This Week In MMA History (August 7-13)

UFC 117: Silva vs Sonnen took place on August 7th, 2010 at the Oracle Arena, Oakland California.  The main event featured a Middleweight title fight between champion Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen which has been considered on of the greatest fights off all time, great submission and greatest comeback.  For 4 and half rounds the wrestler Sonnen dominated Silva with his wrestling putting the champion on his back and even knocked Silva down early in the first with a right hand.  With just 2 minutes left in the fight and Sonnen seemingly on cruise control for the victory Silva was able to get his leg over Sonnen's arm to lock in the triangle choke/arm bar combination to get the unbelievable submission win.  The submission win for Silva is one of  only 3 UFC fight to be finished in the 5th round.  The co-main event featured a rematch between Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves, Alves was unable to make weight and was fined 20% of his purse, the bout still took place with Jon Fitch winning the unanimous decision.  Matt Hughes and Clay Guida scored submission wins over Ricardo Almeida and Rafael Dos Anjos while Junior Dos Santos beat Roy Nelson by decision to round out the main card bouts.

UFC 101: Declaration took place on August 8th, 2009 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Main event featured BJ Penn returning to the Lightweight division to defend his title against Kenny Florian.  Penn was able to retain his title after finishing off Florian with a rear naked choke 3:54 into the 4th round.  In the co-main event Anderson Silva made his 2nd appearance in the Light Heavyweight division as he took on former champion Forrest Griffin.  For 3 and a half minutes Silva toyed with Griffin with his hands by his side ducking and dodging any strike Griffin threw at him while tagging Griffin seemingly at will.  A charging Griffin allowed a back pedaling Silva to land a clean jab that floored Griffin and ending the fight.  Johnny Hendricks, Ricardo Almeida and Kurt Pellegrino rounded out the main card victories.

UFC 87: Seek and Destroy took place on August 9th, 2008 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Main event featured Georges St. Pierre defending his Welterweight title against Jon Fitch.  St. Pierre stated Jon Fitch was one of the toughest opponents he's faced as for 5 rounds he dominated Fitch but was unable to get the finish as he took the unanimous decision to retain his title.  Heath Herring stepped in for Mark Coleman to face Brock Lesnar in the co-main event.  From the start Lesnar nailed Herring with a hard shot that sent Herring literally spinning backwards from there Lesnar smothered Herring with his wrestling and ground and pound getting the decision victory.  Demian Maia and Jason Macdonald put on a grappling clinic in the first fight of the night , MacDonald showed great submission defense while getting some attempts in him self before finally tapping out to Maia's rear naked choke in the 3rd round.  Kenny Florian and Rob Emerson also were victorious on the main card.  Future UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones made his debut during the prelims winning a decision againt Andre Gusmao.

WEC 42: Torres vs Bowles took place on August 9th, 2009 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Main event featured a Bantamweight title fight featuring champion Miguel Torres and Brian Bowles.  Bowles became the new champion after he knocked out Torres with some ground and pound after some back and forth action standing.  The co-main event featured a #1 contender bout for the Bantamweight title between Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez with Cruz winning by decision.  Takeya Mizugaki, Danny Castillo and Leonard Garcia were also in the win column as the other main card winners.

Pride: Total Elimination 2003 took place on August 10th, 2003 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.  Event featured the opening round of the Middleweight tournament which was one of the best tournaments in Pride history.  Main event and a tournament bout was the 3 fight between Wanderlei Silva and Kazuski Sakuraba, Silva knocked out Sakuraba yet again in devastating fashion this time 5:01 into the first round.  UFC contestant Chuck Liddell knocked out Alistair Overeem to advance to the semi-finals, while Rampage Jackson and Hidehiko Yoshida were victorious to also advance and round out the final 4.  3 Heavyweight bouts also took place during the event with Fedor Emelianenko beating Gary Goodridge by TKO, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira winning a contraversial decision over UFC fighter Ricco Rodriguez and Mirko Cro Cop knocked out Igor Vovchanchyn in a highlight reel ko that is still viewed today as one of the best ko's of all time.

Birthdays
Kevin Randleman born on August 10th, 1971 in Sandusky, Ohio.
Now recently retired the former UFC Heavyweight champion was also a 2 time NCAA wrestling champion for Ohio University.  Although finishing his career with a modest 17-16 career record,  "The Monster" literally fought the best of the best throught out his career.  His career was hampered however for a drug suspension while submitting a fake urine test and a ugly case of staff infection.  Notable wins for Randleman include Mirko Cro Cop, Babalu Sobral, Pedro Rizzo, and Maurice Smith.

Demetrious Johnson born on August 13th, 1986 in Madisonville, Kentucky.
Standing at a mere 5'3 inherited Johnson with the nickname "Mighty Mouse".  Armed with a relentless takedown game which has earned Johnson a career record of 10-1 with 5 wins coming by way of submission.  A future move to the Flyweight division is most likely for Johnson but he has made the most of his time as a bantamweight by earning a title shot in October.  An impressive winning streak of notable wins for Johnson include Miquel Torres, Norifumi Yamamoto, Damacio Page, and Nick Page in succession.

Also celebrating birthdays this week:

C.B. Dollaway born on August 10th, 1983 in Mount Gilead, Ohio.

Nik Lentz born on August 13th, 1984 in El Paso, Texas.

Tweet