Welcome back to my pro wrestling look at the UFC, running-down and recapping the UFC’s most recent PPV from the perspective of a long-time wrestling fan, and invite ridicule and comparisons alike.

If UFC 96 could be compared to anything remotely WWE-like on paper, it would be one of their current B-shows. Not a secondary pay per view of the level of the brand-only days (back in 2003-2007), but more of a current, Unforgiven standard. That is, some familiar faces, some beloved characters, but not in a great deal of actual encounters that really looked likely to set the world on fire. The upside to this being, that pretty much everything had a solid chance to be much better than expected.

Jim Miller vs. Gray Maynard
This was a good fight, and a great way to kick off the broadcast as Maynard took the unanimous decision. Both guys worked extremely hard for three rounds. I can’t complain, as the judges scored it 30-27, same as I did. If it weren’t for the late takedown in the third, I may have given Miller R3, but it wasn’t to be. No shame in losing this one whatsoever as it was a ferocious effort and Miller’s face ended up looking like a mashed up fruit-salad.

Matt Hamill vs. Mark Munoz
Hamill ended it towards the end of the first round, with unbelievably, a HEAD KICK. Until that point, the Ohio native certainly dominated. From the outset, he pushed the pace, with his bullying combinations of punches. Keeping the fight standing, Hamill also avoided a couple of interesting take-down attempts that showed great potential. Against a lesser wrester, Munoz may well have scored with those, but Hamill easily shrugged them off. An exciting finish that really cements Hamill’s threat in the division. If Shogun Rua loses to Chuck Liddell, I’d give him Matt Hamill next, and if the former TUF star beats the Pride veteran, they could consider giving him one last chance, and move Hamill into title contention.

Matt Brown vs. Pete Sell
Poor Matt Brown. His run on TUF was undoubtedly a disappointment; he should have been a bigger name by now. Brown comes across as a perennial mid-carder, who has all the tools to go higher, but just can’t put all the pieces together at the same time, in order to make it happen. This could have been the one, but like Warrior vs. Hogan, the booking was eschewed.

This bout was tarnished by some of the worst refereeing I’ve seen on a UFC event. Yves Lavigne stepped in a stopped the fight within the first thirty seconds, after Brown unleashed a barrage of Head-kicks, upper-cuts and a Superman punch. And without a doubt, he’d stopped it. But within a split second, he noticed Sell attempting to get up, and actually let the fight continue, while Brown stood dumbfounded. What followed was a scary minute where Sell attempted to hold Brown’s leg, while absorbing horrendous strikes. Repeatedly, Brown looked to the referee, pleading for him to stop proceedings, a couple of times after throwing single shots. It was classy behaviour from Brown, who knew he had the fight.

Unfortunately, in his post-match interview, Brown couldn’t even properly explain the situation, because Pete Sell crashed the party and cut into the discussion. How nice. Brown was gracious and played down the fact that Sell was out of it, well before the fight was officially ended, regardless of what he claims.

Kendall Grove vs. Jason Day
Kendall’s UFC career got off to a better start than Matt Brown’s, but that hasn’t prevented subsequent outings being a complete mixed bag. Grove looked the skinniest I can recall seeing him for this fight But a KO finish such as this always keeps one over with the crowd, and will ensure that he gets a another opportunity to string a couple of wins together. Hilariously, afterwards, Kendall said “I thought I was gonna lose my job”, and Joe Rogan said “well, not now…” Says it all really. Great KO for Kendall.

Shane Carwin vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
This one got the epic video package of a WWE semi-main event, making it feel really important, even if it was far from guaranteed that we’d get to see a good bout. Gonzaga was really presented like the star, and to me, he’s the guy that will never be the top star, or the “biggest baby face”, but he’s the guy that will stand across the Octagon from such persons. Like a good big-man wrestling match, this started out faster than expected, with Carwin looking to push the pace, but eating a heavy punch, before dropping Gonzaga with a knock-out right. This got Carwin over huge with the crowd, and Gonzaga had NO IDEA what happened. Suddenly, the Heavyweight division is even more intriguing.

Tamden McCrory vs. Ryan Madigan
An undercard match no-one cares about, but as the WCW cruiserweight’s always proved, good action will get anyone over. This was characterised by Tamden leaving himself open while on top, not capitalising on opportunities for Triangles and arm-bars, while completely and utterly dominating his opponent until he opened him up with a horrible cut that made Madigan tap. McCrory then did a Steiner on the mic, swearing on all over the place, and generally coming across as anti-authority, and excitable. Crowd loved this, and in reality, the post-fight talk was better than the action.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Keith Jardine
Lot of excitement around this, as everyone loves Rampage, while at the same time, Jardine is completely unpredictable. They got Light heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans to say a few words prior to the fight, and he pushed the need for patience from Jardine. At this point the thought of Jardine hacking away for the entire fight, with leg kicks seemed really likely, and depending on how Jackson responded could make, or break the fight.

The great thing about Jackson is that he looks, acts, and has the aura of THE main event, regardless of what’s at stake, or where he’s ranked. That man is intense.

The second round really exploded, with both guys landing shots that seemed to rock each other. Some of Jardine’s offence was completely bizarre. At one point, Rampage threw a leg-kick, which on commentary they’ve been saying would make his game much more unpredictable if he did that occasionally. Sadly, in throwing it, he lost his balance, perhaps illustrating why he avoids that approach. At this point I’d probably have scored the first 10-9 for Jardine, and the second to Jackson, by the same, though it’s very, very close, and an argument could be made for “The Dean of Mean” in either.

The third was much like the first, but with Rampage landing more, and Keith Jardine increasingly looking weary and unable to throw his leg kicks. He attempted a big head-shot near the end, but ended up caught, and almost KO’d right at the finish. For me, the fight was 29-27 Jackson. The only negative though, is that now Rampage has to somehow make a Light heavyweight title fight, on May 23rd… that’s a big ask.

Rashad was great on commentary, and Goldberg took a back-seat to him and Rogan throughout.

Brandon Vera vs. Mike Patt
Vera threw some really disgusting kicks in this tussle, and did some serious damage within the first three minutes. Patt replied with a good head-kick of his own with about 90 seconds left in the first, but it was obvious that he couldn’t absorb so many shots for another two rounds. The Second was a similar story until Vera hacked him down with kicks, and couldn’t stand. Yves Lavigne stopped this one brilliantly- Vera made him stand, but he couldn’t defend himself anymore, and after being given every chance to continue, he was stopped.

Tim Boetsch vs. Jason Brilz
Brilz had most success when he took Boetsch down, but unfortunately for him, he only did this once in the first round. As a result, he caught a fair bit of damage. After being berated by his corner for “not being a boxer”, the second saw him take Boetsch down fairly promptly, and show excellent control on top. He threatened with a Guillotine Choke, but Boetsch was able to get to his feet. The final Round was much of the same, with Boetsch being opened up, but able to avoid being finished, forcing it to the decision.

Overall, I was impressed by the event- a show that looked solid, if somewhat unexciting on paper. The big stories, outside of the Main Event, were the evolution of both Matt Hamill, and Shane Carwin. Carwin’s victory helps him out far more than it hurts Gonzaga, in the long run. The only strong negative, was that there wasn’t much grappling or submissions, and once the Main Event had been broadcast, it got a little repetitive seeing the undercard bouts, following the same stand-up pattern. While many were caught up in the hype for Rampage/Jardine, I feared that it would be a slow, patchy affair, with Rampage becoming increasingly frustrated, as Jardine spent three Rounds kicking him, ducking out, circling, and repeating the process. Therefore, while some may have been a little let down, I thought it was way better than expected, and even the somewhat slow first round, was a very intriguing human chess match.

Supposedly, Rampage may not take the Rashad Evans Title fight, because it’s been moved ahead to UFC 98 (which he claimed at the Press Conference he wasn’t told about until just prior to the Jardine fight). I actually hope he doesn’t- it’s too soon for him, especially as he’s already going to struggle in that one with Evans’ superior speed and versatility. If he steps aside and lets Machida take his place, it may be a smart move, and facilitate him being better prepared down the line .Machida/Evans however, is a weak headliner, especially for a card that was originally meant to be headlined by Mir and Lesnar. Roll on UFC 100.

Thanks for taking the time to check this out. I welcome any and all feedback and I can be contacted at www.myspace.com/michaelwrestlingetc or simply by emailing me at Michael@ifight365.com. I look forward to hearing from you, and will be back soon.