room with jeans on, an no shirts. Like they knew that they would be on tv so they decided to go full Macho.
Nate "The Great" Marquart v.Rousimar "Toquinho (Treestump)" Palhares is next, in the Main Event!
Herb Dean in charge. Don't want to take any chances with the 'risky' Palhares I guess.
R1 They meet in the middle. Palhares tries to catch a leg kick, then goes in with power punches. USA chants as they stare and feint more than throw. Palhares is pressing. Less than 2 minutes in there's little action and the boos start. Nate launches a combo, grsazing. Palhares come in with punches then chnages levels and shoots. He gets the take down. and they scramble, Nate goes for inverted triangle, and they scramble. Palhares gets to north south, then he goes for a leg. Marquart pulls right out, and Palhares points to Marquart's foot and leg and waves his hand at the ref. Nate dives in with a right and connects. He goes in and follows up with punches. The ref stops it and calls a TKO for Nate. Palhares is pissed, he thinks Marquart's legs are greased. Rogan sees it and sounds excited.
They're in for the Official Decision. Stop at 3:20 of R1 by TKO for Nate Marquart.
That's the first thing Rogan asks about, they say the ref checked, the doctor and the comission people all checked and he's clean. He wins fair and weird. Palhares should have waited until the end of the round and then said something. You got to pay attention in there.
Wow. Good card with a lot of good finishes. I liked it a lot.
Leave your comments below. It's my first go and I want to be able to do it better.
And keep a look out for my TUF 12 review tomorrow.
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