UFC 101 recap

August 09, 2009 | Tim | Comments 0

UFC 101 Mixed Martial Arts

UFC 101 featured two of the most dominant fighters in the UFC in Anderson Silva and B.J. Penn, and they both delivered dominating performances.

In the main event, Penn completely shut down every aspect of Kenny Florian’s game. He was able to dodge Florian’s strikes, prevent takedowns, and eventually ended the fight with a rear naked choke in the fourth round. He wasn’t in danger at all throughout the entire fight, and proved once again that he is the most dominant lightweight in all of MMA. Next up for Penn should be a contest with Diego Sanchez, who Dana White recently said would receive the next title shot.

In the co-main event, Anderson Silva was out to prove that despite two lackluster title defenses in a row, he was still a force to be reckoned with. Silva battered former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin all around the cage, catching kicks, avoiding punches, and delivering many of his own. Very early on it was apparent that Griffin didn’t stand a chance. He got up from two knockdowns, but was eventually knocked out on a right jab as Silva was backing away. Griffin left the cage immediately afterwards to receive medical attention. The way that Silva dominated one of the bigger light heavyweights in the UFC was impressive and once again showed that he is one of the top three pound-for-pound fighters in the world. After the fight, Dana White discussed the possibility of Silva moving up to the light heavyweight division permanently and giving up his middleweight title. If he stays in the middleweight division, Dan Henderson has been promised the next title shot.

In other fights on the main card, former Division I wrestling champion Johny Hendricks improved to 6-0 with a quick TKO victory over former “The Ultimate Fighter” winner Amir Sadollah. Hendricks knocked Sadollah down early, and followed it up with more strikes on the ground. The stoppage by referee Dan Miragliotta seemed a bit early, but Sadollah was taking a lot of shots to the head.

In the middleweight division, Ricardo Almeida scored an impressive decision victory over Kendall Grove. Grove was unable to keep the fight standing, and that proved to be his downfall. Finally, in the lightweight division, Kurt Pellegrino was also impressive in his decision win over Josh Neer. Neer was able to open up Pellegrino with elbows late in the 3rd round, but it was too little too late. With the win, Pellegrino moves to 6-3 in the UFC and is on a three fight winning streak.

Full results:

B.J. Penn def. Kenny Florian via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 4, 3:54 (to defend lightweight title)

Anderson Silva def. Forrest Griffin via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 3:23

Aaron Riley def. Shane Nelson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Johnny Hendricks def. Amir Sadollah via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 0:29

Ricardo Almeida def. Kendall Grove via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 20-27)

Kurt Pellegrino def. Josh Neer via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS

John Howard def. Tamdan McCrory via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Alessio Sakara def. Thales Leites via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)

Matthew Riddle def. Dan Cramer via unanimous decision (29-27, 30-26, 30-27)

George Sotiropoulos def. George Roop via submission (kimura) – Round 2, 1:59