Struve/BuentelloGreat fight between the 2. Struve really showed that he has a granite chin, especially after that huge punch when he tried his flying knee. It was like Fedor/Arlovski again, except Struve regained his composure seconds after getting dropped. At 21 and with his height, I think he'll be a solid contender down the line, but I don't see him being a champion. He's a great kid though, very respectful, humble, and just loves to fight.
KenFlo/GuidaNot that it's anything new, but Guida likes to just randomly punch and kick the air without much regard for whether his opponent is even there. I'd be very interested in seeing what percentage of his strikes actually landed. Back to the fight, lots of blood
The only thing that I was impressed by with Guida in this fight was his burp when the doctor was checking his cut. And no surprise again, but KenFlo's elbows are VICIOUS.
Fitch/PierceFitch is still in my mind the second best welterweight in the world (behind GSP of course
). It's unfortunate he's still got geting the shot at the championship that he deserves. He's a great overall fighter and I feel like he won all aspects of the fight...erm...outside of that slam of course
It was a little closer in the stand-up, but Fitch was pretty much winning the stand-up outside of maybe the last minute of the fight.
Mir/KongoLike I said before, once Kongo goes down, he's done. The one thing I enjoyed from this fight, though it was technically after the fight, was the class that Mir showed in checking on the choked-out Kongo. Kongo has a long way to go before I would consider him a contender now. I don't know if he'll ever improve his ground game because it just doesn't seem like something he's even tried to improve after being man-handled during his last fight as well. It's a shame...he looks like a beast
Belcher/GouveiaFirstly, the pink trunks for Belcher...not working for him. At all. It was though a nice fight while it lasted with 2 guys just going at it. Nice combos by both guys, though the end of the fight looked like Belcher was hitting the back of Gouveia's head an awful lot. Gouveia probably would've lost anyways, but I would've given him a warning before the fight had ended. I believe he came out after the win saying he's ready for Silva...he's not. He does however deserve to be on the main card and at the end of the day, he did pretty much make it on.
Penn/SanchezSanchez, the best mean face in the UFC and the creator of the "Yes" cartwheel
I'll write more about this after I actually watch the fight.