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UFC 99 The Comeback review and recap

Written by: Duane on Saturday, June 20th, 2009

UFC 99 was  a night of 2 firsts for me, one I got to see the show live and two I placed my first bet on a UFC fight, but yes as you’ve probably realised I didn’t win anything as I backed Wanderlei ‘The Axe Murderer’ Silva to make his come back and beat Rich ‘Ace’ Franklin. Watching the catch weight clash live between the UFC fan favourite Franklin and Pride legend Wanderlei having placed a bet seemed a tad different on a second viewing minus the beer and the money at stake.  Here is how the fight shaped out round for round.

Round 1) A slow start from both fighters, lots of faking. Wanderlei takes down Franklin, Franklin defends well on his back. Rich manages to get upright and gets on top of Silva. A close first round but despite Silva’s takedown his attack is negated by Franklin’s defence and recovery. In this first round Wanderlei is no where near as agressive as we’ve witnessed in the past.

Round 2) Franklin is light on his feet, looking the fresher fighter. Wanderlei lets loose with some ruthless agression but as before Franklin defends well.  A close round, hard to call perhaps Franklin just tips it.

Round 3) Come round round three is appears the weight cut hindered Silva. Wanderlei despite his agression and clear determination to win just doesn’t quite have it. Franklin just pipped Silva to it on the judges score cards.

Post fight it is clear the training Franklin received fromWanderlei’s former Chute Boxe comrade Anderson Silva helped him but the results also begs the questions should Wanderlei stick to the 205lb divison? Or even retire since being knocked out several times in the past? Despite Silva’s loss I don’t think we’ve seen the last of this Brazilian MMA warrior. The guy is a still a huge draw plus down the line a rematch could be on the cards.

For Franklin his star continues to rise as a UFC fan favourite. Rich turned out to be the come back kid avenging his loss last time in Europe versus Dan Henderson.

Now to the opener of the pay per view event, a fight that could easily have featured higher up on the card - Dan ‘The Outlaw’ Hardy taking on Marcus ‘The Irish Hand Grenade’ Davis. After the barrage of words both men needed to prove themselves in the octagon. First on the PPV yet the most talked about of the event thanks to Hardy hyping it up.

Round 1) Davis struggles to get Hardy to the canvas, defending well in the grappling. Davis does his best to impose his will on the mohawked Brit on the ground but Hardy makes the big come back before the end of the round back on his feet laying in punches to the Irish American. The Outlaw looks awesome, what an exciting end to the round. This is why I love MMA so much!

Round 2) In the stand up Hardy looks comfortable and relaxed. Davis was rocked at the of the last round, the tension of the build up to the fight is showing. Dan catches Davis with a big knee, leaping in with the ground and pound nearly ending the fight there and then. Davis defends well fighting off his back with his BJJ skills.  The round continues up and down, a close one to call but I’d give it to Hardy for the damage he inflicted on the Irish American.

Round 3) Hardy goes down , Davis takes top position. Hard’s defence negates Davis’ grappling. Hardy spins out of heel hook, wacking Davis with a cool back fist. Next is what secures the decision victory for Hardy, an onslaught of ground and pound splitting Davis open with an elbow strike. This was one hell of a tough fought bout. Post fight Hardy shows respect to Marcus Davis and his corner but Davis not a gracious loser exits the cage without shaking Dan’s hand. Despite what went on pre fight portraying Hardy as the heel it was Davis who seemed to be the bad sport taking himself too seriously.  Sometimes the Yanks don’t get the Brit banter eh? All that aside the UFC in Dan ‘The Outlaw’ Hardy have a fighter clearly establishing himself a top draw at least on this side of the Atlantic.

A brief look at the rest of UFC 99 as shown live on Setanta Sports.

Spencer Fisher vs. Caol Uno. It was cool to see the Japanese MMA veteran back in the the UFC but this stalemate was not appreciated by the crowd, one for the purists. Fisher won by unaminous decision, which is crazy when Uno did the most damage and had the most control. Caol Uno was robbed!

Mike Swick vs. Ben Saunders. Swick won this scrap convincingly via strikes gaining the TKO victory. So excited he climbed over the cage to shake hands Dana White and the Fertitta brothers.

Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ vs. Mustapha Al Turk. A spectular win for the returning Cro Cop in the very first round but the victory unfortunately was marred by an inadvertant poke to Al Turk’s eye.

Cane Valasquez vs. Cheick Kongo. Billed as the co main event this heavyweight clash saw new contender Cane shine through as the winner dominating Kongo with his relentless wrestling power coupled with ground and pound brutality.

Another loaded card from the UFC, I can’t wait until UFC 100 for another 3 hours of octagon action.

UFC & MMA blog by Dynamite Duane

duane@bluraymma.com

http://twitter.com/BluRayMMA
www.myspace.com/dynamite_duane

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