(Photo: Sherdog.com)
UFC 109 is in the books and considering the card had no title matches, there were still some very entertaining match-ups. This was not an easy event to be picking winners with any degree of confidence and the results were certainly varied, with a couple of “upsets”.
Main Event recap: Mark Coleman (205) VS RandySonnen Couture (205)
The main event between Randy “The Natural” Couture and Mark “The Hammer” Coleman ended up being a little one sided. Sure, both men are Hall of Famers and legends in the sport but Randy has simply been more active and relevant as the sport has developed.
Couture dominated Coleman within his striking and dirty boxing during round one and although he did get caught once by Coleman while moving inside, he really picked Coleman apart and it just looked like a matter of time as round 1 came to an end. Round 2 began and Couture gets a takedown, working some ground and pound before taking Coleman’s back and choking him out for the rare submission victory.
Co-Main Event:Chael Sonnen (185) VS Nate Marquardt (186)
The fight started with Chael Sonnen coming right at Marquardt and after a few moments of striking it was takedown time for Sonnen followed up with some solid ground and pound. This recipe was repeated for most of the fight. Marquardt was able to threaten a few times with some guillotine attempts (one very close in round 2) and cut Sonnen with a Florian like elbow from his back that had blood everywhere. just wouldn’t give at all though, and put in a grinding and sold performance. Marquardt reversed Sonnen in the last 30 seconds of the fight and was pounding on him pretty good but the end result was a unanimous 30-27 decision victory for Sonnen.
Sonnen will get the winner of Anderson Silva vs Vitor Belfort while Marquardt is back to work on his gameplan to stay at the top of the division.
Paulo Thiago (170) VS Mike Swick (171):
Mike Swick came to this fight as a replacement for team mate Josh Koscheck who was scheduled to re-match after an upset via KO at the hands of Thiago in his (Thiago’s) UFC debut. Swick was definitely looking to punish Thiago and exact revenge on behalf of his friend. Both fighters were respecting the power of the other and Swick had a reach advantage that would allow to to work a bit from the outside. While this was Swick’s tactic in the early stages of the fight, Thiago caught him with a few good, low leg kicks that put him off balance and allowed him to move in to striking distance. A very even round 1 with Swick edging out Thiago.
The second round shows Swick loosening up a bit with his strikes. The fighters exchange and Swick rocks Thiago a bit, moving in for the finish. Unfortunately he is a bit sloppy on the way in an Thiago catches him, dropping him on the canvass. Swick tries to pull guard but Thiago is able to work his position into a darce choke and Swick takes a nap in front of the crowd early in round 2.
I can’t help but thinking Swick looked physically better as a middleweight. He only dropped about 10 lbs to make 170, but he just looks so drawn out and seems to lack the real speed and power advantage that he displayed against the competition at 185lbs.
Dan Miller (185) VS Demian Maia (186):
This fight was interesting to watch in terms of the closeness in skills and the development of each fighter’s game during their time in the UFC, but was somewhat less than a barn burner for the fans. Miller was able to keep Maia from controlling him when on the ground, basically nullifying what was perceived to be a huge submission advantage to Maia heading into the fight. The other surprise though was that Maia seems to have taken the brutal KO loss to Marquardt to heart and has cleaned up his striking quite a bit.
Maia outpointed Miller on the feet in a 3 round match, resulting in a unanimous decision victory that had the fans booing a bit, but really wasn’t too bad of a fight when you consider the overall situation.
Frank Trigg (171) VS Matt Serra (169):
Frank Trigg was pretty much outgunned in this fight and as with his last outing against Koscheck, never really got going as far as threatening his opponent. Serra was comfortable standing with Trigg and was able to catch him with a big overhand right to the chin that dropped Trigg mid-way through round 1. Looks like a ticket out o the organization for Frank Trigg.
Justin Buchholz (156) VS Mac Danzig (156):
Dubbed as a loser leaves fight by Joe Rogan, this was a pretty entertaining bout with both fighter clearly fighting with a sense of urgency and desperation. While Buchholz is a solid fighter with a ton of grit and heart, Danzig is simply the superior fighter. Danzig secured a unanimous decision victory and may have handed Buchholz his walking papers in the process.
Ronys Torres (156) VS Melvin Guillard (155):
In a battle of big 155r’s, Melvin Guillard was bringing his standard toolkit of striking power, speed and explosiveness against a solid chin and great ground game for Torres. this was a good match with Guillard really showing some improved maturity as a fighter. he was able to get off first most of the time while standing and stayed composed and effective when taken down to return to his feet and his strength. This was not a blow out by any means but Guillard looked good in this one and seems to be on his way to addressing the mental holes in his fight game now that he is training with Greg Jackson.
Bonuses were as follows, with each fighter receiving a $60,000 tip from the UFC for their efforts:
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