Ulimate Fight Night Live went down last night and the action was non-stop and intense. 4 out of the 5 fights shown on tv were great battles with the Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan main event capping off the night. Diego won out but both were winners in my eyes.
Koscheck vs. Goulet
Goulet was overmatched in this fight. Koscheck from the first bell came out charging. He rocked Goulet early in stand-up and then schooled him on the ground. Goulet was constantly giving up his back due to Ground-n-Pound and Koscheck took advantage. Koscheck eventually won by referee stoppage.
This fight really pointed out how much Josh Koscheck had advanced with his skillset. I can remember when he had only started with wrestling and couldn’t strike or advance from guard. If he fulfills his potential, he will be a force to be reckoned with.
Leben vs. Santiago
Fresh off his loss to Anderson Silva, Leben accepted this fight with Santiago. He came out typical Leben style, throwing for the fences. Santiago was constantly tagging him with quick, crisp rights and lefts and Leben was constantly counterstriking and throwing uppercuts when he got in close. Santiago eventually got sloppy and closed his eyes when throwing his right-left combo and Leben threw a haymaker off the strikes to catch Santiago unawares and lay him out. He then pounced on the unconscious fighter and got two solid head hits in before the referee (Herb Dean) could pry him off.
What struck me about the match was how much Leben really hasn’t changed. I mean, he has grown incrementally since his TUF1 days but the more he changes, the more it stays the same.
He does have an iron chin (but not invulnerable as we saw with Anderson Silva). He does have the fighters mentality (which you can’t train and I think is his strongest asset). He is constantly pressing the action.
However, He has some inherent fatal flaws that I think will prohibit him from being among the top elite. He ALWAYS drops his hands, even if it is for a fraction of a second, when he advances; He always charges in directly rather than playing the angles; Most importantly, He is extremely immobile when presented with somebody on the offensive.
Lister vs. Sasaki
This battle was my least favorite. I won’t even bother to review. I will say that Lister won but it was by default and not anything he did definitely. He gassed himself in the second round and the third round was just pathetic.
(Diesel) Riggs vs. Von Fluke
This was my second least favorite match but It is still worth recounting. Von Fluke (I know it’s Von Flue but I stand by my play on words) was overmatched from the beginning. Diesel came out swinging from the first bell and Von Fluke got rung and didn’t want any of that. He took it to the ground after just one up-top flurry and then Diesel started to school him. Riggs secured a triangle effortlessly after a brief scrabble and started to squeeze the life out. Von Fluke then did the most tasteless and disrespectful act of flipping off Diesel as he was about to pass out and then tapped out.
I like Joe. Everybody says that he is an animal in the gym but all I see are a bunch of losses on his record (I have watched a lot of him). He is only 23 but he really needs to buckle down mentally if he wants to prove himself in the arena where it really counts.
Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan
This match was by far the highlight of the night and the perfect end to some really great fighting. These two gladiators went at each other 100% for 3 - 5 minute rounds. It went back and forth through all three rounds with flurries up top, spectacular Judo throws from Karo bringing it to the ground, followed by cat and mouse games on the ground. Diego struck early and applied a cut underneath Karo’s Left eye with a nicely timed uppercut but then Karo was able to close and that’s when the throws started to happen. The hip throws started to come lightning fast and bodies were flying like pinwheels. Karo is an expert Judo person and he applying them left and right. Diego took this in stride and was constantly reversing on the ground but he never could seem to make it stick because Karo would block him from the submissions.
Back and forth this went until Parisyan gassed in the third round and then Diego just took over. They should call him the Terminator. He threw some nasty punches when they were clenched on the fence with one knee landing and visibly knocking one of Karo’s teeth out. You actually saw a white streak fly off camera. They then went to the ground. He kept at it from the guard with his signature body, body, Head shots he throws in all his matches (go back and watch all his matches. Diego throws right and left hooks to the body, followed by a downward elbow to the solo’s then immediately follows all that up with shots to the head, all from the guard).
In the last thirty seconds, Diego just started throwing headshots from an exhausted Parisyan’s guard and Parisyan couldn’t block them anymore. All you saw was the eyes roll. The referee didn’t stop it because there was only 10 seconds left but if it had just gone a little bit more, it would have been lights out. Diego got the unanimous decision.
Diego has done the most with his opportunities IMHO out of all the TUF fighters and is really poised to take the top by storm. He is extremely humble which I love about him yet has a great unique personality to really hang your hat on when it comes to liking him. I would REALLY REALLY like to see him and GSP (George St. Pierre) fight next because I don’t think GSP will wear out like Parisyan did and all three rounds would be epic.
What a great set of matches and in my opinion, the best that UFC has put out yet with their Ultimate Fight Nights. Keep ‘em coming and I will be a UFC fan 4eva.