UFC 98 Live Play By Play – Pay Per View

Picking up here where GG left off on the live coverage. Joe and Mike are hyping the card. I’ll start the coverage when the first PPV fight starts.

Sean Sherk Versus Frankie Edgar
Sherk does look a little different than he usually does, a bit smaller and not quite as cut, but I don’t think it’s a significant as I thought it would be based on the reports I’ve read. It could be attributed to the fact that he’s now 35 years old. Or maybe he’s not taking as many supplements.

Round 1 – Edgar throws a high kick right away. Lots of circling and jabs by both, feeling each other out. Edgar lands a nice combo while Sherk is struggling to overcome the reach disadvantage. Sherk stuffs a single leg takedown attempt. Edgar gets a takedown off a Sherk leg kick. Sherk back up. I think That was Edgar’s round

Round 2 – Sherk loading up with his shots, but not landing much. Good action, but nothing real noteworthy. No guy with a dominate exchange, but so far Edgar is getting the better of the exchanges. Sherk looks a little frustrated. Sherk takes a kick to the nuts. Sherk has not attempted a takedown in 2 rounds. Easily Edgar’s round.

Round 3 – 45 seconds in Sherk uses a double leg to take Edgar down, but Edgar back up 20 seconds later with no damage. Sherk with a little trickle of blood near his eye. Edgar still picking him apart. Edgar blocks a single leg. Edgar is landing lots of shots, but no combos to speak of and neither fighter has been in any danger. Another stuffed takedown and catches Sean in a guillotine. Bell rings. Edgars round. I have it 30 -27 for Edgar.

All judges have it 30-27 for Frankie Edgar and the FGB’ers are all 0-1 so far with our predictions.

Chael Sonnen Versus Dan Miller
Miller is from Sparta, but somehow I doubt he’ll yell, “This is Sparta” before the fight. He’s also on a 10 fight win streak. Ref Yves Lavigne is getting a lot of heat from the crowd.

Round 1 – Miller has Sonnen in a TIGHT guillotine. Sonnen out and on top. Sonnen dropping forearms and puches. Miller pinned against the cage and taking some shots. Miller pushes him off and takes some shots as Sonnen comes back in. Miller is working a knee bat, but lets it go and Sonnen goes to side control and blasts a couple elbows into Miller’s face. Sonnen controlling and landing shots and keeping Miller on his back. Sonnen with a rape choke and a hard shot. Sonnen’s round.

Round 2 – Lindland told Sonnen to try standing for a while. Sonnen with a hard slam, but Miller grabs a guillotine. Sonnen out. Round 2 is playing out like round 1 with Sonnen smothering him and landing shots. Miller with an arm bar attempt from the bottom, but Sonnen is out and on top again. Sonnen’s round again with complete control.

Round 3 – Round starts with another Chael Sonnen takedown. Sonnen is just smothering him and landing short shots from the top. Miller is exhausted, but still looking for opportunities. Sonnen has him pinned against the fence and is landing at will. He doesn’t seem to want to finish , but is content to dominate and land enough to keep from being stood up. Crowd is getting restless. Miller just couldn’t do anything to get Sonnen off him. Sonnen’s round again. This was at least a 30-27 win for Chael Sonnen.

Unanimous decision 30-27 for Sonnen.

Drew McFedries versus Xavier Foupa-Pokam

Both guys look great. My prediction? Pain.

Round 1 – McFedries just caught him at the bell and pounded him around the ring knocking him down 3 times in about 20 seconds before the ref stopped in. Impressive victory for McFedries in 37 seconds. Pain indeed.

Krzysztof Soszynski versus Andre Gusmao

Round 1 – Sos landing some good shots and then taking a few from Gusman. Trading shots standing up. Sos getting the better of Andre. Sos puts him down with a big punch and follows it up with a couple more for good measure. Brutal KO. Krzysztof Soszynski by knockout.

Matt Serra versus Matt Hughes
Serra coming out to the theme from “Rocky”, Hughes comes out looking like a dick. Sorry, channeling Matt Serra for a minute there. Hughes appears to be in great shape, as usual.

GG says by far the biggest pop of the night was the shot of Mike Tyson on the big screen

Round 1 – Hughes southpaw and Rogan thinks it’s because he wants to shoot. Serra just knocked Hughes down Serra pounding Hughes whiles Hughes tries to take him down and recover. Rogan is calling the knockdown on an accidental head butt. Hughes seems to be recovering OK and has Serra pinned against the cage. Both guys keeping some distance and not doing much. Hughes with a big takedown into side control. Hughes on Serra’s back. Working for the rear naked. Serra out and up. Tough round, but I’d give it to Serra based on the damage he did early, but can see it going either way based on Hughes take down. Not too much else of note to differentiate the two. Hughes just asked his corner if Serra knocked him down.

GG says crowd popped huge for both guys and the atmosphere is awesome live right now.

Round 2 – Hughes on top of Serra. Serra moving on the bottom looking for opportunities and Hughes not doing much except a few shots to the ribs. Hughes to half guard. Surprised this one hasn’t been stood up yet. Crowd getting a little restless. Looks like Hughes is still trying to recover, and is winning the round in the process, but not doing any damage and is making it a slow fight. Mazzagatti calling for action, but not doing anything to help improve it. Stand up at 10 seconds. Hughes round.

Round 3 – Hughes with another takedown one minute in. Serra working for an arm lock. Hughes out. Serra is a flexible dude. Working the opposite shoulder now. Hughes out again. Serra for a triangle, Hughes out. Crows booing and Rogan calling for a stand-up. You don’t hear that often. Stand up at 1:40. Serra taunting Hughes. Serra takes Hughes down and lands on top. Serra landing a few shots from the top. They hug after the bell. Hughes raised Serra’s arm. I think round 3 was close could go either way. I’d say Serra for the takedown and being active on the bottom and working to finish after Hughes took him down. Judges will most likely score for Hughes.

29-28 on all 3 cards for Hughes. Underwhelming fight.

Hughes says he still wants to fight and that he’s a free agent now, but would like to stay with UFC. Serra compliments Hughes chin and says he respects Hughes legacy. He’s very upset with the loss and looking forward to some pasta.

Rashad Evans versus Lyoto Machida

64% of the text voters on UFC.com are picking Machida. The Elusive One looks a bit soft, but very relaxed. Rashad on the other hand is amped and did his crazy dance when he entered the ring. Nipple tweak update to follow.

No nipple tweak.

Round 1 – One minute in with no contact. 90 seconds no contact. Severn Shamrock anyone? High kick from Machida at 2 minutes. Another high kick at 3 minutes. 2 shots in 3 minutes. Wow! Quick tie up with a knee by Rashad and back to circling. Machida landed a good shot and put Rashad down and jumped on him with a couple more shots. Rashad back up and looks OK. Machida’s round although neither did much.

Round 2 – Machida with a couple low kicks and then in for a takedown off a body lock, but Rashad blocks. Nice exchange of punches. Machida the more active fighter. Rashad countering. Machida rocking Evans from pillar to post and knocks Evans out cold with some vicious shots.

Joe welcomes us to the Machida era. When he engages it can be exciting. Let’s hope he chooses to engage in future fights and not protect his title. If he starts going into fights “not to lose” we’ll be in for a long nap.

They also threw in Brock Larson versus Mike Pyle and Tim Hague versus Pat Berry. If you haven’t already read GG’s prelim post scroll down one post to get the results of those matches.

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