UFC 116 ‘dynamite’

Saturday’s UFC 116 surpassed all expectations, delivering a succession of barnburners that electrified the crowd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

By Alan Murphy

“This was the best night of my career. Every fight was dynamite,” eulogised UFC president Dana White upon an event that many had complained was threadbare on paper.

Nine consecutive bouts (up to and including the main event) delivered hi-octane, quality excitement on a rare night when each pair of combatants seemed hell-bent on outdoing the previous duel.

The preliminaries alone saw Gerald Harris KO Dave Branch with a slam, Seth Petruzelli (of Kimbo Slice conquering fame) cede an armbar to Ricardo Romero in a memorable tussle, and rising star Brendan Schaub demolish tough veteran Chris Tuchscherer in little over a minute.

On the main card, George Sotiropulous extended his four year unbeaten streak with a dominating win over Kurt Pellegrino. In a highly technical battle, Sotiropulous was simply better than Pellegrino in all areas. The win takes the Auzzie to 6-0 in the UFC, and title contention surely looms.

Stephan ‘The American Psycho’ Bonnar lived up to both his nickname and reputation when he TKO’ed Kryzstof Soszynski in the second round of a back’n’forth, all-out brawl. “I’ve spilled pints and pints of blood for you,” an emotional Bonnar told the crowd afterwards, “And you know what? It’s been my pleasure.” The win eases the pressure on Bonnar, who had lost three in a row prior.

Welterweight fan-favourite Chris Lytle kept the night’s momentum rocketing with a superb submission win over Matt Brown. A former professional boxer who loves nothing more than to swing for the fences, Lytle’s black-belt Jiu Jitsu skills are often overlooked.

Skills

Those skills were called upon when Lytle found himself in a D’Arce choke, which he later admitted was “sunk in tight”. But in 51 bouts, barring cut stoppages, Lytle has proved impossible to finish. Eventually wriggling free, he turned the Jiu-Jitsu tables in the second round, forcing Brown to tap to a dazzling inverted triangle/armbar combo.

In the co-headliner, Chris Leben catapulted himself back into the title picture with a career-best win, submitting Japanese superstar Yoshihiro ‘Sexyama’ Akiyama with 20 seconds remaining of their middleweight bout. It was Leben’s second fight in two weeks, following his KO of respected wrestler Aaron Simpson at the Ultimate Fighter finale on the 19 June.

Not only was Leben a significant bookie’s underdog in both bouts, but both performances proved to be crowd-pleasing dogfights, full of the swashbuckling gutsiness Leben has forged his name upon.

Capping a wonderful night, heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar made a triumphant return to the Octagon in the main event, submitting interim champ Shane Carwin with an arm triangle in the second round. Lesnar had not fought in a year, due to a life-threatening illness.

Carwin came out in the first round and did what he’s done to all 12 of his prior opponents: clobbered them senseless with unparalleled punching power.

Heart

However, Lesnar, with the heart of the champion did what no opponent of Carwin’s had ever before managed. He weathered a vicious rain of punches and elbows from his back, survived, and stood back up.

Much of the pre-fight chatter focused upon how Carwin’s gas tank might fare if the 265 pound goliath was asked to fight beyond round one for the first time in his career. Carwin seemed exhausted coming off his stool for round two, appearing to have punched himself out in trying to finish Lesnar. A highly decorated wrestler, he offered no resistance as Lesnar quickly double-legged him to the ground.

From there, Lesnar showcased his continued evolution as a fighter. Instead of launching into his trademark, frenzied ground and pound, he calmly achieved mount on Carwin, smoothly transitioned to side-control, and sunk in a textbook arm triangle to force the tap.

“I stand before you a humble champion,” an elated Lesnar told the crowd, “and I’m still the toughest S.O.B. around!”