Fightin' Words

By Joe Fernandez

Has absolutely nothing to do with mixed martial arts...but it's hysterical and took me a while to do. If you're a sports fan, you'll probably appreciate this.

Mustache Madness

Here are some AP photos from UFC 72. Enjoy.

By Joe Fernandez

So we're talking about a BJ Penn/Jens Pulver rematch -- enough said.

Then Manny Gamburyan vs. Nate Diaz for a UFC contract, which if it's anything close to a Forrest Griffin/Stephan Bonnar or Ed Herman/Kendall Grove finale, we're in for a great show. There's Roger Huerta, who had maybe the match of the year vs. Leonard Garcia at UFC 69; he's on the card, along with Garcia. Joe Lauzon, who already has a TKO win over Jens Pulver on his resume`, is fighting, and a Gray Maynard/Rob Emerson match, which has potential.

Not bad UFC and SpikeTV, not bad at all.

For my money, and we don't have to spend any of it because this card is free at 9 p.m. Saturday on SpikeTV, this one should've been the pay-per view and UFC 72 should've been free. Either way, this should be a great show.

Jens Pulver vs. BJ Penn

This 155-pound class is looking like the new welterweight class, loaded with exciting fighters and exciting fights.

January of 2002 was a long time ago. That's the last time these two fought in the Octagon. Pulver (21-6-1) earned the majority decision win that night and bragging rights till at least Saturday.

I think both fighters will spend most of the time on their feet during this one. Unless he has side control or mount, I don't think Pulver wants any part of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt on the ground, and I think if Pulver's going to catch him it would be with his striking and then follow Penn (10-3-1) up with a ground and pound. Also, because Penn hasn't fought at 155 pounds in a while, will dropping the extra weight affect the former UFC welterweight champion?

But don't count out BJ Penn just yet. Equivalent to a big-game pitcher in baseball, Penn is a big-match fighter. No matter who he's fighting, he's seems to always be a second away from winning most of his fights, and as TUF 5 fighter Joe Lauzon said about his coach, Penn is dangerous anywhere.

"He's like that with everything," Lauzon told Newsday last week. "Stand-up, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, top, bottom, any position you can think of, it's like you don't know anything."

I don't think three rounds are enough for these guys. I see the fight going from good to great in Round 3 with one of the two earning the decision win.

Manny Gamburyan vs. Nate Diaz

One match for the six-figure contract.

There's no warm-up in the Gamburyan fights we've seen so far. There's no light exchange of jabs and time-burning clinches -- Gamburyan goes into the Octagon looking for and finding a fight.

Diaz (5-2) on the other hand seems to have tremendous poise. He doesn't rush into situations, he lets them unfold and counters brilliantly. It will be interesting to see if Diaz can weather the Gamburyan (5-2) storm. Even the back story is interesting with Gamburyan's cousin Karo Parisyan earning a split decision win against Diaz's brother, Nick, in 2004.

Roger Huerta vs. Doug Evans

It will be tough to duplicate the outstanding performance from UFC 69, where Huerta earned a unanimous decision victory against Leonard Garcia, but because Evans is making his UFC debut and probably wants to make a good impression, this could be another classic. According to UFC.com, Evans is a seven-time Alaska freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling state champion. The 26-year-old is 6-0 in his professional mixed martial arts career. Huerta is 19-1-1 and 3-0 in the UFC.

Floyd Sword vs. Thales Leites

Leites (10-1, 1-1 UFC) earned a unanimous decision victory against Pete Sell at UFC 69 in his last match. Sword (14-2) is making his UFC debut.

Brandon Melendez vs. Joe Lauzon

Lauzon (13-3) nearly caught Gamburyan with a rear naked choke in the TUF 5 semifinals, but was in bad positions for most of their fight and lost the unanimous decision. Melendez (11-5) lost in the TUF 5 quarterfinals to Gray Maynard after Maynard caught Melendez with a guillotine choke in the second round. Look for Melendez to keep the fight standing, while Lauzon will probably try to catch him in submissions on the ground.

Andy Wang vs. Cole Miller

Two more TUF 5 contestants face off in this match. Wang (8-6) lost a decision to Brandon Melendez in the first round of the competition, and Miller (11-2) lost in the quarterfinals via a referee stoppage in the second round to Joe Lauzon.

Rob Emerson vs. Gray Maynard

In the first round of TUF 5 competition, Emerson (8-6) was submitted in the second round by Nate Diaz. Because Gabe Ruediger was kicked off the show for failing to make weight, Emerson was brought back, but lost via decision to Corey Hill. After wins against Wayne Weems and Brandon Melendez, Maynard (3-0) looked like a strong contender to win the competition, but Maynard got caught by Nate Diaz in a guillotine choke in the semifinals.

Allen Berube vs. Leonard Garcia

On the first episode of TUF 5, Berube (2-1) was caught in a triangle choke and was submitted by Cole Miller in the first round. Garcia (13-2, 0-1 UFC) lost a unanimous decision to Huerta at UFC 69.

Brian Geraghty vs. Matt Wiman

In the first round of TUF 5 competition, Geraghty (24-9-2) lost via rear naked choke to Joe Lauzon in the first round. After earning a win via rear naked choke against Marlon Sims in the first round of the fight and the competition, Wiman (6-3, 0-1 UFC) lost by unanimous decision against Manny Gamburyan in the quarterfinals.

Fightin' Words readers, who's going to win these fights?

By Joe Fernandez

So the finals are set.

Episodes 11 and 12 concluded with two strong semifinal matches with one phenomenal comeback and nearly another.

The first hour featured Team Pulver's Manny Gamburyan vs. Team Penn's Joe Lauzon. Gamburyan did a great job of taking down Lauzon each round and keeping his weight on him in side control and half guard. Lauzon nearly pulled off a rear naked choke in Round 3, but Gamburyan rolled Lauzon off his back and slipped into Lauzon's guard. Gamburyan finished with a flurry of punches and grinded out the unanimous decision win.

"I don't really feel like I got beat up, but he won the fight," Lauzon said. "I was under his chin, I had it. I kind of had the short choke at first. I didn't have the regular rear naked [choke]. He shifted and I could feel myself fall off to the side."

Even though Lauzon lost his semifinal match, the Massachusetts native said he learned plenty from his Season 5 coach.

"He's unlike anything you've experienced," Lauzon said of Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt BJ Penn. "Think of the first time you ever wrestled with anyone that knew what was going on. You're on your back, you can't do anything. You can't keep him in your guard, you can't pass his guard. You can't do anything. But you've been training for seven years and you think you're pretty good and decent and you're back at Day 1 when you don't know anything...and he's like that with everything -- stand-up, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, top, bottom, any position you can think of, it's like you don't know anything."

During the next episode, the second semifinal match featured Team Penn's Gray Maynard vs. Team Pulver's Nate Diaz. Even though Diaz went for plenty of submission attempts, Maynard dominated the first round and even bloodied Diaz's forehead. Diaz regrouped in Round 2, landed a solid knee to Maynard's head, and after a scramble on the ground, Diaz slipped Maynard into a guillotine choke from half guard and earned the submission victory.

In my opinion, I thought Maynard was going to walk through this competition. He reminded me of a 155-pound Matt Hughes; a guy that was going to use his wrestling to get to side control and earn the ground-and-pound victory in each of his matches. But Diaz showed plenty of character, toughness, and now he's one win away from earning a UFC contract. Good for him, and good luck to both fighters at the finale on June 23rd.

I want to thank the great media department over at SpikeTV for always making sure the fighters called me every Friday to get interviewed. And I want to thank all the fighters for not only being warriors in the Octagon, but being gentlemen out of it. They all were a pleasure to deal with -- no egos. Another reason why this is such a great sport to watch and cover.

Thanks to all the Fightin' Words readers for reading The Ultimate Fighter: Season 5 blog on Newsday.com. Fightin' Words has big plans for the summer. More mixed martial arts coverage and more MMA video. Until then, take care.

-- Joe

Here's the episode rundown:

Episode 1: Cole Miller caught Allen Berube with a triangle choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 1-0)
Episode 2: Manny Gamburyan caught Noah Thomas with a kimura armlock in the first round. (Team Pulver, 2-0).
Episode 3: Nate Diaz defeated Rob Emerson via rear naked choke in the second round. (Team Pulver, 3-0).
Episode 4: Brandon Melendez defeated Andy Wang via unanimous decision. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 5: Gabe Ruediger eliminated due to a failure to make weight. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 6: Joe Lauzon defeated Brian Geraghty via rear naked choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 4-1). Corey Hill wins by decision against Rob Emerson (Team Pulver, 5-1).
Episode 7: Gray Maynard wins by referee stoppage against Wayne Weems in the first round. (Team Pulver, 5-2). Matt Wiman defeated Marlon Sims via rear naked choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 5-3).
Quarterfinals
Episode 8: Joe Lauzon defeated Cole Miller by referee stoppage in the second round. (Lauzon advances to the semifinals).
Episode 9: Gray Maynard defeated Brandon Melendez by submission due to a guillotine choke in the second round. (Maynard advances to the semifinals).
Episode 10: Nate Diaz defeated Corey Hill by submission due to a triangle choke in the first round. (Diaz advances to the semifinals). Manny Gamburyan won by unanimous decision against Matt Wiman. (Gamburyan advances to the semifinals).
Semifinals
Episode 11: Manny Gamburyan earned a unanimous decision victory against Joe Lauzon. (Gamburyan advances to the finals).
Episode 12: Nate Diaz defeated Gray Maynard via submission due to a guillotine choke in the second round. (Diaz advances to the finals).

The Ultimate Fighter: Season 5 Finale (SpikeTV) -- Saturday, June 23rd, 9 p.m. at "The Pearl" in Las Vegas.

By Joe Fernandez

Two fights. That's the way to do it.

Last night's episode of The Ultimate Fighter concluded with two more fighters advancing and completing the last half of the semifinals.

Corey Hill looked like he was going to overwhelm Team Pulver teammate Nate Diaz early on. Hill's reach and aggression looked like that would give him the edge, but Diaz regrouped on the ground and was able to sink in the triangle choke from his back in the first round.

The second fight featured Team Pulver's Manny Gamburyan vs. Team Penn's Matt Wiman. Like his first fight against Noah Thomas, Gamburyan came out looking to press the fight. The cameo by Karo Parisyan, Gamburyan's cousin, seemed to strengthen the Team Pulver fighter.

"No excuses," Wiman said, "but we didn't have the hammer the whole time. So for four weeks we just had to keep our weight down and we couldn't train because we were on three days notice...We couldn't train the way we wanted to, and I came ready to fight that day to the show. So basically, I tried to keep my peak for like four weeks. I was the last fight of the first round so I had to re-fight three, four days later, and 'Manvil' had three, four weeks to prepare for his next fight."

With Gamburyan earning top position and continually pushing the fight, the judges unanimously decided on Gamburyan as the winner.

"I had a bunch of opportunities to beat him," Wiman said. "I obviously didn't fight my fight and he did, so hat's off to him."

Here's where the teams stand after Episode 9:

Episode 1: Cole Miller caught Allen Berube with a triangle choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 1-0)
Episode 2: Manny Gamburyan caught Noah Thomas with a kimura armlock in the first round. (Team Pulver, 2-0).
Episode 3: Nate Diaz defeated Rob Emerson via rear naked choke in the second round. (Team Pulver, 3-0).
Episode 4: Brandon Melendez defeated Andy Wang via unanimous decision. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 5: Gabe Ruediger eliminated due to a failure to make weight. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 6: Joe Lauzon defeated Brian Geraghty via rear naked choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 4-1). Corey Hill wins by decision against Rob Emerson (Team Pulver, 5-1).
Episode 7: Gray Maynard wins by referee stoppage against Wayne Weems in the first round. (Team Pulver, 5-2). Matt Wiman defeated Marlon Sims via rear naked choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 5-3).
Quarterfinals
Episode 8: Joe Lauzon defeated Cole Miller by referee stoppage in the second round. (Lauzon advances to the semifinals).
Episode 9: Gray Maynard defeated Brandon Melendez by submission due to a guillotine choke in the second round. (Maynard advances to the semifinals).
Episode 10: Nate Diaz defeated Corey Hill by submission due to a triangle choke in the first round. (Diaz advances to the semifinals). Manny Gamburyan won by unanimous decision against Matt Wiman. (Gamburyan advances to the semifinals).

By Joe Fernandez

I don't know who saw this, but Thursday an Alabama state senator punched another senator in the head. It's only natural that we here at Fightin' Words provide you with the fight recap -- MMA style.

Now as you can see Sen. Charles Bishop (R) throws a strong right and moves in for the ground and pound on Sen. Lowell Barren (D). As Barren is moving away, he lets go what appears to be a slap with his left hand.

But here's where the fight could've went Barren's way:

As Barren is falling back against the desk, Bishop extends his left arm against Barren, practically giving him the armbar. If Barren switched his hips in time, he would've earned the submission victory at 0:07 of the first round. Instead, Bishop earned the 10-9 round, the unanimous decision win and advances to the senate quarterfinals.

By Joe Fernandez

Look -- I missed the Urijah Faber/Chance Farrar match the other night. I programmed TiVo for the wrong time. These things happen...it is what it is.

Finally got a chance to see the WEC featherweight championship today -- What a display of grappling.

Farrar dropping Faber with a slam and Faber dropping Farrar with a slam...scramble on the mat...Faber takes Farrar's back and sinks in the rear naked choke.

The lighter weight classes are starting to win me over. Their conditioning is ridiculous and many of the fighters are always looking to finish the fight.

Remember that Roger Huerta vs. Leonard Garcia match at UFC 69? That might've been match of the year.

WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber defeated Chance Farrar via rear naked choke at 1:39 in the first round at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Featherweight Rani Yahya earned the submission victory via rear naked choke against Mark Hominick at 1:19 in the first round.

Lightweight Alex Karalexis earned the majority decision win against Josh Smith.

Light heavyweight Brian Stann won by TKO against Craig Zellner at 4:57 in the first round.

Welterweight Brock Larson knocked out Kevin Knabjian at 0:27 in the first round.

Welterweight John Alessio won by guillotine choke against Alex Serdyukov at 1:19 in the first round.

Featherweight Cub Swanson earned the unanimous decision victory against Micah Miller.

Bantamweight Brian Bowles defeated Charlie Valencia with a rear naked choke at 2:50 in the second round.

Bantamweight Jeff Bedard defeated Mike French by unanimous decision.

By Joe Fernandez

No filler fights here.

The Ultimate Fighter 5 quarterfinals have known nothing but exciting bouts so far. The second match in this round pitted Team Penn's Gray Maynard vs. Team Pulver's Brandon Melendez in a high-energy, fast-paced fight that saw Maynard advance after sinking in a guillotine choke midway through the second round.

"Gray's tough, but I felt like I should've beaten him," Melendez said. "He doesn't have the experience. I should've had the bigger weight advantage. I have like 36 fights total and he only had like four...but his wrestling was just world-class and he handled business like a soldier."

The fight began with Maynard getting a successful takedown. After he got to Melendez's back and attempted a choke, Melendez was able to roll around and get in Maynard's guard. Even though both fighters got back to their feet, Maynard scored a couple more takedowns and controlled Round 1. Melendez landed a few good strikes in Round 2, but Maynard's takedowns looked unstoppable as he earned the submission victory after a short scramble on the ground.

Something Melendez said that he's going to take away from this fight is to "have better endurance," he said. "You could be the best person in the world, but once you get tired you're worth nothing."

Another fight started outside the Octagon for Melendez as he was struggling to make weight for this fight. Andy Wang, who was eliminated by Melendez in the first round, helped the Utah native make weight.

"The first time I handled it well," Melendez said. "I did it by myself. The second time I had a little harder time for some reason. I got down [to] the last six pounds and they would just not come off. I did the sauna, I bundled up more. I was hitting mitts. Andy was holding them for me. I tried to go back in the sauna and immediately got real dizzy. I was having the hardest time. So I went to the gym and I just had to sprint as hard as I could. It took so long just to even get a sweat and once I had a sweat, Andy just kept me running, and running, and running and running. Then finally they started coming off...I sprinted to weigh-ins and I was there on the money."

Earlier in the episode, Melendez asked to switch from Team Pulver to Team Penn, but Jens Pulver and his coaches wouldn't allow the move.

"I just don't think Jens wanted to let me go because I was a good asset to the team at that point," Melendez said. "But before I left, I just told myself it would be nice to train with both coaches."

Here's where the teams stand after Episode 9:

Episode 1: Cole Miller caught Allen Berube with a triangle choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 1-0)
Episode 2: Manny Gamburyan caught Noah Thomas with a kimura armlock in the first round. (Team Pulver, 2-0).
Episode 3: Nate Diaz defeated Rob Emerson via rear naked choke in the second round. (Team Pulver, 3-0).
Episode 4: Brandon Melendez defeated Andy Wang via unanimous decision. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 5: Gabe Ruediger eliminated due to a failure to make weight. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 6: Joe Lauzon defeated Brian Geraghty via rear naked choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 4-1). Corey Hill wins by decision against Rob Emerson (Team Pulver, 5-1).
Episode 7: Gray Maynard wins by referee stoppage against Wayne Weems in the first round. (Team Pulver, 5-2). Matt Wiman defeated Marlon Sims via rear naked choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 5-3).
Quarterfinals
Episode 8: Joe Lauzon defeated Cole Miller by referee stoppage in the second round. (Lauzon advances to the semifinals).
Episode 9: Gray Maynard defeated Brandon Melendez by submission due to a guillotine choke in the second round. (Maynard advances to the semifinals).