Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) tonight (Feb. 6, 2010) pulled the trigger on its annual SuperBowl weekend pay-per-view (PPV) event from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In a "legendary" fight that was apparently a decade in the making, former champions Randy Couture and Mark Coleman collided in the main event of the evening.
It was a battle of UFC Hall of Famer's and pioneers of the sport. Coleman dubbed it as the "fight of his life." It certainly didn't seem that way.
"The Natural" battered the "Hammer" for the entire first round and then did the same to start the second. He eventually softened up Coleman and took him to the ground, sinking in a fight-ending rear naked choke ... just the third submission finish in his illustrious career.
Coleman, who preferred to nap rather than tap, promised to comeback, cursing out Tito "douche bag" Ortiz in his post-fight interview. He admitted to being slow tonight, which may be the understatement of the century.
Couture, meanwhile, will likely find himself in the 205-pound title contender mix if he keeps up this pace, fighting three times in the last seven months. He hasn't necessarily beaten up world beaters since returning to the division, but that could all change sooner rather than later.
On the wrong side of 45, time is not on Couture's side. The UFC will likely look to capitalize on his stunning success before it's too late.
Chael Sonnen was the talk of the town heading into his match up tonight with Nate Marquardt, speaking his mind on everything from Anderson Silva's suspect pink shirts to the trumped up mystique of Andrei Arlovski in his heyday.
Let's just say he backed up all that talk with an utter domination of Marquardt -- widely regarded as a top five middleweight in the world -- with a superior wrestling gameplan and savage ground and pound.
Marquardt simply had no answers, despite cutting Sonnen open bad with an elbow from the bottom in the second frame. He had a few moments in the final minutes of the fight, including a tight guillotine choke, but Sonnen simply beat him up for 13 of the 15 minutes.
It was impressive. And after all the talk, don't be surprised to see Sonnen take on the winner of Silva and Vitor Belfort later this year.
Whether you like it or not.
Mike Swick stepped up on short notice to take on Paulo Thiago, looking to get back to the front on the welterweight contender line sooner rather than later.
Not tonight.
Swick wasn't really able to get anything going all night, but it appeared that he was on the hunt for a knockout. He landed some good shots, but it was one that he didn't land the ultimatley led to his undoing.
Thiago clipped Swick with a counter left that had him on Queer Street. Swick tried to weather the storm, burying his head into Thiago's armpit, but the Brazilian used it to his advantage by sinking in a sneaky choke while Swick was woozy.
Swick took a quick nap shortly thereafter, meanwhile, Thiago improved his stock in the welterweight division with yet another win over a highly-touted American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) product.
That's two straight losses for Swick, who was on the cusp of a division title shot not too long ago. How quickly things can change.
Perhaps no one knows that better than Demian Maia.
Maia and Dan Miller -- both Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelts -- went toe-to-toe in a middleweight match. On paper, it would seem as though both fighters would be focused on submissions, but Maia is just on another level in that department.
It seemed as though Miller knew that full well tonight, refusing to even attempt any kind of takedown or ground work. Unfortunately, his strategy did not work whatsoever this evening.
Maia -- who finally looked like a middleweight, bulked up and much bigger -- outperformed Miller on the feet, landing the more meaningful strikes when the two went toe-to-toe. He also outperformed him on the ground when he was able to take the fight there, working the ground and pound and not giving Miller any chance to display his ground skills.
Maia went on to earn a much-deserved unanimous decision victory, but it was far from epic. Miller was beaten to the punch and just outclassed overall, despite considering himself the more well rounded fighter.
Far from it.
It's hard to tell where this puts Maia in the middleweight mix, considering it was pretty much just a workmanlike performance. The good news is his stand up looked much improved and he appeared to look like he's serious about staying at 185 pounds based in his new physique.
Perhaps it's only a matter of time before he puts it all together.
Former welterweight champion Matt Serra took on former two-time number one division contender Frank Trigg in a fight that was hyped to the gills by both competitors coming into the match.
There wasn't a ton on the line, but it didn't matter. It was billed as a fun fight and that's exactly what we saw tonight.
Even though it didn't last very long.
Serra, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu wizard, didn't seem to have any intentions of taking it to the ground. And he didn't need to, dropping "Twinkle Toes" with a huge overhand right that sent him to the canvas.
He followed Trigg to the ground as he collapsed like a felled tree and battered him with a few flush punches that had the referee jumping in to stop the fight.
Trigg, who was clearly in big trouble, and more than likely out, initially disputed the stoppage. But it was just -- Serra hurt him bad and Trigg was perhaps one punch away from a trip to the hospital whether he knew it or not.
Great win for "The Terror" and a massive setback for Trigg.
With two straight losses since his return to the promotion, Trigg's future is uncertain. Serra, meanwhile, has nothing to worry about ... not like he seemed concerned one bit regardless of tonight's outcome.
That’s enough from us — now it’s your turn to discuss "Relentless" in the comments section below. Sound off, Maniacs.
Is Couture close to a title show? Does Sonnen deserve the next crack at Anderson Silva? Who does Serra fight next?
Let’s hear what you have to say in the comments section below.
For complete UFC 109 results and detailed blow-by-blow commentary of the televised main card fights click here.
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