UFC: Fight Night 7
12/13/06
San Diego, California
-This was another special show from UFC as to be exact, it actually took place in one of the hangars in Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (yeah, THAT Miramar, Top Gun fans…) and rather than sell tickets to the general public the crowd was made up primarily of legitimate Marines. Which, as you might’ve guessed, made for an extremely hot crowd.
-Your hosts are Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan. They talk about how the show is basically a tribute to the armed forces in general but specifically the Marines (who Goldberg calls the “mixed martial artists of the armed forcesâ€) and then run down the card, ending with the main event of Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Riggs.
Welterweight Fight: Marcus Davis vs Shonie Carter
Carter was coming off his stint on TUF 4 that raised his profile a bit, as if that needed doing as he’s already one of the more recognizable UFC fighters I would say, while Davis had surprised many people, myself included, by choking out Forrest Petz in his return to UFC action in October. Big pop from the crowd for Shonie, the ex-marine.
They circle and clinch briefly, and almost immediately the crowd start a wild chant of “FUCK HIM UP!†Man this crowd rules. They break off before clinching again, and this time Davis gets a trip takedown directly into full mount. Carter rolls and gives Davis his back, and Marcus slaps on a body triangle for control, but can’t seem to lock in the rear naked choke as Carter, as slippery as ever, defends well. This goes on for most of the round until Shonie finally manages to escape into Davis’s guard with about a minute remaining. He tries to get some offense in, but Davis defends well and the round ends shortly after.
Davis presses forward to open the 2nd round, and lands some punches before dropping Shonie with a straight right! Davis closes in to finish but Shonie escapes to his feet, looking wobbly though. Marcus continues to nail him with the right jab, landing over and over before they clinch up. Davis quickly breaks and continues to land shots, wobbling Shonie with a harsh leg kick. Carter looks bloodied and very tired at this point, as Davis hits him with a body punch and follows with a hard knee to the gut. Carter looks for a spinning backfist, but completely telegraphs it and Davis easily avoids and lands a one-two. He looks to follow up, but slips and Carter grabs a headlock, and Davis escapes into the clinch to end the round.
Third and final round, and it’s pretty obvious that Davis is up two clear rounds at this point. He continues to land from the outside, but the action slows down a LOT in this round as Marcus gets very tentative and Shonie looks too tired to really do anything about it. They circle round for practically the whole round with Davis landing the odd strike, until the fight ends. Really uneventful round.
All three judges score it in favour of Davis, giving him the unanimous decision. It later emerged that he broke his hand in the second round, which would explain his lack of activity in the third round, especially when you take into account that he could basically afford to coast against a badly hurt and tired opponent with two rounds already in the bag. Impressive showing from the Irish Hand Grenade who looked good both standing and on the ground against a solid veteran.
Welterweight Fight: Karo Parisyan vs Drew Fickett
This was Karo’s comeback fight after his loss to Diego Sanchez in the Fight of the Year, while Fickett was coming off a UFC win, over Kurt Pellegrino. This is also like the battle of the pseudo-porno star moustaches, as referee Steve Mazzagatti’s awful ‘tache is almost overshadowed by the bumfluff sitting on Fickett’s lip. Hilarious.
Round 1 begins, and both men press forward with Fickett looking to strike. Karo draws first blood though, landing a right hand from the outside before time is called for a groin kick from Fickett just moments before the right actually landed. They restart and Karo gets a takedown, but Fickett escapes to his feet pretty quickly. Both exchange from distance, with Karo trying to close in, and it’s the Armenian who gets the better of the striking, landing some good right hands and then a beautiful superman punch and a follow-up right hook. The exchange continues and Karo continues to work him over, landing a good straight left hand, before blocking a takedown attempt to close the round.
Fickett opens the 2nd round with a low kick attempt, but Karo catches it and lands a flurry of right hands, before muscling him into the fence and following with a powerful slam to the guard. Fickett holds on as Karo lands a few punches, and then catches the Armenian with an elbow from the bottom that opens a HUGE cut under Karo’s right eye. Lot of blood pours out immediately, and as soon as Karo spots it he seems to suddenly go into overdrive through anger, opening up with a series of VICIOUS elbows to the head of Fickett that pay him back, opening a nasty cut on Drew’s forehead. Karo continues to land as Drew scrambles desperately to escape the position, and then the ref steps in to call time and get Karo’s cut looked at. Really nasty gash, that is, but they decide he’s alright to continue and restart in Fickett’s half-guard. Karo continues to work him over as Fickett scrambles to keep half-guard, and then Karo avoids a kimura attempt. More shots land from Karo before Drew pushes off the fence and escapes to his feet, and then surprises Karo with a takedown of his own. Drew works him over with elbows, trying to land and open the cut again, and both men are absolutely covered in blood as the round ends.
Round 3, and Karo opens with some punches, but takes a body kick from Fickett. Karo continues to catch him with combos, landing left-rights at will, and then Drew tries a takedown, but ends up on the bottom. Karo decides to stand though, and continues to land shots, before they clinch up briefly. Break and the exchange continues, and then Karo lands a flurry before tossing Fickett to the ground, and lands another flurry as Drew gets back up. Karo continues to pop him with punches, and blocks a takedown and ends up on top in half-guard. Drew gives his back and uses it to scramble to his feet, and we end with a bloody exchange of strikes standing.
All three judges score it in favour of Karo Parisyan, I’m guessing they all went 30-27 though they don’t announce it. Turned into a really good fight, if a little one-sided, but to be fair to him Fickett hung in there well for the most part and certainly damaged Karo bad with that nasty cut. Definitely one of the bloodier UFC fights I can recall.
Welterweight Fight: Josh Koscheck vs Jeff Joslin
Koscheck was coming off an impressive victory over Jonathan Goulet that saw him pound out a win via submission to strikes, and here he was paired against a UFC debutant in Jeff ‘The Inferno’ Joslin, whose main claim to fame was a 2005 fight against current Welterweight contender Jon Fitch, in which Fitch won a very questionable split decision that most people gave to Joslin. Sporting a BJJ black belt and some impressive striking skills, Joslin was seen as a difficult test for Koscheck.
Round 1 begins, and they circle off, with Joslin working a stiff left jab that cuts Koscheck over the right eye early. Koscheck tries to wing some punches in, but then decides against that and gets a good takedown to the guard. Joslin keeps an active guard from the bottom, using a butterfly guard to elevate Koscheck and prevent him from posturing up for any major strikes. Koscheck avoids the sweep attempts, and the referee ends up standing them. Joslin lands a stiff right, but Koscheck quickly shoots in again and gets a DRIVING single leg down to guard. Joslin still stays active defensively from his back, but eats a couple of short elbows and Koscheck keeps him there until the round ends.
Joslin works the jab again to open the 2nd round, and then begins to land some leg kicks too, while avoiding Koscheck’s big overhand right. More punches from Joslin land but Koscheck answers with a shot for the takedown. Joslin sprawls, but Koscheck keeps driving through with a double leg and puts him firmly on his back. Joslin remains good defensively, only allowing Kos to land a couple of elbows, and eventually the ref stands them. Koscheck gets a quick takedown off the restart, but Joslin immediately gets guard. Kos smothers him from the top, but Joslin attempts a triangle choke and almost locks it up, but the buzzer sounds to end the round.
Third and final round, and Joslin works the jab again, and then narrowly misses a spinning backfist attempt. Koscheck works for the takedown again, and gets a side mount, landing a nasty elbow right away as they hit the mat. He tries to take full mount, but Joslin scrambles and gets guard, where Koscheck lands a few elbows, marking him up. Joslin scrambles into a front facelock, but ends up on his back again in guard, where Koscheck works to pin him into the fence. More elbows from Koscheck land, although Joslin stays active enough from his back to avoid any real damage. Ref stands them and Joslin tries to strike, but Koscheck gets another takedown and lands a few more elbows, and cuts Joslin open on the forehead. Koscheck continues to control him, and the fight ends shortly after.
To the judges, and it’s a unanimous decision for Koscheck; not the best showing from him but Joslin proved to be a really difficult opponent, outstriking Koscheck on the feet and avoiding any real damage on the ground. Sure, he wasn’t able to stop the takedown but it’s Josh Koscheck, and not many people CAN stop his takedowns. So yeah, a clear win for Koscheck based on the takedowns, ground control and the few elbows he did land, but not the best performance from him. Still, it was an interesting fight to watch, as Joslin did a tremendous job from the guard defensively and made for a watchable fight.
Welterweight Fight: Diego Sanchez vs Joe Riggs
This was Diego’s second Fight Night main event of 2006, and pitted him against a far different opponent than his last one, in the heavy-handed, larger striker Joe Riggs. General consensus was that Sanchez would be able to tool Riggs on the ground, being the superior grappler, but the question was whether he could take the larger man down and also take him down without eating anything nasty on the feet. Riggs was coming off a win over Jason Von Flue and finally looked comfortable at 170lbs, so to me at least, this was quite the intriguing fight.
They get underway, and circle tentatively to begin, before Riggs avoids an attempted single leg. The circling continues and Diego blocks a high kick attempt, and then suddenly both men land BIG RIGHT HOOKS and Riggs goes crashing down! He tries to get up, but Diego comes charging through with a BIG KNEE TO THE HEAD that knocks Riggs silly, and closes the deal with some punches on the ground. Holy crap.
Total highlight-reel finish for Diego there; his first one in the UFC following a string of decisions actually, and wow was it great. Wouldn’t outright say that he outstruck Riggs in the fight – it was more that he caught Riggs with a big shot and then just showed sick finishing instincts to put him away – but it was still an unbelievable finish. Such a pity that TUF 4 happened when it did and they had to give the winner a title fight, as Sanchez vs. St-Pierre for the title in early 2007 would’ve been quite the fight with Diego coming off the string of wins he was at that point. Hell of a way to end the night.
-And for the second successive Fight Night we go off the air with the now 19-0 Diego celebrating another win.
The Inside Pulse
: This was another very good free TV show from the UFC. Granted we only got four fights and three went to decisions, but despite some slow moments in Davis-Carter and Joslin-Koscheck for the most part they were good fights, and Parisyan-Fickett was an excellent war of attrition. Main event was over before it really begun but who the hell could complain about a finish like that? And besides, on a card full of decisions like this one a highlight reel finish was definitely welcome. Thumbs up again for another strong Fight Night.
Coming Soon….
UFC: 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, Fight Nights 8-11, and the TUF IV Finale.
King of the Cage: 23, 29, 30, 32, 33, 36, 42, 48, 52, and 58.
Until next time,
Scott Newman:
NewmanMMA@gmail.com
