History in the making, Couture-Coleman; Brazil sweeps the Main Card
One day before the New Orleans Saints wrote a new page in their franchise’s history, legendary fighter Mark Coleman, 45, indicated he would “probably” hang up the gloves after submitting to a rear-naked chokehold (1:09) from none other than Randy Couture, 46, in the second round of the Main Card Light Heavyweight bout at UFC 109.
The two were originally supposed to face off during the adolescent years of Ultimate Fighting Championship in 1998 at UFC 17, but were unable to because of a Couture injury.
After a ten-year hiatus from the Octagon, Coleman has lost two of three bouts. The latest bout featured an aggressive Couture, who was able to toss Coleman around the cage with little opposition in the first round. In the second, Couture continued the beating, eventually leading to the rear-naked choke that decided Coleman’s fate. The fight lasted just six minutes. Couture is now 18-10-0.
Also in the Main Card were two Middleweight fights and two Welterweight fights – three of which won bonuses. Fighters winning bonuses were granted $60,000.
In the Middleweight action, Brazilian Demian Maia faced off against the United States’ own, Dan Miller. After a devastating 21-second knockout was dished out by Nate Marquardt in August, Maia looked to rebound hard against Miller.
In the first round, Maia strategically used the stand-up game and his hands to send a message. Miller dropped his guard and ended up on his back, which gave Maia the upper hand early.
Throughout the rest of the match, it was a battle of martial arts tactics, and punches and kicks were landed on both sides. In the final frame, Maia tried for submissions against the cage on Miller, but was slightly unsuccessful. The final decision came unanimously in favor of Maia: 30-27, 29-28, 29-28.
Chael Sonnen handling Nate Marquardt; Image courtesy of mmaweekly.com
In what was named the “Fight of the Night,” Nate Marquardt took on the outspoken Chael Sonnen. Sonnen, who had words for Marquardt before the middleweight title eliminator, used his natural wrestling maneuvers to control the upper-hand on Marquardt for the entire match.
Despite Marquardt’s efforts, which resulted in a deep forehead cut for Sonnen, and a late pummeling in the closing seconds, Sonnen was still able to get the unanimous victory: 30-27, 30-27, 30-27. Sonnen now looks towards the winner of the Silva-Vitor at April’s UFC 112, hoping that Silva wins for the sake of battling “the lower road.”
In a more fast-paced bout, and what would be named “Submission of the Night,” welterweights Paulo Thiago (Brazil) and Mike Swick squared off in the Octagon. Thiago, now 13-1, was able to put away Swick very easily at 1:54 in Round 2 with a quick right-hand counter, which resulted in a lights-out D’Arce choke.
Check out the Countdown to UFC 109 Preview video below of the Thiago-Swick fight.
Finally, the Knockout of the Night was awarded to welterweight Matt Serra. Serra battled Frank Trigg in what would result in a quick and easy knockout at 2:23 in first round. After a nasty right-handed blow that would knock Trigg to the ground, Serra mounted his opponent and finished him off with punches, forcing the fight to be called due to a knockout.
Overall, Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center drew a crowd of 10,687, with a gate of $2.27 million.
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Tags: Anderson Silva, Las Vegas, Mark Coleman, Matt Serra, Randy Couture, UFC, UFC 109
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