This is the fourth and final review in a series that I have done about UFC 113. Check out the part one, where I write about Kimbo Slice vs. Matt Mitrione, part two, where I go in-depth about Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley, and part three, where I tackle the main event, Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio Rua.
In this final installment of reviews concerning UFC 113, I will write about my thoughts concerning the rest of the matches that were shown on the Pay-per-view (PPV). I know it seems a bit unfair to write an individual article for three of the matches, then simply lump the remaining four into one piece, but, to be perfectly honest, except for one of the remaining fighters, I’m not much of a fan of any of them.
I don’t mean to say that I believe they’re all unskilled fighters that don’t deserve to be seen. It’s just that these fighters haven’t really done anything to truly impress me. They’re all great fighters that produce awesome matches a lot of the time, but compared to the others I wrote about, like Koscheck, Machida and Rua? They just don’t catch my eye in the same way.
Alright, the first fight I’m going to take a look at concerns that other fighter I hinted about that I’m actually a fan of: Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis. He squares off against Jonathan Goulet.
I gotta say that I’m a big fan of Davis, really like his stand up game and loved the hell out of the war he went through with Dan Hardy at UFC 99, especially after all the smack talk that went on. That said, I’m really, really glad that he won this fight, as he had lost the last two he was in, first again Hardy, then again against Ben Saunders (who I’m also a really big fan of) at UFC 106. I really wouldn’t have liked it if he had lost this one and Dana cut him because of three straight losses (which happens quite often in the UFC), as I would really like to see him fight more in this organization.
Well, I get my wish and The Irish Hand Grenade drops Goulet during the second round and finishes him off with a bit of ground and pound. The fight itself was also very entertaining, what with much of it being a stand up war.
The next fight I’ll be delving into will be “Filthy” Tom Lawlor vs. Joe Doerksen. Despite Doerksen’s very impressive record, Lawlor was my favorite in this one because of his tenure during The Ultimate Fighter Season 8, which gave rise to his career in the UFC, with a very impressive win over CB Dollaway at UFC 100.
Unfortunately, Lawlor loses to Doerksen during the second round via Rear Naked Choke, which actually very much surprised me, since Lawlor was very close to finishing him during the first round. Lawlor rocked Doerksen a few times during the opening round, but Doerksen persevered and survived until the end, eventually earning him the win. Great job!
Oh, well, at least Lawlor wins for greatest weigh-in ever.
I really like Dana's "Korean Zombie" shirt in this shot:
Really funny stuff; Joe Rogan even welcomes Lawlor back as Dan Severn!
Anyway, now we head into the first fight of the main card, featuring Alan Belcher vs. Patrick Cote. Now, I’m not much of a fan of Belcher’s but I gotta admit that I had him winning this fight the second I saw this fight finalized. Why? Ring rust. Cote hadn’t fought since that rather odd matchup against Anderson Silva during UFC 90, way back in October, 2008. He had major knee surgery after the incident, and I’m actually very surprised that he came back at all. Well, he surprised me there, but everything else was pretty predictable. To Cote’s credit, however, he looked pretty impressive during this match, staying active a lot, and hurting Belcher several times. He loses via Rear Naked Choke during the second round. I admire his heart for going back into the cage after all the major surgery, though, so, with the ring rust more or less gone, hopefully he comes back better than ever next time and maybe even eventually get back into top contender status.
Last, but not least is Sam “Hands of Stone” Stout and Jeremy “Lil’ Heathen” Stephens. Both of these guys are devastating strikers and pretty much guaranteed everyone an all out war, and guess what? It was. It was an excellent fight from both of these warriors, which was very close and back and forth all the way until the end. There was absolutely no quit in either of these men as both went the distance, with Stephens winning a very close split decision.
Well, that’s it. I really enjoyed this card very much, especially with all the surprises that I shared in my first three reviews. I’m very excited about UFC 114 and I’m sure to review it, what with some of my favorite fighters being featured there: Rampage and Rashad, sure, but also Bisping and Lil’ Nog (too bad Forrest had to back out because of an injury, that would have been an excellent matchup!). The preliminary card looks to be one of the most epic that I’ve seen in a while as well, what with Amir Sadollah vs. Don Hyung Kim, and Efrain Escudero vs. Dan Lauzon. Excellent fights that night, guaranteed!
Who do I favor, though? The main event’s going to be a tough one, and I like Rampage a lot more than Rashad, but I’ve honestly have to give it to Rashad on this one. Rampage is way more powerful than Rashad is, but I think Rashad’s much quicker and way more skilled. Rampage could surprise me, though, and clip Rashad, knocking him out. I’d be very happy if that does happen, because I’d really like to see a Rampage vs. Shogun matchup in the future, unless Randy beats him to it first.
For the rest of the matchups, I predict the ones I already listed, but for the televised prelims, I’d have to give it to Sadollah and Escudero. Again, though, anything can happen MMA, which makes it so fun to watch! Can’t wait!
