Melvin Guillard vs. Gleison Tibau
Tibau chooses Iron Man. It's way overused, but every time that song starts blasting though an arena, I can't help getting a few goose bumps.
Round 1:
After a few exchanges, Tibau earns a hard-fought takedown but Guillard recovers quickly and neither fighter seems too interested in fighting anymore. Guillard lands a slapping kick to Tibau's midsection but Tibau catches it and scores a takedown. Tibau recovers and lefts Guillard off the mat to slam him back down, but he lets him up. Tibau doesn't seem anxious to get him on the mat, which is very surprising.
Round 2:
Opening the round, Tibau looks much more determined to get the takedown. He likely got some advise from his corner the stop messing around on the feet, but Guillard is not giving in. Out of nowhere, it's Guillard who gets a takedown but immediately gets back to his feet. He wants nothing to do with Tibau on the mat. Tibau has him pinned against the fence and Guillard goes for a throw but Tibau ducks it and lands on top of the fallen Guillard. Guillard's back is against the fence for a few moments but Tibau can't capitalize and Guillard gets back up. Tibau finally gets a solid takedown but there's only a few seconds left.
Round 3:
Guillard lands two solid rights in the face of Tibau and has him backpedaling. In desperation, Tibau shoots in and scores another takedown. He goes into mount and it doesn't look good for Guillard. Melvin gets it back to half guard and he's effectively fighting off any attempts. Wow, Guillard makes it back to the feet. Tibau gets it back to the ground and is in half guard. It looks like Guillard will survive the round, but I think Tibau has done enough to secure the decision.
Holy Sh*t, Guillard gets the spilt decision. That is extremely surprising, but the crowd doesn't seem to mind. Tibau, on the other hand, is very disappointed and understandably so.
Brad Blackburn vs. Edgar Garcia
Garcia has a tall order in Brad Blackburn for his UFC debut. He's undefeated in seven fights, which is impressive, but Blackburn has a ridiculous experience advantage over him and has been on fire lately. Also, "Bad" Blackburn chose Michael Jackson's Bad, so it's going to be tough to beat that.
Despite the Michael Jackson, Garcia seems to be the crowd favorite here at the Palms. I can't explain that.
Round 1:
Almost immediately Blackburn lands a hard right that almost put him to sleep. Blackburn continues to be the aggressor, so Garcia shoots in for a takedown. Brad sprawls and looks for a choke, but Garcia muscles through and lifts Brad off the Canvas and drops him on his head. Bad Brad gets right back up but he's looking much more tentative. That takedown could have rocked him pretty bad. He seems to be finding his groove again as he starts to be a little more liberal with his strikes. Blackburn goes for a high kick and Garcia catches it. He's able to stay on his feet but barely and Garcia is looking to take advantage but the bell rings and Blackburn will have some time to recover.
Round 2:
Blackburn is very active, throwing a lot of feints but he's having trouble fooling Garcia. Garcia catches one in the Jimmies but he only needs a few seconds. Not much else to report from this round. There was very little real action so it's tough to tell who won, but I think that could have been Garcia's first.
Round 3:
Edgar lands a short left and Blackburn throws a lazy leg kick. The kid from before just called these girls again; let's see if he has the same effect this time. Wow, it actually seems to be working, Garcia is finally opening up and putting on the pressure. Blackburn is in danger of losing this fight if he doesn't make something happen quickly. Blackburn almost gets a takedown, but Garcias defends and as the 10-second warning sounds, Garcia really opens up and drops Blackburn. Phenominal way to end the fight.
I would say the first round went to Blackburn and the last round was definitely Garcia so that leaves the second round as the toss up.
The decision comes back and Blackburn wins by split. The crowd is VERY upset. Blackburn reveals that his shoulder popped in the first round so he couldnt throw any more rights. I missed that but it would explain why he was more reserved in later rounds.
Ricco Rodriguez just went to follow Drwal into the locker room, which is good in case Drwal is looking for tips on how to ruin his life.
Tomasz Drwal vs. Mike Ciesnolevicz
Mike C. has UFC youngster in his corner and Ben Rothwell, who's wearing flip flops. I guess "laid back" is the philosophy for this catch weight fight.
Round 1:
Drwal scores an easy takedown on the Division I wrestler, but Mike recovers. Drwal scores another takedown and fires some heavy punches. Mike gets up and gets taken right back down. He is getting manhandled. Drwal gets another takedown and almost gets mount, but Mike gets up and eats another set of flurry punches. Some kid just yelled "C'mon you little girls." I guess Drwal heard because he just opened fire on Mike and stung him with a series of lefts and rights. He sends a knee into Mike's forehead and Mike goes down like a fallen tree but he's covering up so the fight goes on. From here it takes Drwal only a few seconds of ground n' pound before referee Herb Dean jumps in and calls it.
Nick Osipczak vs. Frank Lester
A little Biggie Smalls for Lester's walkout to bring a little East Coast to the desert. I can't argue with that, though I'm not too pumped about his nickname Frank "The Tank" Lester.
Round 1:
USA chants immediately kickoff when the round opens. Nick catches a Lester low kick and scores a quick takedown. He has a side mount but Lester gets up before taking any damage at all. Locked up in the clinch, Lester is eating a few knees. Lester gets a bear hug but can't take it to the mat. Nick breaks free and they light each other up with an explosion of strikes. Nick hurts Lester good left and sent him stumbling, so he goes in for a takedown but Nick spins behind and grabs a rear naked choke. It's all over. Very "Slick" Nick Osipczak, in deed.
Some dude in the crowd has been yelling for like five muntes about how much he loves Joe Rogan. I guess he'll be tuning is for the Joe Rogan Comedy Special after the fight (you see what I did there? We, in the business, call that cross-promotion).
Jason Dent vs. Cameron Dollar
Round 1:
Not much stalling, these guys are out of the gates swinging. It was a long season with these two locked in the house together and you can just tell how it good it feels for them to finally go at it. It looks like pleasure might mean pain for Dent, though -Dollar is picking him apart on the exchanges. HE scored a takedown in the middle of the round. He quickly got up. Dollar continues to score points. He shoots in for a takedown, but Dent stuffs and locks up an anaconda choke. It looks tight but Dollar is fighting it off. I can't really tell but I think Dollar is smiling. with about :20 left, he finally taps.
