UFC 85 Results & Tears

Well glad to know I wasn't the only one who got his ass kicked in the fight picks category (4-7). Thanks to the UnderGround over at MMA.tv for cheering me up on that one. At any rate, the night was full of controversy and odd stoppages. On to the event.

Thiago Alves came in an unacceptable 4 lbs. overweight and then trashed Matt Hughes after he could not get any work done on the mat with Alves after numerous takedowns. Then in the 2nd, a flying knee, a right hand, and a brutal pound out and a bloody Matt Hughes was done! Thiago would have looked impressive if he had not failed to make weight for yet the 2nd time in his career. He whined for a title shot, but I wouldn't let him. For failing again to make weight, make him rematch Karo Parisyan. Their fight was stopped too early last time and would end the controversy. You can't reward failure. As for Hughes (42-7), he would just need one more bout to reach an amazing 50 professional bouts, though pundits are already calling for his retirement and saying he's finished. I "Joe guarantee" you this, once his knee heals that he injured in this bout, he'll be coming for Matt Serra and only then might he retire.

Fabricio Werdum stunned the UK crowd by stopping Brandon Vera in the 1st round though not without controversy. Neither man was doing much until Werdum got the takedown, transitioned to full mount, and began reigning down punches. Vera claims he told the ref he was OK and blocking most of the shots, but referee Dan Miragliotta stopped the contest 15 seconds before the end of the round. Vera immediately got to his feet, obviously unhurt and shocked. His post fight comments have been pulled from all MMA media sites as he has criticized the ref very harshly and is demanding a rematch. He might get one since the UFC Heavyweight Title will not be defended until the end of the next TUF season. We've got time to kill in the Heavyweight division.

Great Britian's own Michael Bisping just steamrolled through Jason Day with takedowns and vicious striking for an easy 1st round win. Impressive for the "Count."

Nathan Marquardt and Thales Leites had an interesting bout which Leites won by penalty. Nate his 1st point when he knee'd the downed Thales in the 2nd round. Then another point was deducted in the 3rd for an illegal elbow to the back of the head which I and the world didn't see. Nice work Herb Dean and even with all this mess I scored it a 27-27 draw. The judges gave it 28-27 for Thales and there really needs to be a rematch here as Nate won this exciting, bloody, and important match. I mean Nate even threw down the 2nd ever pile driver in MMA for shits sake!

Mike Swick beat Marcus Davis halting his 11 fight win streak and boring the fans to death. This fight was just bad and little Marcus just couldn't reach Swick who wrestled him to the floor and punched like a blind child for 3 rounds. You really had to see it to believe it.

Luis Cane knocked Jason Lambert the fuck out possibly ending his UFC career while Kevin Burns, Paul Taylor, Martin Kampmann, and Antoni Hardonk all got wins. The biggest upset of the night came when Matt Wiman who was losing to Thiago Tavares, landed a shocking couple of rights that put Tavares out! Huge win for Wiman that I cannot believe happened.

Please give Marquart and Vera rematches and lets get these refs to a seminar or something so we can get these calls right. Early and just plain wrong stoppages just seem to be happening more and more these days. Thiago Alves doesn't get a title shot and why is it that only in a loss do I still see the respectful and humble Matt Hughes I used to love? "He's a good fighter, he got me, no doubt, I fully expected to win, things didn’t go my way. Thiago came in big, some people told me that he looked bigger than me in the octagon. I didn’t expect that but I also think that had nothing to do with the outcome of the fight. I think Thiago came up with a good game plan. Thiago was very nice after the fight, he seems to be a very good guy. I like that, we’ve always got along good.” -Matt Hughes comments after the fight,