MMA

Ufc 106 recap

Posted By Marcos Villegas on the Nov 23 2009

Las Vegas, NV—Forrest Griffin finally got his second crack at Tito Ortiz. After their last highly controversial fight, which left Forrest in the loser’s column, who knew that their second encounter would be as highly contested as the first? Judges ringside would be put on blast yet again on the heels of the robbery that was Machida/Rua a few weeks back. The official split decision score after three rounds was 29-28 (Griffin), 29-28 (Ortiz) and 30-27 (Griffin). The final judge’s score would be what put many in the arena over the edge as well as Ortiz himself, who gave a look of shock and disbelief.

 

The fight itself was a back and forth contest, and a very tough one to call by the end of it all, even to those MMA pundits cage side. In the first round both fighters did a bit of dancing and exchanging before the old Tito Ortiz we are all too familiar with, went straight to his bread and butter and secured a take down. Ortiz landed a bit of ground and pound before Griffin was able to get standing. Griffin did a nice job anticipating the takedowns as he was able to negate two more attempts and landed some quick jabs, inside kicks and knees to the body by the end of the round. By the second round, you could visibly see some rust on Tito’s part, as more than a year away from the cage was having its effects. He trucked on and opened the round with a solid left that staggered his opponent and followed it up with a double leg takedown. Ortiz worked from the guard of Forrest landing short elbows and punches to the ribs. Griffin was able to stand and landed a nice front kick to the grill of Ortiz that was more flash than substance. Ortiz would score huge with a well placed elbow to the head of Griffin after he was taken down but would utilize a sweep to finish the round standing. By the third round Ortiz was completely gassed and spent a lot of the final round on the defensive, blocking the increasing offensive output of Griffin. Tito’s takedowns suffered as well, moving at the speed of an elderly person crossing a crosswalk. Griffin would continue to score with left-right combinations, low kicks and a high kick that wobbled Ortiz. When the dust settled, Griffin was declared the winner. Ortiz meanwhile, said he had entered the bout with a budging disk and a cracked skull. If it’s just another Ortiz excuse or legit is unknown to us but it was an entertaining performance on the Huntington Beach native’s part.

 

On paper, the bout between Josh Koscheck and Anthony Johnson would appear to be a slug fest of epic proportions. Both fighters have 10 knockout wins between them and a win would solidify them as the number two welterweight contender, behind Dan Hardy. Round one started off with a Koscheck right that stunned Johnson. The two traded blows, some of which landed others deflected until the two fighters fell into a clinch. This would be the beginning of a series of fouls that would kill the energy behind the fight. Johnson landed a knee to a downed Koscheck who complained he was poked in the eye. There was initial controversy at first as replays showed no such eye poke, but an alternate angle did validate what Koscheck was claiming; Johnson was deducted a point. The finger poking would not end there as in round two, Johnson was on the receiving end of two accidental pokes by his opponent. Koscheck was not deducted points, and the two swung wildly at each other before the American Kickboxing Academy standout switched levels and secured a takedown and pinned his opponent against the cage. Koscheck landed short elbows which forced Johnson to attempt to get back to his feet but instead gave up his back for Koscheck to slip in body hook and eventually a rear naked choke. Johnson was forced to tap at 4:27 of the second round. After the bout, Koscheck called out Dan Hardy who was ringside, saying he “hasn’tfought anybody,” and that he in fact was the number one contender.

 

Thiago bests Volkmann; Nogueira lights up Cane

 

Paulo Thiago won a slow paced three round decision over Jacob Volkmann to give the Minnesota based fighter his first loss. Thiago almost ended the fight in the first with a right hand that dropped his opponent, similar to his knockout win over the co-main eventer Josh Koscheck. Thiago thought he had the bout as the bell rung when he landed the blow. Volkmann recovered and the second round was mostly spent on the ground with Thiago having the better positions. Volkmann’s shining moment came in the third as he was able to catch Thiago in a D’Arce in the final thirty seconds of the fight, Thiago swepted out of it and got back to his feet landing jabs to finish off the one sided affair.

 

In what could be considered fight of the night, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira also known as “lil Nog”, the twin brother of former UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had a highlight reel finish against the overmatched Luis Cane in what ended in a first round knock out win. Little Nog started the round a bit cautious of Cane but scored big when a left hook hurt his opponent. Cane was able to recover but soon would be on the run as he ate a straight left and was forced to exchange with Nogueira in a flurry that he would come up short in. Two left hooks later and Cane would be on the floor asking what happened as referee Steve Mazagatti stopped the fight at 1:56 of the first round. With this win, Nogueira looks to make a name for himself attempting to move out of the shadow of his better known twin brother.   

 

In other bouts:

 

Amir Sadollah def. Phil Baroni via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Ben Saunders def. Marcus Davis via KO in R1 (3:24)

Kendall Grove def. Jake Rosholt via triangle choke in R1 (3:59)

Brian Foster def. Brock Larson via TKO in R2 (3:25)

Caol Uno vs. Fabricio Camoes declared a draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)

George Sotiropoulos def. Jason Dent via armbar in R2 (4:36)