MIXED MARTIAL ARTS CLOTHING

UFC 119 was a night of laughs that probably would have been better suited for Comedy Central than Pay Per View...despite having some decent fighters on the card, ALL the main card events except the final went to a decision and several were, in my opinion, basically a draw due to lack of motivation or offense on either side. Therefore, the only way to approach my review is to do so from a humorous point of view; much respect to the fighters in advance.

Focusing on the final four fights of the evening, Sean Sherk definitely put his wrestling abilities to use against Evan Dunham. Despite multiple submission attempts by Dunham, Sherk was able to take the first two rounds by maintaining the top position as well as snaking out of submissions easily. Dunham took a nasty cut above his right eye from Sherk's guard. Finally in the third round, Dunham came back on his feet and landed solid blows on his opponent; however, it wasn't enough for him to take the win. Sherk won by split decision, and rightfully so. I personally was impressed by Sherk's strength, given his size; he easily lifted Dunham off his feet several time for takedowns. 

Next up was Chris Lytle v. Matt Serra. Lytle had an excellent showing in UFC 116 against Matt Brown, but tonight was disappointing from both men. Lytle took all three rounds against Serra by showing dominant stand-up skills, but never landing anything too damaging. Lytle won by unanimous decision. The crowd around me at Bailey's Sports Grille was BEGGING Lytle to knock Serra out, but he obviously could not hear us and therefore forgot that particular option.

On the card for the co-main event was Brazilian Rogerio Nogueira vs. Ryan Bader. Not much happened at all for three rounds and, despite my personal judgment that Herb Dean should have been awarded the win, evidently the judges felt Ryan Bader was the better fighter. Bader took the bout by unanimous decision. Props to Joe Rogan for his excellent coaching skills: "SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!!!!!!" and "PULL GUARD!!" yelled out to no one in particular.

The final and main event for the evening featured heavyweights Frank Mir and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic. The first two rounds were largely a whole lot of nothing; Mir attempting a few takedowns, but never managing to do more than pressure Cro Cop against the cage. At one point both men dropped their hands and had a brief chuckle at the whole situation. Luckily, they did decide to continue fighting despite the hilarity and FINALLY in the third round, Mir managed a knock-out to Cro Cop, ending the fight. Herb Dean, having been daydreaming about his next big UFC win, rushed over to stop the fight, confused that something significant had actually happened, likely preventing the untimely death of Mirko Cro Cop.