UFC 116 REVIEW PART THREE: THE MAIN CARD

UFC 116 was an extremely action packed mixed martial arts event. Dana White has said that he was incredibly surprised at how well almost all the fighters did. It seemed like each fighter wanted to top the match before and kick everything to another level, and that’s exactly what happened.

GEORGE SOTIROPOULOS VS. KURT PELLEGRINO

Sotiropoulos was a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter Season 6, but he never really stood out for me. I’ve recently changed my views of him after he recently defeated Joe “Daddy” Stevenson at UFC 110. Joe Stevenson is one of the top lightweight fighters in the UFC, and for Sotiropoulos to have such a decisive win over him is totally incredible. His BJJ seemed incredibly sharp, and he had an answer for everything Stevenson did on the ground.

Kurt Pellegrino has an incredible ground game himself, but he’s known mostly for his striking. Pellegrino managed to get in and hurt Sotiropoulos several times during the fight, and even seemed very close to finishing him just before the bell rang, but Sotiropoulos’ ever improving stand up and ground games proved more dominating as he wins via unanimous decision.

KRZYSTOF SOSZYNSKI VS. STEPHAN BONNAR

Stephan Bonnar was once a Golden Boy of the UFC, what with him being partly responsible for the UFC dramatic rise in fame. His extraordinarily bloody fight with Forrest Griffin way back in The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 Finale has been heavily credited time and time again for partly making the UFC the success that it is today. Since then, however, Bonnar has had less than stellar successes in the Octagon.

What with being suspended for steroid use, and having three very recent straight losses in the UFC, one of which came at the hands of Mark Coleman, who everybody has labeled as way past his prime, Bonnar went into this fight with a mindset of a starving, rabid dog. He either wins this fight and avenges his previous loss to Soszynski as impressively as possible, or he goes home without a job.

Krzystof, meanwhile, has had a string of successes in the UFC after his stint on The Ultimate Fighter Season 8. He had three straight and very impressive wins before being outclassed and defeated by Brandon “The Truth” Vera. He went back to his winning ways by defeating Stephan Bonnar at UFC 110, but the win was surrounded by some controversy since it the fight was stopped because of a cut. It didn’t seem decisive enough, so the two are at it again, continuing exactly where they left off, to see who among them is clearly the better warrior.

Almost looking like a mirror image of his fight against Forrest Griffin, the fight was fast paced, bloody, and looked more like a wild street brawl than an MMA match. Everybody at the arena leapt to their feet and loved the hell out of it. By the time the bell for the second round rang, both fighters were bloody messes. Bonnar’s rabid dog mentality kept pushing him forward, though, and, like, a vampire, every time more blood spilled into the Octagon, the stronger he seemed to get. Maybe he’d like to change his “American Psycho” moniker. After enough blood had been spilt, he’d managed to muster up enough power to finish him off with some serious ground and pound. A decisive victory this time, indeed.

CHRIS LYTLE VS. MATT BROWN

I’ve been a huge fan of Matt “The Immortal” Brown ever since his time on the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter. He always has a do or die attitude in the Octagon that makes his striking game look absolutely outstanding most of the time.

Chris “Lights Out” Lytle, however, is a serious veteran of the sport with a huge amount of experience and an incredibly dedicated attitude that will definitely take him far. After losing a very close fight against Matt Serra at The Ultimate Fighter Season 4 Finale, he’s taken great strides to improve dramatically his game every time he’s in the cage and take out his opponents as decisively as possible. This has resulted in him getting some of the most fight bonuses within the UFC, including several Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night, and Submission of the Night awards. Very impressive, indeed.

Almost losing early in the first round because of a very deep choke attempt by “The Immortal”, Lytle manages survive because of his superior skill and return to submit Matt Brown via arm triangle in the middle of the second round.

I’m going to tackle the Preliminary Fights of this event next, but in the meantime, check out my reviews of the co-main event, between Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama, the much hyped about main event between Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin!

Also check out more amazing pics of UFC 116 over at the official UFC website!