It felt like it's been forever since Casey and I saw a UFC pay-per-view. Maybe that's only because the last event we went to my cousins, and the event before we missed because our PPV service wasn't working. Anyways, this event was exciting, despite the fact that there were no title fights. The show was called "Breakthrough" because the main event fights consisted of young up-and-coming fighters taking on established veterans. Who would prevail in the end?
The first fight was between Matt Brown and Dong Hyun Kim. The fight went the distance, with Kim getting the split decision win. It was interesting to note that the commentators felt Brown had won the fight, but I knew Kim won the first and third rounds. Still had Brown picked to win, but oh well. The next was a highly anticipated fight between Nate Marquardt and Martin Kampmann. Although Kampmann was the underdog, a fair amount of people felt he could win. What was supposed to be the most exciting fight of the night instead ended with a quick first round knockout on Kampmann that Marquardt seemed to get with ease. There was another fight that didn't go my way. They showed an undercard fight between Tim Boetsch and newcomer Mike Patt, and as expected Boetsch got any easy KO in the first round. Finally, I had one fight go my way.
The first of the "breakthrough" fights was between Dan Henderson (the veteran) and Rousimar Palhares. As I predicted, the fight wasn't the best one of the night, and Henderson got the decision win. Palhares had the worst strategy, and because of Henderson's style, it made for a boring fight. But at least Henderson got a win finally. Next was a fight I was really looking forward to: Rich Franklin (veteran) vs. Matt Hamill. Though Franklin was a favorite, I was expecting Hamill to put up a fight. He did, but ultimately got TKO'd by Franklin in the third round that started with a kick to his ribs that dropped him to the mat. Good show by both, and probably the best fight of the event.
Finally was the main event between Chuck Liddell (veteran) vs. Rashad Evans. Evans was a heavy underdog, and not well liked by me because of his ego. I was really rooting for Chuck to get the KO. The first round didn't have much, even though Chuck had landed more shots to win the first round. Rashad danced around and avoided most of the strikes, but didn't get aggressive until the second round. One short melee occured, and once both pulled back, both went for a punch, Chuck with a right-hand uppercut, Rashad with an overhand right. Rashad connected first, and to the shock of the entire world, Chuck was knocked out cold before he hit the ground. My jaw dropped. Of course Rashad showed off, getting me a little more angry, but I'm not totally upset. It's just what happens sometimes.
After the event, they showed an undercard fight between Jason MacDonald and Jason Lambert. MacDonald got the submission victory in the second round, definitely improving since his fight at the last event. Also this morning, the UFC website had another undercard fight between Kurt Pellegrino and Thiago Tavares. Pellegrino got the decision win, and showed that he's definitely worth keeping around. And that was what was seen of the event.
I was left wondering a lot about what will happen in the UFC after this event. Could Liddell's career be over? Will Marquardt get another shot at Anderson Silva for the middleweight title? What the hell is going on with the light heavyweight division now that Franklin, Henderson, and Evans have moved up to the rest of the elite fighters in that weight class? Apparently Evans will get the next title shot against champ Forrest Griffin, and I'll be hoping that Forrest will keep the title away from Evans. We'll have to wait and find out.
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