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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The Ultimate Fighting Championship presented their latest live offering on ESPN in the early hours of this past Monday morning here in Britain with their second show on U.S. network Versus, headlined by the light heavyweight clash between Vladimir Matyushenko and Jon “Bones” Jones.
The show began with the lightweight clash between Tyson Griffin and Takanori Gomi.
The proverbial blink and you’ll miss it affair. After a brief feeling out period Gomi connected with a big right that sent Griffin crashing. The referee quickly stepped in, giving Gomi the great knockout win as Griffin suffered his first KO loss.
Then it was up to the welterweight division as John Howard faced Jake Ellenberger.
A good if unspectacular fight began with some quick exchanges before setting down into a nice ground battle. As the fight progressed a series of elbows from Ellenberger swelled Howard’s left eye to the point that the referee stopped the fight on the advice from the doctor, giving Ellenberger the TKO win.
More lightweight action followed as Darren Elkins took on Charles Oliveira.
The second blink and you’ll miss it affair saw Elkins score with the quick take down, only for Oliveira to lock on an arm bar seconds later, with Elkins tapping out just forty-one seconds into the fight. Awesome stuff from the debutant.
The middleweights were up next as Mark Munoz went up against Yushin Okami.
The only fight of the broadcast to go the distance was an interesting back and forth affair. Okami put on some great defensive work as Munoz went for a number of take downs.
But the main story centred around the striking game. Both men got in some good shots, with a big left from Munoz sending Okami to the ground.
But with neither man unable to stop the other the judges were called into action as they gave Okami the split decision.
The main event saw action from the light heavyweight division as Jon Jones went up against Vladimir Matyushenko.
Another good performance from Jones saw him get the take down after a brief feeling out period. Matyushenko controlled his left arm briefly, but it wasn’t long before Jones took side control and unleashed with a series of elbows, with the referee quickly stepping in, giving the TKO win with another impressive performance.
In conclusion – well, for a while we Brits thought that we weren’t going to see this show. I’m thankful that I did, because it was a really enjoyable event, with five good fights topped of nicely by Jones’ performance in the main event, and the appearance of legendary referee “Big” Jon McCarthy in the Munoz/Okami fight.
So in all another great show, the perfect appetiser to next weekend’s big middleweight showdown. Am I the only one who wants to see Sonnen hand Anderson his ass on a plate?
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