The stage was set for a quick follow up on one of the biggest upsets in recent memory. Not one month after Joe Lauzon upset 7-1 favorite and former champion Jens Pulver at UFC 63 by dramatic knockout, Lauzon’s younger brother was tapped as a last-minute replacement against Pulver’s corner man and teammate, Spencer Fisher.
Dubbed “The Upgrade”, Dan Lauzon would be the youngest fighter to ever appear on a UFC pay per view.
And although the younger Lauzon did not follow up on his brother’s upset with a victory of his own, he did enough to earn a return to the UFC within the first round. The fight began with a big slam by Lauzon of Fisher. From there on out, Lauzon controlled the downed Fisher with peppering strikes and guard pass attempts. Fisher was able to get back to his feet after a couple of attempts, and he made it count.
Fisher threw a flying knee that grazed Lauzon and landed on his shoulder. Then, while in the clinch Fisher was able to connect on another knee to the upper torso of the young fighter. They separated and Lauzon looked as if he had lost his wind as Fisher was able to connect on multiple punches, including a big left hand to the temple of Lauzon. Lauzonfel to the floor, turned his back and curled up, prompting the referee to call a halt to the bout.
A classic style match-up if there ever was one, the dangerous muay thai fighter Cheick Kongo took on Carmello Marrero who was fighting on only two weeks notice. Kongo’s previous UFC fights followed the same pattern where he got taken down, got in early trouble from submission attempts, somehow survived, got to his feet and then proceeded to knock out his opponents. Would Marrero, the wrestling specialist be able to take down Kongo and succeed where his predecessors failed?
The fight got right to that question as Kongo landed a couple of hard leg kicks on Marerro and Marrero shot and scored a clean doble leg takedown, falling into the side mount position.
Marrero looked solid as he held his sie mount position, occasionally switching his base to a scarf position, and landing punches, elbows and the occasional knee to the body. Kongo seemed unable to counter Marrero’s pressure and escape the position until at around the one minute mark he recomposed to the full guard. The round ended in that position with Kongo’s back against the cage.
Within one minute of the second round, Knogo was stuck on his back again after being taken down by Marrero. This time, however, ongo made better use of the position by locking up a guillotine choke. It was apparent that Marrero was having issues with the hold as remained mostly prone and Kongo moved into full guard. After struggling heavily, Marrero finally pulled his neck free of the Frenchman’s grasp. At two minutes of the second, the referee stood the two up. It didn’t take long for Marrero to get another takedown, but this time he had little offense from the top ground position. After another standing restart, Marrero took Kongo down again, defended another guillotine choke and the round ended in Kongo’s guard.
By the start of the third round Marrero’s gameplan was no myster and he immediately shot in again but was rebuffed by a good Kongo sprawl. Marrero eventually got a takedown but again didn’t stay active enough for the referee to allow the two to stay on the ground.
Kongo appeared to getting stronger with time as he defended another takedown attempt and followed up with strikes and by pushing Marrero to his own back. Kongo worked to pass, eventually did and proceeded to try his hand at two Americana shoulder locks before Marrero scrambled back to his feet and scored another takedown. The fight ended with the fighters in a clinch against the cage.
In the end, two and a half weeks proved enough time for Carmello Marrero to make good on his UFC debut as he won a split decision over Cheick Kongo.
This one was a closet barnburner. Fitch, who has been tearing it up on UFC dark matches, would have his first opportunity to be seen by a live pay per view audience, and Hironaka was a man with serious gravitas after TKO’ing former contender Renato Verissimo.
The fight began with Fitch getting a takedown but falling right into a triangle choke. For a couple of minutes, Hironaka tried to lock the choke full on but was unable to cut enough of an angle to tighten it. Fitch eventually broke free and worked to Hironaka’s back, where the round ended.
Fitch seemed intent on capitalizing on the shift of momentum and came out firing, first with a punch and then a hard head kick that backed the Japanese fighter up. Fitch followed up with a takedown and grinded on Hironaka until the referee stood the pai up at around 2:15 of the round.
The earlier scene repeated itself as Fitch hurt and backed up Hironaka before taking him down. Hironaka appeared to have regained a bit of energy as he worked for an arm bar and triangle. But Fitch defended well and ended the round with effective strikes from inside Hironaka’s guard.
Aside from a sudden cut that the doctor had to check, Fitch controlled the third with intermittent but dominant stand-up striking and takedowns and he one a unanimous decision. After the fight, Fitch said “My striking has come along way in the three years I’ve been at AKA (American Kickboxing Academy). It certainly has, and perhaps if he had, he could have stopped the fight early.
You have to be a warrior to fight with the type of odds Kenny Florian had against hi, and the Boston jiu-jitsu fighter’s Samurai warrior entrance underscored this visually. Sean Sherk didn’t have to wait any longer for “someone to hear him”, as the lyrics of his entrance song stated, as this night was the career welterweight’s chance for the whole world to hear and recognize him as a champion.
Both men went to strengths immedieately as Sherk took Florian down right away and Florian worked to full guard and briefly for a set up to a triangle. Sherk used excellent balance and power to work his way into Florian’s half guard. While Sherk’s eagerness to unload on Florian below was visible, Florian did a good job of tying up Sherk in the early minutes.
Florian worked to secure a guillotine but Sherk eventually worked his way out and passed the guard into side mount. Florian attempted to reverse positions, Sherk tried to take the back, and even worked for his own arm bar. The round ended with Sherk back in Florian’s guard landing hard elbows and a flurry of punches.
From the second round on, a pattern emerged as Florian used every standing moment between he and Sherk to let his legs go with kicks and retracting them quickly in hopes of avoiding a takedown. Florian would land hard kicks, often to the midsection of Sherk before Sherk would invariably get the takedown.
Sherk racked up the control points but also got cut badly on the right side of his head either from Florian’s attacks or from an accidental clash of heads. Initially, the drip, drip of Sherk’s bleeding head was more consistent than his offensive from the top position. But as the rounds drew on, he found his range and eventually earned the unanimous decision.
But those expecting that the fight would simply be a formality en route to a coronation of Sherk learned some important lessons about Kenny Florian. Though Florian predictably spent a lot of time on his back at the hands of the excellent wrestler Sherk, he also proved unbelievably durable and never let the punishment he received get out of control.
In addition, Florian used every possibly opportunity to his advantage, notably outstriking Sherk and doing considerable damage with well placed kicks to the midsection and right side of the head of Sherk.
At the end of the fight, Sherk stood there still bleeding from a cut that if it were placed over his eye, may have caused him to lose via stoppage, and Florian’s formerly white shorts were completely red, mostly from Sherk’s blood.
But the damage he sustained only made Sherk’s poise, patience and technical attack in the face of adversity more impressive. In addition to all the takedowns he got early, he scored big slams near the end of the fight and showed well balanced jiu-jitsu. Time and time again he passed Florian’s guard, taking the full mount. Sherk took Florian’s body shots without dropping his hands and returned enough fire to bring the fight back to the ground on his terms over and over. And he did most of this with a nasty cut bleeding al over his face.
“The cut was bothering my vision during the fight, but I came out here to win. I didn’t want a fast fight, I wanted to earn the belt” Sherk said after the fight.
And he did. Sean Sherk has become the new, and only second ever, UFC lightweight champion.
For Anderson Silva, tonight was all it could be. The Muay Thai fighter used the clinch to devastating perfection en route to becoming the first man to stop Rich Franklin in the UFC. With his hands clenched behind Rich Franklin’s head, Silva landed a thunderous knee to the face of Franklin that broke his nose. He followed up with a left kick to the face, dropping Franklin and forcing the referee to stop the fight.
The now former champion rich Franklin was honest and classy with his parting words.
“I was not expecting him to be that strong in the clinch. I was expecting that to be my sweet spot and I got in a lot of trouble.”
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