As a service to the growing legions of UFC Fans:
UFC gains another valuable venue, as it hits Boston for the very first time. Frankie Edgar looks for validation for his efforts against Penn, while Penn looks for redemption. Meanwhile, Randy "The Natural" Couture, looks to cap off his month of box office success (The Expendables) with a win against boxing icon, James "Lights Out" Toney.
Frankie "The Answer" Edgar vs. BJ "The Prodigy" Penn
Round 1) Both fighters come out looking to gauge their opponent somewhat. Edgar utilizes his trademark of speedy footwork and frantic head movement, while Penn remains very calm and relaxed. Penn storms Edgar, looking to land a bomb. Several punches land, but Edgar remains calm and cuts a corner, allowing him to escape the punching range of Penn. The fighter trade punches, both fighters land a fairly good amount of punches. The striking aspect seems about even at first, but Edgar mixes it up. Penn is highly touted for having some of, if not the best, takedown defense in all of MMA. Edgar shoots and lands the single leg trip without much struggle from Penn. Penn turns his hips for an armbar, but is denied. Penn gets butterfly guard, rubber guard, mission control, and uses a tight underhook to maintain control on Edgar's left arm. Penn uses his butterfly guard to sweep, and stand. Penn lands a jab and a lead left hook. Edgar tries to counter but fails to get the better of the exchange. Edgar cles distance and clinches, but eats a hard knee to the body. Edgar goes for the single leg trip again, but Penn stands. Edgar slips to Penn's side, gets the body lock, and slams Penn to the canvas. Penn wall crawls to his feet using the cage. Edgar swings to hard leg kicks into Penn, and circles out, barely avoiding the titanic right hand of Penn. Edgar pumps a short left hook. Penn switches stance, and counters with the lead hook. Edgar lands a body kick, and is met with the bell. Round 2) Edgar checks a kick from Penn, but eats a short left hook. Penn snaps a quick jab, and lands a body shot with the right. Edgar kicks to the body, and shoots for a single leg. The shot gets stuffed, but Edgar lands a hard knee to the midsection of Penn. Penn misses with some wide punches. Penn lands another cross to the body, only to be taken down with another Roman Greco body lock. Penn immediately gains guard, and stands. Penn retreats as Edgar lands a left hook. Edgar pumps a jab, but gets tagged with a jab from Penn. Penn starts to find a home for his jab. Edgar starts to eat more and more of Penn's jab, but avoids getting tagged with any bombs. Edgar lands a body kick, and then a left hook. Edgar feints the jab, and lands a leg kick. The bell sounds. Round 3) Penn continues the recent success of his jab, but still can't manage to give Edgar a taste of his true power. Edgar lands a left hook, pumps, the jab, and gets another hook. Edgar starts to find a perfect formula of short punches into the pocket, and opening with long punches once inside the pocket. Penn slams a knee into the body of Edgar. Edgar looks for the head kick, but finds no success. Edgar flurries, landing hooks to the body, and ending the combo with a right hook to the jaw of Penn. Edgar continues to frenzy his combos, as he lands an uppercut, and lands several body shots. Edgar shoots the double, but gets stuffed. Edgar starts to land more and more as his combos find the perfect harmony of body shots and head shots. The exchange moves against the fence, with Edgar winning the exchange. Penn lands a hard right hand to the body of Edgar. Edgar snaps a short left hook, and meets the bell. Round 4) Penn takes down Edgar, and swarms on the mount position. Edgar manages to get butterfly guard, and then guard. Penn passes to side control, but Edgar launches to his feet. Penn lands a hard right hook, and Edgar circles off. Edgar comes in with a swift leg kick that sweeps Penn off his feet. Edgar follows Penn to the ground, landing in his guard. Penn gets rubber guard (mission control), and then moves to high guard. Edgar stacks Penn's guard, and throws a rocket of a right hand that finds a home on the chin of Penn. Edgar follows it with an elbow. Penn stands and eats a hook. Edgar throws to hard leg kicks. Penn checks one, grabs at another, but can't grasp it. Edgar starts a fast combo with an uppercut, ends it with kicks to the body and head that are blocked by Penn. Penn lands a short right hand, and the bell sounds. Round 5) Edgar's father can be heard screaming "Five more minutes, Baby !!!" Penn shoots a single, and lands it. Penn goes for mount, but Edgar stands. Penn immediately slings him back down. The champion stands again, and again get brought back into Penn's game. This is starting to look like a Jack-In-The-Box. Penn gets Edgar's back, and looks to lock in his trademark Rear Naked Choke, but Edgar miraculously manages to turn into Penn's guard. Edgar unleashes a dominant display of ground and pound. Penn looks for a kimura on the right arm, but eats elbows and punches. Penn looks for the left arm, but eats the same. As Penn tries to rise, Edgar attempt a darce choke, but is shoved off as Penn stands once more. Edgar lands a swift right uppercut. Edgar throws kicks and hooks to the body. Penn catches a kick, eats a knee, but remains unfazed. The bell rings, confirming Edgar's superiority. All three judges score the contest 50-45, declaring Frankie Edgar the winner by unanimous decision. Edgar keeps his lightweight belt. Both fighters were humble, and gracious. “First, I want to thank B.J. He really brought out the best of me,” Edgar said. “I knew he was going to come in tough again. It was close the first time. I just wanted to make that point.” Penn replied with an equally classy statement. “Frankie fought a great fight. He’s the man,” Penn said. “I’ve got nothing bad to say. He fought me twice. He walked away with the decision twice. What can you say? It looked like the same kind of fight as last time. He got off good. Much respect. I’ve really got to go back and think about things.” Both fighters thanked their camps, family, and friends.
Randy "The Natural" Couture vs. James "Lights Out" Toney
Round 1) Couture comes out in a low, crouched stance with his hands at the ready. Toney comes out in his custom boxing stance. Couture looks more energetic. Couture immediately shoots the low single leg takedown, and puts Toney on his back. Within about three seconds, Couture moves to mount. Couture stays low, using head on chest control to keep Toney in check. Couture hits Toney with several short but poweful left hands, until Couture postures up. Couture unloads on Toney, slamming both fists into Toney's head repeatedly. Couture is relentless with his vicious ground and pound, but Toney is still hanging on. Couture attempts an arm triangle, but Toney's propped against the cage, making it more difficult. The referee is concerned that Toney is going to sleep, but Couture says "he's standing" indicating that Toney is still attempting to escape the choke and stand. Movement of Toney's legs prove this to be correct. Couture moves Toney off the cage, lockes in the arm triangle, and moves to side control, making the choke even tighter. Toney immediately taps out to the choke, making Couture the winner by submission at the 3 minute, 19 second mark of the first round. Both fighters are humble and classy, praising one another.
“I think, realistically, even if he’s been training nine months, that’s real short order to pick up everything he needed to know for mixed martial arts,” said Couture.“I’m a huge fan of boxing. A lot of credit to James for stepping up in here. He’s the first boxer to do that. I think all of us MMA guys love boxing, and hopefully, now, there’s a whole bunch of boxers like James that will start to love MMA.” Toney accepted defeat with a humble attitude, and praised the performance of Couture. “I didn’t expect him to be so aggressive at first,” he said. “He just caught me. He got me on the ground, and I couldn’t get out of the triangle choke. Randy is a great fighter, and I'm a great fighter, but I'm no quitter. I'll be back." During the post-fight interview, Couture was awarded his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt by Neil Melanson. Some might call this premature, but Couture is one of the best grapplers in the history of the sport, and, in my honest opinion, is truely of black belt level.
“I think, realistically, even if he’s been training nine months, that’s real short order to pick up everything he needed to know for mixed martial arts,” said Couture.“I’m a huge fan of boxing. A lot of credit to James for stepping up in here. He’s the first boxer to do that. I think all of us MMA guys love boxing, and hopefully, now, there’s a whole bunch of boxers like James that will start to love MMA.” Toney accepted defeat with a humble attitude, and praised the performance of Couture. “I didn’t expect him to be so aggressive at first,” he said. “He just caught me. He got me on the ground, and I couldn’t get out of the triangle choke. Randy is a great fighter, and I'm a great fighter, but I'm no quitter. I'll be back." During the post-fight interview, Couture was awarded his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt by Neil Melanson. Some might call this premature, but Couture is one of the best grapplers in the history of the sport, and, in my honest opinion, is truely of black belt level.
Well, It has been yet another great night of competitive MMA. I hope everyone enjoyed my breakdown of the main and co-main events. For more information on these and other bouts on the fight card, visitUFC.com.
'Till next time,
Josh Yelverton
Comments
Post a Comment