Bisping, Alves dominant winners at UFC 85

A day after failing to make weight for his fight against Matt Hughes, Thiago Alves dominated the former UFC welterweight champion en route to a 2^nd round TKO victory. The main event at UFC 85 in London was somewhat anticlimactic to the fans at the O2 Arena who considered the semifinal matchup between Manchester’s Michael Bisping and Jason Day the biggest fight on the card. Bisping actually improved upon his excellent showing against Charles McCarthy at UFC 83 and pummeled Day mercilessly from the top mount position until the fight was stopped just past the 3 minute mark of the first round.

Hughes didn’t make any excuses following his one sided loss, saying simply that ‘he’s a good fighter’ and ‘he got me’. The longtime king of the UFC’s welterweight division also gave notice that his career as an active fighter was drawing to a close, suggesting that he had ‘one fight left’ and challenging Matt Serra in what presumably would be his retirement match. Hughes had no answer for Alves from the opening horn, as he was stuffed on several takedown attempts early on. When he did finally get his opponent to the ground he was unable to do much damage. Alves, conversely, scored effectively with his striking including several damaging knee strikes. He also did considerable work on the ground, with an elbow strike opening up a large cut on Hughes’ forehead. Though he didn’t get to his knees a la Georges St. Pierre, Alves did make a plea to Dana White for a title shot. His failure to make weight won’t help his cause, however, and judging from the UFC President’s incredulous smirk in response that opportunity won’t be immediately forthcoming.

The end came early in the 2^nd round as Hughes was caught coming in by a devastating knee strike. He fell to the canvas in a heap and referee Herb Dean was jumping in to stop the contest before Alves could follow up with any punches. As the ringside physician entered the ring to check on the fallen fighter, Hughes gave an indication that his knee was injured. Replays showed that his knee buckled under him in a very awkward fashion as he fell and while the extent of the damage is yet to be determined Hughes indicated in the postfight interview that it was ‘messed up’.

Michael Bisping simply overwhelmed Jason Day en route to a lopsided TKO victory. Bisping built upon the improved boxing skills he demonstrated at UFC 83 by unveiling an impressive ‘ground and pound’ attack. Day never really got anything going and by the last minute of the fight was simply trying to cover up to prevent damage from Bisping’s elbows and hammer fists. Between his move down to the middleweight division and his improved technical striking skills, Bisping looks like a different fighter. His post UFC 83 suggestion that he wanted a fight with Anderson Silva seemed premature at the time, but following another devastating performance its starting to look much more realistic.

In other action, Mike Swick used an array of high kicks and a 7â€? reach advantage to coast to a unanimous decision over Marcus Davis. Davis, a former professional boxer, was unable to get inside against his lanky opponent and was never really in the fight. Like Bisping, Swick may have made an excellent career choice by moving down in weight. His height and reach, combined with a well rounded striking game, makes him a particularly different matchup at the lower weight.

A controversial point deduction for a strike to the back of the head cost Nate Marquardt his match against Thales Leites. Marquardt was solidly in charge for the entire fight, but suffered a point deduction for an illegal knee strike in round one. While that infraction was valid, replays of the 2^nd round deduction for the strike to the back of the head gave the impression that he was penalized for a legal strike to the side of the head. The 2 point deduction changed the outcome of the fight, with Leites winning a split decision by the scores of 28-27, 28-27, 27-28. Marquardt was obviously disappointed in the outcome, but to his credit handled the loss with class despite the questionable nature of the outcome.

In the opening PPV match, another controversial ending saw Fabrico Werdum defeat Brandon Vera by 1^st round KO. The fight had been evenly contested up until the stoppage, with Werdum scoring a couple of takedown and Vera countering with some effective punching. Late in the first round, Werdum got a full mount and began to fire a series of punches. Vera was clearly defending himself and didn’t appear to be hurt at all when the referee jumped in to stop the fight.  Vera said that he’d answered that he was OK when asked by ref Dan Miragliotta and that he was just trying to ride out the round from that position. Mirgliotta was also the referee in last Saturday’s Kimbo Slice/James Thompson fight, and some have suggested that matchup was also stopped prematurely.