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UFC 96 (3/7 Columbus, Ohio) card line-up
By Zach Arnold | March 7, 2009
Event results: AOL Fanhouse | MMA Weekly | Sherdog | MMA Junkie | Observer
Steve Cofield addresses the referee issue in Aaron Riley’s fight.
Dark matches
- 170 pounds (Welterweights): Tamdan McCrory vs. Ryan Madigan
- 185 pounds (Middleweights): Kendall Grove vs. Jason Day
- 205 pounds (Light Heavyweights): Tim Boetsch vs. Jason Britz
- 205 pounds (Light Heavyweights): Brandon Vera vs. Michael Patt
- 155 pounds (Lightweights): Aaron Riley vs. Shane Nelson
Main card
- 155 pounds (Lightweights): Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller
- Heavyweights: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane Carwin
- 170 pounds (Welterweights): Pete Sell vs. Matt Brown
- 205 pounds (Light Heavyweights): Matt Hamill vs. Mark Munoz
- 205 pounds (Light Heavyweights): Quinton Jackson vs. Keith Jardine
You’ll be watching this show. Admit it.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 45 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The main card is at least respectable. Even a month ago, it was looking to be horrible. Still not my favorite UFC card of the year. Really lacks one more big fight.
This card is really missing something. The Pete Sell vs. Matt Brown fight, do we really need that on the main card?
Also, Brandon Vera’s fall from grace continues.
I’m happy about Gonzaga and Jackson vs Jardine on the main card, I’m disappointed about seeing Hamill again, and I wouldn’t be upset if Vera’s fall continued until he fell right out of the UFC.
I’m no fan of Brandon Vera’s attitude/personality, but when his game is on, he is entertaining as hell. I hope he is able to get things sorted out, because I really enjoyed watching him fight early in his career.
I’m still trying to figure out whose career Mark Dion has screwed up worse, Vera’s or KJ Noon’s.
Dana said that Vera in the undercard is not so much a demotion, but more a move designed to take the pressure off him for a while.
I’ve seen enough of Brandon.
Maybe if he was on the cheap like a James Irvin. But every time I witness his new found mediocrity these days it reminds me of his outrageous payroll and it irks me.
I’m actually more interested in seeing a bit more of his sister.
Wish Tim Boetsch was on the main card. He’s really the only local fighter around me in the UFC.
If they had merged the WEC into the UFC we could have had Brown v Garcia on the card and also moved Condit v Kampman up as well. Would anyone complain then?
Mike Patt is a good striker and I expect he will end Vera’s current UFC career Saturday night with a 1st round KO.
I’m actually interested in this event. Not so much in the undercard, since I don’t think highly of Brown, Sell, Munoz, or Hammill, but I think Rampage/Jardine is going to be very competitive as will Miller/Maynard. Gonzaga/Carwin is also interesting because its really a quantum leap in terms of opposition for Carwin. They’ve willed him into the place of co-main just by telling people he’s really good and not much else. I think he probably ends up getting caught against Gonzaga and begins his slide towards becoming the next Ron Waterman, but I’ve been wrong before.
I’m wondering what Carwin will do when he actually gets tagged by a big guy. I must confess I haven’t seen much of his stuff outside of the UFC, but he seems to have overwhelmed every opponent in a short amount of time and I would assume taken little damage in the process.
Gonzaga’s a huge step up for him, but as we’ve seen with GG in the past he will find ways out of fights if they start not going his way.
Here is the thing about Carwin: He’s never seen the 3rd minute of a fight, much less the second round. We don’t know whether or not he’ll gas out more quickly than Gonzaga will. Nor has he had to ever try and prevent submission attempts or deal with someone as good standing as Gonzaga.
I’m interested in the Munoz fight…if he wins I could see the UFC using him as an attraction if they decide to hold an event in the Philippines. I think Vera needs a win desperately if he wants to stay relevant.
Huge fan of Rampage, but I think even he knows that he’ll be an underdog against Machida.
I’m not sure how a hybrid boxing/mma event will work out live, but its definetly an event I’m interested in watching. I wonder, who’s more over the hill, Ken Shamrock or Roy Jones Jr?
I see Munoz as being a Filipino David Heath. The fight with Hammill only matters if he dominates Hammill and destroys him. That is definitely not expected to happen. Vera and Grove are both a loss away from being contenders for the 2009 Terry Martin Award For Hitting The Glass Ceiling And Never Recovering.
Alan,
If Munoz loses or wins unconvincingly, and Vera loses or has a lackluster performance, do you think this will hinder the UFC’s plans to promote in the Philippines?
I just think the UFC wants someone who is considered “filippino” to promote before attempting to reach that market.
I would be very surprised if they ever actually run the Philippines, regardless of whether or not Vera and Munoz win Saturday night.
Lol @ the Terry Martin Award. Thats one you want to avoid like the living death.
I think Jardine/jackson might turn out to be a bit of an anti climax. At least as a fight, although we may get a spectacular finish.
Its already been noted that Jardines krypto is getting swarmed by an aggressive opponent, which is exactly what jackson is gonna do and gonna do worse than the last two times that didn’t work out for Kieth.
Combined with my unprovable but concrete conviction that biker looking white dudes personally bring out the red in jackson, and I’m pretty sure its the wrong end of another highlight clip for KJ.
Of course the exact opposite might happen now that I’ve said it with my luck (which would actually be alright with me).
And whats the deal with Pete sell?
Do people want to see him?
Seems to me Grove/Day is a better fight.
My expectations are so low for Jackson/Jardine that I’m hoping to be midly surprised. In my mind, I’m really thinking it will be like Vera/Jardine.
If Munoz wins, he will be one of about 5 LHW prospects in the UFC…. Along with Cantwell, Bader, & Cane, & Jones. I think Jones is obviously the best of that bunch.
As for Carwin… The guys got Monkey arms. That will help him. I just can’t pick a winner in the fight. I think on the UFC Fantasy site, I ended up going with Carwin, but it’s really a coin flip. As mentioned above, Gonzaga finds ways out of fights that he is not winning. And Carwin is such a huge unknown. I just hope if Carwin wins, it goes into the second round so we can know more about him.
Hmm, you think they’ll make it to a boring dec?
Its certainly a possibility if the Jackson who fought Lindland or Dong sik yoon shows up. If he’s anything he’s erratic.
And like you said, I dont know much about Carwin. I think this will be his introduction to a lot of people as far as where he stands.
Win or Lose, we’ll get to see how he actually measures up.
Pretty much the same way I feel about Herring/valesquez (although I’m much more definitive in my pick for that one).
Has Rampage really outright “swarmed” anyone since losing to Wanderlei? Even though he’s had the highlight reel KOs of Liddell and Wanderlei in recent memory, those were more due to dead-on counter punching than actively engaging head on. Jardine probably fares best against people waiting for him to slip up and counter his shots, as seen in his fights against Griffin, Liddell, and Vera.
Thats true.
Jackson has been putting them away with one punch before needing to, or getting a chance to swarm.
But we have seen that he’s well capable of it.
His speed and combos toe to toe are what had chuck backing up all around the cage until jackson finally got him to engage and then finished him with one shot.
If Jardine stands there in the pocket like he did with Silva he’s dunfer.
Guess who is not getting a title shot in his next fight? Yushin Okami.
Well, its not as if Silva’s probably gonna want to fight within 45 days of fighting Leites, so I’m not really sure what the problem is. If Okami was sat down until he got a title shots 6 months from now, I would guess that would be CONTROVERSIAL too.
I’d just like to take this moment to once again promote my completely unsubstantiated theory that Anderson Silva is ducking Okami.
No one is saying that Anderson Silva is ducking Yushin Okami. What I’m saying is that the UFC isn’t inclined to give Okami a title shot, which even the UFC’s mouthpieces have reported.
I’m saying it 🙂
Why should I believe what the UFC’s mouthpieces report? You don’t, except when it suits you.
My mistake, I thought you were being sarcastic in your previous post. As for Okami’s standing with UFC management, they gave Thales Leites a title shot ahead of him, deciding instead to book Okami on the 12/27/08 card… in a prelim match… against Dean Lister… while C.B. Dollaway vs. Mike Massenzio was on the main card.
Didn’t they schedule Okami to face Anderson for the belt on the October PPV, before Okami had to pull out with a hand injury and instead we got to see Cote vs. Silva?
Silva-Okami was never announced, booked, or had bout agreements signed. It was only after Okami broke his hand that the UFC said via their surrogates that Okami would have gotten the title shot instead of Patrick Cote if not for Okami breaking his hand.
Having some problems with the house noise bleeding into the PPV. Weird.
And for those who were whining, the graphics seem to have gotten an overhaul.
Did anyone think that Hamill could do that? I mean, even attempt to do that?
I didn’t want to ever see him fight again after the Bisping fight (either of them), but he’s starting to make me change my mind, he’s turning into a real fighter.
Too bad Munoz didn’t make much of a fight of it.
Okami Issue – The UFC has boring fighters. Jardine is boring. Okami is a few steps of extra boring. He barely fights. That is the biggest problem.
Evans main eventing UFC 98 makes the most sense. Evans/Jackson or Evans/Machida are both worthy main events.
And in a way, having Lesnar/Mir 2 at UFC 100 is better. Just feels like a more important fight for such a huge card.
That KO of Munoz was vicious. Hopefully he is okay. Hamill shows absolutely no class the way he was celebrating as Munoz was being stretchered out. I know he is deaf, but he acts like he is retarded with how completely out of reality he is.
Munoz and Rosholt are examples of wrestlers who just can’t make the transition. Some wrestlers just can’t learn to strike.
Hamill beat up a guy who wasn’t any good to begin with and should have been expected to roll through him. He only wasn’t because he took a beating against an actually good fighter last time he faced one and because people convinced themselves Munoz was something more than he was.
The real story is Maynard ignoring his wrestling altogether and punishing Miller standing (and Miller never properly adjusting and getting exposed as a result).
Grove vs Day, I’m sure someone wanted this on the main card.
I’m disappointed.
Another object lesson on why we need mini-tourneys in the heavyweight division. If you don’t have a plan, this is a big mess.
Heavyweight MMA is such a weak division across the sport, that they would kill too many contenders by having any sense of order.
Arlovski & Sylvia are now boxing. Little Fedor has hepatitis. Couture is near retirement. Nogueira looks finished. Mirko probably has a year left. Sergei K barely fights anymore. Overeem is more interested in K-1 lately. And that’s just outside of the UFC.
In the UFC…. Gonzaga is now a gate keeper. Kongo has little wrestling skills. Carwin just punches hard but has no defense.
If they put on mini tournaments, the division would have no contenders in a year.
If you put on a mini tournament you automatically end up with at least one contender. If you just have random fights, then you end up with NONE.
You’ve got to put people who are winning against other people who are winning at some point to have someone who has won at least two fights in a row!
Ok, we’ve got Carwin, now what’s next? He has to fight someone who has been winning, obviously, and he can’t go straight to a title fight. I think that tourneys would develop more contenders than none.
I had the fight scored Jardine 29-28, but I knew it was A) close B) going to Rampage. I even said to a couple friends prior to the cards that Cecil was gonna score it 30-27 for ‘Page. Too obvious knowing that guy. Not sure how smart fighting 3 times in 5 months is, but that isn’t my choice. I’m excited to see the fight.
29-28 Jardine? Did you see the fight? I think it was pretty clear cut, 29-28 for Jackson.
Round 1 – Jardine. Still not a guaranteed round for him, as he was more active, but Rampage hit some of the harder shots.
Round 2 – Jackson. He knocked Jardine down. He had 2 great exchanges compared to Jardine’s lone one.
Round 3 – Jackson. Takedown and knockdown at the end sealed the round for him.
That was a very fun main event.
Jackson was hurt by Jardine as well in the second later in the round and spent most of the 5 minutes on the wrong end of his punches and kicks. That said, I expected only the knockdown and the meaningless takedown to be counted. I’m not surprised in the least.
Jardine was gassed after 7 minutes with his hands by his sides and he was hunkered over, while Rampage looked have improved in no appreciable way. He walked forwards to be aggressive, Jardine clinched, and he fell into counter punching mode immediately, and he still couldn’t check kicks. It was actually a bit of an ugly fight, especially as the third round went on. Part of that may have been both men having short camps.
What was up with absolutely everyone on this card being totally glistening with moisture/sweat/grease?
If I didn’t know better, I’d think that getting rid of the vaseline was making people slipperier.
45,
Munoz walked out.
Alan,
Saying Munoz “wasn’t any good to begin with” is a bit much. Munoz was undefeated and is a world class wrestler.
Untested? Sure, but he looked good prior to this fight and deserves more credit than you seem willing to give.\
For those who are whining about Okami, who has be beaten? MacDonald, Swick, Tanner and Lister?
Maia and Marquardt both have been far more impressive.
Leites would not be my first choice, but he beat Marquardt (in a hinky bout).
MMA Weekly: 30-27 Rampage
Sherdog: 2 had it 30-27 Rampage. The other had it 29-28 Rampage.
F4Weekely: One had it 30-27 (I assume, as he praised Jackson for the 3rd, but didn’t say specifically). Meltzer saw it as either 30-27 or 29-28 Jackson.
I could go on. Jackson won the fight.
Either way, it was a very very fun main event to watch, which suprised me.
Untested? Sure, but he looked good prior to this fight and deserves more credit than you seem willing to give.
Therein lies the problem. He hasn’t actually done anything yet to justify giving him any credit. He beat a couple chumps in the WEC. Wow.
I had it 30-27 Jackson, but the first round was extremely close, so I can understand why two of the judges had it scored 29-28 Jackson.
45 Huddle wrote: “Hamill shows absolutely no class the way he was celebrating as Munoz was being stretchered out. I know he is deaf, but he acts like he is retarded with how completely out of reality he is.”
In response to your first sentence: Munoz didn’t get stretchered out. In response to your second sentence: Congratulations, that is very classy.