UFC 77 Recap

Matt Grice def Jason Black Decision
My Pick: Jason by armbar first round
Jason drops his second in a row... Maybe he is not as good as I thought.

Josh Burkman def Forrest Petz Decision (Split)
My Pick: Burkman by KO second round


Demian Maia def Ryan Jensen Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 2:40 rnd 1
My Pick: Jensen by KO second round
Maia got the single leg then got Ryan's back. We trained against the single leg, but I guess it wasn't enough... Hopefully Ryan will be asked back for one more fight, but I doubt it. Typically the UFC puts your contract on "hold" to let you get a few wins in the smaller shows after you loose two in the big show.

Yushin Okami def Jason MacDonald Decision
My Pick: Jason by decision
Okami surprises me with a dominating performance.

Alan Belcher def Kalib Starnes TKO (Doctor Stoppage - Cut) 1:39 rnd 2
My Pick: Kalib by RNC first round.
A hard knee and elbow puts a Marvin Eastman size cut on Kalib's noodle. Something about seeing skull was mentioned.

Stephan Bonnar def Eric Schafer TKO (Strikes) 2:47 rnd 2
My Pick: I say Bonnar by decision
The way that this fight played out was a surprise to me. It did not look like Bonnar was hitting Schafer very hard, but Schafer was looking for refuge as if it was Fedor hitting him... maybe Bonnar had little needles in is gloves or something.

Alvin Robinson def Jorge Gurgel Decision
My Pick: Jorge by ref stoppage from strikes from the mount round one.
Jogre got the mount and looked like he would be the easy winner in the first round... Then he became obsessed with a submission from guard. Jorge looses an easy decision to a guy he is clearly better than.

Tim Sylvia def Brandon Vera Decision
My Pick: Brandon by KO second round.
I am pretty sure that under Ohio law two people who hug that much are legally married. Tim did not look good. Vera looked vera bad.

Anderson Silva def Rich Franklin TKO (Strikes) 1:07 rnd 2
My Pick: Anderson by KO third round
After Rich saw that the majority of his punches were not landing, and those that were were not doing any damage, he gave up this fight. You could see his will to win just go out. Silva on the other hand played this fight exactly like the last one. Clinch knee knee knee. He is not a member of Chute Boxe any more, but Anderson sure showed their influence.

Who is next for Silva? Hopefully Dan Henerson will drop a few pounds to be at his more normal fighting weight of 185. Hendo vs Silva would be a PRIDE match up that we wanted, but we did not get to see. Ryo Chonan has signed a UFC contract and I am sure that Silva wants that rematch. Ryo won their last meeting with a flying heel hook after taking a beating. I am positive that Silva will not let that happen again. Who else??? Damain Maia maybe. I would love to see that guy get smashed.

I take a terrific beating in this show going 3 of 9.