UFC 98 Rashad Evans Loses To Lyoto Machida (Image: Newscom)

Matt Hughes and Matt Serra (whom did not win but got a bonus anyway), walked away with an extra $60k each for their fight which was awarded “Fight Of The Night”, even though many considered it to be a relatively boring fight. I can’t argue.

The new UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida earned an extra $60k for “Knockout Of The Night” with his impressive win over, now former champion, Rashad Evans .

Brock Larson won an extra $60k with his “Submission of the night” when he submitted Mike Pyle with an arm triangle on the preliminary card. Brock is a good fighter and I’d like to see him on more main card fights.

Overall, the UFC 98 Pay-Per-View wasn’t bad but I wish we could see [all of the] the preliminary card fights. You always get to see at least one or two when they use them to fill time, but it would still be nice to see all of them, if for nothing more than to showcase under-card fighters as they make their way to future main card fights.

Oh, and by the way, Harley Davidson Motorcycles are the only motorcycle worthy of being in the octogon.

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 98 Bonuses

UFC 98

The first prelim fight they showed was Andre Gusmao vs.  Krzysztof Soszynski .  Krzysztof came out the winner in the first round with a TKO after a ref stoppage. Krzysztof actually knocked Gusmao out cold.

The second prelim fight they showed was heavy weight Tim Hague vs. Pat Barry . Hague got rocked by Barry early in the first round but recovered, took the fight to the ground and sunk in a tight guillotine for the submission in round 1. Hague is very emotional after the fight and then asks Barry to get some drinks.

The last prelim fight they showed was Brock Larson Vs. Mike Pyle . Pyle attempted a few submissions and had a pretty good defense against Larson ground and pound, but Larson came out with a win in the first round when he sinks in a nice arm triangle on Pyle.

Main Card:

Frankie Edgar Vs. Sean Sherk . This fight went all three rounds. Edgars reach pretty much dictated this fight at every turn. Neither fighter could really get around the other defense but Edgar came out with the unanimous decision at the end with a score of 30-27. This was a very close fight to call but most people watching knew that Edgar would get the decision.

Dan Miller Vs. Chael Sonnen : Chael Sonnen dominated Miller in all three rounds. Besides two attempts to get Sonnen in a guillotine, Miller really couldn’t do anything but hold on through three rounds of ground and pound. Sonnen took him to the ground in all three rounds, showing that his Grecko-roman wrestling skills are still relevant but I think Sonnen is going to have to seriously evolve his style and strategy if he plans on climbing the ladder for a title shot of any sort. After three rounds Sonnen came out with the unanimous decision over Miller.

Drew McFedries Vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam . Honestly I dozed off for the first 10 seconds of this round as McFedries stunned Xavier three times before the ref stops the fight. McFedries was throwing some bombs early but somehow Xavier, though being knocked down was able to get back up. Ref Yves Lavine, whom the crowd was booing all night, saw that Xavier was actually getting knocked out and stopped the fight. If he hadn’t stopped the fight I think McFedries would have won by knock out sooner or later anyway. McFedries wins by TKO at 0:37 of round 1.

Matt Hughes Vs. Matt Serra . Three rounds, the first round really belonged to Serra as far as strikes goes. Hughes did get a takedown and took Serra’s back but Serra defended any attempt at Hughes sinking in a rear naked choke. Serra rolls free before the bell rings to end the round. The second and third pretty much went like this; Serra and Hughes clinch, throw a few punches, Hughes get’s the take down to try some ground and pound, Serra defends and then holds tight for the ref to stand them up. Wash, rinse, repeat until the end of the the third. Unfortunately for Serra, Hughes’ takedowns and ground offense won him the unanimous decision of 29-28. Is the drama between these two over? I certainly hope so, because frankly, I’m tired of it.

Rashad Evans Vs. Lyoto Machida : Slow, started off slow. Evans was trying to figure out Machida and Machida was trying to figure out Evans. After about a minute and a half and a lot of air-boxing, Machida threw a head kicked that was blocked by Evans. Machida soon became the aggressor by charging in with a body kick that is blocked again by Evans, Machida threw another that knocked Evans down and he charged in with a flurry of punches that didn’t really do much, if any damage. Evans works and gets back to his feet.

Round 2: Machida missed with a body kick early in the second round. Machida threw another body kick and charged in for a take-down but couldn’t get it. Machida threw an inside leg kick and followed it up with two punches that Evans quickly answered with two of his own. I think that was the first time I saw Machida take some big punches to the face. Still it didn’t even daze him. Soon after, Machida comes at Evans with a combo that rocked him. Machida saw that Evans was hurt and he stayed busy as Evans tried to fight back. Machida had Evans up against the cage and unloaded a combination that were connecting in all the right spots. Evans gets knocked out cold at 3:57 of round 2 and Machida gets the TKO (ref stoppage). Lyoto Machida is the new UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion .

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 98 Results

UFC 98

Lyoto Machida often get criticized for his “running away”. I’ve never thought it was “running away” but a great defense. No fighters wants to get hit and/or potentially knocked out. He’s very tactical and often dodges the incoming punches and kicks with great speed and skill. He backs off when being aggressed and waits for his moment to strike. When he does, he unleashes a fury of powerful and accurate strikes. Can you really hold that against a fighter?

Rashad Evans is a more of a guns out, seek and destroy type fighter that has been on a path of victory since his inception in to the UFC from The Ultimate Fighter season 2. It will be interesting to see how Rashad fights Lyoto compared to some of his other opponents. Rashad is a very fast, eplosive and technical stand up fighter. Lyoto says no one can defend his style. I guess we’ll see if Rashad can counter his style and pull out a win to retain the title or if Lyoto continues his undefeated streak and comes out the Light Heavyweight champion. I’ll have a full update with results in the morning.

Post from: EveryJoe

Lyoto Machida Vs. Rashad Evans

(Image: WEC.tv Press Extranet)

Until June 7th you can check out this almost 5 minute preview of WEC 41. I’d love to see Faber come win but I really want to see Mike Brown hold on to that title. Enjoy.

Post from: EveryJoe

WEC 41 Preview

(Image: Newscom)

You can enter the “Out Of The Ring And In To The World Contest”, here’s the basics of how you can enter.

• Your Community Project Video (Your short-video showing what your Community Project entailed) must be posted on BJPENN.COM no later than 12:00 am PST on Monday, May 18th, 2009. It must also be tagged “Community Project.”
• Remember: Your project must offer aid, help, comfort, and/or some kind of benefit or service to something or someone (or a group) in your own community.
• Your video should document the event and show your results; videos should be no longer than 10 minutes in duration (under 5 minutes is preferred).
• Go to THIS LINK (www.BJPENNCONTEST.SQUARESPACE.COM) for a more in-depth explanation and examples of acceptable community projects (and we even have a recorded tutorial and guidelines to help you, plus a phone number you can call if you need more assistance!).

Win or lose, you helped make a difference in a community and that should make you feel good about yourself and the people you helped. I mean, winning a trip to UFC 98 with expenses paid would be a great experience, but knowing that you helped your community is rewarding in a much bigger way.

For more details and the complete list of rulles go to BJPenn.com .

(Image: Newscom)

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Go To UFC 98 With BJ Penn Contest

Anyway, back to MMA. Here is Matt Serra’s second installment of his video blog leading up to his “grudge” match with Matt Hughes on May 23rd.

Post from: EveryJoe

Matt Serra UFC 98 Video Blog Day 2 and 3

Post from: EveryJoe

Matt Serra UFC 98 Video Blog

UFC 98

Krzysztof Soszynski will fight Gusmao after coming off his recent win at UFC 97 over Brian Stann . Looks like Sosynski wants to make his name better known in the UFC…and get a paycheck while he’s at it.

Other replacements for UFC 98 are Chael Sonnen coming in to replace Yushin Okami , who tore his MCL. Sonnen with face Dan Miller who is currently on a 3 win streak.

Replacing James Irvin whom tore his meniscus, will be Xavier Foupa-Pokam . Xavier Foupa-Pokam will be fighting Drew McFedries .

Here is the updated fight card for the May 23rd event at the MGM Grand.

Main Card
Rashad Evans Vs. Lyoto Machida
Matt Hughes Vs. Matt Serra
Drew McFedries Vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam
Dan Miller Vs. Chael Sonnen
Sean Sherk Vs. Frank Edgar

Undercard
Brock Larson Vs. Chris Wilson
Pat Barry Vs. Tim Hague
Phillipe Nover Vs. Kyle Bradley
Krzysztof Soszynski Vs. Andre Gusmao
Yoshiyuki Yoshida Vs. Brandon Wolff
Dave Kaplan Vs. George Roop

(image: UFC 98 Press Release)

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 98 Changes

Image: PRPhotos.com

We all thought for sure that he would climb the ladder of the Light-Heavyweights and soon be a contender.

Perhaps only a two month break was not a good idea, as he suffered his first loss to Thiago Silva at UFC 78 by a TKO (Strikes) in the first round. After almost a 6 month break he returned to fight James Irvin at UFC Fight Night 13. Again Alexander suffered another loss by TKO (Strikes), this time he was beat only :08 seconds in to the first round, which was a bit controversial. After that loss there was a lot of rumor and speculation that Houston Alexander would need to win his next fight in the UFC or pack his bags. In September of last year at UFC Fight Night: Diaz Vs. Neer, Alexander suffered yet another loss by an arm triangle from Eric Schafer in the first round. We all thought we had seen the last of Alexander in the UFC for awhile. Well, maybe we did, for at least 7 months anyway.

This time around Alexander will be on the undercard of UFC 98 fighting Andre Gusmao . I have yet to hear any rumblings about a must-win for Alexander, but I’d be willing to bet that if he doesn’t pull off a win, Dana White will be considering releasing Houston from the UFC.  Andre Gusmao brings a professional record of 5-1 going in to this fight. his first loss was his first fight in the UFC against Jon Jones by Unanimous decision at UFC 87.  This fight might be a must-win for both fighters; I’m sure we’ll probably hear that in the coming weeks.

You never like to see a fighter released by the UFC unless he absolutely doesn’t belong there. Some fighters just have a string of bad luck and they get released after a string of losses. For most fighters, being in the UFC is their dream and being released hurts. If this IS a must-win for both fighters it’s going to be an exciting fight. Hopefull they air it in between matches during the PPV if they have time.

Post from: EveryJoe

UFC 98: Houston Alexander’s Last Stand?

Image: Newscom

Larsen brings an impressive record with 25 wins and 2 loses in his Career. He’s 2-1 in the UFC and this will be his first PPV with the UFC. His 2 loses were to John Fitch by decision back at UFC Fight Night 2 in 2005 and 1 loss in his WEC career to Carlos Condit in 2007. Other than that, Larson has been a pretty dominating force in the welterweight division and we could probably see him moving upward towards being a top contender.

Post from: EveryJoe

Brock Larson Replaces Coscheck At UFC 98