UFC on FUEL and FX

• The September 29th UFC on Fuel was headlined by a solid Stefan Struve vs Stipe Miocic fight that featured Struve managing to outlast and tire out Miocic to KO him in the 2nd round. It was a nice finish, it being the 4th win in a row for Struve.
• Hardy lost the first round to Amir but then came back, used takedowns and well placed elbows to take rounds 2 and 3 to defeat Amir. Even though that Hardy and Amir both seem like good guys, they just don’t feel like UFC caliber at all. I wouldn’t mind them being sent to Strikeforce, if the organization is actually going to stick around.
• Pickett’s uppercut from hell on Jabouin was one of the great highlights of the evening. Jabouin was doing a good job, moving around and landing kicks on Pickett. Unfortunately for him, Pickett was able to time that uppercut and knock him out cold. Great win for Pickett, his 2nd finish in his UFC career.
• Matt Wiman, one of the most exciting and fun fighters in UFC history, proved once again why he will always be a favorite for diehard fans. He fought the Luta Livre ground sensation Paul Sass on the mat, and beat him at his own game. Beautiful armbar finish, and a great emotional response from Wiman. He’s had a career that has had great fights with Roger Huerta, Spencer Fisher, Michihiro Omigawa, Thiago Tavares, Jim Miller, Sam Stout, and Mac Danzig, and now he can add this fight with Sass to that great resume. Wiman once said he likes to leave the TV on at home for his dog to watch him fight, and I bet his dog was a very happy pet after seeing that armbar finish.
• The big Bret Hart fan, John Maguire, had a rough night as John Hathaway pretty much controlled most of the fight to win via decision.
• Not much to write about Mills vs Ludwig, just hope Ludwig makes a recovery.
• I missed Jimi Manuwa vs Kyle Kingsbury but it sounds like a hell of a fight and I want to see it soon.  Also missed the Akira vs Ogle fight.
• Gunnar Nelson has been hyped a lot on the Sherdog Radio Network and he looked every bit as good as they said he was. Awesome performance.  Also nice KO from Robbie Peralta.

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• Not much to write about Silva vs Browne, it was a good KO finish for Silva and I thought Browne looked silly attempting all that offense. If you’re going to work that offense you either need to be someone special like Genki Sudo, an elite level strike like Anderson Silva, or a freak athlete like Jon Jones. Browne is a solid fighter but that’s it and I figured Big Foot would be too much for him. Hope Browne recovers from his injury.
• Ellenberger is usually a fast starter and a slow finisher, meaning he looks amazing in the first and slows down as the fight goes on. He tried to keep a consistent pace here, doing enough to edge out Hieron, in a rematch. Good win for him but a pretty forgettable fight.
• I felt the Johnson vs Benavidez fight was unfairly criticized, but if people want to criticize the Dodson-Formiga fight before the KO finish, then I agree. It was very lackluster before the finish. Dodson has great speed and power but I think Matt Hume and Demetrious Johnson will be too smart, too quick, and too talented for Dodson and Greg Jackson.
• Poor Neer went out before he was even in there for a minute.
• Danny Castillo, who I think is one of the more underrated lightweights in MMA, looked amazing in the first. Great knockdown and constant pressure on the ground. Things turned around quickly in the 2nd, great comeback from Michael Johnson, a short shot put Castillo down and he nailed a few good shots to close the show. Exciting fight.
• Pretty much told the same story of Castill0-Johnson, but maybe even more exciting. Aaron Simpson looked awesome, destroying Pierce badly with strikes and then mounting him on the ground and taking his back. He then walked into a vicious punch in the 2nd, and Pierce finished him off violently. Great fight and a great comeback win from one of the most underrated fighters in the UFC.
• LaVesseur defeated Prater in a fight that probably won’t be remembered by anyone except the fighters involved. For what it’s worth, I thought Prater edged out a victory but it was close and seemed like nobody really cared at the end.
• Shane Roller just recently announced his retirement. It was an interesting career for Roller, I had the highest respect for him in his WEC days but it seemed like he aged a bit in his UFC tenure. He did have a hail mary KO over Tavares, but struggled the rest of the time. Volkmann, totally dominated him and over powered him. Vicious submission and great wrestling from Volkmann. Some might write off Volkmann cause of his submission loss to Sass, but he has a style that would give many people trouble.
• Diego Nunes vs Bart Palaszewski was awesome, mostly due to the great offense output by Nunes as he pretty much destroyed Palaszewski for most of the fight. The best Palaszewski could do was briefly hurt Nunes in the 3rd and survive all the punishment from Nunes. Good win for Nunes.
• Darren Uyenoyama looks so slick when it comes to grappling, nice win from him. The flyweight division is very limited right now so I would like to see him fight Ian McCall.