Modern Fighting

Thiago Alves def. Matt Hughes – TKO (Strikes) R2
Michael Bisping def. Jason Day – TKO (Strikes) R1
Mike Swick def. Marcus Davis – Unanimous Decision
Thales Leites def. Nathan Marquardt – Split Decision
Fabricio Werdum def. Brandon Vera – TKO (Strikes) R1
Martin Kampmann def. Jorge Rivera – Tapout (Guillotine Choke) R1
Matt Wiman def. Thiago Tavares – KO (Punch) R2
Kevin Burns def. Roan Carneiro – Tapout (Triangle Choke) R2
Luiz Cane def. Jason Lambert – TKO (Strikes) R1
Paul Taylor def. Jess Liaudin – Split Decision
Antoni Hardonk def. Eddie Sanchez – TKO (Strikes) R2

Main Event
Thiago Alves (174) VS Matt Hughes (170)  (Alves did not make weight)

Jason Day (184) VS Michael Bisping (184)
Mike Swick (170) VS Marcus Davis (170)
Thales Leites (185) VS Nate Marquardt (185)
Fabricio Werdum (247) VS Brandon Vera (228)

Martin Kampmann (186) VS Jorge Rivera (185)
Thiago Tavares (154.5) VS Matt Wiman (155)
Roan Carneiro (171) VS Kevin Burns (170)
Luiz Cane (204) VS Jason Lambert (205)
Jess Liaudin (169) VS Paul Taylor (169)
Eddie Sanchez (244) VS Antoni Hardonk (247)

Here is a snippet of Thomas Gerbasi article on Mike Swick before his fight with Marcus David in UFC 85

It was a sound like no other. Through 12 previous fights and almost ten years as a fighter, Mike Swick had never heard boos during one of his fights. And why would he – 10 wins, seven first round finishes, five knockouts, three submissions, and an aggressive approach to the game ensured that he was always going to be on most fans’ top ten list of fighters to watch.

But on January 23, Swick – making his welterweight debut – heard the fans’ displeasure for the first time as he eked out a three round majority decision win over Josh Burkman. It wasn’t vintage Swick that night – and wasn’t vintage Burkman either – but the native of Houston, Texas got the win and that’s the important thing, right?

Not to Swick, who even posted an apology on internet message boards about his performance. For him, winning that fight was worse than any loss, and he takes 100% of the responsibility for it.

“I’m not blaming the fight on Burkman at all,” said Swick, who improved to 11-2 with the victory. “I definitely could have done more and I’m not gonna make excuses about why my performance was the way it was – I’m just gonna say I should have done more and I plan on doing so in the future. In my defense I’ve had some of the most exciting fights each time I’ve fought in the past and that was pretty much my worst fight ever. I don’t think anyone’s entitled or that you should have a bad fight in your career, but everyone seems to get those. Everyone, at some point or another, seems to have a bad fight, and considering the variables going into the fight, I’m fortunate to even have gotten the win. So for me to show up like that, give that kind of performance, and have what I would consider to be the worst fight of my career, I’m surprised I even got the win. I don’t consider it a win in my mind and I obviously took that fight worse than any loss I ever had. I’ve had two big losses and I took this fight worse, even though it was a main event victory. You dream of fighting in a UFC main event and dream of winning it, and I did that and I still took it worse than any loss I ever had.”

You can read the entire article here

Chuck Mindenhall from UFC.com writes about Maine native, Marcus Davis, a fighter who has been very successful versus UK fighters in their home arenas:

When Britain can’t beat Marcus Davis, that’s when “Britain Adopts Marcus Davis.” Or at least that’s what the UK Sun’s headline read after Marcus Davis KO’d Liverpool’s Jason Tan in Belfast, Ireland, at UFC 72, submitted Walsall’s Paul Taylor in UFC 75 at the O2 Arena, and knocked out London-based Jess Liaudin at UFC 80 in Newcastle. This Saturday, Davis will hop the pond for the fourth time in as many fights to take on Mike “Quick” Swick at UFC 85 in London, in what has finally become friendly confines for the Maine native.

“Swick’s going into my backyard,” Davis says, “because I’ve already been there, I’ve fought there—I’m very comfortable there. Not that I’m thinking that’s going to affect him. I mean, it’s never affected me to go into anyone’s back yard, and I’ve done it a lot. I’ve always been the bad guy. I fought on a Marine base [against Shonie Carter] and he was a Marine. I fought Pete Spratt in Houston, he was from Houston. I fought Paul Taylor in London, he was from England. I’ve always fought guys in their hometowns, and I’ve always beaten them. But Swick’s going over there, and he’s going to be the outsider.”

Whether or not his adopted hometown fans will come to his aid, one thing that seems inevitable is that pairing Mike “Quick” Swick and Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis will make for a super-charged war with plenty of immediate action. In all three of the aforementioned overseas fights, Davis won in the first round. In 2007 alone, Davis stole the show by earning four post-fight bonuses for knockout, submission and fight of the night. Of his eleven straight victories dating back to April of 2006, only two of those fights have gone the distance, and eight of them never made it past the opening round. In other words, Davis works fast. One might say faster than Quick, lately.

And there’s also this: though he’s one of the best strikers in the game, he ain’t a boxer any more, either. Improbably, at least for anybody who believes you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, more than half of Davis’ recent wins have come via submissions. The boxer with the pugilist’s brow who once dubbed himself the Nostradamus of MMA because he saw the potential of the sport and risked “going penniless” to be a part of it, has learned discipline. Joe Stevenson taught Davis that the sprawl and brawl approach wasn’t enough in MMA, and after rehabbing a separated AC joint suffered in that 2005 bout, the 34-year-old Davis reinvented himself completely. Well, almost completely.

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Jun-7-2008 noon PT / 3pm ET

Matt Hughes Vs. Thiago Alves
Michael Bisping Vs. Jason Day
Marcus Davis Vs. Mike Swick
Nate Marquardt Vs. Thales Leites
Fabricio Werdum Vs. Brandon Vera
Jorge Rivera Vs. Martin Kampmann
Matt Wiman Vs. Thiago Tavares
Roan Carneiro Vs. Kevin Burns
Luiz Cane Vs. Jason Lambert
Paul Taylor Vs. Jess Liaudin
Antoni Hardonk Vs. Eddie Sanchez

Article by Thomas Gerbasi at UFC.com about Kampmann’s return from injury and his faceoff versus Jorge Rivera at UFC 85 who won his last fight in all of 80 seconds.

Picture this. You’re 25 years old and working at a job that maybe only 20 to 30 people in the world can do at the level you perform at. Things are good, you’re about to get a big promotion and then suddenly you’re told that you’re done. Gone is the promotion, the increased paydays, and to top it off, you can never work at this job again.

Welcome to the world of Martin Kampmann in May of 2007, when the rising middleweight star blew out his left knee, lost a headlining bout against former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin at UFC 72, and thought that perhaps he would never fight again. Now try to get through your days with that type of albatross around your neck.

“I was definitely concerned that I wouldn’t be able to fight, especially since it was such a big injury and because I had a long time where I felt it wasn’t getting any better,” said Kampmann, who went through two surgeries on the knee. “I felt like it was stagnant, and it was natural to be worried.”

Add to this possibly tragic tale the fact that Kampmann had the world at his feet a year ago, with his future limitless. Entering the UFC in August of 2006, the Aarhus native came to the organization with the reputation as a devastating striker with world-class Muay Thai skills. Yet in the course of his three fights in the Octagon, Kampmann showed he was far from one-dimensional as he submitted Crafton Wallace and Drew McFedries and outpointed Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Thales Leites. The main event in Belfast against Franklin might have been his worldwide coming out party, but it wasn’t to be. Not that he was concerned about such matters when sitting on the couch waiting for a green light to start rehabbing his knee.

“It sucks no matter what position you’re in,” said Kampmann, now 26. “But what frustrated me the most was not being able to compete or train. Losing the fights I would have had, that was annoying, but the whole fact that I wouldn’t be able to train or fight was worse.”

And when he was cleared to begin rehab, it wasn’t the intense workouts that he became accustomed to both at home and especially in the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas – it was a tedious process that tested his patience daily.

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