Randy Couture and Dan Hardy each moved one step closer to title shots in their respective divisions on Saturday with unanimous decision wins at UFC 105 in Manchester, England.
Couture, fighting at light heavyweight for the first time since 2006, edged Brandon Vera in the evening’s main event, battling through stinging body kicks to control the pace of the fight while landing occasional combinations to earn the unanimous nod.
Couture rebounded from back-to-back losses to improve to 17-10, though he’ll likely need another win to earn a shot at the winner of the upcoming rematch between 205-pound title-holder Lyoto Machida and challenger Mauricio “Shogun” Rua possible. Vera falls to 11-4 with the loss, snapping a two-fight winning streak.
In the UFC 105 co-headliner, Hardy stunned Mike Swick early then rocked him again in the second and third frames to earn a unanimous decision victory.
Hardy ups his record to 23-6 with the win, including four-straight inside the UFC to earn a shot at welterweight title-holder Georges St-Pierre early next year, while Swick had his four-fight win streak stopped in dropping to 14-3.
In other main card action, Michael Bisping rebounded with a second-round knockout of Denis Kang, Matt Brown scored a second-round knockout of James Wilks, and Ross Pearson earned a second-round TKO of Aaron Riley.
On the UFC 105 preliminary card, John Hathaway, Terry Etim, Nick Osipczak, Dennis Siver, Alexander Gustafsson, and Andre Winner all earned victories.
The complete results for UFC 105 were:
- Randy Couture def. Brandon Vera via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Dan Hardy def. Mike Swick via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Michael Bisping def. Denis Kang via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 4:24
- Matt Brown def. James Wilks via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 2:27
- Ross Pearson def. Aaron Riley via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) — Round 2, 4:38
- John Hathaway def. Paul Taylor via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
- Terry Etim def. Shannon Gugerty via submission (guillotine choke) — Round 2, 1:24
- Nick Osipczak def. Matthew Riddle via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 3:53
- Dennis Siver def. Paul Kelly via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 2:53
- Alexander Gustafsson def. Jared Hamman via knockout (punches) — Round 1, 0:41
- Andre Winner def. Rolando Delgado via knockout (punch) — Round 1, 3:22
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I’ll say it again because it’s cool to be the first post…Vera was robbed.
Hardy vs. GSP should be fun, but I think St. Pierre will win…
Nice redemption for Bisping, I hope they give him Wanderlei…
Pearson looked REALLY impressive.
…tonight I supported the UFC’s biggest sponsor better than Brock Lesnar ever did, and I could STILL tell Vera won!!
Pearson was impressive, Wilkes not so much.
couture controlled him open your eyes it was a great fight for knowledgeable fans of mma not boxing fans such as yourself
Well interesting night of fights, a rather good evening of fights actually…
Randy v Vera well should have been a draw and truly wasn’t that exciting of a match, but what ya gonna do..
Swick got owned and well I assume he will say he has to rebound, and Hardy should have tried to finish the fight instead of take Swick down but I wasn’t in that fight so I can’t say why he decided to go that rout…. I was awaiting The Greatness to say he wasn’t impressed but whatcha going to do
Bisping got his tonight and honestly perhaps Hendo knocked the douche out of Bisping, and Kang did great in the first yet lost his marbles in the second, it was a nice recovery from Bisping and he did well imo
Winner is the Winner nice shot to Roldi, he should lose the beard Nice shot tho hell of a KO
Brown is doing well for himself and that was a good fight for him to win, James did the best he could but just wasn’t enough,,,, I enjoyed the night of fights and well 106 should be fun
yea Matt brown did great,i was waiting for George to say something as well lol
Was just thinking the same thing about Hendo “attitude adjusting” Bisping.
:)
The Count seemed more like the guy that fans first started supporting, and laid into Kang with wild abandon and sharp skill. Really good win for him IMO, and should set him up for better fights in 2010 at 185.
Additional good news is that Hendo is currently out of the UFC picture, and Anderson Silva is getting ready to retire to some huge beach house in Rio from Cribs, so one more win over a contender should see Bisping maybe challenge for the title this time next year?
And Matt Brown beat Wilks so badly that after stopping the fight, the ref should have drawn a chalk outline around him, seeing as how bsbiz picked Brown to win by “murder”.
Unfortunately I had no one to pull for in the Hardy-Swick throwdown, because both guys rub me the wrong way. The good news is that neither guy will last 5 rounds with the Greatness, so all Hardy won tonite is an opportunity to have the sh!t kicked out of him on a PPV main event…
As I put in my write-up, it wasn’t exactly murder. I had it more as assault and battery.
knocked the douche out… haha makes my day
@fr
Usually I really respect ur opinion (well not to say I dont now) but by no means should that have been a draw and Swick did NOT get owned he got beat but it was a close fight. He won most of the exchanges but the ones Hardy won were more devestating.
(I’ll try not to go on a rant) The only time a fight should be a draw is if a point is deducted at some point or if a fighter scores a 10-8 rd (which didnt happen). A judge should never give a draw rd, if he does he’s simply not doing his job (although that wouldnt be the first time a judge didnt do his job)
still got luv for ya fr
I do think that in MMA 9~9 type rounds would help more than hurt, take for instance the 3rd round some people see it as Randy won it, then you have people who think Vera won it, trust me it was alot closer to a 9~9 round than a 10~9 or 9~8 round for either fighter, hence my belief that the fight could have been a draw (given 1 round apiece), all and all agree to disagree most likely….
Um Swick really stood in tough no doubt but Hardy imo owned that fight from “bell to bell”, Swick did some good combo’s but honestly nothing else, well his Takedown defense was excellent honestly, and the 30~27 score implies the fight wasn’t all that close, again agree to disagree….
No worries these are just my intial thoughts ofcourse I will rewatch the fights and whatnot, if my opinion changes I will ofcourse state it…
str8 up. nothin but love
I enjoyed the fights. Vera won imo, Hardy showed he’s got a good chin. Bisping should have been finished in the first but did a great job recovering in getting the W. Brown is a warrior.
Vera won hands down, Randy got the first round, Vera got 2nd and 3rd. What a shame UFC giving it to grandpa :(
Here we go again…
The UFC didn’t give anything to anyone tonight other than paychecks and bonuses. The judges hired by whatever sanctioning body was in charge of the fight decided that Couture won the fight. That’s all there is to it.
No. He said so, right up there above you. The UFC did it. The UFC decides who wins fights, and they wanted Randy to win. He said so. Right up there. That means he’s right.
Someone will have to correct me if I’m and I tried to find something on this, but I’m not sure there is a sanctioning body in the UK. Which is why the UFC does their own drug tests over there, and why they don’t release salary info from over there.
This is all I could find: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_martial_arts_rules#Government_regulation
England has no AC, remember Leben and his situation
That said, they usually bring over NSAC judges/refs/other officials, and I highly doubt that anyone employed by the NSAC is going to put that at risk just because they think they might be able to get away with something over seas.
Just because Vera took Randy down in the 3rd for 30 sec should not mean Vera wins that round. Randy controlled the position and landed more punches that round.
agree but dam it was close!
I don’t understand what everyone’s talking about. Couture didn’t do much, but he clearly won the fight. Vera landed a couple of kicks but Randy controlled most of the fight even if it was boring.
agreed. i think when people look at fights they only consider striking and takedowns as ways to score, they dont realize randys ability to dictate where the fight goes and complete octagon control when hes pressing vera against the cage counts for alot and althought the fight was close, i dont agree with people when they say vera got “robbed”. that would mean he clearly won the fight and got screwed over which he didnt
IMO Vera has no fire in him. he’s got skills etc but no hunger to win agressively.
o, and neither randy nor vera can box very well. aside from that, both are good wrestlers.
Wow.
OK.
I’m guessing an awful lot of “supporting the UFC’s biggest sponsor” went on before people posted.
;)
And no, Vera wasn’t “robbed”, he certainly didn’t fight to a draw [in terms of scoring], he didn’t win the fight “hands down”, and PLEASE don’t ever let me read anything again at the frenZy like, “the UFC gave a fight to grandpa”.
First, that insinuates that MMA is scripted, like professional wrestling, OR, that MMA is as corrupt as boxing.
Either is ridiculous, and makes the person who posted it appear that they are posting either from a position of total ignorance regarding MMA, or are under the influence of alcohol and/or some illegal substance.
And is insulting to all concerned, including Brandon Vera.
The plain truth is that Couture controlled the majority of the fight, displayed superior Octagon control and aggression, if you perceive Couture’s constant clinching, dirty boxing, short-armed combinations, and attempted takedowns AS aggression [which I and the cageside judges did].
There simply wasn’t an inch of the Octagon that Vera’s a$$ wasn’t ground against in the 15 minutes of the fight.
Vera did display He11a improved takedown defense, counter-wrestling, as well as landing some wicked shots off of the breaks, not to mention a lot of heart.
What he didn’t do was finish the fight, didn’t push the action hard or fats enough when he had the chances, and allowed himself to be taken to Couture 101 school REPEATEDLY in all 3 rounds of the fight.
So lets not make any more or any less of this Couture-Vera fight than what it was, namely, a smarter, better wrestler imposing his will and fightplan against a less experienced opponent who didn’t execute the fightplan he needed in order to get a win against a legend.
Couture most likely moves on to a fight against the Machida-Rua winner, and Vera heads back to the gym to figure out how to fix what he did wrong, further polish and expand upon what he did right, and try to sign a fight that gets him back on the 205 title radar ASAP…
Man you are wrong on so many levels, are you for real? I don’t know where to start lol I guess Vera’s strikes, knockdown, and takedowns don’t count at all? And yes if you think MMA is pure, especially with the ufc, you are on cloud 9.
Just want to add, “and PLEASE don’t ever let me read anything again at the frenZy like, “the UFC gave a fight to grandpa”.
You don’t like some comments and feel you are an true expert? Having my comments removed, only shows how one (you or a few) can control (or influence) what’s said in this matter, similarly you don’t think a huge company like the ufc can pick fights? You’re Naive.
You guys have both proved your respective points, now lets moved forward, thx
Randy took Vera to school huh. So I guess kneeing Randy so hard he crumbles. Theb the master og g’n'p gets taken down and mounted huh. Wow I guess Vera did get schooled. I’m no fan of Vera but isaw him winning this fight regardless of the judging, just my honest opinion.
You are right, Vera kocked him down with a kick and mounted Randy, but what else dide he do for the rest of the 10 minutes? He was held against the cage with Randy in control. Vera didn’t control the match, he was controlled. He did do well, im not saying he didn’t, he just didn’t finish it.
Yes, Vera did serious damage with his knees, and the Natural said as much to Rogan post-fight. No one is trying to say that this fight was a Hall of Fame performance by Couture, because it wasn’t.
And yes, Vera did manage some brief gNp, but he also got dominated for almost 12 of the 15 minutes of the fight.
How much time did Vera spend avoiding takedowns and getting ground against the cage?
If you look at a fight thats 15 minutes long, Couture imposed his will for nearly 80% of the fight.
That being the case, how were the judges going to award Vera a decision based on a few stiff knees and less than a minute of focused, effective gNp??
idk i dont think theyll shoot Randy rite to a title shot if so i think they would have hinted at it
Couture vs the winnrer of Ortiz and Forrest (thanks to the ref not getting them off the cage about 10 times). Good for Bisping, he’s still terrible (W.S knocks him out) with what Kang calls a punch in the 1st round. And if anybody gives Hardy any chance I am willing to take GSP on any odds ( Serra was 8-1), Hardy will be at least 11-1.
No fighter bashing. -Justin H
It’s not the ref’s job to free Vera from Couture’s clinch and the cage, it’s VERA’s…
in my opinion, i believe vera won the fight…
i think randy did a really nice job tying vera up and controlling him against the cage while trying to implement dirty boxing and attempting takedowns… he kept vera’s striking to a minimum to avoid damage from vera’s muy thai..
but when i look back and think of the moments that had the most potential to be fight-ending, they belong to vera…
the knee to randys midsection caused randy to instinctually double over, cover up, and escape.. the mount by vera was a very bad place for randy to be in and might have ended with a stoppage..
perhaps the inability by vera to capitalize and finish may have almost cheapened these positions he had to the judges, i dont know..
but if i walked into the octagon and the ref told me that i was going to land some hard leg kicks and knees and get in a few punches as well and the other guy was going to tie me up on the cage for a spell and put my gameplan on hold and repeat the cycle, i would go for it because i feel with that equation i would eventually finish the fight before i was finished..
im not saying randy fought with lack of offense, he did tee off on vera against the cage a couple of times and and did well in the tie-ups, but in this paticular fight i believe too much value is put into octagon control against real strikes that can lead to a finish…. in my opinion
‘mights’ do not win fight, control dose! IMO
What the hell happened to Kang? He did awesome in Round 1 but in Round 2 he was wobbly and gassed. When he was first taken down, Bisping missed almost all of his shots and the ones he did land looked soft. Couldn’t tell if Kang was gassed or knocked silly. I think this fight was fixed! Haha, jk!
That Couture/Vera match sure disapointed me. I was hoping for more from both of them. I feel that all Randy was doing on the cage was stalling cause he had no answer for Vera’s striking and takedown defence (although it didn’t really look to me that Randy was going for many takedowns). Vera caused most, if not all the damage in the fight. I was hoping Vera would hit and run like he did against Patt. And I was hoping Couture would have taken down Vera against the cage like he did against Lesnar. Instead we got a hug-fest. Yeah, Couture had the “Ocatagon control”, but if you really think about it, the UFC owns the right to the “Octagon”, and MMA is judged by commissions, so why is “octagon control” even a category in a day where MMA is trying to become universal? Maybe I’m over thinking that one. Anyways, I’m not necessarily saying either man won, but if there’s any case for a draw in MMA, this is it. 10 point must system’s got to go!!!
The rest of the card was solid, and Hardy definately impressed. I’m not sure he’s GSP-ready, but his chin looks to be. Brown looked bad in the first, but turned it on, and Kang should have finished Bisping. Pearson also impressed me.
Octagon control, cage control, ring control…all mean the same. Inthe UFC’s case, they trademarked the octagon as an mma fighting area, so they will sub that in for cage every time they get the chance. In all others, it would be defined as controlling the pace and space of the fight, I would guess.
In regards to the Kang-Bisping fight, Bisping did impress me a little since KAng was unable to stay out of guard. Even when he had mount, Bisping was able to bring it back. He looks like he’s putting some serious effort into ground defense.
Bisping’s ground game did look great, especially with a black belt in BJJ. Impressive.
The Couture/Vera fight was obviously very close, and while I scored it 29-28 for Vera, it was very close. Vera had the only knockdown (knee to the ribs) which I feel won him the second round and he had the only takedown of the third round that led to the mount. Neither threathened a stoppage by any means, but both were enough by themselves, in my opinion, to more than negate Randy’s wrestling against the cage that may or may not have caused damaged at any point. Randy won the first round, however.
Either way, I think it is clearly irrational to watch a very close fight like this and come away with the conclusion that the UFC is fixed and the judges are morons. Keep in mind two very critical parts here. The three judges are sitting in three seperate spots peppered around the octogon. They do no thave that right-in-the-action view of the fight like we do from our couches. They see different views than the other judges and from us at home as well. That’s not necessarily bad, as they may see stuff we do not. The second thing is the judges are not influenced by Rogan and Goldberg’s commentary which I think is an extremely influencial part of the fight game. We hear all the time from Joe and Mike, “there’s a good left hook” and “that one got through” and “that hurt him” and we automatically accept that even if our own eyes didn’t see it for sure. Well Rogan and Goldberg have just as “obstructed” of a view as the judges and we sitting at home automatically take Rogan’s commentary as gospel and quickly become influenced whether or not those shots really did get through, whether that left hook was as good as Rogan said and etc. The point is if you watch a fight on mute, it is entirely a different animal because the influence of the play-by-play goes away. These judges are not under that influence, but we are. I don’t know if that is good, bad, or indifferent, but it clearly is something that creates seperation between what we are watching and hearning and what is really happening.
So my point is, with all the variables at play here, and more importnantly, as close as the Couture/Vera fight was, I think to choose to cling to the conclusion that the UFC is fixed and these judges are corrupt, a conclusion like that just wreaks of ignorance.
Yes the fight was a bit uneventful!I do agree that couture one by a very slim margin!!Vera did much better than I expected,couture controlled enough for the victory.I think we will see a better perfomance from couture next fight.Hey Brandon is a top level fighter,I think he will be back!!!!
If ANYONE saying VERA got robbed, must not have watched the Rua/Machida fight!
The Couture/Vera fight was not that impressive but a good game plan on Randy’s part as he is NOT a striker like he thought or got confused the last two times he faced Liddell.
I honestly thought Hardy was going to be in trouble against Quick Swick boy was I wrong
props to Hardy.
I picked Bisping to win but, he was in serious trouble in the first. Really good resiliency he showed to weather the early storm.
Brown,Pearson,Winner were all impressive as he!!.
What about “touch gloves and WHAMM… KO” I thought that was kinda a cheap shot,although I know as soon as you touch, your fare game. Be careful next time.
I really don’t know how people could be back and forth about Couture vs Vera. I just re watched it and Couture clearly won. Randy controlled the fight and made Brandon fight his fight for almost the entire 15 minutes aside from that body kick ( which gave Brandon the round ) and 7 seconds on the ground in the 3rd…..
Like Rogan says, a submission attempt should always be more valuable than defense and I believe the same should be noted about takedown attempts. Brandon was fighting for his life the whole fight. One slip up and he would have got brutally smashed into the mat.
In my opinion it was a very successful fight back at 205 against a very dangerous Brandon Vera.
imo the judges put to much emphases on octagon control and not damage. The way the ufc is set up right now u can clinch and lean up against a guy for 15 minutes and get the w. It creates a slow boring fight and the only way to change that is in fights like this start giving the decision to the guy that does more damage. It would create more exciting fights and overall it would be better for the ufc and its fans.
“The way the ufc is set up right now u can clinch and lean up against a guy for 15 minutes and get the w.”
The UFC does not set the rules for MMA. Thank you, please learn how judging works.
Worst decission ever Vera was robbed what did handy do? Lean aginst the fence.
Good for hardy and bisping!
hand is a boaring fighter and rogan needs to get off his nuts
I dont believe Vera was robbed of the fight but believe it should have been a Draw or a Split either way (wasnt scored close enough. Regardless of how bad the fight semed to look (Greko Roman / Dirty Boxing) Randy controlled most the fight against the cage,,, Vera was definately faster, and more crisp as a striker but most the fight was against the cage and in a clinch
WOW Hardy was powerful and deserved his match… I hate him but he is definately powerful, explosive and talented !!
Hate Bisbing but his performance wa aweome, showed lots of Talent on the ground in gaurd and kept his hips moving managing to survive and still have the confidence to come back and dominate… Thank You Hendo for pounding some respect into that ignorant a$$’ole !! I may even grow to respect Bisbing some day. He is a good fighter with lots of time to get better
Hae the announcers and their make believe senarios… Sorry but Mike & Dan are not the TOP 2 welderweight contenders aaaaaaaaand…
Joe Roegan was disrespectful leaving Dan Hardy’s side to run over to GSP’s side when GSP was standing along the fence… This was Dan Hardys Spotlight and His Day….
…and I say this with you all knowing I am GSP’s #1 Fan !!!
RonnyRage,
What did Vera do? Except throw a few body kicks and a couple knees. Randy completely controlled the pace, where the fight took place. Vera if he could have, should have tried to break the clinch Randy kept applying witch he couldn’t unfortunately.I can say It wasn’t a great fight but a safe fight. Yeah an you must not have seen the Rua/Machida fight that decision should have put the judges in prison.
Hey guys! This is my first post but I’m a long time reader/fan of the Frenzy.
Great night of fights. I was very impressed with Ross Pearson. He was likeable on TUF as a down-to-earth and hard working dude but last night I thought he proved he belongs in the mix at 155. With continued training and focus, I could see him fighting a Guida or Maynard in the near future…
Bisping seemed to really get his game together after his initial adrenelin wore off and he calmed down a bit. He came out like Diego for the start of that fight
I didn’t get to see the Winner KO, anyone know where I could watch it?
I respect Joe Rogan for his uncensored honesty in his commentaries but I don’t agree with him about the judges in the Couture Vera fight. I felt Vera should have won too but based on the criteria (Octagon/cage control, aggression etc.) IMO Capt. America grinded out a W
i think the whole vera/couture thing is something that needs to be figured out. Yea…Randy “controlled the ring, where the fight took place, etc.” for nearly the entire of the fight.
Why does Bear-hugging/Lay-n-Pray count for so much…Just like the Mayhem v Shields fight, the closest that fight was to being stopped was the RNC attempt. Just because I can hold you down or hug/clench to reduce your movement kinda means that I’m not necessarily winning as I am doing my best at not-losing.
I think Joe Rogan is a douche for saying the lay-n-pray is a valid tactic and that people are “more knowledgeable” if they enjoy watching it. I can enjoy good grappling as much as the next guy, but BS clenching or lay-n-pray for more than 30 seconds with no advancement should be met with a 1pt deduction warning for delaying…not given credit for “controlling the ring.”
although couture was great vera was more effective.
OCTAGON CONTROL WHICH DOESN”T AMOUNT TO MUCH OF ANYTHING SHOULDN’T COUNT FOR ANYTHING MUCH.
Number of times Vera had Couture in notable trouble: 2
vice versa :0
A major conference to address the lack of clarity in scoring methods is needed.
or just call every fight without a KO TKO a draw…
was a great fight & very interesting match up, it’ll be remembered as a tough fight for both warriors