I just want to say that I hope Sean Salmon is ok today. Did you see that kick? For those of you who missed the main 
event to last night's UFC Fight Night on SpikeTV, Rashad Evans dropped Sean Salmon with a vicious kick to the head in the second round, earning Evans the KO win and improving his MMA record to 15-0.
Evans KO's Salmon
(Photo by Josh Hedges)
How about Hermes Franca? That guy has heavier hands than I thought. The Brazil native was relentless against Spencer Fisher, earning Franca a referee stoppage win in the second. After the fight though, Franca, during the interview with Joe Rogan, begged Dana White, who was Octagonside, for a title shot. Did that look a little rehearsed to anyone else? I don't know. It's like Rogan was waiting for Franca to say his line. Come on, UFC. You put out a PHENOMENAL product...your fights are exciting...your fighters are great...don't go "WWE" on us. A Hermes Franca/Sean Sherk title fight will be exciting enough. And hey, if those moments happen naturally, fine.
Franca fights Fisher at UFC Fight Night
(Photo by Josh Hedges)
The Heath Herring/Jake O'Brien fight was just frustrating. Congrats to O'Brien for grinding out the win, but sometimes when heavyweights get together there's a lot of lying around. Herring, who was brought in to liven up the heavyweight division, obviously wanted to get back to his feet, but O'Brien used his wrestling to hold Herring down.
Shout out to Joe Rogan for truly knowing the sport and being honest when there's a boring fight. He chimed in about how Herring wasn't using any defense on the ground and was letting O'Brien get to any position he wanted. It makes for great commentary when he gets fired up.
Ed Herman's transition to the armbar made me rewind the TiVO about seven times. For those of you who didn't see it, Herman had Chris Price's back in the first round. He transitioned from a choke attempt, slipped a leg over, rolled on his back and earned the submission victory. It was a superb display of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
That was it for the televised fights. Thanks to the UFC and SpikeTV for the night of free fights, and thanks to SpikeTV for having Randy Couture on Pros vs. Joes. It's one thing to have Jose Canseco hit a ball farther than you or Michael Irvin burn you on a go-route, but there's nothing more humbling than having a UFC Hall Of Famer turn you into a pretzel. After a night of heel hooks, armbars, guillotines and mata leos, the Joes walked back to the locker room with a different look than what they walked in with. The funny thing is, Couture is a world-class wrestler but he was never really known for his submissions. Even HE said that on the show. Couture is one of my favorite fighters and is an absolute warrior in the Octagon, but he's more of a ground-and-pound guy. He still managed to make it the best part of the show. Imagine if a submission machine like UFC light heavyweight Renato "Babalu" Sobral had his five minutes in there with the Joes?
How do you say "Tap, tap, tap" in Portuguese?
Sobral at UFC 55 against Chael Sonnen
(Photo by Josh Hedges)