UFC 78: "Validation" Results
by Robert Sargent
Houston Alexander's meteoric rise in the UFC came to a crashing halt at the hands of Thiago Silva, and "Sugar" Rashad Evans outwrestled Michael "The Count" Bisping to win by Split Decision in the main event of UFC 78.
Also on the card, Karo Parisyan managed to escape with a lacklustre decision victory against a very game Ryo Chonan, in a fight that did Parisyan no favours.
Michael "The Count" Bisping vs "Sugar" Rashad Evans
As expected, Evans wrestled Bisping to the ground on numerous occasions, with the Brit unable to do much about it later in the fight.Evans came out striking to begin the first round, but went for a takedown shortly thereafter. Bisping did manage to get back to his feet this time, however, and the referee separated the fighters after a minute of inaction against the cage. Evans rushed Bisping again, putting him against the cage but unable to get a takedown. After a brief exchange, Evans caught a kick from Bisping and put him back down. Evans moved to side control, but Bisping wriggled free and landed a couple of knees upon return to the feet. Evans responded with a few forearm shots and another takedown before the bell.
Bisping pushed the action to begin round two, but Evans struck back with a right hand. Evans picked Bisping up, walked a few steps across the ring and slammed him to the mat. Nothing transpired on the ground and the referee restarted the action on the feet. Evans countered all of Bisping's strikes until shortly before the end of the round, when Bisping landed a solid knee to the body.
Bisping again pushed the pace in the third round, but Evans scored yet another takedown. Bisping eventually reversed position, but the fight returned to the feet once again. Evans got the better of the standup and followed his strikes up with another takedown. This repeated once more until shortly before the bell, when Bisping tried for a knockout with a series of haymakers that missed. The fight went to the judges, with Evans being awarded a close Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) victory. The fight was competitive, but it was clear that neither fighter is truly ready to be considered as a top fighter at 205. Title shots are a long ways away.
Thiago Silva vs Houston "The Assassin" Alexander
Alexander rushed in and pushed Silva up against the cage in the opening seconds, but it was Silva who landed striks from the clinch, as he kneed Alexander's midsection. The referee restarted the action in the middle of the ring and Alexander continued pressing forward. Silva smartly avoided Alexander's shots, preferring to punch and evade. After a brief exchange of hard punches from in close, Alexander took Silva down, but Silva quickly reversed position and exposed Alexander's weak ground game.Silva quickly moved to mount position and landed a series of strikes, including double overhead hammerfist shots to Alexander's head. After about a minute of Alexander being unable to escape the position, Silva landed a series of unanswered punches that briefly knocked Alexander unconscious, and the referee stopped the fight. Silva improves to 12-0 with the TKO (strikes) victory at 3:25 of round one. With his well-rounded game, Silva could definitely be a contender at 205 in the future.
Ryo "The Piranha" Chonan vs Karo "The Heat" Parisyan
Though there were few damaging blows landed in this fight, it was a good battle and both fighters countered the other well.Chonan's standup looked to be leagues ahead of his performances from 2004 and 2005, and he landed trademark leg kicks and a few punches early in the round. Parisyan caught Chonan's leg and landed a left hook at the same time, which pushed Chonan to the ground. Parisyan was unable to mount much offence on the ground, however, and the referee restarted the action on the feet. Parisyan was again able to take the fight to the ground, but Chonan once again defended well until the bell.
Chonan again began the striking in round two, with a right and kicks following it up. After a number of brief striking exchanges, Parisyan got Chonan down and held him there for the remainder of the round. As in round one, Chonan's defence was excellent and Parisyan was unable to do any damage. However, since he had controlled position thus far, Parisyan won the first two rounds.
The third round began slowly, but the fight was taken back to the ground after a minute. Both fighters reversed each other and tried to control position on the ground, with neither able to do so for long. Near the end of the round, a striking exchange on the feet saw Chonan land multiple small strikes while Parisyan landed a handful of more damaging ones. A close round that could have gone either way. The judges ruled the fight as a Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) victory for Parisyan, who did not look like his usual self in this battle. Chonan defended well and prevented Parisyan from using any of his judo throws, but Parisyan controlled enough of the fight to come out the victor.
Joe "El Dirte" Doerksen vs Ed "Short Fuse" Herman
Herman was extremely fortunate to come out the victor in this fight, after being saved by the bell at the end of round two when he was firmly trapped in a deep triangle choke/armbar combination by Doerksen.Doerksen began the action in this battle, pushing the pace in round one. After being pressed against the cage, Herman responded with a takedown. Doerksen was cut on the eyelid during the exchange. Doerksen worked back to his feet, but was taken down once again and defended against Herman's ground and pound for the remainder of the round.
The second round began with another takedown by Herman, as Doerksen's eye was quickly swelling shut. After two minutes of little action, the referee restarted the fight on the feet. Doerksen was able to get Herman's back on the ground and went for rear naked choke attempts. Herman defended and reversed position, getting back into Doerksen's guard. However, with 15 seconds left, Doerksen locked in a deep triangle choke - the same manouevre he had defeated Herman with in their first meeting in 2004 - and went for an armbar at the same time. Herman would surely have submitted or been rendered unconscious had the fight gone ten seconds longer, but the bell to end round two saved him.
Herman was wobbly walking back to his corner at the end of round two, but came out strong in the third. Doerksen was clearly fatigued and, after some sloppy punches, Herman countered with a left hook that knocked Doerksen out. Herman wins by KO (punch) 39 seconds into round three.
Frankie "The Answer" Edgar vs Spencer "The King" Fisher
New Jersey native Edgar was clearly the crowd favourite in this fight, and he dominated from start to finish.After a brief striking exchange, Edgar secured the first of his many takedowns 30 seconds into the first round. Fisher got back to his feet, but was quickly taken down once again. Edgar threw numerous punches from Fisher's guard, but Fisher evaded nearly all of them and took little damage. Fisher again battled back to his feet, but missed a kick attempt and fell to the ground, where Edgar once again took top position and maintained it until the end of the round.
Rounds two and three were mirrors of the first, with Edgar taking Fisher down at will but being unable to do much damage on the ground. Fisher had no counters for Edgar's takedown attempts, but defended very well on the ground and battled back to his feet when he could. In the end, Edgar's dominance was far too much, as he handily won by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26). Edgar improves to 8-0 and must now be firmly in line for a title shot in the near future. Fisher falls to 21-4.
Joe "J-Lau" Lauzon vs Jason Reinhardt
Lauzon welcomed the previously undefeated Reinhardt to the UFC by outstriking him and quickly taking him to the mat, where he sunk in a rear naked choke. Reinhardt quickly tapped out and Lauzon was the victor by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:14 of round one. The 23-year-old Lauzon, who now trains with BJ Penn, improves to 15-3, while 38-year-old Reinhardt falls to 18-1 in his UFC debut.Chris "Lights Out" Lytle vs Thiago "Pitbull" Alves
Lytle came out strong in this fight, pressing the action and landing strikes early. Alves bided his time, however, and dropped Lytle with a left that opened up a cut above Lytle's eye. Alves went in for the kill, but Lytle defended well. Back on their feet, it was Lytle who dominated the standup, pressing forward and landing combination strikes. Alves replied with stiff jabs before the bell.The second round began with a lengthy striking exchange, where Lytle landed punches and Alves punished Lytle's leg with brutal leg kicks. Lytle, visibly favouring his leg, was slowed in his offence, and the cut above his eye bled down his face. In the striking exchanges before the bell, Lytle was cut once more on the eyelid.
During the break between rounds two and three, the doctor deemed that Lytle could not see well enough to continue and stopped the fight. Both Lytle and Alves protested, with Lytle stating that he could still see and Alves feeling that the fight stoppage was unnecessary, but the ruling stood. Alves is declared the winner by TKO (cut) at 5:00 of round two.
Luke "Lil' Hulk" Caudillo vs Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio
Aurelio managed to get his first UFC victory in this fight, after coming up short in his UFC debut against Clay Guida. He looked infinitely better than in his poor performance vs Guida, dominating Caudillo in the second half of the opening round.In the early stages of round one, Caudillo was able to defend and evade Aurelio, keeping the fight on the feet, but Aurelio scored a takedown with just over two minutes remaining in the round. Aurelio immediately moved to side control and trapped one of Caudillo's arms behind his back. Unable to defend himself, Caudillo was hit with repeated right hands from Aurelio and the referee stopped the fight at 4:29 of round one, giving Aurelio the victory by TKO (strikes). Aurelio gets back on the winning track.
"The Japanese Sensation" Akihiro Gono vs Tamdan "The Barn Cat" McCrory
In what was easily one of the most exciting battles of the evening, Gono managed to weather the early fury from McCrory and submitted him with a very deep shoulder lock armbar in the second round.McCrory came out like a bullet in the first round, as he always does, and immediately dominated the striking. Gono survived the attacks, trying to hit and move, but McCrory was relentless with his combinations. This continued until the final minute of the round, when Gono managed to get McCrory down and worked into side control. However, time expired and McCrory won round one.
The second round went much better for the veteran, Gono, who landed a couple of kicks before dropping McCrory with a left hook. Gono took side control and worked into the mount position, but McCrory rolled to escape. However, Gono grabbed McCrory's right arm, stood up and wrenched back on the shoulder, so it was bent behind McCrory's back. Unable to tap, McCrory verbally submitted to the vicious shoulder lock. Gono is the winner by Submission (Verbal - Shoulder Lock Armbar) at 3:19 of round two. McCrory suffers his first defeat and drops to 10-1, while Gono improves to 28-12-7.
Though the hype train behind Houston Alexander has come to an abrupt halt, UFC 78 was otherwise a decent event.
