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« | Home | »

UFC 11/14 Manchester, England

By Zach Arnold | November 14, 2009

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Venue: Manchester Evening News Arena
TV: Spike TV (delayed broadcast)

Dark matches

Main card

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 95 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

95 Responses to “UFC 11/14 Manchester, England”

  1. Brad Wharton says:

    Looking forward to everything about this card. Even the three hour train jounrney I’m having to make, which will no dout fly by now that I have an N64 emulator for my laptop.

    Always game guys like Hathaway, Taylor, Kelly, Etim, Winner and Osipczak on the prelims, beer break, decent undercard and what will probably be my last oppertunity to see Couture live.

    Great card for Spike TV and for the UK fans who will be seeing it live.

  2. Zack says:

    Vera by TKO

  3. 45 Huddle says:

    I know the UK cards often times take a lot of critism… And sometimes rightfully so….

    This is a very solid free event. Should have a lot of action based on the match-ups. The UK undercard fighters have continued to step up their game. Most of these undercards are more exciting then the US ones.

  4. Matthew says:

    This card is going to be great, the only fighter I have no interest in seeing is Matt Brown.

    I also think this is we see the Brandon Vera we were supposed to see when he dropped to LHW.

  5. Fluyid says:

    Not sure this belongs here, but it is news about Randy Couture.

    Some guy named Eric Nyenhuis, who claims to be Mikey Burnett’s manager, is interviewed on an episode of Carson’s Corner that I got emailed today. He says that Couture broke Mikey’s neck in training during TUF 4 taping, and that’s why they are suing Zuffa. He explicitly states that the running into the wall BS was NOT how Mikey injured his neck.

    He also says that Zuffa has been paying for Mikey’s meds all this time.

  6. Good luck to all the UK fighters, I have a feeling this is gonna be a UK victory all round

  7. Mark says:

    I anticipate seeing Vera-Couture the same way I anticipate watching a really bad B-Movie: looking forward to laughing about how terrible it’s going to be.

    It’s either going to be Brandon Vera’s lackluster stand up clinic or Randy Couture’s lay n pray clinic. Either way it will be a stinker in every sense of the word and Goldberg & Rogan are going to be forced to act like it’s amazing. Especially if Randy wins (and if he does it will be in the most boring manner possible) they’ll both be screaming about how great CAPTAIN AMERICA~! is.

    Since I don’t think Vera’s takedown defense is anything to write home about, I think Randy is going to take him down and keep him there. And that their broads fighting will be more entertaining.

  8. rene levesque-caline says:

    EliteXC used to show better cards than this.
    Old man Couture is going to hang around no matter how many he loses, the name recoginition is still a marketing dream.
    Vera? WHo cares.

    Bisping is on because of his name value in UK but most US fans have gotten over him. Kang? Journeyman at best.

    Swick-Hardy might, MIGHT be a ok as a first fight on a card but right befor the main event? please dont make me laugh.

    THe other two fights wouldnt make it on a main event in any other org.

    Once again, the mediocrity seeps right throughout the card.

    Its ok, it could have been worse… you could have had Tito vs Coleman as a main event, or one with Chris Leben , or one with Patrick Cote or Leites or whoever else the UFC tries to pawn off as a main eventer.

    Wait till the next one, Ben Rothwell will be your headliner.

    Still, youll get to watch the UFC logo from up close, so that will be worth it.

  9. rainrider says:

    Hardy vs Swick could be one of the best fights in 2009. I think GSP wants the Brit. This fight alone gets me more excited than the entire televised card of Strikeforce “Fedor vs Rogers” did.

    Many people have begun to think Bisping is already a history just after one big KO loss. I have to differ with them. I think the loss only had good effects on him as it lessened his fear for being knocked out. Bisping should win this fight similar way he beat Hamill and remain the Manchester’s showbiz icon until the ELO reunion.

  10. Alan Conceicao says:

    Well, thoughts guys?

    -Couture controlled it, deserves it imo. Vera fought like an idiot out there. Landing damaging blows is nice, but he didn’t come close to finishing either time, in part because he fought gunshy. He doesn’t have the gumption against anyone better than tomato cans. Fight sucked to watch.

    -Bisping looked really good. What does that mean? Don’t know anymore with Kang.

    -Hardy/Swick was also pretty crappy for the most part. Swick did nothing the entire bout to win. Hardy looks hopeless against GSP if he was having trouble fending off Swick’s clinches.

    -Pearson needed a win like that to legitimize himself as a prospect. Meanwhile, Wilks? Well, I’ve heard rumors they weren’t going to baby the TUF9 guys. And you see why: No reason to. Sink or swim guys.

    -Other televised fights were pretty blah. Delgado was totally overmatched. Hamman gets poked in the eye and is clocked with the first shot after the restart.

  11. Zack says:

    “I anticipate seeing Vera-Couture the same way I anticipate watching a really bad B-Movie: looking forward to laughing about how terrible it’s going to be.”

    This guy is clairvoyant.

    “Hardy vs Swick could be one of the best fights in 2009.”

    This guy, not so much.

  12. Fluyid says:

    I tuned in only for the Couture fight and the one before it.

    I expect that I would have given that final round and the fight to Couture, but then again I was watching sort of halfway (I had a football game on and kept glancing at it instead of the boring fight) on the little video player that Sopcast comes in.

  13. Chuck says:

    “Some guy named Eric Nyenhuis”

    Stop right there! I know of Eric Nyenhuis (AKA Eric Vale Tudo) and I will say this about him…….if he told me the sky was blue, I would still look up just in case. He’s a stooge, and a mark in the American indy wrestling scene. There were videos of him somewhere (for the life of me, I can’t find them) of him going to an indy show (VPW to be exact in Long Island, NY) and tried to start a “legit” fight against some other money mark idiot named Vinny The Guido. And the dumbass can’t fight worth a lick. Vinny can’t fight either, and is actually a bigger stooge and moron. I would never trust the word of Eric Nyenhuis.

  14. Mike Rome says:

    Always wondered why Bisping focuses so much on boxing when the best part of his game is obviously top control. I think he needs to move to the U.S. train with a real wrestling camp and improve his takedowns. He has no future as a striker.

    Thought Couture won but it was really close. Vera let Randy control the fight, and gave it away in the third round. He just gets too cautious when it counts, this is yet another high-stakes choke job from him.

  15. Detective Roadblock says:

    Something needs to be done about mms judging or it is going to kill the sport’s popularity. The way terrible decisions killed boxing in the 90s.

    Vera barely deserved to win that fight because he refused to push the pace. Buy there is no way Randy deserved to win. That wa straigh out of the John Ruiz playbook. How is just holding your opponent control? Randy landed a few shots here and there in the clinch but wan doing damage and seemed to have no gameplan beyond holding Vera.

  16. Alan Conceicao says:

    Controversial decisions to crappy fights featuring unpopular guys: Not a good combination. Brandon Vera is like John Ruiz to Randy’s Evander Holyfield. At least the UFC won’t force us to see this bout twice more.

    Vera deserves some blame though. I cringed constantly through the fight just knowing that he was about to do stupid things and knowing exactly what they were. In the third round, when he needed to really push the pace to win the fight, Vera hurts Couture with a body kick, then follows it up with a head kick, both with the left leg. At that point, a smart fighter changes it up and sets up the next kick: Jabs are a good way to do that, for instance. They circle out of the opponent’s power. Vera? He moves directly into Couture’s wheel house and throws a lead body kick with his left leg, and shock of shocks, its hugging time again after that. Facepalm; The Fight.

  17. IceMuncher says:

    Couture did what Couture does best. The fight is kinda like Machida vs Shogun, in that I feel like neither guy really did enough to deserve a win. However, I was pretty sure the judges were going to give the fight to Couture.

    During the fights I thought back on how Kang used to be a “top 5” MW for having a long winning streak against cans, and I couldn’t help but smirk as Bisping wailed on him. This is why you don’t rank a guy significantly higher than the competition he’s beaten. A decent fighter will look like a great fighter against scrubs.

  18. Alan Conceicao says:

    So Meltzer says that Lesnar is so sick with his mystery illness he may never fight again, and Dana admits he’s going to be out of action for a long time. Note to those who spoke of the UFC’s eternal dominance; things happen beyond even Dana’s control. I hope Lesnar has a quick and full recovery, but things like this happen. They are bound to.

    Also, Noguiera is out against Cain Velasquez with a staph infection.

  19. Mr. Roadblock says:

    Ice, I thought the same thing about Kang. Perfect example of a guy outside UFC being ridiculously over ranked. It was only 2 years ago, he was the best 185er in the world and all that nonsense. I think we’ll be talking about Mousasi the same way and Jake Shields if they ever fight better competition.

  20. Mr. Roadblock says:

    Maybe UFC can hold UFC 108:Redux and rehold all the bogus decisions.

    Main Event
    Shogun vs Machida
    Co-Main
    Randy vs Vera

    Undercard
    Ortiz vs Belfort
    Bisping vs Hamill
    Hughes vs Verissimo (if they can find Charuto)
    Roy Nelson vs the other fat guy from last week

    Add some more fights, I won’t fantasy book the whole card.

  21. cutch says:

    Hope this is’nt serious enough to end Lesner’s career.

    The UFC should do Cain Vs Mir at 108 and try and get either Dos Santos or Gonzaga to take on Kongo at 107.

    The UFC have been really unlucky with injuries lately all their champions besides Penn are out injured. They really need to somehow bring in the WEC Feather & Bantamweight divisions. I doubt it will happen anytime soon as the UFC has an exclusive deal with Spike and Versus does’nt want a feeder league.

    Henderson must be happy his value has shot right up

  22. IceMuncher says:

    The UFC will thrive without Lesnar, just like they did before he came along, and just like they still do in the events between his fights. They’ve hit a perfect storm with regards to injuries, but they’ll survive it and pull better numbers than they arguably should. It just goes to show how strong of a business model and fighter roster they have.

    Also remember it goes both ways. The difference is Strikeforce would be s.o.l. if the same thing happened with regards to their biggest star. All of their eggs are in one basket. If Fedor gets injured or sick before the next CBS fight, the fallout is not going to be pretty.

  23. Cheka says:

    I had Couture/Vera a draw, but you could make a case for Vera. Definitely didn´t have Randy winning it. He look fragile and weak, but what do you expect form a 46 year old. Kudos to him for still fighting with young guys.

  24. Eduardo Alonso says:

    I think a fight is a fight, and sometimes people are forgetting that. Vera dropped Couture, defended all his takedowns, took him down, mounted him, cut him, and got WAY closer to finish the fight, even if that doesn’t say much.
    2 judges gave ALL rounds to Couture.

    Now, I want to understand something. How come when Shogun pressed action and Machida defended a couple of his takedown attempts, it was octagon control for Machida!

    Now, with Couture pressing Vera against the cage, not even throwing many strikes, and Vera DEFENDING ALL his takedowns, it means octagon control for Couture!?!?!
    We couldn’t have it both ways! There’s no criteria.
    It’s not like Couture took Vera down a number of times and failed to do damage. He didn’t even got him down. Maybe if it was a more impatient Referee he couldn’t even do what he did and the fight would be different.
    After all, it’s a FIGHT. It’s really tough to understand imo.

  25. Fluyid says:

    As the heavyweights fall to sickness or injury one by one, Mr. Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson moves up the ranks. At this pace, he’ll be fighting Wes Sims for the interim championship at UFC 110.

  26. IceMuncher says:

    I’ve been unhappy with the judging criteria for a long time. Personally, I don’t think you should award any points for takedowns or position. They should only be considered when everything else is a draw.

    The reason those things are highly valued is because they give you an advantage on an opponent. However, if you can’t do anything with that advantage, obviously they didn’t make much of a difference. Do we award hockey team partial points for having power plays? Of course not. But in MMA, we sometimes end up giving more points for “potential” danger (and ultimately doing nothing with it), as opposed to giving points for actual tangible damage.

    For example, if you get mount, the GnP damage/submissions you do is what should earn you the points, not the actual mount itself. If you get mount, do nothing with it and the opponent gets out, it’s a wash imo. If the rest of the round is very even, it can earn you the round, but that’s it.

    But no matter how we personally feel, the important thing is how the judges view the fight. According to my criteria I thought Vera should win the fight, but I, along with most of the fans watching, knew that the judges were going to give Couture the 1st and 3rd rounds. A handful of body kicks isn’t going to sway them in a round where you spent 4 minutes getting bullied into the cage. Vera or his corner should have well known that he needed to not get clinched into the fence.

  27. Eduardo Alonso says:

    Ice Muncher,

    Then again, two judges have 30-27 Couture! So even the second round was seen as a loss to Vera for two of the judges, and two judges are enough to win a fight!

    So, how? I mean, I don’t recall how much of the round, but he spent some of the round on top, and dropped Couture! I mean, it’s something to get worried cause any way you look at it, and any reasoning we can come with, it’s tough to understand how two judges gave it 30-27 to Couture.

  28. jr says:

    Ross Pearson looked good. I was hoping Vera would knock Randy out instead of the constant spooning against the fence. I wonder if Lesnar has Lyme Disease

  29. IceMuncher says:

    You sure? I could have sworn all three judges scored it 29-28.

  30. David M says:

    That was a joke. Vera easily won the last 2 rounds, given that he dropped Randy in the 2nd and got the mount on him in the third. Randy did nothing the entire fight. That was the worst main event since Shamrock-Severn 2. Good thing it was free.

    All the injuries to the UFC’s hw division are just karma coming back to bite Dana in the ass for constantly trashing Fedor.

    I hope Brock and Nog don’t die; both of their sicknesses sound quite serious.

    Pacquiao is amazing–I’d rather see him fight once than see any 3 UFC pay per views.

  31. Eduardo Alonso says:

    IceMuncher,

    I’m not sure if I’m going crazy now, but I recall two judges giving 30-27 and one giving 29-28. I need to check it again.

  32. Dave says:

    “Pacquiao is amazing–I’d rather see him fight once than see any 3 UFC pay per views.”

    I’m like 1,000% with you.

  33. 45 Huddle says:

    1) If I never see Mike Swick fight again, I will be happy. He clinches without doing anything for 10 minutes and then gasses and looks like crap. If he doesn’t finish somebody in the first 2 minutes, he is a horrible fighter to watch.

    2) I’m sick and tired of fighters barely doing anything and then getting mad that they lost a judges decision. If you expect 1 or 2 strikes to make the difference in you winning a round… not only is it not a controversial decision…. But it just means the fighter didn’t do enough to win.

    The event overall was solid for PPV. It started well, and the last two fights really brought it down a little bit.

    *************

    It sounds like Lesnar has some serious illness that we might never see him fight again. That stinks if that ends up being the case.

    And Nogueira with Staph Infection AGAIN? Didn’t he have it before he fought Mir? Those Brazilians need to learn how to wash the mats, equipments, and use soap….. Dirty….

  34. 45 Huddle says:

    I meant solid for free TV….

  35. Zack says:

    All 3 judges had it 29-28. Regardless, Eduardo Alonso, your post #25 is great. Judges really need to clarify their reasoning for their scores, just so we as fans can better understand where they’re coming from.

  36. 45 Huddle says:

    I was rooting for Brandon Vera… Randy Couture won round 1. Brandon Vera won round 2. The so-called controversy is round 3.

    Go watch the round. The first 3 minutes, Brandon Vera basically does nothing. Nothing. You can’t win a round by completely giving over half of it away.

    UFC 108 is in shambles now. Nogueira is out. Carwin just had knee surgery so he can’t fight Cain.

    My bet is…. If Tito Ortiz beats Forrest Griffin without any injuries…. It will be Couture vs. Ortiz 2 at UFC 108. It is the only main event that makes sense that the UFC can put on.

    Man, since UFC 100, things have been all downhills for UFC matchmaking. Everything that could go wrong has… Plus some.

  37. Zack says:

    Round 1 of Vera/Couture should’ve been a 10-10 round. If that isn’t a 10-10 round, what is? Absolutely nothing happened.

  38. 45 Huddle says:

    In round 1, Couture did more. He pressed the action. He won on Octagon Control and Aggression that round.

    I’m not sure why people are getting so upset over this decision. Brandon Vera screwed Brandon Vera. Just as he always does. How many fights now has he come into the octagon and barely done anything? He is a FIGHTER!! He needs to come to fight. He does not. He comes to stall and avoid mostly.

    That style will never win you over on the judges. And for the post above… That is nothing like Machida. Machida avoids, but then counters. And he counters with precision and sometimes KO’s guys with it.

  39. Ivan Trembow says:

    Eduardo Alonso wrote: “Now, with Couture pressing Vera against the cage, not even throwing many strikes, and Vera DEFENDING ALL his takedowns, it means octagon control for Couture!?!?!”

    I agree with Eduardo Alonso. Not much happened in Round 1, but what did happen is that Vera seemed to land more strikes than Couture. Any judge who gave Round 1 to Couture places far too much of an emphasis on clinching without doing anything other than clinching.

    On another note, as someone who loves boxing, but who loves MMA far more, the greatest fight of the night was definitely Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto, and it wasn’t even remotely close. That was the best performance yet in the Hall of Fame career of Pacquiao.

  40. Razorstorm says:

    Fantastic first UFC fight by Alexander Gustafsson – Proud to have sponsored him

  41. Mark says:

    I’m no clairvoyant, it was obvious that either the fight was going to suck because Vera was boringly going to fight from the outside to avoid being taken down or Couture was boringly going to clinch against the cage and lay n pray. Either way it was 100% guaranteed to suck. And it’s going to be damn near impossible for UFC to justify giving Randy a title shot since that fight was so awful even chief Captain America nuthugger Joe Rogan said it was a bad fight. I do think Randy won rounds 1 and 3 so I gave it to him. But even if you thought Vera won R3 he didn’t decisively so it is in no way a robbery. Unless you’re comparing the fight to robbing turds out of a septic tank. They need to cut Vera, that guy is absolutely hopeless.

    And speaking of being cut, I’ll be shocked if Kang still has a job on Monday. That was just sad to watch as a PRIDE Bushido fan. If you told me Bisping was going to beat down Kang like that in 2006 I would have assumed you were a crackhead. But Kang has absolutely fallen apart.

    I cannot believe they’re actually going to run GSP-Hardy. Wow. They’d better have one hell of a co-main event on that show. It’s made me realize again how confusing the UFC’s title shots are. You had, even if we just talk about Welterweights, Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez and Karo Parisyan all beat better fighters and get the “how ’bout we talk about title shots after your next fight” treatment. But Dan Freakin’ Hardy beats Gono by split, KOs a can, decisions one of the most mocked fighters in MMA Marcus Davis, and decisions a guy people keep forgetting even still fights in UFC and he gets a title shot? Hardy must have compromising pictures of Dana and Arianny or something.

    So Meltzer says that Lesnar is so sick with his mystery illness he may never fight again,

    I knew Sable was dirty! I mean she was forced by Mr. McMahon to get it on with Torrie Wilson who got it on with Billy Kidman. And he always used to scratch himself so that’s never a good sign of good venereal health.

  42. Alan Conceicao says:

    Lesnar’s success, has, by all barometers, brought in tons of fans. Remove himm from the equation permanently and start running PPVs headlined by Rashad/Silva and so on and see how long thos 450K buys keep coming in.

  43. Mark says:

    Draws minus Lesnar are Ortiz (and I’d be interested to see how being gone a year effects him), Griffin, Penn, GSP, and Evans. And Lesnar got a million more buys than every one of their best sellers.

    The usual main eventers are Anderson Silva (doesn’t sell), Machida (doesn’t sell), Nogueira (doesn’t sell), Couture (after his performance last night he’s probably done as a draw), Mir (getting destroyed by Lesnar killed him as a draw), and Hughes (who knows what he’ll draw in his return.)

    Nobody is saying the UFC sky is falling, they’ll be very viable without Lesnar. But you’re lying to yourself if you don’t think Dana White would dehydrate from sobbing if Lesnar quits. Especially if he goes out without giving anybody (especially Carwin) the rub on his way out. Nobody is going to come close to boxing PPV records but Brock Lesnar who is currently employed. They’d have to combine every star for a supershow to break a million again.

  44. Anders L. says:

    Vera lost that fight himself, he could have won that fight easily if he would have listend to his corner, don’t clinch!

    And when he finally drops randy, he jumps guard, what the hell? Vera always make me so frustated, like a someone on Sherdog said, “like driving a Ferrari in first gear”.

    Anyway, atleast the boxing was good.

  45. David M says:

    To people saying Vera didn’t “fight” enough, what the hell did Couture do?? His strategy the entire fight was to bullrush Vera and hold him against the fence. He had no offense at all. I’m not even sure if he landed any punches, although to be fair I was nodding off pretty early in the fight.

    Vera did the most damage and got the takedown in the 3rd that ended with him in mount. He showed great wrestling defense. However as I said before the fight, his hands suck. It is always hard when you have to rely on your kicks because kicking leads to getting taken down. Horrible performance by Couture. I never want to see him fight again.

  46. Detective Roadblock says:

    The position of saying Couture won because of “octagon control” is indefensible. What does octagon control even mean? Maybe the octagon should have won the fight I just stood there and did nothing the whole time too.

    All the time spent on the cage is a wash. Because Randy pressumably wanted to get Vera down to the ground and Vera wouldn’t allow Randy to take him down. So those cancel out. The rest of the time the only offense came from Vera’s striking. He landed good shots in all three rounds.

  47. Fluyid says:

    Pacquiao is amazing.

    I really hope he and Mayweather fight at Cowboys stadium.

    They’d do somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 million PPV buys.

  48. Mr.Roadblock says:

    Pacquiao is the best I’ve ever seen. I really hope Floyd steps up and fights him. But I think Floyd will probably strap on his track shoes and start running from Floyd.

  49. Mr.Roadblock says:

    running from Manny

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