UFC 85: Bedlam

June 7, 2008

Controversy leads the night

“That ref sucks!” was Brandon Vera’s first response when asked his thoughts on the controversial referee stoppage of his fight against Fabricio Werdum. To start the fight Werdum landed a good takedown, but Vera was quickly back to his feet. “The Truth” then landing a left hook that opened a small cut over Werdum’s right eye. Fabricio clinched and took the fight to the ground, passing Vera’s guard and moved to full mount. The Brazilian unloaded with a barrage of punches, leading Vera to cover up and expect to ride out the rest of the round. With twenty seconds left, Vera –unscathed- was shocked to hear Referee Dan Miragliotta call a stop to the bout. In post fight press conferences Vera claimed, “"The referee was asking me, talking to me, saying something like, 'are you okay?' He was talking to me. I remember he was talking to me and I was saying, 'I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay.' I said it three times. I made sure I stressed, 'I'm.' My last fight I fought with a broken hand after the first thirty seconds, all three rounds, no complaints. I was getting punched in the face man. Come on. He hit me three or four times. The rest were on my arms." Vera asked for a rematch as soon as the fight was over; however, Werdum stated in the post fight press conference that Vera would have to “get back in queue” to fight him again. Most speculate that Werdum will fight the winner of the Noguiera – Mir title match.

The Vera-Werdum controversy was followed by the Leites-Marquardt dispute. Shortly into the second round Marquardt threw a powerful knee to the downed Thales (an illegal move). Leites only needed half of the allotted 5 minutes to recover, but Referee Herb Dean took a point from Marquardt as penalty. Back to action Marquardt comes out very aggressive, sure he has to win the round following his point deduction. After receiving a brutal punishing from the American, Leites reverses a takedown and mounted his opponent finishing the round with a choke attempt. Even with the one-point deduction the round would have been split on the judges’ cards.
The final round opened with Thales going for a flying knee only to be took down by Marquardt. Leites pulls from his Jiu-Jitsu arsenal and tried for a triangle choke. Marquardt worked horizontal elbows which the referee saw land to the back of Thales’ head; leading to another one-point deduction. Once the fight was restarted Marquardt opens another cut on his opponent’s head after taking the fight to the ground. With second left in the round Marquardt borrowed a move from the WWE and piledrived Leites into the mat. With a total of two points being deducted from Nate Marquardt, Thales Leites won via split decision. (28-27, 28-27, 27-28)

The Swick-Davis fight was classic striker against striker. Davis comes from a boxing background and Swick’s first 4 fights (at 185lbs) totaled just more than 5 minutes, two due to KO. After three hard fought rounds “Quick” pulled another “W” via unanimous decision, leaving Davis with only a brutal gash under his left eye. The two started their exchange as soon as the opening bell rang. “The Irish Hand ” throwing punches, Swick with high kicks. After taking the fight to the ground Swick opened a cut on the bridge of Davis’ nose before the round ended.
The second round opened with another takedown by the Houston-native. Still on the ground, Davis tries for a kimura but Swick defends and continues his ground and pound assault. Getting back to their feet Davis caught his opponent in a clinch and lands uppercuts and a good takedown. They got to their feet in time for the round to end with Swick taking Davis down again.
With more intensity than before Davis is much more aggressive as the second round starts. While entwined in a clinch, “Quick” grabbed the fence, leading to Referee Herb Dean to direct the judges to deduct on point for the violation. This round ends with another Swick-takedown followed by more ground and pound.

After stepping in for Chris Leben, Jason Day thought he was getting his big break early. Michael Bisping was determined to clobber that fairy tale, as he defeated Day with an impressive ground and pound assault at only 3:42 of round one. After leading with a huge takedown the “Count” postured up beautifully out of Day’s guard. After moving to the Canadian’s back Bisping reigned down with unanswered hammers while Day could only turtle up in defense. Next up: “The Crippler”.

Most underestimated Thiago Alves… myself included. I thought the seasoned Hughes would have a challenge but ultimately he’d come out on top. The Brazilian proved every doubter wrong Saturday night with an impressive TKO delivered via a flying left knee.
Hughes tried to take it to the mat as soon as the first bell rang. Alves opened a cut over the bridge of Hughes’ nose before getting back to their feet. While executing another takedown Hughes was caught with a knee to the body; Thiago finished the round with powerful punches on the mat.
The Brazilian came out aggressive with another nice knee. Back on the mat Alves opens another large cut on the former champion’s face with some ground and pound. Just as they were back to their feet Alves delivered the knee that ended it all. 1:02 into the second round; "The Pitbull" claimed the victory that inched him closer to a title shot.

Young guns claim bonuses: Saturday night’s bonuses went to the young stars gracing the octagon.

Fight of the night: Matt Wiman & Thiago Tavares

Submission of the night: Kevin Burns (submitted BJJ Black Belt Roan Carneiro via triangle choke)

KO of the night: Thiago Alves

Ø All of the above fighters received a $50,000.00 bonus.