Monday, March 22, 2010

UFC Live on Versus: Vera vs Jones

There was almost a knockout on the way to the ring last night for Jones -- did you catch it?  I did, and was hysterical.  It made my day to wake up and find out MMATKO.com saw it too:


This turned out to be a pretty good fight, even though I would have loved to see Vera vs Nogueira at 109.  Jones came in ready and Vera kept putting him off to start off with.  They both looked pretty comfortable.  Vera got caught on his back and hit Jones with a kick to the face.  Herb Dean called it, took a point from Vera, and then repositioned the guys where they'd left off, after Jones indicated he wanted to keep fighting.  If it would have ended there, I would have definitely been let down.  Because shortly after that, Jones attacked Vera with his left elbow and got Vera down again.  He went in for the kill with punches, and Dean pulled him off at 3:19 of the first round.  Whew!

I also enjoyed the dos Santos/Gonzaga fight.  Junior definitely earned that win. It was a slow start, but dos Santos took Gonzaga with a left hook counter that sent him to the ground.  He took Gonzaga out with punches, just 3:53 into the first round. Rosenthal was the ref that called it. 



Preliminary Card

  • Light Heavyweight bout: Brilz defeated Schafer via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
  • Welterweight bout:  Pierce defeated Paulino via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
  • Heavyweight bout:  Schaub defeated Gormley via TKO (punches) at 0:47 of round 1.
  • Welterweight bout: Howard defeated Roberts via KO (punch) at 2:01 of round 1. This bout aired on the live Versus broadcast.
  • Lightweight bout: Elkins defeated Ludwig via TKO (ankle injury) at 0:44 of round 1.
  • Light Heavyweight bout:  Matyushenko defeated Marshall via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27).
  • Lightweight bout: Guida defeated Gugerty via submission (arm-triangle choke) at 3:40 of round 2. Guida won Submission of the Night.

Main Card

  • Middleweight bout: Sakara defeated Irvin via TKO (punch) at 3:01 of round 1.
  • Heavyweight bout: Kongo defeated Buentello via submission (strikes) at 1:16 of round 3.
  • Heavyweight bout: dos Santos defeated Gonzaga via KO (punches) at 3:53 of round 1.
  • Light Heavyweight bout: Jones defeated Vera via TKO (elbow) at 3:19 of round 1.


John Howard,  Jon Jones, and Junior Dos Santos all won Knockout of the Night.