Silva, Sherk Successfully Defend Titles at UFC 73; Ortiz foul costs him win

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By Thomas Gerbasi

SACRAMENTO, July 7 – It was supposed to be one of Anderson Silva’s toughest tests, but instead, his win over respected challenger Nate Marquardt at the Arco Arena tonight proved to be one of his greatest victories, as he defended his UFC middleweight crown for the first time with a decisive first round TKO in the UFC 73 main event.

With the win, Silva improves to 19-4; Marquardt falls to 28-7-1.

After briefly jarring Marquardt with a punch in the opening minute of the fight, Silva’s attempt at an acrobatic follow-up kick earned him a trip to the canvas.  While there, Silva did work effectively with strikes from the bottom, while Marquardt did his fair share of damage from the top.  With 1:30 left, referee John McCarthy re-started the action despite the fact that both fighters were active on the ground, and Silva opened up, forcing Marquardt to look for the takedown.  But just when it seemed that Marquardt had weathered the storm and would survive the round, Silva’s brutal power erupted and he landed on the challenger with a series of right hands that forced McCarthy to halt the bout at 4:50 of the opening round.

Silva’s victory over Travis Lutter at UFC 67 in February was a non-title bout due to Lutter’s failure to make the 185-pound weight limit.  

A second round foul cost Tito Ortiz dearly in his highly anticipated light heavyweight bout against rising star Rashad Evans, as a unanimous decision win instead turned into a three round draw thanks to a point deducted from the former light heavyweight champion for holding the fence as Evans attempted to secure a takedown.

Scores were 28-28 across the board.

“It wasn’t my best performance and Rashad was tough as hell,” said Ortiz.  “Rashad, we can do it again.”

“I thought I had that fight,” said Evans. “Please, Tito-Rashad II.”

Ortiz (16-5-1) drew first blood with a takedown in the opening seconds, and the crowd chanted ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’s name in response.  Evans (15-0-1) did work his way back to his feet and tried to flurry, but Ortiz fired back and again clinched with Evans, pushing him to the fence.  A lost mouthpiece by Evans forced a re-start, and while the former Michigan State Spartan circled his foe, Ortiz scored with leg kicks and the occasional jab upstairs.  As the round entered its final minute, the two combatants battled it out against the fence, with Ortiz emerging with a cut under his right eye.

There was little action in the early stages of the second round, with Evans’ first takedown attempt getting tossed aside by Ortiz being the only notable action in the first half of the round.  Again the action moved to the fence, with Ortiz working his Muay Thai clinch as Evans scored with a punch that reopened the cut under Ortiz’ eye.  With blood streaming down his face and with Evans finally looking like his offense was together, Ortiz shot in and went for what he knows best – the takedown and ground and pound.  Evans did work his way back up while getting a takedown of his own in the waning moments of the round, a series punctuated by Ortiz getting a point deducted for holding the fence. Ortiz almost had the last laugh though, as he sunk in a guillotine choke that looked like it could have produced a submission if locked in earlier.

Ortiz again took the bout to the mat in the third and final round, looking to put the finishing touches on his foe, and while Evans didn’t ever seem to be in any serious danger, he was not doing enough offensively to sway the judges in his favor.  With under two minutes to go, McCarthy re-started the stalemated action and Evans let his hands go in an effort to protect his unbeaten record.  But while he was landing, he wasn’t hurting Ortiz, and though Evans finally got the big takedown he was looking for with ten seconds left in the round, it was apparently too little too late to get the win.

“It took a little while, but I felt him break,” said Evans of the final sequence.

UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk stayed the course in his first title defense against Hermes Franca, grounding and pounding his way to a clear-cut five round unanimous decision that made it obvious that he will be a tough man to knock off the throne.

Scores were 50-45 twice, and 49-46 for Sherk, who improved to 36-2-1.  Franca falls to 19-6.

Franca got things off to a great start for fight fans with a knee to the head, and Sherk answered in kind with a double leg takedown that Franca responded to with a tight guillotine.  Sherk eventually shook off the hold and brought the frantic pace down to a manageable level, getting into the mount position and then side control in an effort to extinguish Franca’s offensive game.  The Fortaleza, Brazil native stayed cool under the pressure of ‘The Muscle Shark’, but the champion’s pure physical strength was proving to be a formidable obstacle.

In desperate need of a change of fortune, Franca began round two the way he did the first round, and this time, his knee to the head rattled Sherk and dropped him.  Again, Franca went for the guillotine choke, but it was not as deep as the earlier attempt and Sherk easily slipped out and got back to the business of imposing his will on the challenger – and that he did, in steady, yet unspectacular, fashion.  With under a minute left, Franca found some daylight and went for the guillotine again, but just as before, Sherk was able to escape and last the round.

Sherk avoided the obligatory early round knee from Franca in the third, taking his foe down almost immediately. Perhaps it was a sign that fatigue was setting in on the gutsy challenger, who was unable to get Sherk out of his face long enough to mount a sustained offensive, while the champion kept working and working and piling up the punishing points.

Franca’s knee came back in the fourth, yet Sherk absorbed this one well and again put the Brazilian on his back.  Franca did eventually work his way back up to his feet, but he paid a price for it when Sherk airmailed him back to the mat with a thunderous slam.  With under two minutes left, the two stood and Franca swung for the fences.  It was to no avail, as he was put down again, drawing groans from the restless crowd.

With one round to turn things around, Franca began the fifth aggressively, but Sherk’s defense for the knee to the head finally tightened up, and his solid plan of repeatedly putting the challenger on his back continued to work like a charm, making it crystal clear to all 155-pound title challengers after another dominant round that if you don’t have an answer for Sherk’s strength and wrestling, you’ll be in for a long night.

Former PRIDE heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira made his Octagon debut tonight against a familiar face in Heath Herring, but ‘The Texas Crazy Horse’ gave the Brazilian all he could handle before losing a close but unanimous three round decision.

Scores were 29-28 for Nogueira, who also defeated Herring in 2001 and 2004, when the two were in the PRIDE organization.

“Everybody asked me, ‘why fight Heath a third time,’” said Nogueira. “”He showed you why.  He’s a warrior and a much improved fighter since the last time we fought.”

Both fighters could wear that moniker after this heated battle.

Nogueira (30-4-1) wasted no time getting acclimated to the Octagon, tripping Herring (27-13, 1 NC) and taking him to the canvas in the early going.  Herring fought well defensively though, working his way back to his feet, where he landed with punches and kicks but was unable to jar ‘Minotauro’, who fired back with crisp 1-2s to the head.  With a little over two minutes left, Nogueira jarred Herring with a left to the head, and his crisper punch and knee attacks were paying dividends as he bloodied Herring’s nose and put him on the defensive.

With under a minute to go though, Herring, bloodied and bruised, struck paydirt with a left kick to the face that put Nogueira flat on his back.  Herring pounced on his dazed foe and appeared to be a punch or two from victory, but in an effort to make sure he wasn’t submitted by the always dangerous Nogueira, he let him up and scored with more flush shots before the bell intervened.

“I’ve never been hit like that in a fight,” said Nogueira.  “I showed my heart.”

The pace was more measured in round two, with both warily circling each other and looking for an opening.  With under three minutes to go, Nogueira got his and took Herring to the mat.  It looked like the match wound end there as Nogueira looked for a submission, but Herring again fought his way out and back to his feet.  Herring scored well with leg kicks, but by the end of the round, Nogueira had secured another takedown and was pounding away as the frame ended.

In round three, Nogueira worked his way in with strikes to get Herring down, and he looked to have finally worn ‘The Texas Crazy Horse’ down, but Herring fought his way out of trouble twice as the crowd saluted his courageous effort.  The damage had been done on the scorecards though, and while Herring went down fighting, he had not done enough to break his losing streak against the Brazilian standout.

Lightweight contender Kenny Florian may have been fighting after the Silva-Marquardt main event, but he performed as if he was the headliner as he fought off a game challenge from newcomer Alvin Robinson (9-2) to stop the Denver fighter with ground strikes at 4:30 of the opening round.

“Who wants to see fights finished at 155,” asked Florian who ups his record to 9-3.  “I finish fights.”

In preliminary action…

‘The Ultimate Fighter’ season one finalist Stephan Bonnar made a triumphant return to the Octagon in his first fight since a nine month suspension, submitting Mike Nickels in the first round of their light heavyweight bout.

Bonnar was suspended after his 2006 loss to Forrest Griffin after testing positive for the steroid boldenone.

Bonnar (13-4) came out looking to end the bout with his first offensive assault, but after a brief exchange, the fight hit the mat, with Nickels (5-2), then Bonnar taking turns on top of the action.  After a short spell of chaos though, it was Bonnar taking control with his jiu-jitsu game, and he eventually sunk in the fight ending rear naked choke at the 2:14 mark.

Fortaleza can be proud of both Jorge Gurgel and Diego Saraiva, as the two Brazilian lightweights fought courageously for local bragging rights, with Gurgel emerging victorious via a three round unanimous decision.

Scores were 30-27 across the board for Gurgel (14-2), in a bout that was much closer than those scores would indicate.

Gurgel took the opening round thanks to busy work on the feet and effective ground and pound, but Saraiva (9-5-1) hung tough and landed some hard shots to the head of his own late in the frame.  

The pace picked up in the second, with a series of toe-to-toe exchanges that got the crowd roaring.  It was Saraiva who was getting the better of the action though, a fact that was written all over Gurgel’s bruised and swollen face.

With the fight appearing to be up for grabs in the final round, Gurgel tightened up his standup distance and landed quick flurries before getting out of range, not allowing Saraiva a chance to counter.  And while Saraiva fought fairly effectively when the fight hit the mat, the busier Gurgel was scoring more points, and took home the well-earned decision.

In a battle of Indiana welterweights, Indianapolis’ Chris Lytle (33-14-4) broke a two fight losing streak in impressive fashion, grounding and pounding and then submitting late replacement Jason Gilliam (11-2) of Muncie at 2:15 of the first round.

“I’m gonna try to finish every fight as soon as I can,” said Lytle, who worked his foe over on the mat before sinking in a triangle choke and a kimura at the same time. Eventually, it was the triangle that produced the tap out by Gilliam, who had replaced the injured Drew Fickett.

In the lightweight opener, unbeaten Frankie Edgar continued to impress, following up his February win over Tyson Griffin with a first round stoppage of Woodbridge, Ontario’s Mark Bocek.

With the exception of a broken nose and a flash knockdown scored by Bocek (4-1) in the second minute, Edgar (7-0) was in control the entire way behind crisp standup attacks and solid takedown and submission defense, never allowing his foe – a jiu-jitsu black belt - to get untracked.  With the seconds ticking away in the opening around, an unanswered series of punches on the ground brought referee Jon Schorle in to halt the bout at 4:55 of the opening stanza.

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