10 Shots & Thoughts from UFC 95

Right, I'll open up with the good stuff; my "10 of the best" shots from UFC 95.

(Edit) and keep my editors happy by checking out the official gallery on ESPN.com :)

Paul Kelly giving Troy Mandaloniz something to chew on

(click through for more...)

Evan Dunham's favourite food is mashed swede; it's also what he likes to do to Per Eklund

"Say my name, bitch!" is the sort of taunt Mike Ciesnolevicz gets a lot of fun out of, especially since Neil Grove didn't have a hope in hell of spelling it let alone speaking it with a nasty heel-hook locked on...

When you're 6'4" tall, you can't really be called "Junior" - except, perhaps, when facing 6"11" Stefan "Skyscraper" Struve. I think Dos Santos earned the nickname "Demolition Man" in the process...

There are times when you don't want to put your foot in it. This is not one of those moments, as Terry Etim's metatarsals helped Brian Cobb to the canvas. At least Cobb can now check "I wonder what foot ointment tastes like?" off his list of things to do in life...

You can debate the stoppage till the cows come home, but there's no question that Paulo Thiago brought the pain to Josh Koscheck right on the button - and, with his eyes all scrunched up like that, Koscheck would obviously protest a hit that he never saw....

One has to wonder whether it's the triangle choke that made Chael Sonnen tap, or if it was perfectly timed "out-gassing" on the part of Demian Maia; we'll never know, but let's hope that there's no stink-gate controversy brewing...

It's probably not the sort of in-flight entertainment that Wilson Gouveia is used to, but Nate Marquardt's good old knees-up went down a treat... a testament to all that time he'd put in playing Street Fighter IV in the lead-up to the fight.

This one's best left to Hardy himself: "No punching power? What do you think about that?!?!"

"Here, use this - I got some great moves off it" - said Nate Marquardt as he handed over the StreetFighter IV case to Diego Sanchez. Unfortunately for Sanchez, Marquardt's nine-year-old daughter had put Dance Dance Revolution in the box...

So now my photo favorites are out of the way, here are some of my thoughts on my time covering UFC 95.

• Diego Sanchez and Joe Stevenson are ninjas. It's the only rational explanation I can come up with for how they simply vanished into thin air after posing off on the dais at the pre-fight presser. Even Neil Davidson of the Canadian Press didn't get to speak to them.
• There were fighers everyhwere - GSP, BJ Penn, Urijah Faber, Wanderlei Silva, Tiki Ghosn, pretty much all of Wolfslair (Rampage, Kongo, Bisping) and many more. I guess the "star power" was there - it just wasn't in the cage.
• Greg Jackson is a humble dude. When I asked him what his post-fight plans were in the wake of Marquardt's win, he hefted a plastic bag my way and said  "I'm reading a book and going to bed!". He also stated that he plays just "a small part" in his fighter's success.
• Either Diego Sanchez likes to be late to the party, or  he prefers to hold his own press conferences. Almost all the reporters had disappeared by the time he showed up to the post-fight presser, leaving just three of us to field questions for about five minutes.
• Every fighter got a "locker room bonus" of some description. I personally saw UFC UK staff tucking envelopes into the pockets of fighters as they left the post-fight presser. It's nice to see Zuffa handing out Economic Stimulus Checks...
• UK fight fans have matured immeasurably since UFC 70 hit Manchester nearly two years ago. They're appreciative of the ground game and rarely "boo" unless there's prolonged inactivity on the part of fighters.

And so begins my long hiatus waiting for UFC '99 in Germany to roll around. I've heard from very reliable sources that BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian is practically assured for this one, Rich Franklin should be squaring off against Wanderlei Silva, and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic is going to have an extremely interesting opponent  - sorry, but I really am sworn to secrecy on that one - suffice to say it's not anyone whom is currently in the UFC ;)