MMA Worldwide

Ufc 103 Recap

Posted by Marcos Villegas on the 21 September 2009 | No Comments

Vitor Belfort is running at an all time high. After high profile wins against Terry Martin and Matt Lindland, Belfort stepped into the Octagon this Saturday night looking for his 5^th straight win. Rich Franklin was hoping to capitalize off his recent win against Wanderlei Silva en route to a run up the stacked 205lb weight division. Quite Frankly, Franklin never had much of a chance once the bell sounded. The fighter was never quite able to get his shots off and struggled to find his rhythm against his much more accurate Brazilian counter part. Seeming hesitant for the first two minutes of the round, Belfort landed a left hook that hurt Franklin and rocked him to his knees. Belfort quickly moved in and landed a series of blows on his downed opponent before Yves Lavigne ran in to stop any further damage. Belfort’s victory can be seen as a jab at those critics that have questioned the highly talented fighter on his consistency in the cage.  It seems Belfort has undergone a transformation and should be catapulted into the top of the pound for pound lists, though there are lingering thoughts as to how long Belfort can keep up this momentum.

 

Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filipovic is but a former shell of his old self, the Croatian verbally quit in the third round of his bout with up and comer Junior Dos Santos. Dos Santos constantly pressured the former Pride GP winner throughout the bout, picking apart Cro-Cop with powerful uppercuts, hooks and knees. Cro-Cop was shaken in the first round by a Dos Santos uppercut that saw the Croatian completely shut down all offense from there on out. Round two saw the Brazilian work in hard combinations and jabs in that battered a already tired Cro-Cop at this point. For much of the fight Cro Cop simply just moved backwards as if afraid to engage with Dos Santos. Knees from the Thai plum on Dos Santos part were key as late in the third it gave way to an upper cut that stunned the legend at which point he said, “No mas.” As Dos Santos’ legend appears to be growing, Cro-Cop’s is on the decline with the fighter now trying desperately to regain his PrideFC form.    

 

Josh Koscheck made his case as a legitimate contender to the welterweight title as he steamrolled through returning UFC veteran Frank Trigg in the first round via TKO.  The beginning of the bout started off with both fighters taking their time and throwing measuring jabs and feints, and maintaining distance while feeling each other out. In the end, it was Koscheck’s patented right that sealed the deal. In the middle of the first a Koscheck upper cut paved the way for a vicious right hook that made Trigg turn towards the cage and fall to the mat. Koscheck pounced on his opportunity to end the bout and did so. With this impressive win, Koscheck puts himself back in line to a potential rematch with Georges St. Pierre. Meanwhile, Frank Trigg’s future is put on the rocks as he drops to 19-7 with more than a few things to work on in the gym.

 

The knock out session that was Koshcheck/Trigg was followed by a just as exciting bout between Paul Daley and Martin Kampmann. The entertaining bout started off with a Kampmann flurry with both fighters moving in and out. It seemed Kampmann had the better stand up technique but it was the explosive power of Daley that made the difference in the fight. On more than one occasion Daley landed big right hooks that rocked his opponent back.  Kampmann was able to throw counter shots of his own but not with the same effectiveness of his opponent. The key strike came late in the first round as Daley broke out of a clinch attempt by Kampmann and immediately landed a huge hook that sent Kampmann walking back with no legs under him. Daley moved forward throwing everything in his arsenal from straight rights to vicious hooks, some of them landing, some of them not until a well timed right landed flush on Kampmann’s face forcing referee Yves Lavigne run in and stop the fight.

 

In the un-televised undercard:

 

Rafael Dos Anjos def. Robert Emerson via unanimous decision

Vladimir Matushenko def. Igor Pokrajac via unanimous decision

Eliot Marshall def. Jason Brilz via split decision (30-28, 27-30, 30-27)

Rick Story def. Brian Foster via arm-triangle choke in R1 (1:09)

Nick Lentz def. Rafaello Oliveira via unanimous decision

Jim Miller def. Steve Lopez via TKO (injury) in R2 (0:48)

Tomasz Drwal def. Drew McFedries via rear naked choke in R2 (1:03)

Efrain Escudero def. Cole Miller via TKO in R1 (3:36)

Tyson Griffin def. Hermes Franca via TKO in R