Sorry this is a little late but I was on a mini vacation and just finished watching UFC 114. I was in fact successful in not hearing any results before watching cause I was with a bunch of indie kids at the Gorge, and they weren’t about to spoil it cause I don’t think they knew it was happening.

Sanchez Vs. Hathaway

This was Diego Sanchez’ first fight at welterweight in almost two years. Not sure why he decided to go back up but after watching this fight, he should’ve stayed at lightweight. It wasn’t just that he lost, it was how he lost. If it was a close fight or he got caught with something, that would be one thing but this was a complete dismantling. He couldn’t find his range early in the first and when he went for a takedown, he ate a huge knee. Give him credit; he was able to recover but not much else. Hathaway was too long and too strong and the rest of the fight was just as one-sided. “The Hitman” was landing everything he wanted all night (well, except for a knockout blow). John Hathaway with the unanimous decision.

2 Ariannys out of 3 for an exciting opening bout. Not sure where “The Nightmare” goes from here cause after losing like that, it’s hard to label him a gatekeeper. “The Hitman”, however, is someone to watch.


Nogueira Vs. Brilz

This was an amazing fight. It was so back and forth especially in the first and third rounds (though the second was the best by far). Brilz was on top for a lot of the first round, which isn’t necessarily an advantage against a Nogueira (in fact it’s usually a disadvantage) but nothing really came of it. The second round got event better with some of the most exciting groundwork I’ve seen in a while. “Little Nog” got caught with a guillotine after trying a sweep he used in the first round and Brilz sunk it in pretty tight, but Nogueira wasn’t about to submit for the first time especially to someone who’s a part-time fighter. He eventually made his way out but when they got back to their feet, Brilz was able to rock “Little Nog” with some punches that left him with some Jell-O legs walking back to his corner. Nogueira was out for blood in the third (cause he knew this fight was too close) throwing everything at him, even getting Brilz in a crucifix position (which seriously, when was the last time you saw that?!). Brilz stayed in there not taking too much damage and getting some offense of his own. This was a razor-sharp decision that earned both fighters an extra 65 grand on their paychecks for Fight of the Night but Brilz should’ve been to one with the with the win bonus. 2 out of 3 judges disagreed with me.

2.5 Ariannys out of 3. I was contemplating a higher score until the decision was read. Not sure where Nogeuira goes after this. He got the win, but he’s probably still at least two (maybe even three) fights away from a title shot. Brilz, on the other hand, my have lost the fight but his stock went way up.

Duffee Vs. Russow

From now on, Mike Russow will be known as “The Iron Chin”. He took some heavy, on the money blows in the first and wouldn’t go down, wasn’t even rocked (well, maybe soft rocked like Air Supply or Journey but we know that ain’t really rock). In the second round, Russow was taking even more shots to the chin, but the pace had slowed down quite a bit cause Duffee was either tired or hurt his hand punching Russow in the face so many times. Duffee got even slower in the third but looked like he was on his way to a decision victory until Russow landed what had to be like his second strike of the night (but made it count!) knocking the no longer undefeated Todd Duffee out cold. I’m not sure if he was trying the rope-a-dope (cage-a-dope?... oct-a-dope? Nah, lets stick with rope-a-dope) but it worked.

2 Ariannys out of 3. The second round was awful, but the first and third more than made up for it. Looks like Duffee’s gotta go back to the gym and work his conditioning and on another combination besides a 1-4. Even though he got KO’d, I don’t think you can question his chin cause it took his opponent breaking his own wrist to do it.

Bisping Vs. Miller

My overall feeling on this fight is the same as my overall feeling on Michael Bisping: good not great. He easily did away with Dan Miller. He landed just about everything but nothing with power, just outpointed him. Miller had a couple chances but Bisping is just better. Bisping (though barely) is a top ten middleweight who has no problem beating non-top ten middleweights. Bisping’s problem is when he fights other top ten middleweights. Dan Miller is not a top ten middleweight thus no problem and a decision victory.

1.5 out of 3 Ariannys. It wasn’t a boring fight but it wasn’t very exciting either. I never got the feeling Bisping was gonna put Miller away and I never felt that Miller could put Bisping away.

Rampage Vs. Evans

After all the talk and BS and postponements, it was finally here. These two guys who hate each other so much were finally gonna throw down. Was it worth the wait? Kinda. It was almost over pretty quick when Rashad landed a right just seconds into the fight. Rampage got stunned but recovered and Rashad just held him against the fence (which happened a lot). Rashad did score a takedown but didn’t do much damage on the ground and Rampage got right up. Rampage did land some punches before the end of the round but looked very slow. Rashad was supposed to have a speed advantage but not this much. Minus the stunning right and the takedown, the second was pretty much the same. Rashad would hold Rampage against the cage, Herb Dean would break it up, Rashad would stick-and-move, Rampage would counter like a full second too late, and they’d do it again. Rashad tried the same thing in the third but Rampage finally had his timing down landing a flurry of punches after Rashad tried to shoot followed by some brutal ground and pound. Rashad was able to grab Rampage’s shorts without Herb Dean seeing and pulled his head out of the way. Rashad made it to his feet but there wasn’t that same spring to his step and even looked pretty wobbly. Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan were wondering why Rampage didn’t go after Rashad again and when Rashad finally cleared the cobwebs said it was bad game planning on Rampage’s part. Hmm… You think it might have to do with him being pretty gassed going onto the round and burning the rest of the tank on that flurry of punches? Rashad was able to get another takedown landed a couple more shots and that was pretty much it. Rashad Evans with the unanimous decision victory and a shot at Shogun’s belt.

2 Ariannys out of 3. This fight had its moments but didn’t live up to the hype. You may think, “What could?” and a Rampage who was in shape could’ve, not someone who showed up to training camp for a light heavyweight fight at 251lbs. He did show heart almost getting a knockout in the third after looking out of place in the first two, but Rashad wouldn’t have game planned the way he did against a fighter he though would be in shape, and an in shape Rampage would’ve stopped that weird up and down side to side movement Rashad was downing for the first two rounds and the first minute of the third.

This was a rock solid pay-per-view and I hope they follow it up with another solid one cause after looking at my trusty calendar, the UFC’s next pay-per-view is 115: Liddell Vs. Franklin and if you haven’t been paying attention, that takes place at Canada Hockey Place on June 12th.