Fightin' Words

By Joe Fernandez

This is not the way BJ Penn's team envisioned it.

With Brandon Melendez's unanimous decision victory against Andy Wang featured on last night's episode of The Ultimate Fighter on SpikeTV, Jens Pulver's team took a 4-0 lead against Team Penn.

"At first we had this attitude that we're the better team," Wang said. "Before the first fight we were like 'Yeah, they're all the guys that are leftovers'. After my fight, we're like 'Wow, what's going on here'. BJ and the coaches try to stay upbeat, but it was like 'this wasn't the way it's supposed to be'."

Melendez used his longer reach to his advantage. He outpunched and outpointed Wang in a fight that never made it to the ground, much to the dismay of Wang's coach, BJ Penn, who kept reminding the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt to go for a takedown.

"I'm learning at the highest level of the sport," Wang said. "You can't get away with any kind of lapses mentally or physically. I think I had a mental lapse. When Brandon knocked me down early in the first round, all the strategy in my head went out and the anger took over. At this level of the sport, you can't beat it like that. The best fighters in the world become champions because they master their emotions."

Here are the results after the first four shows:

Episode 1: Cole Miller caught Allen Berube with a triangle choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 1-0)
Episode 2: Manny Gamburyan caught Noah Thomas with a kimura armlock in the first round. (Team Pulver, 2-0).
Episode 3: Nate Diaz defeated Rob Emerson via rear naked choke in the second round. (Team Pulver, 3-0).
Episode 4: Brandon Melendez defeated Andy Wang via unanimous decision. (Team Pulver, 4-0).

Attention Fightin' Words readers...

Mixed Martial Arts now has a new home on Newsday.com.

Starting yesterday, we launched a Mixed Martial Arts/Boxing page.

Here's the link: newsday.com/fighting

Please visit the new page. Thanks.

-- Joe

By Joe Fernandez

It looks like these surprise endings come in threes.

Maybe he was going to catch him in an armbar or even possibly grind out a very tough decision, but I don't think I heard from anyone that said Gabriel Gonzaga was going to knock out Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic in the main event at UFC 70 Saturday night in Manchester, England -- Let alone with a high kick to the head; the very same technique Cro Cop can base an entire highlight reel on.

The win gives Gonzaga a title shot against UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture, the same person that picked him to win this match and the same person that defeated Tim Sylvia for the belt at UFC 68. This is the third consecutive major UFC show where the favorite has lost. Matt Serra, who will fight former champion Matt Hughes next, knocked out Georges St. Pierre for the welterweight title at UFC 69.

Cro Cop landed one crushing left-leg kick to the ribs of Gonzaga, but would not land another strike of significance. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt threw a right roundhouse kick that landed on the side of Cro Cop's head, ending the fight with nine seconds left in the first round.

In the undercard, Michael Bisping, supported by his home crowd, overwhelmed mixed martial arts veteran Elvis Sinosic and earned the referee stoppage win at 1:40 in the second round. Bisping, punching mostly from Sinosic's guard, hit the Australian with a barrage of punches that opened a cut in the first round and ended the fight in the second.

Andrei Arlovski outpointed Cro Cop's training partner Fabricio Werdum and earned the unanimous decision victory. Arlovski hammered Werdum with vicious leg kicks that had Werdum constantly changing his stance. The win moves Arlovski right back into title contention behind Gonzaga.

In the other televised bouts:

Cheick Kongo beat Assuerio Silva by majority decision.

England's Terry Etim submitted Matt Grice with a guillotine choke in the first round.

Fightin' Words readers....in your opinion, what was the most unbelievable defeat?

Randy Couture defeats Tim Sylvia at UFC 68.
Matt Serra defeats Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69.
Gabriel Gonzaga defeats Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic at UFC 70.

By Joe Fernandez

Fightin' Words made its ESPN radio debut this morning. Here is the audio from the interview on "The Herd" with Colin Cowherd.

Joe Fernandez talks about the UFC on ESPN radio.

By the way...thanks to all the Fightin' Words readers. I appreciate all the great feedback the blog has been getting. I'll do my best to keep the blog interesting.

-- Joe

Joe Fernandez

For a second there, I thought I mistakenly put on the Discovery channel last night.

Did I just see a colonic?

Yep...we all did.

In an attempt to drop a few extra pounds, The Ultimate Fighter: Season 5 contestant Gabe Ruediger asked Coach BJ Penn and UFC President Dana White's permission to go get a colonic.

Wow.

"He should've taken care of that weight loss problem before he got on the show," TUF Season 5 contestant Rob Emerson said. "He should've prepared way better than he did."

On last night's episode, Emerson lost a tough fight to Nate Diaz, who won by rear naked choke in the second round. Emerson defended the take down well in an even first round against Diaz, whose older brother Nick used to compete in the UFC. Emerson's standup was solid and he was able to connect on some punches and inside leg kicks, but showed a limited ground game. Even though Emerson got tired in the second, he managed to take Diaz's best shots till the end and put out a tremendous effort.

"I thought it was a good fight," Emerson said. "I was happy with the performance, but I was a little dissappointed. I was gassed, I was tired. I didn't have the energy coming into the second round that I had in the first, and Nate did. He came out strong and stayed strong thoughout the whole second round, and I was like 'I don't have the cardio for this'."

With the win, Jens Pulver's team takes a 3-0 lead against Team BJ Penn. Now Allen Berube, Noah Thomas and Emerson have been eliminated.

Now after being tapped out, Emerson realizes the need for a solid ground game.

"I'm walking away from this fight knowing that at least I learned some [stuff]," he said. "Nate was the first guy that finished me submission wise. He was the first guy that was able to use his jiu-jitsu on me in the fight to where it affected the fight. He definitely made me respect jiu-jitsu for MMA. So I'm back in the gym now training full time."

By Joe Fernandez

During an interview today with UFC President Dana White, I had to ask him this very important question.

When is the UFC coming to New York?

"I'm confident we'll be in New York by next year," White said.

The UFC would have some work to do if it wants to hold an event in New York. Mixed martial arts has been banned in the Empire State since 1997.

When asked what fights the UFC would feature if the venue was Madison Square Garden?

"We'd stack the card," White said. "There would be some great fights."

By Joe Fernandez

UNCASVILLE, CONN. -- A near-capacity crowd of 6,131 filled the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. Friday night for two regular season International Fight League matches. The first team matchup featured the Toronto Dragons vs. the Tucson Scorpions.

The Dragons, coached by mixed martial arts veteran Carlos Newton, earned the team matchup victory by winning four out of the five individual matches.

Dragons (1-1) lightweight Wagnney Fabiano took down Cameron Ward and earned a victory by arm triangle choke in the first round. Dragons welterweight Gideon Ray beat Gabe Casillas by TKO 2:39 in the first round. Brent Beauparlant won a tough fought unanimous decision against Scorpions (0-2) middleweight Seth Baczynski.

The Scorpions finally earned a win when light heavyweight Mike Whitehead took the back of Wojtek Kaszowski and earned a referee stoppage win after multiple unanswered strikes to the head.

But the Dragons earned their fourth win of the night when Shane Ott caught Chad Griggs in a kimura arm-lock in the first round.

NEW YORK PITBULLS VS. PORTLAND WOLFPACK

The second match featured Renzo Gracie's New York Pitbulls vs. the Portland Wolfpack, who were coached by Olympic Gold Medal winning wrestler Kevin Jackson. Jackson is substituting for Matt Lindland, who is fighting Fedor Emelianenko in Russia for Bodogfight on Saturday.

Jamal Patterson jumped guard and applied a match-ending guillotine choke to Matt Horwich in the light heavyweight match, earning the Pitbulls the third win and the team-match victory.

Lightweight Ryan Schultz got the Wolfpack (1-1) off to a good start with the unanimous decision victory against former Hofstra football and lacrosse player Joe Sampieri, who was filling in for the injured Erik Owings. It was Sampieri's professional mixed martial arts debut.

In maybe the most impressive performance of the night, Delson Heleno tied the score, 1-1, for the Pitbulls (2-0) earning a unanimous decision victory against the Wolfpack's Mike Dolce. Heleno showed a nice display of Brazilian jiu-jitsu with strong wrestling skills and had the back of Dolce a couple of times during the three-rounder.

Fabio Leopoldo put on a Brazilian jiu-jitsu display, but at the same time Gerald Harris' strong wrestling background kept him out of numerous arm bar and triangle attempts by Leopoldo. The slams and takedowns went to Harris, but the groundwork went to Leopoldo as the fight went the distance. Even though many in the crowd didn't agree with the decision, Leopoldo earned the split-decision victory and put the Pitbulls ahead, 2-1.

In the final fight of the night, Brooklyn native and Hofstra graduate Bryan Vetell faced the Wolfpack's Devin Cole. Vetell had a solid first round, but Cole was able to open a cut near Vetell's eye in the second round. Cole earned the full mount position after a quick scramble and rained punches down on the former Hofstra wrestler, earning the Wolfpack a referee stoppage win.

By Joe Fernandez

The residue of these house beefs at least is finding it's way into the Octagon.

The second episode of SpikeTV's "The Ultimate Fighter: Season 5" brought more domestic drama and more of the same action in the cage. Not only is Jens Pulver's team 2-0, so is SpikeTV for having another entertaining episode.

Manny Gamburyan, who is Karo Parisyan's cousin, used a Parisyan-like judo takedown and earned side control position on the ground against Noah Thomas. The fired-up Gamburyan then applied a Kimura arm-lock and earned the tap that gave Jens Pulver's team the win.

"I should of came across like a bat out of h*** and I didn't," Thomas said. "Everyone that saw me fight was like 'dude, that wasn't you'."

It looked as if there wasn't going to be a wait for a fight after Blue Team's (BJ Penn) Rob Emerson scribbled an insult on the house wall for the Yellow Team (Pulver).

When Pulver's team returned from working out, Yellow Team's Nate Diaz called out whoever wrote the insult. Eventually, Gamburyan got the most worked up over the insult and let the Blue Team know it by calling out the whole team at one point.

"Me and Manny didn't get along," said Thomas, a retired Marine sniper. "I'm kind of a loud person. He didn't like being in the house. He didn't like being cooped up."

Even though Thomas lost his match in the second episode. He had the opportunity to work with former UFC welterweight champion BJ Penn for the rest of the season. So what was it like working with Penn?

"Awesome," Thomas said. "He's a good coach. He was showing jiu-jitsu advanced basics. Only being there six weeks, you can't really break down everyone's game. You have to work with what they have. So he was just working with what people already had."

Check back each Friday afternoon of this season as Fightin' Words interviews the last person eliminated each week from The Ultimate Fighter: Season 5. Thanks for reading.

There was so much great video of Daniel Gracie tapping me out, we had to make a second video. But seriously, here are some good tips from a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt for all the Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners out there. Enjoy.

The Fightin' Words readers deserve some photos from Matt Serra's win.

So here are some photos from UFC 69, courtesy of UFC photographer Josh Hedges.

UFC 69 photos

By Joe Fernandez

He walked out to the Octagon with a remix of the old
"Rocky" theme song playing in the arena. In the end, Matt Serra couldn't have
scripted it any better.

Serra, 32, of East Meadow scored a stunning first-round TKO to win the
Ultimate Fighting Championship's welterweight title. Serra knocked out former
champ Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69 Saturday night at Toyota Center in Houston
to win the belt.

(Photo by UFC's Josh Hedges)

Serra, who owns two Brazilian jiu-jitsu academies on Long Island, earned
his title shot after winning the fourth season of SpikeTV's reality show "The
Ultimate Fighter: The Comeback."

"It feels great to bring the title to Long Island," Serra said by phone
last night. "A lot of people doubted me."

Not many gave Serra a chance against St. Pierre, who recorded a vicious
knockout of Matt Hughes in November to win the belt. Many consider Hughes to be
the greatest welterweight in UFC history.

Serra's strength is his grappling. He is the first American to earn a black
belt under Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Renzo Gracie.

The 5-6 Serra stood in the center of the Octagon and decided to go toe to
toe with the 5-10 St. Pierre. He avoided the Canadian's high kicks and sharp
jabs. Midway through the first round, Serra landed a flurry of punches that
stunned St. Pierre, and Serra swooped in to finish him off.

"When I hurt him, I pounced on him," Serra said. "I think it was a
different fight than he expected. I sparred with a lot of guys for this fight.
I did at least 80 rounds of sparring."

Serra earned his title shot after getting a split decision over Chris Lytle
in the reality show's season finale in November. The show was labeled "The
Comeback" because each one of the fighters had at least one prior fight in the
UFC.

"I couldn't be prouder of the guy," Serra's striking coach Ray Longo said
in the Octagon after the fight. "All I wanted him to do was believe in himself
and fight the way he spars. He fought better than he spars. He has the heart,
he has the desire and that's why he's the champion."

Two of Serra's top students were on Saturday night's undercard. Bay Shore
native Pete Sell lost by unanimous decision to Brazilian Thales Leites. New
Hyde Park's Luke Cummo overwhelmed Josh Haynes before the referee stopped the
fight in the second round.

Serra has been overcome by the reception he is receiving from fans and
friends. "My [cell phone] mailbox is full," Serra said. "I have to delete
messages to get new ones. I'm trying to call everyone back."

By Joe Fernandez

The first episode of SpikeTV's The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 debuted last night with 16 lightweight (155-pound) fighters vying for one contract.

One has already been eliminated.

Cole Miller caught Allen Berube in a triangle choke in the first round and eliminated Berube, who said he needed to improve on his own ground game.

"I'm still green," Berube said. "Every part of my game needs improvement. The only thing where I don't need improvement is heart."

Berube, a Maine native who owns "Monstah Lobstah," a restaurant in Tampa, Fla., was picked first to fight as Coach Jens Pulver's team had the first pick against the team that was coached by BJ Penn. The way the first episode was going, it looked as if the Yellow team, coached by Pulver, was going to pick the Blue team's Gabe Ruediger, who was heavier than the 155-pound requirement to fight.

"You know the show's for 155 [pounds], you can't go in the house 180," Berube said. Have a little respect for the show. He forgot what it was all about."

Berube also added what it was like to have Ruediger as a roommate.

"He's an a**," Berube said of Ruediger. "He's real, real cocky. Always said something to put someone down, make himself look better. I think it made him look worse. But everyone else for the most part was real cool. Even the other team, I got along with everyone."

The show, which begins each season with all the fighters working out with both coaches and then being selected by their respective coaches, hit a snag in that selection process when BJ Penn asked all the fighters who wanted to be on his team and not on Pulver's team to raise their hands.

Even though more than half of the fighters raised their hands, UFC President Dana White didn't allow it.

"It caught everyone off guard," Berube said. "You were just hoping that if you raised your hand, Jens Pulver wasn't going to pick you. If you're one of the last picks, Jens might have to take you. You get a little nervous toward the end of that thinking if I had my hand raised, Jens is going to pound me into the ground. He's not going to take care of me."

Check back each Friday afternoon of this season as Fightin' Words interviews the last person eliminated each week from The Ultimate Fighter: Season 5.

By Joe Fernandez and Mark La Monica
Newsday.com

Here is some video of our recent trip to the New York Pitbulls IFL practice at Renzo Gracie's jiu-jitsu academy in Manhattan.

By Joe Fernandez

It's tough to tell which fights will be broadcast when six out of the nine fights have the "May not be broadcast. Click for details." disclaimer next to them.

But one fight that will air is the main event: Joe Stevenson vs. Melvin Guillard.

Last year, I flew out to L.A. to watch Royce Gracie fight Matt Hughes at UFC 60. I was lucky enough to be Octagonside for this event thanks to the great media relations department at the UFC. The first match was Guillard vs. Rick Davis. Let me tell you, Guillard can throw his hands. He hit Davis with one shot that made the man's legs buckle and made me a bit uneasy for a second. Within a minute, my first live UFC experience consisted of a highlight-reel knockout and a glimpse of Guillard's quickness and striking ability.

But Stevenson is equally as impressive. He just goes about it in a different way. Stevenson has superior wrestling and has strong grappling ability. After dropping down from 170 lbs., I think 155 is the right fight weight for both of these guys. Guillard's striking ability vs. Stevenson's grappling. Either way, that match should have a great pace. The way it's looking, the winner of this match should face Sean Sherk for the title, but that's not my call.

Thanks for reading.