Wachovia Center
Philadelphia, PA
August 8, 2009

Ok, so I've been doing this for the last few UFC events and so far the feedback has been extraordinary. Thank you all for reading and continuing to write in on the MMA stuff. Means a lot to me. That being said I have to tell you I was pretty damn psyched for UFC 101! The headliner and co-main event had all the ingredients for upsets. The lightweight title was up for grabs by the ever impressive Kenny "Kenflo" Florian. The guy has heart and determination. He would need it going up against the formidable BJ Penn, a surefire shoe-in for the Hall of Fame someday. Then another underdog, Forest Griffin was set to battle with the indestructible Anderson Silva. Again, I'm a sucker for underdogs and both Florian and Griffin define that term to the tee.

I score most of the bouts using the usual 10 point must scale. Cage control, aggression, striking and grappling. The winner of the round gets 10 points, the loser receives 10 or less (I try never to have a draw round, but it happens at times). If the bout goes to the scorecards, I compare my scores with the real judges. I'll have to say that most of the time I'm on point with the judges decisions. So there are the rules, now on with the fights!

KURT PELLEGRINO vs. JOSH NEER
(19-4) (25-7-1)

ROUND 1: Pellegrino, the crowd favorite since he is from Point Pleasant, NJ, staying with the "stick and move" mentality. Move into clinch, Pellegrino with a big slam. Moves into full posture and lets lose some hammer fists. Neer, attempts an armbar from the down position. Pellegrino slams Neer sans Rampage Jackson. Neer attempts another armbar from the down position at 1:48. Pellegrino escapes, round ends on the ground.
GDEVIL'S SCORECARD: 10-9 Pellegrino

ROUND 2: Good leg kick by neer at 4:35 as fighters try the standup game this round. Pellegrino shoots for takedown, Neer stuffs it. Pellegrino attempts another takedown and sends Neer to the mat passing to half guard. Armbar attempt by neer, Pellegrino escapes. Pellegrino is on top but Neer is giving him a really hard time passing half guard. Neer is being extremely active from the bottom. Triangle choke attempt by Neer at 1:30. Pellegrino shrugs off submission attempt and moves to the mount position to back control at :48. Choke attempt by Pellegrino is unsucessful.
GDEVIL'S SCORECARD: 10-9 Pellegrino

ROUND 3: Both fighters trade blows at the standup game. Big takedown by Pellegrino as he catches a kick from Neer and drives him to the mat. Oma Plata attempt by Neer, unsucessful. Triangle choke attempt by Neer at 1:30, suppressed by Pellegrino. Pellegrino gains the mount and both fighters start talking some trash to each other. Reverse by Neer at :30, to standup. Neer sends some vicious elbows to Pellegrino's head as the round closes.
GDEVIL'S SCORECARD: 10-9 Pellegrino

GDEVIL'S DECISION: Pelegrino by Unanimous Decision (30-27) JUDGE'S DECISION: Pellegrino by Unanimous Decision (30-27)

SUMMARY: Pellegrino controlled the tempo of the fight from the opening bell. Neer was very active from the bottom, and we all know most judges oversee that. Even with that, I felt that Neer's submission attempts were pretty much just to show he wasn't just laying there. He exploded at the end of round 3, but too little, too late.

RICARDO ALMEIDA vs. KENDALL
GROVE
(10-3) (12-5)

ROUND 1: Almeida wants to take the fight to the ground immediately. Attempt stuffed by Grove. Clinch along the cage to stand up. Soild right by Almeida. Grove moves to double underhooks and pushes fight against cage. Takedown by Almeida at 1:40. Almeida passes to back-side control and delivers some knees to Grove's midsection. Grove forces standup but is slammed big time by Almeida to close the round.
GDEVIL'S SCORECARD: 10-9 Almeida

ROUND 2: Solid right by Almeida to takedown. Armbar attempt by Grove, Almeida escapes. Grove has a quick kneebar attempt but its unsuccessful. Grove on his back, showing good control, body triangle by Grove. Almeida works the ground and pound at 1:50. Huge punches raining down by Almeida at 1:15. Grove forces standup against fence. Big uppercut by Grove at :30. Another takedown by Almeida to close the round.
GDEVIL'S SCORECARD: 10-9 Almeida

ROUND 3: Leg kicks by Almeida. Lands a solid right to single leg takedown. Grove fights to standup against cage. Lands some knees and takes fight to center of the cage. Almeida drops to his back, big hands by Grove. Ref resets fighters. Almeida is looking tired, hanging his hands. Fight goes along the cage again, Grove lands a nice knee to the face of Almeida. Driving takedown by Almeida. Grove pushes off with his feet to standup and gets clocked by a solid right from Almeida to close round.
GDEVIL'S SCORECARD: Almeida 10-9

GDEVIL'S DECISION: Almeida by Unanimous Decision (30-27) JUDGES' DECISION: Almeida by Unanimous Decision

SUMMARY: Kendall Grove suffers a setback. He simply did not do enough to score any points or even make any attempts to even win the bout. Almeida showed excellent control throughout the entire fight even though he was sort of gassed by the end of Round 3.

AMIR SADOLLAH vs. JOHNY HENDRICKS
(2-0) (5-0)

ROUND 1: Standup sparring to brawling blows traded by both fighters. Major uppercuts by Hendricks. Ref steps in and stops fight.

JOHNY HENDRICKS BY TKO at :29 in 1st ROUND

SUMMARY: If there ever were a time to use WTF it would have been after watching this fight. TUF 7 winner Sadollah got robbed. Yes he got rocked but he was clearly fully aware of his situation and was making clear attempts to defend himself. Boooo to referee Dan Mirgliotta!

FORREST GRIFFIN vs. ANDERSON SILVA
(16-5) (24-4)

ROUND 1: Forrest misses with headkick. Both fighters paw at each other, sizing each other up still at 3:10. Silva catches Griffin with a left and sends Griffin down to the mat. He gets up and the fight continues. Silva starts to taunt Griffin, dropping his hands. Silva knocks down Griffin again, this time he offers to help him up! Griffin steps in while Silva lands a stiff, walking away jab and sends Griffin to the mat for the third and final time.

ANDERSON SILVA BY KO at 3:23 in 1st ROUND

SUMMARY: Another WTF!?!? Honestly, Forrest has always been a fan favorite for his heart and desire. Both of those attributes were absent in this poor showing against a superior fighter. The questions have been popping up on MMA blogs everywhere, where does Forrest Griffin go from here? That's a question only Forrest Griffin can answer.

MAIN EVENT

BJ PENN vs. KENNY FLORIAN
(13-5-1) (13-3)

ROUND 1: Penn catches Florian's leg, right hook by Penn knocks both fighters down. Florian gets up. Both fighters pressing against cage. Nice elbow by Penn. Clinched at 3:48, breaks to standup. Penn charges in with 1-2 combo, backing Florian against cage. Single leg takedown attempt by Florian stuffed by Penn. Penn lands a stiff left which rocks Florian a little and follows it up with a right knee.
GDEVIL'S SCORECARD: 10-9 BJ Penn

ROUND 2: Leg kick by Florian. Lowers head and drives Penn into cage. Clinch along cage breaks up. Single leg takedown attempt by Florian, stuffed by Penn. Both fighters clinch. Florian just misses with a hug elbow coming out of the clinch. Single leg takedown attempt by Florian, unsuccessful. Again drives Penn into cage. Penn answers with a uppercut/left hook combo. Florian lands a big leg kick to close the round.
GDEVIL'S SCORECARD: 10-9 Kenny Florian

ROUND 3: Florian drives Penn into cage. Both fighters trading blows. Good body shots by Florian. Florian goes for a takedown while clinched. Penn breaks away and lands an uppercut while Florian lands an elbow. Takedown attempt Florian, stuffed by Penn. Driven into cage. Clinch along cage with Penn's back aganst cage. Penn quickly reverses and lands a big counter punch to close the round.
GDEVIL'S SCORECARD: 10-9 BJ Penn

ROUND 4: Big lefts by Penn. Clinch against cage. Penn explodes with some big punches. Takedown by Penn, lands in Florian's half guard. Florian landing some good elbows from his back. Penn lands big rights to Florian's face and passes to mount. . Florian rolls giving up his back. Fighters go back and forth from Mount to back control till Penn is able to slip in a rear naked choke at 3:54.

BJ PENN WINNER BY SUBMISSION (Rear Naked Choke)

SUMMARY: BJ Penn really is that good. While Kenny Florian (everyone's favorite Ben Stiller double) is still one of my favorite fighters in the UFC, you have to hand it to Penn. Coming off of a loss to GSP really motivated this guy. Really good fight by Florian though.

NOTABLES: Aaron Riley defeated Shane Nelson via unanimous decision in the Lightweight Division. Jon Howard gets the split decision over Tamden McCrory. Up and coming Alessio Sakara defeats Thales Lietes via split decision. Matthew Riddle gets the UD over Dan Cramer. Jesse Lennox wins by TKO over Danilo Villefort in the 3rd round. Want a name you'll be hearing a lot of in th enear future? George Sotiropoulos (common spelling). He has a crazy ground game and it showed in his submission win over George Roop.

WEC

Sunday, August 9
Las Vega, NV

What a fucking weekend! UFC 101 followed by a great WEC card which is highlighted by Miguel Torres vs. Brian Bowles!? Sign me up.

The first bout televised was Leonard Garcia vs. Jameel Massouh. I've seen Garcia fight before and I remember his boxing was off the charts. You could tell the entire crowd, the telecasters, Leonard Garcia ad his corner were all over-hyped for a quick victory. Not so. The opening round Garcia ROCKED Massouh with a right from Hell! Massouh, calmly and surprisingly recovered from it and ended that round on top with some impressive groundwork. Because of the knockdown I gave that round to Garcia, but it was close without it. The second round, in my opinion, belonged to Massouh. He nearly choked Garcia out but for some odd reason he let's go of a Bravo Choke just when Garcia started to go limp. Massouh owned that round big time. The third round was nothing special. All standup ad neither fighter made any aggressive moves to win the fight. I scored the match in favor of Massouh 29-28. The judges gave the split decision to Garcia.

In other fights: Takeya Mizucagi defeated Jeff Curran. Danny Castillo scored a great knockout victory over Ricardo Lamas. And douchebag, Dominick Cruz wins over Joseph Benavidez. Why douchebag? Because the fight was a snoozefest. When asked if he feels he should be next in line for a title shot he asked the crowd what they thought and their response was almost total silence.

MAIN EVENT

BRIAN BOWLES vs. MIGUEL TORRES

ROUND 1: Bowles rocks Torres with a big right. Torres recovers, clinch along cage. Takedown by Bowles followed by some elbows. Torres forces Bowles to standup while he remains on his back. Delivers some vicious upkicks as Bowles makes a move into guard. Armbar attempt by Torres. Bowles responds with a wicked right hook with rocks Torres to the ground. Bowles follows up with more rights to the head. Ref steps in and stops the fight as Torres is clearly knocked the fuck out.

SUMMARY: Hooray for the underdog. Bowles just looked like a bigger, thicker fighter compared to Torres. However, Torres will bounce back despite the loss. He's a feared and tough fighter in the WEC.