The main event of the evening saw Rashad Evans and Phil Davis go the full five rounds, with Evans coming out the victory. Davis threw a lot of kicks but it was his experience factor that won him the bout, by outclassing Davis. Evans was able to control the pace throughout the bout, putting Davis on his back, improving to a crucifix  position and landing strikes. Davis was visibly nervous and jumpy in the opening round, and fatigued thereafter. Evans was able to fend off the take down attempts from Davis, check his kicks, and connect with his striking combinations. Although Evans was unable to finish Davis in 25 minutes, he was clearly the superior fighter and won all five rounds.

In the co-main event of the evening Chael Sonnen defeated Michael Bisping by unanimous decision in a bout that should have been five rounds. Sonnen convinced the judges with his powerful wrestling and lots of lay and prey that he should get the nod. One judge even scored the bout 30-27 for him, which is baffling as Bisping clearly won round two, and the first is debatable. Bisping displayed great take down defense, and was able to control Sonnen against the cage and connect with better strikes. The third and final round of the bout was all Sonnen, taking Bisping down, taking his back, followed by a mount. All in all, an unimpressive victory for Sonnen as even he didn’t believe that he won the bout.

In the other FOX televised bout, Damian Maia took on up and comer Chris Weidman in a three round affair that displeased the live crowd. The first round was a lot of circling and attempting to find each others range, with Weidman scoring a few take downs. The second was all Weidman controlling with strikes, take downs and submission attempts. Maia began to turn up the heat with some impressive, yet not powerful striking combos in both the second and the third. The third round seem to be going in the favor of Maia after he scored an early take down, but once the bout resumed standing both fighters looked sluggish and fatigued standing toe-to-toe with both Maia and Weidman connecting, but it was Weidman that came out full force in the last 60 seconds with three consecutive knees, followed by punches and kicks to sway the judges in a split decision victory.

The Fuel TV preliminary card proved to be much more exciting with Lavar Johnson making his UFC debut in impressive fashion by doing the impossible in knocking out Joey Beltran. In Beltran’s entire career he has gone 13-7, with none of his losses coming via knockout. In pass bouts, Beltran always displayed an iron chin, and high threshold for pain, always going the distance in his losses in the UFC. While both fighters exchanged punches, Johnson cornered Beltran against the change a delivered a barrage of uppercuts that dropped Beltran in the first round.

Charles Oliveira made his Featherweight debut in impressive fashion, as the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace submitted Eric Wisely with a rarely used Calf Crusher. Oliveira began delivering bombs from a standing position in an attempt to get better positioning. Oliveira grabbed a leg and attempted a knee bar that Wisely was able to escape, but with Wisely’s leg still hooked, Oliveira pulled Wisely back putting an unbelievable amount of pressure on the calf forcing Wisely to tap.

Also impressive on the preliminary card was Cub Swanson’s knockout of George Roop, in a fantastic featherweight back and forth striking bout with both fighters delivering great combinations, and an impressive hip toss take down by Swanson in the first. Swanson did a great job at countering Roop’s reach, and closing the distance in order to deliver his strikes. In the second round Swanson connected with a huge right hand knocking the mouth piece out of Roop’s mouth, dropping him to the ground before following up with some ground and pound to end it. (Full UFC on FOX 2 event results below.)

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UFC on FOX 2 results:

Rashad Evans def. Phil Davis via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)

Chael Sonnen def. Michael Bisping via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Chris Weidman def. Demian Maia via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

FUEL TV prelims:

Evan Dunham def. Nik Lentz via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – Round 2, 5:00

Mike Russow def. John-Olav Einemo via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Cub Swanson def. George Roop via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 2:22

Charles Oliveira def. Eric Wisely via submission (calf crusher) – Round 1, 1:43

Michael Johnson def. Shane Roller via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Lavar Johnson def. Joey Beltran via KO (punches) – Round 1, 4:24

Facebook prelims:

Chris Camozzi def. Dustin Jacoby via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 1:08

This is the January 27, 2012 episode of Ringside Report Radio hosted by Dave Simon and Kevin “Big Tuna” McKough.

Dave and Kevin previewed and gave their predictions for UFC on Fox 2 including every preliminary bout and the main events of Chael Sonnen v. Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans versus Phil Davis.

Dave and Kevin discussed the latest episode of UFC Primetime, Dana White’s problems with the internet and much more MMA on this 2-hour episode.

On Jan. 1, 2011, Edgar and Maynard fought to a close draw. For almost a year UFC fans had to wait for the rematch to occur. Fortunately, the wait was well worth it. The third and final bout felt like deja vu at first with Maynard coming out strong in the first round with a furious onslaught. Maynard looked to have Edgar beat, but somehow Edgar was able to get up from the bombs Maynard was landing. In the second and third rounds Maynard looked gassed from his near win as Edgar started to gain momentum and started to take control of the fight. Unlike their new year’s day fight, this time there was a clear winner via TKO.

In possibly his last UFC title bout, Kenny Florian dropped weight to face UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo. Aldo has looked almost untouchable since winning the championship and continue to look so against Florian. Aldo used his lethal kicks to slow down Florian and nearly stuffed all of Florian’s takedown attempts. In the championship rounds it looked like a struggle for Florian to continue as the welts on his legs continue to grow in colour.

Leonard Garcia continued to give fans of his work another outstanding performance in his rematch with Nam Phan. Garcia won the last one by a controversial split decision. This one ended up in a unanimous decision victory in favour of Phan, but it still a very close and entertaining fight. Garcia knew that Phan had won the first round and came back firing wildly in order to win the last rounds. While Garcia ate a lot of wild jabs, he also gave his fair share as well. In the most dominate performance of the night, Chael Sonnen submitted Brian Stann in the second round. While it took Sonnen a few minutes there was no question he was going to win the fight right from the start, barely giving Stann any chance to hit him. Sonnen immediately challenged Anderson Silva following the win and that got a laugh from the Middleweight Champion.

Eight fights went the distance at UFC 136, making it the longest UFC event of all-time. Even with the long grueling bouts there are still great submission endings, which include the 47 second victory Joe Lauzon scored over Melvin Guillard. Although this is becoming a familiar pattern with the 2011 UFC DVDs, this was definitely a must see show and delivered in almost every aspect for MMA fans.

UFC 136: Edgar VS. Maynard III

Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada

Run time of 300 minutes

Released on Dec. 20, 2011

Prelims

Steve Cantwell vs. Mike Massenzio

Aaron Simpson vs. Eric Schafer

Zhang Tie Quan vs. Darren Elkins

Joey Beltran vs. Stipe Miocic

Anthony Pettis vs. Jeremy Stephens

Demian Maia vs. Jorge Santiago

Main

Melvin Guillard vs. Joe Lauzon

Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan

Chael Sonnen vs. Brian Stann

Featherweight Championship José Aldo vs. Kenny Florian

Lightweight Championship Frankie Edgar  vs. Gray Maynard

Instinct MMA kicked off the weekend on Friday night with an amazing card at the Centre D’Excellence Sports Rousseau in Boisbriand, Quebec. Although he has spent some time away from the cage, Steve Bosse looked amazing in his main event bout against Houston Alexander with a knockout victory. The card also included Patrick Cote, Butterbean, Martin Grandmont, and a great win for Derek Gauthier. More details click here. (Full Instinct MMA 1: Bosse vs. Alexander event results below.)

At UFC 136 in Houston, Texas the world finally got the “Answer” of who the best Lightweight fighter in the world is, when Frankie Edgar avenged his only blemishes on his record by knocking out Gray Maynard in the fourth round. Maynard repeated his aggressive style of coming out strong and dangerous in the first, but using his great striking Edgar proceeded to pick a part Maynard and dropped him in the fourth causing the referee to call the action when Maynard was not defending himself. UFC Featherweight champion Jose Aldo retained his championship against Kenny Florian by keeping the fight standing. It was evident that the weight cut took its toll on Florian as he was unsuccessful in his take down attempts. Trash talking Chael Sonnen racked up another win in his pursuit to get back in title contention over Brian Stann. After being away from the cage for over a year Sonnen showed no cage rust and submitted Stann in the second round. (Full UFC 136 event results below.)

Bellator held the semi finals of their Season 5 Welterweight Tournament on Saturday at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma. Ben Saunders and Douglas Lima both advanced to the finals by finishing off their opponents. (Full Bellator 53 event results below.)

Victory MMA held their third event on Saturday night with 12 amateur action packed bouts including three kickboxing and nine MMA bouts. JKS’s Xavier Aloui captured the Victory MMA Bantamweight title in 25 seconds, when he submitted Josh Harley via arm bar and improves to 6-0. The night also saw some amazing knockouts with Mike McKenna ground and pounding his way to victory in 50 seconds and Chris Cleveland knocking out John Bryd in 18 seconds. (Full Victory MMA 3: Young Guns event results below.)

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Friday Night Fights:

Instinct MMA 1: Bosse vs. Alexander results:

Steve Bosse def. Houston Alexander via KO (punch) at 4:11 in Round 2

Patrick Cote def. Crafton Wallace via TKO (doctor stoppage/ knee injury) at 1:36 in Round 1

Eric Barrak def. Eric “Butterbean” Esch via submission (guillotine) at 2:56 in Round 3

Derek Gauthier def. Travis Cox via submission (kimura) at 2:25 in Round 2

Martin Grandmont def. William Sriyapai via KO (head-kick) at 2:03 in Round 1

Guy Poulin def. Yannick Duval via TKO (punches) at 3:13 in Round 1

Chris Kelades def. Dimitri Waardenburg via split-decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)

Jason Courchesne def. Alex Gutierrez via submission (arm-bar) at 3:15 in Round 1

Strahinja Gavrilovic def. Evan Nedd via split-decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)

Devin Henry def. Johan Croes via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-26)

Guilaume Vigneau def. Shawn Levesque via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:29 in Round 1

Brad Morgan def. Dave Bedard via KO (punches) after 1:55 in Round 1

Todd Stoute def. Scott Edward via TKO (strikes) at 2:05 in Round 2

Levis Labrie def. Pete Martin via TKO (strikes) at 3:54 in Round 2.

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Saturday Night Fights:

UFC 136: Edgar vs. Maynard III:

Champ Frankie Edgar def. Gray Maynard via TKO (punches) – Round 4, 3:54 – retains lightweight title

Champ Jose Aldo def. Kenny Florian via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) – retains featherweight title

Chael Sonnen def. Brian Stann via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 3:51

Nam Phan def. Leonard Garcia via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Joe Lauzon def. Melvin Guillard via submission (rear-naked choke) Round 1, 0:47

Spike TV prelims:

Demian Maia def. Jorge Santiago via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Anthony Pettis def. Jeremy Stephens via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Facebook prelims:

Stipe Miocic def. Joey Beltran via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)

Darren Elkins def. Tiequan Zhang via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)

Aaron Simpson def. Eric Schafer via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Mike Massenzio def. Steven Cantwell via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)

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Bellator 53 results:

Ben Saunders def. Luis Santos via submission (keylock) – Round 3, 1:35 – welterweight-tourney semifinal

Doug Lima def. Chris Lozano via KO (punch) – Round 2, 3:14 – welterweight-tourney semifinal

Ronnie Mann def. Kenny Foster via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 3:52

Thiago Santos def. Josh Burns via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:23

Spike.com prelims:

Giva Santana def. Darryl Cobb via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 2:00

A.J. Matthews def. Rudy Bears via unanimous decision

Raphael Davis def. Myron Dennis via KO (punch) – Round 2, 0:29

David Rickels def. Levi Avera via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 1:06

Luis Nogueira def. Zak Laird via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 0:51

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Victory MMA 3: Young Guns results:

135 – Xavier Aloui (JKS, 6-0) submits Josh Harley (Kenora MMA, 3-2) via arm-bar 0:25 – Round 1. (Aloui earns the new Victory MMA bantamweight title.)

155 – Francis Paquette (Ness Martial, 5-2) def. Patrick Sauriol (Team R-Way, 0-2) via split decision. (The fight was originally announced as a unanimous decision for Sauriol, but the judges had reversed their decision after reconsidering grappling/control factors on the ground.

200 – Chris Cleveland (McGowan’s MMA, 2-1) def. John Byrd (Big Counrty MMA, 0-1) via KO (punch) 0:18 – Round 1.

185 – Mike McKenna (Martial Arts Planet, 2-0) def. Donald Emerson (Toronto BJJ, 0-1) via TKO (ground-and-pound) – 0:50 – Round 1.

150 – Luke Gavin (Toronto BJJ, 1-1) def. Joe Elliot (Big Country MMA, 0-1) via unanimous decision.

165 – Tyler Sands (Martial Arts Planet, 1-0) def. Nabil Kader (Laval Fight Club, 0-2) via arm-bar -1:36 – Round 2.

185 – Justin Barnes (Big Country MMA, 1-0) def. John Wilson (Take the Risk MMA, 0-1) via TKO (ground-and-pound) - 1:00 – Round 1.

135 – Kevin Legris (McGowan’s MMA, 2-1) def. Eric Turgeon (Sparmax, 0-4) via unanimous decision.

Amateur Kick-Boxing Results

150 – Christopher Alfonzo (Academie Sportive, 3-0) def. Xavier Langley (Take the Risk, 0-1) via TKO (body kick) -1:12 – Round 1.

140 – Meroune Ghalmi (Thai Long Muay Thai, 2-0) def. Mathieu Sontag (Ness Martial, 1-2) via unanimous decision.

165 – Jordine Felix (One on One, 1-0) def. Sophie Leroux (Academie Sportive, 0-1) via unanimous decision.

Click here to listen to the October 7, 2011 episode of Ringside Report Radio hosted by Dave Simon and Kevin “Big Tuna” McKough.

On this episode, Dave and Kevin previewed UFC 136 including every fight on the preliminary card and the double main event of Jose Aldo defending the UFC featherweight title against Kenny Florian and the rematch between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard for the UFC lightweight title.

Dave and Kevin also discussed the announcement of Jon Jones defending his UFC light-heavyweight title against Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 on December 10 in Toronto.

All this and much more on this 1-hour episode of Ringside Report Radio.

Click here to listen to the June 15, 2011 episode of Ringside Report Radio hosted by Dave Simon and Kevin McKough.

Dave and Kevin re-capped all the action from UFC 131 including Junior Dos Santos’ victory over Shane Carwin and his upcoming title shot against Cain Velasquez. They also discussed Mark Munoz’ win over Demian Maia and the questionable judging at UFC 131 in Vancouver.

All this and more MMA on this 1-hour episode of Ringside Report Radio.

Click here to listen to the June 10, 2011 episode of Ringside Report Radio hosted by Dave Simon and Kevin McKough.

In this episode, Dave and Kevin give a full preview of UFC 131 including their predictions on Shane Carwin v. Junior Dos Santos, Mark Munoz v. Demian Maia, Diego Nunes v. Kenny Florian and the rest of the card.

Dave and Kevin also discussed the UFC making future non-title main events 5-round bouts and the inclusion of a flyweight division. All this and much more on this 1-hour episode of Ringside Report Radio.

In a war with Joey Beltran, “HD” battled his way to a dominant decision
victory that exhibited Barry’s evolving patience and game-planning. And that
wasn’t an accident.

When asked if there was anything specific he worked on for the fight, Barry was succinct: “The game plan and strategy.”

During his post-fight interview with UFC commentator Joe Rogan, Barry cried as he honored his father, who was a military vet. But the light-hearted side of Barry came out as well, as he said, “Hey Matt Mitrione, you’re fired.”
Many questioned the meaning of this comment directed toward Barry’s
sometime-training partner. So what was the true meaning? “It was a joke
based on Matt firing his manager after his last fight on live TV.”

Barry has never been shy in thanking those who support him. This time is no
different. “I’d like to thank my trainer, Duke Roufus, my coach, John
Mesenbrink, Nick Ryan, Brian Butler and SuckerPunch, TapouT, Alienware,
Battleware, Muscle Pharm, and anybody that rides with me on this journey.”

So since it probably won’t be Mitrione up next for, whom will he face in the
Octagon next? “Scotty Jorgensen,” says “HD.”

—Press Release—

Listen here to the January 28, 2011 episode of Ringside Report Radio hosted by Dave Simon and Kevin “Big Tuna” McKough.

Trevor Prangley appeared on this episode to discuss his upcoming bout for Strikeforce against Roger Gracie. Prangley also discussed his recent win over Keith Jardine and his plans for the future.

West-coast Strikeforce correspondent, Phil Lanides checked in to give the latest from San Jose on the day before Strikeforce: Diaz v. Santos.

Dave and Kevin gave their predictions for Diaz v. Santos and the rest of the Strikeforce card including the middleweight title bout between Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler.

All this and more on this 2-hour episode of Ringside Report Radio.