UFC 72: "Victory" is in the books ... and everything went pretty much as planned.
For Yushin Okami, it was too little too late. The Japanese native took it to the former middleweight champion Rich Franklin in the third round after skating through the first 10 minutes of the bout.
"Ace" was able to hold on at the end to earn a unanimous decision despite a serious kimura attempt in the final stanza that nearly forced him to tap.
Okami is a force at 185 pounds and things might have been different if it was a five-round fight. Kudos to Franklin for surviving and doing what needed to be done to get the win.
He's now guaranteed a title shot, getting the winner of Anderson Silva and Nathan Marquardt at UFC 73 on July 7.
Forrest Griffin -- by his own admission -- fought a careful fight. Not what most fans are accustomed to from the man who has built a reputation on throwing caution to the wind.
He too went on to earn a unanimous decision after three rounds over Hector Ramirez. Griffin admitted he was a little out of shape and unwilling to let "Sick Dog" test the granite chin that Keith Jardine crumbled at UFC 66.
Jason MacDonald stopped Rory Singer in round two of their middleweight showdown with a barrage of unanswered strikes from full mount.
From my green couch, it looked like the "TUF Killer" was punching nothing but wind and canvas. However, Singer didn't give the referee too many options because he didn't do anything to try and escape.
Whatever.
Once again, lightweight Clay Guida found himself on the wrongside of a controversial decision.
"The Carpenter" outworked a game Tyson Griffin for the better part of the three round affair. He had him in a kneebar and a few chokes, but it apparently wasn't enough in the eyes of the judges.
Griffin went on to win a split-decision much to the chagrin of the Irish fans, who rained down boos when the decision was announced.
Guida was nothing but a class act afterwards during the post fight interview -- even though he felt he won that fight.
That's two really good losses for Guida in his last two fights -- two losses, in my opinion, that should be wins.
I'd say better luck next time, but he doesn't appear to have any of that going for him.
All in all it was an average card. I did enjoy the midday telecast, as well as the Griffin-Guida showdown.
I also would have like another round in the Franklin-Okami fight. But, it just doesn't work like that.
Was UFC 72 a blockbuster? Not at all. Entertaining? Yeah, it was. Could it have been better? Of course.
I'm still sticking to my guns: It wasn't as bad as everyone thought it would be.
Even though I though it would be better.
For UFC 72 results and commentary click here (Thanks again to DrubySunshine for the sweet contribution).