UFC 83 Results and Recap

Georges St. Pierre def. Matt Serra - TKO (Strikes) – RD 2
Rich Franklin def. Travis Lutter - TKO (Strikes) – RD 2
Nate Quarry def. Kalib Starnes - Unanimous Decision – RD 3
Michael Bisping def. Charles McCarthy - TKO (Strikes) – RD 1
Mac Danzig def. Mark Bocek - Rear Naked Choke – RD 3
Jason MacDonald def. Joe Doerksen - TKO (Strikes) – RD 2
Jason Day def. Alan Belcher - TKO (Strikes) – RD 1
Demian Maia def. Ed Herman - Triangle Choke – RD 2
Rich Clementi def. Sam Stout - Split Decision – RD 3
Cain Velasquez def. Brad Morris - TKO (Strikes) – RD 1
Jonathan Goulet def. Kuniyoshi Hironaka - TKO (Strikes) – RD 2

The Main Card

Georges “Rush” St. Pierre successfully regained his welterweight title against Matt Serra in a dominant display of ground and pound in his home country of Canada. Pierre decided not to stand with the dangerous Serra and took the fight to the canvas in a safe strategy that utilized ground and pound. The largest crowd in UFC history went crazy and it is apparent that the UFC is going to pay more attention to the lucrative northern market.

Rich “Ace” Franklin survived a near arm bar attempt by TUF 4 winner, Travis Lutter after he was fully mounted to out-cardio the out of shape Travis Lutter before decimating his opponent on the feet. After the fight, Franklin stated that he intentionally baited Lutter by giving him the arm to get the reversal. I question the strategy, but it worked nonetheless. Franklin won by TKO in round two.

Nate “The Rock” Quarry literally chased Kalib Starnes around the octagon for three rounds in on of the worst fights of the year. Round one was the only round Starnes engaged in and he lost every exchange he was involved in. Starnes may have ended any hopes of ever fighting in the UFC again. Quarry won the most lopsided unanimous decisions in UFC history as one judge scored the bout 30-24.

TUF 3 winner Michael “The Count” Bisping made his debut at 185lbs and survived an arm bar attempt by Charles McCarthy. After that Bisping used McCarthy as a heavy bag. McCarthy patiently stood against the fence, didn’t circle, and let Bisping tee off on him until the round ended. He then dropped to the canvas and could not continue to the second round.

TUF 6 winner Mac Danzig won by rear naked choke over BJJ black belt Mark Bocek. The bout was back and forth at times and was a great way to start the night. Danzig may not have been a BJJ black belt, but his BJJ was better than the Bocek’s last night. Bocek’s face was a complete mess after the bout.

Alan Belcher

Duke Roufus trained, Alan “The Talent” Belcher fought newcomer Jason Day on the undercard of the card. Ryan Harkness from Fight Linker did live play-by-play for a UK magazine called Fighters Only. Here’s what he wrote about the fight:

Jason Day comes into the octagon to some crushing metal music complete with
menacing siren sounds. The crowd is decent for him, but nowhere near as good as
they've been for the other Canadian fighters. It'll be interesting to see if
that means no boos for Alan Belcher.

Belcher struts into the ring to
some jive funk. The crowd gives a short boo which makes Alan smile grimly, then
that's it. Belcher sings along to his tune as he gets anti-cut goo slathered all
over his forehead. He's wearing some of the silliest shorts I've ever seen. It
looks like he's fashioned them out of labels ripped off Carlsburg beer bottles
and tassles from his grandmother's ottoman.

ROUND 1
The two fighters
throw strikes at each other. Day ties up and throws some nice inside uppercuts
before Belcher smothers him and starts going for a takedown. And the takedown
works, Belcher is now on top in side control. Day pulls him back into guard and
then pulls rubber guard. He uses his position to bounce solid elbows off of
Belcher's head. This rubber guard is rocking and Belcher doesn't seem to know
what the hell to do in it. More elbows by Day land until Belcher postures up and
breaks the rubber guard. Day is doing a great job with a very tight closed
guard; Belcher can't get any room to do anything. Now Belcher stands straight up
and walks away. The fight restarts on the feet.

Day is now landing some
great elbows from the standup and seems to have Belcher rocked. Belcher is
covering up and seems rocked as Day swings for the fences with body shots and
face shots. The ref steps in and stops it as Belcher slumps to his knees.

WINNER: JASON DAY (TKO, ROUND 1)

It was surprising to read that Belcher shot in for the takedown considering Jason Day’s strengths were supposed to be on the ground with submissions and ground control. Also, just days earlier Belcher stated in an interview that he wanted to never have to attempt another takedown for the rest of his career. Judging by the pictures and the text it sounds like he pulled a Charles McCarthy against the fence and let Day tee off on him. It’s also surprising to read that Day was better in the clinch, where Belcher’s strong suit is supposed to lie. In a post fight press conference Dana White said about Day, “Jason Day was amazing and also that Alan Belcher is amazing and that makes Jason Day look even better.”

While I have yet to see the fight, it sounds like Day was impressive in the fight. I think judging by the words of Dana White, Alan Belcher will definitely be back in the UFC in the near future. Picture galleries of the fight are available on MMA Weekly and the UFC website.

All in all, the event was fairly good despite the Quarry-Starnes fight. The four different winners of the Ultimate Fighter went (2-2) on the night. Dana White in the post-fight press conference said Jon Fitch is now the number one contender and that he is also going to discuss a possible fight between Georges St. Pierre and UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. I think that there are some interesting match-ups for Rich Franklin in the future including Dan Henderson or Michael Bisping. I would speculate that Belcher’s next opponent could very well be on the card in Ed Herman or Nate Quarry. It’s hard to speculate whom Jason Day will fight next. Listed below is the fight card for UFC 84 next month:

UFC 84: Ill Will
MGM Grand Garden Arena
Las Vegas, NV
05/24/2008

155lbs: BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk
205lbs: Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine
205lbs: Wilson Gouveia vs. Goran Reljic
205lbs: Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida
205lbs: Thiago Silva vs. Antonio Mendes
185lbs: Ivan Salaverry vs. Rousimar Palhares
205lbs: Rameau Sokoudjou vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
155lbs: Terry Etim vs. Rob Emerson
170lbs: Jon Koppenhaver vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
170lbs: Jason Tan vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Heavy: Christian Wellisch vs. Shane Carwin