Cheick Konga d. Assuerio Silva via majority decision
Joe Rogan had the best line of the entire night during this fight when he said that someone needed to kidnap Kongo and take him to wrestling camp. Truer words have never been spoken. Kongo dominated the standup and landed some major blows on Silva, but Silva was able to take him down and keep him down at will. In fact, silva likely would have been handed the decision in this fight had he been able to stop Kongo from hitting him in the final round, but Cheick did enough to scrape by. He seriously does need wrestling lessons, though.
Terry Etin d. Donald Grice via submission (guillotine) at 4:38 of Round 1
Etin looks as though he’s in serious need of nourishment, but he looked great in this fight and will likely be higher up on the card the next time there’s a show in England. He nearly sunk a guillotine twice and finally got Grice on the third try, rendering him unconscious and putting an end to the fight.
Michael Bisping d. Elvis Sinosic via TKO (strikes) at 1:20 of round 2.
With the exception of about 15 seconds in this fight, Bisping completely dominated the overmatched Aussie. Sinosic was bleeding heavily within the first two minutes, and the only reprieve he got from the beating Bisping was dishing out was a fluke knee that knocked the Brit down and an almost-kimura that Bisping was able to escape from. Sinosic wasn’t able to intelligently defend himself from Bisping’s hammer fists and the fight was stopped.
Andrei Arlovski d. Fabricio Werdum va decision
My God in heaven, this was a boring fight. With the exception of a few flurries in the first round, Arlovski was clearly fighting for the decision here, and the crowd booed him mercilessly for it. Even Joe Rogan, usually an Arlovski proponent, commented on how boring the fight was. They said that the winner of this fight would get the next shot at the title after the next Couture defense, but I don’t see them rewarding Andrei after this performance. He seems to have a tendency to fight for the decision instead of putting on a show, and the latter is far more important in the eyes of UFC brass than the former, so I don’t see him getting a title shot anytime soon.
Gabriel Gonzaga d. Mirko Cro Cop via KO (head kick) at 4:51 of round 1
This was as devastating a knockout as you are likely to see in MMA. Gonzaga dominated the entire round, but it looked as though it was going to go to the second, when he unleashed a horrendous head kick that knocked Cro Cop unconscious. Mirko was so unconscious that his leg twisted and he fall back on his foot, which was FACING THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF HIS BODY, and he STILL didn’t wake up for several minutes after the fight. I thought for sure that this would be a major knee injury, but he was walking perfectly well on it afterwards, so I guess there was no harm done. Still, though, I have to wonder where Mirko goes from here. Does he retire as he wished to do several years ago, or does he try to climb back in and get a title shot? If I were Dana White, I’d be booking him against Andrei Arlovski, as Andrei doesn’t deserve a title shot after that poor win tonight and a Cro Cop knockout over him could serve to re-establish Mirko in the division rankings.
Gabriel Gonzaga will face Randy Couture for the World Heavyweight Championship in August. Next month is Chuck Liddell vs. Rampage Jackson, and the month after is Rich Franklin vs. Martin Kampmann in Ireland. It seems like the much-anticipated dream matches of Cro Cop vs. Couture and Cro Cop vs. Liddell are off the table, at least for now.
All in all, a decent show. Not a blowaway by any stretch of the imagination, as the Arlovski fight really took the wind out of the pacing of the show, but a highlight-reel knockout to end it, one that fans will be talking about for years to come.
