Smark Rant: UFC 37 High Impact

Lightweights:  BJ Penn v. Paul Creighton

This should be quick, as Creighton took this on short notice.  Creighton tries for a takedown and gets stuffed, and Penn wraps him up and throws knees from the clinch.  Creighton tries for the takedown again, and Mir questions the wisdom of deliberately going into Penn’s guard.  I agree.  They fight against the fence and Penn throws knees from there.  Creighton tries for a single-leg, but Penn totally blocks him and pulls guard, then lets him up.  They clinch on the fence until the end of the round.  10-9 Penn, he was totally in control the whole round and I don’t know why he didn’t push harder for a finish.

Second round and they’re clinching on the fence and the ref quickly stops them.  They’re back on the fence again, and this time BJ beats him down to the mat, but can’t go anywhere with it.  Creighton tries to lure him into his guard, but Penn mounts him and finishes at 3:22.  Another dominant win for Penn, as he recovers nicely from the loss to Pulver.

Heavyweights:  Ricco Rodriguez v. Tsuyoshi Kosaka

Weird to see Kosaka in the Zuffa era.  TK takes Ricco down, but he walks the wall and gets his own throw.  He works for an armbar, then suddenly passes guard and gets full mount.  Kosaka gets a slick escape and goes for a leglock, forcing Ricco to stand it up again.  Back to the mat and Ricco gets an armbar out of nowhere, but TK calmly rolls out of it and back into the guard again.  Ricco passes again and gets full mount, but TK spins out again.  They slug it out on their feet and the round expires.  10-9 Ricco.

Round two and Ricco gets another takedown, but TK gets up and stands up with Ricco.  Ricco takes him down and sure enough passes guard again.  He throws bombs from full mount and they stop it as a result, at 3:25.  Very much a “passing the torch” type of fight.

Middleweight title:  Murilo Bustamante v. Matt Lindland

Lindland goes into the clinch right away, but it backfires when Bustamante gets the takedown.  They do some good work on the ground and Bustamante snaps off an armbar…but Big John prematurely breaks it up before Lindland taps, made worse by Bustamante releasing before he was sure.  Weird.  So they start again from standing and fight from the clinch until the end of the round.  Well you have to give that one to Bustamante, 10-9.  Replay shows Lindland might have tapped, but it’s hard to say.

Round two and Bustamante gets a surprising takedown on Lindland.  Lindland reverses into a choke attempt, but gives it up and they stand again.  Lindland takes him down this time, then they stand again, with Bustamante pulling guard to get it to the ground again.  Not much going on, so they stand it up again.  Bustamante gets a few good rights, and that’s the round.  Another 10-9 for Murilo.

Third round and Lindland goes DOWN from a right and Bustamante dives in and tries to finish, but Lindland survives.  Bustamante hooks in a guillotine instead, and Lindland taps (for real this time).  Bustamante is really on a roll at this point, showing boxing and wrestling skills at a high level.  But, and this is becoming a sad trend with the promotion at this time, Bustamante would vacate the belt and leave for Japan after this, giving us THREE vacant titles out of five.  When Tito Ortiz is the most stable champion on the roster, something is really wrong.

So nothing terribly notable from this show, but it’s a solid one for hardcore fight fans, with no bad fights.

Next time:  UFC 37…and a half?!

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