UFC 118: Edgar vs Penn II took place on August 28th, 2010 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. First UFC event held in the state of Massachusetts the main event featured a rematch between Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn for the Lightweight title. Edgar upset Penn in their last bout at UFC 112 by decision and Edgar was yet again able to win a decision this time around was a more decisive bout as he won every round on the scorecard. The co-main event featured the biggest Boxer vs MMA bout to date between Randy Couture and current IBA Heavyweight champion James Toney. Couture was able to make quick work of Toney getting a quick takedown and eventually work into full mount and a arm triangle submission victory. Earlier in the card Gray Maynard secured a title shot against the winner of the main event by beating former title challenger Kenny Florian. Nate Diaz and Demian Maia were also victorious to round out the main card bouts.
UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira took place on August 29th, 2009 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. Main event featured a bout years in the making as Randy Couture took in Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. In a back and forth affair with submission attempts and near knock outs Nogueira was able to beat Couture by decision in a fight that was awarded Fight Of The Night honors. In the co-main event Brazilian Thiago Silva made quick work of Keith Jardine defeating him in just 1:35 by TKO. Nate Marquardt however defeated Demain Maia in even quicker fashion knocking out the Jiu Jitsu Black Belt in just 21 seconds. Brandon Vera and Jake Rosholt were also victorious during the main card portion of the event.
Pride Final Conflict 2005 took place on August 28th, 2005 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Main event featured the finals of the Pride Middleweight tournament between Mauricio Rua and Ricardo Arona. To get to the finals Shogun defeated Alistair Overeem by TKO while Arona upset Shogun's teammate Wanderlei Silva which was Silva's first loss at Middleweight in 5 years. Shogun dominated the final bout from start to finish and was able to finish Arona by TKO 2:54 into the 1st round. In one of the most anticipated Heavyweight bouts of all time Fedor Emelianenko took on Mirko Cro Cop. Emelianenko was able to defeat Cro Cop by decision and retained his title.
Pride Shockwave 2002 took place on August 28th, 2002 at the Tokyo National Stadium in Tokyo Japan. This event which was a co-promotion between Pride and K-1 set the MMA record for largest attendance at 91,107 although many claim that number is greatly exagerated. The nights bouts featured K-1, MMA or Jiu Jitsu rules. The main event featured Mirko Cro Cop taking on Kazushi Sakuraba. Cro Cop went on to defeat Sakuraba by TKO after Sakuraba suffered a broken orbital bone. In a Jiu Jitsu rules bout Hidehiko Yoshida defeated Royce Gracie by submission although Gracie did not tap. Perhaps the most famous bout during this event though was between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Bob Sapp. Sapp who outweighed Nogueira by a mere 150 pounds lifted Nogueira up and dropped him right on top of his head, but it was Nogueira who persevered and was able to submit Sapp in the 2nd round by an arm bar.
Birthdays
Jim Miller born on August 31st, 1983 in Sparta Township, New Jersey
The younger brother of fellow UFC fighter Dan Miller, Jim sports an impressive career record of 20-3. The former Cage Fury Lightweight champion and Reality Fighting Featherweight champion has only 3 loses have come by the hands of title holder Frankie Edgar, title challenger Gray Maynard and former WEC champion Ben Henderson. The wrestling and Jiu Jitsu standout has notable wins over Gleison Tibau, Mark Bocek and Duane Ludwig.
Hidehiko Yoshida born on September 3rd, 1969 in Obu, Japan
The highly decorated Judoka won a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Judo. Although one of Pride's most popular fighters Yoshida finished his MMA career with a 9-8-1 record. Yoshida who wore a Gi in most of his matches participated in 2 Grand Prix's in Pride, one in 2003 which featured his memorable battle against Wanderlei Silva and then again in 2006 where he fell to eventually winner Mirko Cro Cop. Yoshida's last career bout was about his long time student in his dojo Kazuhiro Nakamura which Nakamura won by decision. Notable wins and matches for Yoshida include his 2 bouts with Royce Gracie the first under Jiu Jitsu rules which he won and the next a year later under modified MMA rules which ended in a draw. He also took on fellow Gold Medal winner Rulon Gardner who won his in Greco-Wrestling in 2000, Yoshida ended up losing that bout by decision. Satoshi Ishii, Maurice Smith, Naoya Ogawa, Tank Abbott and Mark Hunt are also victories on Yoshida's resume.
Dominick Cruz born on September 3rd, 1985 in Tucson, Arizona
The current UFC Bantamweight champion has an impressive career record of 18-1. Cruz gained the UFC title while being the WEC champion and having the 2 companies merge in late 2010. He is also the former Total Combat Lightweight and Featherweight champion. The #1 ranked Bantamweight while also being hightly ranked on pound for pound rankings is known for his highly elusive striking game which involves constant foot and head movement, not unlike Lyoto Machida he has been regarded as nearly impossible to hit and track down. The only person to defeat both Brian Bowles and Joseph Benavidez (x2), he also has notable wins over Urijah Faber (who is the only man to defeat Cruz to date), Scott Jorgensen and Ian McCall.
Others celebrating birthdays this week:
Pat Smith born on August 28th, 1963 in Denver, Colorado
Karo Parisyan born on August 28th, 1982 in Yerevan, USSR
Rick Story born on August 28th, 1984 in Tacoma, Washington
Tim Kenedy born on September 1st, 1979 in San Luis Obispo, California
Alessio Sakara born on September 2nd, 1981 in Rome, Italy
Jeff Curran born on September 2nd, 1977 in Crystal Lake, IllinoisTweet
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