Contributor: Josh Hall
Ultimate Fight Night 29 is in the books, and it definitely had its ups and downs. Grappling fans salivated at the idea of Jake Shields and Damien Maia on the ground, but it quickly turned into a battle for positional control with virtually no damage done by either man and there were no serious submission attempts. I am very impressed that Shields was able to control Maia on the ground as well as he was, and though I personally scored the fight 48-48 I have no problem with the split decision for Shields. It was a very close fight, and we all learned that Damien Maia has no business anywhere near GSP and Jake Shields has very elite BJJ.
The co-main event had the shocking moment of the card as a fading Dong Hyun Kim found a monster left hand somewhere in his reserve and absolutely flatlined Erick Silva. Kim had won the first round handily but his constant pressure had totally blown out his gas tank and Silva appeared moments away from securing the finish himself before he was unconscious. Kim won $50k for the knockout of the night, his first OTN bonus in the UFC and his first finish since 2008.
Matt Hamill and Thiago Silva had a hideously ugly fight that was honestly not UFC quality in the least. Silva came in totally out of shape and Hamill has no business in the cage at this point. Hamill definitely held his own in the first round, finding a lot of success with left hooks to the liver of the Brazilian who was breathing out of his mouth before the round ended. Hamill faded terribly in the second round, and was a human punching bag by the third round. The last 45 seconds of the fight should have never happened, as either Hamill’s corner or the referee should have stepped in and saved the completely defenseless fighter.
Fabio Maldonado vs Joey Beltran was less the slugfest fans were hoping for and more a sloppy fight that wasn’t very pleasant to watch. Beltran won a very ugly first round before Maldonado began using his jab more effectively to win the second. He was constantly trying to avoid getting pressed against the cage, then when he got an advantage put himself there voluntarily for some reason. The third round was a pure slopfest, and Maldonado may have gotten little home cooking in getting a split decision victory.
Rousimar Palhares is the dirtiest fighter in the UFC in my opinion. I should be praising his amazing 31 second submission win over ultra-tough Mike Pierce, but instead that is overshadowed by him holding onto a submission too long again. It happened very fast, but after the referee had stepped in and with Pierce tapping frantically Palhares did not release the hold, but instead cranked on it one more time. I find his repeated actions deplorable and I hope he is given a lengthy suspension for this. There is simply no place in the sport for it.
Raphael Assuncao and TJ Dillashaw opened the main card with an absolute barnburner that earned both men the $50k FOTN bonus. In a very competitive first round the highlight was a lighting quick standing back take by Dillashaw followed by threatening with a rear naked choke. Round 2 went to Assuncao, showcasing a well-rounded stand up attack and picking apart Dillashaw at range. I thought that Dillashaw did enough to win a very close third round but the judges did not, and Assuncao walked away with an impressive split decision victory (Yes, that is 3 split decisions).
Igor Araujo pulled an upset in the main event of the prelims, dominating a totally uninspired Ildemar Alcantara en route to a unanimous decision victory. Yan Cabral put on a grappling clinic against David Mitchell, who likely is looking at his release with a 1-4 record in the Octagon. Cabral won 30-27 on all 3 cards, and judges showed yet again they have no concept of scoring a 10-8 round (Cabral arguably had 2).
Iliarde Santos came out with a visible size and strength advantage over Chris Cariaso and he thoroughly dominated a first round in which the American looked totally overwhelmed. Cariaso did a better job of mixing up his striking in the second round but will still getting hit hard when a switch seemed to flip on and everything changed. Santos landed a big knee to the head, and Cariaso nodded at him and his whole demeanor changed. His next strike wobbled Santos, and he proceeded to batter him for the remainder of the round until the referee stepped in for the TKO just as Santos appeared ready to fall. Amazing comeback win for Cariaso.
Alan Patrick showed off some of his capoeira style in his short encounter with Garret Whitely before catching him with a left hook and lightning fast ground and pound to secure the stoppage. It was very impressive UFC debut for the Brazilian.
All in all this wasn’t a bad card, but it was a very dull affair for a good deal of it. There were enough awesome moments to make it worth watching, but it was tough to sit watch as many grinding fights and gassed out fighters as we saw.
Episode 6 begins with Jessamyn Duke and Raquel Pennington talking about their history that went back long before the show. Duke was supposed to fight Pennington in her pro debut but her coaches decided she was not ready for that yet and pulled her from the fight. Raquel talks briefly about how supportive her girlfriend is and how strained her family life was after she came out to her parents.
We get quickly into the Team Tate training session, and Raquel is being trained at length in anti-clinch work in an attempt to neutralize the Muay Thai of Jessamyn. Miesha talks about Raquel being the strongest woman on her team, and her only real weakness being a tendency to start slow.
Everyone gets a break from being stuck in the house when the fighters get to watch fights at a pool party hosted by Hooters girls. Raquel muses about all the good food she can’t eat because she is finishing her weight cut, while Jessamyn stays at the house by herself to mentally prepare for her fight. Everyone else seems to have a good time, and Ronda and Miesha are able to miraculously occupy the same space without an altercation.
Anthony Gutierrez has to be that guy, getting too drunk and yelling and screaming while people are trying to sleep. Both fighters that are preparing to weigh in the next day are not pleased, needless to say. We get a short segment on Jessamyn working with Edmond to use her long limbs to better keep range, and we are very quickly to fight time.
Duke comes out working her jab early and finds some success on the outside. As Miesha correctly pointed out earlier in the show, Pennington takes some time to really get going. Duke threatens with a standing guillotine but Pennington gets out and begins blasting away with heavy punches. She does a good bit of damage in the last minute of the round, but it wasn’t enough to overcome all the work done by Duke in the first 3:30. 10-9 Duke.
Pennington comes out throwing bombs to start the second round, and she is able to hurt Duke early. She gets her pinned against the cage and looks for the finish, but Duke desperately grabs a Thai clinch and lands a series of big knees. She spoke in her fighter blog about actually feeling the lights dimming in that moment, and she was clearly badly hurt when the round ended. It is never good when a fighter talks about their coach needing to tell them to wake up between rounds, but Duke never considers quitting on the stool. It is really interesting reading about the fight from her perspective, and I highly recommend giving it a look.
(http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1805365-tuf-18-jessamyn-duke-fighter-blog-episode-6)
The second round will undoubtedly go down as the round of the season on TUF, and in my opinion is one of the best rounds of the year so far. Pennington definitely won the round, but Duke kept coming despite taking massive damage and both women landed huge blows.
Round 3 begins and Pennington immediately begins to tee off on Duke again, but the battered and bloodied woman fights back again after being rocked early in the round. They slug it out to the final bell, neither woman giving an inch in a fight that was an absolute pleasure to watch. Pennington did more damage, but Duke made the round close in the latter half. The judges do not see it her way though, and Pennington advances to the semifinals in a hard earned victory.
Raquel Pennington (Team Tate) defeats Jessamyn Duke (Team Rousey) via unanimous decision.
Miesha selects Josh Hill vs Michael Wooten for next week’s matchup.
-Josh can be reached at [email protected] or @jhall282.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
