Wow, what a Pay Per View. I’m going to go ahead and call UFC 116 the best single mixed martial arts event I’ve ever seen. By the looks and sounds of the people present at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, I’d say that they were blown away as well. We had one great fight after another after another.

Brock Lesnar Brock Lesnar
Shane Carwin Shane Carwin
The main event of the night was Brock Lesnar, the existing UFC Heavyweight Champion vs. the Interim Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin. This match started off with the two athletes getting a feeling for each other’s space, without any big moves yet, but once they exchanged, Shane landed some good uppercuts on Brock, followed by a strong left knee. After Brock was rattled and taken to the floor, Shane wasted no time and began punching Brock in the head, repeatedly, for the next two and a half minutes. It wasn’t looking so good for Lesnar, but he was inteligently defending himself and though a good deal of Carwin’s punches landed, it wasn’t enough for the referee to stop the fight. Round 2 began and Brock looked pumped, but you could tell that Shane used up a lot of energy with that barrage of punches. This helped Lesnar get the takedown, hop on top, transition into half guard, and then ultimately slap on an arm-triangle choke which Shane tapped out to at 2:19 of Round 2. This bumps Brock’s fight record to 5-1 and gives him his first submission victory. Shane falls to 12-1.
Prediction of outcome: Correct

Yoshihiro Akiyama Yoshihiro Akiyama
Chris Leben Chris Leben
The Co-Main Event of the night was Yoshihiro Akiyama against Chris Leben. Talk about a fight. This three round battle was a really good demonstration of technique and sportsmanship between both fighters. For nearly 15 minutes we got an entertaining match, especially in round 3 during a powerful exchange of blows that lifted everyone in the stadium out of their seats. A tired Akiyama couldn’t get away from Leben’s setup of a triangle choke that brought this fight to an end at 4:40 of Round 3. Chris bumps his fight record to 21-6 as YoshihiroA kiyama falls to 13-2.
Prediction of outcome: Correct

Chris Lytle Chris Lytle
Matt Brown Matt Brown
Another solid fight was between Chris Lytleand Matt Brown. This fight had both men go for some minor exchanges in round one, but each one’s main offense was their own submission attempt. Neither fighter could get the tapout in round one, but at 2:02 or Round 2, Chris set Matt up in a reverse triangle choke and then submitting hip via straight armbar. Chris bumps up to 39-17-4 and Matt falls to 13-9.
Prediction of outcome: Correct

Krysztof Soszynski Krysztof Soszynski
Stephan Bonnar Stephan Bonnar
The matchup here between The Polish Experiment, Krysztof Soszynski and American Psycho, Stephan Bonnar was nothing short of incredible. Both rounds were brutal and I’m extremely proud of the perseverance that each fighter had. There was no sign of quit, with Krzsztof landing some truly heavy punches and Stephan, arguably more precise ones. The fight finally came to a close at 3:08 of Round 2, when a knee strike from Bonnar rocked Soszynski hard, which was followed by a barrage of punches on the ground. Stephan bumps up his record to 15-8 and Krzysztof falls to 20-11-1.
Prediction of outcome: Correct
George Sotiropoulos George Sotiropoulos
Kurt Pellegrino Kurt Pellegrino
George Sotiropoulos and Kurt Pellegrino fought for the maximum length they could and throughout the fight we saw a good display by George in his ground and pound and solid Jiu Jitsu by him and Kurt. Sotiropoulos won the unanimous decision and got his fight score bumped up to 13-2 while Pellegrino falls to 21-5.
Prediction of outcome: Wrong

Brendan Schaub Brendan Schaub
Chris Tuchscherer Chris Tuchscherer
Brendan Schaub beat Chris Tuchscherer by technical knock out at 1:07 of Round 1. Brendan first landed a hard right on Chris’ temple and when he went down, Schaub kept punching until the fight was stopped. Brendan bumps up his fight record to 7-1 and Chris falls to 18-3 (1 No Contest).
Prediction of outcome: Correct

Seth Petruzelli Seth Petruzelli
Ricardo Romero Ricardo Romero
Seth Petruzelli 14-5 was beating Ricardo Romero for one and a half rounds, nailing some hard elbows and really bloodying him up. However, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu purple belt, Romero, locked up an Americana and tapped Seth out with a straight armbar ar 3:05 of Round 2. Ricardo bumps up his fight record to 1-0 and Seth falls to 14-6.
Prediction of outcome: Wrong

Kendall Grove Kendall Grove
Goran Reljic Goran Reljic
Kendall Grove beat Goran Reljic by split decission and bumps up his fight record to 14-7 (1 No Contest) while Goran Reljic falls to 8-2.
Prediction of outcome: Wrong

Gerald Harris Gerald Harris
Dave Branch Dave Branch
Gerald Harris vs. Dave Branch was a fun fight to watch and had a good exchange of hits that landed, as well as some big attacks that missed. In the end, at 2:35 of Round 3, Gerald picked up and slammed Dave to the mat, knocking him out cold, and consequently…winning via knockout. Gerald bumps up his fight record to 16-2 and Dave falls to 0-1.
Prediction of outcome: Correct

Daniel Roberts Daniel Roberts
Forrest Petz Forrest Petz
Daniel Roberts beat Forrest Petz split decission. Daniel bumps his fight record up to 10-1 and Forrest falls to 24-8.
Prediction of outcome: Correct

Jon Madsen Jon Madsen
Karlos Vemola Karlos Vemola
Jon Madsen 5-0 beat Karlos Vemola via unanimous decision. Jon bumps up his fight record to 6-0 while Karlos falls to 0-1.
Prediction of outcome: Correct

UFC 116 was an awesome pay per view and I had an amazing time watching it with all of my friends at Buffalo Wild Wings in Burbank, California. The atmosphere of the place was great because everyone was really into the event, all of my friends, including some first time UFC watchers loved it, and the fights themselves really delivered. Great job to UFC and all of the fighters on the card. Here’s to UFC 117 being just as good!

2 thoughts on “Martial Arts: UFC 116 – Thoughts After the PPV”
  1. UFC 117 is getting closer…August 7th is less than a month away! Before then however, is another cool lineup of fights. On August 1st, check out UFC Live on Versus; it’s going to be Jones vs. Matyushenko headlining.

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