UFC 76 Jardine & Griffin Continue The Year Of The Upsets

Well how about that for some interesting and very close fights? The aptly named UFC 76 "Knockout" yielded 6 decisions (2 of which were split decisions) and 3 submissions though all of the bouts were very entertaining.

Keith Jardine came out and took to Chuck Liddell and his legs scoring a split decision win over the former Light Heavyweight Champ and putting himself back into title contention. Jardine did what he always does, establishing the hard leg kicks early and keeping his opponent occupied with them while he sneaks in the rights and lefts. Chuck was in the game though, landing some good flurries of his own but it was the knockdown of Chuck that probably gave the fight to Jardine. Keith landed the big punch almost in the same way Quinton Jackson did and Chuck folded to the ground exactly as he did against Rampage. The difference was it was a flash KO and Liddell immediately got to his feet, and almost did enough to take back the round. Jardine pulled away in the 3rd and Chuck got his 1st back to back losses in his career, while Jardine got his biggest win of his career.

After the fight, Liddell said he is contemplating retirement, but the guy takes losses hard and I'd say we will see him back in the octagon. Keith now moves on in the now jumbled Light Heavyweight division.

Forrest Griffin absolutely dominated the awful looking Shogun Rua in his UFC debut. Rua looked out of shape and was completely gassed by the 2nd round. Rua could not hang with the well trained Forrest who has obviously adopted the practices of his mentor Randy Couture using the clinch trips, head and body movement, and absolute cardio. Forrest sunk in the rear naked choke just before the end of the 3rd as Shogun was ready to get out of the fight.

Now Forrest is still a step behind Keith Jardine who won tonight (since he just lost to him) but definitely in the title mix. Shogun is rumored to have suffered a cerebral hematoma (bleeding of the brain) after his fight with Forrest and is in the hospital. The Chute Boxe camp is keeping their mouths shut at this point so we just send along our hopes that Shogun will be alright.

Jon Fitch also got the split decision nod over Diego Sanchez. We really need to look and see how fights are scored. I picked Fitch to win and don't like Diego but, Sanchez won that fight. Just because a fighter has top position, does not mean they are winning. It all comes down to the 2nd round (because I believe everyone scored the 1st for Fitch and the final round for Jon). Diego was very active from his guard landing elbows and moving constantly for submissions. Though impressive, Fitch was on the defensive so how he shouldn't get a decision on avoiding being tapped out. The 2nd was a lot of activity from Diego and a nice odd slam from Fitch. Other than that move, did he win the round?

Just my opinion and the judges already scored the fight so Jon Fitch is an unknown no more and moves ever so close to a title shot. Diego has now stated he may make the move down to Lightweight.

Tyson Griffin got the unanimous decision over the very exciting Thiago Tavares. This fight was a beautiful ground war with transitions, escapes, and action at every turn. "Fight of the Night" and everyone should watch these to men fight! I also scored it 29-28 for Griffin who is nearing a title shot as well while Thaigo doesn't lose a whole lot of clout for this competitive loss.

Matt Wiman got the win over Michihiro OMyGodwa in an exciting fight. Send Mich to the WEC because he is too small for Lightweight and would be a great fit against Uriah Faber and the Featherweights. The guy weighed in at 150 lbs. in the 155 division, against guys who cut from 175 to fight. He was impressive but a better fit in the WEC in his proper weight class.

Ryoto Machida got a decision win (can you believe it, he went to decision?) over the hilarious Kazuhiro Nakamura who wore his pants around his nipples with a doctor's mask at the weigh in. A great character but not enough against the guy who could get a title shot if he had not won 7 of his 11 fights by decision.

Others won as well but we don't need to mention them now and the PPV recap is complete without my picks which were on a sheet of paper and not "official" by being on this blog (7-2 in case you were wondering). Now scramble to the Rankings which are now a mess.