BJ Penn sunk in a rear naked choke in the second round of his his fight with Jens Pulver at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 5 Finale, settling the spat once and for all between the two coaches in front of millions of fans watching on live television across the world.
The two sworn enemies then embraced in the Octagon in a sign of respect immediately following the stoppage.
Pulver was never really in the fight — “The Prodigy” dominated from the opening bell with aggressive takedowns and smooth submission attempts. It had “Lil Evil” in the defensive for the entire bout.
At times it appeared that Penn was a cat toying with an injured mouse. He set up an armbar that looked like a fight-ender, but he uncharacteristically let it go.
Either Penn lost his grip or he just want to keep abusing the former lightweight champion who talked so much smack about him since their first encounter in 2002.
Regardless, Penn got the win and redemption.
And according to the in-ring remarks from Pulver (Penn had little to say other than to visit his Web site, BJPenn.com, which crashed shortly thereafter) after the fight it appears that this might be the last time we see both these fighters compete at 155 pounds.
Pulver seems destined for the WEC 145-pound division, and Penn has a few things to take care of in the 170-pound division.
In the TUF 5 championship bout between Manny Gamburyan and Nate Diaz, an injury cut the bout short in the second round.
Gamburyan came out in the opening frame and took it to Diaz in his typical mauling style. He had Diaz on his back for most of the round, which is a position in which Diaz is actually very comfortable and effective.
He worked a few submissions, but Gamburyan was savvy enough not to get caught.
The two came out for the next round and within seconds, Gamburyan was tapping for no apparent reason. It was soon realized that he had separated his shoulder during a takedown attempt — an injury that has plagued him throughout his career.
After months of watching the show and investing time into this eventual showdown, it is a disappointing result. It’s certainly a tough pill to swallow for Gamburyan, who appeared to win the first round.
The post-fight interview with Diaz was perhaps the best part of the entire fight. The profanity-laced comments had the censors at Spike on notice, and he didn’t hold back about the decision by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) to ban his brother Nick from his corner.
Good stuff.
The UFC’s Latin golden boy, lightweight Roger Huerta, had UFC President Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva sweating bullets in the first round of his bout with Doug Evans.
The Alaskan pushed the pace and had “El Matador’s” back a few times but couldn’t end the fight. Evans — a huge underdog — won the first round on my unofficial scorecard.
Huerta came out determined in the second round and overwhelmed Evans from the start. He eventually got his back and was unable to submit him with a rear naked choke so he settled for the technical knockout via strikes.
Close call for Huerta who took the fight on short notice. Hopefully we see him against a top contender at UFC 74 in August or whenever his next fight may be later this year.
In the most bizarre ending to a fight in recent memory, the NSAC ruled that the bout between Gray Maynard and Rob Emerson was a no contest.
That’s because it was a simultaneous knockout/tapout. It was a scene very similar to the title bout between Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton in 2002. Hughes won that fight on a slam but was barely conscious because of being trapped in a guillotine choke.
In the second round, Gray knocked himself out with a slam, which also injured Emerson and forced him to tap. It appeared that Maynard was going to be awarded the win since Emerson clearly could not continue.
But the replay showed that Gray too was on queer street — despite his claims afterward that he was resting.
Again, it was a very bizarre and chaotic scene.
For the most part this was a solid night of fights — perhaps because we were treated to almost the entire card. The main card bouts were so short that it allowed Spike to air, I believe, seven of the nine fights from the TUF 5 Finale.
We should always be so lucky.
For a complete blow-by-blow account of the main card action don’t forget to check out our LIVE TUF 5 results. Big thanks to UFCmania reader “DrubySunshine” for chipping in with the live blogging.
That’s a wrap for this season and the Finale. Next stop … Sacramento, Calif.
For those who couldn’t catch the live broadcast of our online radio program Any Given Saturday — which included a phenomenal interview with UFC lightweight Clay Guida — you can still listen to it here.
June 24th, 2007
53 Comments »
we missed two fights…Wiman’s and Garcia’s
[quote comment=”88148″]we missed two fights…Wiman’s and Garcia’s[/quote]
thanks bud
I was dissapointed in the performance of Pulver, he looked out of shape for the most part, he looked dead tired in the first two minutes of that fight.
Pulver is going to go to the WEC and will literally get destroyed by Urijah Faber. This kid possibly is the best featherweight in MMA today.
I would not mind seeing BJ drop down 10 more pounds and call out Urijah Faber, but BJ can stay at 155 barely enough as it is so that dream amtch would never happen.
UFC needs a featherweight division so we can see more of people like Urijah Faber and Chance Farrar.
hahah this is off topic, but did anyone else see kimbo win by submission last night? hahaha ray mercer is a bum, he had no business being in there…
bj penn looked great last night, he was definitely the much better fighter, he clearly had that armbar and just let it go so he could hit jens some more…cole miller was pretty impressive, nice high kick and then finish…joe lauzon was impressive too against a bigger opponent, he kept working for subs and finally got one…huerta obviously took doug evans lightly in round one and then came out a different fighter in round 2, glad he pulled it out, he won by tko ref stoppage not rear naked choke…i feel bad for manny and gray, especially gray, he was clearly gonna win that fight, he had emerson hurt in round one, i’m surprised emerson even came out for round 2, emerson got lucky in that fight, a no contest sucks, i would have given it to gray…i hope manny’s recurring shoulder problem doesn’t threaten his career in any way, he could be a contender one day…
Pulver vs. Faber would be interesting. Penn definitely over-powered and out-skilled Pulver. I don’t see that as much of a knock on Pulver- he made decent showing.
As for Penn staying at 155, Pulver said Penn was talking about going back up to 170 but if he can stay in the shape he’s in now, he should stay where he is. I’d love to see Sherk-Penn… or maybe it will be Franca-Penn by then.
Lost all my winnings from last 3 PPV.
man it really sucks for manny he was defintly going to win that fight last night
[quote comment=”88166″].i feel bad for manny and gray, especially gray, he was clearly gonna win that fight, he had emerson hurt in round one, i’m surprised emerson even came out for round 2, emerson got lucky in that fight, a no contest sucks, i would have given it to gray…i hope manny’s recurring shoulder problem doesn’t threaten his career in any way, he could be a contender one day…[/quote]
All Emerson had to do was wiggle free, mount Gray and Mazagatti would have been raising his hand. Sure no contest sucks but that was the best outcome. Hopefully they will get a chance to do it again in six months.
Same for Manny and Nate. Manny won round one. I don’t know if Zuffa got wind of his shoulder problem before last night but they might be reluctant to invest in him now. We’ll see.
Bad thing for Manny is that type of injury (dislocation) can haunt you until the day you die. Potentially, it could destroy his MMA career. I hope that he is able to come back b/c he really is a tank. He looked really good right until he tapped himself out. Shoulder injury and a self tap-out, somebody predicted those two very things happening! Just to different fighters.
I’d love to see BJ fight in 155, but I guess he wants to go get some revenge on GSP and Hughes.
BJ at 170 is gonna be awsome. I’m suprised so many want him at 155. He did so good at 170 before. And he dosnt want to stay at a lightweight that he can man handle everybody at. He wants to move up and get the most challenging fights. That’s admirable I think.
I’d like to hear what BJ has to say about that armbar, especially after specifically saying he wanted to win via one. It definitely looks like he let go of it needlessly.
Manny looked good, but I wouldn’t say he was definitely going to win. That’s how Diaz fights. He is very comfortable on the bottom. Watch all his fights from throughout the season. He is a BJJ expert, and finishing from the bottom is typical.
Also, besides simply being on top, Manny did little damage to Diaz.
(And, yes, Kimbo looked good. I hope he doesn’t fight Tank next. I’d like to see a step up in competition.)
I LOVE MMA!
I thought all the fights were great, everybody seemed to be more aggresive than they were on the t.v. show. Gray Maynard definately knocked himself out and Diaz was lucky that Manny got hurt. I hope his injury doesn’t threaten his career. BJ looked great and I think he is going to make it back to the top. The finale definately helped make up for all the lackluster fights that took place on the show.
How does anyone compare the Hughes vs Newton fight to Maynerds last night? Hughes was almost out due to a sub by Newton, Hughes slams his way out of it at the last second to KO Newton for the win. Maynard was in no danger, slams Emerson for the take down and KO’ed himself. To compare those two fights is to say Newton was triangling himself.
Huerta came out determined in the second round and overwhelmed Evans from the start. He eventually got his back and submitted him with a nice rear naked choke.
i think it was tko wasnt it?
What I want to know is what was going through Dana’s head as Diaz was cursing and saying being in that house sucked and they should treat his brother better…
[quote comment=”88248″]What I want to know is what was going through Dana’s head as Diaz was cursing and saying being in that house sucked and they should treat his brother better…[/quote]
He probably thought he was a dumb ass. It’s not like the rules changed after Nick Diaz got caught with drugs.
[quote comment=”88248″]What I want to know is what was going through Dana’s head as Diaz was cursing and saying being in that house sucked and they should treat his brother better…[/quote]
he did say the athletic commision should treat his bro better, not the Fertitas or the UFC…but yeah, I saw the look on Dana’s face 2…you realize we’ll b c-ing Nick when his suspension is up…otherwise Nate is gonna give Dana and the UFC a lot of headaches!!!
[quote post=”2525″]To compare those two fights is to say Newton was triangling himself. [/quote]
exactly
[quote comment=”88235″]How does anyone compare the Hughes vs Newton fight to Maynerds last night? Hughes was almost out due to a sub by Newton, Hughes slams his way out of it at the last second to KO Newton for the win. Maynard was in no danger, slams Emerson for the take down and KO’ed himself. To compare those two fights is to say Newton was triangling himself.[/quote]
The fact that both Hughes and Newton were “out” is the comparison, to be honest I think it should have been a no contest also, not the first man to regain consciousness win. I think Gray would have won that fight, and I think Manny would have beaten Diaz, just going by the first rounds. I think Manny’s submission defense is too good, and he would have pulled off another decision. Gray has always impressed me and if he didn’t get the tko I think he definitely would have won a decision, but I totally agree with the results “no contest”. Gray to me was clearly out, his poor sportsmanship after bothered me a bit arguing with Rogan like that, com on man you were so out, when the doctor rolled him into a sitting position he fell over.
[quote post=”2525″]I think Gray would have won that fight, and I think Manny would have beaten Diaz, just going by the first rounds. I think Manny’s submission defense is too good, and he would have pulled off another decision. Gray has always impressed me and if he didn’t get the tko I think he definitely would have won a decision, but I totally agree with the results “no contest”. [/quote]
Yes, it just would’ve been nice to see how good their cardio was.
[quote post=”2525″]The fact that both Hughes and Newton were “out” is the comparison[/quote]
Right on.
“Huerta came out determined in the second round and overwhelmed Evans from the start. He eventually got his back and submitted him with a nice rear naked choke.”
He actually won via TKO.
I was once again extremely pleased with the second free card of June. The only fighter who was a bit disapointing was Wang, but I really didn’t expect him to do anything. Frankly, I was surprised he got to fight at all.
Penn looked sharp, and if he puts on a few more pounds, I can see him dominating the welterweight division.
[quote post=”2525″]Penn looked sharp, and if he puts on a few more pounds, I can see him dominating the welterweight division. [/quote]
He would have to.
I was extremely impressed by one thing, and extremely unimpressed by the other:
Pulver and Penn both showed huge class after the fight. Pulver knew he was outclassed and immediately asked to come out and train with Penn to become a better fighter. Penn didn’t gloat at all - seconds after it was over he consolded Pulver. That’s class. That’s why this sport will continue to catapult. Good for BJ - I’m a big fan. Pulver’s time may have passed, but he was a pioneer for the little guys no matter what.
I was very unimpressed with Diaz last night. He did not acknowledge that Manny was outclassing him pre-stoppage, and then he spewed that ridicuous line about the house. Gimme a break, dude. You’re making $150k a YEAR now plus endorsements. What a chump. I really wanna see his dumb ass get knocked silly in his next fight. Classic case of dollar talent and a nickel brain.
[quote comment=”88324″][quote post=”2525″]Penn looked sharp, and if he puts on a few more pounds, I can see him dominating the welterweight division. [/quote]
He would have to.[/quote]
Penn looks soft at 170 Hughes and St.Pierre are solid at 180-185 he’s giving up way too much size and relying on his talent too much. He overpowered Jens but he would have trouble with a some of the bigger welter weights like Hughes, St.Pierre, Koscheck and Sanchez.
[quote post=”2525″]Penn looks soft at 170 Hughes and St.Pierre are solid at 180-185 he’s giving up way too much size and relying on his talent too much. He overpowered Jens but he would have trouble with a some of the bigger welter weights like Hughes, St.Pierre, Koscheck and Sanchez[/quote]
True…thats y he’d have 2 hit the weights!
Wilson, I couldn’t have said it better.
[quote comment=”88338″]I was very unimpressed with Diaz last night. He did not acknowledge that Manny was outclassing him pre-stoppage, and then he spewed that ridicuous line about the house.[/quote]
While I agree that Nate Diaz is generally an ass, you are wrong in saying that he didn’t acknowledge Manny was beating him. Watch it again and listen to his opening remarks.
Also, as far as the Hughes/Newton fight: immediately after the fight, while Hughes is walking around the Octagon, he can clearly been seen saying “I was out.” He didn’t slam Newton, he passed out and dropped him to the mat.
[quote comment=”88341″][quote comment=”88324″][quote post=”2525″]Penn looked sharp, and if he puts on a few more pounds, I can see him dominating the welterweight division. [/quote]
He would have to.[/quote]
Penn looks soft at 170 Hughes and St.Pierre are solid at 180-185 he’s giving up way too much size and relying on his talent too much. He overpowered Jens but he would have trouble with a some of the bigger welter weights like Hughes, St.Pierre, Koscheck and Sanchez.[/quote]
I disagree. Penn has already beaten Hughes once, lost a close second fight to him, and lost a close decision to GSP. He’d do just fine.
That shoulder is going to hurt Manny’s future. It pops out easily and everyone knows about it now.
[quote post=”2525″]man it really sucks for manny he was defintly going to win that fight last night [/quote]How can u say he was definately gonna win? I mean clearly Manny won the first round but Nate has a clear advantage on the feat and could catch Manny in a submission at any time. Look at his fight with Gray basically the same first round as this fight and Nate gets a submission in the second round.
[quote comment=”88366″][quote post=”2525″]man it really sucks for manny he was defintly going to win that fight last night [/quote]How can u say he was definately gonna win? I mean clearly Manny won the first round but Nate has a clear advantage on the feat and could catch Manny in a submission at any time. Look at his fight with Gray basically the same first round as this fight and Nate gets a submission in the second round.[/quote]
True story. It’s a bummer, the fight could have played out either way. After watching Nate get pummeled by Manyard, he impressped me big time the way he dealt with Manny’s strengh in rd. 1
[quote comment=”88313″][quote post=”2525″]The fact that both Hughes and Newton were “out” is the comparison[/quote]
Right on.[/quote]
Oh well in that case it’s a perfect comparison. How could I not see that?
Soups - you are right - there was at least acknowledgement… my bigger problem with the guy is not respecting the company and sport that is giving him a very nice living doing soemthing he loves to do. He punk’d Dana White, who outside of Goodell (NFL) is the best commish in all of sports. That was lame. The kid has a lot of growing up to do.
PSYYYYYCHED FOR THE NEXT PPV! WHAT A CARD!
Of course Maynard was Ko’ed from his own slam. Having said that, this fact should not even be considered into the decision of the referee. If you look at the replay, you can clearly see Emerson tap. That signals the end of the fight, regardless of Maynards condition. Another important fact, if the ref was concerned about Maynard being unconscious, why on the replay, is he shown attending to Emerson and not Maynard. You have a conscious person who can respond versus an unconscious one. In that scenario, you attend to the unconscious person first because his condition is considered worse. It would be interesting to see what the rules state in regards to when a fight is offically over, but I think Maynard got screwed.
I dont think hughes slamed his way out of a triangle, he went to sleep and could no longer hold newton up in the air. The Hughes Newton fight should of been a no contest just like the Emerson Grey fight.
I heard BJ wanted to win the lightweight title before he moves up to win the welterweight title,but i dont know how true this is.
[quote comment=”88370″][quote comment=”88366″][quote post=”2525″]man it really sucks for manny he was defintly going to win that fight last night [/quote]How can u say he was definately gonna win? I mean clearly Manny won the first round but Nate has a clear advantage on the feat and could catch Manny in a submission at any time. Look at his fight with Gray basically the same first round as this fight and Nate gets a submission in the second round.[/quote]
True story. It’s a bummer, the fight could have played out either way. After watching Nate get pummeled by Manyard, he impressped me big time the way he dealt with Manny’s strengh in rd. 1[/quote]
I am biased when it comes to the Diaz Brothers, but I don’t know why someone would think that Manny “was definitely” going to win that fight. Diaz only looked in danger when Manny put him in that Guillotine, other then that he was throwing submissions like crazy, and I even felt that at one point when Manny was in Diaz’s full guard that Diaz just stretched out and was unloading punches on him, and doing more damage from bottom. Both Diaz brothers are perfect representations of a weakness in the judging. Top control is not “always” the winning position, there are times when the bottom fighter is out working, and doing more damage from bottom.
Why should a fighter who is content to be taken down because he knows he can outwork, and do more damage then his opponent from the bottom position, penalized for it. Just my opinion.
Chris Valentine
[quote comment=”88475″]Soups - you are right - there was at least acknowledgement… my bigger problem with the guy is not respecting the company and sport that is giving him a very nice living doing soemthing he loves to do. He punk’d Dana White, who outside of Goodell (NFL) is the best commish in all of sports. That was lame. The kid has a lot of growing up to do.
PSYYYYYCHED FOR THE NEXT PPV! WHAT A CARD![/quote]
I do not agree, Nick should have been allowed to corner his brother. Also he never said that UFC or Dana had anyhting to do with it, he was talking about the NSAC. I think that when it comes to his demeanor and attitude that it is the Diaz Family trait, and that is why I like him so much.
Later
Chris Valentine
I do not agree, Nick should have been allowed to corner his brother. Also he never said that UFC or Dana had anyhting to do with it, he was talking about the NSAC. I think that when it comes to his demeanor and attitude that it is the Diaz Family trait, and that is why I like him so much.
Later
Chris Valentine[/quote]
i think the ” diaz family trait” is just typical punk ass mouthy shit that runs rampant in sports today. its unoriginal and tiresome at best.
[quote comment=”88208″]BJ at 170 is gonna be awsome. I’m suprised so many want him at 155. He did so good at 170 before. And he dosnt want to stay at a lightweight that he can man handle everybody at. He wants to move up and get the most challenging fights. That’s admirable I think.[/quote]
The reason I like BJ at 155 is he’s basically forced to work on his conditioning, or else he doesn’t make weight. But there’s really not much competition for him there, maybe Sherk. Most of the other top talent are too small (Hermes, Faber) and he’s proven it against Gomi. So WW has better match-ups.
If BJ can hook up w/ a top strength and sports performace coash (like Shawn Tompkins, who helped w/ Bernard Hopkins’ fight @ LHW vs Tarver), it’ll help him a lot. He needs to put on lean muscle w/o sacrificing speed and flexibility. Or maybe hook up w/ a top track-and-field trainer.
That was an excellent fight last night. Penn dominated that whole fight. Not one second did Penn look like he wasn’t in control. Too Bad Manvil dislocated thee shoulder, but I picked Diaz to win the whole thing anyways. I thought his post interview was funny
does anyone know were i can c the garcia fight??? i know the outcome, just wana c him choke lobsta a lil bit
Any chance u get 2 c da “lobsta” get choked…watch it….its worth every sec.
CASEY, did u try youtube or sherdog might have a clip of it.
yeah I think Gray got screwed..looking at the Hughes fight, i think the reason that hughes won was because no one knew he was out yet, untill the fight was stopped becuase Newton was clearly out…they didnt reverse that after the replay…Emerson clearly tapped, not knowing Gray was out, and thats why the ref stopped the fight, i dont think they should go back and change it after looking at the replay….
Bj looked good, I wish he would stay at 155, but it doesnt look like he will….
I wasn’t impressed by Manny in the first round. Yeah, he took diaz down and all that but he didn’t really do any damage. Lay n pray fo rthe most part.
Diaz seemed a bit more determined in the early part of the 2nd prior to the stoppage… but who knows.
Also, did anyone see “what BJ Penn was thinking by going to BJ Penn.com right now”??
I didn’t get to see any of it… I hope it wasn’t some trash talk about pulver. Pulver was clearly outclassed in that fight but he deserves the respect nonetheless.
did anybody else think that BJ left in that rear naked choke a little long after the ref stopped the fight?
I want to know what BJ thought of the fight. I went to the website after the fight like he said but it crashed. Why did he rush out of the octagon without saying anything? was that just a plug for his website? After the fight, BJ seemed like he was pretty congratulatory toward Jens and they were hugging it out but why wouldn’t BJ say a couple of good things about Jens? I think Bj was still pissed. Seemed like to me he held that choke a few seconds too long after the ref stopped the fight. BJ said he wanted to hurt Jens and he let go of that armbar to inflict more punishment. anyone else feel this way? thanks Don
[quote comment=”89463″]did anybody else think that BJ left in that rear naked choke a little long after the ref stopped the fight?[/quote]
Absolutely and he released the arm bar that would have ended the fight in the first round. Look at Jens face at the end of the fight and you can clearly see that, short of breaking Jens shoulder, BJ accomplished what he planned. He punished Pulver and you know what? It worked. Pulver was very respectful to BJ in the end.
yes, I just asked that question on this site. at least 2 or 3 seconds too long. Also, do you think bj was pissed after the fight and that’s why he didn’t say anything or was it just a stunt to get people to go to his site to see how he felt?
Yeah I thought that was pretty weak on BJs charachter to leave that choke in that long.
couldnt expect nothing different.