Igor Pokrajac defeats Todd Brown via TKO (Knee) end of Round One

Rousimar Palhares defeats Dave Branch with his trademark kneebar submission in Round Two

Dongi Yang defeats Rob Kimmons via TKO (Strikes) in Round Two

Takeya Mizugaki defeats Reuben Duran via Split Decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28)

Shane Roller defeats Thiago Tavares via Knockout in Round Two

-Tavares was picking Roller apart on the feet until the fight was ended with a single devastating right hand.

Cyrille Diabate defeats Steve Cantwell via Unanimous Decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-27)

Danny Castillo defeats Joe Stevenson via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

-Despite some nice looking submission attempts and slams, Stevenson was outworked and dropped his third straight fight in the ultra-competative lightweight division. Is this the end of JDS’ (Joe Daddy Stevenson) run in the UFC?

Brian Bowles defeats Damacio Page via Submission (Guillotine Choke) in Round One

-The odds of Bowles winning the fight weren’t low going in, but winning with the same submission at the exact same time frame in the first round? A bit higher… An exciting back and forth brawl, but Bowles proved more effective, knocking Page to the ground and taking hold of his exposed neck as he tried to stand back up.

Chris Weidman defeats Alessio Sakara via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

-Matt Serra’s protégé Weidman won his first UFC fight through great adversity. After entering the fight as a heavy underdog and getting rocked in the first round by the dangerous striker, Weidman ground out a bloody victory over the veteran Sakara.

Mark Munoz defeats C.B. Dollaway via TKO (Strikes) in Round One

-Dollaway scored a nice takedown early in the fight, but opted to stand the fight up himself from top position over Munoz. This turned out to be a mistake, as the fight ended soon after with a vicious right hand.

Diego “the Dream” Sanchez defeats Martin “the Hitman” Kampmann via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Yes, Diego changed his nickname from “the Nightmare” to “the Dream.” Cute.

-This isn’t the first fight where you could say Sanchez’s face was punched off. It was literally hanging on by a thread. Kampmann picked apart Sanchez with his more technical striking throughout the first round, knocking down and bloodying him in the first few minutes.

Sanchez rallied through the crisp striking in the second, cornering Kampann against the cage and landing some nice shots in a brawling exchange. More of what happened in the first however, Kampmann picking Sanchez apart and easily stuffing his take-downs.

The third round saw a little more success for Diego, pressing Kampmann into the brawl that Sanchez prefers. As in the first two round, however, Sanchez ate a lot of big shots, turning his face into mangled slop. (seriously. It was bad…)

Despite Kampmann’s dominant performance, he lost in a heavily controversial split decision. The hits keep coming for the UFC with bad judging.To his credit, Sanchez showed tremendous heart and finished the fight strong after taking heavy damage. “The Dream” is still one of the most durable fighters in the UFC, and deserves all the respect in the world, but he certainly did not do enough to win the fight.

Dana Edwards gives his reaction to the UFC 97 fight results.

Preliminary Card

Aaron Riley vs.  Shane Nelson

Nelson defeated Riley via TKO (Punches) at 1:44 of round 1.

Brandon Vera vs.  Mike Patt

Vera defeated Patt via TKO (Leg Kicks) at 1:27 of round 2.

Tim Boetsch vs.  Jason Brilz

Brilz defeated Boetsch via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Kendall Grove vs.  Jason Day

Grove defeated Day via TKO (Strikes) at 1:32 of round 1.

Tamdan McCrory vs.  Ryan Madigan

McCrory defeated Madigan via submission (Punches) at 3:35 of round 1.
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Main Card

Gray Maynard vs.  Jim Miller

Maynard defeated Miller via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Matt Hamill vs.  Mark Munoz

Hamill defeated Munoz via KO (Head Kick) at 3:53 of round 1.

Pete Sell vs.  Matt Brown

Brown defeated Sell via TKO (Punches) at 1:32 of round 1.

Shane Carwin vs.  Gabriel Gonzaga

Carwin defeated Gonzaga via TKO (Punches) at 1:09 of round 1.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs.  Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine

Jackson defeated Jardine via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).

This sets up a match that I have really been looking forward to. Rampage -vs- Rashad Evans at UFC 98 should be a battle thats well worth the price of a PPV on its own.

Diego Sanchez enters the octagon in a warrior frame of mind, lets see if it transfers to tonight’s fight. This should be fun.

Round 1 – Diego is the more active fighter ( as one would expect ) and lands more punches and kicks, but Joe Stevenson laughs off the majority of Sanchez’ strikes. Is the effort of getting down to 155 sapping Diego’s power?

Round 2 – Lots of activity, with an advantage to Sanchez. Unless Joe Stevenson shows something in round 3, he is going home with a loss.

Round 3 – Joe Stevenson just couldn’t get it going, it looks like Diego Sanchez is going to be succesful in his lightweight debut.

Judge 1: 29-28

Judge 2: 30-27

Judge 3: 30-27

Winner: Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez

Winner Nate Marquardt

Winner: Junior Dos Santos

Winner: Demian Maia

This was a fight that never went to the ground and was clearly being dominated by Koscheck up to that point.

Win: Thiago

Mac Danzig vs. Josh Neer – Josh Neer wins by submission (triangle choke), Round 2.
Good fight with a lot of back and forth. Neer has shown the he is someone who will have to be taken seriously
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Cain Velasquez vs. Denis Stojnic – Cain Velasquez wins by TKO (strikes), Round 2.
Velasquez is the “Next Big Thing”, Pure and simple. He dominated this match from wire to wire.

Matt Veach vs. Matt Grice – Undercard action! Round 1  – Matt Veach wins by TKO, Round 1.
Devastating shot by Veach followed by an overly quick stoppage. This was a poor job by the ref, We all understand that they need to protect the fighters but Grice was not in bad enough shape to warrant a stoppage.

Jeremy Stephens vs. Joe Lauzon -  Joe Lauzon wins by submission (armbar), Round 2.
Entertaining fight with a lot of back and forth action. It was a solid win for Lauzon, once he had the armbar locked in, there was nothing that Stephens could do but tap out.