UFC 78 “Validation” has come and gone and it definitely won’t be remembered as one of the more stellar cards of the year, still it did produce a few exciting under card matches. I largely skipped doing a recap as I did for the previous UFC as my play-by-play for the event that can be read here. But keep reading for commentary and an accounting of my picks.

Rashad Evans vs. Michael Bisping

I’m not really sure what we learned from this fight, but strangely enough Bisping came out looking better in defeat to Evans than he did in “Victory” over Matt Hamill; And Evans at least in my opinion came out looking worse in this win than he did in his draw with Tito Ortiz, in that fight he just looked tentative & nervous, here though he just looked like a poorly conditioned athlete as he began to gas midway through the second round. Still, he deserves credit for not falling to pieces and fighting a smart fight when his gas tank began to empty out. As for Bisping let’s hope he moves down to the middle weight where I think he will pose a lot of trouble for many of the fighters in that division.

Pre-fight Prediction

“I expect Evans to at least be able to neutralize Bisping’s stand-up and to take it to the ground when ever he’s in any danger or just to score points, I also think he’ll do far better than Hamill at inflicting damage upon Bisping when he does score the take down.I expect Evans who has more ways to win, and who has faced tougher competition in the past, to pull off a decisive decision.”Fight Outcome: Evans defeats Bisping via Split Decision.

I’m not sure what fight that one judge was watching but despite the fact that I criticized Evans and praised Bisping, there’s no way that Bisping won two rounds of that fight; And while I was expecting more out of Rashad he still got the job done. Also I can’t be to cross at a fighter who I bet on and who made me money.

Houston Alexander vs. Thiago Silva

I really have no idea what Alexander was thinking when he decided it would be a good idea to take the fight to the ground, quite obviously it was very bad move on his part. When I picked Alexander to win I new I was taking a risk on an unproven fighter but I figured he would be able to pull off one more quick mugging of an opponent as I thought Silva would be game to trade on the feet. My first indication that something was amiss was the very first shot shown of Alexander, he seemed at least to me, to be extremely nervous and while Joe Rogan described Alexander as “very calm” I can’t imagine his pre-fight game plan was to take the fight to the canvas with a BJJ black belt.

Pre-fight Prediction

“Undefeated Brazilian striker Thiago Silva is also coming off two TKO wins in the UFC, though to much smaller names (Tomasz Drwal & James Irvin). I think the Brazilian’s about to receive the first blemish on his record, I don’t see this leaving the first round, look for Alexander to score another brutal TKO victory.”

Well I was right it didn’t leave round one and it was a TKO unfortunately I had the wrong fighter scoring it.

Fight Outcome: Silva defeats Alexander via TKO (Strikes) – Round 1, 3:25.

Here’s hoping Alexander can work with some good ground guys and close a huge gaping hole in his game.

Karo Parisyan vs. Ryo Chonan

Started off well enough in the first round but slowed in the second and by the third round it was moving at a glacial pace, at one point the crowd got so quite you could here a pin drop and it wasn’t because they were holding there collective breaths with bated anticipation. You know it was a boring fight when the winner has to apologize for his performance in his post fight interview.

Pre-fight Prediction

“I think UFC debut jitters will allow Karo to rack up another victory by decision in what should hopefully prove to be a very entertaining and unorthodox fight”

Well besides that fact that it was boring lackluster fight I called this one correctly. The Decision King rains supreme!

Fight Outcome: Parisyan defeats Ryo Chonan via Unanimous Decision.

Ed Herman vs. Joe Doerksen

Unfortunately close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades as Doerksen would have one this fight in the second round if he just had five more seconds to apply the triangle choke/armbar he had Herman trapped in.

Pre-fight Prediction

“What do I think will happen? I’m going to say this ends just like Doerksen vs. Herman 1 3rd round submission for Doerksen.”

Fight Outcome: Herman defeats Doerksen via KO (Punch) – Round 3, 0:39

I still think a fully prepared Doerksen takes this match-up the majority of the time.

Frank Edgar vs. Spencer Fisher

Other than to be right about Fisher being fast to try to work his way back to his feet following a take down, this fight went nothing like I thought it would. I was sure Fisher would be able to land enough strikes to make Edgar think twice about shotting in for the take down and I figured the damage would start to start to slow Edgar down as the fight progressed. I also thought Edgar might try to show boat for the home fans and try an trade for a round with Fisher, but kudos to Edgar for fighting a smart if dull fight.

Pre-fight Prediction

“As such I’m going to have to go with his more experienced opponent and say that Fisher will be able to defend against enough of Edgar’s wrestling take downs and also stay busy off his back when he is inevitably taken down; He’ll also be quick to use any opportunity that presents itself to scramble back to his feet. While standing Fisher should be able to deliver enough of his trademark heavy handed strikes to wear down Edgar and pull off a close decision victory”

Fight Outcome: Edgar defeats Fisher via Unanimous Decision.

Beyond the fact that Fisher really needs to overhaul his take down defense; Edgar really needs to work on his finishing skills, while he was able to get Fisher down he wasn’t able to do a great deal once he had him there.

Joe Lauzon vs. Jason Reinhardt

Joe definitely didn’t fail to impress but his opponent was clearly out matched and this fight was over very fast.

Pre-fight Prediction

“When your 18-0 and your best win is over a guy like Del Hawkins and that fight was in 2001, well let’s just say you’ve been padding out your record. If that wasn’t enough there’s also the fact that the nearly 40 year old Reinhardt is 5′6 and should be fighting in the bantamweight class and well I don’t see how Lauzon could fail to win this match. I’ll take Joe via first round TKO.”

Fight Outcome: Lauzon defeats Reinhardt via Submission (R.N.C.) – Round 1, 1:14

Well it ended by a rear naked choke but Lauzon could have really finished this fight any way he wanted, it was almost merciful on Lauzon’s part to just go for a choke.

(Un-Televised Portion)

Thiago Alves vs. Chris Lytle

Wow what a great fight, Lytle really came to bang and his hand work was just great. And Alves really had some great leg kicks. Even though it only went two rounds before a ridiculous doctor stoppage shut it down, it definitely deserved the “Fight of the Night” it received.

Pre-fight Prediction

“Lytle has underrated stand up and I believe it will be enough to get him a decision victory.”

Fight Outcome: Alves defeats Lytle via TKO (Doc. Stoppage, Cut) – Round 2, 5:00

Lytle won the first round with his combos and Alves took the second with his legs kicks, unfortunately will never know what would have happened in the third.

Marcus Aurelio vs. Luke Caudillo

Aurelio won in the first as I thought he would, though he did so by ground and pound.

Pre-fight Prediction

“I see him scoring a quick round one submission victory over Caudillo who has six submission losses on his record and who over all is virtually tailor made for Aurelio to arrest his losing streak against.”

Fight Outcome: Aurelio defeats Caudillo via TKO (Strikes) – Round 1, 4:29

Akihiro Gono vs. Tamdan McCrory

And Gono won in the second as I thought he would, though he did so by submission.

Pre-fight Prediction

“I’ll take Gono by round 2 TKO.”

Fight Outcome: Gono defeats McCrory via Submission (Armbar) – Round 2, 3:19

UFC 78 rating

Overall like my picks, UFC 78 was a subpar event I give it a (D)