Here's Josh:
I am happy to say that I was attending this event live. Not only did I get to see some great performances by the fighters, but I also got to see Elvis Presley's birthplace and final resting place. It was a fun experience. UFC 107 was held in Memphis, Tennessee on December 12, 2009. This event promised to give fans their moneys worth and end the '09 UFC year with a bang, and it certainly did not disappoint. I'll go over the Main and Co-main event.
Lightweight Championship bout:
BJ "The Prodigy" Penn (Champ) vs. Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez (challenger)
This was hyped up to be a two sided war that would contend for fight of the year. Penn, the king of the 155 lb. division, had just come off of a submission win over Kenny Florian. Sanchez, the psychotic Ultimate Fighter alumni ( and winner ), had just given us one of the best fights in UFC history against Clay Guida en route to winning a split decision, and a shot at BJ Penn. Without further delay, my analysis : round 1) Both fighters meet in the center, and within seconds, BANG !!!!! Penn lands a devastating right hand that drops Sanchez to the canvas. Sanchez struggles to recover, but Penn smells blood. Penn smothers Sanchez with heavy shots in a relentless attempt to finish him. Sanchez staggers several times, but, amazingly, survives the onslaught. Sanchez attempts several times to close the distance and land some combos, but Penn has none of it, and gets the best of every exchange. Round 2) Both fighters meet in the center. Sanchez shoots the double shortly into the round, and gets Penn down on one knee, but Penn quickly stood back up. For the rest of the round, Sanchez exchanges and shoots for takedowns, but gets denied on both terms. Everything Sanchez dishes out, Penn returns sevenfold. About half way through the round, Penn attempts to end Sanchez again by throwing a furious flurry of punches. This did much damage, but produced no finish. Rounds 3 - 4) Same thing as round 2; Penn continues to beat Sanchez to every punch, and stuff all of Sanchez's takedown attempts. Sanchez is getting battered. Round 5) Penn's cardio is no longer an aspect of debate. The jumbo-screen closes in on the bruised, bloodied face of Sanchez that, despite the punishment, still showed determination. Penn snaps every punch with lightning speed and laser precision. Penn does not want this fight to go to a decision. BANG !!! Penn lands a right hand that forces Sanchez against the cage. Penn throws caution to the wind, and chases Sanchez, all while throwing bombs at Sanchez. Penn puts Sanchez against the cage, lets his hand fly, and for the first time in his UFC career, throws a head kick. Sanchez slips out of the line of fire, but not out of the battlefield. He is badly rocked, and badly bleeding. Penn's assault opened up one of the nastiest cuts I have ever seen, right atop the left side of Sanchez's forehead. This thing was ugly. It seriously looked like someone took an ax to Sanchez's head.Heavyweight bout :
Frank Mir vs. Chieck Kongo
There were a lot of head games leading up to this fight. Most of them played by Mir. For some reason, people seem to think he's cocky, when really he's just playing games, and trying to get under Kongo's skin. However, unlike most people, Mir knows how to do it with superior intelligence, which is probably why he's so good at it. Kongo was set on shutting up "Big Mouth" Mir. Mir definitely had a ground advantage, but most critics gave the striking advantage to Kongo, despite Mir's drastic improvements in his striking. Round 1) Both fighters meet in the center Kongo throws some punches but nothing lands flush. After a few brief exchanges, Mir smacks Kongo to the canvas with an overhand left, follows him to the ground with a barrage of strikes, and grabs hold of a guillotine choke. Kongo fidgets into half-guard and tries to escape, but oxygen was scarce, and Mir was not about to let go. After a few seconds, Kongo goes limp. The ref shoves Kongo's arm to see if he is awake, but Kongo was out cold. The referee called a stop to the fight, declaring Mir the winner by submission (guillotine choke) 1 minute and 11 seconds into round 1.
Well, It was without a doubt an excellent event. I absolutely loved it, despite the drunk, Asian dude that was sitting in front of me while screaming " Go Fedor ! " I hope you guys enjoyed this event, and I hope you enjoyed my review.
'Till next time,
Josh Yelverton
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