UFC 73 - Stacked Ahead of the UFC 73 - Stacked @ The Arco Arena in Sacramento, California here is the Fight Card: Main Event: UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva (18-4) vs. Nathan Marquardt (25-6-2) UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk (31-2-1) vs. Hermes Franca (18-5) Tito Ortiz (15-5) vs. Rashad Evans (10-0) Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (29-4-1) vs. Heath Herring (27-12) Kenny Florian (5-3) vs. Alvin Robinson (8-1) Chris Lytle (22-14-5) vs. Jason Gilliam (9-1) Frank Edgar (6-0) vs. Mark Bocek (4-0) Stephan Bonnar (9-4) vs. Mike Nickels (5-1) Jorge Gurgel (10-2) vs. Diego Saraiva (9-4-1) Fresh from wins over Travis Lutter @ UFC 67 and Rich Franklin @ UFC 64, Anderson "The Spider" Silva defends his title against Nathan Marquardt in this Brazilian jiu-jitsu match up so expect fireworks with this fight. After pounding Kenny Florian in UFC 64 Sean Sherk defends his belt against Brazilian Hermes Franca who is by no means a push over. Stephan Bonnar is a personal favourite of mine, he's full of heart and has an iron jaw. He faces Ultimate Fighter 3 star Mike Nickels who is more a submission fighter compared to Bonnar's out and out striking. I think this will be a good match up of grappler vs striker. The Huntington Beach Bad Boy Toti Ortiz returns to the octagon in his first fight since losing to Chuck @ UFC 66 to fight Rashad Evans. Rashad's most know fight was a majority decision over Stephan Bonner @ UFC Fight Night 5 and boasts a 10-0 record. Still personally I think this is his biggest test to date...Im not holding my breathe on this one. Other fights to watch out for are former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is making his UFC debut against Heath Herring, who he has already defeated twice before in Pride (grudge matches are always good!). Also I'd like to see how Kenny Florian gets on against Royce Gracie student Alvin Robinson. Chris Lytle (Ultimate Fighter 4 Finalist) tees off against Jason Gilliam and undefeated Frank Edgar faces an undefeated Mark Bocek. This looks (on paper) a very good fight card. Not a PPV this time you can catch it on Bravo on Sunday (08/07/07) @ 9pm and it is repeated on Bravo 2 on Monday (09/07/07). Fight Review from me Monday
This is one of the best fight cards i have ever seen! I really dont know what Marquardt is like. My guess is that hes gonna try and ground and pound Silva especially after how useless Silva's take down defence looked against Travis Lutter! If it stays standing Marquardt's gonna get a beating like anyone else thats stupid enough to risk it. Sherk will easily beat Franca and Ortiz vs Evans will be an interesting fight but just to tough to call.
*************SPOILER************ Personally this Fight Card is now in my Top Ten of UFC's. Explosive action throughout! As Joe Rogan Said "A Fans Fight Card". Stephan Bonnar defeats Mike Nickels via submission (rear naked choke) in Round One Nickels stunned Bonnar early on with a hard punch. Bonnar tried to recover but Nickels got the the mount position. Bonnar struggles out of the mount and takes Nickels back and inevitably digs in a rear nake choke and forces a tap at the halfway mark of the First Round. Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira defeats Heath Herring via unanimous decision This was a Heavyweight battle! One of the better Heavyweight matches in the UFC proving Pride Fighters are made of stern stuff. In the first round Nogueria lands a flying knee leaving Herring bleeding. Herring returns with a crushing high kick that left Nogueira flat out. Herring strangley doesnt follow up on the kick and allows a dazed Nogueria back to his feet. Second round Nogueira comes back and scores with a takedown and delivers a few punches to end the round. Round three and both fighters are heavily gassed. Nogueira takes Herring to the ground and takes his back for the rear naked choke but Herring digs his chin in deep and manages to escape. Nogueira pips the fight with more attcks and takedowns but this was a very close fight down to the final bell. Sean Sherk defeats Hermes Franca via unanimous decision Franca lands a trademark knee to Sherks face in the opening seconds then he latched onto him with a guillotine choke. Luckily Sherk escaped the choke and mounts Franca. Both fighters struggle and Sherk works from half-guard landing a few elbows. Sherk gains back to mount to finish the round. Similar to round one Franca drops Sherk with a huge knee and tries the guillotine choke again. Sherk fights it off the choke again but Franca takes the top position. Sherk struggles back to half-guard but Franca reverses the position and tries another choke but the round end. Round three Sherk picks up Fraqnca and slams him into the mat and both struggle on the ground. Sherk tries to get an americana on Franca but Franca is resilient and escapes it. Round four sees SHerk ground and pound from side control. The round is very slow ad both fighters are gassed. Round five Franca comes out attacking but Sherk tackles him and lands a naughty elbow.Hermes hangs in as Sherk dominates the round mostly from the ground. The crowd boo'd the final bell but the fight was expected to be this way as both fighters are very similar in style. Sherk wins on all the judges cards. Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans fight to a DRAW! Tito looks physically a bigger Light Heavyweight coming into this match compared to Rashad. First round Ortiz throws a high kick and takes Evans down to the ground showing some serious strength. Evans is smart though and used his back up against the cage and managed to get back to his feet to his feet. Evans then unloads some nice combinations and Ortiz retaliates and knocks out Evans' gum shield. The fight restarts and Ortiz tries the take down with double underhooks but Evans' sprawl is too good. Evans tries a take down of his own late in the first round but a the bell saves Tito who is at this point sporting a cut under his eye. Round two both fighters come out throwing kick but both are blocked. Ortiz gets the clinch and lands two knees but Evans replies with an elbow and a punch.Evans is tired but tries a takedown on Ortiz but he grabs on the cage to avoid it. John McCarthy issues Ortiz with a warning but Ortiz grabs the cage again and a point is deducted. Evans then takes down Ortiz but he goes for the guilltine choke but lickily Evans is saved by the bell. Round three and Ortiz is aware he must win this round due to the point reduction and takes the fight to the mat. He gets the mount but Evans escapes and gets to his feet. Tito is gassed and Evans take full advantage of this and launches and offensive with a combination of punches and slams him down as the final bell goes. I was very impressed by Rashad Evans' performance and i'm looking forward to this rematch already! Anderson Silva defeats Nathan Marquardt via technical knockout in Round One Round one Marquardt comes out fast throwing leg kicks but Silva throws a right hand and quickly follows up with flying knee. This narrowly misses Marquardt and the fight goes to the mat. Silva tries an arm-triangle while on the ground and Marquardt lands a few punchs in retaliation. John McCarthy restarts the fight on their feet and immediatly Silva lands a clean left . Marquardt shoots in for the takedown but Silva reverses it for the top position. Silva rains down heavy punches (which you could hear it!) until McCarthy stops the fight. Kenny Florian defeats Alvin Robinson via submission (strikes) Round one Robinson comes out throwing punches immediatly and then following up with a judo arm toss. Florian gets back to his feet and returns with judo throw. Florian then unloads a flurry of punches and gains the full mount. Florian rains down punches until Robinson is forced to tap out. Frank Edgar defeats Mark Bocek via TKO (strikes) in Round One Chris Lytle defeats Jason Gilliam via submission (triangle choke) in Round One Jorge Gurgel defeats Diego Saraiva via unanimous decision NEXT August 25th - UFC 74 Respect... Main Event: Heavyweight Championship Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs. David Heath Joe Stevenson vs. Kurt Pellegrino Ryan Jensen vs. Travis Lutter Patrick Cote vs. Kendall Grove Diego Sanchez vs. Hayato Sakurai Marcus Aurelio vs. Clay Guida
Saw Ortiz and Evans fight last night, shame evans didnt down tito earlier, was too late in the round, mighta won him it if he did
