Are You Ready????

UFC74-Respect is live from the Mandelay Bay in Las Vegas!

My plan is to update this post with round-by-round action and other comments during the broadcast, but my love of ice cream any my wife's love of MySpace might squash that.

We'll see how it goes. Keep refreshing the page for the latest additions.

10:04 - You got to love Joe Rogan. He gets so excited about the fights, knows everything about the sport, and makes great observations. Best color guy in sports.

10:05 - I have no idea how to say Georges St-Pierre's names. There is some syllable between the "George" and the "Saint" but God help me I can't figure out what they say.

10:07 - Only one title fight on this card (title bouts are scheduled for five rounds) so they should get to a couple of the undercard fights. Usually the best knockouts and submissions are on the undercard.

10:10 - Kendall Grove vs. Patrick Cote (pronounced co-TEH)
Grove is a former Ultimate Fighter winner while Cote was a finalist in the UF Comeback season. Cote had a great fight with Tito Ortiz, Kendall Grove's coach in TUF and "mentor" of sorts.

10:11 - Grove comes out to Californication by the Chili Peppers and has on a "Hannibal Lecter" mask from Silence of the Lambs. He's a tall kid for the middleweight class at 6'6".

10:14 - Bruce Buffer, the official voice of the UFC, starts the announcements. What ever happened to Michael Buffer? Does he still do WWE events? Does he do boxing PPVs? Does anybody even watch boxing PPVs? Michael Buffer must feel like what Frank Stallone would have felt like if he got to play Rocky in the new movie.

10:15 - ROUND ONE - Cote keeps Grove up against the cage in the clinch delivering a few knees. Grove's arms are so long, he's able to use his left hand to reach around Cote's back and punch him in the right side of the face. Think about that. Crazy. Referee Booker T (Herb Dean) breaks them up and they start again. Back to the clinch against the fence with the fighters exchanging knees. Cote tries a lift and nearly gets Grove to the mat but is unable to finish. Grove lands a good right hand and a couple of head kicks.

COTE drops Grove with a right hand and gets FULL MOUNT. He's raining blows down on Grove. Grove is not defending himself and HERB DEAN CALLS A STOP TO THE FIGHT. Cote wins by strikes.

Reply shows Cote hit Grove with a stiff right-hand directly behind Grove's left ear.

10:21 - Keanu Reeves is here. I don't see Bill S. Preston, Esquire in the house.

10:23 - Kobe Bryant is in the house! What a round of boos from the crowd when he's shown. Love UFC fans. His wife looks hot at least. And he's really, really, rich so it still doesn't suck to be him.

10:24 - They show Randy Couture entering the building earlier in the night. His wife looks hot too.

10:25 - Only problem with UFC PPVs is they constantly show previews for the next PPV. Wastes time. But I guess they have to clean up the cage before the next fight.

10:26 - UFC signs Wanderlie Silva to return to the light heavyweight division for the first time since 2000. Silva is a Brazilian fighter and will probably get an immediate title shot against the winner of the Rampage Jackson/Dan Henderson fight next month.

10:30 - FIGHT TWO - Light Heavyweights Joe "Daddy" Stevenson against Kurt Pellegrino.

No word on if Pellegrino likes his family's water, but he is from Point Pleasant, NJ so he's a huge douche. Joe Stevenson won the Ultimate Fighter II season and turned pro the day before his 17th birthday. So no jokes about him. He might be one of my new favorite fighters as he comes to the ring with a rap remix of "You're The Best" from the Karate Kid. Hopefully leg sweeps are legal.

10:36 - ROUND 1 - Side note, I just realized I paused live tv a while ago so my times are probably way off. But that's the time I'm watching it.

Fighters are feeling each other out. Stevenson is a great wrestler so will be looking for the takedown then ground and pound. A good knee by Stevenson, but Pellegrino shoots in and gets a takedown.

There is a ridiculous amount of blood on the mat and its not from any fight we've seen so far, so we better get to see that fight.

Stevenson reverses position and gets Pellegrino's back. Huge suplex by Stevenson, dropping Pellegrino right on the back of his neck. Pellegrino gets a reversal and is now back on top. Stevenson is in full guard against the cage. Pellegrino is trying to pass guard, but can't. Under a minute left, referee Big John McCarthy should stand this up. Stevenson seems to be doing most of the damage from the bottom, landing some shots and not taking any. Finally a big right by Pellegrino rocks Stevenson right before the bell. Probably give that round to Pellegrino, but that suplex by Stevenson was awesome.

SECOND ROUND - Lots of dancing to start. A couple of good knees and jabs by Stevenson. A slip by Pellegrino and he takes a couple of shots while on the ground. Big uppercut by Pellegrino. Stevenson takes a couple body shots which apparently really pissed him off as he just bull rushes Pellegrino to the ground and mounts him. Stevenson opens a cut on Pellegrino's forehead with an amazing elbow. Stevenson gets Pellegrino's back and gets one leg hook in. Tries for a rear naked choke but can't hit it. KP manages to reverse position and mounts Daddy. KP stands holding one leg and lands a great right hand and gets back on top. Round ends wrestling. Round probably for Stevenson.

10:48 - The "Iceman" Chuck Lidell is there. Huge crowd pop. If he walked over and punched Kobe, I think everybody would die from the excitement.

THIRD ROUND - They trade shots. JS is pressing the action, but Pellegrino lands a big takedown. No action so they stand back up. Pellegrino gets JS in a deep guillotine, but can't hold it. Stevenson gets his head out and lands some good shots. He has P pressed hard against the cage and he can't move. Stevenson is landing shot after shot. This is going to get called if he doesn't do anything. Lets him up a little and lands bigs knees. Pellegrino and Stevenson trade reversals and Stevenson gets back on top. This round goes to Stevenson and it probably clinched the fight for him.

10:54 - Lee Majors is in attendance. I'm surprised most people know who he is. Joe Stevenson wins 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28. At least one ref saw the same fight I did. Stevenson wins by unanimous decision.

10:56 - Tito Ortiz and Jenna Jameson are there. Jameson looks really different with the short hair and smaller chest. Interesting look. I probably wouldn't say good.

11:01 - FIGHT THREE - Alberto Crane vs. Roger Huerta
I'm going to take this fight off. Doing a diary is hard work. I have much respect for Bill Simmons although he probably doesn't do them live. That would be so much easier.

This fight was awesome. Huerta never gets tired. He landed so many blows from the top for the first two rounds. In the third, Crane was so tired that he literally could not stand. He just laid on his back. He did catch Huerta in an ankle lock and got Huerta's back. Huerta was on his knees facing away from Crane with Crane behind him.

In the best thing I've seen watching UFC, Huerta was using the big screen to see where Crane's head was behind him. He would look at the screen and throw elbows when he saw Crane stick his head to the side, landing the blows on Crane's head. Its hard to describe to get the full effect but it was incredible. Huerta won when the fight was stopped due to strikes.

11:31 - FIGHT FOUR - Josh Koscheck vs. Georges St.-Pierre

I have to admit that I am a St-Pierre fan. I think he's a phenomenal fighter and athlete and is probably going to win this fight. He is probably right behind BJ Penn as the best all-around fighter in the UFC. He looks really focused and really pissed, and I'm a little nervous for Koscheck.

Good fight. GSP looked awesome. He came out and took Kos down but Kos reversed it and really dominated from the top. Koscheck won round one.

GSP took Kos down again in round two and rode him the whole round. Tried a couple submissions but Kos wouldn't allow it. He really looked out of his element on his back. In fact, his junior year at Edinboro he didn't surrender one takedown in any of his 42 victories. Not one. GSP is making it look easy.

With the bout tied going into the third round, Kos and GSP traded punches for the first couple of minutes with GSP getting the better of it. Kos shot in and got a single-leg, but wasn't able to get GSP down. GSP actually worked out of the single-leg and got Kos to his back again. He rode out the final couple minutes and won the unanimous decision (30-27; 29-28; 29-28).

Rogan made a point during the last fight about the 10-point scoring system used in MMA and boxing and how it is a flawed system. Two fights on this card had judges scores that didn't make sense. No way GSP won round one. I think both sports need to find a way to take judges' perceptions out of the equation. I don't have a solution. I'm just complaining.

I think GSP will beat the winner of the Hughes/Serra fight. It depends on what BJ Penn decides to do. If he moves back up to this weight class, he might get the shot if Hughes wins. If Serra wins, they'll probably give GSP the rematch, with Hughes fighting Penn. Koscheck is still in this mix but needs to win his next fight in a very convincing manner.

12:07 - TIME FOR THE MAIN EVENT - Heavyweight Title Fight
Randy "The Natural" Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

Couture walks out to Black in Back with an "Affliction" t-shirt that I've seen all over now. Need to find out what that's all about. He's 44-years old. That's nuts.

12: 17 - ROUND ONE - Trading tons of punches. Randy lands a good left hook and then takes Gonzaga down. Couture lands a huge slam, but Gonzaga gets right back up. Huge slam but couldn't keep him down. Gonzaga lands a big elbow and left hand, but Couture goes back to the clinch. Gonzaga is bleeding from the nose. Gonzaga is wide-mouthed and his taking big breaths already. That's not good news for him. Couture is really well conditioned and the longer this goes, he definitely has an advantage. Lots of good shots by Couture in the clinch. Elbows.

Gonzaga spits a huge amount of blood out of his mouth. He grabs Couture in a guillotine but the round is over. Round one definitely to Couture.

12:23 - ROUND TWO - Gonzaga goes to high kick but Couture ducks it and shoots in for the clinch. Randy is ducking punches and giving his own.

Gonzaga asks for time and says he can't see. He says he wants to continue but that he can't see. There is no blood on his face so not sure what he is talking about. The get back into same position and Herb Dean takes a point from Gonzaga for holding onto the fence. Couture is landing lots of blows from the clinch position and Gonzaga does not look good. More and more hooks and uppercuts by Couture. If Randy gets a takedown this is going to be over quick. Uppercut after uppercut. Gonzaga isn't doing anything at this point. Round over and won convincingly by Couture. Even without the point deduction.

12:39 - ROUND THREE - Gonzaga might quit in this round. He looks like he wants to cry and has the proverbial "crimson mask". Gonzaga lands a kick and needs to keep this fight at a distance. Gonzaga lands a huge kick and rocks Randy's head back but he goes right back into the clinch and takes control. Any other fighter and the crowd would boo. But Couture gets a takedown and starts pounding Gonzaga. You can hear Herb Dean saying he's going to stop it unless he starts defending himself but he's got no shot. About five or six more shots and Dean stops it. Couture wins by strikes.

It's amazing how people continue to doubt Randy Couture. This guy is amazing. He's smart and tough and very humble. Its very refreshing to see an athlete like Couture compete.

Of course, there is 25 minutes left in the PPV but rather than show a fight taped earlier in the night, they give me a recap of the fight week leading up to the event. Now a preview for the Ultimate Fighter. I'm sure I won't see this on Spike TV every five minutes for the next month. This should be a good season though. Serra will be a great coach and Matt Hughes is a dick. Seriously, this guy is a huge dick. But it should make for good television.

12:43 - Looks like we're going to get another fight. Ryan Jensen vs. Thales Leites.

ROUND ONE - Leites is getting dominated but catches Jensen in an armbar for a submission victory. I like fights like this when somebody pulls a submission out of nowhere.

There were three fights not aired that can be seen on UFC.com tomorrow.

Overall it was a great PPV and worthy of the $40. The Huerta fight was excellent, as was the Couture/Gonzaga bout. Koscheck's fight was disappointing, but I think he'll come back a better fighter after having his ass handed to him by being outwrestled by GSP.

Oh, and it seems his name is pronouced George Rush St.-Pierre.