Saturday, June 23, 2012

UFC on FX 4 Results: What Did I Just Watch?


Gray Maynard defeats the bouncey Clay Guida via Split-Decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) in a bizarre bout.  Clay came out rocking to Pantera’s “Walk” and then ran for 25 minutes.  The “Carpenter” lost a lot of fans tonight and the “Bully” took them.  The bout began with Clay’s standard shucking and jiving while out landing a confused and step slow Maynard. 10-9 Guida In the 2nd Guida continued to dance but forgot to throw punches while Gray wiffed and missed and the crowd began to grow restless.  10-9 Maynard For the 3rd, the crowd showered boo’s down into the Octagon and the anger began to grow on Maynard’s face while he continued to stalk Guida but without success while Clay out landed him and refused to engage.  10-9 Guida In the 4th round the crowd was cheering for Gray who finally got a hold of Guida landing some good knees and then begins trash talking and flipping off Clay like he was a Diaz brother.  Hands down and chin out, Gray allows Clay some free punches he walks through and puts the “Carpenter” in a tight guillotine he has to slam his way out of in a close round scoring wise. 10-9 Maynard  For the final round, with MMAFO having the fight all tied up on the score cards, Gray is pressing the action but cannot find Clay who is now just straight running away prompting a warning from the referee which I would have never thought we’d see in a Clay Guida fight!  Gray pins Clay against the fence landing some knees to the thigh and then to Guida’s chin on the way up as the fight ends to a chorus of boo’s and a frustrated “Bully.” 
* Watching the heel Maynard turn into a baby face against former action extravaganza crowd favorite Guida who is being destroyed on the Internet, was strange to say the least.  If this truly was the Jackson/Winkeljohn plan it was flawed to say the least.  Making Clay into a running man instead of a stand in the pocket warrior with smothering wrestling (Guida never went for a takedown!) made the “Carpenter” look inaffective and embarrassing.  Guida did not employ his normal attack style and didn’t come to fight.  If he is going to hit and run he has to land some strikes and at the very least throw more strikes.  Most of the night Guida was just weaving back and forth without remembering to strike.  It was just a terrible fight and I cannot wait to hear Greg Jackson explain this one. 

Sam Stout defeats Spencer Fisher by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) to complete their trilogy.  Unlike the 1st two bouts Stout didn’t come to trade punches instead employing the wrestling he learned from recent training with Team Alpha Male.  A strategy Clay Guida could have benifited by.  Stout mixed in strong takedowns followed by G&P wearing down the 36 year old “King” over the 15 minutes.  Spence wasn’t without his moments engaging well on the feet and even landing faster and more accurately early on.  Time caught Fisher as well as surprisingly solid takedowns by Stout in an entertaining farewell slug fest.  
* Spencer Fisher may retire now but not without leaving behind a solid MMA record and many great memories.  The “King” always brought all he had fighting with the Miletich Camp back in their heyday.  Its honestly good to see Sam improving his all around game and the wrestling looked very sharp.  Almost reminding me of GSP when he began to add said element to his arsenal.

Brian Ebersole defeats T.J. Waldburger via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a battle of wills.  First off, I must say TJ reminds me of a younger and smaller Frank Mir.  Hear me out.  They look similar, both rock the Jiu-Jitsu skills, and both are calm cool and collected before a fight.  Anywho, TJ showed his excellent ground game going from submission attempt to submission attempt keeping “Hairrow” guessing.  The veteran Ebersole kept sticking his head into TJ’s slick guard but began to land elbows and punches and proved adept at escaping the myriad of entanglements.  For the final round Brian began to find more success while TJ began to fade. 
* It was interesting to see Ebersole not use his superior striking and instead engaging in a chess match with a younger fighter in his own element.  A pretty good fight to watch with the more cerebral side of MMA.

Cub Swanson TKO’d Ross Pearson with punches in the 2nd round.  Yet another exciting fight on the solid card.  Cub employed all manner of attacks including a capoeira kick as Ross became bloodied but continued to fight back.  Pearson  catches Cub’s front kick but then eats a three punch combo that drops him awkwardly to the cage.  The referee halts the contest in a great back and forth match.

Ricardo Lamas Upsets Hatsu Hioki via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).  Told ya so.  Lamas brought the non-stop attack keeping Hioki on his heels and spoiling the Japanese fighters chance at a title shot.  Ricardo is one to watch and he continues to climb that ladder without much fanfare.

Ramsey Nijem TKO’s C.J. Keith in round 1.

Rick Story defeats Brock Jardine via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) to take his head off the “chopping block.”

Steven Siler submits Joey Gambino by Guillotine Choke in round 1.

Chris Camozzi defeats Nick Catone via TKO in the 3rd round to prove me wrong again I belive every time he’s fought.

Matt Brown TKO’s Luis Ramos with strikes in round 3.

Dan Miller taps Ricardo Funch via 3rd round Guillotine Choke.

Ken Stone defeats Dustin Pague by Split-Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).

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