Don’t be disappointed. I didn’t want to flood one post with everything. I’ll get to the others as well.

The way Eddie couldn’t rebound his head upward after the escape… he was probably susceptible in the neck region for sure. I mean, he probably had no control over it for roughly 5-10 seconds, or at least would have depleted ability to escape another choke.

You may be right. It may have been simply disorientation from the crucifix, but Eddie was in trouble.

I have always admired Eddie’s determination, but he always seemed susceptible to brawling… but the fact that I love Melvin Manhoef doesn’t help my cause. I love Manhoef because of the very fact that he’s exciting and willing to take on anyone regardless of his flaws. Eddie won me over in the regard that I can safely say that, even if he isn’t the most technical fighter, he came out in the second round and took it to Kikuno.

Well, on paper, they weren’t great. The outcomes were pretty awesome.

Sakuraba’s win over Galesic was patented Sakuraba coming back from basically being dead.

"while the event didn’t feature a spectacular array of great fights"

Come on, the only way you can say that is looking at it on paper only. It was way more exciting than an average UFC event

I disagree. It wasn’t a bad show, but there were only a couple of compelling matches going in and two good matches overall. Some entertaining finishes to be sure, but I deleted the show immediately after watching it, which is not something I do all of the time.

Yoshiro Maeda clobbering Chase Beebe early and eventually locking in that really deep rear naked choke was fine. The choke happened very quickly, and that was interesting, but this wasn’t a particularly intriguing match for me. I suspect some folks will make too much of it, but the match went about as I had expected it would. Not great, but nothing wrong with it.

Marius Zaromskis kicked some poor schlub’s head into the fifth row. Not a compelling match, but an exciting finish!

Eddie Alvarez looked to be in trouble in the first round, spending the large majority of it tied up in Kikuno’s standing crucifix/neck crank. I found myself thinking “wow, Alvarez might actually be in trouble.” After all, Kikuno had just beaten Andre Amade, who isn’t a terrible fighter by any means. And yet, for all his early struggles, Eddie Alvarez composed himself and didn’t just win, he didn’t just stop his opponent, but he won with an arm triangle. On the list of moves I expect to see used by Alvarez, the arm triangle isn’t particularly high, so that was something to see.

Sakuraba’s win over Galesic was fascinating. Prior to the match, I felt that Sakuraba, despite being about his brain being housed inside a body that’s about a thousand years old at this point, should beat Galesic, who has about as much moxy on the ground as Melvin Manehoef and isn’t as feared on the feet (not that he’s a slouch, though). To Galesic’s credit, he battered Sakuraba, and to Sakuraba’s credit he took the beating like a champion and continued to fight for the leg. Guy Metzger announced “he should give the leg up at this point. I would have given the leg up here.” Not Sakuraba, who despite being beaten about his head and face to a degree in which it would have been difficult to fault the referee for stopping the match, stuck to his game plan and made Galesic quit with a knee bar. By the time Galesic tapped, along with the anguish on his face, it certainly seemed like the ACL was blown, which, for me, highlighted that Sakuraba, for all the mileage he’s put on his body, can still get it done in 2009.

The main event was nothing, as expected. Well, they both came out to Black Eye Peas, which seemed weird to me.

The rest of the card did nothing for me at all. I have no recollection of the opener whatsoever. Hironaka didn’t do a whole lot against the Tae Kwon Do guy, whose name I enjoyed (Parky!), who quit on the stool after round one as a result of some sort of injury (knee?). I’m not sure how it happened based on the level of action in the first round, but it doesn’t take a lot to get hurt in a fight. Oh, and the one former pro rassler beat up the other pro rassler in a match I only remember because I was disappointed that the other pro rassler didn’t wear his mask during the fight.

Oh, I almost forgot. Dong Sik Yoon was given a generous decision against some Belgian guy who trains with Team Quest. I remember thinking “Tarec probably won, but I suspect the judges will give it to the Donger.” Sure enough! A largely boring match made a little compelling by the fact that this guy that no one had ever heard of wasn’t dispatched with by the DONGBAR. Then again, no DONGBAR means I leave disappointed.

I’M CLEAN

Either Tibau would have hulked out of that or Neer wouldn’t have been able to get a grip.