UFC 80 EXCLUSIVE PHOTO GALLERY (FREE)

 

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, England – Fans in the United Kingdom bore witness once again to a stellar night of mixed martial arts action. A sold out crowd of 8,412 fans witnessed history as “The Prodigy” B.J. Penn cemented his legacy as only the second fighter in Ultimate Fighting Championship history to hold a title at two different weight classes.

 

In the opening seconds of the round the former welterweight champion scored a heavy uppercut to the head of Joe Stevenson, causing him to buckle.

 

“I thought I was going to ice him right there; I thought that was it, but he came back strong.”

 

Penn followed Stevenson to the mat and commenced a ground and pound offensive where his adversary struggled to regain his faculties.

 

A big elbow from Penn would open up Stevenson’s head towards the end of first round. As the round bell tolled, the crowd waited with baited breath to see whether the fight would be called due to a doctor’s stoppage.

 

Stevenson began round two undeterred in spite of the blood flow and stalked Penn around the cage looking to strike. With both fighters firing off punches, it was Penn who eventually connected, once again sending Stevenson down to the canvas. His superior Brazilian Jiu-jitsu positioning and fluid transition work meant that every attempt to escape was met with a series of blows. With no option but to give his back, Stevenson succumbed to a tight rear naked choke.

 

“When I got his back, I thought all the blood was going to slip the choke right in,” said Penn.

 

He was correct and his efforts picked up the “Submission of the Night” accolade in addition to the UFC lightweight championship strap.

 

In his first fight since coming off a big TKO loss to Randy “The Natural” Couture at UFC 74, Gabriel Gonzaga was hungry and looking to re-establish himself as a top contender in the heavyweight division and avenge his 2003, early career loss against fellow Brazilian opponent Fabricio Werdum. Although Gonzaga appeared to have the measure of Werdum in the opening round, landing some big leg kicks that buckled his opponent, the second round would be a different story.

 

Round two started with a fresher looking Werdum pushing the action. Gonzaga scored a couple of takedowns on his opponent, but failed to engage or capitalize on the opportunity, allowing the Chute Boxe fighter stand back up. Werdum sensed that his opponent was beginning to wane and began to push the pace with the typical Chute Boxe Muay Thai clinch; he landed a number of heavy knees that began to daze his opponent. A fluid takedown landed him in the top position and after a number of unanswered blows the referee called a halt to the action at the 4:34 mark.

 

Werdum’s win has marked him out as the man most likely to face the winner of the Tim Sylvia vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira showdown for the interim heavyweight championship at UFC 81.

 

Marcus Davis had stated prior to his bout with London Pancrase/Team Quest fighter Jess “The Joker” Liaudin that he wanted to be the first fighter in the world to “punch his hand through his opponents head.” With both fighters riding winning streaks – Davis undefeated in his last 10 outings and Liaudlin in his last 5 – this bout was anticipated to be a war. However, the action proved to be short lived.

 

After scoring with repeated leg kicks, Liaudin was met by a thunderous left kick to the midsection. He then backed away and attempted to continue his success with the low kick, only to be thwarted by big left hook, which landed behind the ear of the French born fighter rendering him unconscious before he connected with the mat after his descent. Davis followed this up with a couple of solid shots and forced referee Mario Yamasaki to call time at 1:04 of the very first round.

 

Davis stated that the pre-fight exchange of words had made him angry, but he respected Liaudin’s skills and that he had never been so nervous for a fight.

 

“Mark Dellagrotte said throw a kick and it will set up your hands, so I did and it worked,” said Davis.

 

Jason Lambert secured the takedown early in his bout with Brazilian fighter Wilson Gouveia and attempted his patented ground and pound attack. However, Gouveia did a good job of avoiding punishment from the bottom and attempted various submissions, including a triangle and an omo plata.

 

“I was expecting to put a lot of pressure on from the beginning. I am confident on the ground, a BJJ black belt. Between the rounds, I was recovering and continued to look for striking (opportunities),” stated Gouveia.

 

The second stanza found Lambert looking for the takedown, but Gouveia defended and landed a vicious left hook to win the “Knockout of the Night” bonus.

 

“It was a bomb – bye, bye,” quipped the Brazilian emphatically.

 

Jorge Rivera returned to action in his first bout since his devastating 14-second knockout loss to Terry Martin at UFC 67 with a win over Ultimate Fighter season three winner Kendall Grove. Both fighters were coming off of losses and looking to re-establish themselves in an already stacked middleweight division.

 

Rivera found his range early and after a brief exchange secured a body lock on his adversary, taking him down and landing some heavy shots to the head. In a vain attempt to avoid further punishment, the 6’6” Hawaiian rose to his feet only to be met by a barrage of strikes rendering him unconscious at the 1:23 mark.

 

James Lee’s much-anticipated UFC debut was short lived due to his reluctance to trade with former professional boxer Alessio Sakara. From the outset, Lee relentlessly pursued the takedown and indeed managed to score twice, but Sakara – who had been working extensively with American Top Team prior to his bout – was able to get back to his feet on both occasions. Escaping Lee’s hold, he threw repeated strikes down whilst attempting to avoid an ankle pick attempt. With Lee unable to defend intelligently, referee Dan Miragliotta called a halt to the action at 1:30 mark of the first.

 

Upon leaving the cage, Lee stated, “I felt my back pop. I couldn’t do anything about it.”

 

In his post fight interview with Joe Rogan, Sakara announced, “I want to cut to 185 (pounds) and I promise my fans that I will be the best fighter at 185.”

 

Seventeen seconds of abuse was all it took for Antoni Hardonk to give big Irishman Colin Robinson his second straight UFC loss. The first exchange of the bout saw Robinson looking to close the distance, but the Dutch kickboxer would clinch and fire a couple of big knees at his opponent. Pushing away from the clinch, he threw a thunderous leg kick combination followed by a big left hand knocking Robinson out.

 

“The leg kicks helped to get him out of his rhythm,” said Hardonk, “but it was the left jab that hurt him. I should have stepped in earlier, but I wasn’t sure, the referee stopped the fight.”

 

The “Fight of the Night” award and a check for $35,000 would go to both fighters in the first all-British encounter in UFC history. Paul Kelly and Paul Taylor fought an out and out war as the crowd erupted when both fighters took to the center of the Octagon and stood their ground. They met each other punch for punch with gusto. After a foiled guillotine attempt by Taylor, Kelly employed his trademark ground and pound offensive from top position.

 

He proceeded to take Taylor down and control him for the next two rounds, opening up a 2” cut to the forehead with a vicious elbow. Kelly continued his aggressive assault into the final round controlling the positioning and nullifying any offensive grappling. All three judges scored the bout 30-27 in favor of Kelly.

 

Sweden’s Per Eklund clearly had a single game plan, to ground Canadian favorite Sam Stout and avoid heavy leather. The Swedish striker appeared uncomfortable in the exchanges from the outset, but had brief success landing a knee in the first and high kick in the second.

 

Sheer physical dominance from Stout saw him repeatedly foil Eklund’s takedown attempts and by the middle of the second round, Eklund had resorted to dropping to his back. Stout remained focused and simply backed out causing the referee to force a restart to the action – this continued until the final bell.

 

Stout stated, “My game plan was to get back to my feet, protect my arms and not get caught in anything stupid... I wanted to finish the fight standing... I was getting a little frustrated in there.”

 

It was announced that UFC 80 had set a new gate record for the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena of $1.25 million and marked a very successful debut in “Geordie Land.”

 

-B.J. Penn def. Joe Stevenson by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:02, R2

-Fabricio Werdum def. Gabriel Gonzaga by TKO (Strikes) at 4:34, R2

-Marcus Davis def. Jess Liaudin by KO at 1:04, R1

-Wilson Gouveia def. Jason Lambert by KO at 0:37, R2

-Jorge Rivera def. Kendall Grove by TKO (Strikes) at 1:22, R1

-Antoni Hardonk def. Colin Robinson by KO at 0:17, R1

-Paul Kelly def. Paul Taylor by Unanimous Decision, R3

-Alessio Sakara def. James Lee via TKO at 1:30, R1

-Sam Stout def. Per Eklund by Unanimous Decision, R3