Thursday Night Beatdowns: Lambert/Gouveia

Watch this Clash of 205 pounders at UFC 80.

ENJOY THE INCREDIBLE KNOCKOUT

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A Bloody Affair : UFC 80 Rapid Fire

UFC 80 from the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle England was off the charts. The English MMA fans are rowdy and had the place jumping.

With only two fight’s going the distance, three TKO’s and KO’s, and the one only submission of the the night coming in the main event.

Main Bouts:

Kendall Grove vs Jorge Rivera

In the first televised fight of the night in the 185lb division. MMA vet Jorge Rivera took on ultimate fighter 3 winner Kendall Grove. The fight didn’t last too long. From the Bell, Jorge got right in Kendall’s face delivering some heavy blows. Getting the fight to the ground, and constantly attacking Kendall in his half guard. Kendall didn’t show much movement or an aggressive guard. When Kendall was trying to get to his feet already hurt he ate a left hand that punched his time card out for the night.

Jorge Rivera scored a big win that helps him up the ladder in the 185lb division. Kendall needs to go back to the drawing board and figure some things out to get him out the losing column after dropping two in a row.

Wilson Gouveia vs Jason Lambert

A light heavy weight division fight that looked promising and delivered with a knock out blow. From the bell Lambert rushed towards Wilson with an aggressive attack and gets a takedown. WG is a brazilian jiujitsu black for good reason and was able to fend off the Punisher’s wicked ground and pound attack. Even almost getting a triangle into omoplata submission to end the fight. By the end of the first round, Lambert looked as if he was just over powering WG.

In the 2nd frame, after finding Wilson’s mouth piece ( which was strange, how do you lose a mouth piece in a 2 foot space? ) the fight continued with Lambert rushing and attacking wildly till a left hand from WG punched his time card out. LHW’s take notice, because Wilson Gouveia is the business!!

Marcus Davis vs Jess Liaudin

This was a 170lb showdown that I really wanted to see. Jess said he wanted to bang with Marcus, even though the lesser of two evils would of been taking Marcus to the ground. When the bell rang Jess being true to his word wanted to trade blows, so then a minute or so into the fight Marcus almost punched a hole through the ear of Jess that left him out on the canvas in la la land.

Marcus, is on a 11 fight (8-0 UFC) win streak and even though he is not on anyone’s top 10 light weight list, he is edging closer to a title shot.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs Fabricio Werdum

A rematch of a fight 5 years ago that Werdum came out victorious. Both fighter’s have improved greatly since they last met, and Gonzaga having a brake out year in 2007 was looked at as the favorite going into this fight. When the bell rang..Gonzaga came out looking to take the action to ground and gets a takedown. They are both great on the ground and Gonzaga thinks twice and allows Werdum to stand back up. Gonzaga lands some nasty low leg kicks that seems to buckle Werdum, but Werdum fought through it and ended the 1st round in top postion on the ground.

In the 2nd round Gonzaga gets Werdum to the ground, but lets Werdum back up a few times. Gonzaga looking like he is on a qtr tank of gas, Werdum starts opening up with some Muay Thai Knee strikes that rocks Gonzaga. Werdum takes Gonzaga to the ground, opening up an attack from the top, Gonzaga not defending himself leaves the ref no choice, but to stop the fight.

Gonzaga lost a 2nd fight with Werdum, but did not lose a fan in me. Gonzaga is a fighter that always comes to fight. I respect him and hope to see him soon again fighting inside the octagon.

Werdum has erased the images of his lack luster UFC debut against Andrei Arlovski. Werdum just shot himself up the top heavy weight list. He will soon enough with the way he fought agaisnt Gonzaga, fight for the heavy weight UFC title.

BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson

The much anticipated main event fight that all MMA fans where feaning to see.

BJ Penn said it best in a pre fight interview : Joe is a tuff fighter, but it’s a bad time to fight BJ Penn.

How right he was. Joe has the heart of a lion and crazy fighting skills, but from the opening bell BJ lands a upper cut that drops Joe. On the ground BJ dominates all postions. Coming close to the end of the 1st round BJ opens a nasty cut in the middle of Joe’s forehead from the guard that left him bleeding profusely. Joe gutted it out of the first round, but that cut looked bad.

Off to the 2nd round blood leaking out his forehead, BJ attacks and drops Joe to the canvas, gets the mount transitions to the back and with blood making things more slippery and Joe being dazed made a rear naked choke slip easy around Joe’s neck and forces a tap out.

The Prodigy cemented his legacy in the history of MMA by being the 2nd fighter in UFC history to win belts in two different weight divisions. BJ today looked like he could beat Fedor Emelianenko. BJ Penn is one of the best fighter’s pound per pound in the world today. Joe is a warrior and is young and with tremendous experience under his belt.

Joe, keep your head up. You were in a lw title match with BJ Penn for good reason, you earned it. With the type of fighter you are, you have mine and the respect of alot of fighters and fans through out the MMA world.

In a night of fights that was action packed. I begin to realize that the UFC/MMA in 2008 started off with a bang!!! On Wednesday free on Spike TV, MMA fans will be treated with a UFC FightNight that promises to pick up where UFC 80 left off.

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Thoughts on UFC 80: Rapid Fire

UFC 80 is officially in the books, and here are a few of my thoughts on the fights. (Spoilers will follow, so do not click the link below if you do not want to know the results yet.)

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UFC 80 results coverage — LIVE!

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