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 to step into the world of the Ultimate Fighting Championship again as we take a look back at Ultimate Fight Night 22, shown in the early hours of this past Thursday here in Britain.
The show began with lightweight action as my fellow Brit Ross Pearson went up against Cole Miller.
Miller’s initial plan was obvious from the outset as he went for the take down, but Pearson did a good job of defending and countering with strikes.
However, it was Miller’s strikes that turned the tables in round two as a left hook rocked Pearson and sent him down. Miller quickly took his back and synched in a rear naked choke for the highly impressive submission win.
The lightweight action continued as Jim Miller faced Gleison Tibau.
A very entertaining back and forth affair saw both men put in good performances, particularly in the striking department.
It was so close that it really could have gone either way, but it was Miller who took home the unanimous judges decision.
The next fight was a catchweight bout as Efrain Escudero faced Charles Oliveira. This was originally meant to be a lightweight encounter, but Escudero failed to make the weight limit by four pounds.
This was one of those fights that went along nicely until it suddenly exploded into life. For two rounds both fighters teed off against each other, with occasional visits to the ground.
But after two low blows from both fighters, with Oliveira getting the worst of the two, Oliveira turned things up a notch, and it wasn’t long before he took Escudero’s back. As the former Ultimate Fighter got to his feet Oliveira synched in a rear naked choke, with Escudero tapping while he was still on his feet, ending a very good match-up.
The main event saw Nate Marquardt taking on Rousimar Palhares in the middleweight division.
The only fight not to make it out of the first round took a while to get going until Palhares took the fight to the ground. Marquardt showed some good take down defence, until Palhares went for an ankle lock which Marquardt easily escaped from.
It was then that Palhares paused, pointing at Marquardt’s legs, claiming they were greased up. Marquardt pounced with the ground and pound, and seconds later the referee stopped the fight, giving Marquardt the TKO win.
Palhares continued to complain though, until the officials checked and cleared Marquardt of any wrong doing. A shame that the fight had to end this way, as Palhares’ complaints overshadowed what was a good performance from Marquardt.
In conclusion – Dana White and his boys have done it again, putting on a great show with all four fights delivering what they set out to do. It’s hard to pick out a fight of the night, because they were all equally as good as each other.
So once again a UFC gets the big thumbs up from this particular writer.
