THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne – now in it’s 10th year!
E-mail: juli316uk@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
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It’s time for one of those strange occurrences again, a DVD review of a pay-per-view I’ve already reviewed, and this time it’s the turn of the two disc UFC 108: Evans v Silva.
Disc one begins with the prelims, starting with Rafaello Oliveira against John Gunderson in the lightweight division.
This was a dominant performance from Oliveira. While Gunderson’s attacked seemed somewhat one dimensional, Oliveira’s performance was such that he completely overwhelmed Gunderson, going for a number of submission attempts. He would surely have got the win had it not been for Gunderson’s defensive work.
The judges decision – unanimous in favour of Oliveira, so no great surprise there.
It was up to the welterweight division for the next fight as Mike Pyle faced Jake Ellenberger.
Another fight that featured some great ground work saw Ellenberger score with a couple of impressive takedowns. However, Pyle was able to frustrate him for most of the round, although he ended it by saying he’d broken a rib.
Round two didn’t last that long. A big right dropped Pyle, and Ellenberger quickly followed him down for the ground and pound, with the referee quickly calling a halt to the proceedings and giving Ellenberger his first UFC win.
Action from the middleweight division followed as Mark Munoz went up against Ryan Jensen.
This was an impressive performance from the man from the Philippines. As soon as he took the fight to the ground Munoz was in control, and as soon as he took the dominant position he unleashed with the ground and pound. Jensen actually had to tap out twice before the referee eventually stopped the onslaught and gave Munoz the TKO win.
Then it was back down to the lightweight division with Cole Miller and Dan Lauzon.
This was a great back and forth affair. Lauzon rocked Miller early on with a left hook, but Miller was able to come back strongly with some impressive ground work, wrapping his legs around Lauzon’s head and neck and getting the submission with a kimura from a reverse triangle. A really great performance from Miller here.
Back up a division for the next fight as Martin Kampmann faced Jacob Volkmann.
Another of those back and forth affairs saw Volkman get in some good shots, but he was rather reckless in doing so because Kampmann was able to counter with strikes of his own.
The second time this happened Kampmann took control and soon got the submission win with a guillotine. An impressive comeback for Kampmann after his previous defeat.
The main show began with the big boys of the heavyweight division as Junior Dos Santos went up against Gilbert Yvel.
Dos Santos proved once again what a great striker he is. Although Yvel got in a couple of good shots Dos Santos was on top throughout, with a big left sending the Frenchman to la-la land momentarily. A few seconds of ground and pound later and Dos Santos had another great win.
A second Miller came out to play next as Cole’s brother Jim faced Duane Ludwig in the lightweight division.
Miller was just as impressive as his brother. A right hook sent Ludwig down. Miller quickly followed and went for an arm bar. Ludwig tried to fight it but tapped out a few seconds later.
Speaking of brothers, Dan Lauzon’s brother Joe followed, taking on Sam Stout in another lightweight encounter.
This was a great example of a grappler versus striker battle Lauzon controlled the early part of the first round with his takedowns, and he opened up a nasty cut above Stout’s left eye with an elbow.
But from there the majority of the fight belonged to Stout with his superior striking. He clearly out fought Lauzon, whose only other notable moment of offence came in the third when he went for a guillotine. This didn’t last long though as Stout was able to escape and get back to his feet.
No surprises with the decision here as all three judges scored in favour of Stout.
The big welterweight encounter saw Dustin Hazelett facing Paul Daley.
Semtex certainly lived up to his nickname here. After a feeling out period Daley unleashed with a left hook that sent Hazelett crashing. Two seconds of ground and pound later and Daley had the knockout win.
This was a really impressive performance from Daley. It’s just a shame the way his UFC career turned out the way it did.
The main event saw Rashad Evans taking on Thiago Silva in the light heavyweight division.
This battle of former champions was certainly worthy of it’s spot on the card. Evans controlled the first two rounds, using his boxing to set up numerous takedowns, one of which saw him barge Silva from one side of the cage to the other.
Silva came back towards the end of the third. After a bit of showboating he rocked Evans with a big right. But unfortunately he just didn’t have enough energy to finish the job, showboating even more as Evans recovered.
Once again the judges were called into action as they gave Evans the unanimous decision.
Disc two is where you’ll find all the bonus features, the interviews and other stuff.
In conclusion – well folks, this was full of great fights. There wasn’t one bad encounter on in this DVD set, and it was nice to see all of these encounters again.
But there are still down points on these DVD releases, including no introductions from Goldberg and Rogan, and no fight introductions from the legend that is Bruce Buffer until the main event.
So once again a good DVD release from the UFC. But remember, if you saw this show when it was on television be prepared for a few edits.
UFC 108: Silva v Evans is available to buy online at www.fightdvd.co.uk.
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