LAS VEGAS – The ageless one came in and added another chapter to his legendary legacy. Using vicious dirty boxing, Couture wasted no time in pressing fellow UFC hall of famer Mark Coleman against the cage, landing brutal uppercuts from the clinch on his way to dominating the first round with his crisp boxing and a relentless pace.
Couture came out quick in round 2 as well, backing up Coleman with straight left hands and jabs before connecting with a left hook. Couture then used his patented Greco-Roman body lock and took Coleman to the ground, showing the “Godfather of ground and pound” just how he can finish from the top.
Coleman refused to get finished via GNP, rolling to give up his back, but exposed his neck as Couture transitioned to his back. “The Natural” locked in a fight ending rear naked choke, but despite the tight choke, Coleman refused to tap, choosing to nap instead.
Some fans have doubted that Couture is still getting better, despite what “The Natural” has said in recent interviews. Couture has no doubts that he is indeed getting better with age.
“Well I don’t know, it seems to be par for the course,” said Couture. I’m having a blast, I feel like I’m improving each and every time I get out here.”
Sonnen destroys “Nate the Great” in the co-main event
Is there ever any surprise as to what Sonnen is going to do?? From the sound of the bell, Sonnen stalked Marquardt, taking him to the ground early and put a beating on the number one contender with huge elbows and a brutal ground and pound attack throughout round 1.
Round 2 would prove to be much of the same, with Sonnen on top landing devastating blows, until Marquardt opened up the face of Sonnen with an elbow from the bottom. The cut over the eye sprayed blood all over the canvas throughout the remainder of the round, dripping out of Sonnen like a faucet, but did little to prevent him from winning round 2 as well.
Sonnen’s problems in the past have been with submissions, and he nearly lost that way again, getting caught in a guillotine attempt late in the third round. Sonnen worked out, and survived desperation attempts by Marquardt as the bell sounded on this battle of contenders.
The only thing crazier then Sonnen dominating Marquardt the way he did, was Rogan’s comments that Sonnen has to be careful leaving the fight in the judges hands…. Can’t quite figure that one out.
The judges agreed with me and the rest of the world over Joe Rogan, awarding Sonnen a clear cut unanimous decision victory.
Maybe now we can see if he can back up those words about Anderson Silva. Hmmmmmmmm.
Thiago continues streak over AKA, leaves Swick napping in the Octagon
After a tentative start and a show of respect from both fighters, Thiago went head hunting. Landing a head kick with his first strike of the night, the brazilian would go on to land some nice kicks, as the fight stayed on the feet throughout the first until Swick scored a last second take down at the bell attempting to steal the round.
Round 2 would be a different story completely. Both guys came out more aggressive and it appeared that Swick may be on his way to one of his patented “punches in punches” finishes, connecting with a big right hand before moving in for the finish. Thiago was ready to counter, and did so with a huge corking left hand to the jaw of Swick, dropping the AKA stand out to the mat.
Thiago followed Swick to the ground, and as Swick looked for the underhook and tried to scramble, Thiago locked in a sleep inducing d’arce choke to finish the fight.
Thiago moves to 13-1 (3-1 UFC), and continues his climb up the welterweight ladder towards a title shot.
Maia grinds out decision victory over Miller
The big surprise in this fight was that Maia won’t be stuffing his fight shorts with extra cash from another “submission of the night” award. Although Maia never really got his ground game going, he did show improved stand up, peppering Miller with a number of left hands, in addition to securing multiple take downs in the bout.
Miller was never able to get anything at all going in this one, other than a desperation triangle attempt with about 10 seconds to go in the fight, as Maia controlled the final stanza en route to a unanimous decision victory.
Maia was not ecstatic about his performance, apologizing for not being able to finish the very tough and game Miller, but was happy about his improved stand up.
“My boxing is not the best,” said Maia. “But I can do it.”
The win moves Maia to 12-1 (6-1 UFC) and back into contention at the UFC’s middleweight division.
Serra “twinkles” Trigg’s toes by KO in Round 1
The question coming into this one was which style would prevail? Trigg’s wrestling, or Serra’s jiu jitsu? The answer was neither…
After several brief exchanges, Serra scored to the body, before landing a huge overhand right that dropped “Twinkle Toes” to the canvas. Serra followed up with three more shots to jaw of the prone Trigg before the referee stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:23 of Round 1.
“I knew he was worried about my right,” said Serra. “I’ve been working a lot on my left, but hey what the hell, I’ll take the right.”