Good For the Most Part
Wolfe Moffat | Franklinville, NY | 09/21/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Dublin, Ireland, O2 Arena was the location for UFC 103. Coaching a TUF season was on the line for one fight, and a heated grudge match for the other.
The Main Event featured 2 fighters we all love! Rich Franklin steps up to take on Dan Henderson. The winner gets to coach against Michael Bisping, and a fight reserved against "The Count" at UFC 100! Franklin expects a tough brutal battle with both fighters coming out bruised and battered. Dan Henderson wants to beat the crap out of Franklin.
The Co-Main Event features a grudge match that started in Pride. A legend in Mark Coleman returns to the UFC to take on a man who just missed taking Forrest Griffin to the distance, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Rua had him arm broke in the first match, and he thinks it was an accident. Mark Coleman says since the arm broke, he won, end of story!
And oh, by the way, MMA standout Denis Kang makes his UFC debut against Alan Belcher.
10 fights total, listed below.
Dennis Siver vs. Nate Mohr: Siver is in dire need of this victory, especially after getting KTFO by Melvin Guillard rather quickly in his last fight. Mohr is also in dire need of this victory, and after getting brutally submitted by Manny Gamburyan in his last fight, he was out for a year. This was a great scrap, and it ended with a beautiful TKO in the 3rd!
Tomasz Drwal vs. Ivan Serati: Said of Serati from Italy, he supposedly has some great hands. Drwal came up short against Thiago Silva in his UFC debut. This is a KO that comes within minutes of the 1st round!
Eric Schafer vs. Antonio Mendes: In his UFC debut, Mendes actually rocked Thiago Silva, but came up short. Eric Schafer is used to getting rocked, and has great ground skills. This is rather surprising, because I don't think I've EVER seen a TKO by the guy who pulled it out! 1st round.
Tom Egan vs. John Hathaway: Ireland loves the hometown kid, Egan, who makes his UFC debut. Hathaway is an experienced scrapper from the UK, and he's making his UFC debut as well. This is nothing short of a dominating performance. Despite being a preliminary fight, this got press conference treatment the whole time, so that's pretty special!
Martin Kampmann vs. Alexandre Barros: Kampmann is a UFC veteran, but Nate Marquardt coaxed him to move to Welterweight. Barros is making his debut. And in the 2nd round, this ends.
Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle: The plan was the beat the living crap out of each other. The first to take it to the ground is a pansy! This was FIGHT OF THE NIGHT!!! And it was more than worthy of being called a split decision!
Alan Belcher vs. Denis Kang: This was a great battle and a great debut for Denis Kang. But um, WOW! All I can say is that a submission ends this in the 2nd round.
Jeremy Horn vs. Rousimar Palhares: Both of these guys are ground WIZARDS! Nothing they can't do on the ground. Horn desperately wants to get back in the win column. Hey, Palhares actually SUBMITTED Ivan Salaverry!! This is one great ground show that didn't disappoint me in the least! And it went to a unanimous decision.
Mark Coleman vs. Mauricio Rua: Ok, this was finished before the final bell. But for some reason, this was also given a Fight of the Night bonus. I thought it sucked!
Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson: Great scrap, and a split decision was awarded. Great heart displayed by both guys!
The special features are nice on this one. If you missed out on pre-fights for preliminary action, go to UFC featurettes. The Countdown show was great as well! I liked this event. Hope you do as well!"