UFC 115 Results

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Here are the full results of UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin:


SPIKE TV Card

Lightweight Bout: Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman

Wiman defeated Danzig via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:45 of round 1.

Lightweight Bout: Tyson Griffin vs. Evan Dunham

Dunham defeated Griffin via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28).

Main Card

Welterweight Bout: Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald

Condit defeated MacDonald via TKO at 4:53 of round 3.

Heavyweight Bout: Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel

Rothwell defeated Yvel via unanimous decision. (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

Welterweight Bout: Paulo Thiago vs. Martin Kampmann

Kampmann defeated Thiago via unanimous decision. (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Co-Main Event, Heavyweight Bout: Mirko Cro Cop vs. Pat Barry

Cro Cop defeated Barry via submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:30 of Round 3.

Main Event, Light Heavyweight Bout: Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin

Franklin defeated Liddell via knock out (punch) at 4:57 of Round 1.

I am going to start at the top of the card and give my standout moments and thoughts.
Liddel looked good against Franklin, until he didn't. To start the fight, Chuck was doing well throwing and landing punches and kicks. Both guys had some really good exchanges in the early going. Very late in the 1st, Chuck went for a big over hand right, missed, and Franklin did not. Franklin countered Chuck and put out his lights...again. That made me think, Chuck use to make guys come to him and KO them. Now, Chuck follows into huge punches. It was sad to see, but this has to be the end for Liddel. He has now lost 5 of his last 6 and has been KOed 4 times. This has to be his final MMA fight.

The 1st round was all Barry, but Cro Cop dominated the final 2 rounds and put Barry away in impressive fashion. Barry had Mirko on the mat twice after landing a couple of good shots, but he did not follow up. He kept letting Cro Cop back to his feet and I cold not figure out why.

Thiago was simply dominated. Everytime he went for a takedown, Kampman stuff it everytime and got control position.

Rothwell/Yvel was a great fight for the first 2 rounds. They went back and fourth trading shots and Yvel got out of trouble on the ground a few times. He then punished Rothwell. Yvel lost this fight when he tried for a takedown to start the 3rd, but Rothwell stuffed him, and took control for the last 5 mins.

Carlos Condit was losing to Rory MacDonald for most of the fight. Condit had to finish him in the 3rd or else he was going to lose. The end of the fight was controversial because the ref called it with about 7 secs left in the fight. I personally thought it was a good call because MacDonald was dazed and could not find his corner after the fight.

Tyson Griffin was compeletly dominated by Evan Dunham and I can't figure out how Griffin had a 29-28 on a score card.

Well since I've only seen the prelims so far, I'll give my thoughts on those.

Griffin/Dunham
Going into this fight, I would've chosen Griffin for the win. He's got some heavy hands and leg kicks, but he's obviously much shorter and lacks the reach. What's I guess a little surprising in this fight and something I haven't seen before is how Griffin basically just stood up with the much taller Dunham hanging on his back with a body triangle. It's hard enough to keep your breathing when you're on the ground with a body triangle on you, let alone getting up and walking around. I too was surprised by the 29-28 Griffin as I had it 30-27 myself, possible 29-28 Dunham if I was generous.

Wiman/Danzig
Just a horrible stoppage by the ref. If he was going to check if Danzig was still conscious, he should've gone to his head side to check his other arm where I'm sure he would've actually seen Danzig's eyes open and alert. Danzig took the loss very well though, not blaming anyone for what happened, and I expect a rematch between the 2 soon.

And the rest of the fights:

Condit/MacDonald

MacDonald may be the youngest fighter in the UFC, but he's damn good already. He did an excellent job getting Condit on the ground by timing when Condit lifts one of his legs off the ground. However, when it got to the ground, Rory's GnP wasn't that great and Condit probably did more damage on the ground. While MacDonald did score 4-0 in takedowns in the first round, I don't think I'd go as far to say that he dominated the round. I think Condit definitely did more damage, but because of the takedowns, 10-9 MacDonald. Second round was fairly even on the ground and I feel as though Condit did more damage on their feet (and that spinning kick thing looked awesome and that double front kick at the end of the round was fuckin sick), so I would've given the round to Condit 10-9. Then Condit comes out and completely dominates in the third round. I disagree with Rogan and I would say that Condit won 2 rounds. And even if Condit had lost the first 2 round like Rogan thinks, if the fight went to the judges, I think Condit did deserve a 10-8 and it would've been at worst a draw. Very well deserved fight of the night. Give MacDonald 2 or 3 years and this kid will be in title contention IMO.

Yvel/Rothwell
Great start to the fight. What impressed me the most in the first round was how versatile they were on the ground getting position and reversing them. And we're talking big boys here, legit heavyweights and not the smaller weight classes that you can easily buck off and push around. I think after seeing that second round, you'll understand why I chose Yvel for the KO of the night. The dude has some serious striking ability and power behind his shots even though he was gassed from having Big Ben on him for 2 rounds. Starting off that third round, it seemed like Big Ben was going for the glove tap to start the round, but Yvel just shot in, which I don't feel was right if Big Ben was really going for the glove tap to start the round. If not, then it was a good strategy to get an advantage early in the round.

Thiago/Kampmann
Thiago has been a bit of a disappointment for me ever sinice he got into the UFC. He had all these submission wins before hitting the UFC, then hasn't really done much in terms of submissions since coming. They talk about his power, but he''s only got 1 or 2 KOs in his entire career. Add on the 3-2 or 4-2 record in the UFC with like 3 decisions and I just don't think Thiago is going to find himself at the top of the division anytime soon. He just didn't look that great against Kampmann again in this fight on their feet or on the ground. As you said, he got dominated.

Cro Cop/Barry
This was just a fun fight. Both guys stand and bang, they respect each other, and just the smiles in the first round showed how much fun they were having. You were wondering why Barry kept letting Cro Cop back up? Because he knows that he's no match for Cro Cop on the ground and he doesn't even want to try it with him on top. I mentioned in the bookie thread, if Cro Cop wanted to take it to the ground, he'd win for sure because Barry is THAT bad on the ground. Barry's ground game isn't that much better than mine If I had a say in things, I would've made this co-fight of the night along with the Condit/MacDonald fight. The fact that he lobbied for it post-fight was awesome as well

Liddell/Franklin
If Chuck didn't get KOed at the end of the first round, this would've been a great fight to watch. Both were evenly matched with strikes, boths hands and legs, mixed with a little ground game. Unfortunately, Chuck went down and Ace picked up the win after probably losing most of the first round. I remember reading online a while back that there is some biological explanation for jaws getting worse with age and I think that's what's happening to Chuck. He's just getting old and father time is catching up with him. He had a great career in the UFC and now it's just time to move on to other things.

At the end of the interview when Joe Rogan asked Ace what weight class he'll be fighting at next and he said "ask Dana, Lorenzo, and the UFC", that's exactly what I elluded to before. He wants to change weight classes to give himself a chance at a title shot, but the UFC always offers him a fight at another weight class or catchweight and he's such a "company man" that he'll do whatever the UFC asks him to and he ends up not being in the hunt for any title.

I like the fact that Franklin is willing to fight whoever the UFC puts in front of him and maybe that will earn him a title shot down the line.

But the "whoever they put in front of him" is never really the guys that will move him up the ladder. What was beating a declining Chuck Liddell going to do for him? Or a returning Vitor Belfort who doesn't have much UFC credibility in a long time. Or a declining Wanderlei Silva. It's been about a year and a half since he fought any sort of fight that might help his career and it was a loss to Hendo.

You're right. Hopefully they will decide to keep him in the LHW div and he can start to see where he is, in relation to the current top contenders.