UFC 57 featured the rubber match (best 2-out-of-3) for Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell. Couture won the decision the first time they fought and then the second time Chuck won it with a knockout of Couture, his first of his career. I know I was rooting for Couture and most of the crowd at the start of the fight were chanting his name. Couture came out very controlled maintaining his stance and tried to cut off Liddell’s angles. Liddell had excellent movement working from side-to-side and forward and back. Liddell snuck in a couple good punches and Couture was able to tie-up Chuck once and took him down.. but it is hard to keep Liddell down. The fight went to the second round where during a brief second of movement.. Couture slipped and that is all Liddell needed to land one right on Couture’s chin. A staggered Couture took a few more shots before the ref stepped in. With the second win, Liddell locked himself in as the best light heavyweight fighter in the world right now.

However this victory was overshadowed by the more shocking news of Couture hanging up the gloves and retiring from MMA competition. Couture really has been the people’s champion and was one of the greatest ambassadors of MMA and will be missed. Word is that he is hoping to persue an acting career and will be opening some gyms possibly with Bas Rutten. The best of luck to him.

The early fights were pretty decent.

We got to see Nick Diaz vs Joe Riggs. I think Diaz was at a weight disadvantage from what I hear. Apparently Joe Riggs was able to squeeze out enough water for weigh-ins that by the time Riggs re-hydrated after weigh-ins he had gained nearly 30 lbs.

For me this was one of the fights I was looking forward to seeing. I hold both fighters in high regard of their skills, however I was leaning towards Diaz because I consider him one of the most skilled fighters standing and on the ground in that weight class. Plus Diaz seems to go into the fights with a chip on his shoulder which usually results in an all out brawl against a game fighter. Riggs was definitely game for this fight. Even though Diaz was able to sneak a few punches in where Riggs seemed a little perturbed.. Riggs kept coming back and stood toe-to-toe with Diaz. The fight went all three rounds and went to the judges. Sherdog.com, Joe Rogan and myself saw the win going to Diaz, however the judges saw it differently with a unanimous decision for Joe “Diesel” Riggs. It definitely was a close fight and as a fighter you should never leave it up to the judges especially in this case, where neither fighter seemed to be a clear cut winner.

Second fight of the night on PPV was Renato “Babalu” Sobral vs Mike Van Arsdale. This was another great fight. It opened with a few kicks and punches and they eventually tie up and go to the ground. Babalu is able to take Arsdale’s back and sinks in the rear naked choke giving Arsdale no other choice but to tap.

Third fight of the PPV night was Frank Mir’s return to the Octagon against Marcio Cruz. After watching this fight.. I think it might also be Mir’s retirement match. He came out strong against Marcio Cruz, but eventually Cruz was able to open a cut on Mir’s head. The ref stopped the fight to have the cut looked at and Mir said he had trouble seeing out of the eye, but he continued on with the fight. Cruz was able to take Mir down after they restarted and proceeded to wail on Mir who probably wished he hadn’t continued. After numerous unanswered punches, the ref stopped the fight slightly before the end of Round 1.

Fourth fight of the night was Brandon Vera vs Justin Eilers. I wasn’t at all familiar with Brandon “The Truth” Vera, but he seems like someone you should definitely get to know. Vera and Eilers make their way to the center of the ring and proceed to throw punches. Eilers and Vera tie-up against the cage and the ref resets them. Vera proceeds to throw a couple of punches with some leg kicks thrown in. Even with Eilers blocking the kicks land pretty solid. Vera sends one up top connecting with the top side of Eiler’s head. It takes a second for Eiler’s legs to turn to jello.. which was enough time for Vera to follow-up with a nice knee to Eiler’s head. Round 1 KO for Vera’s 2nd time in the Octagon.

Another fight of the night was Jeff Monson vs Braden Lee Hinkle. Jeff Monson “The Snowman” Monson is a monster. He is definitely no stranger to the weight room. He is an Abu Dhabi champion which is basically the Olympics of submission grappling. He has a pretty impressive record of 20-5. He’s a veteran of the UFC, Cage Warriors and numerous other fight shows. They started out pretty even going back and forth with punches then a takedown Monson with both of them scrambling. Eventually Monson somehow positioned himself so that Eilers was laying face up and Monson was laying face down with Eiler’s head locked securely into a reverse choke of some sorts. They called it a North/South choke.

I could have sworn that Monson was killing Hinkle. It was a solid and fast enough choke that Eiler’s reaction upon waking up was priceless. Eiler’s had no clue what had transpired. This is another solid win for Monson. I would like to see him go up against Tim Sylvia. I would think he is a solid contender for the heavyweight belt.

Overall, it was a good night of fighting.. not the greatest fights ever, but the UFC is always enjoyable.