UFC Fight Night 24

[Buffalo Dave]

Sorry no updated posters since Bobblehead dropped out of the fight​

Main Card

• Light Heavyweight bout: Antônio Rogério Nogueira vs. Phil Davis
• Welterweight bout: Dan Hardy vs. Anthony Johnson
• Welterweight bout: Amir Sadollah vs. DaMarques Johnson
• Featherweight bout: Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung

Preliminary Card

• Featherweight bout: Alex Caceres vs. Mackens Semerzier
• Heavyweight bout: Jon Madsen vs. Mike Russow
• Welterweight bout: John Hathaway vs. Kris McCray
• Bantamweight bout: Michael McDonald vs. Nick Pace
• Heavyweight bout: Sean McCorkle vs. Christian Morecraft
• Welterweight bout: Johny Hendricks vs. TJ Waldburger
• Middleweight bout: Mario Miranda vs. Aaron Simpson
• Lightweight bout: Waylon Lowe vs. Nik Lentz

This is a nice free card they're putting out here. To bad half the fights I really want to see are on the preliminary card. I'll definitely be searching for a lot of those fights online once the show is over, or whatever ones don't get shown as fillers if there is any.

Starting right with the main event Lil' Nog vs. Phil Davis. Davis has had his opponent swapped a few times for his original fight that was supposed to happen at UFC 129, once Tito backed out due to a cut and needing a bunch of stitches, Davis then was bumped up to this card, and tapped as Ortiz's replacement. Davis has been tearing up the LHW division since his arrival last year, winning all 4 of his fights under the UFC, in doing so has got the attention in a lot of people. Now he faces his toughest challenge yet, in Lil' Nog, who hasn't been the same since his first fight, when he destroyed Luiz Cane. He faced two prominent wrestlers and was pretty much dominated in both fights, won a controversial decision against Brilz, and straight up lost to Bader. Now he faces yet another guy who has a strong background in wrestling. Nog wins the stand up battle that's for sure, but I see Davis taking it to the ground every chance he gets. Davis has massive upper body strength where he will be able to hold Nog down and work him over with some GnP. Both guys have BJJ in the background as well, Nog is a black belt, while Davis is a blue. I don't really see Davis getting the sub, as we know the Nog bros do not tap. I can see Davis winning by a decision though. A loss for Lil' Nog puts him in danger of being cut.

Hardy vs. Johnson should be an exciting fight, starting with Buffer's announcement of Dan Hardy. I think Johnson is in trouble, he hasn't fought in 1 1/5 years, so the ring rust is gonna hurt him here. This should still be a fun fight, expecting a stand up war between these two. Hardy is on a two fight losing streak, so he will be looking for a big win. I don't think the 3 loss rule applies to him, he is probably the most popular Brit not named Bisping. I'm thinking Hardy puts this away late in the first or midway through the 2nd.

Sadollah vs. Johnson doesn't interest me all that much. I could've picked at least 4 of the prelim fights that would be better to see then these two. Sadollah looked extremely good in his last fight Sobotta. Johnson has done alright for himself since losing TUF 9, winning 3 out of 4, mostly winning against nobodies. If Sadollah puts on the type of fight like he did against Sobotta, then he should have no trouble in beating Johnson.

I was so happy when they announced the rematch between Phan and Garcia. It was a close fight that Garcia won by a split decision, that should've went to Phan. It was highway robbery to say the least. I'm just hoping these two put on the same type of fight, like the last one without a bullshit judging. These two can easily win FOTN again. Great fight to get things started for this card.

Onto the prelims,

I'm happy to see that Bruce Leroy (Alex Caceras) is finally making his UFC debut. I was pissed when he wasn't on TUF12 Finale, thought they snubbed him, but later found out he was supposed to fight Phan, until he had to backout due to injury. He will have his hands full with Semerzier. Semerzier is coming off of three straight losses, but his last loss was a war with Cub Swanson that he loss by split decision, probably why he is getting one last fight to redeem himself.

John Madsen has quietly racked up 4 wins since he was on TUF10. If he beats Mike Russow, it's time for him to step up the competition. It's easier said then done though, Russow is one tough cop. We seen him get pounded by Duffee for 2 1/2 rounds before leveling him and winning the fight. Should be a slugfest between the two Deathclutch fighters. This is definitely one of the fights I wanna see, and will be looking up id it's not shown.

Hopefully John Hathaway can rebound from that loss against Mike Pyle. Hathaway was gaining ground in the Welterweight division, by putting an awesome performance and flat out dominating Diego Sanchez, and winning 3 fights before the Sanchez fight. Then stepped in Mike Pyle, which seemed to be a sure win for Hathaway. Not a knock on Pyle, he is a decent fighter, but after Hathaway dominated Sanchez it really looked like a sure thing. Instead Hathaway just looked out of place, and Pyle just controlled the fight. Now Hathaway fights Kris McCray. I was never really a fan of McCray's during the TUF. I will give him that fought his ass off to get to the finals. I fully expect Hathaway to win this fight, if he can stuff McCray's takedowns.

McCorkle/Moorecraft are both coming off losses to Struve. McCrokle came into the UFC by beating Mark Hunt in a little over a minute by literally ripping his arm off. Moorecraft looked good during the first round in his fight versus Struve, came out the same way in the start of the second round and was flattened by Struve. I'm thinking McCorkle takes this one.

I'm pulling for my boy Johnny Hendricks to get back to his winning ways, much like Hathaway, in his last fight he didn't look the same as we're used to. I don't know much about Waldburger, he seems like a good opponent for Hendricks.

Aaron Simpson was once quickly climbing the Middleweight ranks and looking like a very promising prospect. His last to fights have been anything but that.
Miranda is a perfect opponent for him. I could see the loser being let go in this fight without a doubt. Miranda was real hesitant to get things going against his fight with Maia, instead he just let Maia do whatever the hell he wanted to do throughout their fight. Simpson takes this if he pushes the pace, just don't gas himself out, like the Leben fight.

 

[Buffalo Dave]

Theres been a change to the main card. Nam Phan is out with an injury.

Stepping in to replace Phan is the "Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung to fight Leonard Garcia. I'm all for the rematch of one of 2010's Fight of the Year. Glad to see Jung get the rematch, as many feel he was robbed of the split decision. Still was an absolute war those two put on at WEC 48. Hopefully Korean Zombie can put a stop to Garcia winning these robberies, he's been training with Team Alpha Male, so we'll see if that pays off.

 

[Uncle Phatso]

Sean McCorkle vs. Christian Morecraft
Sorry guys, this is really the only fight I can weigh in on. I'm trying to branch out into other divisions but Hw is still my favorite.

Stefan Struve, Stefan Struve, Stefan Struve My how you make this decision way to hard for me. He holds the one loss to both men that they have. Tko and Ko almost around the same time. He clocked Morecraft about twenty seconds into the second round and got Sean around the four minute mark in his first round. Really to me it's not that huge of a difference.

McCorkle holds wins over almost no one noticeable until John Ivey and Mark Hunt. Hunt isn't the best fighter, but he holds two wins over two good fighters in Cro Cop and Wanderlei. Hunt has fought Alistar and Fedor both to losses, if OK fights until he got dropped and McCorkle followed suit by getting him in an armbar early on. John Ivey is notable for being the Hw world punching bag. While a threat, he is meh.

Morecraft is a new guy, losing to Struve in his first Ufc fight. All of his previous fights up to Struve didn't go past the 3 minute mark. He has some submission moves along with knockout power.

My money will go on McCorkle dropping him in the second round.

 

[jmt225]

Very good free show.

I picked Lil' Nog to beat Phil Davis in the Pick 'Em Contest simply out of favoritism, but I really think Davis will win a decision in this fight. If Bader could beat Lil' Nog 2 Rounds out of 3, then Davis should be able to do the same, if not much better. I respect Lil' Nog to the utmost, but Phil Davis looks to be a young monster. Plus, watching some of the little UFC specials on him this past week on the internet and what not... I've grown to like Phil Davis as a person. He seems like a very good dude, and I won't feel bad if he wins tonight, even if I'm rooting for Lil' Nog to take it.

Dan Hardy vs. Anthony Johnson is going to be a LOT of fun. This is either going to contain a devastating knockout in the 1st round, or it will be a 3 Round war. Either way, we should be in for something special. As far as who wins... your guess is as good as mine. Had this fight taken place mere months ago, I would have taken Anthony Johnson without hesitation, but I've grown to like Hardy recently, and the fact is... Johnson is coming off a HUGE lay-off. There's no telling how good he'll look. Regardless, it's guaranteed to be one fun fucking fight.

Amir Sadollah vs. DaMarques Johnson should be a one sided affair for Amir Sadollar. If Amir somehow loses this, then there will be no reason to believe in this dude anymore. He's a likable guy and everything, but he hasn't come close to living up to his potential at this point if you ask me.

I'm actually hoping that Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung isn't anywhere near as good as their first fight and that the Korean Zombie knocks Garcia the fuck out in the 1st Round. Garcia should not be allowed to have decision fights at this point. So, War Korean Zombie.

And the prelims aren't really worth commenting on. I'm curious to see how Bruce Leroy does, and I hope McCorkle gets his fucking ass kicked, but outside of that... nothing special on the prelim card. The main card is very good though and I will definitely be tuning in live tonight.

 

[jmt225]

Disappointing show, in my opinion.

The only real highlight for me was the Korean Zombie locking in that AWESOME submission dubbed 'The Twister' to defeat Leonard Garcia. After getting so fucking screwed over in their first fight against one another, it was nice to see KZ exact revenge and finish Garcia off this time around. Hopefully this is a start to a long winning streak for KZ, because he's everything I look for in a fighter.

Amir Sadollah vs. DaMarques Johnson was complete domination by Amir Sadollah, as expected. Hopefully now he can get a somewhat big name so we can finally tell whether or not this guy is the real deal.

Dan Hardy vs. Anthony Johnson was a huge disappointment. I like Rumble a lot, so it's hard for me to criticize him, but man... I think it's lame as fuck for someone to promise something (I.E. Rumble promising a stand-up war with Hardy), only to go out there and do something completely different. It's one of the reasons why I can't stand Jon Fitch... before every fight Fitch promises he will finish his opponent, yet come fight time he doesn't even attempt to.

But at least Rumble looked for submissions while on top. I give him credit for that. Regardless though, a lame move to promise one thing and then deliver something else.

Dan Hardy, well, he REALLY needs to work on his takedown defense. It seems like anyone in the UFC's WW Division would be able to take this dude down at will. Maybe it's time for him to consider dropping down to Lightweight. He should be able to make the cut if he does it properly.

A win is still a win for Rumble, though. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. It'll be interesting to see what the UFC does with him next.

And Lil' Nog vs. Phil Davis was even more disappointing. Lil' Nog did a terrific job in the first round stuffing takedowns, but he was so worried about them that he was afraid to commit to anything on the feet. He didn't throw a single combo, just one hook or jab and then step away. He didn't even throw a single kick. You can't defeat someone like that.

Lil' Nog said before the fight that the key to beating Phil Davis was his boxing, and that was just the completely wrong mind-set to go into that fight with. There are just some guys who you will not be able to keep from taking you down for 15 minutes, and Phil Davis is one of those guys. Lil' Nog is a BJJ Black Belt and he should have spent most of camp working off his back so he could submit the wrestler once taken down. But instead, he focused on boxing, and when taken down, he was more focused on getting back up rather than looking for submissions. It cost him the fight.

Props to Phil Davis, though. I hate the lay and pray style, but he's a nice dude and he obviously works his ass off, so I can't hate on him.

All in all, two good opening fights, with a very lackluster double main event.

You know, as I type that, this is exactly why I didn't like Zuffa purchasing Strikeforce. You won't see this lay and pray shit April 9th, I guarantee it. The UFC really needs to adjust the fucking unified rules of MMA so that the lay and pray style can stop fucking over taking the sport. But just like someone on Sherdog put it, "If the UFC started giving out Yellow Cards, fighters at the end of the shows would get billed rather than paid."

 

[Window Licker 101]

This fight night card was a little flat.

The facebook fights made for good viewing. Great to see Morecraft rebound from the hard fought loss to Struve by subbing that cocky bastard McCorkle. That standing guillotine was tight and it was to no surprise McCorkle went out. I expect McCorkle to get cut now after two rather unflattering performances.

McDonald/Figueroa was a fucking war. Holy shit those guys stood and banged for the opening 40 seconds. The scoreboard does not reflect how this fight went as Figueroa put in a very good shift and the dude has amazing submission defence. He was caught up in about 5-6 different submissions, even a triangle/armbar combo which Werdum subbed Fedor with, but he just wouldn't tap. Deserved FOTN and I am excited to see both guys' next fight. Dana loves fighters like that.

Hathaway/McKray was slightly boring. I'm a Hathaway fan but I felt he made it difficult for himself by trying to play the ground game. Nostalgia factor kicked in when Hathaway locked up a toe hold ala Mir on Tank Abbott but McKray fortunately got out. I just wasn't into this fight but the decision could have gone either way.

From viewing TUF 12 I figured Bruce Leroy was vastly overrated. He caught the dude whose name escpaes me in that flukey triangle choke to advance to the semis and got dominated by Michael Johnson. No surprise that Mackens choked his ass out. However, I am kinda surprised why Mackens Semerzier was signed by the UFC after his 3 fight losing streak but LC Davis and Wagney Fabiano were not signed. Hmmm nevermind.

The Mike Russow/Jon Madsen fight was one of the shittest fights I have ever seen. Two of the fattest heavyweights in the UFC just clinching up for 10 minutes against the cage. Urgh. I don't even know why it was stopped but thank fuck it was. That fight was an eyesore and I don't think it does wonders for either man. Maybe Russow can face Mitrione or something I dunno.

One word. Twister. That sub (other than the inverted triangle at the Bellator event last night) has got to be a front runner for sub of the year. That thing was slick!!! Garcia's head was literally bent back 90 degrees. Glad Korean Zombie got the decision. Sweet justice after that bullshit decision back at WEC 48.

Sadollah and Johnson provided a decent scrap which I didn't expect. Both men shown all aspects of MMA with a combination of takedowns, ground transitions and striking. Sadollah is improving every time and this fight was another feather in his cap. On a side note, Sadollah is a dead ringer for Forrest Griffin's long lost brother. LOL!

I was left disappointed by the Hardy fight. I was a Hardy fight but Johnson possesses freakish power. You just don't stand with him and Johnson shown why after he headkicked Hardy to the mat within 90 seconds of the fight. These guys were telling anyone who was willing to listen that this would be fight of the night and somebody was going to sleep etc etc and all that hot garbage but they just grappled on the floor for all three rounds. This fight was a bad matchup for Hardy and Johnson proved why. I don't expect him to be cut as the UK's cashcow, Bisping, is in the doghouse with Dana and Hardy is the UK's second biggest draw. It's going to be hard for Dan Hardy to establish himself back in the Welterweight division mix since 4 of the top 5 in the division are wrestlers and Dan's achilles heel is his takedown defence.

A lot of work is needed before Phil Davis is even compared to Jon Jones. Davis pulled out the win but he lost alot of hype in the process. Davis frequently landed kicks and his boxing was very very weak. The fact he couldn't secure his takedowns in the first made me question his potential. He needs more mid level fights against the Bonnars, Soszynskis, Veras, Hammills and Canes of the division before he is ready for Jones. Remember, Jones has more fighting experience than Davis so there is always room for improvement.

 

[X]

Yeah bit of a disappointing show as others have said here, especially the Johnson-Hardy fight, which I was looking forward to more than the main event because of the possibility for fireworks as both guys were promising to stand and bang but then went out and laid and prayed instead for three boring rounds. That was a letdown. Main event was a bit of a letdown as well, but not as much as Johnson vs. Hardy was.

Amir Sadollah looked dominant again, and I'm with JMT. I want to see him face some big name competition now so we can see if he's the real deal or if he's just being protected because of winning TUF.

That twister submission the Korean Zombie locked on was SICK as all hell. That was probably the highlight of the entire night and alongside the inverted triangle choke that happened on Bellator, it was an interesting night for unique submission holds in MMA.

The prelims were great. Michael McDonald vs. Edwin Figueroa was probably the best fight of the entire night and it definitely put both of those guys on Dana White's radar. I'd definitely like to see a rematch down the line.

Disappointing second half to the show, but the prelims and the first hour were fun and I enjoyed watching them.

 

[Uncle Phatso]

I loved the fight man, my jaw dropped when I seen that Twister. Literaly dropped open, that looked like it fucking killed. I felt really bad for garcia, because 1 second man! I know I've won and lost matches in wrestling with 1 second to go in the peroid. It pisses me off, I just with he could have held on. Garcia was throwing bombs, but Tkz was just eating them up. No real daze or stumble from Garica's punches to Tkz, but you could tell who was better on the ground.

Dan Hardy really really pissed me off in his fight, I don't like the dude. But I really respect what he brings to the table. He needs to drop alot of the diffrent shit he does in training, and get two wrestlers to come in. Not one, two because he needs to know what diffrent styles are. Have a freestyle/greco come in one week, and college/amature come in the next week. Keep training what you have, but he needs to know how to hang with the wrestlers. Otherwise he will be eaten aliveee.

Courkle vs Warcraft was a joke, the first round was allright but Morecraft ate Mc alive for most of the fight. Wouldn't suprise me if Dana Cuts Mc after this fight. He has terrible cardio and really weak takedown attempts. But this is deffinatly not something for Morecraft to look back on and be proud of. Sure he did win, but Imo he looked really sloppy on the ground and can use some better striking training.

 

[Buffalo Dave]

I think I'm gonna sing the same song as everyone else, was bit of a disappointing card even with the Facebook fights, there were a few fights that did entertain between the FB and main card.

Starting with the main card,

JMT hit the nail on the head with saying that Lil' Nog spent to much time working on his boxing and not working off his back. At least his brother would've been smart enough to do that. Once Davis was able to take him down, Nog tried to scramble right to his feet, most of the time Davis jumped right back on him to keep him down. I was also surprised in that all the judges gave the fight 30-27 to Davis, I fully believe that it should have been 29-28 Davis, Lil' Nog took that first round, he won the stand up, and stuffed every takedown attempted in that round. I was a bit surprised to see Davis try and stand as much as he did with Nog, I thought for sure that he would try to just keep the fight on the ground. Davis took some good shots from Nog, which shows that Davis can take a bunch from one of the better strikers in the division. It will be interesting to see who they match him up with next. Maybe a fight with Bader if/when he beats Tito. Or the winner out of Machida/Couture, which will most likely be Machida.

I can fully see why people are disappointed by the Hardy/Johnson fight. Both guys hyped this fight up in being a stand up war, and it was nothing but a ground lay n pray one. A very smart fight by Johnson though, he looked good for having the long layoff. Hardy showed off that amazing toughness when he is deep into a submission again. I almost wouldn't mind seeing a rematch against Koscheck sometime later in the year, if they both can get another win against other opponents. Put Johnson's wrestling to the test again. I think Hardy will get one more fight, he is at the 3 losses in a row mark, but is pretty marketable for the UFC. A Strikeforce run for him wouldn't be all that bad though, I kinda want to see him versus Cyborg, be a hell of a stand up war.

Amir Sadollah looked great against Johnson, nothing more needs to be said. I'm not the a fan of his really, but his last two fights he has looked rather good. Definitely time to step up the competition for him. I think a fight with Jake Ellenberger should be made. It would be a real good test for Amir, and give him that step up in competition.

The Korean Zombie vs. Leonard Garcia was easily the second best FOTN. Getting to see Zombie pull off the Bill Paxton (Twister) was simply amazing, within the last 10 seconds of round 2, Garcia had literally wait just a second longer and he would've survived, I;m glad he didn't though because then Jung wouldn't have gotten the SOTN bonus, plus it got him his first win fighting in the U.S.. I was also excited to see some flashes from the first fight happen in this one. The work with Team Alpha Male definitely helped Jung out. Can't wait to see Jung fight again. Hopefully Nam Phan will still get a chance to avenge his loss against Garcia now.

The Facebook prelims were alright. The big highlight was the McDonald/Figueroa fight. It was also the fight I questioned being on the FB portion of the card over the Hendricks or Simpson fights. I'm glad I got to see this fight though. I became a fan of both of these guys after their fight. Just back and fourth action, with McDonald in control of most of the fight, towards the end Figueroa started to mount a comeback. Figueroa also showed amazing sub defense. As I said in the LD I would love to see these two fight again after each have had a couple more fights. I was spot on saying that was the FOTN once it was over.

I was pissed Bruce Leroy lost, he was a cocky douche on TUF but I still liked him, he just has fun fighting and always has a smile on his face, even in defeat. Semerzier is just a massive Featherweight and was much to big for Alex. If Alex would've kept his head tucked a little bit when he was trying to free himself, Semerzier wouldn't have been able to grab his neck as easily as he did, that thing was just sticking out begging to wrenched in a RNC. Was also funny to see the original Bruce Leroy walkout out with Alex.

John Hathaway looked a little sluggish during the first two rounds in his fight with Kris McCray. But put on an impressive third round to get the split decision win. I still have high hopes for Hathaway, he's only 23 so still got plenty of time to grow, and become a serious threat in the Welterweight division.

Russow/Madsen was a pretty sloppy fight. All it was, was throw a few punches then toss your opponent into the cage, clinch, then repeat the process. Russow's loaded right hand ended up jacking up Madsen's eye. I agree with the doctor stoppage, Madsen was definitely down on the score cards, and that eye was pretty much shut. If he couldn't hurt Russow with seeing out of two eyes, no way was he gonna be able to do it seeing out of one. Both guys definitely need to go back to training hard, they will get mopped up by the upper tier guys if they fight like that again, hell boring ass Kongo would've beat beat either of them, the way they fought last night.

Morecraft just took it to McCorkle. McCorkle came into the UFC with a bang, making quick work of Mark Hunt, but since then has been rather shitty and unimpressive. If only he fought as good as he can woof shit. I don't expect to see McCorkle getting another fight, with the UFC signing a few new HW's in the past month, he becomes expendable.

I would love to see Mark Hunt fight either Morecraft or Russow next. If Hunt fights the way he did in his last fight, he will put either one of these two to sleep.

 

[Ryman]

Big Phil Davis fan here so i am happy that he won but it wasnt a dominating performance. Lil Nog is so good at stuffing people from the bottom so i wouldnt call it lay and pray by Phil. Give Nog Diabate and Phil can fight Bader if he defeats Tito.

Anthony Johnson is HUGE for a 170 guy, Hardy is not small but he looked tiny next to Rumble. I dont get it why Rumble wont go up a weightclass, i think he can have even more success at 185 than 170. Hardy needs to work on his wrestling badly. It doesnt seem that Hardy is getting cut so i dont know who they can give him, he wants Chris Lytle. That would be a awesome fight but it doesnt help his weaknesses by fighting Lytle, but it would be kinda funny if Lytle took him down early if they fight someday

Sadollah looked improved from the bottom, he got up much from his back much better than in the past. Johnson did really good for 7 min before he got tired, this fight could have been fotn if Johnson had a full camp behind him. I would give Sadollah Johny Hendricks in his next fight.

WAR KOREAN ZOMBIE!!! That guy is awesome. He has been training with Team Alpha Male and he looked a lot better than in his earlier fights. I dont know if he wants to but he should move there and train fulltime, he would be a monster in 18 months. Maybe we get Nam Phan-Korean Zombie?

It wasnt a bad show but the facebook fights were better than the maincard fights.