UFC 109: Relentless

[jmt225]

Main card

• Light Heavyweight bout: Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman
• Middleweight bout: Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen
• Welterweight bout: Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago
• Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller
• Welterweight bout: Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg

Preliminary Card (Spike TV)

• Lightweight bout: Mac Danzig vs. Justin Buchholz
• Lightweight bout: Melvin Guillard vs. Ronnys Torres

Preliminary Card (Non-televised)

• Lightweight bout: Phillipe Nover vs. Rob Emerson
• Light Heavyweight bout: Brian Stann vs. Phil Davis
• Heavyweight bout: Tim Hague vs. Chris Tuchscherer
• Heavyweight bout: Mostapha Al-turk vs. Rolles Gracie

......................................................................................​

Decent card. Nothing great here, but nothing too bad, either. The UFC will start dishing out the great stuff soon, though.

Anyway, Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman should be an easy one to predict. Coleman should take Couture down in the first round, and then gas himself out. People underestimate Coleman's wrestling, and trust me... he is a better wrestler than Couture. However, Coleman's gas tank is terrible, while Couture's is phenomenal. Couture will be able to take the flurry from Coleman early on, and then take Rounds 2 and 3 with his takedown defense, boxing, and maybe even a couple of takedowns himself. However, neither fighter are finishers, so there's no doubt this will go to a decision, and I see it being Couture 29-28 unanimously at the end of the fight.

Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen... I could not possibly care any less about this fight. Marquardt is a good stand-up fighter, but not great. And Sonnen is just fucking boring. I really don't give a shit about this fight or who wins it, because neither would ever defeat Anderson Silva, if they were ever given a shot that is.

Even though I'm still a tad disappointed Josh Koscheck had to drop out of this one, Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago should be a decent enough fight. I think Swick shows up in top form and either wins by knockout or unanimous decision.

I see Demian Maia tapping Dan Miller out pretty quickly, but this is another fight I just don't care for. Both had promising starts in their UFC careers, but man did they both fall hard in their last fights. It just makes them uninteresting, since neither fighter were that exciting to begin with.

Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg... now THIS should be fun! Hell, the trash talking will be better than the fight itself. I am a HUGE Matt Serra fan, so I'm heavily rooting for him in this one. Hopefully he can finish Trigg off quick and move back up the Welterweight ladder a little bit and get some tougher fights. Matt Serra is a great fighter, with an AWESOME personality. I want to see as much of him as possible in the UFC before he has to hang them up (which hopefully won't be for a while, but he is getting up there in age). As far as Trigg... fuck him, let the flop continue.

The Spike preliminaries are awesome in my book. I'm as big of Mac Danzig fan as I am of Serra, so it's always a pleasure to watch him fight. He's by far and large my favorite TUFer outside of Nate Diaz. I thought the dude was beyond hilarious on the show, and I just dug his personality. Right now though he's on a 3 fight losing streak, but all were against very tough fighters. Here he's against pretty much a no-name, so hopefully he can make quick work of the guy and start moving back up the Lightweight ladder. And Melvin Guillard is always exciting to watch fight, so of course I'm looking forward to his fight as well.

And the rest of the prelims are meh. Phillipe Nover vs. Rob Emerson should be good, and of course it'll be interesting to see what Rolles Gracie Jr. has to offer, but outside of that... nothing else to look forward to there.

All in all, pretty average show. In fact, I think it's a Fight Night worthy card if you ask me, but still.... it's cards like these that usually end up shocking you with great fights all throughout the night, so hopefully that's the case here.

 

[Rizza]

Decent card, I agree with the Fight Night notion, especially since the upcoming FN is stacked from top to bottom. This card has alot of fighters I enjoy watching though(Mardqaurt, Serra, and definitely Maia and Randy) so that helps.

I see Randy pushing Coleman against the cage, work some dirty boxing, and maybe finish him off in the later rounds. I say maybe because Randy hasn't finished somebody in three years. This time he is facing somebody that has zero cardio though, If this fight doesn't end in the first two minutes by Coleman destruction, then I have to give Randy the nod by decision, I think his gas tank alone will get him by on this one.

I hope to god Mardqaurt KO's Chael Sonnenn so hard he will finally learn to shut that goddamn mouth of his. Seriously, I seen in a video some where he makes intelligent remarks such as "BJJ is gay", and "Republicans don't do BJJ", things thats just don't make no damn sense. Mardquart is a great fighter who should be able to take Sonnenn, on the feet I really give the edge to Nate, on the ground I think Nate is also better but Chael is a good wrestler so It could go either way. I don't see a KO coming from this one, but a submission might not be out of the question. Nate by late round sub.

Honestly I could care less about either Swick or Thiago, but I am looking for a reason to like Paulo Thiago, maybe this will fight give me one. Angriest looking man alive by KO.(Hopefully)

Very excited by Demian Maia, as you may or may not know I am a Maia fanboy virtually, can't wait for him to get in the cage with Dan Miller. I know Dan Miller is a ace on the ground, but I think Maia is better. Maia has more submission victory's and less fights (8 out of 12) then Miller (6 out of 14) plus looking at the grappling credentials of a 2nd degree black belt like Maia just have me thinking that Maia has this on if it goes down to the ground. I hope is stand up has improved we don't want a disaster like his last fight. Anyways Maia by another late round Sub.

Serra all the way here, even though didn't Trigg use to fight at MW then cut to WW, then Serra Went from LW to WW, if thats right there should be a huge size difference in this fight but Skill>Size so Serra gets the nod from me. No prediction how though. probably by sub.

Rest of the card I really don't care about, though I would be very pleased if Rolles Gracie Jr. gets the win, and I also would like Brian Stann to pick up a win so maybe he will make it to the main card, I've liked Brian Stann every since he beat that dudes ass for the WEC light heavyweight title.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I might be one of the few who is looking forward to Couture/Coleman. I'm a pretty big fan of Mark Coleman. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, and he's been fighting for his daughters as a single dad.

Seriously, how can you not root for Coleman:

I've been fighting for 12 years and my daughters are 10 and 12 years old. Right after I started fighting, I had a baby daughter. That will change a man. It definitely changed me as a person, definitely changed my priorities. It was a lot of responsibility and I take a lot of pride in being a father. I'm a father first and a fighter second, so I didn't really take advantage of my potential. I didn't have any coaching,I’ve mostly coached myself for the last 10 or 11 years. That's not a good thing. But I felt like I needed to be home for my children. Maybe I should have left and got some training. Maybe then I'd be getting the same paycheck Randy's getting right now. I'm a little disappointed I didn't suck it up and leave, but at the same time, I've gotten to see both my daughters grow up into two beautiful young ladies. You couldn't trade me that for nothing.

Between that fight in PRIDE where in his post-fight speech where he told his kids they were going to be able to keep their house, to after when Fedor beat him in their fight, he introduced his kids to Fedor (the only time I've seen Fedor smile), I don't know how you can't root for Coleman, especially when Couture has proven himself to be such a dick during the whole courtroom ordeal with the UFC. Coleman needs to win this fight to support his family. Couture is very well off. I really, really want Coleman to win. Unfortunately, his conditioning is nowhere as good as Couture's, and as good as Coleman's wrestling is, Couture is a very good wrestler himself. Coleman's already said he's planning on his takedowns not working. Couture probably has this fight by decision.

With the winner of Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen being next in line for the Middleweight Title, I will laugh so hard if the biggest troll in MMA, and the completely mediocre fighter that is Chael Sonnen somehow wins. Stylistically, this is a matchup that Marquardt, who should be fighting Hendo (which would have been such a great fight) will take easily. Marquardt is a submission specialist whose striking is improved by leaps and bounds. Sonnen's Achilles Heel is submissions. Marquardt should have no problem at all here putting Sonnen away.

The rest of the card, eh. I'm looking forward to Serra/Trigg, especially with how much Serra's been ripping on Trigg with his video blogs. I'm a huge Matt Serra fan and I hope he destroys Trigg, which he should.

Edit: JESUS CHRIST CHAEL SONNEN:

"Look, he’s not my kind of a guy [Anderson Silva]. This is a grown man that’s got earrings. This is a grown man who wears his hat sideways. He's black too which I don't like. This is a guy who wears pink T-shirts. This guy wouldn’t make it 12 minutes in my neighborhood. I live in a nice neighborhood and we’d still run him out. Mainly because he's black. "

 

[jmt225]

Yeah, Chael Sonnen is becoming quite the shit talker. I read that entire interview yesterday and the guy just came off as a self-righteous douchebag. I now have a reason to root for Marquardt.

And Coleman does seem like a good dad, and his daughters are quite precious, but I bet Couture is just as good of father, so that's not going to effect me one way or another in terms of who I'm rooting for in this fight. Couture, I just like a lot more. Coleman's not a bad dude, but he's rubbed me the wrong way in the past with his 'roid rage after the second Fedor fight, and also how he reacted to the whole Shogun deal. Whereas Couture has ALWAYS been a class act and just a complete blessing to the sport. So, yeah... for me to root against Couture, he's going to have to be in there with one of my all time favorite fighters, and Mark Coleman is just not one of them.

However, what did effect who I'm rooting for this weekend was the countdown to UFC 109, where they had this unbelievably awesome little piece on Paulo Thiago that I'll post below. I had no I idea this guy was in basically the Brazilian version of the FBI called B.O.P.E.; what a shock. As the guy in the video says, "When society needs help, they call police. When police needs help, they call BOPE." Instant respect from me for Paulo. It even blew Mike Swick (his opponent) away, as he posted this on Twitter:

"I have to admit, his segment was badass! I'm in the gym with blondie and Fitch and he's rapelling out of Helos with an M4. Damn you Thiago!"

I dig Mike Swick a lot, but man... it's hard to root against someone like Thiago after watching this piece on him. I really wish he was still fighting Josh Koscheck.

Anyway, check out the first 4:30 of this video, if you would, please:

[YOUTUBE]JWMDR9UPPdo[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Via Armbar]

Im pretty excited about this card. Some will shit on the main event but i've been a fan of both for years, Coleman a bit more but either way this should be an interesting fight. Not to mention that The Hammer hyas been heard saying he doesnt plan on focusing to much on takedowns, which is suprising in the least. The biggest problem Coleman should have is himself. His gas tank definatly leaves something to be desired, where as Couture is notoriously well conditioned. I see Couture taking this by tko late 2nd.

What im looking forward to more is Marquardt/Sonnen. Chael was always thought as more of a journeyman and gatekeeper then anything for some time, but his win over Okami put him in contention with another win or two. And Okami was a favorite to face Silva sometime this year, but as we know that probably wont happen since Sonnen gained a pretty convincing win.

While Chael is no slouch, i think Nate is too much for Sonnen at this point. He might have a slight advantage if he while in Marquardts gaurd but anywhere else i dont think he can handle it. And if Nate pulls out a crazy mortal kombat or a well timed straight ala Maia then its gonna be over fast.

 

[jmt225]

Okay, just got around to watching the main card fights... very good show.

The surprise of the night was obviously Chael Sonnen's dominance. I mean, outside of the last minute or so of the fight, the guy literally dominated the entire thing. I think NO ONE saw that coming; I know I sure as hell didn't. Either Sonnen has somehow become one of the best Middleweight fighters in the World in just a few months span, or Nate Marquardt has just been overhyped this past year or so. Either way, Sonnen will most definitely be in-line for the winner of Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort, and I for one, cannot wait to see him get his ass kicked, specifically against Silva. The guy has been running his mouth about Silva, and you know if the fight does happen, he'll continue that nonsense and it'll be such a joy to see Anderson shut that big mouth of his.

Matt Serra was awesome last night. That little bitch Frank Trigg objected to the stoppage, but there was nothing to object to as far as I'm concerned. Trigg was out, and the referee saved him. Anyway, like I said... great performance by Matt Serra, and hopefully now he can get some tougher competition. I could really see him taking out guys like Koscheck and Alves; he just needs the shot to do so.

Paulo Thiago... another awesome performance. I thought before hand he had a good chance of winning, but I never thought he'd be able to finish Swick, who actually before hand had been finished in one fight total, which was all the way back in 2004. But Thiago absolutely kicked his ass. I was very, very impressed. I think this guy really could be a force in the Welterweight Division. As far as Mike Swick is concerned... no respect lost from me. He'll bounce back.

And finally... Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman shocked the hell out of me. I thought for sure Coleman was the better wrestler in this one, and would dominate early on, but boy oh boy was I wrong. Couture controlled this fight from the get-go, and was actually able to finish of Coleman, rather than grinding out to the decision like I thought would happen once Coleman gassed. Very nice, and one of the best performances in Randy Couture's career, in my opinion.

 

[Rizza]

Great card for me pretty much everybody i wanted to win got the victory, except for Nate, but I deal.

Matt Serra knocking out Trigg was great, I really like Matt Serra, and it was good to see him live up to expectations, because I'm pretty sure no one actually thought Trigg was going to win, so Im glad Serra got the first round win.

Of course I am absolutely thrilled with Maia, he has very much improved on his stand up, and is looking like a complete MMA fighter now. He pretty much controlled Miller for three rounds, I seen him get plenty of good shots on Miller, where Miller pretty much landed nothing, and he took him down more then a few times. His ground and pound wasn't bad either, if he had more power, he could totally finish the fights with ease that way. Maia IMO is one of the top MW in the worlds right now, he should get a big name his next fight, I just got the feeling after that wake up call from the Mardquart, Maia is just about to get a whole lot better.

Surprised by Sonnen again, every time I see this dude he shocks me(besides the Maia fight obviously) I was surprised when he beat Okami, I am really surpised now that he bat Mardqaurt,but I really don't think that Mardqaurts over hyped though, I think that Sonnen has just gotten better. I think in the Mardqaurt fight in particular that he broke his spirit after the first round man, I really do, Nate just looked like he didn't want to be in there with Cheal Sonnen. Wow. That is something I never thought I would say.

Well I was looking for a reason to like Paulo Thiago, and I found one. Who the fuck knew he was in some SWAT team type shit huh? Thats crazy. Plus in his short tenure he has KO'd Kos and choked out Swick. The dudes just impressive. I was really glad to see him win too.

Randy looked awesome, for real I know it was Mark Coleman, who isn't in the best shape any more, but damn. Couture dominated. Just jab after jab his stand up looked great, his dirty boxing was just fucking brutal, and he looked to have a full gas tank. I know he is 46 and I am a Couture fanboy, but I think that he should be fight a real title contender to see if he can try to take another crack at the gold, I swear I think he can do it. As for Mark Coleman, I think he is done. He is a father first, fighter second, just there for a paycheck now. He just looked like a mummy out there though, no head movement, no attempts to shoot, gassed out in the first round. He is a legend but unlike the even older Couture it is just his time to go.

Only caught one Prelim, first off I love the Gracie family as much as the next guy but, damn Rolles Jr. was awful. He gassed(probably the worst gas out Ive ever seen), no head movement, stiff as a board. Plus to be a Gracie his ground control was shit, and his shoots were just, well if you seen them you know how bad they are. He needs to get more training and go back to the the minor leagues now, then maybe he will get called back.