UFC 95 Reults In The Premature

Paul Kelly closed the eye of "Rude Boy" Troy Mandaloniz en route to a Unanimous Decision.
Mike Ciesnolevicz had a successful UFC debut wrenching Neil Grove into submission with a heel hook. Pretty impressive for a Light Heavyweight to win so easily over an almost Super Heavyweight. Have we a new Brandon Vera here?
Evan Dunham TKO'd Per Eklund to da floor where his head actually beat his body to the ground. Nice.
Junior dos Santos took out Stefan Struve via TKO in under a minute though to be fair, the bout was stopped a bit premature (which would become a theme for the night), though I don't think the outcome would have.
Terry Etim looked twice the size of Brian Cobb who just couldn't get the ground game on the lanky Brit who eventually TKO'd the "Bandit."
Paulo Thiago pulls the upset of the night with a TKO in his UFC debut over one Josh Koscheck. Kos was doing just fine and winning the round when he caught an uppercut and an ugly slapping left hand which dropped him dazed to the floor. Obviously hurt, Koscheck immediately pulled his legs up for guard and scooted back on his butt to prepare for Paulo's eventual attack. However, the referee jumped in and stopped the fight much to the ire of Josh and the elation of Thiago. A lucky punch, a quick stop, but shit happens and they are not going to overturn the result. Anything can happen in a fight.
Demian Maia used a 2 arm underhook to finally throw Chael Sonnen to the ground and in mid move, swung his legs around into a tight triangle before the returning Team Quest member knew what happened. Damn, Maia is impressive with just some of the slickest Jiu-Jitsu I have ever seen. He may have secured a title shot against the winner of Anderson Silva/Thales Leites, instead of.........
Nate Marquardt finally turned it on in the final round as Wilson Gouveia began to show his standard gassing routine, while Nate landed a BRUTAL knee followed by a head kick, spinning back fist, and some extra strikes as the ref stepped in and saved a bloodied ATT member from more destruction. Pretty impressive, but Demian Maia has not lost to Anderson Silva and may have the edge in getting the #1 contender spot.
Dan Hardy KO'd the crap out of Rory Markham becoming the hometown hero for England. Rory bled early (of course) but mainly left himself wiiiiide open after throwing a swinging heymaker, and Dan struck with a perfect right hand that blasted Markham into la la land. Beautiful win and Dan has now called out one Marcus Davis for a fight. Both men love to stand and throw bombs, and both are cult hero's in the Euro circuit. Could be real interesting.
Diego Sanchez outpointed Joe Stevenson through all 3 rounds as Joe "Daddy" opted to either not pull the trigger on his offense, or just call on the "Nightmare" hoping that alone would garner him the victory he actually thought he had won. Diego didn't seem affected by the weight loss at all though he did look a bid aidsy, but his continual improvement, and odd screaming of the word "YES" over and over again in his odd ritualistic ring entrances, guarantee him a continual rise up the Lightweight ladder. I wouldn't mind seeing Sanchez take on Clay Guida in the battle of the Energizer bunnies that just don't quit match. Joe "Daddy" is at a crossroads in his career, his 1st back to back losses in the UFC, after falling short in his prior title match, leaves few options for a very talented fighter who still has a lot of fight left. It will be interesting to see what Stevenson's next move is, unless the UFC makes it for him.

Well, 8-2 on the picks and we seem to be stuck there for the most part which is pretty good.

By the by, anyone else find humor in Diego coming to the ring with Queen's "We Are The Champions?" Maybe next time he'll come out to Judas Priest, The Village People, Wham, or my god the perfect song for Sanchez, "What What (In The Butt)" by Samwell. Are ya picking up what I'm putting down?