I do not know how I am supposed to coat this one with sugar. There was not one area, except having a larger active population than any other fight camp on MMA Playground, in which we bested our opponents for UFC 106. The GED Gentry over at Fightlinker managed to end on the positive side of earnings, while MMA4Real earned an average of $200 to our average loss of $200. We were, however, over 50% in our picking percentage for UFC 106, which is something that could not be said about our 105 performance.

The BE personal performance award for earnings goes to aaronb who gained $3,948 on the event. $3,293 of said earnings came off a $500 Sadollah, Saunders, Sotiropoulos parlay. Aaronb is 17th in camp BE over 8 events with a total of $5,645. Sandbox23 is in 1st after 8 events with $84,961.  

SmytheX is our member with most points awarded through correct fight predictions. 66 points for Ortiz vs. Griffin II brings SmytheX's season total to 372. Phantasma475 still holds the top seat with 483 points with two events to go in the Playground season.

Important: If you wish to join the BE betting camp, send me a message on MMA Playground with your BE user name or leave a comment in this thread so I can send you an invite. Please make sure your MMA Playground login name is the same as your BE name or as close as possible so we can give you the proper credit.

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Dan Hardy responds from the crowd to Josh Koscheck's claim that he, and not Hardy, is the real #1 contender at welterweight.

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From Heavy.com:

Koscheck seemed to feed off the crowd’s anger, destroying the bigger Johnson standing and outwrestling him to boot.  On one memorable (yet somehow failed) takedown attempt, Koscheck drove Johnson into the cage so fast and hard that they might have ended up in California without the Octagon to stop him.

"I was blown away by his performance," White said. "We’ve butted heads a lot in the past, but that was a great performance."

Earlier in the day, welterweight contender Dan Hardy was talking up a fight with Koscheck, suggesting the wrestler needed a haircut and that he intended to color his hair red-with blood.  Koscheck called Hardy out in the cage, but White held firm that Hardy would get the next shot at champion Georges St. Pierre.  Koscheck would have to wait.

The last paragraph explains why Koscheck felt the need to call out Hardy from the Octagon in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan after choking out Anthony Johnson.

Koscheck has been a headache for Dana White in many ways, but one of his most annoying habits has been his knack for eliminating other potential title contenders (Johnson, Yoshida) without managing to make a title run of his own (losses to Paulo Thiago and Thiago Alves). There's no way that White is going to risk Hardy when champion Georges St Pierre is desperately in need of challengers and has already beaten Koscheck.

Nevertheless, it's good to see Koscheck and Hardy building a little bit of a rivalry -- they may not be the #1 and #2 fighters in the division, but they're easily the #1 and #2 smack talkers.

Koscheck did make one painful gaffe in his anti-Hardy tirade -- he initially said "(Hardy) ain't fought no one" which he soon corrected to be "ain't fought no one like me" -- presumably to spare the feelings of his teammate Mike Swick who just got beat soundly by Hardy at UFC 105.

I'm often identified as a Dana White critic while I admit to being a Tito Ortiz fan, but the idea Ortiz was robbed by the judges last night is the height of idiocy and pathetic grasping. Dana couldn't be more right here.

On the other hand, the criticism that Tito Ortiz is finished and meaningless other than to draw ratings or sell tickets is somewhat unfounded. More on that later today.

via www.latimes.com

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Of all the controversies over judging the past few months, no single scorecard had my mouth fall to floor as Glenn Trowbridge's 29-28 Ortiz scorecard last night.  I haven't been so puzzled by a scorecard since Tom Kaczmarek scored De La Hoya/Mayweather 115-113 for Oscar.

As noted in my post-fight recap, I scored the bout 30-26 for Griffin, with round 3 being the clear 10-8.  I thought if any round went to Ortiz, it was round 2. 

As usual, FightMetric released their report for the UFC 106 main event.  FightMetric isn't a be-all, end-all on its own, but it does provide a solid resource for discussion.  Under the ten-point must system, FightMetric scores the bout 29-27.  For the entire fight, the FightMetric Effective Score gave Griffin the advantage 294-137.

Round by round scoring as follow (Effectiveness Scores underneath each fighter, ten-point must system to the right):

Noboru Tahara and Rambaa Somdet will meet for the second time in Tokyo tomorrow - this time with Shooto's inaugural flyweight (114 lbs) title on the line. Photo via Shooto.

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All fighters made weight for tomorrow's "Shooto vs. Pancrase" showdown in JCB Hall:

#10 - Shooto Flyweight (52kg / 114.6 lbs) Championship Bout - 3R x 5
Noboru "Shinpei" Tahara (51.9kg / 114.4 lbs)
vs. Rambaa "M-16" Somdet (52kg / 114.6 lbs)

#9 - Bantamweight (56kg / 123.5 lbs) - 3R x 5
Ryuichi Miki (55.6kg / 122.5 lbs)
vs. Masaaki Sugawara (56kg / 123.5 lbs)

#8 - Lightweight (65kg / 143.3 lbs) - 3R x 5
Gustavo Falciroli (64.9kg / 143 lbs)
vs. Issei Tamura (64.4kg / 141.9 lbs)

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via www.mmabay.co.uk

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Let's start at the top and work our way down.

-Someone needs to take away Glenn Trowbridge's judging license.  A card of 29-28 Ortiz is atrocious.  Absolutely atrocious.  I personally had the fight 30-26 Griffin, though I find 30-27 and 29-28 Griffin acceptable as well.

-Tito talked about having a cracked skull coming into the bout.  Color me crazy, but I feel like the commission might pooh-pooh the idea of a fighter entering the cage with a skull fracture.  Maybe deals were made to save an already anemic top of the card.

-Ortiz looked absolutely impotent on the feet all night and became a walking punching bag for Griffin in round 3.  And, dare I say, Tito looked gassed in that last round.

-I'm not sure what to make of the Koscheck/Johnson mess.  Koscheck outworked Johnson on the floor in round 2, there's no doubting that.  But between the weird knee/eye poke/Oscar performance and then the two eye pokes to "Rumble," that was a bigger fustercluck than Napoleon at Waterloo.

-Volkmann/Thiago was weird.  I don't know what else to say about it. 

-Rogerio Nogueira performed brilliantly.  The left hand parry, jab/left straight combo had me marking out.  (Hint, hint Nate!) 

-Just talked to a friend about the fights and we were thinking of where Forrest goes from here.  We joked that the only fights that make sense are rematches (Jardine, Evans, Jackson, Rua, etc.).  Then it dawned on my buddy...have Forrest fight Rogerio.  Brilliant!

-Great opening fight.  Well, at least the first three minutes were great.  Did Baroni's power get lost in the translation to 170?  Because he hit Sadollah with some clean power shots that didn't seem to phase Amir.  And props to that kid.  He looked way better than I expected. 

-Maybe I'm alone thinking this, but Joe got on my nerves tonight.  I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty, but his call for some sort of hybrid glove that covers the fingers and still allows you to grapple had me tilting harder than getting two outed on the river.  No, Joe, it's probably not possible to create some sort of fighting mitten.  Eye pokes are going to be a part of the game.  Just accept it.

Overall, a fun night of fights.  I really wish the Koscheck/Johnson fight didn't have so many distractions, but thems the ropes.  Forrest looked good bouncing back from the Anchor Punch of Doom.  And we got multiple Diego "YUS" Sanchez promos!  Perfect night!

Tito Ortiz is still good enough to appear competitive.  But he was outclassed tonight.  He lost every round on my card, though the second was admittedly close.  He was out of gas in the third round, waited way too long to shoot, and when he did couldn't get the takedown.  

Ortiz made people believe that if he just got rid of his injuries he'd be back to dominant form.  It was always nonsense; his game is too predictable, he has a double and some nice inside elbows, but that's about it.  He opened up Forrest with one, which isn't much of an accomplishment given Forrest's scar tissue.  

It's unclear where to go next with Ortiz.  He could fight the Couture/Coleman winner, though I don't think he could beat Couture now anymore than he could when they first fought.  Another option is to put him on The Ultimate Fighter opposite Chuck Liddell.  Both guys are obviously planning to fight again, it would do big ratings, and neither one is relevant at 205 at this point.

Forrest showed no signs of being mentally broken tonight.  Many assumed his unwillingness to talk about the Anderson fight and his odd behavior suggested he had mental issues.  What people didn't take into account was the possibility that he knew no words could explain what happened, and that the only thing he could really do was train hard and jump back on the wagon.

Josh Koscheck got a nice win by using his wrestling.  It says something about Georges St. Pierre that Koscheck was able to take down a JUCO national champion so easily.  There's no reason to do Hardy-Koscheck; this is already a division with no contenders, why eliminate one?  I'd like to see Koscheck-Alves 2.  If Koscheck can beat Alves, then he's really earned himself a shot.

The final big story of the night was Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.  He made a big statement with his win tonight, icing a guy whose chin looked like iron before he met his demise this evening.  It's always risky to take shots because you believe in your chin, because that strategy eventually hits a brick wall for everyone.  Tonight it did for Cane.  Nogueira may only be a win away from title contention, and he's stated he is willing to fight Lyoto Machida.  Who's next for him?  Fights with Forrest Griffin, Rich Franklin, and Brandon Vera are all appealing options.

I think this show may have marked the end of Tito Ortiz's drawing power.  I'm a strong believer in the theory that the impact of losses on drawing ability is overstated, but he was exposed in a big way tonight, and his tantrum after the fight was just embarrassing.  Though I'll concede people may hate him enough after that fight that they'll pay to see him get beat up.

As with every major show, BloodyElbow.com will be here to bring you live results and commentary for UFC 106: Griffin vs. Ortiz.  The live blog will start with the beginning of the Spike broadcast (at 9PM ET) so make sure to make Bloody Elbow your home for this event.

As always we have our one rule: NO SPOILERS! In the interest of not ruining anything from the undercard that may make the broadcast we ask that you do not discuss the results of the undercard in the comments until either the broadcast ends or the fight makes the air.

So again, join us for the show and share your thoughts as the event unfolds.

Spike broadcast is live.  First fight up shortly

Jake Rosholt vs. Kendall Grove - Round 1 - Rosholt with a couple big takedowns early but Kendall survives only taking a little bit of punishment by way of punches.  Now Grove gets the takedown and lands a few punches before Rosholt stands back up.  Rosholt lands a couple decent punches and a flying knee to the body.  Takedown by Rosholt.  Rosholt moves to mount but Grove scrambles and catches Rosholts arm and now sinks the triangle.  Rosholt has no choice, he has to tap.  Kendall Grove wins by submission (triangle choke), round 1.

George Sotiropoulos vs. Jason Dent - Prelim action here.  Round 1 - Sotiropoulos landing a few nice straight punches early.  Counter left by Dent.  Head kick by Sotiropoulos is blocked.  They clinch up and Dent gets the best of it with some punches inside.  Dent knocks him back with a hook.  George with a straight and a head kick.  Nice body shot by Dent.  Takedown by Sotiropoulos and he works to pass as Dent lands a few nice punches.  George standing over top and quickly passes to side control.  Dent gives up mount.  Sotiropoulos landing shots here.  Dent manages to survive until the end of the round.  10-9 round for Sotiropoulos, close to a 10-8.  Round 2 - Low kick early by Dent.  George landing crisp punches here.  Right hand by Dent and he gets cocky.  Dent throws a body kick, George catches it and sweeps the other leg to end up back on top.  Dent scrambles and Sotiropoulos takes his back.  Now they're in north-south with George on top.  Dent takes some damage and manages to stand up but George takes him right back down.  Pass to full mount here.  George landing shots and takes an arm.  Dent throws an illegal knee to try to escape, George switches to an arm crush and then an armbar and it's over as Dent taps.  George Sotiropoulos wins by submission (armbar), round 2.

Marcus Davis vs. Ben Saunders - Round 1 - Saunders with a head kick that is blocked.  They clinch up and Ben is landing nice knees to the body.  Punches land for Davis and again Ben with a flurry of knees.  Davis is bleeding pretty badly now above the eye. Davis lands a couple punches but Saunders goes back to the knee attack.  This is brutal.  Left hands are landing for Saunders and again he starts throwing the knees.  Davis is out cold!  Nasty stuff by Ben Saunders.  Ben Saunders wins by knockout, Round 1.

A prelim fight was shown between Brian Foster and Brock Larson.  Brian Foster dominated the action and forced the battered Larson to tap to strikes.

The PPV is live

Phil Baroni vs. Amir Sadollah - Round 1 - Baroni throwing early and knocks Amir down.  Amir working knees to the body from the clinch.  Big shots by Phil here and Amir lands a knee.  Amir keeps pushing him against the cage but Phil is throwing big shots still.  Muay Thai knees land by Amir.  Uppercut by Phil.  Phil's mouth is already wide open.  Big uppercuts by Baroni.  Amir keeps working the Thai clinch but is getting eaten up by these uppercuts.  Takedown by Baroni. Baroni looking to work while Amir looks for an armbar.  He cant get it and Baroni stands up.  Kick lands for Amir.  Knee by Amir and a big right hand to Phil's head.  Phil is cut above the left eye.  Big knees landing for Amir now and Phil is extremely winded.  Amir closes it out with big knees as the bell rings.  Phil is cut up badly.  10-9 round for Amir.  Phil is badly gassed.  Round 2 -Leg kick by Amir and then a head kick.  Big knee by Amir and a great leg kick.  Left hook lands for Phil but he's very gassed.  Right hand by Baroni.  Kick to the head by Amir.  Leg kick again by Amir.  Sharp elbows by Amir in the clinch.  Head kick blocked by Baroni.  Leg kick by Amir.  Phil with a right hand.  Jumping knee by Amir.  Nice elbow by Amir now.  Body kick by Amir and he lands a couple punches.  The round ends and it was 10-9 Amir on my card to go up 20-18.  Round 3 -Leg kicks by Amir early.  Body kick, right hand combo.  Two punches and a knee by Amir, now an elbow.  Baroni is hitting a whole lot of air now.  Baroni turns and starts walking away so Amir runs and lands a big leg kick.  Big ol' arm punches by Phil.  Big elbows by Amir again.  Phil has a huge gash on his forehead.  Leg kicks keep coming from Amir.  Baroni is so incredibly gassed here.  Superman punch by Amir and now a few knees.  Head kick by Amir and he is hitting him with punches and body kicks.  Another head kick by Amir.  Baroni keeps trying but he isn't even connecting this round. Knee and an elbow now for Amir.  Body kick hurts Phil now.  Amir blasts him with elbows and the round ends.  10-8 round to give him the fight 30-26 on the Bloody Elbow scorecard.  Official Scorecards: 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 all for Amir Saddolah.

Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira - Round 1 - Cane pushing forward with a jab and a leg kick.  Jab lands for Nog after a leg kick. Left hand lands for Nog.  Nogueira hurts Cane badly.  Cane is buckled several times and now he is dropped.  Wow, Nogueira just ran through him like nothing.  Antonio Rogerio Nogueira wins by TKO (strikes), round 1.

Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann - Round 1 - High kick misses for Thiago.  Volkmann clinches up with him.  Thiago with a sweep and they go to the ground with Thiago in side control.  Volkmann gets full guard and scrambles back to his feet. Takedown again by Thiago into full mount and Volkmann manages to get up against the wall and get half guard back.  Now into full guard.  Volkmann looked for an arm so Thiago stood back up.  Volkmann shoots and can't get it to the ground.  Volkmann throwing knees to the leg.  Elbow lands on the way out.  Uppercut by Thiago.  Hook lands for Thiago and Volkmann drops just as the round ends.  Clear 10-9 round for Thiago.  Round 2 - Volkmann getting beat up in the exchanges early again.  Superman punch by Thiago.  Takedown by Volkmann now.  Volkmann is grounding him now.  Thiago turtles and gets hit a few times now.  Thiago stands back up after eating some shots.  They exhange and Thiago gets the best of it.  Punch lands for Volkmann and now he takes Thiago back down.  Volkmann turns into mount but Thiago rolls and gets out.  Thiago on top now.  Lands a big punch and passes to the side.  The round ends,  very close round but I gave round to to Volkmann to even it up 19-19.  Round 3 - Thiago looks a bit tired.  Volkmann gets dropped by a punch.  Thiago jumps on top and almost into a triangle.  Volkmann escapes to standing.  Volkmann fails on a takedown attempt but does manage to get the takedown on second effort.  Thiago gives up his back.  Volkmann with a few punches and rolls back over.  Volkmann gets the crucifix and lands a series of elbows.  Now Thiago gives up his back and gets to standing.  Volkmann is winning the round but Rogan claims he may be "stealing it."  Thiago on top after a reversal.  Volkmann with a darce choke from the bottom.  He gives it up and ends up back on bottom but that was a really nice transition.  Thiago trying to throw hands at the end of the round.  10-9 Volkmann on my card to take the fight 29-28.  Official scorecards: 29-28, 30-27, 30-27 all for Paulo Thiago.  Paulo Thiago wins by unanimous decision.

Anthony Johnson vs. Josh Koscheck - Round 1- Leg kick by Johnson.  Left hook by Kos knocks Johnson back.  Johnson back to the leg kicks.  Head kick is blocked by Koscheck.  Right hand by Josh gets blocked.  Kos lands a hard right hand but Anthony takes it well.  Another hard leg kick by Johnson.  Right hand by Johnson hurts Koscheck.  Josh goes for the takedown from the clinch and Johnson avoids well.  Knee from Johnson to Koscheck as he is down.  Replays show the knee hits all arm which is technically legal.  Then Johnson pokes Koscheck in the eye, now Koscheck is saying his eye is hurt.  It's not the correct eye that was poked though.  That wasn't an illegal knee.  They do restart the fight though.  Head kick is blocked by Koscheck.  Johnson is cut over his eye.  Leg kicks from Johnson and now Kos tries to shoot and finally completes the takedown.  Koscheck takes Johnson's back quickly.  Knees to the body by Kos.  The round ends and it was close but I suppose 10-9 Johnson but the foul makes it 9-9.  Round 2 -Jab by Johnson.  Now Koscheck pokes Johnson in the eye.  Johnson says he's good and the fight is restarted.  High kick from Koscheck lands but Johnson is fine.  Another poke to the eye by Koscheck and Johnson falls down.  Clear eye poke by Kos.  They restart again.  Head kick from Johnson is blocked.  They exchange and Johnson lands the harder blows in the exchange.  Now Kos shoots and gets it to the ground and into Johnson's half guard.Elbows from Koscheck from the top position now.   Kos is smothering him now and landing a lot of short elbows.  Johnson is bleeding above the right eye now.  Johnson is totally gassed.  Rear naked choke by Johnson and he is forced to tap out.  Josh Koscheck wins by submission (rear naked choke), round 2.

Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz - Round 1 - Right hand by Forrest.  Leg kick by Forrest now.  High kick by Tito is blocked, now a left hand lands.  Right hand by Forrest.  Right hand and a left land for Tito.  Shot by Tito and he has Forrest down.  Elbows by Tito from the top now.  Forrest uses a kimura attempt to escape.  Now uses the cage to stand up.  Back to distance and Forrest with the leg kicks.  Right hand lands for Forrest.  Forrest with a two punch combo.  Tito misses a double leg attempt.  Aside from a takedown and a few seconds of ground and pound that was a Forrest round. 10-9 Forrest on the BloodyElbow scorecard.  Round 2- Right hand for Forrest.  Tito catches the leg kick and gets a takedown.  A little ground and pound but Forrest avoided any real damage and is able to stand up.  Front kick lands to Tito's jaw and knocks his mouthpiece out.  After it's replaced Forrest continues busting him up on the feet.  Forrest gets taken down again and holds on to avoid taking any damage.  Forrest is really avoiding all the elbows that Tito tries to land.  Forrest is pouring blood from his right eye.  Tito is going for broke and Forrest sweeps him.  Now Forrest is on top landing short elbows.  The round ends and Forrest secured it with the sweep and elbows after dominating standing. 10-9 Forrest and the BE card has him up 20-18. Round 3-Right hand by Forrest.  Forrest busting him up with punches.  Forrest lands a hard left.  Two punches and a kick by Forrest.  Right hand, head kick by Forrest.  Tito is getting eaten alive this round.  Two punch combo by Forrest.  Right hand by Forrest.  Tito shoots on a low kick and can't get the takedown.  Two punches land again for Forrest.  Nice body shot and a follow up to the head by Griffin.  Three punches by Forrest.  Now a head kick and Ortiz is hurt, tired and just unable to do anything.  Three more punches by Forrest.  Left hook, leg kick by Forrest.  Takedown is blocked by Griffin.  Right hand hurts Ortiz.  Ortiz gets busted up as the round ends.  10-8 round as Tito simply got eaten alive that round.  30-26 on my card for Griffin.  Official Scorecards:  29-28 Ortiz, 30-27 Griffin, 29-28 Griffin.  Forrest Griffin wins by split decision.  I can not see ANY way that was a Tito Ortiz fight, I'm amazed at the 29-28 Ortiz card.

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The judges awarded Forrest Griffin a split decision victory over UFC legend Tito Ortiz.

Two of the UFC's biggest stars met in a redemption match that headlined UFC 106. No title was on the line, but the two fighters' star power made it a compelling headliner nonetheless. They met previously in 2006 in an epic bout that saw both fighters at their best.

Ortiz entered the ring with a blackened right eye. Griffin scored with the first shots but Ortiz landed a hard right of his own about a minute in. Forrest answered with a combination of kicks and punches that led Ortiz to shoot in for the take down. Ortiz landed punches and elbows before Forrest threatened a kimura that he used to sweep Ortiz. Griffin survived a scramble and found himself pushed against the cage. He spun around and kneed Tito to the gut. Griffin peppered Ortiz with combinations, including hard leg kicks. Ortiz shot again but Forrest evaded it. The round ended with Griffin pushing Ortiz against the fence.

In round two, Tito landed the first hard shot and followed with a single leg take down. But Griffin was more than able to control Ortiz on the ground and quickly escaped to his feet. A Griffin front kick sent Ortiz' mouth piece flying. After a respite to replace it, Griffin attacked with a combination of kicks and punches. Ortiz took him down again but Griffin's guard kept Tito from landing much from the top. But Ortiz began to wear him down and started to land elbows and punches that cut Griffin over the eye. Then with 0:35 left, Griffin reversed position and answered with some ground and pound of his own. 

Griffin came out scoring in the third, landing punches and kicks. Tito seemed to be holding back and letting Griffin tee off. With three minutes left Ortiz made a half-hearted shot that Griffin stuffed.  Griffin landed shot after shot, mixing kicks, punches and attacks to the head, body and legs with aplomb. With a minute left, Ortiz began to fire back but it was too little too late. Griffin stuffed a final feeble shot from Ortiz and fired away with hooks and upper cuts.

Photo by Dave Mandel via Sherdog

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Two of the most physically imposing athletes in the welterweight division met and Josh Koscheck emerged the clear winner.

Koscheck opened the action by landing a hard left hook that stunned Johnson briefly.  Soon after he landed a hard right that Johnson quickly answered with a right of his own. Johnson began scoring with leg kicks and then stunned Koscheck with a hard right hand. A stunned Koscheck quickly worked for a take down from the clinch but Johnson sprawled.

Johnson then fired a blatantly illegal knee to Koscheck's face -- that appeared to have been partially blocked by Koscheck -- Koscheck then took a lengthy recovery time and Refereee Mario Yamasaki deducted a point from Johnson. Johnson's finger nail appeared to scratch Koscheck's eye during the collision. 

Yamasaki disregarded the doctor's inclination to stop the fight and restarted the action. Koscheck responded by shooting for a single leg take down and got Johnson's back. A hard knee to the body set up an attempt to take Johnson's back that was evaded.

Round two saw Johnson coming out firing and switching stances. Koscheck then caught Johnson with an eye poke that briefly paused the action. Koscheck landed a high kick on the restart. Then Johnson caught another eye poke. Johnson came out angry. And they traded a tough barrage of shots before Koscheck shot in and took Johnson down.

From top position, Koscheck landed a series of short sharp elbows to Johnson's face. After taking a beating, Johnson was gasping for air and Koscheck took his back. Then he sunk in the choke and got the tap out at 4:47 of the second round.