The On Deck Circle

This article has been submitted by Kyle “Free Lunch” Norton and is a weekly feature here at The ODC.

UFC Fight Night 13 Recap
Kenny Florian put himself one step closer to getting back into title contention on April 2nd with a win over the always-tough Joe Lauzon. Florian looked polished and vicious at the same time, finishing the fight with strikes from the mount. It’s hard to say where Florian stands in the lightweight rankings in the UFC due to the sheer amount of talent. Also on the card, Nate Diaz submitted BJJ black belt Kurt Pellegrino with a picture perfect triangle choke and in true Diaz form, Nate flexed for the cameras before finishing the choke. James Irving caught Houston Alexander with a gorgeous superman punch just eight seconds into their bout to set a new UFC record for fastest knockout. Gray Maynard put on a wrestling clinic and showed some solid striking, defeating Frankie Edgar by decision and Thiago Alves finished Karo Parisyan in round two by what some are calling an early stoppage by referee Steve Mazzagatti.

UFC Fight Night 13 Full Results
• Kenny Florian def. Joe Lauzon (TKO – 3:28, Round 2)
• Gray Maynard def. Frankie Edgar (Unanimous Decision)
• Thiago Alves def. Karo Parisyan (TKO – 0:34, Round 2)
• Matt Hamill def. Tim Boetsch (TKO – 1:25, Round 2)
• Nate Diaz def. Kurt Pellegrino (Submission, Triangle Choke – 3:06, Round 2)
• James Irvin def. Houston Alexander (KO – 0:08, Round 1)
• Josh Neer def. Din Thomas (Unanimous Decision)
• Marcus Aurelio def. Ryan Roberts (Submission, Armbar – 0:16, Round 1)
• Manny Gamburyan def. Jeff Cox (Submission, Guillotine Choke – 1:21, Round 1)
• Clay Guida def. Samy Schiavo (TKO – 4:15, Round 1)
• George Sotiropoulos def. Roman Mitichyan (TKO – 2:24, Round 2)
• Anthony Johnson def. Tommy Speer (KO – 0:51, Round 1)

Strikeforce-Elite XC Shamrock vs. Le Recap
Cung Le defeated the self-proclaimed ‘greatest mixed martial artist in history,’ Frank Shamrock in front of a sell-out crowd of 16,326 at the HP Pavilion on March 29th. The San Shou stylist used a hellacious barrage of kicks to keep Shamrock at a distance and punish his fellow San Jose native. Shamrock was unable to continue after the third round after having his arm broken by a Cung Le left kick. Le is a terrible match-up for almost any middleweight in the world due to his top-tier striking and strong wrestling skills. We are yet to see him work on the ground for any length of time, which is just the way Le has planned it. In other Strikeforce action, Gilbert Melendez recovered from the first defeat of his career by dispatching of Gabe Lemley in rather easy fashion by second round TKO. Drew Fickett appeared to be unaffected by his change of opponent, finishing Jae Suk Lim with a guillotine in the first round.

Strikeforce-Elite XC Shamrock vs. Le Full Results
• Cung Le def. Frank Shamrock (TKO, Broken Arm – 5:00, Round 3)
• Drew Fickett def. Jae Suk Lim (Submission, Guillotine Choke – 1:14, Round 1)
• Gilbert Melendez def. Gabe Lemley (TKO – 2:18, Round 2)
• Wayne Cole def. Mike Kyle (Submission, Armbar – 0:42, Round 1)
• Joey Villasenor def. Ryan Jensen (KO – 4:45, Round 1)
• Billy Evangelista def. Marlon Sims (KO – 0:39, Round 3)
• Tiki Ghosn def. Luke Stewart (Unanimous Decision)
• Darren Uyenoyama def. Anthony Figueroa (Submission, Guillotine Choke – 1:27, Round 1)
• Jesse Jones def. Jesse Gillespie (TKO – 0:35, Round 1)

Fedor vs. Sylvia Could be in the Works
A bout between Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia has been rumoured ever since Tim Sylvia was the UFC heavyweight champion. MMA fans have been waiting for a long time for Fedor to take on a top UFC athlete and it looks like the fight could come true. Sherdog.com reported that Emelianenko confirmed a bout with Sylvia was in the works and that he looks forward to the match. The Emelianenko Myth will either be validated or destroyed with this bout because it is his first meaningful fight since, arguably, 2005 when he took on Mirko Cro Cop. Mark Cuban and HDNet are rumoured to be involved.

Rematch at Dream 2
Shinya Aoki and Gesias Calvancante will try for a third time to produce a winner at Dream 2 on April 29th. The two were originally slated to meet at Yarennoka! on New Years Eve but JZ Calvan was forced to withdraw with a knee injury. The hype continued to grow leading up to a showdown in the first round of the Dream Lightweight Grand Prix, which ended in disappointment. Calvancante elbowed Aoki to the back of the neck (an illegal blow), rendering Aoki unable to compete. The Dream executive decided that a rematch would be needed to decide whom to advance to the next round of the tournament, leading to the April 29th fight. The winner will take on Katsuhiko Nagata in the second round of the Lightweight Grand Prix on May 11th in Saitama Japan in what is sure to be a very exciting night of fights.

TUF 7 Season Debut
Season 7 of the Ultimate Fighter debuted last Wednesday night following UFC Fight Night 13. The big twist of this season’s Ultimate Fighter is the fact that every contestant will have to fight his way onto the show in order to prevent ‘pussies’ from dropping out midway through the season. Without a doubt, this season hosts the two most entertaining coaches in the program’s history, Forrest Griffin and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. The highlights of the premier (for me) had to be Rampage being unable to spell what he wanted to write about a fighter and Forrest’s selection policy of choosing only fighters who were uglier than himself.

More Success from Nova Uniao
BJJ black belt and Nova Uniao mainstay Wagnney Fabiano defended his IFL featherweight championship on Friday, April 4th. Fabiano knocked out contender Shad Lierley in just 37 seconds with a beautiful cross-hook combination. The win moves Fabiano definitely into top-10 consideration in the featherweight division and he is poised to make a move up the rankings.

This article has been submitted by Kyle “Free Lunch” Norton and is a weekly feature here at The ODC.