Sunday, June 14 1:38 pm PT: Q: Did Cain Velasquez depreciate in value after stumbling multiple times against Kongo?
A: Maybe, but only among those who don’t realize he’s only got five (now six) fights under his belt. The guy’s career has barely gotten started, and he handled the adversity of getting cracked impressively.
Q: If Wanderlei Silva looked like a sauna occupant when cutting to 195 pounds, what’s going to happen when he tries to make 185?
Sunday, June 14 9:04 am PT: The evening's unofficial awards:
Heart of the Night Award: Unquestionably Wanderlei Silva. Tired, muscles choking on lactic acid, he still made repeated attempts to pour it on against Rich Franklin and nearly had him on ice a couple of times.
Fight of the Night Award:Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy: three rounds of combat catharsis between two seriously irritated fighters. (Franklin-Silva won the UFC's official Fight of the Night.)
Backing Up His Talk Award: Hardy, taking a tough fight against a tough fighter in Marcus Davis and giving him a good work-over.
Haircut of the Night Award: A three-statue evening for Hardy, who bests Caol Uno in this category. At least Hardy’s looks intentional.
Sunday, June 14 12:20 am PT: Despite misinformed opposition from typewriting German stormtroopers -- due to the time difference, it was actually 5 p.m. ET on a Tuesday in 1995 -- the UFC made a successful debut in Cologne on Saturday, offering up a card that was surprisingly robust in the weeks leading into their kitchen-sink 100th event.
In a bout that had reverberations through the deep 195-pound division, Rich Franklin managed to ace Wanderlei Silva in a three-round decision. Though Silva appeared to easily fatigue -- perhaps he shouldn’t have hunted, killed and eaten that wild boar the evening before -- he was the more aggressive of the two in the latter 10 minutes; the premise of scorecard victimization will come up repeatedly in his the coming weeks. Franklin, meanwhile, seemed relieved that he didn’t have to put another paycheck in the hands of his plastic surgeon.
Sunday, June 14 12:00 am PT: LONDON -- The Freestyle Fighting Federation ended a nine-month period of inactivity Saturday, as “Rough Justice” came to legendary London fight venue York Hall.
Boasting a card deformed by cancellation and injury, only one of the two intended title fights took place.
In a contest for the vacant FX3 light heavyweight championship, Polish prospect Greg Siwy (3-0) faced off against late replacement Frank Vatan (1-1).
