SPOILER ALERT</font>
The first fight was between Josh Koscheck and Johnathan Goulet.
Koscheck hit Goulet with a hard right and Goulet was stunned. He went for a takedown, but Koscheck reversed it and did some GnP til the ref stopped the fight. Koscheck in the post-fight mentioned the UG and how he was annoyed that everyone said that his technique consisted of LnP, and that he has been working on his standup. I admit he looked good. Goulet had "FOR RENT" shaved into his head.
The next fight had Dean Lister against Yuki Sasaki. Lister won by UD in a fight that saw him on top of Sasaki for most of the bout, attempting various subs. Sasaki got the best of the standup between the two, there just wasn't enough of it for him to pull out a win.
Chris Leben KO'd Jorge Santiago with a viscious left hook that landed square in the middle of Santiago's face. It was a good win for Leben, but he took a few shots from Santiago and doesn't appear to have improved his standup. He style consists of throwing haymakers that leave him wide open. He has improved his ground game though, or so it seemed, as he worked off of his back a few moments in the fight with Santiago in his guard, and did not get pounded or subbed.
In the main event, Diego Sanchez fought Karo Parisyan. This was an awesome fight. Parisyan threw Diego to the mat several times, reversed a number of subs, fought out from under Diego's GnP, and traded shots with Diego in the middle of the ring. Diego landed several shots throughout and Karo's face bore the marks of the blows by fights end. In the end, the judges saw it for Diego by UD. I don't have a problem with the decision, but one of the judges scored the fight 30-26, whereas the other two judges saw it 29-28, which was more accurate.
And in an undercard bout that was televised, Joe Riggs submitted Jason Von Flue by triangle choke, quite easily in the first round.
The one thing that keeps gnawing at me when I watch these fights is that I already wonder who will win a decision, even when one fighter dominates. Knowing that the UFC has to use the state's athletic commission's judges to score their fights has me concerned. As in boxing, I sometimes feel that the judges are giving the 'stars' the benefit of the doubt and not necessarily scoring the fight fairly. In the Diego - Karo fight, I found myself thinking that Karo would have to win by sub or KO in the 3rd, despite the fact that I felt at that time that both men had won one round apiece so far. Diego is a home grown star for the UFC, and is no doubt being groomed for a fight with GSP or Hughes sometime in the future. What are your thoughts?
