I originally saw this event live. I must admit I didn’t remember what a great card this was until a recent review. This event was held on July 5, 2008, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Corey Hill vs Justin Buchholz
Hill was known as the tallest lightweight in the UFC. With the height came a seven inch reach advantage. He came out strong in the early rounds showing off his cardio and solid striking. It looked like early in the fight Hill was going to take it with ease. Buchholz has a wrestling base and had been training with then WEC Champ Uriajiah Faber. Even though Justin had been punched in the face several times but started to land a lot of good leg kicks. Later in the first round he started to look a lot more comfortable. Even so Hill kept bring superior striking and killer uppercuts. Justin was rocked more than once to finish the first.
In the second round it looked it was only a natter of time before Hill’s striking finished the fight. However, Justin came out with a strong leg kick and rocked Hill followed by a flurry of punches. As they went to the ground, Hill tried to seperate Justin’s arm and jumped to side control but as Justin rolled his able to get to Hill’s back and sink in a huge rear naked choke FTW.
Melvin Guilliard vs Dennis Siver
One of the best performances of Guillard’s career. He came out and almost instantly caught the German with an overhand right that knocked him to the ground. Siver survived the initial on slaught and they both stood-up. In only a few seconds though Melvin caught him again and then just reigned down a flurry of punches that reminded me of a Vitor Belfort finish. Currently he doesn’t look like Guillard has come very far. He still isn’t a well known lightweight and isn’t considered in the top five.
Jorge Gurgel – Cole Miller
Both of these guys opened with decent striking, clinche and working their opponent. Later in the 1st Miller got rocked. He was able to regain his composure in the clinche. After a few leg kicks round one was in the books.
After almost two rounds of back and forth striking with less than a minute when the fight went to the ground Jorge left his arm in the guard and Miller slipped in a nice triangle. This was an amazing submission of a long-time jujitsu black belt.
Gaberial Gonzaga vs Justin Mccully
Mccully had been working his way up the heavyweight ranks and caught Gonzaga on his way down. Geberial, once a title contender became a gate keeper and tested Mccully. This fight was all Gonzaga as he dropped Mccully early with a tremendous Leg Kick. This put Gonzaga on top and he was just to much. With the mount he easily put on an Americana.
Tyson Griffin vs Marcus Aurelio
Griffin basically dominated the entire fight. Oddly enough he hasn’t done a whole lot in his career since then. Griffin is one of those guys that’s hard to match up with the fighters currently in the division. It has yet to be seen whether or not Aurelio has since developed. After watching this fight it’s obvious that he needs to work pretty much everything except jujitsu.
Patrick Cote vs Ricardo Almeida
This was a really close fight. Usually even when the judges have a close decision I still have a clear winner in my head. It looked like Almedia ground n pounded the first round, but Cote scrapped out the second. The third round was extremely close. I believe this fight really gives props to Almedia though.
Looking back cote had a title shot against Anderson Silva because he beating and finishing guys and the fact he couldn’t do anything with Ricardo is kind of amazing. Cote has the Split decision. Watching this fight it’s easy to see how Almedia lost a fight to Matt Hughes.
Jackson vs Griffin:
Well, I certainly remember this fight quite vividly. All I can think about is leg kicks and Forrest taking Rampage’s belt. Jackson did do more damage in the first round than what I remember. Forrest had already worn that leg out in the 2nd and Rampage dropped so he could get elbows for the rest of the round. I enjoyed this fight more the second time around. It’s kind of funny how irrelevant both of these guys seem now at the light-weight division has taken on a completely new form.
