UFC 94

So I've been into MMA (mixed martial arts) sports for over a year now and recently watched UFC 94 live on pay-per-view. Apart from the bar atmosphere complete with tons of smoke, it was a great night of fights. Only 5 of the 10 fights were televised, as all but the last two went to decisions and took up a lot of time. But the excitement was intense as usual when two warriors battle it out without surrendering/tapping out.

Starting the night out was Clay "The Carpenter" Guida vs. Nate Diaz. Guida is a fan favorite with his long hair, menacing scowl, and lively attitude. Because of his inconsistency at winning, he's considered a hurdle or litmus test for the 155-pound Lightweight Division. Nate Diaz tends to be a cocky showboat, so I'm not a huge fan of him though I recognize his very good skills, especially for being only 23 years old. But thankfully Clay edged out a split decision (two of the three referees scored him higher than the other contender).

Karo Parisyan, an Armenian Judo specialist, squeaked out an even closer split decision against a newcomer to the UFC in Dong Hyun Kim, a Korean Judo champion. My scorecard would've given it to Dong. The fight after with Stephan Bonnar, a season one veteran of the Ultimate Fighter series, and newcomer Jon Jones wasn't nearly as close with Jones winning impressively with a unanimous decision.

The next to last fight had me dancing in my seat as two undefeated Light Heavyweight contenders (205-pound division) fought for, presumably, a title shot against the recently crowned champion of "Sugar" Rashad Evans (king of the cocky showboats mentioned previously who unfortunately has backed it up). But this fight saw 13-0 Thiago Silva up against 13-0 and one of my new favorite fighters Lyoto Machida. Machida's superior striking eventually overwhelmed and knocked out Silva with one second remaining in the second round! Hopefully we'll see him repeat this performance against Rashad.

And the main event for the evening pit the Lightweight champion BJ Penn putting on some extra weight to fight the Welterweight (170-pound) champion Georges St. Pierre. BJ's astounding flexibility and Brazilian Jiujitsu mastery only served to delay the onslaught of GSP's takedowns and superior wrestling until the end of the fourth round when Penn's corner threw in the towel. Capping off the victory, Georges exited the ring with his signature backflip.

So it was a great night of fights, even promising better ones to come throughout the year with my personal favorite fighter Anderson Silva defending his Middleweight (185-pound) belt in the coming months.

-- "That guy's being awfully forward with that donkey."