Results From Belfast, Northern Ireland

Today UFC 72 in Belfast, Northern Ireland was held and there was, as always, some controversy, some winners and some losers. For some, it was a night that would bring them into the spotlight, for others, it was a night to forget, or a night to whine about. Here's the fight by fight:

Dustin Hazlett v Stephen Lynch

The hometown boy Lynch suffered a tough defeat at the hands of Hazlett, who won by submission do to a choke from the half-guard at 2:50 in the first round.

Colin Robinson v Eddie Sanchez

This fight was a little bit more difficult for Sanchez than I expected it to be, but he did perform and finish as I expected him to.

Robinson managed to take the fight to the ground without being hit by Sanchez's heavy right hand. He got into the mount position, where Sanchez was finished in his last fight against the legendary Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic. Robinson, however, was unable to finish Sanchez and, though he locked what looked like a very deep and painful armbar, Sanchez escaped and mounted Robinson until the end of the first round.

The second round fell into place for Sanchez, and he put Robinson to sleep with a big right hand in 32 seconds to win the fight.

Marcus Davis v Jason Tan

I will admit, that I thought Davis was a little overrated. I did not think that his wins over decent fighters like Shonie Carter would hold up that much longer, but he pulled off an impressive victory over Jason Tan, knocking him out in 75 seconds. The referee quickly pulled Davis off of a stunned Tan.

Ed Herman v Scott Smith

Ed Herman won in style, dominating Smith from the start of the first round, when he took the fight immediately to the ground. While he did not finish Smith in the first round, he dominated positions throughout the round and won the round decisively.

The points that the judges marked down would never be used, as Herman finished Smith with a rear naked choke at 2:25 in the second round.

Tyson Griffin v Clay Guida

Perhaps I underestimated Clay Guida, perhaps I overestimated Tyson Griffin and his ability to rebound from his first career loss. Either way, my prediction of the fight was completely wrong.

Griffin and Guida went back and forth for three rounds. Griffin won the first round but I thought that Guida had the last two rounds won, finishing both in a good position and doing alot of damage to Griffin on the ground.

The judges did, however, hand Griffin a split decision. Still, I expected more from his return after the loss to Frankie Edgar.

Jason MacDonald v Rory Singer

It almost seems like I should start calling Jason MacDonald "the Ultimate Fighter Killer" since he is now 3-0 against veterans of the reality show.

I predicted that MacDonald would use his creative submissions and solid ground control to finish Rory Singer. I was partially right.

MacDonald took superior position on the ground in Round 2, mounting Singer and demolishing him from the mount. The referee stopped the fight at 3:18. Singer was upset by the stoppage, but the rule is in place to protect the fight and if a fighter appears unable to defend himself, if he is not working actively to get into a better position or to finish the fight, the referee's job is to protect that fighter and stop the fight. Yves Lavigne did just that.

I, personally, thought that the ground-and-pound finish looked eerily like the way Franklin destroyed MacDonald when they fought.

Forrest Griffin v Hector Ramirez

I will say that Ramirez performed better than I expected him to. He didn't just roll over and play dead.

While Griffin dominated the seemingly uncomfortable Ramirez, Ramirez landed some solid punches and cut Griffin in the first round.

However, one of Griffin's most redeeming qualities as a fighter is that he never gets demoralized. It seems like every time Forrest Griffin gets hit, he gets angrier. That was true for Ramirez, and as soon as the blood started to flow, Griffin went to work.

I've always thought of Griffin as a moderately technical fighter, but his technique standing up was very good against Ramirez. He used the whole arsenal of attacks, counter-punches, jabs, knees in the clinch and leg kicks. Really, he threw everything but the kitchen sink at Ramirez and won a well deserved unanimous decision.

Rich Franklin v Yushin Okami

There seems to be a trend tonight of expecting dominance. I expected Rich to come out and blast Okami with his standup, to outbox Okami on all levels, but Okami held up very well and took punishment very well.

I, personally, thought that Franklin came conditioned as well as he has in any fight, that the biggest difference was that Okami performed on a level that was much higher than my expectation.

Okami was outwrestled for most of the fight, and so Rich kept the fight standing for the first two rounds and controlled the standup very effectively.

In the third round Okami took the fight to the ground and got some impressive submission attempts, but Rich won the fight with a decision earned by winning the first two rounds.

It is looking, more and more, like Rich is back on track towards a title shot at the winner of Anderson Silva (champion) v Nate Marquardt (challenger) at UFC 73.