Fight for the Troops 3 Recap

The crowd went bananas when Tim got the 1st round KO.

On Wednesday night the UFC did their part in putting on a show for the troops and UFC fans.  The night did not disappoint with exciting fight after exciting fight.  Here is a quick recap of how things went down:

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• Derek Brunson threw a head kick then swarmed Brian Houston on his way to a submission in under a minute to kick things off.
• Seth Baczynski defeated Neil Magny via a very close decision.  Takedowns ultimately won this fight
• Yancy Medeiros proved his is for real with an uppercut KO of UFC veteran Yves Edwards.
• Lorenz Larkin and Chris Camozzi put on one of 4 fights I thought was worthy of Fight of the Night.  Larkin ultimately won with quicker striking and body kicks.

FS 1 Prelims:

• Amanda Nunes took down Germaine de Randamie and secured full mount.  From there Germaine was stuck and could not get out.  Despite not being in any real danger, Herb Dean saw enough and stopped the fight from elbows.
• Dennis Bermudez put on the 2nd of 4 edge of your seat fights against Steven Siler.  Siler kept jumping on the guillotine as well as attempting submissions from his back but Bermudez clearly has some serious submission defense.  Siler proved he can hang tough but ultimately it was Bermudez with another exciting win which should catapult him to the top 15, maybe top 10.
• Francisco Rivera is one of the most powerful punchers in the bantamweight division and George Roop is one tough customer.  Rivera went for the finish all out when he had Roop rocked in the second round.  After the ref stepped in to stop Roop from taking further punishment, Rivera fell to the ground in exhaustion.  I cannot complain about the stoppage because Roop was VERY badly hurt.  But if he were allowed to continue he may have won the fight since Rivera gassed himself for the finish.  This is the 3rd fight worthy of Fight of the Night in my opinion due to Rivera's wreckless abandon in looking for the finish.
• The last prelim fight still has me very hot!  I am furious at the result of this fight.  Basically Bobby Green and James Krause began with a very exciting striking battle.  Bobby Green almost boxes similar to Floyd Mayweather, in the way he moves his head and uses his arms to block punches.  However his kicking game is not so crisp.  He kicked Krause in the groin early causing him to collapse to the ground.  Shortly after, Green kicked Krause in the same spot again.  Krause complained to ref Big John McCarthy, but John went on to yell at him for complaining.  John did take a point away from Bobby Green for the 2nd kick to the groin.  The fight goes on a big longer when cup kick number 3 happens.  Krause goes to the ground in apparent pain and Big John steps in and says "the fight is over, you (Bobby Green) win."  John is claiming that the kick was completely legal and Krause was no longer able to fight following a clean shot, and thus, the fight was ruled a TKO finish.  When looking at the replay, the kick clearly landed below the belt.  Although maybe not a groin shot, it still hit Krause in the cup.  As Joe Rogan said, that area was probably still very tender and the kick to the cup would definitely hurt.  I absolutely 100% think the ruling by John McCarthy was wrong.  He normally is one of the best refs in the game so I give him the benefit of the doubt, but Krause got absolutely screwed with this call.  I hope they do a rematch but I don't see it happening since Dana White agreed with the call.  Krause, hopfully, will bounce back and be a threat at 155 following this controversial ruling.

FS 1 Main Card:

• Michael Chiesa and Colton Smith had a back and forth first round where each man had the other person's back and threw on a rear-naked choke.  Both men defended it well and saw a round 2.  In the 2nd, Chiesa hip tossed Smith who landed on his head.  This clearly rocked him and allowed Chiesa to take Smith's back and secured his signature choke.  Chiesa took home Submission of the Night with his RNC finish of Smith.
• Rustam Khabilov took home a decision win over Jorge Masvidal, but both men took home Fight of the Night bonus checks.  This was an exciting striking match with a few takedowns mixed in.  It was a spinning kick to the face by Khabilov that secured the 3rd round and the fight.  Masvidal is sitll very much alive in the lightweight rankings, but Khabilov took a huge step up in the standings following this win.
• Another fight, another KO win for Yoel Romero.  He is so athletic and debatably the best wrestler in the UFC.  He uses that wrestling and athleticism to keep fights standing.  He has crazy unorthodox striking and uses changes of speed to confuse opponents.  Ronny Markes had a great start to the fight but seemed helpless following the first.  It was a left hand that ultimately ended Markes night and gained Romero another big win.
• In the co-main event, Alexis Davis picked Liz Carmouche apart for the better part of 3 rounds.  The inside leg kick was the best weapon Davis had.  Carmouche landed a left jab, right hook combination that cut Alexis over her right eye but landed nothing else substantial during the fight.  Carmouche usually looks for the takedown but did not in this fight probably because she was weary of the submission game of Davis.  It was ultimately aggression and cage control that gave Davis the victory.
• Tim Kennedy is an extremely likable guy and a great fighter.  He is a former Green Beret and still is an active military member.  He also has knockout power that nobody thought he had.  Tim has always been a guy who uses grappling to grind fights out.  He likes to drag people into deep waters and suffocate them with his strength.  Against Rafael Natal, he decided to throw power and take home a bonus check.  Natal looked good in the early going, but a left hook late in the first round ended his night.  The roof blew off the hanger when the military man won the main event with the KO of the Night.  Next for Kennedy is probably a guy in the 5-10th spot in the middleweight division.  Mark Munoz, Michael Bisping, and Francis Carmont are people that come to mind at first glance.  Great finish to a great night thanks to Tim Kennedy.  This win was even more exciting since soldiers Magny, Smith, and Carmouche all let down their comrades with losses earlier on the card.

On a side note, I was VERY pleased to have Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan calling last nights fights, but this unfortunately means Jon Anik will most likely be in Brazil on Saturday.

UFC Bonuses:

FOTN: Khabilav/Masvidal

SOTN: Chiesa

KOOTN: Kennedy

Brutal Sports Awards:

Beatdown of the Night: Davis

Sketchiest Decision of the Night: Krause/Green

Upset of the Night: Davis

Three Stars:

1. Tim Kennedy
2. Yancy Medeiros
3. Yoel Romero

Pick totals entering Bellator CVI: 160/273

Bellator CVI picks: 2/5 (Chandler should have won!)

Troops 3 picks: 6/12 (Not counting Green's win)

Pick totals: 168/290=58%

Pick totals reset at the end of 2013.  Hoping to break 60% for the year and look to be even higher in 2014.